George William Van Cleve's Books

We Have Not a Government

The Articles of Confederation and the Road to the Constitution

By: George William Van Cleve

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We Have Not a Government

The Articles of Confederation and the Road to the Constitution

By: George William Van Cleve

In 1783, as the Revolutionary War came to a close, Alexander Hamilton resigned in disgust from the Continental Congress after it refused to consider a fundamental reform of the Articles of Confederation. Just four years later, that same government collapsed, and Congress grudgingly agreed to support the 1787 Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, which altered the Articles beyond recognition. What occurred during this remarkably brief interval to cause the Confederation to lose public confidence and inspire Americans to replace it with a dramatically more flexible and powerful government? We Have Not a Government is the story of this contentious moment in American history. In George William Van Cleve’s book, we encounter a sharply divided America. The Confederation faced massive war debts with virtually no authority to compel its members to pay them. It experienced punishing trade restrictions and strong resistance to American territorial expansion from powerful European governments. Bitter sectional divisions that deadlocked the Continental Congress arose from exploding western settlement. And a deep, long-lasting recession led to sharp controversies and social unrest across the country amid roiling debates over greatly increased taxes, debt relief, and paper money. Van Cleve shows how these remarkable stresses transformed the Confederation into a stalemate government and eventually led previously conflicting states, sections, and interest groups to advocate for a union powerful enough to govern a continental empire. Touching on the stories of a wide-ranging cast of characters—including John Adams, Patrick Henry, Daniel Shays, George Washington, and Thayendanegea—Van Cleve makes clear that it was the Confederation’s failures that created a political crisis and led to the 1787 Constitution. Clearly argued and superbly written, We Have Not a Government is a must-read history of this crucial period in our nation’s early life.

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Page Count

411

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022664152X

ISBN 13

9780226641522

We Have Not a Government

The Articles of Confederation and the Road to the Constitution

By: George William Van Cleve

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

We Have Not a Government

The Articles of Confederation and the Road to the Constitution

By: George William Van Cleve

Average ratings

N/A

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

411

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022664152X

ISBN 13

9780226641522

A Slaveholders' Union

Slavery, Politics, and the Constitution in the Early American Republic

By: George William Van Cleve

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A Slaveholders' Union

Slavery, Politics, and the Constitution in the Early American Republic

By: George William Van Cleve

After its early introduction into the English colonies in North America, slavery in the United States lasted as a legal institution until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. But increasingly during the contested politics of the early republic, abolitionists cried out that the Constitution itself was a slaveowners’ document, produced to protect and further their rights. A Slaveholders’ Union furthers this unsettling claim by demonstrating once and for all that slavery was indeed an essential part of the foundation of the nascent republic. In this powerful book, George William Van Cleve demonstrates that the Constitution was pro-slavery in its politics, its economics, and its law. He convincingly shows that the Constitutional provisions protecting slavery were much more than mere “political” compromises—they were integral to the principles of the new nation. By the late 1780s, a majority of Americans wanted to create a strong federal republic that would be capable of expanding into a continental empire. In order for America to become an empire on such a scale, Van Cleve argues, the Southern states had to be willing partners in the endeavor, and the cost of their allegiance was the deliberate long-term protection of slavery by America’s leaders through the nation’s early expansion. Reconsidering the role played by the gradual abolition of slavery in the North, Van Cleve also shows that abolition there was much less progressive in its origins—and had much less influence on slavery’s expansion—than previously thought. Deftly interweaving historical and political analyses, A Slaveholders’ Union will likely become the definitive explanation of slavery’s persistence and growth—and of its influence on American constitutional development—from the Revolutionary War through the Missouri Compromise of 1821.

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Page Count

403

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226846695

ISBN 13

9780226846699

A Slaveholders' Union

Slavery, Politics, and the Constitution in the Early American Republic

By: George William Van Cleve

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A Slaveholders' Union

Slavery, Politics, and the Constitution in the Early American Republic

By: George William Van Cleve

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

403

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226846695

ISBN 13

9780226846699

Book's by George William Van Cleve

We Have Not a Government

We Have Not a Government

We Have Not a Government

We Have Not a Government

A Slaveholders' Union

A Slaveholders' Union

A Slaveholders' Union

A Slaveholders' Union

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