Original Compromise

What the Constitution's Framers Were Really Thinking
Erscheinungsjahr 2013
ISBN: 978-0-19-979629-8
Verlag: OXFORD UNIV PR

Buch, Englisch, 344 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 681 g

• Draws from little-used sources to provide a much fuller account of the debates in the Constitutional Convention of 1787
• In contrast to narrative accounts, the book's thematic organization provides readers with a richer understanding of the the Founders' actual thought processes as they debated the great issues of their day
• Robertson's argument about the prevalence of horse-trading and naked interest group politics sheds light on a central issue of our own era: the pervasive sense that US governmental system is dysfunctional

What were the Founding Fathers really thinking when they gathered in the Pennsylvania State House to draft the United States Constitution? When answering this question, most have relied on The Federalist Papers, which was first published in book form after the close of the Convention, in 1788. To this day, the book's status is sacrosanct for most Americans. Yet as David Brian Robertson shows, the Papers represented one side of the debate and does not fully capture the political sensibilities that produced the U.S. Constitution. Robertson, drawing from the full range of contemporary sources and not just the Papers, provides a truly authoritative account of the founders' collective political reasoning during the Convention.

Organized thematically, each chapter covers a crucial Constitutional issue: the respective roles of the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature; the balance between the federal government and the states; slavery; and war and peace. In virtually every instance, the process was decidedly political, fractious, and piecemeal. As much as they wanted to design the government that would best serve their people, the Founders struggled to balance their broad ideals with self-interested policies and procedures. Robertson's boldly revisionist account of the political horse-trading that dominated the Convention not only greatly enriches our understanding of the nation's founding; it also elucidates why the government they created has proven so difficult to use.

Zielgruppe

General readers interested in: American history, the constitution, the Founding Fathers, American politics

Autoren/Hrsg.

Robertson, David Brian

Robertson, David

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Geschichte
• Rechtswissenschaften Öffentliches Recht Staats- und Verfassungsrecht Verfassungsgeschichte, Verfassungsvergleichung
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Staats- und Regierungsformen, Staatslehre

Über Autor(innen)

Robertson, David
David Brian Robertson is Curator's Distinguished Teaching Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is the author of The Constitution and America's Destiny and Federalism and the Making of America.

University of Missouri Curators Teaching Professor and Professor of Political Science, University of Missouri-St. Louis