Letters to the Editor
-
ondelette
In answer to you question 'way back when this thread was fully and gratifyingly OT, the name is ElBRidge, not Eldridge, Gerry, one of the players in the debating and framing of the Constitution.
A great account of the heroic struggle against the Federalists at this time by those (The Bill of Rights guys) who were on a journey to a different vision of a republic, I highly recommend Saul Cornell's The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism & the Dissenting Tradition in America, 1788-1828.
There was no Pentecostal flame that enlightened these guys with a common voice in Philadelphia in 1787-88, and the struggle still goes on. For an idea of just how fractious and contentious these days were, I recommend Joann B. Freeman's Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic.
Having added my 4.5 cents, I'm outa here until the Bible guy leaves, like he said he would shumbles of posts ago, and this thread is back OT.