Key Argument Of R. B. Bernstein

He starts the chapter by saying that the Constitution at first glance seems like a cold, formal document and it gives no special property qualifications on any office- but if one analyzes the events that lead up to the creation, it paints a different narrative. He then goes on to analyze several different documents and histories from the time period such as the well known Federalist Papers to come to the conclusion that “Enough has been said to show that the concept of the Constitution as a piece of abstract legislation reflecting no group interests and recognizing no economic antagonisms is entirely false. It was an economic document drawn with superb skill by men whose property interests were immediately at stake; and as such it appealed directly and unerringly to identical interests in the country at large”

Chapter one of The American Political Tradition by Richard Hofstadter is centered on the Founding Fathers. The very beginning of the chapter says that the Constitutional Convention was trying to create a government that would pay debts and avoid currency inflation. The Democratic ideas that the Founding Fathers were so against appealed mostly to less privileged classes, and not at all to the higher classes. This chapter says that the Founding Fathers thought that if no constitutional balance were achieved, one specific class or would take over others. Three advantages of a good constitutional government were listed in this chapter as well. One: keep order against majority rule. Two: a representative government. Three: aristocracy and democracy

The Founding Fathers: A Reform Caucus in Action, written by John P. Roche, addressed the difficulty that the Founding Fathers had in constructing the U.S. Constitution because of the high level of stress they received and the limited amount of time that they had to carry out the formation of this document while keeping the best interest of the country as a priority. John P. Roche starts of by commenting on why the creation of the Constitution was so effective and how the Articles of Confederation benefitted the ratification of the new U.S. Government. As it turns out, the delegates elected to attend Pennsylvania were mainly people who had served in Congress and had experience in the weakness of the Articles in granting too little power to the national government. In addition, the delegates were appointed by the state legislatures, not by the people, as justified by the Articles of Confederation.

‘Transformed beyond recognition from the vision of the Founding Fathers.’ Discuss this view of the modern US constitution.

The Founding Fathers were not selfless and flawless human beings without any imperfections or personal bias. They were actually members of a political elite that were faced with a crumbling country that was suffering from a myriad of internal and external problems. The political environment after the Revolutionary War forced the new nation to either reform its ineffective government and address the critical issues of the time or else face complete destruction. Consequently, the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution, which created a far stronger and resilient political structure that prevented the United States from disbanding. However, this document was not the ultimate form of democracy that brought freedom to the Western world. Instead,

"My contentions is that this political quartet diagnosed the systemic dysfunctions under the Articles, manipulated the political process to force a calling of the constitutional conventions, then drafted the Bill of Rights as an insurance policy to ensure state compliance with constitutional settlement" (Ellis XV). When Ellis writes this in the preface is because he feels that the four men: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison find it important to bring everyone together. He feels that it was important enough that he had put it in the book because it is what helped lead to the transformation from a confederation to a nation. He felt that the four men collaborating and deciding what needs to be done were the first step to becoming a nation. Joseph Ellis is excellent making his case because of the way he produces the important information, taking his time and effort to make it effective.

She provides us with many situations like the battle between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan, while the Virginia Plan knocked it out of the park Thomas Jefferson was being carried around in his chair because he was unable to move around a lot. James Madison, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, William Patterson, Alexander Hamilton, William Livingston, and many other delegates from many other states traveled to Philadelphia just to discuss the major topics such as slavery and which plan had the greater chance of creating a strong, healthy, and accountable government to run our Nation. With the abolishment of slavery the United States at first grew apart between the Northern and Southern States but eventually overcame their differences and became one nation. With the Legislative branch creating the federal laws, and the Executive branch enforcing the laws they allow the judicial branch to do its job and boss around the supreme courts. Although our founding fathers of our constitution thought it would fail it actually became one of the most brilliant ideas for a presidential government. James Madison traveled to Philadelphia with positive thoughts for success, if it were not for the Father of the Constitution, none of the constitution would have been written. When Carol Berkin was writing this book I am sure she did not plan on it being such a great success, she provides us with information that many teachers and students did not even think of. Berkins book “A Brilliant Solution” gives us a new look on how the government was created. It all started off in a scorching, clammy room with annoying buzzing flies landing on everyone, but besides all the heat and humidness our founding fathers took a gamble on a Plan that decided Americas fait and ended up being “A Brilliant

The book being critiqued in the following review is Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis. Ellis’ goal in writing this book was to define the political events and achievements that gained historical significance because they framed the successive history of the United States. Ellis wrote on this specific topic because he felt the need to argue the fact that the American Revolution and the greatness achieved by the founding generation were the result of a collective effort. Ellis emphasizes that the success of the United States, at the time of its formation, was not an inevitable conclusion. At the time, it was an improbable result that

The founding fathers, or as the book calls them the founding brothers, are an assorted group of men from wildly different backgrounds. In political terms, they were divided. Yet, they came to together to help shape this country into the place it is today. Now on their journey towards the making of this country they did encounter some trouble. They encountered heated debates among themselves though for getting through these debates they show just why they deserve to be called, founding brothers.

First off, many of the founding fathers were wealthy, came from good families and were well educated. Howard Zinn states that the founding fathers based the Constitution off of their own personal experiences without considering the past experiences of the average citizen. That does not mean that they were completely selfish and based the whole Constitution around them, it just means that many of their economic interests were reflected in the Constitution itself. He goes on about how economic interests were seen in the clauses of the Constitution and the founding fathers had a direct economic interest in forming a strong central government. According to Zinn, the founding fathers thought factions came from inequalities in wealth. Further into the reading he said that the Constitution was meerly the work of certain groups trying to maintain their privilages while giving enough rights and reason to the people to get a majority to support them.

The main purpose behind the book Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution, by Woody Holton is to demonstrate the authors view on the true intent of the Framers when writing the Constitution. Although at first glance the book may seem to uphold the idea that the framers wrote the Constitution in order to protect civil liberties, Holton has a different opinion. To avoid a one sided book, the author not only looks at the framers intent, but the struggles facing the American people.

The Quartet by Joseph Ellis was a novel to provide detail of the years following the American Revolution, and how the Quartet of George Washington, James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton each provided a quality in guiding America toward the right direction. Ellis creates a theme almost as if the reader is on a tour guide, because he explains the perspective on how America was being created between the “Second Revolution” of the years 1783-1789. But, the main goal Ellis wanted to make clear was this time period was the process of how America became a Nation. After finishing the book, Ellis was effective in making the case that the Quartet of Washington, Jay, Hamilton, Madison, as well as other major influences, greatly affected the “transition from confederation to nation.” Each Quartet presented a value in help transitioning America into a Nation, and Ellis provides excellent examples to solidify that claim.

Richard Hofstadter examines the political beliefs of the founding fathers in the first chapter of the American Political Tradition. Ideas thought about by most Americans to be the center of our organization, our founders viewed liberty, democracy, and property, as evil. The composition can be depicted to be vicious as well, because liberty, democracy, and property are linked to the United States Constitution.

All in all, the authors of the Constitution were very smart and new what was ahead for the country. They made the Constitution descriptive and revisable so that the country could always stay on the right track. Therefore, the founding fathers’ have had a great impact on the