Vindicating the Founders: Race, Sex, Class, and Justice in the Origins of AmericaIt is commonly, but incorrectly, asserted that because Washington and Jefferson owned slaves, because women, even after the American Revolution, enjoyed virtually no rights, and because the poor and those without property were denied the basic tenets of democratic participation, the Founders were frauds who never really believed that "all men were created equal." West demonstrates why such politically correct interpretations are not only dead wrong, but dangerous. Because our understanding of the Founders so profoundly influences our opinion of contemporary America, this book explains why their views, and particularly the constitutional order they created, are still worthy of our highest respect. West proves that the Founders were indeed sincere in their belief of universal human rights and in their commitment to democracy. By contrasting the Founders' ideas of liberty and equality with today's, West persuasively concludes that contemporary notions bear almost no resemblance to the concepts originally articulated by the Founders. |
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User Review - librisissimo - LibraryThingTo be succinct: the author accomplished his purpose. The book is slim, but the arguments are fully-formed and well-evidenced. The procedure is to cite the major arguments against the integrity and ... Read full review
Vindicating the founders: race, sex, class, and justice in the origins of America
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictWest (politics, Univ. of Dallas) aims to defend the U.S. Constitution and the men who drafted it in 1787 from the accusations of sexism, racism, and prejudice against the poor. West writes from a ... Read full review
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Vindicating the Founders: Race, Sex, Class, and Justice in the Origins of America Vindicating the Founders: Race, Sex, Class, and Justice in the Origins of America, Thomas G. West |
| Author | Thomas G. West |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Rowman & Littlefield, 1997 |
| ISBN | 0847685179, 9780847685172 |
| Length | 219 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / United States / General Political Science / Political Process / Political Parties |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |