James Madison American Prophet

James Madison American Prophet PDF Author: Duane L. Ostler
Publisher: Duane L Ostler
ISBN: 131047334X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 59

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Book Description
Rather amazingly, James Madison foresaw many of the problems we face in America today. He foresaw our modern obsession with individual rights, the dangers of judicial activism, the problems of a war presidency, and the economic difficulties that can bring a nation to ruin. Most importantly, as America's preeminent political visionary, he also saw how these problems can be solved.

James Madison American Prophet

James Madison American Prophet PDF Author: Duane L. Ostler
Publisher: Duane L Ostler
ISBN: 131047334X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 59

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Book Description
Rather amazingly, James Madison foresaw many of the problems we face in America today. He foresaw our modern obsession with individual rights, the dangers of judicial activism, the problems of a war presidency, and the economic difficulties that can bring a nation to ruin. Most importantly, as America's preeminent political visionary, he also saw how these problems can be solved.

James Madison American Prophet

James Madison American Prophet PDF Author: Duane Ostler
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781514876671
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
James Madison saw our day. He saw our modern obsession with individual rights, our occasional financial chaos, our flirtations with war and uneasy peace, our political party-bashing and Supreme Court activism. And as America's preeminent political visionary, he also saw how these problems could be solved. His vision has transcended the centuries and if we will but heed him, take his advice and use it, we can build for ourselves a better America--one that both preserves his legacy and our own freedom.

James Madison

James Madison PDF Author: Neal Riemer
Publisher: CQ-Roll Call Group Books
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Examines the political theories of James Madison, describes the forces that shaped the Constitution, and looks at Madison's role in forming a new government.

Freedom's Prophet

Freedom's Prophet PDF Author: Richard S. Newman
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814758576
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
Looks at the life of the first black pamphleteer, abolitionist, and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Madison and Jefferson

Madison and Jefferson PDF Author: Andrew Burstein
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812979001
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 850

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Book Description
“[A] monumental dual biography . . . a distinguished work, combining deep research, a pleasing narrative style and an abundance of fresh insights, a rare combination.”—The Dallas Morning News The third and fourth presidents have long been considered proper gentlemen, with Thomas Jefferson’s genius overshadowing James Madison’s judgment and common sense. But in this revelatory book about their crucial partnership, both are seen as men of their times, hardboiled operatives in a gritty world of primal politics where they struggled for supremacy for more than fifty years. With a thrilling and unprecedented account of early America as its backdrop, Madison and Jefferson reveals these founding fathers as privileged young men in a land marked by tribal identities rather than a united national personality. Esteemed historians Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg capture Madison’s hidden role—he acted in effect as a campaign manager—in Jefferson’s career. In riveting detail, the authors chart the courses of two very different presidencies: Jefferson’s driven by force of personality, Madison’s sustained by a militancy that history has been reluctant to ascribe to him. Supported by a wealth of original sources—newspapers, letters, diaries, pamphlets—Madison and Jefferson is a watershed account of the most important political friendship in American history. “Enough colorful characters for a miniseries, loaded with backstabbing (and frontstabbing too).”—Newsday “An important, thoughtful, and gracefully written political history.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an

Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an PDF Author: Denise Spellberg
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307388395
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
In this original and illuminating book, Denise A. Spellberg reveals a little-known but crucial dimension of the story of American religious freedom—a drama in which Islam played a surprising role. In 1765, eleven years before composing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson bought a Qur’an. This marked only the beginning of his lifelong interest in Islam, and he would go on to acquire numerous books on Middle Eastern languages, history, and travel, taking extensive notes on Islam as it relates to English common law. Jefferson sought to understand Islam notwithstanding his personal disdain for the faith, a sentiment prevalent among his Protestant contemporaries in England and America. But unlike most of them, by 1776 Jefferson could imagine Muslims as future citizens of his new country. Based on groundbreaking research, Spellberg compellingly recounts how a handful of the Founders, Jefferson foremost among them, drew upon Enlightenment ideas about the toleration of Muslims (then deemed the ultimate outsiders in Western society) to fashion out of what had been a purely speculative debate a practical foundation for governance in America. In this way, Muslims, who were not even known to exist in the colonies, became the imaginary outer limit for an unprecedented, uniquely American religious pluralism that would also encompass the actual despised minorities of Jews and Catholics. The rancorous public dispute concerning the inclusion of Muslims, for which principle Jefferson’s political foes would vilify him to the end of his life, thus became decisive in the Founders’ ultimate judgment not to establish a Protestant nation, as they might well have done. As popular suspicions about Islam persist and the numbers of American Muslim citizenry grow into the millions, Spellberg’s revelatory understanding of this radical notion of the Founders is more urgent than ever. Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an is a timely look at the ideals that existed at our country’s creation, and their fundamental implications for our present and future.

Friends Divided

Friends Divided PDF Author: Gordon S. Wood
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735224714
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 530

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Book Description
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017 A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2017 From the great historian of the American Revolution, New York Times-bestselling and Pulitzer-winning Gordon Wood, comes a majestic dual biography of two of America's most enduringly fascinating figures, whose partnership helped birth a nation, and whose subsequent falling out did much to fix its course. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams could scarcely have come from more different worlds, or been more different in temperament. Jefferson, the optimist with enough faith in the innate goodness of his fellow man to be democracy's champion, was an aristocratic Southern slaveowner, while Adams, the overachiever from New England's rising middling classes, painfully aware he was no aristocrat, was a skeptic about popular rule and a defender of a more elitist view of government. They worked closely in the crucible of revolution, crafting the Declaration of Independence and leading, with Franklin, the diplomatic effort that brought France into the fight. But ultimately, their profound differences would lead to a fundamental crisis, in their friendship and in the nation writ large, as they became the figureheads of two entirely new forces, the first American political parties. It was a bitter breach, lasting through the presidential administrations of both men, and beyond. But late in life, something remarkable happened: these two men were nudged into reconciliation. What started as a grudging trickle of correspondence became a great flood, and a friendship was rekindled, over the course of hundreds of letters. In their final years they were the last surviving founding fathers and cherished their role in this mighty young republic as it approached the half century mark in 1826. At last, on the afternoon of July 4th, 50 years to the day after the signing of the Declaration, Adams let out a sigh and said, At least Jefferson still lives. He died soon thereafter. In fact, a few hours earlier on that same day, far to the south in his home in Monticello, Jefferson died as well. Arguably no relationship in this country's history carries as much freight as that of John Adams of Massachusetts and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Gordon Wood has more than done justice to these entwined lives and their meaning; he has written a magnificent new addition to America's collective story.

The Presidents and the Constitution

The Presidents and the Constitution PDF Author: Ken Gormley
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479839906
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 711

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Book Description
Shines new light on America's brilliant constitutional and presidential history, from George Washington to Barack Obama. In this sweepingly ambitious volume, the nation’s foremost experts on the American presidency and the U.S. 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 forty-fourth—has contributed to the story of the Constitution through the decisions he made and the actions he took as the nation’s chief executive. By examining presidential history through the lens of constitutional conflicts and challenges, The Presidents and the Constitution offers a fresh perspective on how the Constitution has evolved in the hands of individual presidents. It delves into key moments in American history, from Washington’s early battles with Congress to the advent of the national security presidency under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, to reveal the dramatic historical forces that drove these presidents to action. Historians and legal experts, including Richard Ellis, Gary Hart, Stanley Kutler and Kenneth Starr, bring the Constitution to life, and show how the awesome powers of the American presidency have been shapes by the men who were granted them. The book brings to the fore the overarching constitutional themes that span this country’s history and ties together presidencies in a way never before accomplished.

American Dialogue

American Dialogue PDF Author: Joseph J. Ellis
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0804172471
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
The award-winning author of Founding Brothers and The Quartet now gives us a deeply insightful examination of the relevance of the views of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Adams to some of the most divisive issues in America today. The story of history is a ceaseless conversation between past and present, and in American Dialogue Joseph J. Ellis focuses the conversation on the often-asked question "What would the Founding Fathers think?" He examines four of our most seminal historical figures through the prism of particular topics, using the perspective of the present to shed light on their views and, in turn, to make clear how their now centuries-old ideas illuminate the disturbing impasse of today's political conflicts. He discusses Jefferson and the issue of racism, Adams and the specter of economic inequality, Washington and American imperialism, Madison and the doctrine of original intent. Through these juxtapositions—and in his hallmark dramatic and compelling narrative voice—Ellis illuminates the obstacles and pitfalls paralyzing contemporary discussions of these fundamentally important issues.

America's Prophets

America's Prophets PDF Author: David R. Dow
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 031337709X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
America's Prophets: How Judicial Activism Makes America Great fills a major void in the popular literature by providing a thorough definition and historical account of judicial activism and by arguing that it is a method of prophetic adjudication which is essential to preserving American values. Dow confounds the allegation of the Christian right that judicial activism is legally and morally unsound by tracing the roots of American judicial activism to the methods of legal and moral interpretation developed by the prophets of the Hebrew Bible. He claims that Isaiah, Amos, and Jesus are archetypal activist judges and, conversely, that modern activist judges are America's prophets. Dow argues that judicial restraint is a priestly method of adjudication and that it, not judicial activism, is the legally and morally unsound method. Race and gender discrimination, separation of church and state, privacy rights, and same-sex marriage are all issues that have divided our nation and required judicial intervention. Every time the courts address a hot-button issue and strike down entrenched bias or bigotry, critics accuse the justices of being judicial activists, whose decisions promote their personal biases and flout constitutional principles. This term, despite its widespread currency as a pejorative, has never been rigorously defined. Critics of judicial activism properly point out that when judges overturn laws that enforce popular norms they thwart the will of the majority. But Dow argues that so-called activist judges uphold two other American legal values that are as deeply embedded in American legal culture as majoritarianism: liberty and equality. He challenges the notion that judicial activism is unprincipled, and he provides a vocabulary and historical context for defending progressive decisions.