Constitution Making

Sound Bite

This distinguished study bridges the gulf in the literature on the Constitutional Convention between those analysts who stress the influence of philosophical principles and those who stress the influence of political and economic interests.

About the Book

Looking closely at the roll-call voting records, the author examines the patterns of cooperation and conflict among individual delegates and their state delegations as voting units; analyzes the changes in voting coalitions and the implication of those changes for the resolution of critical substantive issues before the Convention; and shows how these major issues were addressed, modified, and resolved from the opening of the Convention on May 25, 1787, to its final adjournment on September 17. The result is a conceptually sophisticated and empirically accurate understanding of the politics of constitution making in the Federal Convention that the author hopes will allow us to see the democratic politics of our own age in clearer perspective.

Table content

CONTENTS

1. Perspectives on the Federal Convention of 1787

2. Debate, Deadlock, and Issue Resolution in the Convention

3. James Madison and the Origins of the Virginia Plan

4. The Nature of Government in the New Republic

5. The Representation Question: Madison and His Opponents

6. The Role of the Executive in Republican Government

7. Localist Periphery and Nationalist Center: On Restraining Government

8. Small State Fears and the States' Rights Caucus

9. The Brearley Committee Report and a New Northern Majority

10. Summary and Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Appendix A: The Data

Appendix B: The Virginia Plan

Appendix C: The New Jersey Plan

Appendix D: Committee of Detail Report

Appendix E: The Constitution of the United States

Index