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by Warren McFerran (Author)
From the Christian and antisocialist foundations of American civilization to the American Revolution, the drafting of the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitutional Convention of 1787, this detailed history of the origin of the United States of America examines the differences between a federal system of government and a national system of government. With conviction, the author demonstrates that the American Constitution establishes a federal republic that rests upon the pillars of sovereign states.
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"The States can never lose their powers till the whole people of America are robbed of their liberties. These must go together; they must support each other, or meet one common fate."
--Alexander Hamilton, New York State Ratifying Convention, 1788
Would the Founding Fathers of the United States recognize today's government? Indeed, argues Warren L. McFerran in this expansive study of the foundations of American civilization, they would recognize it as the type of government they rejected in the Constitutional Convention because of its hostilities toward the liberties of the American people.
A detailed and well-documented analysis of the origins of the United States, Birth of the Republic opens with a discussion of the Christian and anti-socialist values of early American society and the revolt against socialist tyranny that gave rise to the American Revolution. With clarity and precision, McFerran systematically examines the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitutional Convention of 1787, looking at how the concept of state sovereignty was safeguarded and transformed during the early heated discussions between the advocates of nationalism and those of federalism.
Including a state-by-state account of the ratification period in 1787, this volume concludes with a meticulous reading of the present federal Constitution. As the author convincingly demonstrates, the Constitution of the United States established a federal republic that rests upon the pillars of sovereign states. Scholarly in approach and thoroughly researched, this work assesses and analyzes those forces--past and present--that threaten to subvert the Constitution and undermine America's republican form and federal system of government.
