Read Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman

Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman

George Athan Billias

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Description:Elbridge Gerry's reputation in American history rests on two contradictory views: his positive achievements as signer of the Declaration of Independence, framer of the Federal Constitution, Minister to France, Governor of Massachusetts, and Vice President of the United States; and his presumed streak of negativism shown by his refusal to sign the Constitution, his splitting of the American delegation in France during the XYZ affair, and his resort to the "gerrymander" which made his name a household word.In this provocative biography, the first full-scale study since 1828, the apparent paradox is explained by Gerry's consistent dedication to republicanism during changing times. He is portrayed as an ideologue—a man whose decisions in the post-Revolutionary period reflected his attempts to remain faithful to republican principles formed early in his career.Gerry's republicanism before the Revolution did not lead straight to his role as one of America's Founding Fathers. First he tried to achieve his vision of a virtuous republic within the British Empire itself. he adopted the position of reluctant rebel only after this effort failed. If this were true of Gerry, one of the foremost advocates of independence, we must question what effect republicanism must have had on other American patriots.Although Gerry derived great psychological satisfaction from his role as Founding Father, he agonized over the existential predicament his new-found identity created. His ambivalence arose from a conflict in life-goals. He remained torn by the tensions arising from his desire to pursue a public career as leader of a republican revolution on the one hand and his desperate desire for a private life, on the other.Although a prominent Antifederalist, Gerry emerges as a republican statesman rather than an obstructionist politician. He was concerned mainly in safeguarding the rights of citizens and the states from the newly formed central government, and, above all, in consolidating the gains of the Revolution. One significant finding in this biography is that Gerry;s arguments as an Antifederalist within the Constitutional Convention were drawn from the same intellectual framework as his Federalist opponents.Remaining a Republican statesman most of his life, Gerry became a partisan politician only at the very end. Fearing the threat posed by the Federalists to the republic as the second war with Britain grew close, he employed the pragmatic, if questionable, practice of gerrymandering in Massachusetts politics. Gerry;s late conversion as a rabid Jeffersonian Republican helps to shed new light on the developing political culture of early America.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman. To get started finding Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
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ISBN: 0070052697

Description: Elbridge Gerry's reputation in American history rests on two contradictory views: his positive achievements as signer of the Declaration of Independence, framer of the Federal Constitution, Minister to France, Governor of Massachusetts, and Vice President of the United States; and his presumed streak of negativism shown by his refusal to sign the Constitution, his splitting of the American delegation in France during the XYZ affair, and his resort to the "gerrymander" which made his name a household word.In this provocative biography, the first full-scale study since 1828, the apparent paradox is explained by Gerry's consistent dedication to republicanism during changing times. He is portrayed as an ideologue—a man whose decisions in the post-Revolutionary period reflected his attempts to remain faithful to republican principles formed early in his career.Gerry's republicanism before the Revolution did not lead straight to his role as one of America's Founding Fathers. First he tried to achieve his vision of a virtuous republic within the British Empire itself. he adopted the position of reluctant rebel only after this effort failed. If this were true of Gerry, one of the foremost advocates of independence, we must question what effect republicanism must have had on other American patriots.Although Gerry derived great psychological satisfaction from his role as Founding Father, he agonized over the existential predicament his new-found identity created. His ambivalence arose from a conflict in life-goals. He remained torn by the tensions arising from his desire to pursue a public career as leader of a republican revolution on the one hand and his desperate desire for a private life, on the other.Although a prominent Antifederalist, Gerry emerges as a republican statesman rather than an obstructionist politician. He was concerned mainly in safeguarding the rights of citizens and the states from the newly formed central government, and, above all, in consolidating the gains of the Revolution. One significant finding in this biography is that Gerry;s arguments as an Antifederalist within the Constitutional Convention were drawn from the same intellectual framework as his Federalist opponents.Remaining a Republican statesman most of his life, Gerry became a partisan politician only at the very end. Fearing the threat posed by the Federalists to the republic as the second war with Britain grew close, he employed the pragmatic, if questionable, practice of gerrymandering in Massachusetts politics. Gerry;s late conversion as a rabid Jeffersonian Republican helps to shed new light on the developing political culture of early America.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman. To get started finding Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman

Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman

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