Reclaiming the American Revolution - by W Watkins (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Reclaiming the American Revolution examines the struggles for political ascendancy between Federalists and the Republicans in the early days of the American Republic. Watkins views the struggle through the lens of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, charters written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison respectively, that were responses to the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by Federalists that, among other things, made criticism of the federal government a crime. Viewing those acts as a threat to states' rights, as well as indicative of a national government that sought supreme power, the Resolutions restated the principles of the American Revolution and sought to return the nation to the tenets of the Constitution, in which rights for all were protected by checking the power of the national government.

Review Quotes

"With historical knowledge that one can only wish more could possess, Watkins has brought our attention back to Jefferson's and Madison's constitutional commentary in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798-1800 and their illuminating relation to American history." - Clyde N. Wilson, Professor of History, University of South Carolina

"With Reclaiming the American Revolution, we have a thorough, thoughtful, and important study of a significant subject that has been too long neglected." - Joyce O. Appleby, Professor of History, UCLA; past president of Organization of American Historians and American Historical Association

"William Watkins' important book, Reclaiming the American Revolution, is intriguing and controversial: it is based on much research, and it is full of interest for the questions it raises about federal-state relations." - Robert L. Middlekauf, Preston Hotchkiss Professor of American History, University of California, Berkeley

About the Author

WIILIAM J. WATKINS, Jr. is an attorney who specializes in constitutional law. He has written several articles on legal history, and is a research fellow at the Independent Institute in California, USA.