An American constitutional history course for non-American students

Certain attributes of American life hold a special attraction to people all over the world, regardless of their social or political beliefs. Often those familiar features are simple banalities of that 'American way, ' while more profound and remarkable traits of that complex nation seem to have gone almost unnoticed outside its borders, although their prevalent influence is evident. Current technology, business ways, commerce, culture, et cetera, are all deeply marked by that country 'ways.' Unquestionably, the American constitutional system is one of these hidden traits that, regardless of the circumstances, is present all over our -so called- Western world. Nevertheless, it is, for most and to most, unknown.^Responses to the previous works by this author -Orígenes del constitucionalismo americano and Nosotros, el Pueblo de los Estados Unidos- hinted of a possible interest by law students at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid for an elective course on American constitutionalism. Thus, that was the reason behind El constitucionalismo americano, as a textbook for that course. Drafted around seven themes, they cover from the beginning of the seventeenth century and the fundamental laws that English settlers brought with them at their early landings on the American continent, to the constitutional Amendments and U.S. Supreme Court decisions of the second half of the twentieth century. Thus, the history of the United States has been divided into seven periods: the British colonial period; the American Revolution; the Federalist effort; the early Amendments and Supreme Court decisions; the Civil War and Reconstruction era; the Progressive era and the New Deal; and the Civil Rights period.^For each period, some of the main relevant constitutional events get analyzed. Each theme includes a historical and legal presentation of the period, followed by the primary sources directly related to the events described. Assuming the targeted students may not be very familiar with the overall history of the United States, brief biographical notes are added for the most prominent personalities mentioned in the narrative. As a textbook, each theme includes a number of questions for the students to develop. (Incidentally, the course made it to OpenCourseWare, where its English version got a somewhat good response, receiving one of the organization's awards for 2013.). This work was part of the author's PhD effort.