Beyond Confederation

Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11675085
AutoresHerman Belz (autor de correspondencia), Richard Beeman, Richard W Beeman (Library of Congress), Stephen Botein, Edward C Carter, Edward C Carter Ii
Año1987
Volumen7
Número3
Páginas310-310
Fecha de publicación1987-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of the Early Republic (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0275-1275 • E-ISSN: 1553-0620
EditorialJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/3123796
OpenAlexW2041912935
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas39

Beyond Confederation scrutinizes the ideological background of the U.S. Constitution, the rigors of its writing and ratification, and the problems it both faced and provoked immediately after ratification. The essays in this collection question much of the heritage of eighteenth-century constitutional thought and suggest that many of the commonly debated issues have led us away from the truly germane questions. The authors challenge many of the traditional generalizations and the terms and scope of that debate as well. The contributors raise fresh questions about the Constitution as it enters its third century. What happened in Philadelphia in 1787, and what happened in the state ratifying conventions? Why did the states--barely--ratify the Constitution? What were Americans of the 1789s attempting to achieve? The exploratory conclusions point strongly to an alternative constitutional tradition, some of it unwritten, much of it rooted in state constitutional law; a tradition that not only has redefined the nature and role of the Constitution but also has placed limitations on its efficacy throughout American history. The authors are Lance Banning, Richard Beeman, Stephen Botein, Richard D. Brown, Richard E. Ellis, Paul Finkelman, Stanley N. Katz, Ralph Lerner, Drew R. McCoy, John M. Murrin, Jack N. Rakove, Janet A. Riesman, and Gordon S. Wood

Aesthetics · Constitution · Identity (music · National identity · Political science · Politics · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Philosophy