Contested Conventions: The Struggle to Establish the Constitution and Save the Union, 1787â 1789

Yazawa, Melvin

ISBN 10: 1421420260 / ISBN 13: 9781421420264

Editore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016

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This book is in good condition. The cover has minor creases or bends. The binding is tight and pages are intact. Some pages may have writing or highlighting.

Codice articolo BRV.1421420260.G

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Contested Conventions: The Struggle to Establish the Constitution and Save the Union, 1787â 1789
• Editore: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 2016
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 1421420260
• ISBN 13: 9781421420264
• Rilegatura: Brossura
• Condizione: good

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

Brings to life the hard-fought battle over the creation and ratification of the Constitution.

There is perhaps no more critical juncture in American history than the years in which Americans drafted the federal Constitution, fiercely debated its merits and failings, and adopted it, albeit with reservations. In Contested Conventions, senior historian Melvin Yazawa examines the political and ideological clashes that accompanied the transformation of the country from a loose confederation of states to a more perfect union.

Treating the 1787–1789 period as a whole, the book highlights the contingent nature of the struggle to establish the Constitution and brings into focus the overriding concern of the framers and ratifiers, who struggled to counter what Alexander Hamilton identified as the “centrifugal” forces driving Americans toward a disastrous disunion. This concern inspired the delegates in Philadelphia to resolve through compromise the two most divisive confrontations of the Constitutional Convention—representation in the new Congress and slavery—and was instrumental in gaining ratification even in states where Antifederalist delegates comprised a substantial majority.

Arguing that the debates over ratification reflected competing ideas about the meaning of American nationhood, Yazawa illuminates the nature of the crisis that necessitated the meeting at Philadelphia in the first place. Contested Conventions is a cohesive and compelling account of the defining issues that led to the establishment of the Constitution; it should appeal to history students and scholars alike.

Informazioni sull'autore

Melvin Yazawa is professor emeritus of history at the University of New Mexico. He is the author of From Colonies to Commonwealth: Familial Ideology and the Beginnings of the American Republic and the editor of The Diary and Life of Samuel Sewall.