This lively and entertaining book begins a much-needed conversation about the modern history that our Founders knew so well and which our generation has largely forgotten. -- Dr. Lynn Uzzell, Resident Scholar at Montpelier"Those who care about the future of democracy will appreciate Mr. VanDuren's vigorous and rigorous examination of the way Dutch and English influences worked from the European Middle Ages down through New England, New Amsterdam, and New York to the Federalist Papers and the American Constitution in the late 1780s." John C. Kemp, Plimoth Plantation.Have you ever wondered why we practice separation of church and state? Or have secular marriage, or freedom of religion? Or enjoy democracy and the rule of law? And equality under the law? No taxation without representation? As Americans we hold the concepts dear. Our republic was founded on them and we find them in our Constitution, of which James Madison was the main author.Madison's vast knowledge of history was supported by a keen understanding of human nature. Alone in his library, he studied ancient and contemporary nations, foremost the Dutch Republic. The American confederation was modeled on it and both suffered from its shortcomings. The people in whose footsteps he followed are the subject of this book. Theirs are the "Many Heads and Many Hands" that helped and inspired Madison in his search for a "more perfect union."From a cave in South Africa to the Roman Rhine, into Dark-Ages Paris, through the Burgundian lands to the marshes of Holland, and via the fields of England to the shores of America, this is a titanic story of scholars, pastors, princesses, and generals, and of common people too, striving over the centuries for security and freedom, and at last building a government that can promise them both liberty within the confines of a just law.
- | Author: Mau Vanduren
- | Publisher: Northampton House Press
- | Publication Date: Apr 01, 2022
- | Number of Pages: 358 pages
- | Language: English
- | Binding: Paperback
- | ISBN-10: 1950668797
- | ISBN-13: 9781950668793
