Product Description

“While some have boasted it as a work from Heaven, others have given it a less righteous origin. I have many reasons to believe that it is the work of plain, honest men.”
–Robert Morris, delegate from Pennsylvania to the Constitutional Convention

From distinguished historian Richard Beeman comes a dramatic and engrossing account of the men who met in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787 to design a radically new form of government. Plain, Honest Men takes readers behind the scenes and beyond the debate to show how the world’s most enduring constitution was forged through conflict, compromise, and, eventually, fragile consensus.

The delegates met in an atmosphere of crisis, many Americans at that time fearing that a combination of financial distress and civil unrest would doom the young nation’s experiment in liberty. When the delegates began their deliberations in May 1787, they discovered that a small cohort of men, led by James Madison, had prepared an audacious plan–revolutionary in its view of the nature of American government. The success of this bold and brilliant strategy was far from assured, and the ultimate outcome of the delegates’ labors–the creation of a frame of government that would enable America to flourish–was very different from what Madison had envisioned when he launched his grand scheme.

Beeman captures as never before the dynamic of the debate and the characters of the men who labored that summer in Philadelphia, among them James Madison, as brilliant as he was unprepossessing; the mercurial Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, arrogant, combative, but ultimately effective in shaping the language of the completed Constitution; Maryland’s Luther Martin, a pugnacious (and often inebriated) opponent of a strong national government; Roger Sherman, the straightforward Connecticut delegate who helped broker some of the key compromises of the Convention; and General George Washington, whose quiet dignity and forceful presence helped keep under control the clash of egos and words among the delegates.

Virtually all of the issues the delegates debated that summer–the extent of presidential power, the nature of federalism, and, most explosive of all, the role of slavery–have continued to provoke conflict throughout the nation’s history. Plain, Honest Men is a fascinating portrait of another time and place, a bold and unprecedented book about men, both grand and humble, who wrote a document that would live longer than they ever imagined. This is an indispensable work for our own time, in which debate about the Constitution’s meaning still rages.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15127 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-17
• Released on: 2009-03-17
• Format: Deckle Edge
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 544 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781400065707
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. A day-by-day account of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia can't yield up much drama or fireworks, or even much sparkling talk, at least as recorded by a few participants, especially James Madison. But in this masterful account, Beeman (Patrick Henry), a noted historian of the late 18th century, does his best to dramatize the writing of the American Constitution. As the convention's hot summer weeks rolled on, tensions built, agreements were reached and compromises (especially, alas, about slavery) were made. Beeman gives each decision, each vote, the weight it deserves and, in brief sketches, brings the delegates alive. The result may not be an exciting story, but, after all, it concerns the writing of the world's longest-lived written national constitution. It's also a story freighted with world-historical significance—and one as well told here as can be imagined. This account is now the most authoritative, up-to-date treatment of the Constitutional Convention since Catherine Drinker Bowen's Miracle at Philadelphia over 40 years ago. It's unlikely to be surpassed. Illus., map. (Mar. 17)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
The challenge of writing an account of the Constitutional Convention is that so many accounts already exist. “Do we need another narrative history of the Constitutional Convention of 1787?” asks the Washington Post. While Beeman’s book does not revolutionize the genre, it garners praise for examining the “the nuances and complexities of the compromises that the framers made” (New York Times) and for its detailed recreation of the Philadelphia debates. The most pointed complaint comes from Walter Isaacson in his otherwise positive New York Times review. He writes of Beeman’s hesitancy to include too much of his own interpretation in the book: “[S]ince he is in a far better position to make an assessment than we are, it would be nice to know what he believes.”
Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC

From Booklist
A biographer of Patrick Henry (1974), historian Beeman takes up what the Virginia patriot denounced in 1787: the U.S. Constitution. In a day-by-day narrative, Beeman dramatizes the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, paying particular attention to the characters of the delegates and the moods of their debates. This approach saves Beeman’s account from con-law dreariness and preserves the clash of interests and personalities that shaped the document, not to mention prosaic influences such as hot weather. In Beeman’s prose, readers can visualize the scenes as delegates engage the issues on which the Constitution’s compromises rest, such as the interest that dared not speak its name in the text––slavery. Beeman’s depiction of one of chattel’s champions, Charles Pinckney, underscores a primary intention of the author: to show in greater relief members of lesser historical fame than Madison, Washington, and Franklin, who had decisive effect on the Constitution. Ideal stock for general libraries, Beeman’s work compares well with its classic predecessor, Catherine Drinker Bowen’s Miracle in Philadelphia (1966). --Gilbert Taylor

Customer Reviews

Required reading.
If there are two things I would recommend reading this summer they are, in order, Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution and then The Constitution of the United States. We take the Constitution for granted probably more than any other document that I know of.

In Plain, Honest Men, Richard Beeman gives the reader a glimpse of the process that produced one of the most beloved documents in the world. If beloved, it is equally misunderstood, misquoted, and misused. While Beeman's book won't prevent the various ills associated with the Constitution, and it won't make Constitutional scholars of us, it will provide an eye opening account of its creation and the personalities of the men who created it. I found Plain, Honest Men to be one of the best books I've read in the last couple of years. Yes, in places it is a page turner.

I also now understand some of the debates over issues like ownership of guns. As much as I am grateful for the existence of the Constitution, it is not a perfect document. Witness the current debates over the issue of gun control, or the separation of church and state. Can you have too much freedom of speech? All of these questions are debated now because of the contents of the Constitution we have. If those issues are confusing to us, the shocker is that they were confusing to the writers of the Constitution. There was very little agreement then on any of the issues. The Constitution we have is a creation of compromise. Understanding what Beeman conveys won't make these issues any clearer, but it will clarify the monumental event that the Constitution's creation was and is. Beeman also provides unique glimpses into the personalities like Robert Morris, George Washington, and James Madison and how they each helped to shape the document we have.

Americans should read Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution. When you're finished, read the real document.

Peace to all.

The Framers
An excellent history of the drafting of what was to become our nation's bedrock legal document.

Professor Beeman brings a lifetime of learning into his solid and polished account of the high and low statecraft that occupied those early leaders in Philadelphia during the long summer of 1787.

If you want to know why we have an electoral college; why Delaware has as many senators as California; why it is no surprise that the Civil War started in South Carolina; why the Constitution bans export taxes; why George Washington really was the indispensable man; why the Bill of Rights came afterwards; why ..., why ..., why ...--Buy and read this book.

It will win prizes.

A great book like "The Founding Brothers"!
This book reminds me of "The Founding Brothers" and "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" -- great writing for laymen by a talented professional historian. A key idea is that a small group of delegates, led by Washington, Madison, Morris, and Wilson, planned in advance to launch a revolutionary form of government. But who knew that Madison, clever enough to redirect the delegates who planned to simply amend the Articles of Confederation, was short and sickly, with a tendency to mumble? (A disappointment to me, a fellow Princeton alum.) Try this book... I'm sure you'll like it.