The Antifederalists Men of Great Faith & Forbearance by David Siemers, Department of Political Science

In 1787, a great debate raged in America over whether or not to ratify the newly proposed Constitution. Arguing against ratification were such patriotic luminaries as Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and George Clinton. Known as Antifederalists, they opposed the Constitution on the grounds that it consolidated too much power in the hands of a central governing body--something the nation had just fought a war to escape.

The Antifederalists: Men of Great Faith and Forbearance couples a wide variety of Antifederalist documents with insightful commentary to provide the first truly representative and up-to-date work on this important political group. David J. Siemers's carefully selected works and clear explanations bring out the variety among Antifederalists and the chronological development of the ratification fight.

ISBN: 0742522601 Format: Paperback, 285pp Pub. Date: October 2003 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Ratifying the Republic Antifederalists & Federalists in Constitutional Time by David Siemers, Department of Political Science

Ratifying the Republic explains how the United States Constitution made the transition from a very divisive proposal to a consensually legitimate framework for governing. This story has never been told in its entirety, mainly because the transition seemed so seamless. But the Federalists' proposal had been bitterly opposed, and constitutional legitimation required a major transformation. The story of that transformation is the substance of this book.

Synopsis
Rather than to any inherent virtue it contains, Siemers attributes the high reputation and central position of the US Constitution in American political discourse to the partisan fragility of the immediate post-ratification era. The document became official law in June 1788, he says, but there followed nearly a year of bitter dispute amidst high doubt whether it would be accepted by the politically active public as a whole. Annotation c. Book
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ISBN: 0804741069 Format: Hardcover, 352pp Pub. Date: September 2002 Publisher: Stanford University Press

E-mail David Siemers at: siemers@uwosh.edu

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Date of last update: August 18, 2003