A Revolution in Favor of Government: Origins of the U.S. Constitution and the Making of the American

A Revolution in Favor of Government. Origins of the U.S. Constitution and the Making of the American State. Max M. Edling. A powerfully.
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To limit the powers of government?


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  • Max. M Edling.
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To curb the excesses of democracy? Or to create a robust democratic nation-state?


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    8. These questions echo through today's most heated legal and political debates. In this powerful new interpretation of America's origins, Max Edling argues that the Federalists were primarily concerned with building a government that could act vigorously in defense of American interests. The Constitution transferred the powers of war making and resource extraction from the states to the national government thereby creating a nation-state invested with all the important powers of Europe's eighteenth-century "fiscal-military states.

    To secure the Constitution's adoption the Federalists had to accommodate the formation of a powerful national government to the strong current of anti-statism in the American political tradition. They did so by designing a government that would be powerful in times of crisis, but which would make only limited demands on the citizenry and have a sharply restricted presence in society.

    A Revolution in Favor of Government - Paperback - Max M. Edling - Oxford University Press

    The Constitution promised the American people the benefit of government without its costs. Taking advantage of a newly published letterpress edition of the constitutional debates, A Revolution in Favor of Government recovers a neglected strand of the Federalist argument, making a persuasive case for rethinking the formation of the federal American state. The Economic Origins of the Constitution A Revolution in Favor of Government is based on a fresh reading of extensive sources, succinctly summarizes relevant information that's often unfamiliar, and puts American history in a comparative context.

    Although Edling presents his argument with scrupulous clarity, the book is not light reading. Readers are, however, rewarded for their efforts with a more profound understanding of the peculiar American system of government that emerged from the struggles and debates of the s and an explanation why it is we keep returning of the writings of the time. It will certainly repay the efforts of every scholar in the field. More than anything else, it helps us better understand the constitutional sources of the gigantic fiscal-military state that the United States has become.

    A Revolution in Favor of Government

    Edling's exciting new book is a breath of fresh air in an agenda-driven and highly politicized historical literature that has lost touch with historical reality. The state-building paradigm enables Edling to bring history back in, both through comparative analysis of developments elsewhere and by reconstructing the broader geopolitical context within which the American federalstate operated. A Revolution in Favor of Government is an impressive achievement.

    Everyone interested in the subject will have to contend with Edling's arguments, which challenge over 30 years of widely accepted scholarship. I will never think about the US Constitution in the old way again. It is enough to say that it raises issues that must be addressed by political scientists and historians.

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    Readers of it will never view the U. Constitution or the founding period in the same way again.

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    Constitution and the Making of the American State Max. M Edling Abstract In this new interpretation of America's origins, the author argues that during the Constitutional debates, the Federalists were primarily concerned with building a state able to act vigorously in defense of American national interests. More In this new interpretation of America's origins, the author argues that during the Constitutional debates, the Federalists were primarily concerned with building a state able to act vigorously in defense of American national interests. Bibliographic Information Print publication date: Authors Affiliations are at time of print publication.

    M Edling, author More Less.

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