Unruly Americans and the Origins of the ConstitutionMacmillan, 2007 M10 2 - 370 pages 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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 30
Page 9
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 10
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 48
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 76
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 112
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
Grievances | 21 |
Quarrels | 85 |
Redemption | 108 |
Disenchantment | 127 |
Rebellion | 145 |
Revenue | 213 |
Taxes | 239 |
Consolidation | 254 |
The Underdogs Constitution | 272 |
Notes | 279 |
Acknowledgments | 355 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Abigail Adams Anti-Federalists Articles of Confederation assembly assemblymen bondholders Boston British Brown certificates Confederation Congress congressional Continental County citizens Court creditors currency dateline debtors and taxpayers declared delegates DHRC Edmund Randolph election essay farmers Farrand Federal Convention federal government Federalist Framers George Washington Gerry Gouverneur Morris Hamilton Hampshire Herald Henry Knox Herman Husband House of Representatives ibid Indians interest James Madison Jefferson Jersey John July June land legislature Maryland Massachusetts Centinel Middlesex Gazette national government Noah Webster officers paper money Papers of George Papers of James Pennsylvania petition Philadelphia political proposed ratifying convention Records Redeeming the Republic relief advocates requisition Revolutionary Rhode Island securities Senate Sept Shays's Rebellion slave South Carolina speech state's tariff tax and debt taxation tion town meeting United Virginia Independent Chronicle vols vote voters war bonds Webster William Worcester Magazine writer York