Question
History book review. (nonfiction and about American history before 1877).
Solution
Maier, Pauline. Ratification: the people debate the Constitution, 1787-1788. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010.
Ratification of the US Constitution was not an easy procedure. The process is detailed in Pauline Maier’s “Ratification,” demonstrating that the road from the Convention to the development of the US national government was neither quick nor smooth. Maier’s work is a detailed study of the process, particularly the people’s decisions and discussions of whether to make the US constitution or not. She recounts how the constitutional debate occurred in various places and offers detailed information about the ratification process and obstacles through a complex narrative. This paper shows how this book defines the American Revolution era and identifies the essential events and persons in transforming the United States Constitution from merely a concept into a revolutionary document that is currently still in existence and forming a functional government by changing the Constitutional Convention from a committee of delegates.
Maier, a renowned historian, wonderfully traces the struggle for ratification of the Constitution trying to show whether the new suggested government was a betrayal of the American Revolution or a confirmation. After gathering throughout the sum 1787, with the primary attempts of revisions to the Articles of the Confederation, delegates came up with a stunning new idea for a stronger national government which emerged from their private deliberations in Philadelphia (Maier, 2010). The Constitution would need the approval of at least nine of the 13 States to take effect. Nearly all of the controversial topics surrounding the Constitutional Convention changed the following national discussion; only on this occasion were their debates public and much more politically heated. Today, our devotion to the Constitution ignores America’s intense struggle over its approval. Drawing largely on the huge documentation record of the ratification conventions, Maier reawakens such strong passion, showing how each state’s unique history and prominent debate players have shaped the argument. The author also demonstrates how the result of the debates was affected in each state, with special emphasis on key conventions like in New York, Virginia, and Massachusetts (Maier, 2010).
Regardless of the potential unanimity, the arguments were tight despite the numerous advantages on the Federalist side. They had control of the majority of newspapers and mostly belonged to the commercial and professional classes most eager to grip a stronger national authority (Maier, 2010). They also often used the term dangerous anarchists, as Maier states, to refer to opposing parties, resorted to steamroll them and darkening nuanced criticisms and objections to the ratification. Above all, George Washington, the most unifying figure of the new nation, supported the Federalists. The author organized her broad, sophisticated narrative by checking in with Washington frequently to track the ratifying Convention’s progress……………for help with this assignment contact us via email Address: consulttutor10@gmail.com