The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution

The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution (Simon & Schuster America Collection)

The Summer of 1787 takes us into the sweltering room in which the founding fathers struggled for four months to produce the Constitution: the flawed but enduring document that would define the nationâ€”then and now.

George Washington presided, James Madison kept the notes, Benjamin Franklin offered wisdom and humor at crucial times. The Summer of 1787 traces the struggles within the Philadelphia Convention as the delegates hammered out the charter for the worldâ€™s first constitutional democracy. Relying on the words of the delegates themselves to explore the Conventionâ€™s sharp conflicts and hard bargaining, David O. Stewart lays out the passions and contradictions of the, often, painful process of writing the Constitution.

It was a desperate balancing act. Revolutionary principles required that the people have power, but could the people be trusted? Would a stronger central government leave room for the states? Would the small states accept a Congress in which seats were allotted according to population rather than to each sovereign state? And what of slavery? The supercharged debates over Americaâ€™s original sin led to the most creative and most disappointing political deals of the Convention.

The room was crowded with colorful and passionate characters, some knownâ€”Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, Edmund Randolphâ€”and others largely forgotten. At different points during that sultry summer, more than half of the delegates threatened to walk out, and some actually did, but Washingtonâ€™s quiet leadership and the delegatesâ€™ inspired compromises held the Convention together.

In a country continually arguing over the documentâ€™s original intent, it is fascinating to watch these powerful characters struggle toward consensusâ€”often reluctantlyâ€”to write a flawed but living and breathing document that could evolve with the nation.
Country USA
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2007-04-10
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2007-04-10
Format	Kindle eBook

The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution (Simon & Schuster America Collection)

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