Jack N. Rakove
Author of Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution
About the Author
Jack Rakove is the William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies and a professor of political science at Stanford University. He is the author of, among other books, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1997.
Image credit: Courtesy of the Pulitzer Prizes.
Works by Jack N. Rakove
Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution (1996) 771 copies, 5 reviews
The beginnings of national politics : an interpretive history of the Continental Congress (1979) 52 copies
The Federalist: The Essential Essays, by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay (The Bedford Series in History and Culture) (2003) — Editor — 21 copies
Beyond Belief, Beyond Conscience: The Radical Significance of the Free Exercise of Religion (2020) 19 copies
A Politician Thinking: The Creative Mind of James Madison (Volume 14) (The Julian J. Rothbaum Distinguished Lecture Series) (2017) 18 copies
Constitutional Culture and Democratic Rule (Murphy Institute Studies in Political Economy) (2001) — Editor — 8 copies
Jefferson perceived 1 copy
Our Jefferson 1 copy
Associated Works
Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity (1987) — Contributor — 61 copies, 1 review
The Transformation of Early American History: Society, Authority, and Ideology: How the Writings and Influence of Bernard Bailyn Have Changed Our Understanding of the American… (1991) — Contributor — 39 copies, 2 reviews
Saving the Revolution: The Federalist Papers and the American Founding (1985) — Contributor — 17 copies
The William and Mary Quarterly, July 1987: Constitution of the United States — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Rakove, Jack Norman
- Birthdate
- 1947
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Harvard University (PhD|History|1975)
Haverford College (AB|History|1968) - Occupations
- historian
university professor - Organizations
- Stanford University
- Relationships
- Rakove, Milton L. (father)
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Illinois, USA
Members
Reviews
This is not a thrilling book. It is dense, dry, and curiously devoid of color. But it has many lessons for right now. Just as Europe is arguing in disunity, so the states saddled themselves with the essentially impossible task of unanimity to enable a constitution. And with Rhode Island not even bothering to show up for negotiations, ratification was very iffy, much like Britain vetoing banking talks today. That and the insistence by southern states on slavery added a layer of compromise and show more hypocrisy that stained the process.
But the chief American preoccupation today is with Originalism - trying to enforce today what we think the framers and voters accepted in 1787. But to quote one of the more prominent of the framers, Thomas Jefferson, that is a fool's errand:
"Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment."
Jefferson would scoff at The Tea Party. show less
But the chief American preoccupation today is with Originalism - trying to enforce today what we think the framers and voters accepted in 1787. But to quote one of the more prominent of the framers, Thomas Jefferson, that is a fool's errand:
"Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment."
Jefferson would scoff at The Tea Party. show less
Subtitled "A New History of the Invention of America," this historical look at the American Revolution and the framing of the United States Constitution does take a different approach than the typical popular history of the era. Rakove tries to emphasize that founders of the United States were ordinary men who rose to the occasion to make the best of the opportunities that the revolution provided for nation-building. He also emphasizes that these founding fathers rarely agreed. The strength show more of this book is that if offers an intellectual history of the arguments that America's founders and the compromises that they needed to agree to. Rakove also deserves credit for including figures whose names rarely appear in popular history - such as George Mason, John Dickinson, Charles Carroll, John Jay, Henry and John Laurens, Richard Henry Lee and Robert Morris - alongside John Adams, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin. The book systematically discusses the origins of the revolution, the decision for independence, the course of the war campaign, diplomatic missions in Europe, United States governance under the Articles of Confederation, the framing of the Constitution, and the successful establishment of the new government. My main criticism of this book is that Rakove is often too generous in discussing the motivations of his subjects. For example, most historical works interpret George Washington wearing a military uniform to the Continental Congress as a deliberate part of a campaign to gain the command of the army, but Rakove makes it seem like happenstance. Regardless, this is a well-written and engaging history of the nation's founding and I recommend it to anyone interested in the time period.
Other little tidbits I liked:
Favorite Passages:
Other little tidbits I liked:
- John Adams liked Rembrandt's work, especially "The Prophetess Anna," the portrait of his mother with a bible that my son liked at the Rijksmuseum.
- In a letter written in 1784 to Samuel Mather, Benjamin Franklin expresses a desire to return to his childhood home of Boston and perhaps "lay my bones there."
Favorite Passages:
"We think of happiness as a personal mood or state of mind. In the eighteenth century its connotations were broader. . . Happiness was a condition that whole societies as well as individuals could enjoy. It implied a state of social contentment and not merely personal cheeriness and good humor. Happiness was one of those broad concepts that both private and public meanings, subject for philosophical inquiry rather than psychological babbling. For Jefferson the concept of happiness was something to ponder as well as pursue." - p. 300show less
"Traditionally, bills of rights were thought to operate as a restraint on government by providing people with a basis for knowing when their rulers were overstepping their power. But that function no longer fit the political life of the republic. 'Wherever the real power in a government lies, there is the danger of oppression," Madison observed. "In our Governments the real power lies in the majority of the community, and the invasion of private rights is cheifly to be apprehended, not from acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the constituents.'" - p. 394
This is a very interesting and useful book that is unfortunately marred by being housed in a poor e-book edition. For example, the e-book edition does not include any illustrations. Where there is supposed to be an illustration, it includes a note telling you to see the print edition. Also, as an annotation of these key documents, it includes each section of the document only after the annotations for the text. It would be more useful to have the text first followed by the annotations. show more Finally, the original and the annotations are distinguished from another by use of different fonts resulting in an unpleasant optical experience. This book would be rated much higher if it had a better e-book editor. My recommendation would be for people to read the print edition.
Although the annotated version is over 350 pages, I felt hungry to know more about each article and how it came to be. show less
Although the annotated version is over 350 pages, I felt hungry to know more about each article and how it came to be. show less
I got a great deal out of "Revolutionaries," but at times, it was tough slogging. Jack Rakove is clearly a great US scholar and his passion shines through. But it is written in quite the academic manner, so the casual reader may be turned off by its dense prose. There were also several sections and chapters where Rakove takes off on tangents that took us away from the core characters of the revolution and its aftermath.
And his last three chapters focus individually on Madison, Jefferson, and show more Hamilton. I think this content would have been better served had it been more mixed into other chapters regarding the Constitutional Convention.
Still, I'm sure I will reference this book a good bit as I continue my study of the American Revolution and the creation of the Constitution. But I'll only focus on those passages I highlighted (and there were a lot of them), rather than be inclined to read it all again someday. show less
And his last three chapters focus individually on Madison, Jefferson, and show more Hamilton. I think this content would have been better served had it been more mixed into other chapters regarding the Constitutional Convention.
Still, I'm sure I will reference this book a good bit as I continue my study of the American Revolution and the creation of the Constitution. But I'll only focus on those passages I highlighted (and there were a lot of them), rather than be inclined to read it all again someday. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 18
- Also by
- 6
- Members
- 2,591
- Popularity
- #9,916
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 16
- ISBNs
- 58
- Favorited
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