For the People, For the Country: Patrick Henry's Final Political Battle
In 1799, at the behest of President George Washington, Patrick Henry came out of retirement to defend the Constitution that he had once opposed and to thwart Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, whom Washington accused of putting party over country and threatening the fragile union. For the People, For the Country tells the remarkable story of how the most eloquent public speaker of the American Revolutionary era and a leading antifederalist during debates over ratification of the Constitution reemerged on the side of the federalists and once again changed history.

Much more than a fire-breathing demagogue, the Patrick Henry we encounter here comes to life as a principled leader of the young nation who believed above all in working with a government elected by the people, advocating for political change in "a constitutional way"—at the ballot box. A gripping narrative, this book will change long-held views of this great Founding Father.

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For the People, For the Country: Patrick Henry's Final Political Battle
In 1799, at the behest of President George Washington, Patrick Henry came out of retirement to defend the Constitution that he had once opposed and to thwart Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, whom Washington accused of putting party over country and threatening the fragile union. For the People, For the Country tells the remarkable story of how the most eloquent public speaker of the American Revolutionary era and a leading antifederalist during debates over ratification of the Constitution reemerged on the side of the federalists and once again changed history.

Much more than a fire-breathing demagogue, the Patrick Henry we encounter here comes to life as a principled leader of the young nation who believed above all in working with a government elected by the people, advocating for political change in "a constitutional way"—at the ballot box. A gripping narrative, this book will change long-held views of this great Founding Father.

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For the People, For the Country: Patrick Henry's Final Political Battle

For the People, For the Country: Patrick Henry's Final Political Battle

by John A. Ragosta
For the People, For the Country: Patrick Henry's Final Political Battle
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For the People, For the Country: Patrick Henry's Final Political Battle

For the People, For the Country: Patrick Henry's Final Political Battle

by John A. Ragosta

Overview

In 1799, at the behest of President George Washington, Patrick Henry came out of retirement to defend the Constitution that he had once opposed and to thwart Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, whom Washington accused of putting party over country and threatening the fragile union. For the People, For the Country tells the remarkable story of how the most eloquent public speaker of the American Revolutionary era and a leading antifederalist during debates over ratification of the Constitution reemerged on the side of the federalists and once again changed history.

Much more than a fire-breathing demagogue, the Patrick Henry we encounter here comes to life as a principled leader of the young nation who believed above all in working with a government elected by the people, advocating for political change in "a constitutional way"—at the ballot box. A gripping narrative, this book will change long-held views of this great Founding Father.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780813950228
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Publication date: 08/17/2023
Pages: 304
Sales rank: 249,854
Product dimensions: 6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

John A. Ragosta is a historian at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello and the author of Religious Freedom: Jefferson’s Legacy, America’s Creed (Virginia).

What People are Saying About This

Annette Gordon-Reed

Republics are fragile. That is For the People, For the Country’s especially timely reminder. Moving beyond the typical recounting of the tumultuous partisan fights in the 1790s between the Jeffersonians and Hamiltonians, Ragosta highlights, with sharp insight, the little-noted but pivotal role that Patrick Henry played in holding together the American Union in 1799, when it seemed that partisan bickering would put an end to the American experiment. This is a story that Americans today should know about and take to heart.

Mary Sarah Bilder

A compelling recasting of Henry as an institutional patriot. Ragosta makes a persuasive case for his importance as a counterexample to the oft-cited understanding of the legacy of the Revolution

Jon Meacham

John Ragosta has given us an important and compelling book about a critical man and a critical question: Patrick Henry and the nature of loyalty within a constitutional republic. If American democracy is to long endure, dissent and disagreement must be resolved with the ballot and the law—not with violence and passion. So Henry came to believe, and so must we. Ragosta’s revealing account is a powerful contribution to the literature of the early republic and to the debates of our own time.

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