The Making of the Constitution

Charles Edmondson Historical Lectures #12

by Gordon S. Wood

Wood presents important information about the founding period in our nation's history, conveying not only the content but also the spirit of the debates surrounding the Philadelphia convention and its aftermath.

Genres: History

41 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Gordon Stewart Wood, Ph.D. (History, Harvard University, 1964; M.A., History, Harvard U.; B.A., Tuffts University, 1955), was an American historian and academic who was Professor of History at Brown University. Previously he taught at Harvard University, University of Michigan, and the College of William and Mary, and was Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at Cambridge University, 1982–83.

He was a recipient of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1992). The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (1969) won the 1970 Bancroft Prize. In 2010, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama.

Reviews

[Alan Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is, to my knowledge, the best brief account of the formulation of the U.S. Constitution at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. It elucidates some of the most important developments at the Convention, especially the frustration of the project of James Madison, James Wilson, and other nationalists to keep the state governments out of the operation of the general government. The Constitution that eventually emerged was substantially different from that conceived by Madison and his Virginia colleagues when Virginia Governor Edmund Randolph kicked off the Convention with his presentation of their Virginia Plan. In some ways, Madison's reasoning was impeccable. However, it failed to account for the political reality of localism and states' rights. Had Madison's vision—including but not limited to a federal legislative veto power over all state legislation—been adopted by the Convention, it is a near certainty that the resulting proposal would never have been ratified.

Note: For some reason, Goodreads insists that I read this book two times. To the contrary, I read it only once—today, January 26, 2018—though I have owned the book since October 13, 2013. I don't know how to change Goodreads' count from two reads to one read. This appears to be a glitch in their system.