A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution (edition 2003)

by Carol Berkin

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MichaelHodges's review

Review: A Brilliant Solution, Inventing the American Constitution - by Carol Berkin……………..7 July 2013
This book published in 2002 should be a must read for all students of American History and Civics.
The prose is clear concise and quite complete I would warrant. Quite an easy read. This book is especially good for those such as myself a long time naturalized US citizen and history buff. The author, a CUNY professor has written a most sparkling rendition of the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia over a six month period in 1787. The academic book is replete with source notes, time line, chronology, copies of the Confederation and the US Constitution Articles, plus 54 one page biographies of the state delegates. As a student of democracy, I had often questioned why the US Senate composition is so undemocratic. More-over in this age of rapid voting returns, why the current need for an electoral college to determine who will be the US President? The 1787 Connecticut Compromise has determined the make-up of the US Senate and the Two Senators per State formula was negotiated to protect the smaller states. In my view that requirement is no longer relevant. It is time to re-calculate US Senate representation. One could greatly reduce the cost of Government by combining most of the small states with a larger neighbor. However I doubt that individuals of small states would concur. Once a Wyoming always a Wyoming!
So instead we could reduce the number of Senators from States with less than 3M residents to one per state and add Senators proportional to the population of the larger states so that the State of California with a population of 40M warrants 10 Senators. As far as State ratification dates, the sequence is discussed but not all the dates are included. A most minor deficit. I list the 13 states and their ratification dates below.
1 Delaware 7 Dec 1787
2 Pennsylvania 12 Dec 1787
3 New Jersey 18 Dec 1787
4 Georgia 2 Jan 1788
5 Connecticut 9 Jan 1788
6 Massachusetts 6 Feb 1788
7 Maryland 28 Apr 1788
8 South Carolina 23 May 1788
9 New Hampshire 21 Jun 1788
10 Virginia 25 June 1788
11 New York 26 Jul 1788
12 North Carolina 21 Nov 1789
13 Rhode Island 29 May 1790 (

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MichaelHodges | Jul 6, 2013 |

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This is a great book for high school students to read (provided they have time, which I'm sure they don't) alongside their textbook. This popular history shows the men involved in creating the new government for the United States as humans with both virtues and flaws, not mythologized figures or caricatures. Both their virtues and flaws significantly influenced the form of government that came out of the Constitutional Convention.

I think this is a good historical introduction for people looking to delve deeper into this topic. As a popular history with a strong narrative, the book is a bit short on the political theory and analysis, but it provides enough of it to do what this book is trying to do, and to be a starting place for those who are trying to decide if they want to dive deeper into the topic. (

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LordPetros | Apr 30, 2020 |

Nice little succinct book on the creation of the Constitution. The end of the book includes short biographies of everyone who took part in the convention (whether he signed or not), and the text of the Articles of the Confederation and the Constitution itself. (

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Jarratt | Jun 20, 2019 |

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MichaelHodges | Jul 6, 2013 |

This is a concise, yet insightful look at the men and processes of developing America's constitution. (

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jepley38 | Aug 10, 2011 |

The previous reviewer mentions Berkin's lack of footnotes. While it is true, the reviewer doesn't seem to understand that this book is written for a popular audience. Hence, the narrative style. Also, any narrative account of the Convention must necessarily be based on Madison's notes and, seeing that there is no new scholarship here, the decision by the author to leave out intimidating footnotes seems prescient. Berkin's book is a great introduction to the Constitutional Convention giving both a "story" and the issues. Her character portraits are interestingly drawn and does a good job of propelling the story forward which is not an easy thing to do when chronicling a political convention.

Both books mentioned by the reviewer, by Wood and Rakove, are fundamentally different from this book and certainly are not seeking the same audience. Wood's "Creation" especially is not something most casual readers, i.e. those caught up in this resurgence of interest in the Founders, will want or even be able to tackle. Berkin makes a point of writing history for the public and she has succeeded here once again. (

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michaelhattem | May 28, 2009 |

A decent, if basic, treatment of the Constitutional Convention ... if it's depth you want, though, choose another book (Gordon Wood's "Creation of the American Republic" or Jack Rakove's "Original Meanings" come to mind). Berkin writes without footnotes (troublesome particularly when she makes errors, which happens at least once), in a narrative style which is readable but not great. Her biographical sketches of the Convention delegates (which follow the text) are the most interesting and useful part of the book. (

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