Summary of Woody Holton's Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The American Revolution was supported by many private creditors, who were among the Constitution’s most ardent supporters. However, Beard’s interpretation does not explain the enthusiasm that the proposed national government inspired in men such as Madison and Alexander Hamilton.

#2 The American economy was in dire need of capital in 1787, and the framers believed that a national government was the only way to attract it. They believed that a virtuous government would attract capital, and that cracking down on debtors and taxpayers would end the terrible recession that had followed the Revolutionary War.

#3 In 1786, Madison and Monroe bought land on the Mohawk River, nine miles from the site of the Stanwix treaty. They knew their plan contained a fatal flaw, as Americans were becoming more and more reluctant to lend money to their fellow citizens.

#4 Americans, just like James Madison, were frustrated with the economic situation in their country. They were unable to borrow money, and this led to many ambitious men trying to find ways to get loans so they could buy land and expand their trade networks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Aug 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822583023

IRB Media

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Insights on Woody Holton's Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The American Revolution was supported by many private creditors, who were among the Constitution’s most ardent supporters. However, Beard’s interpretation does not explain the enthusiasm that the proposed national government inspired in men such as Madison and Alexander Hamilton.

#2

The American economy was in dire need of capital in 1787, and the framers believed that a national government was the only way to attract it. They believed that a virtuous government would attract capital, and that cracking down on debtors and taxpayers would end the terrible recession that had followed the Revolutionary War.

#3

In 1786, Madison and Monroe bought land on the Mohawk River, nine miles from the site of the Stanwix treaty. They knew their plan contained a fatal flaw, as Americans were becoming more and more reluctant to lend money to their fellow citizens.

#4

Americans, just like James Madison, were frustrated with the economic situation in their country. They were unable to borrow money, and this led to many ambitious men trying to find ways to get loans so they could buy land and expand their trade networks.

#5

The economic slump of the 1780s had many sources, but the most important was the American Revolution. When the war ended, many families thought their tribulations would end as well, but they had only begun.

#6

After the American Revolution, Americans were shocked to find out that their state governments had levied on them oppressive, grinding taxes. Many believed that the assemblies’ greatest crime was to levy what one South Carolinian called oppressive, grinding taxes.

#7

Americans were extremely aware of the irony of having revolted against British tax collectors only to have even more voracious ones at home. Many citizens felt the taxes of the 1780s were an intolerable form of oppression.

#8

The American economy was suffering from a shortage of hard money, gold and silver, in the 1780s. The taxes imposed by state assemblymen were even heavier than they seemed on paper, because the citizens were suffering from an acute shortage of currency.

#9

Americans were acutely aware that most of the tribute that public officials collected from them went to bondholders. In the wake of Shays’s Rebellion,