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.
Author(s): Richard Beeman, Stephen Botein, Edward C. Carter II
Publisher: University North Carolina Press
Year: 1987
Language: English
Pages: 376
City: Durham
Cover
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I: IDEOLOGIES
The American Constitution: A Revolutionary Interpretation
The Constitution of the Thinking Revolutionary
Interests and Disinterestedness in the Making of the Constitution
PART II: ISSUES
Shays's Rebellion and the Ratification of the Federal Constitution in Massachusetts
Money, Credit, and Federalist Political Economy
The Practicable Sphere of a Republic: James Madison, the Constitutional Convention, and the Emergence of Revolutionary Federalism
Slavery and the Constitutional Convention: Making a Covenant with Death
James Madison and Visions of American Nationality in the Confederation Period: A Regional Perspective
PART III: AFTERMATH
The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George Washington
The Persistence of Antifederalism after 1789
Religious Dimensions of the Early American State
EPILOGUE
A Roof without Walls: The Dilemma of American National Identity
Index
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y
Z
Notes on Contributors
