For Ourselves and Our Posterity: The Preamble to the Federal Constitution in American History (Critical Historical Encounters)
"Peter Charles Hoffer, one of this nation's most distinguished legal historians, has written a vitally important book in this age of Tea Party hostility to an energetic federal government.For Ourselves and Our Posterityis a brilliant analysis of the way in which the fifty-two words of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution-the pledge not only 'to form a more perfect union,' but also 'to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty' to the American people-shaped much of the political debate during the period between the ratification of the Constitution and the coming of the Civil War. Hoffer's book is a notable example of a work that combines impressive scholarship with contemporary relevance. It will provoke lively debate both within the classroom and in the public arena."--Richard R. Beeman,University of Pennsylvania"Peter Hoffer uses the fifty-two-word preamble to the United States Constitution as a wide-angle lens, encompassing the quirky characters (like Gouverneur Morris, the disfigured rake who wrote the preamble), the uncanny coincidences, and the titanic clashes that all came together in 1787 to forge a nation."--Woody Holton,University of Richmond, author ofUnruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution