Offering a fresh look at the writing of the U.S. Constitution, this book reveals the creative struggles of the Constitutional Convention, documents how the Constitution was born from compromise, and explains how the written Constitution was ratified and transformed into a working document.
In 1787, the distinguished members of the Constitutional Convention"demigods" Thomas Jefferson called themassembled, disagreed, and eventually compromised to create a national government whose principles guide us to this day. Yet to look at the story of the Constitution at the time shows the members of the Convention compromising their principles in favor of self-interest, and their self-interest in favor of principles. The Making and Ratification of the U.S. Constitution: A Reference Guide explains the writing, ratification, and implementation of the U.S. Constitution through a chronological account, a host of primary documents, and easily understandable analysis of the topic.
The key primary source documents include the Constitution itself, excerpts from letters and articles debating different aspects at the time, and debates from the Constitutional Convention itself. The book also includes three essays that examine the Constitutional disagreements that threatened to dissolve the Convention. Readers will come away with an understanding of how the writing of the Constitution both built on the past and broke from it, how the major institutions it created continue to function today, and how the principles that the Constitution articulates continue to inform public discourse in the United States.
Gives readers a concise, authoritative, and accessible explanation of the writing, ratification, and implementation of the U.S. Constitution
Includes key primary documents referenced in the text, including the Constitution itself, excerpts from letters and articles debating different aspects at the time, and debates from the Constitutional Convention
Shows both the idealism and the self-interested politics of the Constitution convention as well as the compromise necessary to create a working document
