Analysis Of Jay Wexler's The Odd Clauses

704 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on written constitution

With quick wit and an enlightening explanation of the Constitution, Jay Wexler’s The Odd Clauses did not disappoint. Covering the Constitution in a completely unique way, even the most simple-minded people in the world could walk away from this book understanding how complex the Constitution really is. Wexler takes a weird clause from the constitution, explains why it is odd, and then uses the clause to explain a whole segment of government. For example, Wexler uses the Weight and Measures Clause to explain the powers of Congress, and how they are to blame for crashing a $125 million probe into Mars.

The objective of Wexler’s The Odd Clauses was too take a seemingly complex document (The Constitution) and break it down to the point where a simpleton can understand what the Constitution truly is. For example Wexler takes the third amendment, “No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.” And explains how this amendment acts as our barrier from the government in the means of privacy. He then shows how Congress could be to blame for …show more content…

The book changes ones view on how the government, for example when one first starts reading the book he or she may think that the government can never get anything done and congress is inefficient and its dragging our society down. But with Wexler’s analysis one may reach the conclusion that the purpose of making congress so inefficient is so they don’t take our rights and that everything happens in government for a reason and that our government may be the greatest modern government on this planet. Wexler suggests a few titles like, America’s Constitution, The Biography by Akhil Reed Amar. The Odd Clauses by, Jay Wexler was purely phenomenal! It should be a must read by any who are going into law

Show More
Related

  • The Fedarlist Papers - Ed Millican

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    The very last statement in the book reads, “The Federalist, the blueprint of the American nation.” This statement alone can summarize the opinion of author Ed Millican as well as many others, but many pages before that is written, the author goes on to examine and explain the many ideas surrounding Publius, including the numerous interpretations of The Federalist, as well as the political objectives of the work as well. However, instead of merely stating the facts and then contributing his opinion, Millican breaks each part of Publius, including the founding fathers who created the pen name, their individual contributions, as well as what exactly a nation-state is. With the help of a significant amount of evidence, Milican continues to assert that Publius was entirely a nationalist and believed heavily in the Lockean ideals that people want to be a unified nation. The very first chapter comes on strong by giving examples of the many interpretations of Publius. Millican then either counters these arguments or accommodates them to his own conclusions. Afterwards, Publius’ mission in pre-Constitutional America is discussed, as well as the idea that The Federalist indeed had Nationalistic tendencies. The next section of the book contributes to perhaps the most appealing aspect of the whole book. Because the concept of the nation-state was brought up in the previous chapter, Millican elaborates on exactly what a nation-state is, as well as historical examples of the evolution of central regimes, but moreover the condition of the United States at the time The Federalist was in print. This provided an excellent introduction into what becomes the lion’s share of the book, which was Hamilton, Madison, and Jay’s contribution and actions in their respective volumes of The Federalist. This is unique because virtually every attempt at the motives of these works have only taken pieces of The Federalist and used, at most, a handful of essays of the 85 that collectively make up the collection.

    Read More

  • The Argument that the US Constitution Favors the Elite

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beard, Charles Austin. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1998. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed February 23, 2014

    Read More

  • Comparing the United States Constitution with Local State Constitutions

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    The difference in the lengths of the two constitutions is apparent. The former is merely 7,000 words long, while t...

    Read More

  • Fire in a Canebrake

    1629 Words  | 4 Pages

    This motivation and purpose are most evident in the quality of Wexler’s writing, made outstanding by her painstaking awareness throughout the text of, firstly, such fundamental things as setting and the introduction of characters, and, secondly, the overarching threads of, for instance, national and state politics, which set the larger stage for the story. In her text, Wexler briefly mentions a prominent figure in the NAACP, Walter White, noting his biting statements regarding the lynching a ...

    Read More

  • Understanding the Controversies of the US Constitution

    1132 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Constitution of the United States is one of the most iconic and important documents of all time. However, when it was first generated, its writing and ratification caused some major concerns. The purpose of the Constitution was to address the great number of issues of a new nation. To be more specific, the Constitution was meant to resolve the political, economic, and social problems of the country. Nevertheless, the document spurred much discussion and concern over people’s rights, the economy, and political corruption.

    Read More

  • Foundations of US Government

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the making of the United States, there were many events that are important. This paper intends to highlight a few of those events including; Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and the Federalist Papers. Many events in America’s history helped to establish the United States as a free and independent country. The Declaration of Independence in particular explains the rights and freedoms that Americans. Each document is like a stepping stones that leads to the next and building upon the pervious document.

    Read More

  • Andrew Jackson Nationalism And Sectionalism

    508 Words  | 2 Pages

    Document two is written by Vice President John C. Calhoun, and he argues that tariffs are creating sectionalism in the country. Calhoun describes are specifically unfair to the south but actually benefits the other citizens of the nation. He dislikes this concept and wishes equality for all and describes that equality is what this country is basically built upon. He brings up the Constitution as backup for his claim, and he also expresses his belief that the tariff is way too high and works against the

    Read More

  • The Inefficiency of the U.S. Constitution

    1287 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States' Constitution is one the most heralded documents in our nation's history. It is also the most copied Constitution in the world. Many nations have taken the ideals and values from our Constitution and instilled them in their own. It is amazing to think that after 200 years, it still holds relevance to our nation's politics and procedures. However, regardless of how important this document is to our government, the operation remains time consuming and ineffective. The U.S. Constitution established an inefficient system that encourages careful deliberation between government factions representing different and sometimes competing interests.

    Read More

  • Articles Of Confederation Dbq Analysis

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    During and after the turmoil of the American Revolution, the people of America, both the rich and the poor, the powerful and the meek, strove to create a new system of government that would guide them during their unsure beginning. This first structure was called the Articles of Confederation, but it was ineffective, restricted, and weak. It was decided to create a new structure to guide the country. However, before a new constitution could be agreed upon, many aspects of life in America would have to be considered. The foremost apprehensions many Americans had concerning this new federal system included fear of the government limiting or endangering their inalienable rights, concern that the government’s power would be unbalanced, both within

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Common Sense And The Declaration Of Independence

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    As you will see in this paper, I will point out many ways that these documents are still in effect today. In the end, you will understand how the United States of America came about. There are many things that I can compare to the Declaration of Independence and Common Sense pamphlet. Paine states “That government's sole purpose is to protect life, liberty and property, and that a government should be judged solely on the basis of the extent to which it accomplishes this goal.”

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of A More Perfect Union By Peter Clark

    1267 Words  | 3 Pages

    Roy Peter Clark, author of “A More Perfect Union”: Why It Worked, takes a stance on President Barack Obama’s speech while analyzing it. President Barack Obama delivered a speech titled “A More Perfect Union.” His speech focused on the prominent issue of racism in America. In this article, Clark talks about President Obama’s known power and brilliance. Clark makes references and comparisons to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and W.EB. DuBois. “A More Perfect Union” features writing techniques that makes the message more defined and effective. President Obama utilizes four closely related rhetorical strategies. Clark broadly explains the purpose of the rhetorical strategies. Allusion, parallelism, two-ness, and autobiography helped to shape President Obama’s speech that that was meant to create

    Read More

  • U.S. Constitution

    430 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Constitution is important because it was expressly designed to limit powers into three co-ordinate branches, the legislative, executive, and judiciary branch; none of which was to have supremacy over the others. This separation of powers with the checks and balances which each branch was given over the others was designed to prevent any branch, from infringing individual liberties safeguarded by the Constitution. I think the U.S. Constitution was a way for the U.S. to establish government which was a negotiation between the two former governments, a monarchy and total state power. I think by creating the checks and balances, people’s rights would be safer and they would feel more secure not having one branch of government with absolute power. What I found most interesting about the Constitution was how complex and detailed the framers made it, to effectively explain and limit the individual branches of power in government. In the words of Thomas Paine, "a government without a constitution is power without right". Meaning that for power to be granted, it is necessary to establish a constitution.

    Read More

  • Robert Dahl's How Democratic Is The American Constitution?

    820 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dahl starts his book off by playing devils advocate and proposing a series of questions of which he deems fundamental. He spends the first chapter provoking his readers to think about why the Constitution is the way it is, and if the Constitution is as great as the American people believe it to be, then how come other countries haven't follow suite and adopted it? He then outlines the areas of which each of the succeeding chapters will touch on with more thought provoking questions. Lastly Dahl makes a point to point out that through out his book he'll be referring to the people that had a hand in the constitution as the Framers rather than the Founding Fathers due to the fact that only a portion of them were apart of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

    Read More

  • Structure of American and California Governments

    9636 Words  | 20 Pages

    The United States of America is one of the most powerful nation-states in the world today. The framers of the American Constitution spent a great deal of time and effort into making sure this power wasn’t too centralized in one aspect of the government. They created three branches of government to help maintain a checks and balance system. In this paper I will discuss these three branches, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, for both the state and federal level.

    Read More

  • Graphic Adaptation By Jonathan Hennessey And Aaron Mcconnell's Comparison

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    When I began reading the USCGA I expected a new approach to learning about the laws that formed our system of government. I didn’t anticipate thoroughly enjoying the clever side notes and illustrations, while adding to my knowledge that was formed during U.S History and Government classes in high school. Hennessy and McConnell succeeded in furnishing a new medium for constitutional schooling. That is especially useful as an introduction to the United States founding

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Jay Wexler's The Odd Clauses

Open Document