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| Material Type: | Internet resource |
|---|---|
| Document Type: | Book, Internet Resource |
| All Authors / Contributors: |
Max M Edling |
| ISBN: | 0195148703 9780195148701 |
| OCLC Number: | 50809975 |
| Description: | xii, 333 p. ; 23 cm. |
| Contents: | Introduction: beyond Madisonian federalism -- pt. I. Interpreting the debate over ratification. Legitimacy and meaning: the significance of public debate to the adoption of the Constitution ; The elusive meaning of the debate over ratification ; European states, American contexts ; The ideological response to state expansion -- pt. II. Military powers. An impotent Congress ; Independence, commerce, and military strength ; A government of force ; Government by consent ; The Federalists and the uses of military powers -- pt. III. Fiscal powers. Congressional insolvency ; Unlimited taxation, public credit, and the strength of government ; The costs of government ; A government for free ; The Federalists and the uses of fiscal powers ; Conclusion: the Constitution, the Federalists, and the American state. |
| Responsibility: | Max M. Edling. |
| More information: |
Abstract:
In this new interpretation of America's origins, Max Edling argues the the Federalists were primarily concerned with building a government that could act vigorously in defense of American interests. The Constitution transferred the powers of war making and resource extraction from the states to the national government thereby creating a nation-state invested with all the important powers of Europe's eighteenth-century "fiscal-military states." A strong centralized government, however, challenged the American people's deeply ingrained distrust of unduly concentrated authority. To secure the Constitution's adoption the Federalists had to accommodate the formation of a powerful national government to the strong current of anti-statism in the American political tradition. They did so by designing a government that would be powerful in times of crisis, but which would make only limited demands on the citizenry and have a sharply restricted presence in society. The Constitution promised the American people the benefit of government without its costs.
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Related Subjects:(14)
- Constitutional history -- United States.
- Federal government -- United States -- History.
- Grondwetten.
- Ontstaansgeschiedenis.
- Staatsvorming.
- Gouvernement fédéral -- États-Unis -- Histoire.
- États-Unis -- Histoire constitutionnelle.
- Constituição (história) -- Estados unidos.
- Unabhängigkeitserklärung.
- Verfassung.
- Vollziehende Gewalt.
- Staat.
- Gründung.
- USA.

