Review by Bill Savage
Copyright 2010 – Random House
By Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg
646 Pages plus Notes and index…
Most of us who follow government affairs, politics or American history are familiar with the series of events that led up to the Revolution and consequently, led to the forming of the United States of America. Deep diving into the minutiae of how the Constitution was crafted, and the debates that took place between the founding fathers, we find that the debates were thorough, detailed, and in many cases heated. Those of us who have read and studied the Federalist Papers understand what the intentions of the founding fathers who authored the papers were. The correspondence between Madison and Jefferson during their lifetimes offers and whole new perspective on the process of overcoming the concerns and objections of the individual states, and the statesmen within.
Madison and Jefferson shared a common destain and distrust of government. All government. They also shared a distain for judges who, like today, threaten to thwart the will of the people, override the legislature, and usurp the executive powers of the president.
The challenge of funding the government, taxation, and the ability of the newly formed county to provide for a standing army and outfit a navy were concerns that neither Madsion nor Jefferson took lightly, and their foresight was impressive to say the least.
The authors take the debates and discussions between these two men much further in time than the Federalist Papers, or the ratification of the Constitution. The first decades of the American experiment saw many trials and tribulations that needed to be worked through from political theory to a workable system of government. Even the most astute student of American history will come away with a much richer insight after reading this well researched journey into history.
About the authors – Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg are history professors at LSU and have written extensively on early American history. Isenberg is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.
Bill Savage – Is the Editor of the Wisconsin Conservative Digest and author of Savagespeaks.Substack.com
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