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Fears of a Setting Sun

Author : Dennis C. Rasmussen
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 069121106X
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

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Book Synopsis Fears of a Setting Sun by : Dennis C. Rasmussen

Download or read book Fears of a Setting Sun written by Dennis C. Rasmussen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-02 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The surprising story of how George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson came to despair for the future of the nation they had created Americans seldom deify their Founding Fathers any longer, but they do still tend to venerate the Constitution and the republican government that the founders created. Strikingly, the founders themselves were far less confident in what they had wrought, particularly by the end of their lives. In fact, most of them—including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson—came to deem America’s constitutional experiment an utter failure that was unlikely to last beyond their own generation. Fears of a Setting Sun is the first book to tell the fascinating and too-little-known story of the founders’ disillusionment. As Dennis Rasmussen shows, the founders’ pessimism had a variety of sources: Washington lost his faith in America’s political system above all because of the rise of partisanship, Hamilton because he felt that the federal government was too weak, Adams because he believed that the people lacked civic virtue, and Jefferson because of sectional divisions laid bare by the spread of slavery. The one major founder who retained his faith in America’s constitutional order to the end was James Madison, and the book also explores why he remained relatively optimistic when so many of his compatriots did not. As much as Americans today may worry about their country’s future, Rasmussen reveals, the founders faced even graver problems and harbored even deeper misgivings. A vividly written account of a chapter of American history that has received too little attention, Fears of a Setting Sun will change the way that you look at the American founding, the Constitution, and indeed the United States itself.

American Dialogue

Author : Joseph J. Ellis
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 038535343X
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (853 download)

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Book Synopsis American Dialogue by : Joseph J. Ellis

Download or read book American Dialogue written by Joseph J. Ellis and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The award-winning author of Founding Brothers and The Quartet now gives us a deeply insightful examination of the relevance of the views of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Adams to some of the most divisive issues in America today. The story of history is a ceaseless conversation between past and present, and in American Dialogue Joseph J. Ellis focuses the conversation on the often-asked question "What would the Founding Fathers think?" He examines four of our most seminal historical figures through the prism of particular topics, using the perspective of the present to shed light on their views and, in turn, to make clear how their now centuries-old ideas illuminate the disturbing impasse of today's political conflicts. He discusses Jefferson and the issue of racism, Adams and the specter of economic inequality, Washington and American imperialism, Madison and the doctrine of original intent. Through these juxtapositions--and in his hallmark dramatic and compelling narrative voice--Ellis illuminates the obstacles and pitfalls paralyzing contemporary discussions of these fundamentally important issues.

The Political Theory of the American Founding

Author : Thomas G. West
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 110714048X
Total Pages : 431 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis The Political Theory of the American Founding by : Thomas G. West

Download or read book The Political Theory of the American Founding written by Thomas G. West and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-03 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a complete overview of the Founders' natural rights theory and its policy implications.

God and the Founders

Author : Vincent Phillip Muñoz
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 0521515157
Total Pages : 253 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (215 download)

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Book Synopsis God and the Founders by : Vincent Phillip Muñoz

Download or read book God and the Founders written by Vincent Phillip Muñoz and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-10-08 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God and the Founders explains the church-state political philosophies of James Madison, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson.

The American Founders

Author : Lewis E. Lehrman
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780984017850
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (178 download)

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Book Synopsis The American Founders by : Lewis E. Lehrman

Download or read book The American Founders written by Lewis E. Lehrman and published by . This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Founders knew that their citizens and their government colleagues were imperfect. The Founders themselves were imperfect. In an imperfect world of imperfect people it could not be otherwise. Indeed, they could be petty. With the hindsight of the historian, their decisions may appear questionable. The Founders could be pessimistic about democracy. "Public affairs go on pretty much as usual: perpetual chicanery and rather more personal abuse than there used to be," wrote John Adams to Thomas Jefferson only weeks before they died. "Our American Chivalry is the worst in the world. It has no Laws, no bounds, no definitions; it seems to be all a Caprice." However, the American Founders were as able a political leadership as any in recorded history. Whatever their faults and fears, they acted, in peace and war, as if America's future were bright. Before leaving for his inauguration in 1789, President-elect Washington wrote: "My endeavours shall be unremittingly exerted (even at the hazard of former fame or present popularity) to extricate my country from the embarrassments in which it is entangled, through want of credit; and to establish, a general system of policy, which, if pursued will insure permanent felicity to the Commonwealth. I think I see a path, as clear and as direct as a ray of light, which leads to the attainment of that object. Nothing but harmony, honesty, industry, and frugality are necessary to make us a great and happy people."

Vindicating the Founders

Author : Thomas G. West
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1442210273
Total Pages : 237 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (422 download)

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Book Synopsis Vindicating the Founders by : Thomas G. West

Download or read book Vindicating the Founders written by Thomas G. West and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2000-11-28 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This controversial, convincing, and highly original book is important reading for everyone concerned about the origins, present, and future of the American experiment in self-government.

America's Founding Secret

Author : Robert W. Galvin
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780742522800
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (228 download)

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Book Synopsis America's Founding Secret by : Robert W. Galvin

Download or read book America's Founding Secret written by Robert W. Galvin and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2002 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this important work, the author illuminates how the founding fathers' motives, thoughts, and actions were framed by the Scottish Enlightenment.

The Learning of Liberty

Author : Lorraine Smith Pangle
Publisher : Lawrence, KS : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 370 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Learning of Liberty by : Lorraine Smith Pangle

Download or read book The Learning of Liberty written by Lorraine Smith Pangle and published by Lawrence, KS : University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 1993 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This very important book is original, sweeping, and wise about the relation between education and liberal democracy in the United States. The Pangles reconsider superior ideas from the founding period in a way that illuminates any serious thinking on American education, whether policy-oriented or historical". -- American Political Science Review. "An important and thoughtful book, stimulating for citizens as well as scholars". -- Journal of American History.

First Principles

Author : Thomas E. Ricks
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0062997475
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (629 download)

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Book Synopsis First Principles by : Thomas E. Ricks

Download or read book First Principles written by Thomas E. Ricks and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller Editors' Choice —New York Times Book Review "Ricks knocks it out of the park with this jewel of a book. On every page I learned something new. Read it every night if you want to restore your faith in our country." —James Mattis, General, U.S. Marines (ret.) & 26th Secretary of Defense The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author offers a revelatory new book about the founding fathers, examining their educations and, in particular, their devotion to the ancient Greek and Roman classics—and how that influence would shape their ideals and the new American nation. On the morning after the 2016 presidential election, Thomas Ricks awoke with a few questions on his mind: What kind of nation did we now have? Is it what was designed or intended by the nation’s founders? Trying to get as close to the source as he could, Ricks decided to go back and read the philosophy and literature that shaped the founders’ thinking, and the letters they wrote to each other debating these crucial works—among them the Iliad, Plutarch’s Lives, and the works of Xenophon, Epicurus, Aristotle, Cato, and Cicero. For though much attention has been paid the influence of English political philosophers, like John Locke, closer to their own era, the founders were far more immersed in the literature of the ancient world. The first four American presidents came to their classical knowledge differently. Washington absorbed it mainly from the elite culture of his day; Adams from the laws and rhetoric of Rome; Jefferson immersed himself in classical philosophy, especially Epicureanism; and Madison, both a groundbreaking researcher and a deft politician, spent years studying the ancient world like a political scientist. Each of their experiences, and distinctive learning, played an essential role in the formation of the United States. In examining how and what they studied, looking at them in the unusual light of the classical world, Ricks is able to draw arresting and fresh portraits of men we thought we knew. First Principles follows these four members of the Revolutionary generation from their youths to their adult lives, as they grappled with questions of independence, and forming and keeping a new nation. In doing so, Ricks interprets not only the effect of the ancient world on each man, and how that shaped our constitution and government, but offers startling new insights into these legendary leaders.

Founding Fathers

Author : Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0470117923
Total Pages : 12 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis Founding Fathers by : Encyclopaedia Britannica

Download or read book Founding Fathers written by Encyclopaedia Britannica and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2007-08-03 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains alphabetically arranged entries that provide information on the Founding Fathers, their actions, and their intentions in writing the U.S. Constitution.

The Other Founders

Author : Saul Cornell
Publisher : UNC Press Books
ISBN 13 : 0807839213
Total Pages : 346 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (78 download)

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Book Synopsis The Other Founders by : Saul Cornell

Download or read book The Other Founders written by Saul Cornell and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2012-12-01 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fear of centralized authority is deeply rooted in American history. The struggle over the U.S. Constitution in 1788 pitted the Federalists, supporters of a stronger central government, against the Anti-Federalists, the champions of a more localist vision of politics. But, argues Saul Cornell, while the Federalists may have won the battle over ratification, it is the ideas of the Anti-Federalists that continue to define the soul of American politics. While no Anti-Federalist party emerged after ratification, Anti-Federalism continued to help define the limits of legitimate dissent within the American constitutional tradition for decades. Anti-Federalist ideas also exerted an important influence on Jeffersonianism and Jacksonianism. Exploring the full range of Anti-Federalist thought, Cornell illustrates its continuing relevance in the politics of the early Republic. A new look at the Anti-Federalists is particularly timely given the recent revival of interest in this once neglected group, notes Cornell. Now widely reprinted, Anti-Federalist writings are increasingly quoted by legal scholars and cited in Supreme Court decisions--clear proof that their authors are now counted among the ranks of America's founders.

Founders as Fathers

Author : Lorri Glover
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300178603
Total Pages : 343 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis Founders as Fathers by : Lorri Glover

Download or read book Founders as Fathers written by Lorri Glover and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the family life of the Founding Fathers, providing intimate portraits of the households of such revolutionaries as George Mason, Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.

The Founders' Fortunes

Author : Willard Sterne Randall
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1524745928
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (247 download)

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Book Synopsis The Founders' Fortunes by : Willard Sterne Randall

Download or read book The Founders' Fortunes written by Willard Sterne Randall and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-02-08 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illuminating financial history of the Founding Fathers, revealing how their personal finances shaped the Constitution and the new nation In 1776, upon the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers concluded America’s most consequential document with a curious note, pledging “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” Lives and honor did indeed hang in the balance, yet just what were their fortunes? How much did the Founders stand to gain or lose through independence? And what lingering consequences did their respective financial stakes have on liberty, justice, and the fate of the fledgling United States of America? In this landmark account, historian Willard Sterne Randall investigates the private financial affairs of the Founders, illuminating like never before how and why the Revolution came about. The Founders’ Fortunes uncovers how these leaders waged war, crafted a constitution, and forged a new nation influenced in part by their own financial interests. In an era where these very issues have become daily national questions, the result is a remarkable and insightful new understanding of our nation’s bedrock values.

The Founders on the Founders

Author : John P. Kaminski
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780813927572
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (275 download)

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Book Synopsis The Founders on the Founders by : John P. Kaminski

Download or read book The Founders on the Founders written by John P. Kaminski and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Through a series of revealing quotations, historian John P. Kaminski profiles thirty of the era's best-known individuals, including Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, John Hancock, Thomas Paine, and Patrick Henry ("all tongue without either head or heart," according to Thomas Jefferson), as well as the early presidents and their first ladies. The discourse is unfailingly respectful, and yet this is no mutual admiration society. The subjects are not afraid to be sharp about one another, but this only makes their words of praise more convincing and poignant." "Beginning with an introductory essay that provides an overview of the relationships between the founders, the book then presents each individual, providing a biographical sketch and a chronologically arranged series of quotations, clarifying not only each person's place within the independence movement but the contours of their character. The authors strike us with their candor, their insight, and their eloquence as they make their subjects come alive for us. As this book reveals, greatness is not only a matter of responding to the times; the people themselves were remarkable."--BOOK JACKET.

The Founders and the Classics

Author : Carl J. Richard
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674314269
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (142 download)

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Book Synopsis The Founders and the Classics by : Carl J. Richard

Download or read book The Founders and the Classics written by Carl J. Richard and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1995-08-11 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The influence of Greek and Roman authors on our American forefathers finally becomes clear in this fascinating book—the first comprehensive study of the founders’ classical reading.

To Begin the World Anew

Author : Bernard Bailyn
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307429784
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis To Begin the World Anew by : Bernard Bailyn

Download or read book To Begin the World Anew written by Bernard Bailyn and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Bernard Bailyn has distilled a lifetime of study into this brilliant illumination of the ideas and world of the Founding Fathers. In five succinct essays he reveals the origins, depth, and global impact of their extraordinary creativity. The opening essay illuminates the central importance of America’s provincialism to the formation of a truly original political system. In the chapters following, he explores the ambiguities and achievements of Jefferson’s career, Benjamin Franklin’s changing image and supple diplomacy, the circumstances and impact of the Federalist Papers, and the continuing influence of American constitutional thought throughout the Atlantic world. To Begin the World Anew enlivens our appreciation of how America came to be and deepens our understanding of the men who created it.

The Second Creation

Author : Jonathan Gienapp
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 067498952X
Total Pages : 465 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (749 download)

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Book Synopsis The Second Creation by : Jonathan Gienapp

Download or read book The Second Creation written by Jonathan Gienapp and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-09 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning revision of our founding document’s evolving history that forces us to confront anew the question that animated the founders so long ago: What is our Constitution? Americans widely believe that the United States Constitution was created when it was drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1788. But in a shrewd rereading of the Founding era, Jonathan Gienapp upends this long-held assumption, recovering the unknown story of American constitutional creation in the decade after its adoption—a story with explosive implications for current debates over constitutional originalism and interpretation. When the Constitution first appeared, it was shrouded in uncertainty. Not only was its meaning unclear, but so too was its essential nature. Was the American Constitution a written text, or something else? Was it a legal text? Was it finished or unfinished? What rules would guide its interpretation? Who would adjudicate competing readings? As political leaders put the Constitution to work, none of these questions had answers. Through vigorous debates they confronted the document’s uncertainty, and—over time—how these leaders imagined the Constitution radically changed. They had begun trying to fix, or resolve, an imperfect document, but they ended up fixing, or cementing, a very particular notion of the Constitution as a distinctively textual and historical artifact circumscribed in space and time. This means that some of the Constitution’s most definitive characteristics, ones which are often treated as innate, were only added later and were thus contingent and optional.