The Federalist Papers

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Summary: The groundwork for a constitutional government
Review: The founding of America wasn't quite as easy as the original colonists banding together to revolt against the mother country and, once done, putting a new country on the map. Long before the Revolutionary War, the men who would be forever identified as the country's founding fathers, had to have colonists' support by convincing them that the new nation they envisioned promised a better life. In doing that, the eventual founders published their ideas and ideals in a collection called "The Federalist Papers," so titled to identify the proposed new government as a federalist one that established a federal government of three branches (the executive, judiciary and legislative) with checks and balances, and independent of what would be territorial states. Here, in essay form, the towering historic words of such founders as George Washington, Thomas Paine, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay lay out their vision of a new country not under the stifling governance of the mother country. The ideas of the founding fathers, in their time, were widely feared, criticized, debated and disputed. But the idealism of a new country won enough support that colonists revolted against the mother country. Far from the revered ideologies that laid the groundwork for America's constitutional form of government, "The Federalist Papers" are a must-read for anyone seriously interested in how we as an American people began and why we're where we are now.

Rating:
Summary: What can you say about pure gold?
Review: This is the book that is constantly being quoted--often by parties on the opposite sides of an argument, about what this country means and where it should go. There is nothing else like it, despite books written during the time, most of which are meant to glorify a person or political idea and are valuable to understanding the subject written about (despite any biases, if you understand what they are). This is where a study of America's founding should begin, and should be REQUIRED reading in every history/civics course.