Book Review Number Seven: year 2018
Novus Ordo Seclorum Forrest McDonald
This book goes deep into the foundation of the Constitution…the result was an amalgam of doctrines-political, philosophical, colloquial- like no other.
The chronicles of the past gave them countless examples on how governments failed, but nowhere could they find a concise record of how one began.
The laws of England, while workable in England, were found to be ill-fitted in colonial America. Unlike the geographic confinements of Britain, with the limited natural resources at their disposal, there was great abundance of land in the colonies. Trees were everywhere; restrictions on harvesting lumber were meaningless. Game was seemingly unlimited throughout the colonies; the restrictive hunting laws of England, accordingly, couldn’t be applied without creating points of friction. The evolution of the American individual thus begins its course. In time, the yeoman farmer or merchant develops a resistance to taxes and overreaching government incursions.
The learned classes throughout the colonies thus begin to search the written record for different forms of government and theories concerning wealth distribution, taxation, representation, mercantilism and so on. A corresponding plethora of political philosophers are sought for guidance: Blackstone, Hume, Montesquieu, Adam Smith among many others; and a given philosophic direction would be abandoned once that point of view no longer served a given change of circumstances, such as John Locke’s theories prior to then after the actual war. A different people, the author points out, has emerged. (Hamilton’s contributions were somewhat unique, in that he relied heavily on the philosophy of Emmerich Vattel whose writing were not well known by the other founders. This is addressed at length in Forrest McDonald’s book on Hamilton.)
Interesting episode on page 265, demonstrating the careful diligence to detail that was maintained. A semi-colon is substituted for a comma, evidently put there with ulterior motives by Guoverneur Morris. This minor change of punctuation would have altered the meaning of article 1, section 8 of the Constitution. (You might say ,-;=!) The legerdemain was noted and corrected by Roger Sherman. There’s also a footnote on this page, addressing the issue further.
Speaking of footnotes, they are placed at the bottom of the page, not in back of the book; and they’re helpful footnotes which clarify the paragraph concerned, not just an endless trail of “ibids” and “see alsos.” This format is pointed out by the author in the preface.
History lessons are encountered along the way: Shay’s Rebellion, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts and so forth.
A captivating trip through the time machine of history, along the bricked sidewalks of old Philadelphia, through the cobblestone courtyards and vast woodlands of New England, and across the rolling hills of Virginia.
Appendix A: delegates to the Constitutional Convention.
Appendix B: The Constitution, less Bill of Rights.
293 pages to appendix A. a sturdy paperback, ample room for writing notes, with an alluring cover of forest green.
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