Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States

Justice Joseph Story (1833)

The first comprehensive treatise on the U.S. Constitution by a sitting Supreme Court Justice.

Significance

Established the framework for constitutional analysis still used today. Shaped the understanding of federal power and constitutional structure.

Selected Excerpt

The Constitution of the United States was ordained and established, not by the states in their sovereign capacities, but emphatically, as the preamble of the constitution declares, by the People of the United States. The constitution was, from its very origin, contemplated to be the frame of a national government, of special and enumerated powers, and not of general and unlimited powers.

civil-rights

This text is in the public domain. Original publication: 1833.