America's Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited

America's Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited

This book challenges the assumption that the Constitution was a landmark in the struggle for liberty. Instead, Sheldon Richman argues, it was the product of a counter-revolution, a setback for the radicalism represented by Americaâ€™s break with the British empire. Drawing on careful, credible historical scholarship and contemporary political analysis, Richman suggests that this counter-revolution was the work of conservatives who sought a nation of â€œpower, consequence, and grandeur.â€ Americaâ€™s Counter-Revolution makes a persuasive case that the Constitution was a victory not for liberty but for the agendas and interests of a militaristic, aristocratic, privilege-seeking ruling class.

The Anti-Federalists were right: The pursuit of "national greatness" inevitably diminishes liberty and centralizes government. The U.S. Constitution did both, as Sheldon Richman demonstrates in this powerfully argued anarchist case against the blueprint for empire known as the U.S. Constitution.
--Bill Kauffman, author, Forgotten Founder, Drunken Prophet: The Life of Luther Martin

The libertarian movement has long suffered from a constitutional fetishism that embraces an ahistorical reverence for the U.S. Constitution. Far too many are unaware of the extent to which the framing and adoption of the Constitution was in fact a setback for the cause of liberty. Sheldon Richman, in a compilation of readable, well researched, and compelling essays, exposes the historical, theoretical, and strategic errors in the widespread reification of a purely political document. With no single correct interpretation, the Constitution has been predictably unable to halt the growth of the modern welfare-warfare American State. I urge all proponents of a free society to give his book their diligent attention.
--Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Professor, San Jose State University; author, Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A History of the American Civil War

"No state or government can limit itself through a written constitution, no matter how fine the words or how noble the sentiments they express. It is one of the many virtues of Sheldon Richman's book that it shows how this is true even of the American Constitution, which despite the promises of its designers and the insistence of its defenders down the years, made limited government less and not more likely."
--Chandran Kukathas, London School of Economics

â€œRichman delivers an accessible, incisive, and well-grounded argument that the Constitution centralized power and undid some of the Revolutionâ€™s liberating gains. He rebuts patriotic platitudes but avoids the crude contrarianism so common in libertarian revisionism written for popular consumption. He does not romanticize Americaâ€™s past or overstate his case. Radical and nuanced, deferential to freedom and historical truth, Richman rises above hagiography or demonization of either the Federalists or anti-Federalists to produce an unsurpassed libertarian exploration of the subject.â€
â€” Anthony Gregory, Independent Institute

â€œ[A]fter reading this book, you will never think about the U.S. Constitution and Americaâ€™s founding the same way again. Sheldon Richmanâ€™s revealing and remarkably well-argued narrative will permanently change your outlook. . . . Richman . . . [is] one of this countryâ€™s most treasured thinkers and writers . . . . [H]e draws on the most contemporary and important scholarly research, while putting the evidence in prose that is accessible and compelling.â€
â€” Jeffrey A. Tucker, Liberty.me and Foundation for Economic Education
Country USA
Brand Griffin & Lash
Manufacturer Griffin & Lash
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber black & white illustrations
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780692687918
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Brand	Griffin & Lash
Manufacturer	Griffin & Lash
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	black & white illustrations
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780692687918
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

America's Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited

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