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"A groundbreaking work that retells modern history through the rise and spread of written constitutions-some enlightened, many oppressive-to every corner of the globe. Filling a crucial void in our understanding of world history, Linda Colley reconfigures the rise of the modern world over three centuries through the advent of written constitutions. Her absorbing work challenges accepted narratives, focusing on rulers like Catherine the Great, who wrote her enlightened Nakaz years before the French Revolution; African visionaries like Sierra Leone’s James Africanus Beale Horton; and Tunisias’s soldier-constitutionalist Khayr-al-Din, who championed constitutional reform in the Muslim world. Demonstrating how constitutions repeatedly evolved in tandem with warfare, and how they were used to free, but also exclude, people (especially women and indigenous populations), this handsomely illustrated history-with its pageant of powerful monarchs, visionary lawmakers, and insurrectionist rebels-evokes The Silk Roads in its range and ambition. Whether reinterpreting the lasting influence of Japan’s 1889 Meiji constitution or exploring the first constitution to enfranchise women in tiny Pitcairn Island in 1838, this book is one of the most original and absorbing histories in decades"–

The Parker and Davis Constitution Club of New York is supporting a movement to defend the Constitution from Republican attacks. A recent speech by John R. Dos Passos laid out the Republicans' "unconstitutional and unjust acts." The unnamed author agrees that the interpretation of the Constitution has changed but finds fault with Dos Passos's arguments as they are based on events that occurred several decades ago.

Judge Advocate General Davis recommends allowing Theodore Roosevelt to execute Article III of the existing treaty with Cuba to restore order to the island without having to get permission from Congress. Davis references the Whiskey Insurrection of Western Pennsylvania 1794 and other cases to make his point.

War Department legal counsel Charlton informs Secretary of War Taft that based on the Platt Amendment and the subsequent treaty between Cuba and the United States, in his opinion, the President can decide to intervene in Cuban affairs in order to preserve a stable government. This intervention should not be deemed a declaration of war because it is in the United States and Cuba's best interests and within the jurisdiction of the United States.

Charles E. Magoon, on behalf of the Office of the General Counsel, answers questions raised by Secretary of War Taft as to the authority of President Roosevelt and the Senate in proposed arbitration treaties. The two articles of the treaty in question designate that irreconcilable disputes between parties are sent to the Hague after agreement by both parties regarding the particulars of the dispute. Magoon concludes that the articles in question do not constitute an exception to the generally understood powers of the President and Senate in such matters, citing numerous similar laws and treaties. Magoon further points out that the articles in question would not deprive Congress of its legislative rights and makes clear that later acts of Congress contradicting the treaty would supersede the treaty.

Judge Advocate General Davis provides a statement regarding the assignment of Major General Corbin to a military command and analyzes the respective powers of the president and the Congress regarding military appointments and command.

President Roosevelt is sorry that United States Congressman John Sharp Williams feels that he cannot serve on a committee. Roosevelt says that he will speak frankly, and that if Williams's theory of why he cannot serve is correct, then the President should not listen to the advice of anyone unless Congress passes a law. Such a theory would reduce government to an absurdity.