Ratification

About the lecture

In this module we explore the process of ratification and its significance, focusing in particular on: (i) the significance of the fact that while the previous Articles of Confederation had required the assent of all states to a change of this magnitude, the US Constitution required only nine special state conventions to vote in its favour; (ii) the significance of the openness of state ratifying conventions, in contrast to the elite and closed-off nature of the 1787 Constitutional Convention; (iii) the importance of the theory of popular sovereignty as encapsulated by the famous phrase “We the People”.

About the lecturer

Professor Frank Cogliano's research is mainly concerned with the political, cultural and diplomatic history of revolutionary and early national America. In 2008 he edited a collection on The Atlantic Enlightenment with Professor Susan Manning of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. His 2006 book, 'Thomas Jefferson: Reputation and Legacy', offered the first study of Jefferson’s reputation in fifty years. He also recently edited the Blackwell Companion to Thomas Jefferson. His latest book, 'Emperor of Liberty: Thomas Jefferson's Foreign Policy​' was published by Yale University Press in 2014. He runs a week-long seminar on the Age of Jefferson for schoolteachers from across the United States at Monticello sponsored by the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History and has been president of the Scottish Association for the Study of America. He is currently a member of the advisory board of the International Center for Jefferson Studies.