Description
Book SynopsisThis book is a fascinating analysis of news management in the 1780s that sheds new light on the role of the press in early America.
Trade ReviewInteresting, informative, and valuable new light on the ratification process. [An] essential reference source. -- Jackson Turner Main, author of The Anti-Federalists: Critics of the Constitution, 1781-1788
An important addition to the history of the Constitution and of American journalism. . . . Newspaper warfare over the Constitution began during, not after, the Convention. -- Dwight L. Teeter, Jr., Professor of Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
John K. Alexander offers a revealing analysis of how journalists treated a momentous news event enveloped in secrecy and how the idea of inventing a new political system was made attractive. -- Jeffrey A. Smith, author of Printers and Press Freedom: The Ideology of Early American Journalism
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Short Titles and Symbols Chapter 3 Introduction Chapter 4 "We Are No Longer United States": Looking to the Convention Chapter 5 "The Collective Wisdom of the Continent": The Convention Opens Chapter 6 "We Expect Something Great": Projecting the Image of Unity Chapter 7 "Prepared To Receive With Respect": Selling the Unknown Chapter 8 "An Opposition Will Shew Itself": Anticipating the Constitution Chapter 9 Conclusion Chapter 10 Appendix 1: Short Title List for Newspapers and Magazines, 1787 Chapter 11 Appendix 2: Note on Methodology Chapter 12 Index
