Schools for statesmen : the divergent educations of the constitution's framers / Andrew H. Browning.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Browning, Andrew H., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Constitution.

United States.

Education--History--18th century.

Education.

Education--United States--History--18th century.

Statesmen--Education--United States--History--18th century.

Statesmen.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (369 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2022]

Summary:

"One of the Framers, William Livingston, claimed that "whatever Principles are imbibed at College will run thro' a Man's whole future Conduct." And another Framer, Thomas Mifflin, wrote this in a college notebook: "Different Abilities & different Means of Education will always occasion differences of opinion even in good men." These statements form the essential thesis of Schools for Statesmen: that understanding the Framers' differences in education provides new insight into their differences at the 1787 Convention. In particular, those different educations help explain Framers' willingness or reluctance to accept structural innovations proposed by James Madison and his allies, and they shed new light on the hard-to-explain vote that adopted the Great Compromise on representation in congress. Schools for Statesmen explores the 55 individual Framers in close detail and argues that their different educations help explain their divergent positions at the 1787 Convention. The more traditional schools that focused on Greek and Latin classics (Oxford, Harvard, Yale, William and Mary) were conservative institutions resistant to change. The Scottish and newer schools (Princeton, Philadelphia, King's College) introduced students to a Scottish Enlightenment curriculum that fostered more radical, forward-thinking leaders. Half of the Framers had no college education and were largely self-taught or had private tutors; they usually stayed quiet at the Convention. Of the dozen who consistently led at the Convention, half of them had been educated at the newer colleges. Of the seven who rejected the new Constitution, three had gone to the older, traditional schools, while three others had not gone to college at all. Schools for Statesmen takes a deep dive into the educational world of the late 18th century and sheds new light on the origins of the US Constitution"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Delegates to the 1787 Federal Convention: Age and Education

A Note on Names

Introduction

Part I

Chapter 1. The Framers

Chapter 2. Educating Demigods

Part II

Chapter 3. The Self-Taught and the Tutored

Chapter 4. Writing Schools and Grammar Schools

Chapter 5. The Schools of the Prophets: Harvard and Yale

Chapter 6. Their Majesties' College in Williamsburg: William and Mary

Chapter 7. The Old World's Old Schools: England, France, and Ireland

Chapter 8: The Inns of Court and Legal Apprenticeship

Part III

Chapter 9. The New Old World: The Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh

Chapter 10. Presbyterian Schools and Scottish Schoolmasters

Chapter 11. Mirania in America: The College of Philadelphia and King's College

Chapter 12. Princeton in the Nation's Service: The College of New Jersey

Chapter 13. At the Convention: "To Form a More Perfect Union

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliographic Essay

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Browning, Andrew H. Schools for Statesmen

ISBN:

9780700633104

OCLC:

1335751483