Just eleven years previously the American colonies had successfully separated from England. The leaders of that revolution began to realize that their new freedom was tenuous at best. Each state was printing its own money and enacting its own laws that were often at variance with actions that would help stabilize the new nation. The central government was deeply in debt from the recent war and could only “requisition” the states for money which the states were not obligated to pay and not eager to pay. Each of the thirteen states was, in fact, more like independent small nations and each had its own ideas of how to protect its own interests. It was clear to George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, George Mason and all the other revolutionary heroes that something needed to be done to move from their loose “Confederation” document to something more solid and binding in order to survive as a new nation.
A convention of the thirteen states was convened in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. Rhode Island did not even show up. New York walked out and did not return after only a short time. This left only 11 deeply divided states to argue and hammer out a document that would be used to run the new country. And there were lots of issues to be argued.
The small states wanted to make sure they had as much influence over laws and elections as the others so they favored one vote for each state. The large states argued that they held the majority of the population and wealth and should have more votes so they favored representation based on population. The Southern states were fiercely protective of their system of slavery upon which their entire economy was based. The Northern states argued that slavery is immoral and should not be allowed to continue. So, of course, there needed to be compromise if the new nation were to function or even continue to exist.
One such compromise was an agreement to count each slave in the slave states as three-fifths of a person and thereby increase the numbers of the population upon which to base a representative system. There was to be one representative in the House of Representatives for every 30,000 persons in population. It was agreed that the slavery system could not be contested for a period of thirty years. It was agreed that the states would not be allowed to tax other states on imports.
Some attendees felt that the people should elect the new president of the country and others felt that the people were too uninformed and that such a system would result in anarchy. It was finally agreed that the people would vote but that their representatives would cast the votes for president on their behalf. The electoral college was proposed.
Some wanted the president to serve for life; others wanted a term of nine years. Some wanted to limit the president to serving only one term. Others wanted the president to be able to be re-elected indefinitely. The group settled on a four year term with re-election an option.
It was finally decided that only the Federal Government could print money. Only the Federal Government could declare war. The Federal Government would tax its citizens to obtain funding to operate. The President would be the Commander in Chief of all the military. The Senate would consist of two representatives from each state and would have the power to impeach the President. The House and Senate could propose laws but any new law had to be approved by the President. If the President did not approve a new law the law could still be enacted if a two thirds majority of the House and Senate voted in its favor.
Obviously I am paraphrasing much of the wording of the final Constitution and you would be better served to read it for yourself. The beauty of the Constitution can be much more fully appreciated after having read this book. Stewart does a really good job of relating the heated contests of that summer and all of the difficulties that had to be overcome. The framers of our Constitution realized that they did not have a great document but that it was a big compromise but they eventually felt the compromises were needed in order to continue as a nation. Toward the end of their deliberations they realized that they had failed to draft a bill of rights. That would have to come later and it did as one of the many amendments to the Constitution. The fact that the authors realized the Constitution was not perfect was evident in their inclusion of the means to make amendments. They knew that changes would have to come.
Not having read other books describing the creation of our Constitution I cannot make comparisons. But, I am not an historian. It is clear from looking at the other books reviewed on my web site that I read fiction and most of that is detective or mystery fiction. I do, however, know what I like in a book. I like for it to be clear and easy to understand, well written and fairly easy to read without falling asleep. It should be interesting and detailed. I find this work to more than live up to my desires and give it a 9 of 10 on the Weaver meter. It is easy for me to see why this one is a best seller.
