Nikita Hilko itibaren Blore, Ashbourne, Staffordshire , UK

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11/21/2024

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Nikita Hilko Kitabın yeniden yazılması (10)

2019-09-30 11:41

Ravensburger Minikler Serisi: Dinozorlar - Angela Weinhold TrendKitaplar Kütüphanesi

Tarafından yazılmış kitap Tarafından: Mikado Yayınları

There's a reason the state ratification conventions don't get the same attention the Philadelphia Convention to actually draft the Constitution does -- at the latter, you've got high-stakes negotiation, the clash of intellectual heavyweights, and the eventual shape of the American Republic being slowly hammered out. Plus they had Gouverneur Morris in Philadelphia. That dude's awesome: peglegged womanizing Founding Father, what's not to love? By way of contrast, the state ratification conventions feel a bit less weighty. For one thing, they didn't have as much impact on the way the federal government looks (the conventional wisdom is that they helped shape the Bill of Rights, but as Maier's book ably demonstrates, that's not quite the case), they were frequently dominated by more parochial interests and demagoguery, the records are spottier, and the intellectual wattage of the participants wasn't at quite the level of the Philadelphia Convention, with debate dominated by back-benchers and demagogues. In where they stand in relation to their more illustrious cousin, they recall nothing so much as the Great Lakes Avengers, with the occasional participation of a Madison or a Hamilton coming off a bit like an Iron Man crossover, incongruous and pandering. With all that said, though, there's still a lot of value to be had in going through the story in more depth, and Maier successfully makes the case that there's value to be had in the task. There is something inspiring in seeing ordinary people take seriously the task of understanding and judging a proposal for how they should govern themselves. And Maier makes a convincing case that the conventional dismissal of opposition to the constitution as parochial and self-serving is substantially overblown. Interestingly, she also goes into depth on the congeries of different amendments proposed by the state conventions -- some touching on individual rights, but most of which were in fact focused on federal taxation issues that loomed large at the time but have since receded. Seen in this light, Madison's drafting of the Bill of Rights looks like it had more to do with paying off campaign promises he'd made in his district, than in assuaging the fears of the constitution's critics in other states -- they mostly had other issues on their mind. Maier does a good job of marshaling the evidence -- a quick glance at the footnotes reveals that this could not have been an easy task, as the existing sources are spotty and frequently biased (in some states, the Federalists paid for the debates to be recorded and published, but arranged for opposition speeches to be omitted!) And she does manage to create some drama and interest around a narrative whose end we all know. Bottom line is that this is definitely worth a read if you're interested in the period and subject. Only two caveats are that 1) while the study is illuminating, don't go in expecting your understanding of the history to be revolutionized, and 2) Maier appears to have a bit of a chip on her shoulder about Hamilton, which is perhaps justified but a bit hard to take for those of us who happen to be fanboys of the Navis Nonpareil.

Okuyucu Nikita Hilko itibaren Blore, Ashbourne, Staffordshire , UK

Kullanıcı, bu kitapları portalın yayın kurulu olan 2017-2018'de en ilginç olarak değerlendirdi "TrendKitaplar Kütüphanesi" Tüm okuyucuların bu literatürü tanımalarını tavsiye eder.