by Forrest McDonald



Editorial Reviews

New York Times Book Review
"A witty and energetic study of the ideas and passions of the Framers."

Product Description:

This is the first major interpretation of the framing of the Constitution
to appear in more than two decades. Forrest McDonald, widely considered
one of the foremost historians of the Constitution and of the early
national period, reconstructs the intellectual world of the Founding
Fathers--including their understanding of law, history political
philosophy, and political economy, and their firsthand experience in
public affairs--and then analyzes their behavior in the Constitutional
Convention of 1787 in light of that world. No one has attempted to do so
on such a scale before. McDonald's principal conclusion is that, though
the Framers brought a variety of ideological and philosophical positions
to bear upon their task of building a "new order of the ages," they were
guided primarily by theiy own experience, their wisdom, and their common
sense.

Product Details

Paperback: 376 pages
Publisher: University Press of Kansas; Reprint edition (November 1, 1986)
ISBN: 0700603115