The Founding Fathers Reconsidered

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More About This Book

Overview


Here is a vividly written and compact 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.

In The Founding Fathers Reconsidered, 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--among them independence, federalism, equality, slavery, and the separation of church and state--that both shaped and circumscribed the founders' achievements as the United States sought its place in the world.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal

Prolific historian Bernstein (adjunct, New York Law Sch.) follows up the brief biography Thomas Jefferson with another accessible work of popular history on a weighty topic. In intertwined biographical sketches that synthesize the scholarship of others from a bevy of primary and secondary sources, he succinctly summarizes the accomplishments of iconic early American statesmen and politicians. More interestingly, he also examines the conflicting and wavering legacies of these Revolutionary leaders and crafters of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Bernstein stresses that the founders were noble but imperfect men, not flawless demigods, and his repeated references to the distinction of his approach in this regard can get tiring. Still, it's to his credit that he does not shy away from commenting on what he perceives as a lack of foresight and courage by the founders when crafting laws for the fledgling republic, most notably on the issue of slavery. The endnotes and bibliography are generously annotated, increasing this book's value as a useful starting point for further, more scholarly research. Recommended for general readers seeking an introduction to the legacies, political careers, and disparate roles of these men in the creation and early leadership of a new nation.
—Douglas King

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780199832576
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press
  • Publication date: 9/1/2011
  • Pages: 256
  • Sales rank: 392,562
  • Product dimensions: 5.40 (w) x 8.10 (h) x 0.80 (d)

Meet the Author

R. B. Bernstein, Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School, has written, edited, or co-edited nineteen books on American constitutional and legal history, including Thomas Jefferson.

Table of Contents

Introduction

I. The History that Made the Founding Fathers
The State of the Union Free-Born English Subjects The Intellectual World

II. The History that the Founding Fathers Made
Independence Constitution-Making Federalism Politics Church and State Equality, Inequality, and Slavery America in the World

Part III. What History Made of the Founding Fathers
Ancestor Worship?
"Which Founding Father Are You?"
The Dead Hand of the Past: Original Intent

Conclusion Notes Chronology Further Reading

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 8 )

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Sort by: Showing all of 8 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted August 16, 2009

    No discovery here

    The book attempts to cash in on the growing interest of Americana and falls short. At over 250 pages there is nothing insightful brought that is to light. One third of the book is acknowledgements and notes to other sources. This section is the most interesting part of the entire book.

    It is a rehash of the same old information although the title that implies more than it can deliver. Mr. Bernstein, who calls himself a constitutional historian and has made a career as an Adjunct Professor since 1991, needs focus in the substance of his work rather than an offering a misleading title that does not deliver. This book is a pass.

    3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted July 20, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Disappointing; Nothing New

    The title implies some new or unique interpretation of the founding fathers and their legacy. This it really was not. The author adopted a typical approach and pitted two extreme schools of interpreting the founders -- godlike reverence against complete disgust/dismissal -- and proposed a middle way between them at the beginning. As the book progressed, Mr. Bernstein essentially summarized the way Americans have understood and received the founders throughout our history. This was fine as far as it went, but the book mostly failed to add anything new or unique to the historical conversation regarding that class of distinguished personages.

    His discussion towards the end of the book on the debate over original intent as a mode of jurisprudence was especially unsatisfying. He accurately conveyed the criticism of that school but neglected to examine or explain the response to that criticism, especially the fact that many of those who support "original intent" do not actually support it -- they support a school of "original meaning." To those who describe themselves as such -- the most prominent of which is Justice Antonin Scalia -- this distinction constitutes a significant difference.

    The one interesting segment was toward the beginning, where Mr. Bernstein went into an interesting and illuminating discussion of the history of early American constitutionalism. For those interested in the roots of our Constitution, which has stood the test of time, this portion is a worthy read.

    For those unfamiliar with the historical reaction to the founding fathers this book would be a solid, brief summary of that subject. For those already familiar with the topic and looking for some unique or new way of understanding the founders this book could be bypassed.

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted May 2, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    9780465011537 9781400044658 9780547053523

    Little book good details reading.

    I've read about 50 pages and I find it interesting...sort of a launch pad for more Americana.

    1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 24, 2012

    As someone who has not done a lot reading of American history I

    As someone who has not done a lot reading of American history I found this to be and interesting look at how the constitution was regarded as it was written, ratified, used and interpreted. It does add some dimension to the founding fathers personalities, but it's focus was really on those that wrote the constitution and mostly the constitution itself.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted March 21, 2012

    Highly Recommended

    This gave me a whole new perspective on the founding fathers. It was refreshing to see how diverse a group they were and how human. It also made me appreciate how hard it must have been for them to start this country and write the constitution. It makes me proud to be an American.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 19, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 24, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 25, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

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