The Founding Fathers: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #460

by R.B. Bernstein

The Founding Fathers is a concise, accessible overview of the brilliant, flawed, and quarrelsome group of lawyers, politicians, merchants, military men, and clergy known as "the Founding Fathers"--who got as close to the ideal of the Platonic "philosopher-kings" as American or world history has ever seen. R. B. Bernstein reveals Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, and the other founders not as shining demigods but as imperfect human beings--people much like us--who nevertheless achieved political greatness. They emerge here as men who sought to transcend their intellectual world even as they were bound by its limits, men who strove to lead the new nation even as they had to defer to the great body of the people and learn with them the possibilities and limitations of politics. Bernstein deftly traces the dynamic forces that molded these men and their contemporaries as British colonists in North America and as intellectual citizens of the Atlantic civilization's Age of Enlightenment. He analyzes the American Revolution, the framing and adoption of state and federal constitutions, and the key concepts and problems that both shaped and circumscribed the founders' achievements as the United States sought its place in the world. Finally, he charts the shifting reputations of the founders and examines the specific ways that interpreters of the Constitution have used the Founding Fathers. A masterly blend of old and new scholarship, brimming with apt description and insightful analysis, this book offers a digestible account of how the Founding Fathers were formed, what they did, and how generations of Americans have viewed them.ABOUT THE Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Politics, Biography

183 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 26, 2015

Reviews

[Roger · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very bad - DO NOT RECOMMEND. It’s not even about the founding fathers: there is very little biographical information about them, with the author choosing to focus on seemingly everything (the Constitution, Supreme Court cases, Lincoln, racism) except the titular historical figures.

Obama gets more mention than John Jay. Book ends with a quote from the Talmud. Give me a break.

[Taylor Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book for a Religion and the Founding Fathers course, while it was a nice short introduction to the information, it still found its way to be rather lengthy and confusing at times. I love history and learning new information, but this was a reading that left me needing to reread a sentence or two in order to clarify that I understood. It's a good starting point for learning the basics if you want to find research topics to further delve into, just not my cup of tea.

[Javier Fernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting short book on the "Founding Fathers". Well balance analysis, trying to put these outstanding men in the historical and philosophical/ideological context and how the result of this effort (the US Constitution) is a direct consequence of it, with its strengths and weaknesses, and how it has evolved over time. It is obviously an introductory book, useful for those willing to learn more about this topic. Not being a US citizen myself, I found it very interesting and relatively easy to follow.
Good book.

[Peter Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent little book that takes a robust look at how the fathers did with their founding activities, especially the Constitution of the United States. It reviews the fathers’ influence on the thinking of those who followed them as to what the US should really be and how the constitution affects all that. This work is history with an historiographical perspective - as all good history should.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The late historian R.B. Bernstein published a book called The Founding Fathers: A Very Short Introduction in 2015. The book contains a section on references, further reading, an index, a timeline, and images. The book has an appendix entitled “Founding Fathers: a partial list” (Bernstein 131). The appendix includes a list of the signers of the Declaration of Independence of 1776, people who attended the Constitutional Committee of 1787, and “other founding fathers (and mothers)” (Bernstein 132). Chapter 1 explains where the concept of Founding Fathers comes from the different meanings of the term and how the term could be inclusive if Americans wished to include women or non-White people in how to remember the Founding Fathers (Bernstein 3-4). The book includes Abigail Adams and Mary Otis Warren as Founding Fathers or Mothers (Bernstein 132-133). I read the book on the Kindle. In 1916, the future president Warren G. Harding coined the term (Bernstein 1). The rest of the book covers several themes of the life of the founding fathers, their achievements, their failed achievements, and the complex legacies of the founding fathers. The book also looks at how people interpret the legacies of the Founding Fathers. I thought R. B. Bernstein’s short book was well well-done balanced view of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

[Asher Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent for what it is: a very short introduction.

[Chad Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a technical read on the constitution I felt more than the founding fathers, I do get there is much overlap between the two of them!