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    The Framers' Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution
    The Framers' Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution
    The Framers' Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution
    Audiobook31 hours

    The Framers' Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution

    Written by Michael J. Klarman

    Narrated by Mike Chamberlain

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Americans revere their Constitution. However, most of us are unaware how tumultuous and improbable the drafting and ratification processes were. As Benjamin Franklin keenly observed, any assembly of men bring with them "all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests and their selfish views." One need not deny that the Framers had good intentions in order to believe that they also had interests. Based on prodigious research and told largely through the voices of the participants, Michael Klarman's The Framers' Coup narrates how the Framers' clashing interests shaped the Constitution-and American history itself.

    The Philadelphia convention could easily have been a failure, and the risk of collapse was always present. Had the convention dissolved, any number of adverse outcomes could have resulted, including civil war or a reversion to monarchy. Not only does Klarman capture the knife's-edge atmosphere of the convention, he populates his narrative with riveting and colorful stories: the rebellion of debtor farmers in Massachusetts; George Washington's uncertainty about whether to attend; Gunning Bedford's threat to turn to a European prince if the small states were denied equal representation in the Senate; slave staters' threats to take their marbles and go home if denied representation for their slaves; Hamilton's quasi-monarchist speech to the convention; and Patrick Henry's herculean efforts to defeat the Constitution in Virginia through demagoguery and conspiracy theories.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateOct 31, 2017
    ISBN9781541483736
    The Framers' Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution

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    Reviews for The Framers' Coup

    4.5/5

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    • 4/5
      To say that this book is detailed is a bit like calling the sun warm or a black hole poorly lit. Klarman (or Klarman's research associates) have read pretty much everything written by anyone important to the creation of the constitution, and have distilled it all down into one lengthy, exhausting book. Do you need to read this? I'd have to say no, unless you're doing research, or you're a junkie. For those two types of people, though, this is a goldmine: very well organized, convincing, and almost Walter Benjaminite in its willingness to tell an entire story through other people's words. It's not really that different from other interpretations, but it does give you all the evidence you'll ever need to show that the constitution and its makers probably aren't as great as everyone says.
    • 4/5
      Excellent, but depressing, account of how the US Constitution was created, largely outside the influence of the general population, and designed to limit the effects of (too) direct democracy on government meant to cement the reigning establishment’s control of and benefit from centralized control of taxation and trade.It’s not all bad, as Klarman points out that, once in place, the Anti-Federalists (now Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans) were able to work within the framework to make some changes. But he also points out various parts of the Constitution that are still problematic for a “democracy” that are essentially impossible to change with the tools provided by the Constitution itself.