Were the Constitution’s Authors a Little Too Optimistic?

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/us/constitution-framers-president-executive-monarch.html

Judge Nails Trump Tyrant Move

Share Share

I made a rule for myself after reading this: nobody can argue with me over the intent or purpose of the US constitution unless they’ve read this. I’m not interested in modern conjecture - they need to have read the ACTUAL intent, good or bad, behind the document.

But ugh. It’s dry.

Well, I take that back. James Madison is there to make your stomach turn with his justifying the 3/5 of a person rule.

John Jay - who didn’t write many - brought the FIRE with him for his essays, directly addressing “good ideas,” being proposed like making the colonies 13 different countries. Or, more popular, making all 13 into THREE different countries. He basically said they’re all idiots and it would only delay the inevitable war because not everyone would have the same access to the same resources and, when one runs out, the people will want to take it from another country.

No, the worst part was Hamilton.

Look, I know, okay? We were all wooed by the musical. Some of us even followed up that obsession by reading the Chernow book Miranda used as his primary source for the play.

I get it. I’m right there with you. But it’s okay to admit that Hamilton had a lot of great ideas, came up with policies this country still runs on today, and wrote bone-dry essays.

The worst part is that his stuff is the bulk of this book. The play tried to warn me, I guess.

Regardless, today’s political discourse is a lot of “well, I think the founding fathers meant X,” and here you have solid essays about what they REALLY meant and nobody’s reading it because it’s old, dry, and big.

But they should.

At least, they should if they want to argue with me about it.

#books #bookrecommendation #booktok #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #booksky #readersofpixelfed #read #readinglog #hamilton #johnjay #jamesmadison #alexanderhamilton #federalistpapers #ushistory #constitution #usa

James Madison (1751-1836) was a statesman, diplomat, and a Founding Father of the United States, who served as the fourth US president from 1809 to 1817. #History #JamesMadison #AmericanRevolution #FederalistPapers #HistoryFact https://whe.to/ci/1-23124-en/