Shapers of the Great Debate at the Constitutional Convention of 1787: A Biographical Dictionary

by Joseph Morton

Overview

As the oldest still operational written constitution in the world, the U.S. Constitution—and the concepts it proclaims— have been under almost constant attack since its inception. At a convention in 1787, fifty-five delegates assembled in Philadelphia to revise and amend the Articles of Confederation, only to emerge sixteen weeks later with a new document: the U.S. Constitution. The convention was filled with constant debate over how much power should be given to government and how should this power be allocated, state rights v. nationalists, small states v. large states, political conservatives v. political liberals, and slave-owners v. non-slave-owners. Fifty-five biographies, one for each delegate, are presented. Biographies include such notable individuals as Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Luther Martin, and James Madison. An introductory essay, appendices including the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution, and an annotated bibliography are also included.

The Shapers of the Great Debate series takes a biographical approach to history, following the premise that people make history in the circumstances in which they find themselves. Each volume in this series examines the lives and experiences of the individual's involved in a particular debate through major and minor biographies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313330216
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/30/2005
Series:	Shapers of the Great American Debates , #8
Edition description:	ANN
Pages:	388
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.88(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Joseph C. Morton is Professor Emeritus, Department of History, at Northwestern Illinois University in Chicago. He is the author of The American Revolution, a volume in the Greenwood Guides to Historic Events of 1500-1900 (Greenwood, 2003).

Table of Contents

Series Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introductory Essay
Baldwin, Abraham; Bassett, Richard; Bedford, Gunning Jr.; Blair, John; Blount, William; Brearley, David; Broom, Jacob; Butler, Pierce
Carroll, Daniel; Clymer, George
Davie, William Richardson; Dayton, Johnathan Dickinson
Ellsworth, Oliver
Few, William; Fitzsimmons, Thomas; Franklin, Benjamin
Gerry, Elbridge; Gilman, Nicholas; Gorham, Nathaniel Hamilton
Houston, William Alexander; Houstoun, William Churchill
Ingersoll, Jared
Jenifer, Daniel of St. Thomas; Johnson, William Samuel
King, Rufus
Lansing, John Livingston
McClurg, James William; McHenry, James; Madison, James Jr.; Martin, Alexander; Martin, Luther; Mason, George; Mercer, John Francis Mifflin; Morris, Gouverneur; Morris, Robert; Pierce, William Leigh
Patterson, William; Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth;
Randolph, Edmund; Read, George Rutledge
Sherman, Roger John; Spaight, Richard Dobbs; Strong, Caleb
Washington, George; Williamson, Hugh; Wilson, James; Wythe, George
Yates, Robert
Appendix A: The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union
Appendix B: The Constitution of the United States
Selected Annotated Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

This resource offers alphabetically arranged biographies of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention….The subjects' early lives and careers are described, but the focus is on the political positions that each delegate held on a number of issues, including the tensions between Southern and Northern states on slavery, trade policies, navigation laws, the divisions between large and small states, and the differences between those favoring states' rights versus those for a strong national government. This well-documented book will help students understand how these individuals were influenced by the questions of the day and gain knowledge of the early history of the U.S. The appendixes contain the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States.” —School Library Jourbanal

“[U]ses biography to consider the backgrounds, underlying influences, and political and social pressures of the shapers of the Constitution, providing invaluable information on its underlying influences.” —The Bookwatch

“Over the course of 16 weeks, delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 revised and amended the Articles of Confederation in order to create the new U.S. Constitution. This alphabetically arranged volume presents concise biographies of the Convention's 55 delegates. Each entry describes an individual's participation in the deliberations, with an emphasis on his position in the Great Debate between proportional versus equal representation for states in the legislature.” —Reference & Research Book News

From the Publisher