Book Review: Miracle at Philadelphia Revolutionary America

Miracle 1

Book Review:

Miracle at Philadelphia

Revolutionary America

History 322

Miracle 2

Book Review: “Miracle at Philadelphia”

The creation of a new form of government fomented at the constitutional convention is a miracle as Catherine Bowen described it. It is a sound conclusion by Bowen because of the backdrop in which the Constitution was created. At the time, America began to emerge from a confederation of states at war with the world’s superpower, as well as coming to an understanding of the failings of their present governmental system. Catherine Bowens’ account stands out as exemplary because of it rich contextual history that tells the story of the convention as well as giving a stark assessment, in the delegates own words, and thoughts of the creation of the American Polity.

Particularly, the ratification of the United States Constitution is properly described as a “miracle” by Bowen because of the issues facing the delegates and to a larger extent the confederation of the states at that time. As the delegates began to arrive to Philadelphia in May of 1787 there were a variety of issues facing the states. Likely the most prominent issue facing the several states at this time was an evaluation of the efficacy of the Articles of Confederation as a governing document (Bowen, pp. 6-15). The Articles, which were put to the test during the Revolutionary war, appeared in the mind of most states to be an ineffectual document. The linchpin of the Articles that also likely manifested itself to be its biggest liability was the protection of a federalist system ceding the great weight of sovereignty to the individual states. Moreover, this local control also contributed to a secondary issue of producing commercially warring states (Bowen, pp. 6-15)....