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Brion McClanahan
MemberRight. That was in the Western territories in 1860. There were about 3.5 million slaves in the South in 1860 out of a total of 11 million people.
MemberTariffs were a component of the Hamiltonian system and as such were a factor in the ultimate split between the North and South. Were they the only factor, no, but were they important, yes, as part of a larger picture of political economy. I tried to emphasize that the differences between the North and South were complex and stretched to the colonial period.
MemberKen Burns is a very good director but very bad historian. With the exception of his documentary on baseball, I would avoid his programs.
MemberAnd, don’t forget that Nicolas Biddle’s–the president of the B.U.S.–chief ally was Henry Clay. Clay, of course, spread the rumors during the 1828 campaign that Jackson’s wife Rachel was a bigamist because she was still technically married to her first husband when she married Old Hickory. She died of a heart attack before Jackson took office and Jackson never forgave Clay for starting those rumors. Clay also censured Jackson in the Congress for his actions in Florida after the War of 1812. So, in short, Jackson’s move was not ideological. It was personal.
David Crockett brought up the fact that Jackson was at one time inclined to support the Whig economic program and then did an about face when Jackson was running for Senate. In terms of politics, Jackson always did what was best for Jackson and his personal vendettas.
Jackson did the right thing in declaring the Bank unconstitutional, but his policies after the fact were a disaster.
MemberThe only reason I mentioned Elliot’s Debates is because you can get them for free online at Google Books. Save a penny for the tin.
MemberYes, the split can be traced back to England, and it spilled over into the colonies. The time frame would be roughly the 1620s forward. William Berkeley, arguably the most important man in VA in the early colonial period, sided with King Charles during the English Civil War and despised Puritans. On the other hand, men like Cotton and Winthrop in New England could do without “cavalier tories” like Berkeley.
MemberOf course! Brion McClanahan, “The Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution” (Regnery History 2012). I would also recommend Elliot’s Debates and the Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution. The vols on VA, MA, and NY are very good.
MemberYes because you increase the amount of money in circulation and at the same time you devalue the currency. This is why the so-called “Gold Democrats” were able to say that they wanted the working class to receive 100 cents for every dollar earned. The legislative mechanisms that put this into place, the Bland-Allison Act and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, (also the high McKinley tariff) wrecked the economy, particularly the latter. When Grover Cleveland began his second term in 1893 he had to rescue the economy from the silverites and a severe panic caused by a run on gold in the treasury and high inflation. He took heat for this, primarily because he said it was not the government’s job to support the people, but he made the hard and correct decisions and the economy eventually rebounded.
Member“Our country would look completely different if we did what Hamilton would have wanted.”
Yes, if you are talking about Hamilton’s proposed government at the Philadelphia Convention; no if you are talking about the current mess in D.C. We live in Hamilton’s America, particularly in regard to political-economy and the power of the general government. Or it would be better to suggest that we live in Robert Morris’ government with a scattering of Pennsylvania nationalism thrown in, but no one knows who Robert Morris is. Hamilton soaked in everything he sold him and then made it policy.
But it must emphasized strongly that Hamilton, Marshall, James Wilson, and other ardent nationalists were the outliers, not the norm. Hamilton, in fact, picked up his toys and went home during the Philadelphia Convention because the other two New York delegates continually made his vote irrelevant. And he was called out on the carpet during the New York Ratifying Convention as a liar.
MemberYou can also read “The Political Writings of John Dickinson” in 2 vols for free on Google Books. Well worth the time and energy.
MemberMy pleasure. Glad you enjoyed it.
MemberKevin: Don’t forget Taft called the Filipino people his “little brown brothers.”
MemberShawn,
You read the article incorrectly. Levinson states that the Madison, Hamilton, and Jay “mocked the ‘imbecility” of the weak central government created by the Articles of Confederation” not the proposed Constitution that came out of Philadelphia.
The piece is not bad, at least not in principle. We certainly should be having a discussion about the faults of the Constitution. After all, the opponents warned that by ratifying the document, Americans would be facing the mess we are in today. I do not agree with Levinson’s solutions (direct democracy, his proposal to allow the president to appoint members of Congress, etc), and I fear that Americans would want too much democracy and centralization instead of more federalism, but he is correct that the system needs to be examined and perhaps “fixed.” I included a list of proposed amendments that never saw the light of day in my Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution. All would be worthwhile.
MemberJamie, Kevin, et al. I would highly recommend this book, not yet released, by Richard Gamble, professor at Hillsdale College and a former Clyde Wilson student, like myself. I think it would answer the OP quite nicely.
MemberI provide reading suggestions and biographical vignettes of every man on the list with the exception of Jay in my “Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers.” I also cover Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Francis Marion, George Clinton, Elbridge Gerry, Nathanial Macon (underrated), John Marshall (overrated), Roger Sherman (underrated), and John Taylor of Caroline (most consistent Jeffersonian). I also touch on several members of the founding generation in my “Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution.,” though not in great detail.
Everyone should read M.E. Bradford’s “Founding Fathers” and “A Better Guide Than Reason.”
Clyde Wilson also has a great essay on Taylor as well as forgotten founder James Jackson in our forthcoming “Forgotten Conservatives in American History.”
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