The original compromise : what the Constitution's framers were really thinking / David Brian Robertson.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-301) and index.

1. Introduction -- The framers' aspirations -- A stronger national government -- A republican national government -- From aspiration to compromise -- The records of the Constitutional Convention -- Accounts written after the Convention -- Analyzing the Constitutional Convention -- Ideas and interests -- Politics -- Broad nationalism and narrow nationalism -- The sequence of constitutional choice -- What the framers produced -- The plan -- part I. The illness and the cure -- 2. The setting -- Who were the delegates? -- The central role of politics -- The national crisis -- The delegates differences -- A capsule history of the Convention -- From crisis to reconstitution -- 3. The remedy -- Was it necessary and timely to reconstruct the nation's government? -- Public opinion and constitutional reform -- A republican national government -- The requirements and ambiguities of republicanism -- The challenge of reconstitution -- 4. Controlling Republican politics : the main challenge -- The central role of political majorities -- In republican government -- Malicious politicians -- could a republican government control republican politics? -- The challenge of republican government -- 5. Broad nationalism : the politics of the Virginia Plan -- Madison's strategy for the Convention -- Virginia's diagnosis -- Virginia's plan for a new national government -- From agenda to battleground -- 6. Narrow nationalism : the Virginia Plan's opponents -- The Virginia Plan's threat-- The political strategy of Virginia -- Plan's opponents -- An alternative agenda : New Jersey's Plan -- The New Jersey Plan's consequences -- Crossroads.

pt. II. The politics of building government institutions -- 7. Selecting U.S. representatives -- Why was the selection of members of Congress so crucial? -- The direct election of U.S. Representatives -- The struggle for proportional representation in the House -- Apportioning House seats among the States -- Determining House seats in the future -- The path of representation in the House -- 8. Selecting U.S. senators -- Envisioning the Senate -- Who selects the Senators? -- Apportioning Senate seats -- The Connecticut compromise -- The path of representation in the Senate -- 9. Congressional independence -- The power of the purse -- Forbidding multiple office-holding -- Controlling elections -- Controlling members' qualifications and pay -- Legislative rules -- The path of congressional development -- 10. Selecting the president -- Envisioning a republican executive -- Dual tracks for choosing the president -- The compromise on the presidency -- The path of presidential selection -- 11. Presidential independence and isolation -- The executive's term and qualifications -- Removing and replacing the executive -- The executive's council and appointments -- The executive veto and policy influence -- Pardons -- The path of presidential power -- 12. The courts and a bill of rights -- The national courts' authority -- Judicial independence : selection, term, and pay -- How many national courts? -- Citizen rights -- The path of courts and rights -- part III. The politics of government power -- 13. Federalism -- A supreme national government -- A national veto of state laws -- Shared sovereignty -- The ambiguity of national authority -- Treason and shared sovereignty -- The path of American federalism ---- 14. Slavery -- Slavery and representation -- The slave trade -- Fugitive slaves -- The path of slavery and race in the United States -- 15. Economic authority -- Taxes and their limits -- Commerce -- Money, credit, and debt -- Land -- Economic development -- The path of economic authority -- 16. National security and foreign policy -- The military -- domestic rebellion and the state militias -- War, peace, and treaties -- The path of national security and foreign policy -- 17. The end game -- The ratification process -- Amendments -- New states -- Imperfections and signing -- The uncertainties that remained -- The path of constitutional acceptance and development -- 18. A republic, if you can keep it -- What drove the Constitution's design? -- Ideas and interests -- Politics -- Broad and narrow nationalism -- The sequence of constitutional choice -- The results of the Constitutional Convention -- The enduring republic -- The original compromise -- The unfinished republic -- Appendix 1. Chronological sequence of Constitutional Convention decisions -- Appendix 2. The United States Constitution and accompanying documents from the Constitutional Convention.

The eighty-five famous essays by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay--known collectively as the Federalist Papers--compose the lens through which we typically view the ideas the U.S. Constitution. But we are wrong to do so, writes David Robertson, if we really want to know what the Founders were thinking. In this provocative new account of the framing of the Constitution, Roberston observes that the Federalist Papers represented only one side in a fierce argument that was settled by compromise--in fact, multiple compromises. Drawing on numerous primary sources, Robertson unravels the highly political dynamics that shaped the document. Brilliantly argued and deeply researched, this book will change the way we think of "original intent." With a bracing willingness to challenge old pieties, Robertson rescues the political realities that created the government we know today. -- Provided by publsiher, inside flaps.