“WhateverPrinciplesareimbibedatCollegewillrunthro’aMan’swholefutureConduct.“----WilliamLivingston,signeroftheConstitutionSchoolsforStatesmenexploresthefifty-fiveindividualFramersoftheConstitutioninclosedetailandarguesthattheirdifferenteducationshelpexplaintheirdivergentpositionsatthe1787ConstitutionalConvention.ThoseeducationsrangedfromoutlawedIrish“hedgeschools“toEngland’svenerableInnsofCourt,fromthegrammarschoolsofNewEnglandtoambitiousnewacademiesspringingupontheCarolinafrontier.ThemoretraditionalschoolsthatfocusedonGreekandLatinclassics(Oxford,Harvard,Yale,WilliamandMary)weredeeplyconservativeinstitutionsresistanttochange.ButtheScottishcollegesandthenewerAmericanschools(Princeton,Philadelphia,King’sCollege)introducedstudentstoaScottishEnlightenmentcurriculumthatfosteredmoreradical,forward-thinkingleaders.HalfoftheFramershadnocollegeeducationandwereoftenself-taughtorhadprivatetutors;mostwerequietattheconvention,althoughafewstubbornlyopposedthenewideastheywerehearing.Nearlyallthedelegateswhotooktheleadattheconventionhadbeeneducatedatthenewer,innovativecolleges,butofthesevenwhorejectedthenewConstitution,threehadgonetotheoldertraditionalschools,whilethreeothershadnotgonetocollegeatall.SchoolsforStatesmenisanunprecedentedanalysisofthesharplydivergenteducationsoftheFramersoftheConstitution.ItrevealsthewaysinwhichtheConstitutionalConvention,ratherthanbeingacounterrevolutionbyconservativeelites,wasdominatedbyforward-thinkinginnovatorswhohadbenefitedfromtheeducationalrevolutionbeginninginthemid-eighteenthcentury.AndrewBrowningoffersanewandpersuasiveexplanationofkeydisagreementsamongtheFramersandtheprocessbywhichtheywereabletobreakthroughtheimpassethatthreatenedtheconvention;heprovidesafreshunderstandingoftheimportanceofeducationinwhathasbeencalledthe“CriticalPeriod“ofUShistory.SchoolsforStatesmentakesadeepdiveintothediverseeducationalworldoftheeighteenthcenturyandshedsnewlightontheoriginsoftheUSConstitution.
OXFORD PRINCETON HARVARD KING YALE SCHOOLS Philadelphia FORWARD
