Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-280) and index.

Introduction: a nation of laws, not men -- The morality of American law -- Being sovereign : the harm principle -- Marriage -- Sex -- Reproduction -- Medical care -- Food, drugs, and alcohol.

In the opening chapter of this book, Elizabeth Price Foley writes, 'The slow, steady, and silent subversion of the Constitution has been a revolution that Americans appear to have slept through, unaware that the blessings of liberty bestowed upon them by the founding generation were being eroded.' She proceeds to explain how, by abandoning the founding principles of limited government and individual liberty, we have become entangled in a labyrinth of laws that regulate virtually every aspect of behaviour and limit what we can say, read, see, consume, and do. Foley contends that the United States has become a nation of too many laws where citizens retain precious few pockets of individual liberty. With a close analysis of urgent constitutional questions - abortion, physician-assisted suicide, medical marijuana, gay marriage, cloning, and U. S. drug policy - Foley shows how current constitutional interpretation has gone astray. Without the bias of any particular political agenda, she argues convincingly that we need to return to original conceptions of the Constitution and restore personal freedoms that have gradually diminished over time.