Signing Their Rights Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the United States Constitution
Language: English
Pages: 0
ISBN: B00FEAN1YI
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
With their book Signing Their Lives Away, Denise Kiernan and Joseph D'Agnese introduced listeners to the 56 statesmen (and occasional scoundrels!) who signed the Declaration of Independence. Now they've turned their attention to the 39 men who met in the summer of 1787 and put their names to the U.S. Constitution.
Signing Their Rights Away chronicles a moment in American history when our elected officials knew how to compromise - and put aside personal gain for the greater good of the nation. These men were just as quirky and flawed as the elected officials we have today: Hugh Williamson believed in aliens, Robert Morris went to prison, Jonathan Dayton stole $18,000 from Congress, and Thomas Mifflin was ruined by alcohol. Yet somehow these imperfect men managed to craft the world's most perfect Constitution. With 39 mini-biographies Signing Their Rights Away offers an entertaining and enlightening narrative for history buffs of all ages.
Scotch peddler.” Of course, this wouldn’t be the last time that Hamilton and Burr crossed paths. In 1804, Burr ran for governor of New York against a Democratic-Republican and wanted the support of Federalists. Naturally, Hamilton urged his fellow party members to support Burr’s opponent and even wrote newspaper editorials describing Burr as dangerous and untrustworthy. The smear tactics worked. Burr lost the election and was so angry that he challenged Hamilton to a duel. The two-pistol dance
political posts were sometimes rewards for loyalty, and Washington did display a tendency to repay his friends and former aides with high-paying jobs—but this kind of cronyism seems extreme. Incredibly, McHenry continued to serve in the same position under the next president, John Adams (most likely because there was no precedent for changing cabinets; Adams may have disliked Washington’s staff, but he was stuck with them). But when Adams lost the election of 1800 to Thomas Jefferson, the chief
took on the role as one of the most celebrated first ladies (and, as every schoolkid knows, the first to serve ice cream in the White House). But times were tough. The Napoleonic Wars were raging in Europe, and tensions with Britain erupted into the War of 1812. The First Lady demonstrated her heroism when the British army invaded Washington D.C.; she wrote her sister several letters describing what would turn out to be an invaluable act of bravery and level-headedness: “I have pressed as many
greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States,
graveyards, libraries, and historic sites or, worse yet, had to listen to overly enthusiastic verbal descriptions and view photos pertaining to those trips undertaken during the writing of this book. Though most of these people contributed in some way to this project and its predecessor, we are solely responsible for any errors and omissions. You may direct questions or comments to our website: signingtheirlivesaway.com. QUIRK BOOKS At Quirk, our strikingly unconventional titles include