Decision in Philadelphia: The Constitutional Convention, 1787

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 became a turning point in the history of the United States of America. In fact, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 laid the foundation for the new state that had gained its independence in the struggle with Great Britain. At the same time, views of historians on this convention as well as the process of the taking decision in Philadelphia are not homogeneous. In this respect, the position and interpretation of the decision making process in Philadelphia provided by Christopher Collier in his book “Decision in Philadelphia: Constitutional Convention 1787” is particularly noteworthy.

In fact, the author focuses the attention of the audience on the personalities of the decision makers, founding fathers, who actually created the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and promulgated it. In such a way, the author views the Constitutional Convention as a product of the interaction, discussions and arguments between founding fathers on the personal, emotional level. At the same time, he does not take into consideration objectively existing political, social and economic factors, which Collie, intentionally or not, omits and does not take into consideration while discussing the process of the decision making in Philadelphia.

At this point, his work is quite different from that of Robert Middlekauff “The Glorious Cause”. In stark contrast to Collier, Middlekauff focuses on the analysis of socioeconomic and political factors which contributed to the Constitutional Convention. He views the convention as a product of specific socioeconomic and political conditions which reined in the US at that moment.

Nevertheless, Collier’s work is still unique because it offers a different view on the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which was actually the first historical decision that laid foundation to the modern democracy.



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