Understanding the Founding: The Crucial Questions

American Political Thought

by Alan Gibson

Over the course of the last century, scholars have furiously debated four questions concerning the Founders and their act of creation. Were the Framers motivated by their economic interests? How democratic was the Framers' Constitution? Should we interpret the Founding using philosophical or strictly historical approaches? What traditions of political thought were most important to the Framers? In Understanding the The Crucial Questions, Alan Gibson examines the preconceptions that scholars bring to these questions, explores the deepest sources of scholars' disagreements over them, and suggests new and thoughtful lines of interpretation and inquiry. Building on his previous work, Interpreting the Founding, which offers a synoptic overview of the competing perspectives that have informed modern scholarship on the Founders, Gibson now examines this same century of scholarship from the standpoint of the most important debates that it has generated. In evaluating the economic interpretation of the Constitution, Gibson establishes what has and has not been proven about the economic and social characteristics of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists and makes suggestions for future research. Gibson's analysis of the character of the original Constitution sets forth a complex and judicious view of the Framers' intentions regarding democracy, arguing that scholars have often disagreed, not because they have vastly different understandings of the Framers' aims, but because they differ among them-selves about how to define democracy. In examining the controversy over interpretive approaches, Gibson suggests a new synthesis of the insights of linguistic contextualists and philosophical rationalists; and in revisiting the liberalism-versus-republicanism debate, he analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of alternative accounts of the interactions of multiple traditions in the political thought of the Founders. Gibson's incisive analysis brings clarity to these complex and sprawling debates and sheds new light on the institutional and intellectual foundations of the American political system. Urging us to move forward from a puerile affection for the Founders to a deeper understanding of their place in the history of political thought and a more balanced assessment of the strengths and limitations of the system that they founded, he also provides a provocative view of the proper role of the Founders' ideas today. This book is part of the American Political Thought series.

Genres: History

314 pages, Hardcover

First published April 19, 2007

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

In summarizing five critical debates that have surrounded America’s founding, Alan Gibson creates an unbiased, scholarly handbook invaluable to anyone interested in examining scholarship regarding the original intent of the US Constitution. Focusing on such debates regarding the economic motives of the Founders, their perceived moral and democratic responsibilities, and their success in constructing a document based on novel political theory, Gibson informs readers while providing a guide to the different frameworks of interpretation that have surrounded the study of such debates. Illustrating how and why the debates have unfolded as they have, Gibson suggests ways in which we can move past the cycle of condemnation and celebration of the Founders towards a more detached and complex view of their works and ideas. Ultimately, Gibson argues that this is important due to the fact that such scholarly debates continue to reflect and shape how we identify ourselves as American and understand the nature of our political system.

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate this book. I hate it I hate it I hate it. This should be exciting on two counts: the Founding is AWESOME and historian bitchfights are AWESOME. But no. Every sentence in this book is painful. Every word.

It is possible to write historiography in such a way that it is not mind-bendingly boring. Gibson does not have the knack. Gibson, in fact, has the magic power of BORING. I swear I understand less than I did before I started reading this.

[Craig Bolton]

Understanding the Founding: The Crucial Questions (American Political Thought) by Alan Gibson (2007)