"Crafting the Constitution was one of the most amazing collaborations in human history. David O. Stewart's book is both a gripping narrative on how it was done and a useful guide to how we should regard that wonderful document today." -- Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin and Einstein"David O. Stewart's spirited The Summer of 1787 explores a time when brilliant men -- along with colleagues less acute but often louder -- hammered out the template for the United States of America. With indelible vignettes and anecdotes, Stewart reminds us why those four months in Philadelphia can still shake the world." -- A.J. Langguth, author of Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence"David O. Stewart made clearer to me than ever the tensions and bargains that produced our Constitution at the Convention of 1787. Especially the bargain over slavery, with all its terrible, lasting consequences. It is an irresistible drama." -- Anthony Lewis, author of Gideon's Trumpet"In this engaging story of the momentous but little-understood summer that gave us the Constitution, David O. Stewart deftly reminds us what a close-run thing America was -- and still is. Stewart's is an important work, written with insight and verve." -- Jon Meacham, author of American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation"At a time that feels to many like the twilight of the Republic, it is heartening to go back to the dawn and watch the authors of the Constitution struggle to create a democracy that would endure. In The Summer of 1787, David O. Stewart re-creates this moment with fidelity, great feeling, and insight. His book renews our appreciation of one of the masterpieces of Western civilization and reminds us, as Benjamin Franklin reminded his colleagues at the Constitutional Convention, that it was one thing to found a republic -- and quite another to keep it." -- Patricia O'Toole, author of When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House and The Five of Hearts: An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and His Friends"The summer of 1787 may be more than two centuries in our past, but David O. Stewart makes it wonderfully vivid in this fresh and gripping account of America's constitutional birth pangs. Instead of periwigged demigods, Stewart introduces us to fifty-five white males, whose talent for compromise planted the seeds of representative democracy in their garden of privilege. This tale offers the perfect antidote to our own sound-bite and focus-group politics." -- Richard Norton Smith, author of Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation David O. Stewart is an award-winning author and the president of the Washington Independent Review of Books . He is the author of several acclaimed histories, including Madison’s Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America ; The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution ; Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy ; and American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America . Stewart’s first novel is The Lincoln Deception .
Features & Highlights
The Summer of 1787
takes us into the sweltering room in which the founding fathers struggled for four months to produce the Constitution: the flawed but enduring document that would define the nation—then and now.
George Washington presided, James Madison kept the notes, Benjamin Franklin offered wisdom and humor at crucial times.
The Summer of 1787
traces the struggles within the Philadelphia Convention as the delegates hammered out the charter for the world’s first constitutional democracy. Relying on the words of the delegates themselves to explore the Convention’s sharp conflicts and hard bargaining, David O. Stewart lays out the passions and contradictions of the, often, painful process of writing the Constitution. It was a desperate balancing act. Revolutionary principles required that the people have power, but could the people be trusted? Would a stronger central government leave room for the states? Would the small states accept a Congress in which seats were allotted according to population rather than to each sovereign state? And what of slavery? The supercharged debates over America’s original sin led to the most creative and most disappointing political deals of the Convention. The room was crowded with colorful and passionate characters, some known—Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, Edmund Randolph—and others largely forgotten. At different points during that sultry summer, more than half of the delegates threatened to walk out, and some actually did, but Washington’s quiet leadership and the delegates’ inspired compromises held the Convention together. In a country continually arguing over the document’s original intent, it is fascinating to watch these powerful characters struggle toward consensus—often reluctantly—to write a flawed but living and breathing document that could evolve with the nation.
Customer Reviews
Rating Breakdown
★★★★★
60%
(263)
★★★★
25%
(110)
★★★
15%
(66)
★★
7%
(31)
★
-7%
(-31)
Most Helpful Reviews
★★★★★
2.0
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A JIGSAW PUZZLE WITH LOTSA MISSING PIECES.
This book is a collection of anecdotes about the Constitutional Convention and the Framers.
I was hoping for illumination, what I got was a collection of odds & ends that reveal little more than we already know.
7 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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The reasons so many pledge to 'support and defend' the US Constitution
I first read this book in 2008 and then gave it to a person who became an American Citizen a year later. Reason is that this is an EXCELLENT book for an American Citizen to learn about the background of the US Constitution. Mr. Stewart tells us the history behind the US Constitution and its framers; each of the men who were in Philadelphia from May to September 1787. I purchased another copy to remind myself the importance of this document and the struggles endured to come up with a final product. In reading you will discover why the United States Constitution is worthy to support and defend as I did in the Army for 30 years.
6 people found this helpful
★★★★★
4.0
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We the People
Most Americans know the first line of the Preamble to the Constitution. "We the People of the United States . . ." Fewer know it in its entirety, and even fewer have read or studied the Constitution. In "The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution" David Stewart goes behind the closed doors of the Constitutional Convention to tell the story of the intricate and sometimes tedious process of crafting our founding document.
Each member of the Convention played a unique role that reflected their individual personality and background. This is their story, and it is ultimately the story of our country. E Pluribus Unum - "Out of many, one." From the well-known (Washington, Madison, and Franklin) to the unknown (Brearley, Spaight, and Baldwin), Stewart highlights each one, as he weaves their stories into the diverse, yet unified story of the Constitution.
The document that has stood for over two hundred years, was birthed in the heat of the Summer of 1787. In this story you'll meet Abraham Baldwin, a little-known delegate from Georgia who surprisingly sided with the smaller states at a key moment; Gouvernour Morris of Pennsylvania as he delivers the first abolitionist speech in American political life; George Washington and Ben Franklin as they influence the entire Convention while rarely standing to speak. You'll see the alliances as they form and then fall apart, the personality differences rise with the heat, and the sometimes ridiculous ideas that almost became a part of our nations government.
As might be expected, Stewart's personal opinions occasionally peek through in the story (for example, his obvious dislike for the electoral system becomes evident before Appendix 2 which confirms it), but overall it is an objective account that will appeal to both the general and serious readers. If you thought you knew American history, you need to read this book. If you think you don't know American history, you should certainly read this book.
6 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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The story of a challenge.
The first time I read this book was in High School and now I am in my early 40s. I paid attention in history class and I learned some things that I considered to be atrocities committed early in the history of the United States, and some events today are too much like those events. The more of the bad things in the past that I learned the less patriotic I felt, and then I read this book. What this book does is reveal how much effort it took to create the Constitution and whereas the framers of it did not create a perfect document , nor were they perfect, but they created a document that could learn and grow with the nation if its citizens were bold enough and unified enough to see it done. Sadly, that has not always been the case. However, the Constitution can still grow, and so can we citizens. Reading this book helped me to appreciate the Constitution and what the United States of American can grow to become. I wish this book was required reading in Civics classes, but since it is not . .. I hope this review will inspire some other people to give the book a read.
4 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Paints a great picture
I am not a Constitutional scholar or researcher. My perspective is from one who has read numerous books from the revolutionary era. I have to admit I have little, other than other reviews I have read, to base any assessment of accuracy on.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. All the major players in the drama were well discussed. Most of the others were discussed as well. The struggles for direction and for making even the slightest movement at all were well documented. After reading this book I had to find out why James Madison was called the Father of the Constitution, which I had long assumed was the case. I also had a much better feel for what it was that made the Constitution happen. Read this and you'll probably want to laugh at anyone who says "The founding fathers believed________". It does a good job of discussing the back room bartering and lack of agreement on most issues discussed that summer. If you want to understand the Constitution better start with this book. Be sure to note the ominous, yet accurate predictions of George Mason along the way.
The only reason I do not give this book 5 stars at this time is that this is the only book other than James Madison and the fight for the Bill of rights that i have read.
4 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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excellent book
This book increased my interest in the Constitutional Convention.
I wished I had been there to hear Hamilton's speech on favor
of monarchy (I would have rolled my eyes) or the speech by
Gouverneur Morris against slavery (I would have cheered).
I gave me new appreciation for some of my old heroes such as
George Washington, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin. It
also gave me new heroes, such as John Dickinson and Gouverneur
Morris.
The participants were not saints, but real men with strengths
and vices. After the convention, two ended up dying from duels;
two were charged with treason, and several died bankrupt. The
staunch defender of slavery, John Rutledge, suffered a serious
depression later in life and only the intervention of his slaves
prevented him from drowning himself. These very human men
created a system with weaknesses, including an
electoral system for President, a Senate that is not based
on proportional representation, and the three-fifths compromise.
Nonetheless they also created a system with strengths, including
checks and balances on the three branches of government and a
"bill of rights" (although not part of the original document).
At the end I would have concurred with Benjamin Franklin that
"I agree to this Constitution with all its faults."
If the Constitution had not been written and the states had
not united with a centralized government, I fear that our history
would be much different and much worse and that European powers
would have exploited our weakness and threatened out democracy.
Thank you Mr. Stewart for bringing the convention to life.
4 people found this helpful
★★★★★
3.0
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Lynn Cheney's "Madison" does a much better job of explaining his role during the Convention
A fair book. I wish more conservative historians would write about this topic. I am tired of every Liberal writer talking about slavery and how the electoral college needs to go away. Lynn Cheney's "Madison" does a much better job of explaining his role during the Convention. And, YES, the Founders owned slaves, but they were also wise enough to know that the country needed to be created first, before the battle over slavery could be won. The 3/5ths compromise was necessary to form the Union, the Electoral college is necessary to balance power, and we are the ONLY nation to fight a war over slavery and remain intact. So, it would be nice if a writer could balance those FACTS with his political agenda. Fair read...but there are better books.
3 people found this helpful
★★★★★
4.0
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One of the better books on The Grand Convention of 1787
The successful creation of the Constitution is a suspense story. The Summer of 1787 takes us into the sweltering room in which delegates struggled for four months to produce the flawed but enduring document that would define the nation -- then and now. George Washington presided, James Madison kept the notes, Benjamin Franklin offered wisdom and humor at crucial times.
The Summer of 1787 traces the struggles within the Philadelphia Convention as the delegates hammered out the charter for the world's first constitutional democracy. Relying on the words of the delegates themselves to explore the Convention's sharp conflicts and hard bargaining, David O. Stewart lays out the passions and contradictions of the often painful process of writing the Constitution. It was a desperate balancing act.
Revolutionary principles required that the people have power, but could the people be trusted? Would a stronger central government leave room for the states? Would the small states accept a Congress in which seats were alloted according to population rather than to each sovereign state? And what of slavery? The supercharged debates over America's original sin led to the most creative and most disappointing political deals of the Convention. The room was crowded with colorful and passionate characters, some known -- Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, Edmund Randolph -- and others largely forgotten.
At different points during that sultry summer, more than half of the delegates threatened to walk out, and some actually did, but Washington's quiet leadership and the delegates' inspired compromises held the Convention together. In a country continually arguing over the document's original intent, it is fascinating to watch these powerful characters struggle toward consensus -- often reluctantly -- to write a flawed but living and breathing document that could evolve with the nation.
3 people found this helpful
★★★★★
3.0
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No real surprises here
Stewart takes on a job that has been approached many times before. The problem is that he doesn't really reveal anything that we don't already know. While his inclusion of the Ipswich Miracle is a nice aside, it rests alone and there is little else to connect the Confederation Congress to the Convention. Without that connection, Stewart's book becomes little more than a refresher in early Constitutional history. In fact some of his asides, such as the viewing of the steamboat on the river, are nothing more than historical trivia that are seemingly included for the sake of including something that hasn't been covered in other books about the Convention but have no real meaning or impact on the story. The best part of the book is really the beginning where Washington and Mason are together and they are wrestling with the issues between Maryland and Virginia. This would have made a much more interesting and groundbreaking work than "The Summer of 1787".
3 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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230 Years Comes Back Around Again
Who would have thought a book about something that happened 230 years ago -- to the day! -- could be so relevant? Ah... but it is, when you're talking about putting a bunch of high-powered men, most of whom with self-serving agendas and all of whom with strong egos into a room together with the purpose of deciding critical issues facing our country.
Think of it. An exceedingly hot summer, a small, closed room (for privacy -- no air conditioning back then), hot clothing...
And yet these men were able to hammer out the most important document our country has ever produced -- the Constitution of the United States. In a few months. Without a model (remember, this was the time of kings and queens, of dictators and rulers.... no country anywhere had a legislature), these brilliant and stubborn men kept at it until they had something they knew would work, something that was far from perfect, something hypocritical (government by the people... unless you weren't ruling class or were a slave or a woman or a Native American....) but something that could be thoughtfully amended and adjusted and fixed and perfected as time went on.
Two hundred and thirty years later, we still refer to that document, still live by it, rule by it, and are grateful for it.
Makes me wonder why government, with all our technological advances -- messages and documents can be made and sent in seconds, all while sitting in comfortable clothes, in air-conditioned spaces -- we can't seem to get the most basic decisions made.
Every politician should read this book. Then decide if they really want to walk in our founding fathers' shoes, which means to forge compromise, to sometimes agree to an unpleasant option in order to get the job done, to move the country forward. If they aren't, they need to find another job.
I came away from this book with a renewed appreciation for the men who gave up that summer, who argued and reasoned and cajoled with each other, and I learned that the politicking we hear so much about today started way back then. Back when the country was even more fragmented than it is today and the risk of failure was even greater. But the desire to put something in place that would stabilize a rocky nation was stronger than those regional wishes. These men personified what politics is all about, and how it can work to the good.
