Berkin vs. Middlekauff on the Constitutional Convention

Introduction: Two Books, One Convention

In terms of contemporary relevance, upon first glance Carol Berkin's book A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution would seem to have an advantage over other books about the framing of the U.S. Constitution, such as The Glorious Cause by Robert Middlekauff. That extra degree of relevance for Berkin's book is due to its date of publication (2002), after the Supreme Court — in a 5-4 vote — effectively decided the 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush, and after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001. Berkin explains that those events stimulated her desire to write a book on the creation of the Constitution, providing the "genesis" of her decision to tackle this difficult subject (Berkin, p. 1).

Those are admirable reasons for taking on a difficult historical subject. However, Berkin would appear to be glossing over "the most celebrated disputed election in presidential history" (Berkin, p. 2) by claiming of the 2000 election crisis that "the American Constitution had come through yet another trial by fire and a peaceful transition of power had been achieved" (Berkin, p. 2). What actually transpired was that the American political system had allowed the Supreme Court to essentially elect Bush by a 5-4 margin along party lines. One wonders what Patrick Henry, John Adams, and Richard Henry Lee — among other delegates to the convention — would have said, if they could have foreseen the year 2000, about the U.S. Supreme Court overriding the Florida Supreme Court's authority.

Berkin writes on page 17 that Henry, Adams, and Lee were "Americans when they contrasted themselves with the citizens, government officials, and soldiers of England," but at home they were "Virginians, New Jerseyites, Connecticut men." Clearly, states' rights were important to a group of highly educated men who had just helped win the Revolutionary War and shed the shackles of a powerful central government in England. In 2000, it was states' rights being subordinated to federal power when the U.S. Supreme Court halted the recounting of ballots in Florida — a recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court — that might otherwise have given Al Gore a victory. Later, in November 2001, technical recounts by the National Opinion Research Center suggested Gore might have won had "overvotes" been considered. But that is another story. The Constitution's awesome power and scope lurks behind nearly every important political event in America, and every politician invoking "the founding fathers," "the framers," or "our Constitution" acknowledges that enduring weight.

This paper compares Carol Berkin's and Robert Middlekauff's descriptions of the process, goals, and results of the Constitutional Convention. To begin with, Middlekauff's book is a hefty 665 pages (not counting bibliographic material) with a 21-page index. It is a book about the American Revolution and all the events leading up to and through it, embracing a far wider swath of history than Berkin's volume. Berkin's hardback runs 297 smaller pages and is focused specifically on the Constitutional Convention rather than on the broader history surrounding it. Berkin includes the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution, and her index runs seven pages.

Scope, Style, and Authorial Approach

Middlekauff uses footnotes very effectively; Berkin prefers no footnotes to support her narrative. Interestingly, in her "A Note on Sources," Berkin mentions more than a dozen books that readers may wish to consult for a deeper investigation into the conventions — books that spell out all the details and delve into the characters who played important roles in early American history and at the Constitutional Convention — but Middlekauff's book is not among those she recommends. The Christopher Collier and James Lincoln Collier book, Decision in Philadelphia: The Constitutional Convention of 1787, is mentioned (Berkin, p. 299).

Berkin's book reads more like a novel than a historical collection of essays. She uses colorful descriptive narrative, tightly written chapters, and a tone that tends toward skepticism — accentuating the sparks between ideas and participants with a history teacher's passion — rather than strict objectivity. Middlekauff, by contrast, presents his material more in the manner of a traditional history book, though he does provide solid descriptions and sometimes goes into detail to an extreme degree. Berkin deliberately does not place the delegates at the Constitutional Convention on a high pedestal as icons of American history. She gives them their due and explores their diplomatic styles, but because most of the men were lawyers, she notes there was ample "verbosity" on the floor of the convention. She also debunks the idea that these delegates "believed confidently that they were designing a government for the ages" (Berkin, p. 7).

"Comforting" is how she describes the way many historians have incorrectly depicted the scene in Philadelphia, and she argues that those historians who explain that these delegates "convened in order to set America's destiny in a stone as solid as the Ten Commandments" were also wrong (Berkin, p. 7). Scholars who believe the "founding fathers knew what they were about" are equally off the mark, she continues (Berkin, p. 7). Reading her introductions and her descriptions of the scene and mood in Philadelphia, one gets the feeling she is intent on debunking idealized versions of the Constitutional Convention — or at least setting the record straight. Even Benjamin Franklin, whom scholars and historians depict as a strong force in forging the democratic document that emerged from the convention, is portrayed by Berkin as believing the best this convention could accomplish would be to "produce a government that could forestall, for a decade perhaps, the inevitable decline of the Republic into a tyranny of one, a tyranny of a few, or a tyranny of the majority" (Berkin, p. 8).

Portraying the Key Delegates

Middlekauff's introduction to the Constitutional Convention is far less skeptical or pessimistic than Berkin's. He introduces James Madison first, describing him as an intellectual, slight of build, who loved the idea of the union but "hated paper money and feared the wild schemes of debtors, and most of all he feared majoritarian tyranny and its sometime offspring, anarchy" (Middlekauff, p. 622). Madison is the opening figure because, as Middlekauff explains, "Madison had thought more about government than anyone in the Convention; he was ready for what lay ahead" and "was determined to the point of fanaticism" (Middlekauff, p. 623).

Berkin describes Madison as having talked "gravely of mortal diseases afflicting the confederacy" (Berkin, p. 11). She notes that Madison was concerned about money and finances, and saw New Jersey — "trapped between" New York and Pennsylvania — as "a cask tapped at both ends" (Berkin, p. 15). In Berkin's narrative about Madison, readers do not come nearly as close to understanding his intensity as they do when reading Middlekauff.

Regarding George Washington's arrival at the convention, Middlekauff goes into detail about why Washington genuinely wanted to remain at Mount Vernon after having led the young revolutionary country to victory over the larger, better-armed, and better-funded British Army. He points out that two days after Madison arrived in Philadelphia, Washington rode in "to be greeted by the ringing of bells and the shouts of admiring countrymen" (Middlekauff, p. 623). The great regard and reverence ordinary citizens and peers held for Washington ultimately brought him to Philadelphia. He also feared that his "non-attendance in this Convention" would be seen as a "dereliction to republicanism" and worried whether other motives might be "ascribed to him for not exerting myself on this occasion in support of it" (Middlekauff, p. 623). Washington, after all, had "more prestige than any American," Middlekauff reminds readers on page 623, and though he brought "neither a clearly formulated plan" nor "a well-articulated political philosophy," his presence alone was a powerful statement that the delegates should accomplish something meaningful.

Berkin's treatment of Washington's arrival in Philadelphia is comparatively brief. There is no passage in her narrative about Washington riding into town with bells ringing and crowds cheering. Berkin's book clearly focuses on the operational details of the Constitutional Convention — how deals were struck, what compromises were assembled and why. Rather than weaving Washington's biography into the convention narrative, she devotes a separate chapter (Chapter Nine) to him and uses later chapters to describe other delegates in detail. This approach is not without merit, though a reader might benefit from reading the biographical chapters before the convention narrative in order to arrive at the proceedings with full background information in hand.