The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the ConstitutionSimon and Schuster, 10/04/2007 - 368 páginas The Summer of 1787 takes us into the sweltering room in which the founding fathers struggled for four months to produce the Constitution: the flawed but enduring document that would define the nation—then and now. George Washington presided, James Madison kept the notes, Benjamin Franklin offered wisdom and humor at crucial times. The Summer of 1787 traces the struggles within the Philadelphia Convention as the delegates hammered out the charter for the world’s first constitutional democracy. Relying on the words of the delegates themselves to explore the Convention’s sharp conflicts and hard bargaining, David O. Stewart lays out the passions and contradictions of the, often, painful process of writing the Constitution. It was a desperate balancing act. Revolutionary principles required that the people have power, but could the people be trusted? Would a stronger central government leave room for the states? Would the small states accept a Congress in which seats were allotted according to population rather than to each sovereign state? And what of slavery? The supercharged debates over America’s original sin led to the most creative and most disappointing political deals of the Convention. The room was crowded with colorful and passionate characters, some known—Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, Edmund Randolph—and others largely forgotten. At different points during that sultry summer, more than half of the delegates threatened to walk out, and some actually did, but Washington’s quiet leadership and the delegates’ inspired compromises held the Convention together. In a country continually arguing over the document’s original intent, it is fascinating to watch these powerful characters struggle toward consensus—often reluctantly—to write a flawed but living and breathing document that could evolve with the nation. |
Índice
1 | |
11 | |
17 | |
May 1787 | 27 |
May 25June 1 | 47 |
May 31June 10 59 | 75 |
June 1219 | 87 |
June 21July 10 | 101 |
July 1726 | 151 |
August 6 | 177 |
August 829 | 191 |
August 31 | 217 |
September 817 | 229 |
CHAPTER TWENTYONE Making Amends | 259 |
The Elector System | 265 |
Notes | 285 |
Outras edições - Ver tudo
The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution David O. Stewart Pré-visualização limitada - 2008 |
The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution David O. Stewart Visualização de excertos - 2007 |
The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution David O. Stewart Pré-visualização indisponível - 2007 |
Palavras e frases frequentes
adopted amendments American Articles August August 21 Brearley Carolinian Chapter Charles Pinckney Clause committee’s compromise Confederation Congress conflict Connecticut Constitution Convention Convention’s Court Cutler debate Delaware delegates Diary difficult draft East Room Edmund Randolph Elbridge Gerry election electors Farrand figure final find finished first five floor Franklin George Mason Georgia Gorham Gouverneur Morris Hamilton House of Representatives Hutson Ibid influence issue James Madison James Wilson Jefferson Jenifer Jersey John Dickinson John Rutledge July land lawyer legislature Luther Martin Major Butler Maryland Massachusetts McHenry Morris’s motion Mount Vernon Nathaniel Gorham national government never North office officers officials Oliver Ellsworth Pennsylvania Philadelphia political president Press proposed provision ratification reflected representation resolutions Roger Sherman Rufus King Rutledge’s Senate September Shays slave trade slavery South Carolina southern specific state’s summer taxes three-fifths ratio tion United Virginia Plan western William William Samuel Johnson wrote York