The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution

The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution PDF Author: Merrill Jensen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780870201530
Category : Constitutional history
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description

The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution

The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution PDF Author: Merrill Jensen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780870201530
Category : Constitutional history
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description


Ratification

Ratification PDF Author: Pauline Maier
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684868555
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 608

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Book Description
The dramatic story of the debate over the ratification of the Constitution, the first new account of this seminal moment in American history in years.

The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution: Ratification of the Constitution by the states: Virginia (2)

The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution: Ratification of the Constitution by the states: Virginia (2) PDF Author: Merrill Jensen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Constitutional history
Languages : en
Pages : 656

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Book Description
This landmark work in historical and legal scholarship draws upon thousands of sources to trace the Constitution's progress through each of the thirteen states' conventions. -- Publisher.

Prologue

Prologue PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Archives
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description


Original Meanings

Original Meanings PDF Author: Jack N. Rakove
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307434516
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 465

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Book Description
From abortion to same-sex marriage, today's most urgent political debates will hinge on this two-part question: What did the United States Constitution originally mean and who now understands its meaning best? Rakove chronicles the Constitution from inception to ratification and, in doing so, traces its complex weave of ideology and interest, showing how this document has meant different things at different times to different groups of Americans.

The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, Volume 16

The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, Volume 16 PDF Author: Merrill Jensen
Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 696

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Book Description
This landmark work in historical and legal scholarship draws upon thousands of sources to trace the Constitution's progress through each of the thirteen states' conventions. -- Publisher.

The Constitution in the Supreme Court

The Constitution in the Supreme Court PDF Author: David P. Currie
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226131092
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 518

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Book Description
Currie's masterful synthesis of legal analysis and narrative history, gives us a sophisticated and much-needed evaluation of the Supreme Court's first hundred years. "A thorough, systematic, and careful assessment. . . . As a reference work for constitutional teachers, it is a gold mine."—Charles A. Lofgren, Constitutional Commentary

The Constitutional History of the United States, by Francis Newton Thorpe ... 1765-1895

The Constitutional History of the United States, by Francis Newton Thorpe ... 1765-1895 PDF Author: Francis Newton Thorpe
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Constitutional history
Languages : en
Pages : 628

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Book Description


The Framers' Coup

The Framers' Coup PDF Author: Michael J. Klarman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199942048
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 881

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Book Description
Americans revere their Constitution. However, most of us are unaware how tumultuous and improbable the drafting and ratification processes were. As Benjamin Franklin keenly observed, any assembly of men bring with them "all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests and their selfish views." One need not deny that the Framers had good intentions in order to believe that they also had interests. Based on prodigious research and told largely through the voices of the participants, Michael Klarman's The Framers' Coup narrates how the Framers' clashing interests shaped the Constitution--and American history itself. The Philadelphia convention could easily have been a failure, and the risk of collapse was always present. Had the convention dissolved, any number of adverse outcomes could have resulted, including civil war or a reversion to monarchy. Not only does Klarman capture the knife's-edge atmosphere of the convention, he populates his narrative with riveting and colorful stories: the rebellion of debtor farmers in Massachusetts; George Washington's uncertainty about whether to attend; Gunning Bedford's threat to turn to a European prince if the small states were denied equal representation in the Senate; slave staters' threats to take their marbles and go home if denied representation for their slaves; Hamilton's quasi-monarchist speech to the convention; and Patrick Henry's herculean efforts to defeat the Constitution in Virginia through demagoguery and conspiracy theories. The Framers' Coup is more than a compendium of great stories, however, and the powerful arguments that feature throughout will reshape our understanding of the nation's founding. Simply put, the Constitutional Convention almost didn't happen, and once it happened, it almost failed. And, even after the convention succeeded, the Constitution it produced almost failed to be ratified. Just as importantly, the Constitution was hardly the product of philosophical reflections by brilliant, disinterested statesmen, but rather ordinary interest group politics. Multiple conflicting interests had a say, from creditors and debtors to city dwellers and backwoodsmen. The upper class overwhelmingly supported the Constitution; many working class colonists were more dubious. Slave states and nonslave states had different perspectives on how well the Constitution served their interests. Ultimately, both the Constitution's content and its ratification process raise troubling questions about democratic legitimacy. The Federalists were eager to avoid full-fledged democratic deliberation over the Constitution, and the document that was ratified was stacked in favor of their preferences. And in terms of substance, the Constitution was a significant departure from the more democratic state constitutions of the 1770s. Definitive and authoritative, The Framers' Coup explains why the Framers preferred such a constitution and how they managed to persuade the country to adopt it. We have lived with the consequences, both positive and negative, ever since.

Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil

Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil PDF Author: Mark A. Graber
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781139457071
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil , first published in 2006, concerns what is entailed by pledging allegiance to a constitutional text and tradition saturated with concessions to evil. The Constitution of the United States was originally understood as an effort to mediate controversies between persons who disputed fundamental values, and did not offer a vision of the good society. In order to form a 'more perfect union' with slaveholders, late-eighteenth-century citizens fashioned a constitution that plainly compelled some injustices and was silent or ambiguous on other questions of fundamental right. This constitutional relationship could survive only as long as a bisectional consensus was required to resolve all constitutional questions not settled in 1787. Dred Scott challenges persons committed to human freedom to determine whether antislavery northerners should have provided more accommodations for slavery than were constitutionally strictly necessary or risked the enormous destruction of life and property that preceded Lincoln's new birth of freedom.