Essays on the Making of the Constitution

by Leonard W. Levy (Editor)

Historians have engaged in a prolonged debate, that perhaps defies resolution, over the making of the Constitution. Were the framers enlightened, disinterested statesmen seeking to rescue a nation then drifting dangerously toward anarchy? Were they conspiratorial representatives of a rising financial and industrial capitalism? Was the Constitution primarily an economic or a political document? This collection of essays, by such renowned scholars as Charles Beard, Andrew C. McLaughlin, and John P. Roche, addresses the myriad questions that surround the creation of the principal document of the American governmental system. With a revised introduction and conclusion, the second edition is an indispensable and timely tool for courses in American government and constitutional history.

Genres: History

352 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 1969

About the author

Leonard Williams Levy was the Andrew W. Mellon All-Claremont Professor of Humanities and Chairman of the Graduate Faculty of History at Claremont Graduate School, California. He was educated at Columbia University, where his mentor for the Ph.D. degree was Henry Steele Commager.

Levy's most honored book was his 1968 study Origins of the Fifth Amendment, focusing on the history of the privilege against self-incrimination. This book was awarded the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for History. He wrote almost forty other books.

In 1990, Levy was appointed a Distinguished Scholar in Residence; Adjunct Professor of History and Political Science at Southern Oregon State College in Ashland, Oregon.