The process of adopting the Constitution was one of the most significant events in the history of the American nation. The Constitution was adopted by the Founding Fathers who are discussed as the most influential figures in the history of the United States. In her book A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution, Carol Berkin describes not only the process of deciding on the details of the Constitution but also portrays the Founding Fathers as experienced politicians (Berkin 2003, 6).
In spite of the fact that many historians discuss the historical figures of the Founding Fathers with the focus on their diverse contribution to the progress of the American nation and development of the U.S. government, Berkin emphasizes the role of the Founding Fathers as politicians.
The reason for such a vision is that the Founding Fathers used their experience to analyze the situation in the country properly, developed debates, overcame disagreements, and addressed the coming crisis from the political perspective and as the experienced decision-makers. From this point, it is necessary to focus on evaluating the effectiveness of the evidence provided by Berkin in order to support her argument.
In her book, Berkin describes the Founding Fathers as active politicians with the focus on their attempts to address the crisis in the nation’s development as not only theorists but also as practitioners who could provide effective solutions to the problem. Thus, the writer states that “the nation was on the verge of self-destruction” during the period when the Constitution was developed and adopted (Berkin 2003, 6).
As a result, the Founding Fathers had to solve the problem of the national crisis, and they understood “the task of saving their nation” (Berkin 2003, 9). In this case, the Founding Fathers acted as politicians who recognized the issue and focused on developing the plan of actions to resolve it successfully.
Focusing on the process of adopting the Constitution, this plan of actions was realized in articles and in describing the rights for states. Thus, Berkin’s argument and evidence related to the start of the Constitutional process seem to be rather convincing.
Berkin states that only experienced politicians can adopt the effective Constitution as a result of the prolonged debates while focusing on the compromises and on finding what can be good for the whole nation. The author provides the evidence while describing the Founding Fathers’ debates and their steps in overcoming disagreements.
It was important for the Founding Fathers to find the really effective solution and address the nation’s demands in the document because the Constitution was perceived “as an embodiment of a shared political culture” (Berkin 2003, 7). Furthermore, having presented the discussion of the process of the Constitution’s adoption, Berkin claims, “Fortunately for the nation, the framers were accomplished politicians” (Berkin 2003, 98).
Berkin supports this idea with the evidence in which the process of sustaining order in the country is discussed (Berkin 2003, 102). The Founding Fathers paid much attention to discussing the principles of the U.S. government and to dividing the branches of the power in order to respond to the nation’s needs.
The problem was in the fact that the Founding Fathers had to demonstrate their unique competence in developing and adopting similar documents because the future of the whole nation was in their hands. Berkin states that in this situation, the framers of the Constitution acted as politicians who were tasked to resolve the complex political and national issue (Berkin 2003, 103). Thus, the Founding Fathers succeeded in proposing the politically effective solutions to address the revolution’s outcomes (Berkin 2003, 112).
From this perspective, the description of the Founding Fathers’ debates and their actions taken in order to approach the process of finding the compromise can be discussed as the appropriate evidence to support the idea that the adoption of the Constitution was an important political process. The process was characterized by the fact that the Founding Fathers acted as politicians who were focused on analyzing political realities, on proposing solutions, and on predicting the future changes.
The other part of the author’s evidence is associated with discussing the personalities of the Founding Fathers and with the analysis of their accomplishments as significant political figures. Having discussed the process of the Constitution’s adoption, Berkin starts to describe the Founding Fathers’ biographies full of details associated with the birth of the American nation.
The writer’s description of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, or William Livingston can be discussed as the effective evidence in order to support her argument because Berkin focuses on the specific examples in the careers of the Founding Fathers (Berkin 2003, 156). These examples are closely associated with analyzing different political situations and with making important political decisions (Berkin 2003, p. 26).
It is significant to state that the author considers the framers of the Constitution as farsighted politicians because they discussed the Constitution as a document that could require further revisions and amendments due to the possible changes in the nation’s development.
Thus, the framers of the Constitution are presented as people who just knew what they could do in the challenging situation because of their previous great experience (Berkin 2003, p. 7). From this point, Berkin’s evidence is grounded on the careful discussion of how the Founding Fathers faced the political crisis and on how they were able to react to the issues as politicians.
In her book A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution, Carol Berkin describes the Founding Fathers as the politicians who changed the political course for the American nation because of developing and adopting the document that aimed to sustain the order and equality in the United States. In this case, the author refers to the analysis of the Founding Fathers’ biographies and on the discussion of the complex Constitution’s adoption process in order to present it as the key political process in the history of the United States.
That is why, the Founding Fathers should be perceived as the experienced politicians who selected the most appropriate strategies in order to address the crisis and to provide the solution for the whole nation in the United States.
In spite of the fact that the evidence used by the writer to support her argument can be discussed as rather incomplete and narrow or even limited, the provided evidence focused on the biographical facts and creative description of the Constitution’s adoption process is rather appropriate to support those narrow arguments claimed by Berkin in her book. As a result, Berkin’s discussion of the Founding Fathers as politicians sounds as reasonable in the context of her argument and provided evidence.
Reference List
Berkin, Carol. 2003. A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution. New York, Harcourt.