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What's inside How America Works
The Constitution article by article and all 27 amendments, every claim tagged and sourced. The plain-language versions stay free.
8 entries across 1 section
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How America Works8
- 🔒The U.S. ConstitutionStudy guide to the seven articles of the U.S. Constitution (1787): why the Convention met, Congress, the original text on slavery, the presidency and the Electoral College, the courts, and how the document is amended.
- 🔒The AmendmentsStudy guide to all 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, one entry each: what it says, what it was fixing and how it works today, from the Bill of Rights through the 27th Amendment ratified in 1992.
- 🔒The Ford PardonStudy guide to President Ford's 1974 pardon of Richard Nixon: what Proclamation 4311 covered, where the pardon power comes from, Ford's own reasons, the "was there a deal" argument, whether accepting a pardon admits guilt, and what is still unsettled.
- 🔒The 91 Percent Tax RateStudy guide to the 91 percent top income tax rate of the 1950s: what a marginal rate is, why the rate was so high and why Eisenhower left it, what the rich actually paid, how the rate came down, and the live arguments on both sides.
- 🔒Refusing the Law vs. Gaming the LawStudy guide to three ways people deal with laws they dislike: civil disobedience that accepts the penalty (Thoreau, King), "the law doesn't apply to me" theories that courts keep rejecting, and following the letter of the law to the limit, plus when a state refuses a federal law.
- 🔒Blair Mountain: What Holds UpStudy guide to the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, narrow claims only: what happened, who dropped bombs from the air (and who did not), and why "the only place the U.S. fired on its own citizens" does not hold up.
- 🔒Why Third Parties LoseStudy guide to why third parties lose in American elections: Perot in 1992 against Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, how winner-take-all and one-winner districts work and where they come from, Duverger's law as a tendency and not a rule, the spoiler question, ballot access and the debate rules, whether changing the rules would help, and what third parties have actually won. Every claim is tagged Settled, Disputed or Popular myth with a source line.
- 🔒Washington's Farewell Address on Party SpiritStudy guide to George Washington's 1796 Farewell Address and its warning about the spirit of party: what the Address was and who wrote it, what he actually said (including the sentence people leave out), the warning about parties built on geography, why the Constitution did not plan for parties, whether Washington's own administration was above party, and what happened to the warning. Every claim is tagged Settled, Disputed or Popular myth with a source line.
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