Corey Johnson
Carol Curtis
History 120
Cerami, Charles. Young Patriots. Sourcebooks Inc., Book. 2005
I wanted to
focus on the young political minds that were the constructs of the U.S.
Constitution. It’s not every lifetime you get to create a new government.
Luckily for me I was already planning on reading this book because my roommate
already owned it. It just happened to fit nicely inside the parameters of this
assignment which may or may not have influenced my topic.
This book is
written by Charles Cerami. Cerami is a New York Times Bestseller for multiple
genres ranging from History, Finances, and European Economics. He even was the
Editor of The Marshall Plan for the
1990’s, which was a symposium of articles from multiple contributors on the
global unemployment and trade problems. Now that isn’t exactly a Doctorate in
American History but he was granted access to the Rare Books section in the
Library of Congress for his research. His publisher is Sourcebooks Inc., which
is one of the largest independent publishing companies in the country, and they
focus on nonfiction publications but also publish other genres. I wouldn’t have
considered this a good primary source but it is referred to as Historical Non-Fiction
in libraries and I feel this assignment left a little bit of room for
interpretation.
This book
primarily focuses on the time period of 1776 to the early 1800’s although it
references previous events and consequences we see even present day. Young Patriots goes into detail on the
individuals such as James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington,
who were instrumental in the creation of the U.S. Constitution. It fixates on
their history, education, personal habits, as well as their different
philosophies that led to the culmination of the Constitution. The author
expresses admiration on how “sublimely simple are the few pages that guide our
nation”, and so he researched the brilliant minds behind “perhaps the greatest
social and political document created by man”(Author to Reader section). His
goal was to shed some light on the circumstances and steps taken to mold our
freshly birthed nation.
The author
researched the good old fashioned way, with libraries. Not just any libraries
though, some of the most highly accredited in the country. He was granted
access to the Rare Books Section in the Library of Congress, the Eisenhower
Library at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and the Philadelphia
Athenaeum. I believe Cerami did a great job with humanizing these historical
figures as well as describing how others viewed them. He describes James
Madison as small in stature “with pale skin like parchment” with a soft squeaky
voice, yet he could command energetic political debates with his “gently
uttered remarks” (Cerami 18-19). Cerami linked that since Madison wasn’t great
at public speaking, he tended to be almost overly prepared for any political
discussion so that he could make his points very clear through the spontaneity
of opposing views (Cerami 19). In evaluating history, it’s important to not
just know the facts, but to rather incur the thought of “why” things unfolded
the way they did. With George Washington he stresses the fact that after the
Revolutionary War, George wanted to do nothing more than retire and spend time
with his wife Martha. For Washington knew it would be a long political struggle
to establish a new government, especially since he himself felt that the
American people were not ready to govern themselves (Cerami 40-41). Cerami
succeeded in making these important historical figures into personable profiles
of people I can relate to today. He even mentions Alexander Hamilton’s way of
agreeing with someone then slowly diverging from their ideas to his own to make
the transition of compromise easier, which reminds me of myself (Cerami 52).
The idea that someone that uses similar argumentative tactics as me was a major
pillar of ideas for the Constitution really hits home for me. The author also
succeeds in showing that not all of the young patriot’s ideas were accepted by
the other political leaders from the states. Hamilton had the nerve to give an
exceedingly long speech as to why they should mold their government from
British parliament even with the lingering resentment towards the British.
Oddly many leaders agreed but didn’t support him in fear of how their own home
state would react (Cerami 161-164). Many of the states liked their independence
and they would have to realize they would need to be united if this nation was
to survive. Lastly, the author makes a reference that I’m not sure if he meant
to make. He refers to Madison as “scientific experimenter” which made me
evaluate what he might be implying. Seeing as The Enlightenment still had some
echoing effects, meaning people were still using the scientific method, maybe
the constitution is exactly that, a scientific experiment ( Cerami 318-319).
Through trial and error with the other political documents, such as the
Articles of Confederation, the Constitution will always be a work in progress.
That’s why they kept it fairly open for interpretation and altercation as our
nation grows and ideals change.
The only
questions that come to mind are the “what if” questions. What if Hamilton would
have finished his education at Princeton and never joined Washington’s
Continental Army? What if Washington did retire when he intended to after the
war and would have never contributed to the early years of our nation. Honestly
I think all of the circumstances lined up perfectly for us to have flourished
like we have. Political heroes stood out and risked persecution from peers to
broaden the minds of others. This book has definitely influenced the way I
perceived this time period. I never realized the complexities of every decision
and circumstance that our forefathers faced. The last thing I’ve come to
realize is that Hamilton may be brilliant, but since he reminds me of myself I
don’t think we could ever be friends.
Bibliography
Cerami, Charles. Young Patriots. Sourcebooks Inc., Book. 2005
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