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For the People, For the Country: Patrick Henry’s Final Political Battle Hardcover – August 17, 2023

by John A. Ragosta (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 14 ratings
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In 1799, at the behest of President George Washington, Patrick Henry came out of retirement to defend the Constitution that he had once opposed and to thwart Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, whom Washington accused of putting party over country and threatening the fragile union. For the People, For the Country tells the remarkable story of how the most eloquent public speaker of the American Revolutionary era and a leading antifederalist during debates over ratification of the Constitution reemerged on the side of the federalists and once again changed history.

Much more than a fire-breathing demagogue, the Patrick Henry we encounter here comes to life as a principled leader of the young nation who believed above all in working with a government elected by the people, advocating for political change in "a constitutional way"―at the ballot box. A gripping narrative, this book will change long-held views of this great Founding Father.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of Virginia Press
  4. Publication date
    August 17, 2023
  5. Reading age
    18 years and up
  6. Dimensions
    6.13 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0813950228
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0813950228
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Republics are fragile. That is For the People, For the Country’s especially timely reminder. Moving beyond the typical recounting of the tumultuous partisan fights in the 1790s between the Jeffersonians and Hamiltonians, Ragosta highlights, with sharp insight, the little-noted but pivotal role that Patrick Henry played in holding together the American Union in 1799, when it seemed that partisan bickering would put an end to the American experiment. This is a story that Americans today should know about and take to heart.

-- Annette Gordon-Reed, Harvard University, author of The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family

John Ragosta has given us an important and compelling book about a critical man and a critical question: Patrick Henry and the nature of loyalty within a constitutional republic. If American democracy is to long endure, dissent and disagreement must be resolved with the ballot and the law―not with violence and passion. So Henry came to believe, and so must we. Ragosta’s revealing account is a powerful contribution to the literature of the early republic and to the debates of our own time.

-- Jon Meacham, Rogers Chair in the American Presidency, Vanderbilt University, author of The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels

A compelling recasting of Henry as an institutional patriot. Ragosta makes a persuasive case for his importance as a counterexample to the oft-cited understanding of the legacy of the Revolution

-- Mary Sarah Bilder, Boston College Law School, author of Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution

Mr. Ragosta’s persuasive and insightful book reminds us that opposition without loyalty to the government becomes lawlessness and riot, unworthy of those who created our republic. ― Wall Street Journal

Ragosta, in a brilliant recuperation of Henry’s reputation and a nod toward the politics of today, shows that like Washington, Henry feared that partisanship threatened the foundations of the republic. -- Carl Rollyson ― New York Sun

Even the most ideologically divided politicians can come together to defend a republic of the people, for the people, and by the people. This ideal is what sets For the People, For the Country apart from other works. For all the flaws the Constitution may or may not have, it is the most supreme law of the land. Patrick Henry, while not necessarily agreeing with the text, acknowledged the importance of the document, fighting against it within the confines of the law instead of outside of it, and without calling for secession, nullification, or partisanship. Though this book is not exclusively focused on Henry, it highlights the significance of a warrior for 'liberty,' not 'license,' or the freedom to do whatever you want (p. 212). In the end, as in the beginning, Ragosta illustrates, Patrick Henry fought for the United States of America, not an ideology. ― Journal of the American Revolution

Book Description

A compelling recasting of Henry as an institutional patriot. Ragosta makes a persuasive case for his importance as a counterexample to the oft-cited understanding of the legacy of the Revolution

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Virginia Press (August 17, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0813950228
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0813950228
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 14 ratings

About the author

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John Ragosta

John Ragosta

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An award-winning author, Dr. Ragosta is a historian, lawyer, and beekeeper living in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is currently a historian at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello and a fellow at Virginia Humanities. He has taught history at Hamilton, Oberlin, and Randolph Colleges, and the University of Virginia, and law at the University of Virginia and George Washington University. He was the Robert C. Vaughan Fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities in 2013-14 and was the 2010-11 Gilder Lehrman Junior Research Fellow at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies. His most recent book, "Patrick Henry: Proclaiming a Revolution," was released by Routledge Press in late 2016 and is the basis for a MOOC (massive open online course) being sponsored by the University of Virginia and the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation. Before returning to academia, Dr. Ragosta was an international trade and litigation partner at Dewey Ballantine LLP where he was deeply engaged in World Trade Organization, NAFTA, and other issues for the U.S. lumber, steel, semiconductor, motion picture and cable, and satellite launch industries. Dr. Ragosta has degrees in early American history, law, and physics-chemistry and has published in historical, legal, and scientific journals.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
14 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Lolo
5.0 out of 5 stars Country first
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2024
Verified Purchase
Dr. Ragosta;s For The People, For The Country is as relevant today as in 1798 when our founding father’s growing concern emerged with the struggle between state and federal rights and the role our Constitution applied in both domains. Readers will identify those struggles as the same as we struggle with today. Country first prevailed 200 years ago, but the reader is left to question if the same will happen in our current environment. A good read as it brings our history to the forefront in addressing several issues today.
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M. Couvillon
5.0 out of 5 stars Vindication for the Patriot
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2023
Verified Purchase
Ragosta’s new book on Patrick Henry covers an era of the patriot’s life that has been misunderstood and misrepresented from the beginning . The book is well-researched and reveals the smear attack on Patrick Henry by Jefferson and his Democratic Party. Henry’s belief that the majority rules (the very base of a democracy) , and that political opposition should be done through constitutional means, placed him in direct odds with Jefferson’s attempts to undermine Washington’s and later Adam’s administrations. He also saw Jefferson’s Va/ Ky Resolutions as unconstitutional as the act they were aimed against (the Alien & Sedition Acts.) As this book shows, Patrick Henry’s last speech is the act of a patriot and statesman attempting to save his new Country from the horrors of civil war and disunion. The book is A must read for all Americans!
3 people found this helpful
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Jeffrey A.
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent History of Patrick Henry
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2023
Verified Purchase
John Ragosta opens up the history of Patrick Henry so that Americans have a better understanding of the depth of Henry’s leadership and pivotal role in United States history. So profound is that history, it offers lessons for all of us about how we participate in our history and citizenship as Americans today.
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Mike Klapka
5.0 out of 5 stars Doing things the "constitutional way"
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2023
Verified Purchase
This book is both timely and fascinating with its focus on Patrick Henry's role on opposing the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 and the extent of that effort into the election of 1800. It also clarifies Henry's view of liberty, that he "fought not simply for himself, but for his community." That is a lesson for those who trumpet their personal rights over civic responsibility would do well to pay closer attention to.
2 people found this helpful
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Jamie P.
5.0 out of 5 stars Long live Patrick Henry!
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2024
John Ragosta does it again and he couldn’t have picked a better man to write about.
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Mary
5.0 out of 5 stars A fresh look at Patrick Henry
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2024
If you are a student of American History and interested in how it affects us today, you should read John Ragosta's book. He took me from my vision of Patrick Henry as only a great orator and showed me much more. John shows a much deeper image of Patrick Henry as a patriot and American.
The chapters on the ratification of the Constitution and Henry's last battle were so informative.
Read this Book!!!!
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Ruth Goncus
5.0 out of 5 stars A great read for anyone intrested in our American history.
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2023
For The People, For The Country by John Ragosta was an interesting read. Ragosta explains how difficult it was for the founding fathers to know what policies were correct for our emerging country. He also explains why Patrick Henry and others changed their points of view over time as they saw the consequences of some new laws. For instance, the issue of states rights verses federal rule found Henry on both sides at different stages in his life. However, Henry always felt that the only way to change policies that were in question was through a “constitutional way”. What I found most intriguing was that these issues are as relevant today as they were two hundred years ago.
2 people found this helpful
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