HEA|  |03285cam a2200313   450 
001|  |022021006530
008|  |201109s2021    nju      b    001 0deng
020|  |▼a9780691210230▼q(hardback) :▼cCNY211.88
020|  |▼z9780691211060▼q(ebook)
040|  |▼aDLC▼cDLC
042|  |▼apcc
043|  |▼an-us－－-
050|00|▼aE302.1▼b.R37 2021
082|00|▼a973.3092/2▼223
090|  |▼aD097.12▼b220735
100|1 |▼aRasmussen, Dennis C.▼q(Denni-
   |  |s Carl),▼d1978-▼eauthor.
245|10|▼aFears of a setting sun :▼bth-
   |  |e disillusionment of America\'s-
   |  | Founders /▼cDennis C. Rasmussen.
246|30|▼aDisillusionment of America\'s Founders
260|  |▼aPrinceton :▼bPrinceton Unive-
   |  |rsity Press,▼c[2021]
300|  |▼ax, 277 p. ;▼c24 cm.
504|  |▼aIncludes bibliographical ref-
   |  |erences and index.
520|  |▼a"Whatever sense of hope the -
   |  |Founder Fathers may have felt -
   |  |at the new government\'s birth,-
   |  | almost none of them carried t-
   |  |hat optimism to their graves. -
   |  |Franklin survived to see the C-
   |  |onstitution in action for only-
   |  | a single year, but most of th-
   |  |e founders who lived into the -
   |  |nineteenth century came to fee-
   |  |l deep anxiety, disappointment-
   |  |, and even despair about the g-
   |  |overnment and the nation that -
   |  |they had helped to create. Ind-
   |  |eed, by the end of their lives-
   |  | many of the founders judged t-
   |  |he Constitution that we now ve-
   |  |nerate to be an utter failure -
   |  |that was unlikely to last beyo-
   |  |nd their own generation. This -
   |  |book tells the story of their -
   |  |disillusionment. The book focu-
   |  |ses principally on four of the-
   |  | preeminent figures of the per-
   |  |iod (1787): George Washington,-
   |  | Alexander Hamilton, John Adam-
   |  |s, and Thomas Jefferson. These-
   |  | four lost their faith in the -
   |  |American experiment at differe-
   |  |nt times and for different rea-
   |  |sons, and each has his own uni-
   |  |que story. As Rasmussen shows -
   |  |in a series of three chapters -
   |  |on each figure, Washington bec-
   |  |ame disillusioned above all be-
   |  |cause of the rise of parties a-
   |  |nd partisanship, Hamilton beca-
   |  |use he felt that the federal g-
   |  |overnment was not sufficiently-
   |  | vigorous or energetic, Adams -
   |  |because he believed that the A-
   |  |merican people lacked the requ-
   |  |isite civic virtue for republi-
   |  |can government, and Jefferson -
   |  |because of sectional divisions-
   |  | brought on (as he saw it) by -
   |  |Northern attempts to restrict -
   |  |slavery and consolidate power -
   |  |in the federal government. Was-
   |  |hington, Hamilton, Adams, and -
   |  |Jefferson were the most promin-
   |  |ent of the founders who grew d-
   |  |isappointed in what America be-
   |  |came, but they were certainly -
   |  |not the only ones. In a final -
   |  |chapter Rasmussen shows that m-
   |  |ost of the other leading found-
   |  |ers-including figures such as -
   |  |Samuel Adams, John Jay, James -
   |  |Monroe, and Thomas Paine-fell -
   |  |in the same camp. The most not-
   |  |able founder who did not come -
   |  |to despair for his country was-
   |  | the one who outlived them all-
   |  |, James Madison. Madison did h-
   |  |arbor some real worries but a -
   |  |final chapter also explores wh-
   |  |y Madison largely kept the rep-
   |  |ublican faith when so many of -
   |  |his compatriots did not"－－▼cPr-
   |  |ovided by publisher.
600|10|▼aHamilton, Alexander,▼d1757-1804.
600|10|▼aAdams, John,▼d1735-1826.
600|10|▼aJefferson, Thomas,▼d1743-1826.
650| 0|▼aFounding Fathers of the United States.
651| 0|▼aUnited States▼xPolitics and -
   |  |government▼y1783-1809.
651| 0|▼aUnited States▼xPolitics and -
   |  |government▼y1809-1817.
651| 0|▼aUnited States▼xPolitics and -
   |  |government▼y1817-1825.