Founding Fathers: Brief Lives of the Framers of the United States Constitution?Second Edition, Revised / Edition 2

by M. E. Bradford

Overview

One was a shoemaker, surveyor, lawyer, jurist, lay theologian, and statesman. Two became president, one vice president. Over half were experienced in the legal profession. The majority were well off and, for their time, well educated. And when they came together in Philadelphia in 1787, they produced the framework for the most influential document in the history of the United States.

Yet, says M. E. Bradford, the fifty-five original Framers of the U.S. Constitution didn't view themselves as demigods out to "invent" a country. Instead they tackled the nuts and bolts of constitution building by relying on a shared philosophical legacy inherited from more than 1,000 years of British history and culture.

In this concise and valuable reference work—the only compilation of biographical sketches for all fifty-five Framers who attended the Philadelphia Convention—Bradford examines the Framer's constitutional theories, their visions for the newly founded union, and their opinions on ratification of the document that would address such paramount issues as national revenue, public debt, currency, removal of trade barriers between the states, and provisions for the common defense.

Delving into the political and philosophical principles of the founders, Bradford illuminates their motives, thoughts, and actions and illustrates how their political decision-making was influenced by religion, education, environment, economic circumstances, and personal background.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700606573
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	02/26/1994
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)

Table of Contents

Foreword, By Russell Kirk

Introduction

New Hamphire

-John Langdon

-Nicholas Gilman

Massachusetts

-Elbridge Gerry

-Caleb Strong

-Nathaniel Gorham

-Rufus King

Connecticut

-Roger Sherman

-William Samuel Johnson

-Oliver Ellsworth

New York

-Alexander Hamilton

-Robert Yates

-John Lansing

New Jersey

-William Livingston

-William Paterson

-William Churchill Houston

-David Brearly

-Jonathan Dayton

Pennsylvania

-Benjamin Franklin

-Gouverneur Morris

-George Clymer

-Thomas Mifflin

-Thomas Fitzsimons

-Jared Ingersoll, Jr.

-James Wilson

-Robert Morris

Delaware

-John Dickinson

-Gunning Bedford

-George Read

-Richard Bassett

-Jacob Broom

Maryland

-Luther Martin

-James McHenry

-Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer

-Daniel Carroll

-John Francis Mercer

Virginia

-George Washington

-James Madison

-George Mason

-George Wythe

-James McClurg

-John Blair, Jr.

-Edmund Randolph

North Carolina

-William Richardson Davie

-Hugh Williamson

-Richard Dobbs Spaight

-William Blount

-Alexander Martin

South Carolina

-John Rutledge

-Charles Cotesworth Pinckney

-Pierce Butler

-Charles Pinckney

Georgia

-Abraham Baldwin

-William Few

-William Leigh Pierce

-William Houstoun

Index

Editorial Reviews

"As the only concise compilation of these biographies available, this is an invaluable reference work done by a scholar who devoted his life to the study of the founding of the American Constitution."—John P. Kaminski, Director, Center for the Study of the American Constitution

From the Publisher