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[0] checkbox [#] position [cover] cover [title] title Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution [author] author Beeman, Richard [isbn] isbn 1400065704 [isbn13] isbn13 9781400065707 [asin] asin [num pages] num pages 544 pp [avg rating] avg rating 4.01 [num ratings] num ratings 604 [date pub] date pub Jan 01, 2009 [date pub (ed.)] date pub edition Mar 17, 2009 [rating] Lucas's rating 4 of 5 stars [my rating] my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves [notes] notes Notes are private! [recommender] recommender none [comments] comments 0 [votes] votes 0 [read count] # times read 1 [date started] date started Mar 14, 2011 [date read] date read Apr 24, 2011 [date added] date added Mar 14, 2011 [date purchased] date purchased [owned] owned [purchase location] purchase location [condition] condition [format] format Hardcover [29] actions view [review] 
review The first chapter gets off to a very slow start, telling the reader unnecessarily which hotels delegates checked into, what they were eating, or equal The first chapter gets off to a very slow start, telling the reader unnecessarily which hotels delegates checked into, what they were eating, or equally mundane details. Better it would have skipped forward to when real constitutional decisions are being made, those parts are fascinating. The most riveting section is where the 3/5 of a person concession is made to the slave state representatives. Even if the fact of slavery could not be addressed at the time, it's extra insulting that the slave states wanted (and received) extra seats in the House of Representatives in proportion to the number of slaves they owned. Even after the 14th amendment disenfranchisement is still rewarded- women may not yet have the right to vote, but the constitution amplifies the injustice by giving what would have been their House seats and electoral votes to the enfranchised voters. Something similar would happen today if the census were to count illegal immigrants towards more representation to voting inhabitants who in many cases wouldn't have the best interests of the immigrants in mind. It also seems wrong that even when people have the right to vote but don't exercise it, the representation they've been granted is given to those in the same state who do vote- it seems to create a perverse set of incentives. Somewhat annoying tendency for the narrator to occasionally adopt the same way of speaking as used by the 18th century subjects within the book. ...more
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