R. B. Bernstein is Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School, and has written, edited, or co-edited nineteen books on American constitutional and legal history, including Thomas Jefferson.

Read Bernstein's book if you can. It's both a reminder of how fallible the Founding Fathers were--and yet how good they still look to us nearly a quarter of a millennium later.

• Introduction ; I. The History that Made the Founding Fathers ; The State of the Union ; Free-Born English Subjects ; The Intellectual World ; II. The History that the Founding Fathers Made ; Independence ; Constitution-Making ; Federalism ; Politics ; Church and State ; Equality, Inequality, and Slavery ; America in the World ; Part III. What History Made of the Founding Fathers ; Ancestor Worship? ; "Which Founding Father Are You?" ; The Dead Hand of the Past: Original Intent ; Conclusion ; Notes ; Chronology ; Further Reading

R. B. Bernstein is Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School, and has written, edited, or co-edited nineteen books on American constitutional and legal history, including Thomas Jefferson.

Read Bernstein's book if you can. It's both a reminder of how fallible the Founding Fathers were--and yet how good they still look to us nearly a quarter of a millennium later.

• Introduction ; I. The History that Made the Founding Fathers ; The State of the Union ; Free-Born English Subjects ; The Intellectual World ; II. The History that the Founding Fathers Made ; Independence ; Constitution-Making ; Federalism ; Politics ; Church and State ; Equality, Inequality, and Slavery ; America in the World ; Part III. What History Made of the Founding Fathers ; Ancestor Worship? ; "Which Founding Father Are You?" ; The Dead Hand of the Past: Original Intent ; Conclusion ; Notes ; Chronology ; Further Reading

R. B. Bernstein is Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School, and has written, edited, or co-edited nineteen books on American constitutional and legal history, including Thomas Jefferson.

Read Bernstein's book if you can. It's both a reminder of how fallible the Founding Fathers were--and yet how good they still look to us nearly a quarter of a millennium later.

• Introduction ; I. The History that Made the Founding Fathers ; The State of the Union ; Free-Born English Subjects ; The Intellectual World ; II. The History that the Founding Fathers Made ; Independence ; Constitution-Making ; Federalism ; Politics ; Church and State ; Equality, Inequality, and Slavery ; America in the World ; Part III. What History Made of the Founding Fathers ; Ancestor Worship? ; "Which Founding Father Are You?" ; The Dead Hand of the Past: Original Intent ; Conclusion ; Notes ; Chronology ; Further Reading