The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Max Farrand (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 638 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; Revised edition (September 10, 1966)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300000804
• ISBN-13: 978-0300000801
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #680,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An ongoing review in four parts, part 1: What it is and how to prepare to read it., April 14, 2006

By 

greg taylor (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

I am rereading these after many years. In working my way through these volumes, I realized that these books require some preparation on the part of the reader. I thought I would therefore tell you exactly what these books are and make some suggestions for preparing to read them. As will become clear when I explain what they are, for me to critique them would be presumptuous and odd.

WHAT THESE BOOKS ARE:

Max Farrand published the first 3 volume edition in 1911. He took all the available records from participants in the Constitutional Convention that were known at that time and published them together. These include the official journal of the Convention (kept by the Convention's secretary, William Jackson), James Madison's Notes on the Federal Convention, Robert Yates' Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Convention..., along with notes or papers written by Rufus King, James McHenry, William Pierce, William Patterson, Alexander Hamilton, Charles Pinckney, George Mason, and the Committee of Detail. These are arranged in a day by day format. So that on May 29th, the day that Edmund Randolph presented the Virginia Plan, we read the enteries for that day in the Journal, by Madison, by Yates, by McHenry and by Patterson. And so on until we reach the end of Volume 1 on July 13th. Volume 2 completes the Convention. Volume 3 and 4 provide supplementary material such as letters of the individual delegates, the various plans presented to the Convention, etc.

Volume 4 was added by Farrand in his 1937 edition and includes material discovered between 1911 and 1937. The whole set was reprinted for the Constitutional Bicentennial.

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING THESE VOLUMES:

1. Buy them all before you start reading the first. Or, at least, buy Volume 3 before you start reading Volume 1. There are too many references to readings in Volume 3. You need to be able to read the Virginian, the Pinckney and the Patterson Plans. You will also want to read the day by day correspondence. I recommend that you read a days entry in Volume 1 and then read whatever enteries are there for those days in Volume 3 and 4.

2. It is probably a good idea to do some preparatory reading. Farrand himself wrote a good narrative of the Convention. There are many others. Try to choose one that doesn't just indulge in hagiography. M.E. Bradford wrote A Worthy Company which is short biographies of all the delegates. Very useful. I also suggest reading some good intellectual histories of the Convention. I just finished reading McDonald's Novus Ordo Seclorum. McDonald is as opinionated as always but he is also very learned and no one writes about the Constitution without opinion. You can choose among Bailyn, Woods, Appleby, Banning, Pocock, Adair and many others for this sort of stuff. (I suggest you try to read somebody whose political bent you don't agree with. I did that purposely with McDonald. That way you might actually catch a whiff of your opponent's ideas when you read the Convention notes. Just a suggestion.)

3. Read these documents with organizing themes in mind. For example:

a. Small states versus large states.

b. Slave states versus less slave states. I have forgotten the exact number but I believe that in 1787 there were either only one or two states were slavery was illegal. I trust someone will write me with the correct information. In any case, it is fascinating to listen to all the ways the delegates talk about slavery without using the word. Not in their personal notes but definitely in their public utterences.

c. Democracy versus Aristocracy.

d. Liberalism versus Republicanism.

And so on. I am sure that all of you can suggest many more. Choose several and watch the ways your themes interrelate in one person or more during the course of that summer in Philedelphia.

I owe this idea to McDonald. He has obviously read his copy of Farrand many times with several different themes in mind. In Novus Ordo Seclorum, McDonald has an altogether brilliant section on Madison's constitutional theories (pp 204-209 of the paperback edition) which he concludes by pointing out that Madison may not have had as much influence on the finished document as people normally think. McDonald notes that on the seventy-one specific proposals that Madison moved, seconded or spoke on, he lost 40 times (pp. 208-9). Obviously, McDonald read his copy once keeping track of who won on what issue. You got to love the guy for that.

Anyway, those are my suggestions. It may seem like a lot of work. It is. But it seems to me that one thing that almost all of us (radical, liberal, conservative, libertarian) have lost sight of is that the Founders expected citizens to be participants. To give up a little for the greater good, to take some time to make the right choices, to be involved. To me that implies working a little to understand our history so that I am better able to participate in our democracy. That's my crazy idea and I am sticking with it.