Most Americans revere their Constitution yet know relatively little about its origins. Indeed, until now, nobody has written a comprehensive history of the Constitution's making. Based on prodigious research and told largely through participants' voices, Michael J. Klarman's The Framers' Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution fills that void. Klarman's narrative features colorful characters and riveting stories, such as the rebellion by debtor farmers in Massachusetts that contributed enormously to the Constitution's creation, George Washington's agonized deliberations over whether to attend the Philadelphia convention, Patrick Henry's demagogic efforts to defeat ratification in Virginia, and the political machinations of Alexander Hamilton and John Jay at the New York ratifying convention that produced an improbable victory for ratification. Three principal themes characterize Klarman's narrative. The first is contingency. The Philadelphia convention almost did not take place; once assembled, it nearly failed; and the Constitution it produced almost went unratified. Second, the Constitution was more a product of ordinary political struggle than of disinterested political philosophizing. Creditors and debtors, city dwellers and backcountry farmers, northerners and southerners-all had competing interests and fought for them with the weapons of ordinary politics, such as the disparaging of adversaries' motives, character assassination, and even threats of violence. Finally, the Framers wrote a Constitution very different from what most Americans anticipated or wanted. Many of its features were designed to insulate the national government from populist political influence. Why was the Philadelphia convention so unrepresentative of national opinion, and how did the Framers convince ordinary Americans to approve a scheme that drastically reduced their political influence? For anyone interested in a comprehensive, lively, and provocative account of the making of the American Constitution, this is the ideal volume.

About the Author
Michael J. Klarman is Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and author of the Bancroft Prize-winning From Jim Crow to Civil Rights (OUP).

Reviews
After more than two centuries, it seemed unlikely that anything new could be said about the drafting and ratification of the United States Constitution. Michael Klarman has managed to do so. He has given us the most thorough account in print of the men and issues that shaped American political culture. It would be conforting to think that the people who wave copies of the Constitution at election rallies would actually read Klarman's provocative book. * T. H. Breen, Times Literary Supplement *
Klarman...offers a pragmatic, even quotidian, explanation, taking the reader through the most minute historical detail and presenting quite literally everything anyone interested in the coming-to-be of the US Constitution would possibly want: theory, philosophy, history, theology, religion, politics, economics-and just plain random chance. And he weaves it all together with a master storyteller's ear for just the right phrase and just the right dramatic line. This reviewer is amazed by what the author has accomplished. This is not the first thing he's written, and yet it feels like something one would spend an entire academic career writing. The documentation is astonishing, and is alone worth the price of this (extremely large!) volume. This reviewer had a grand time reading this, and cannot wait to do it again. This is an amazing piece of work....Essential * M. Berheide, CHOICE *
The central strength of this book is its deep familiarity with primary sources * John R. Vile, The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199942039
Author Michael J. Klarman
Format Hardback
Page Count 880
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 1383g
Dimensions(mm) 160mm * 236mm * 58mm