What is the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court really allowed to do? This essential and handy guide includes the documents that guide our government, annotated with accessible explanations from one of America's most esteemed constitutional scholars Professor Richard Beeman was one of that nation's foremost experts on the United States Constitution, as comfortable on campus as on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In this book, he has produced what every American should have: a compact, fully annotated copy of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and amendments, all in their entirety. A marvel of accessibility and erudition, the guide also features a history of the making of the Constitution with excerpts from The Federalist Papers and a look at crucial Supreme Court cases that reminds us that the meaning of many of the specific provisions of the Constitution has changed over time. "Excellent . . . valuable and judicious." -Jill Lepore, The New Yorker