James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights
Oxford University Press
May 2006
336
Today we hold the Constitution in such high regard that we can hardly imagine how hotly contested was its adoption. In fact, many of the thirteen states saw fierce debate over the document, and ratification was by no means certain. Virginia, the largest and most influential state, approved the Constitution by the barest of margins, and only after an epic political battle between James Madison and Patrick Henry. Now Richard Labunski offers a dramatic account of a time when the entire American experiment hung in the balance, only to be saved by the most unlikely of heroes--the diminutive and exceedingly shy Madison.
Here is a vividly written account of not one but several major political struggles which changed the course of American history. Labunski takes us inside the sweltering converted theater in Richmond, where for three grueling weeks, the soft-spoken Madison and the charismatic Patrick Henry fought over whether Virginia should ratify the Constitution. The stakes were enormous. If Virginia voted no, George Washington could not become president, New York might follow suit and reject the Constitution, and the young nation would be thrust into political chaos.
This review is based on the audio version of the book.
To be totally honest, I only made it through the first 3 disks. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this book was not well written. The point was abundantly clear that there was much confusion after the initial constitutional convention about whether the Constitution should be ratified. The book goes on to talk about this for at least 3 hours. And brings up the same points over and over again. I had to check to see if I had messed up and was listening to the same disk again. Yes Madison was instrumental in creating the Constitution, he was even very important in getting it passed in Virginia, but it did get by, let’s move on.
There were some interesting points in the first 3 disks. I hadn’t realized how large and powerful Virginia was in the early United States, geographically it extended into present day Ohio, not to mention the number of prominent politicians that called Virginia home. Another tidbit was that the main point of contention with the Constitution was that it lacked the points that eventually became the Bill of Rights. The Anti-Federalists where afraid that without those rights the federal government would impinge personal liberties. Madison and others made the somewhat logical argument that since all personal liberties could not possibly be enumerated, some would be left off the list, and thereby possibly be considered unprotected.
Basically, after hearing the same arguments over and over in the first 3 disks, I jumped ahead to a random spot in the 7th disk. The arguments that I heard there were almost identical to that in the 3rd. No thank you. I stopped listening. I have other things I’d rather do that waste my time on a bad book.