Richie’s Picks: REBELS, ROBBERS, AND RADICALS: THE STORY OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS
Richie Partington
Richie’s Picks: REBELS, ROBBERS, AND RADICALS: THE STORY OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS by Teri Kanefield, Abrams, May 2025, 224p., ISBN: 978-1-4197-6826-2
“Number three
You have the right to free speech
As long as you're not
Dumb enough to actually try it”
– The Clash (1982)
“[T]he only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been and, by the grace of God, we always will be a Christian nation.”
— Vice President J.D. Vance, recently speaking to more than 30,000 young conservatives at Turning Point USA’s AmFest 2025.
Young readers will learn in REBELS, ROBBERS, AND RADICALS why Americans will never have to deal with the U.S. literally becoming a Christian nation. Let’s hope a bunch of those 30,000 young conservatives read this book and get the true facts.
In fact, any eighth grade American history student fortunate enough to be inspired or induced to read REBELS, ROBBERS, AND RADICALS will come away with some terrific history-related anecdotes, an enhanced understanding of basic American Constitutional law, and a mighty impressed teacher. For each of the ten amendments included in the Bill of Rights, veteran attorney and children’s author Teri Kanefield does an excellent job of encapsulating the colonial history that led to each of the amendments being included in the U.S. Bill of Rights. The author then provides valuable lessons through briefly summarizing the facts underlying court cases that have led to landmark Supreme Court decisions–decisions that direct how these amendments are to be interpreted and applied.
“The abolitionist movement in the United States gained momentum in the early nineteenth century. Slave states responded by passing laws limiting the speech of those who were enslaved and those who advocated for Black freedom. Mississippi’s slave code of 1857, for example, allowed for the death penalty or imprisonment with hard labor for up to twenty-one years for ‘using language having the tendency to promote discontent among free colored people, or the insubordination among slaves.’ A Georgia law outlawed ‘the assembling of [Black Americans] under the pretense of divine worship.’ The fear that slavers would use any public discussion of abolitionism to further terrorize their enslaved populations chilled speech about the issue.
At the same time, language that incited violence against Black Americans was tolerated and even encouraged by enslavers and law enforcement officers in slave states.
Abolitionist Wendell Phillips pointed out that restricting speech that advocated Black freedom meant that it was not possible to have a meaningful discussion about slavery. He said this was a problem because the drafters of the Constitution compromised on the issue of slavery, with the understanding that the issue would be left to the American people to resolve. Obviously, the people could not resolve the issue if they were not permitted to talk about it…
Because the First Amendment at the time applied only to the federal government, there was nothing to stop states from passing laws that restricted speech.”
The court cases cited—cases (in my experience) central to undergrad Constitutional history texts and curricula—provide clarity as to the importance and practical application of these amendments in our lives. The author includes just enough historical context and case law commentary for tween and teen readers to grasp the debates involved in the history, while keeping the book relatively short and sweet.
“Thomas Jefferson said he considered trial by jury ‘as the only anchor, ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.’”
Notably, there are also repeated discussions of the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment:
“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.”
It was the post-Civil War adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment that led to the Supreme Court analyzing, in subsequent years, how the various clauses making up the Bill of Rights are fundamental rights that also apply to state governments’ actions and lawmaking, and not just to the Federal government.
The Supreme Court is–at this very moment–contemplating the meaning of another section of the Fourteenth Amendment:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”
The Court will also, presumably, be debating the current deportations-without-due-process, and the current issues concerning blowing up boats and killing the occupants without a shred of due process. (I bet that, like me, plenty of kids are having nightmares from watching the videos on the news and wondering how the hell that is permitted.)
In sum, given the history currently playing out, it'll really be a plus for young readers to learn how these amendments can directly and significantly affect the citizenship rights of their lives and/or their friends’ lives. The bottom line is that REBELS, ROBBERS, AND RADICALS is a great read and a must-have for middle school collections.
Richie Partington, MLIS
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