The Framers' Intentions
The Myth of the Nonpartisan Constitution
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Narrated by:
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Kevin Moriarty
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By:
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Robert E. Ross
About this listen
Robert Ross addresses a fascinating and unresolved constitutional question: Why did political parties emerge so quickly after the framers designed the Constitution to prevent them? The text of the Constitution is silent on this question. Most scholars of the subject have taken that silence to be a hostile one, arguing that the adoption of the two-party system was a significant break from a long history of anti-party sentiments and institutional design aimed to circumscribe party politics.
The constitutional question of parties addresses the very nature of representation, democracy, and majority rule. Political parties have become a vital institution of representation by linking the governed with the government. Efforts to uphold political parties have struggled to come to terms with the apparent anti-party sentiments of the founders and the perception that the Constitution was intended to work against parties.
The Framers’ Intentions connects political parties and the two-party system with the Constitution in a way that no previous account has, thereby providing a foundation for parties and a party system within American constitutionalism. This book will appeal to readers interested in political parties, constitutional theory, and constitutional development.
The book is published by University of Notre Dame Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.
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- By Jennifer on 10-01-19
By: Eric Foner
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Thaddeus Stevens
- Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice
- By: Bruce Levine
- Narrated by: Landon Woodson
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Thaddeus Stevens was among the first to see the Civil War as an opportunity for a second American revolution - a chance to remake the country as a genuine multiracial democracy. As one of the foremost abolitionists in Congress in the years leading up to the war, he was a leader of the young Republican Party’s radical wing, fighting for anti-slavery and anti-racist policies long before party colleagues like Abraham Lincoln endorsed them. These policies - including welcoming black men into the Union’s armies - would prove crucial to the Union war effort.
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Excellent bio of a political hero
- By Anonymous User on 03-11-21
By: Bruce Levine
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The Everything American Government Book
- From the Constitution to Present-Day Elections, All You Need to Understand Our Democratic System
- By: Nick Ragone
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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If the confusion following the last presidential election is any indication, the average citizen knows precious little about the democratic system and the laws that affect their daily lives. The Everything American Government Book unravels the complexities of our democracy and provides listeners with the knowledge necessary to make the right decisions and take an active role in the management of their country. This thoroughly researched work is ideal for anyone brushing up on civics, as well as students of all ages.
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A solid understanding of local, state and national political structure...
- By Amazon Customer on 12-25-19
By: Nick Ragone
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The Presidents and the Constitution
- A Living History
- By: Ken Gormley - editor
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 21 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In this sweepingly ambitious volume, the nation's foremost experts on the American presidency and the US Constitution join together to tell the intertwined stories of how each American president has confronted and shaped the Constitution. Each occupant of the office - the first president to the 44th - has contributed to the story of the Constitution through the decisions he made and the actions he took as the nation's chief executive.
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great book about the presidency & Constitution
- By Rob on 12-27-16
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James Madison
- America's First Politician
- By: Jay Cost
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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How do you solve a problem like James Madison? The fourth president is one of the most confounding figures in early American history; his political trajectory seems almost intentionally inconsistent. He was both for and against a strong federal government. He wrote about the dangers of political parties in the Federalist Papers and then helped to found the Republican Party just a few years later. This so-called Madison problem has occupied scholars for ages.
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Good listen
- By James Shannon on 06-27-22
By: Jay Cost
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The Founding Fathers' Guide to the Constitution
- By: Brion McClanahan
- Narrated by: David Cochran Heath
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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How did the founding generation intend for us to interpret and apply the Constitution? Are liberals right when they cite its “elastic” clauses to justify big government, or are conservatives right when they cite its explicit limits on federal power? Professor Brion McClanahan, popular author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers, finds the answers by going directly to the source—the Founders themselves, who debated all the relevant issues in their state constitutional conventions.
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Biased from the opening
- By David on 11-05-20
By: Brion McClanahan
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The Crooked Path to Abolition
- Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution
- By: James Oakes
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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An award-winning scholar uncovers the guiding principles of Lincoln's antislavery strategies.
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Lincoln’s Transformation
- By A View from Greensboro on 12-04-22
By: James Oakes
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How Alexander Hamilton Screwed Up America
- By: Brion McClanahan
- Narrated by: Thomas Rosenfeld
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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He is the star of a hit Broadway musical, the face on the 10-dollar bill, and a central figure among the founding fathers. But do you really know Alexander Hamilton? Rather than lionize Hamilton, Americans should carefully consider his most significant and ultimately detrimental contribution to modern society: the shredding of the United States Constitution. Connecting the dots between Hamilton's invention of implied powers in 1791 to transgender bathrooms and same-sex marriage today, Brion McClanahan shows the origins of our modern federal leviathan.
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Thank You Audible
- By No to Statism on 10-03-18
By: Brion McClanahan
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James Madison and the Making of America
- By: Kevin R. C. Gutzman
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In James Madison and the Making of America, historian Kevin Gutzman looks beyond the way James Madison is traditionally seen - as "The Father of the Constitution” - to find a more complex and sometimes contradictory portrait of this influential Founding Father and the ways in which he influenced the spirit of today's United States.
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Not a traditional biography
- By David on 12-14-12
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The Original Argument
- The Federalists' Case for the Constitution, Adapted for the 21st Century
- By: Glenn Beck, Pat Gray
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Glenn Beck revisited Thomas Paine’s famous pre-Revolutionary War call to action in his #1 New York Times bestseller Glenn Beck’s Common Sense. Now he brings his historical acumen and political savvy to this fresh, new interpretation of The Federalist Papers.
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A must for Freedom lovers
- By Danny on 06-16-11
By: Glenn Beck, and others