We Have Not a Government

The Articles of Confederation and the Road to the Constitution

George William Van Cleve (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

400 Seiten

2017
University of Chicago Press (Verlag)
978-0-226-48050-3 (ISBN)

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In 1783, as the Revolutionary War came to a close, Alexander Hamilton resigned in disgust from the Continental Congress after it refused to consider a fundamental reform of the Articles of Confederation. Just four years later, that same government collapsed, and Congress grudgingly agreed to support the 1787 Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, which altered the Articles beyond recognition. What occurred during this remarkably brief interval to cause the Confederation to lose public confidence and inspire Americans to replace it with a dramatically more flexible and powerful government? We Have Not a Government is the history of this contentious moment in American history. In George William Van Cleve's compelling book, we encounter a sharply divided America. The Confederation faced massive war debts with virtually no authority to compel its members to pay them. It experienced punishing trade restrictions and strong resistance to American territorial expansion from powerful European governments. Bitter sectional divisions that deadlocked the Continental Congress arose from exploding western settlement.And a deep, long-lasting recession led to sharp controversies and social unrest across the country amid roiling debates over greatly increased taxes, debt relief, and paper money.
Van Cleve shows how these remarkable stresses transformed the Confederation into a stalemate government and eventually led previously conflicting states, sections, and interest groups to advocate for a union powerful enough to govern a continental empire. Touching on the stories of a wide-ranging cast of characters--including John Adams, Patrick Henry, Daniel Shays, George Washington, and Thayendanegea--Van Cleve makes clear that it was the Confederation's failures that created a political crisis and led to the 1787 Constitution. Clearly argued and superbly written, We Have Not a Government is a must-read history of this crucial period in our nation's early life.

George William Van Cleve is research professor in law and history at Seattle University School of Law. He is the author of A Slaveholders' Union, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Erscheinungsdatum	13.10.2017
Sprache	englisch
Maße	16 x 24 mm
Gewicht	680 g
Themenwelt	Sonstiges ► Geschenkbücher
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918)
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
ISBN-10	0-226-48050-X / 022648050X
ISBN-13	978-0-226-48050-3 / 9780226480503
Zustand	Neuware