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UW-Madison Libraries publish 'American Trilogy'
Posted 9/10/2002
MADISON, Wis.--To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the events at the university that reflect on the impact of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the UW-Madison Libraries' Parallel Press presents "American Trilogy," a chapbook featuring the nation's most revered documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
The historical works featured in "American Trilogy" are faithful reproductions of their original counterparts. "American Trilogy" also features an introduction by Stephen E. Lucas, UW-Madison Evjue-Bascom Professor in the Humanities, and an afterword by UW-Madison Center for the Study of the American Constitution Director John P. Kaminski.
The Declaration of Independence is from the official broadside ordered by U.S. Congress and printed in Philadelphia on the evening of July 4, 1776. Signers' names are taken from the engrossed manuscript.The Constitution that appears in "American Trilogy" is from the official four-page broadside ordered by Congress and printed in New York City Sept. 28, 1787, attested by Secretary of Congress Charles Thomson and sent to state legislators.
"Trilogy's" Bill of Rights is from the official engrossed manuscript of amendments approved by Congress Sept. 25, 1789, and sent to the states for ratification.Both Lucas and Kaminski highlight the never-fading viability of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights in their contributions to "Trilogy."
"Every citizen should be familiar with [the documents'] words and tenets," Lucas writes."With subsequent amendments that guaranteed the rights of all Americans, the great American trilogy continues to direct our government and serves as the philosophical bedrock of our society," Kaminski writes.
Parallel Press printed 3,000 copies of "American Trilogy" to be distributed at about a half dozen campus libraries starting Friday, Sept. 6. Library patrons may ask for a copy of the chapbook.To view an electronic version of "American Trilogy" see: http://parallelpress.library.wisc.edu/chapbooks/history/trilogy.pdf.
