This is a book review of
The_Machiavellian_Moment.[1] I haven't read it. Sounds interesting. The reviewer's comments are more about modern interpretations of the American revolution and constitutional convention than the events themselves.
The US constitution was the result of an attempt to build something that wouldn't easily break. That's clear from the debates at the convention, and the Federalist Papers, all of which survive and are still widely read. The US constitution was Version 2. Version 1 was the Articles of Confederation, which created a weak central government subordinate to the states. That government was closer to the United Nations or the European Union than a national government. It wasn't strong enough.
The framers knew they needed a strong central government. They expected the British to come back and try to re-conquer the United States, which happened in the war of 1812. The obvious solution was a monarchy. Hamilton wanted that. (He wanted to be King.) Nobody else did. They'd fought a war to get out from under a king.
The other worry was descent into anarchy and mob rule. Which is what happened in the French revolution. Followed by years of civil wars, then Napoleon.
So the framers wanted something between those extremes. They had the advantage that most of the colonies already had elected representatives and governors, and that seemed to be working. So there was a model to copy.
Much stability was built-in, such as 6-year terms for senators. Impeachment was made possible but hard.
The President can't dissolve Congress and call a new election, as in a parliamentary system.
Congress controls spending. It's not perfect, and it's being stressed at the moment, but it's still holding together.
Most of the rest was trying to work out the spheres of control of the federal and state governments. The original plan was that the Federal government is in charge of war, foreign policy, and interstate commerce, and the states do everything else.
That's still pretty much the case. There's far more interstate commerce, but most government is still state level and below.
That's rare, worldwide.
There were many arguments and compromises. But the Framers, on the whole, did a good job. It's worth reading the Federalist papers as a design exercise.
There are strange interpretations of what the framers did.
There are people who claim they were divinely inspired.
But no; the debates show lots of arguments and compromise.
They were very afraid of failing. "We must all hang together, or we will all hang separately". Which would have happened had Britain won the war of 1812, which was a close thing. The
British reached the Capitol and burned it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machiavellian_Moment
The US constitution was the result of an attempt to build something that wouldn't easily break. That's clear from the debates at the convention, and the Federalist Papers, all of which survive and are still widely read. The US constitution was Version 2. Version 1 was the Articles of Confederation, which created a weak central government subordinate to the states. That government was closer to the United Nations or the European Union than a national government. It wasn't strong enough.
The framers knew they needed a strong central government. They expected the British to come back and try to re-conquer the United States, which happened in the war of 1812. The obvious solution was a monarchy. Hamilton wanted that. (He wanted to be King.) Nobody else did. They'd fought a war to get out from under a king.
The other worry was descent into anarchy and mob rule. Which is what happened in the French revolution. Followed by years of civil wars, then Napoleon.
So the framers wanted something between those extremes. They had the advantage that most of the colonies already had elected representatives and governors, and that seemed to be working. So there was a model to copy.
Much stability was built-in, such as 6-year terms for senators. Impeachment was made possible but hard. The President can't dissolve Congress and call a new election, as in a parliamentary system. Congress controls spending. It's not perfect, and it's being stressed at the moment, but it's still holding together.
Most of the rest was trying to work out the spheres of control of the federal and state governments. The original plan was that the Federal government is in charge of war, foreign policy, and interstate commerce, and the states do everything else. That's still pretty much the case. There's far more interstate commerce, but most government is still state level and below. That's rare, worldwide.
There were many arguments and compromises. But the Framers, on the whole, did a good job. It's worth reading the Federalist papers as a design exercise.
There are strange interpretations of what the framers did. There are people who claim they were divinely inspired. But no; the debates show lots of arguments and compromise. They were very afraid of failing. "We must all hang together, or we will all hang separately". Which would have happened had Britain won the war of 1812, which was a close thing. The British reached the Capitol and burned it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machiavellian_Moment