Customer Reviews

The Framing of the Constitution of the United States (Law Classic)

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This is arguably the best book on the creation of the United States Constitution. It simply tells the story of the creation of the Constitution, which was a series of compromises, as well as explains, a good deal, the Constitution itself. This is a "must read" book for anyone studying the history of the American Revolution era or anyone studying constitutional law.

I also highly recommend Rakove's excellent and concise biography of James Madison, the Father of the Constitution. Search at Amazon.com for "James Madison Rakove."

This was, in its day, a classic on the Constitutional Convention, held in 1787. Farrand was, indeed, an expert. He had published a four volume set on key records of the Convention, with the fourth volume representing corrections of his original three volumes. Much has happened since in 1913, so this cannot be regarded as the "last word" in scholarship of the Constitutional Convention. But it is an important point on the historical analysis of the founding document of American government.

The work is pretty straightforward in its structure. It begins by laying out the background to calling the Convention in 1787. It proceeds to examine the members selected to represent their states in Philadelphia. Why the desire for a convention to explore the country's governmental structure? It had been claimed that the then-existing constitution, the Articles of Confederation, were not up to the task. Thus, a "revision" was needed. Needless to say, the Constitutional Convention was a "runaway convention" as it went beyond its mandate to create an entirely new Constitution.

There follows the work of the Convention, considering the Virginia Plan, the New Jersey Plan, and the Compromise that brought contentious debate to a compromise. Then, other issues, such as the nature of the presidency, are explored.

All in all, a useful work for understanding the changing views of the Constitution. And, even though it was written long ago, this book still has some value in illuminating the dynamics of the Constitutional Convention.

Farrand is an early 20th century Liberal, which is to say he would not recognize any of those who now claim that label. His writing style is easy. I didn't have to argue my way through his text, unlike other contemporary treatments of that period

I liked The Framing, etc. enough to purchase the much more expensive four volume series of his collection, the Records of the Federal Constitution, of the documents surrounding the formation of the Union.
I do quite a bit of research and found Farrand's indexing very helpful in the multi volume series.

Delegate Bob Marshall
Member, Virginia General Assembly, 1992 to present

I had to read this book for AP history. It is a little long, but it is very informitive, and detailed. It helped on the Ap history exam.