Keeping Faith with the Constitution examines the text and history of the Constitution to show how the Framers inscribed the fundamental values of liberty, equality and democracy into the document. The authors describe what they call “constitutional fidelity,” a principle that “serves not only to preserve the Constitution’s meaning over time, but also to maintain its authority and legitimacy. The words and principles of the Constitution endure as our fundamental law because they have been made relevant to the conditions and challenges of each generation through an ongoing process of interpretation.”

“Overall, the Constitution is a profoundly visionary document,” write the authors. “It advanced a new model of effective governance and democratic rule. Its text and structure express general principles that further the guiding purposes stated in the Preamble. And the amendment process has enlarged our basic commitments to liberty, equality, and democracy. Our Constitution thus reflects, in a spare outline, the moral trajectory of a nation continually striving for greater justice.”