Unruly Americans And The Origins Of The Constitution

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Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution

Woody Holton
Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution Book PDF

Author : Woody Holton
Publisher : Hill and Wang
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2008-10-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9781429923668

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Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution by Woody Holton Pdf

Average Americans Were the True Framers of the Constitution Woody Holton upends what we think we know of the Constitution's origins by telling the history of the average Americans who challenged the framers of the Constitution and forced on them the revisions that produced the document we now venerate. The framers who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 were determined to reverse America's post–Revolutionary War slide into democracy. They believed too many middling Americans exercised too much influence over state and national policies. That the framers were only partially successful in curtailing citizen rights is due to the reaction, sometimes violent, of unruly average Americans. If not to protect civil liberties and the freedom of the people, what motivated the framers? In Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution, Holton provides the startling discovery that the primary purpose of the Constitution was, simply put, to make America more attractive to investment. And the linchpin to that endeavor was taking power away from the states and ultimately away from the people. In an eye-opening interpretation of the Constitution, Holton captures how the same class of Americans that produced Shays's Rebellion in Massachusetts (and rebellions in damn near every other state) produced the Constitution we now revere. Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution is a 2007 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction.

Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution

Woody Holton
Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution Book PDF

Author : Woody Holton
Publisher : Hill and Wang
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2008-10-14
Category : History
ISBN : 0809016435

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Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution by Woody Holton Pdf

Average Americans Were the True Framers of the Constitution Woody Holton upends what we think we know of the Constitution's origins by telling the history of the average Americans who challenged the framers of the Constitution and forced on them the revisions that produced the document we now venerate. The framers who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 were determined to reverse America's post-Revolutionary War slide into democracy. They believed too many middling Americans exercised too much influence over state and national policies. That the framers were only partially successful in curtailing citizen rights is due to the reaction, sometimes violent, of unruly average Americans. If not to protect civil liberties and the freedom of the people, what motivated the framers? In Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution, Holton provides the startling discovery that the primary purpose of the Constitution was, simply put, to make America more attractive to investment. And the linchpin to that endeavor was taking power away from the states and ultimately away from the people. In an eye-opening interpretation of the Constitution, Holton captures how the same class of Americans that produced Shays's Rebellion in Massachusetts (and rebellions in damn near every other state) produced the Constitution we now revere. Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution is a 2007 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction.

Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution

Woody Holton
Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution Book PDF

Author : Woody Holton
Publisher : Macmillan
Page : 398 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2007-10-02
Category : History
ISBN : 0809080613

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Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution by Woody Holton Pdf

Examines the original intent behind the writing of the Constitution and how it was shaped by the reactions, occasionally violent ones, of citizens to include a protection of civil liberties and the freedom of the people.

Liberty Is Sweet

Woody Holton
Liberty Is Sweet Book PDF

Author : Woody Holton
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 688 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2021-10-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781476750392

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Liberty Is Sweet by Woody Holton Pdf

A “deeply researched and bracing retelling” (Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian) of the American Revolution, showing how the Founders were influenced by overlooked Americans—women, Native Americans, African Americans, and religious dissenters. Using more than a thousand eyewitness records, Liberty Is Sweet is a “spirited account” (Gordon S. Wood, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Radicalism of the American Revolution) that explores countless connections between the Patriots of 1776 and other Americans whose passion for freedom often brought them into conflict with the Founding Fathers. “It is all one story,” prizewinning historian Woody Holton writes. Holton describes the origins and crucial battles of the Revolution from Lexington and Concord to the British surrender at Yorktown, always focusing on marginalized Americans—enslaved Africans and African Americans, Native Americans, women, and dissenters—and on overlooked factors such as weather, North America’s unique geography, chance, misperception, attempts to manipulate public opinion, and (most of all) disease. Thousands of enslaved Americans exploited the chaos of war to obtain their own freedom, while others were given away as enlistment bounties to whites. Women provided material support for the troops, sewing clothes for soldiers and in some cases taking part in the fighting. Both sides courted native people and mimicked their tactics. Liberty Is Sweet is a “must-read book for understanding the founding of our nation” (Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin), from its origins on the frontiers and in the Atlantic ports to the creation of the Constitution. Offering surprises at every turn—for example, Holton makes a convincing case that Britain never had a chance of winning the war—this majestic history revivifies a story we thought we already knew.

Liberty Tree

Alfred F. Young
Liberty Tree Book PDF

Author : Alfred F. Young
Publisher : NYU Press
Page : 429 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2006-11-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9780814796856

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Liberty Tree by Alfred F. Young Pdf

With the publication of Liberty Tree, acclaimed historian Alfred F. Young presents a selection of his seminal writing as well as two provocative, never-before-published essays. Together, they take the reader on a journey through the American Revolution, exploring the role played by ordinary women and men (called, at the time, people out of doors) in shaping events during and after the Revolution, their impact on the Founding generation of the new American nation, and finally how this populist side of the Revolution has fared in public memory. Drawing on a wide range of sources, which include not only written documents but also material items like powder horns, and public rituals like parades and tarring and featherings, Young places ordinary Americans at the center of the Revolution. For example, in one essay he views the Constitution of 1787 as the result of an intentional accommodation by elites with non-elites, while another piece explores the process of ongoing negotiations would-be rulers conducted with the middling sort; women, enslaved African Americans, and Native Americans. Moreover, questions of history and modern memory are engaged by a compelling examination of icons of the Revolution, such as the pamphleteer Thomas Paine and Boston's Freedom Trail. For over forty years, history lovers, students, and scholars alike have been able to hear the voices and see the actions of ordinary people during the Revolutionary Era, thanks to Young's path-breaking work, which seamlessly blends sophisticated analysis with compelling and accessible prose. From his award-winning work on mechanics, or artisans, in the seaboard cities of the Northeast to the all but forgotten liberty tree, a major popular icon of the Revolution explored in depth for the first time, Young continues to astound readers as he forges new directions in the history of the American Revolution.

Abigail Adams

Woody Holton
Abigail Adams Book PDF

Author : Woody Holton
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 512 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2010-06-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781451607369

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Abigail Adams by Woody Holton Pdf

Winner of the Bancroft Prize The New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice American Heritage, Best of 2009 In this vivid new biography of Abigail Adams, the most illustrious woman of the founding era, Bancroft Award–winning historian Woody Holton offers a sweeping reinterpretation of Adams’s life story and of women’s roles in the creation of the republic. Using previously overlooked documents from numerous archives, Abigail Adams shows that the wife of the second president of the United States was far more charismatic and influential than historians have realized. One of the finest writers of her age, Adams passionately campaigned for women’s education, denounced sex discrimination, and matched wits not only with her brilliant husband, John, but with Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. When male Patriots ignored her famous appeal to "Remember the Ladies," she accomplished her own personal declaration of independence: Defying centuries of legislation that assigned married women’s property to their husbands, she amassed a fortune in her own name. Adams’s life story encapsulates the history of the founding era, for she defined herself in relation to the people she loved or hated (she was never neutral), a cast of characters that included her mother and sisters; Benjamin Franklin and James Lovell, her husband’s bawdy congressional colleagues; Phoebe Abdee, her father’s former slave; her financially naïve husband; and her son John Quincy. At once epic and intimate, Abigail Adams, sheds light on a complicated, fascinating woman, one of the most beloved figures of American history.

The Framers' Coup

Michael J. Klarman
The Framers Coup Book PDF

Author : Michael J. Klarman
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2016-09-16
Category : History
ISBN : 9780199942046

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The Framers' Coup by Michael J. Klarman Pdf

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.

A Slaveholders' Union

George William Van Cleve
A Slaveholders Union Book PDF

Author : George William Van Cleve
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 403 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2010-10-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780226846699

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A Slaveholders' Union by George William Van Cleve Pdf

After its early introduction into the English colonies in North America, slavery in the United States lasted as a legal institution until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. But increasingly during the contested politics of the early republic, abolitionists cried out that the Constitution itself was a slaveowners’ document, produced to protect and further their rights. A Slaveholders’ Union furthers this unsettling claim by demonstrating once and for all that slavery was indeed an essential part of the foundation of the nascent republic. In this powerful book, George William Van Cleve demonstrates that the Constitution was pro-slavery in its politics, its economics, and its law. He convincingly shows that the Constitutional provisions protecting slavery were much more than mere “political” compromises—they were integral to the principles of the new nation. By the late 1780s, a majority of Americans wanted to create a strong federal republic that would be capable of expanding into a continental empire. In order for America to become an empire on such a scale, Van Cleve argues, the Southern states had to be willing partners in the endeavor, and the cost of their allegiance was the deliberate long-term protection of slavery by America’s leaders through the nation’s early expansion. Reconsidering the role played by the gradual abolition of slavery in the North, Van Cleve also shows that abolition there was much less progressive in its origins—and had much less influence on slavery’s expansion—than previously thought. Deftly interweaving historical and political analyses, A Slaveholders’ Union will likely become the definitive explanation of slavery’s persistence and growth—and of its influence on American constitutional development—from the Revolutionary War through the Missouri Compromise of 1821.

Forced Founders

Woody Holton
Forced Founders Book PDF

Author : Woody Holton
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2011-01-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9780807899861

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Forced Founders by Woody Holton Pdf

In this provocative reinterpretation of one of the best-known events in American history, Woody Holton shows that when Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and other elite Virginians joined their peers from other colonies in declaring independence from Britain, they acted partly in response to grassroots rebellions against their own rule. The Virginia gentry's efforts to shape London's imperial policy were thwarted by British merchants and by a coalition of Indian nations. In 1774, elite Virginians suspended trade with Britain in order to pressure Parliament and, at the same time, to save restive Virginia debtors from a terrible recession. The boycott and the growing imperial conflict led to rebellions by enslaved Virginians, Indians, and tobacco farmers. By the spring of 1776 the gentry believed the only way to regain control of the common people was to take Virginia out of the British Empire. Forced Founders uses the new social history to shed light on a classic political question: why did the owners of vast plantations, viewed by many of their contemporaries as aristocrats, start a revolution? As Holton's fast-paced narrative unfolds, the old story of patriot versus loyalist becomes decidedly more complex.

Breaking Loose Together

Marjoleine Kars
Breaking Loose Together Book PDF

Author : Marjoleine Kars
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2003-04-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9780807860373

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Breaking Loose Together by Marjoleine Kars Pdf

Ten years before the start of the American Revolution, backcountry settlers in the North Carolina Piedmont launched their own defiant bid for economic independence and political liberty. The Regulator Rebellion of 1766-71 pitted thousands of farmers, many of them religious radicals inspired by the Great Awakening, against political and economic elites who opposed the Regulators' proposed reforms. The conflict culminated on May 16, 1771, when a colonial militia defeated more than 2,000 armed farmers in a pitched battle near Hillsborough. At least 6,000 Regulators and sympathizers were forced to swear their allegiance to the government as the victorious troops undertook a punitive march through Regulator settlements. Seven farmers were hanged. Using sources that include diaries, church minutes, legal papers, and the richly detailed accounts of the Regulators themselves, Marjoleine Kars delves deeply into the world and ideology of free rural colonists. She examines the rebellion's economic, religious, and political roots and explores its legacy in North Carolina and beyond. The compelling story of the Regulator Rebellion reveals just how sharply elite and popular notions of independence differed on the eve of the Revolution.

Unfinished Revolution

Sam Walter Haynes
Unfinished Revolution Book PDF

Author : Sam Walter Haynes
Publisher : University of Virginia Press
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : History
ISBN : 9780813930688

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Unfinished Revolution by Sam Walter Haynes Pdf

"This is a clear, incisively written narrative history of American anxiety about British domination---political, military, economic, cultural---from the War of 1812 to the mid-nineteenth century. Unfinished Revolution's predominant thoughtfulness and readable verve across a very extensive canvass should commend it to a wide range of readers as a valuable reconnaissance of what was arguably the most consequential national anxiety faced by the `young republic' during its middle period."---Lawrence Buell, Harvard University --

The Bill of Rights

Carol Berkin
The Bill of Rights Book PDF

Author : Carol Berkin
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2015-05-05
Category : History
ISBN : 9781476743813

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The Bill of Rights by Carol Berkin Pdf

“Narrative, celebratory history at its purest” (Publishers Weekly)—the real story of how the Bill of Rights came to be: a vivid account of political strategy, big egos, and the partisan interests that set the terms of the ongoing contest between the federal government and the states. Those who argue that the Bill of Rights reflects the founding fathers’ “original intent” are wrong. The Bill of Rights was actually a brilliant political act executed by James Madison to preserve the Constitution, the federal government, and the latter’s authority over the states. In the skilled hands of award-winning historian Carol Berkin, the story of the founders’ fight over the Bill of Rights comes alive in a drama full of partisanship, clashing egos, and cunning manipulation. In 1789, the nation faced a great divide around a question still unanswered today: should broad power and authority reside in the federal government or should it reside in state governments? The Bill of Rights, from protecting religious freedom to the people’s right to bear arms, was a political ploy first and a matter of principle second. The truth of how and why Madison came to devise this plan, the debates it caused in the Congress, and its ultimate success is more engrossing than any of the myths that shroud our national beginnings. The debate over the Bill of Rights still continues through many Supreme Court decisions. By pulling back the curtain on the short-sighted and self-interested intentions of the founding fathers, Berkin reveals the anxiety many felt that the new federal government might not survive—and shows that the true “original intent” of the Bill of Rights was simply to oppose the Antifederalists who hoped to diminish the government’s powers. This book is “a highly readable American history lesson that provides a deeper understanding of the Bill of Rights, the fears that generated it, and the miracle of the amendments” (Kirkus Reviews).

Summary of Woody Holton's Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution

Everest Media,
Summary of Woody Holton s Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution Book PDF

Author : Everest Media,
Publisher : Everest Media LLC
Page : 41 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2022-08-08T22:59:00Z
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9798822583023

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Summary of Woody Holton's Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution by Everest Media, Pdf

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The American Revolution was supported by many private creditors, who were among the Constitution’s most ardent supporters. However, Beard’s interpretation does not explain the enthusiasm that the proposed national government inspired in men such as Madison and Alexander Hamilton. #2 The American economy was in dire need of capital in 1787, and the framers believed that a national government was the only way to attract it. They believed that a virtuous government would attract capital, and that cracking down on debtors and taxpayers would end the terrible recession that had followed the Revolutionary War. #3 In 1786, Madison and Monroe bought land on the Mohawk River, nine miles from the site of the Stanwix treaty. They knew their plan contained a fatal flaw, as Americans were becoming more and more reluctant to lend money to their fellow citizens. #4 Americans, just like James Madison, were frustrated with the economic situation in their country. They were unable to borrow money, and this led to many ambitious men trying to find ways to get loans so they could buy land and expand their trade networks.

Taming Democracy

Steven Hahn,Terry Bouton
Taming Democracy Book PDF

Author : Steven Hahn,Terry Bouton
Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
Page : 343 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2007-07-12
Category : History
ISBN : 9780195306651

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Taming Democracy by Steven Hahn,Terry Bouton Pdf

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The English Constitution

Walter Bagehot
The English Constitution Book PDF

Author : Walter Bagehot
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 1867
Category : History
ISBN : NYPL:33433081652806

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The English Constitution by Walter Bagehot Pdf

There is a great difficulty in the way of a writer who attempts to sketch a living Constitution-a Constitution that is in actual work and power. The difficulty is that the object is in constant change. An historical writer does not feel this difficulty: he deals only with the past; he can say definitely, the Constitution worked in such and such a manner in the year at which he begins, and in a manner in such and such respects different in the year at which he ends; he begins with a definite point of time and ends with one also. But a contemporary writer who tries to paint what is before him is puzzled and a perplexed: what he sees is changing daily. He must paint it as it stood at some one time, or else he will be putting side by side in his representations things which never were contemporaneous in reality.