Knowingo
Try 7 days free
The cover of The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787

The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787

Gordon S. Wood

How did the founders move from a revolution built on virtue and the public good to a new kind of constitution?

Get the app Read on the web

At a glance

Author
Gordon S. Wood

Why read it

  • You will see that the founders were driven by ideas about virtue and the public good, not only individual rights
  • You will learn how the people and their legislatures clashed over who held power, and how that shaped the Constitution
  • You will understand that a lasting document can come from many people arguing, not from one brain

Who it is for

  • A citizen curious why the Constitution looks as it does
  • A law or politics student reading the founding debates
  • A reader who assumes the founders only cared about individual rights

Contents

  1. Preface to the 1998 Edition
  2. Preface
  3. PART ONE The Ideology of Revolution
  4. CHAPTER I The Whig Science of Politics
  5. CHAPTER II Republicanism
  6. CHAPTER III Moral Reformation
  7. PART TWO The Constitution of the States
  8. CHAPTER IV The Restructuring of Power
  9. CHAPTER V The Nature of Representation
  10. CHAPTER VI Mixed Government and Bicameralism
  11. PART THREE The People against the Legislatures
  12. CHAPTER VII Law and Contracts
  13. CHAPTER VIII Conventions of the People
  14. CHAPTER IX The Sovereignty of the People
  15. PART FOUR The Critical Period
  16. CHAPTER X Vices of the System
  17. CHAPTER XI Republican Remedies
  18. PART FIVE The Federal Constitution
  19. CHAPTER XII The Worthy against the Licentious
  20. CHAPTER XIII The Federalist Persuasion
  21. PART SIX The Revolutionary Achievement
  22. CHAPTER XIV The Relevance and Irrelevance of John Adams
  23. CHAPTER XV The American Science of Politics
  24. A Note on Sources

More books like this