This book challenges the assumption that the Constitution was a landmark in the struggle for liberty. Instead, Sheldon
Richman argues, it was the product of a counter-revolution, a setback for the radicalism represented by America’s break
with the British empire. Drawing on careful, credible historical scholarship and contemporary political analysis,
Richman suggests that this counter-revolution was the work of conservatives who sought a nation of “power, consequence,
and grandeur.” America’s Counter-Revolution makes a persuasive case that the Constitution was a victory not for liberty
but for the agendas and interests of a militaristic, aristocratic, privilege-seeking ruling class.
The Anti-Federalists were right: The pursuit of "national greatness" inevitably diminishes liberty and centralizes
government. The U.S. Constitution did both, as Sheldon Richman demonstrates in this powerfully argued anarchist case
against the blueprint for empire known as the U.S. Constitution.
--Bill Kauffman, author, Forgotten Founder, Drunken Prophet: The Life of Luther Martin
The libertarian movement has long suffered from a constitutional fetishism that embraces an ahistorical reverence for
the U.S. Constitution. Far too many are unaware of the extent to which the framing and adoption of the Constitution was
in fact a setback for the cause of liberty. Sheldon Richman, in a compilation of readable, well researched, and
compelling essays, exposes the historical, theoretical, and strategic errors in the widespread reification of a purely
political document. With no single correct interpretation, the Constitution has been predictably unable to halt the
growth of the modern welfare-warfare American State. I urge all proponents of a free society to give his book their
diligent attention.
--Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Professor, San Jose State University; author, Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A
History of the American Civil War
"No state or government can limit itself through a written constitution, no matter how fine the words or how noble the
sentiments they express. It is one of the many virtues of Sheldon Richman's book that it shows how this is true even of
the American Constitution, which despite the promises of its designers and the insistence of its defenders down the
years, made limited government less and not more likely."
--Chandran Kukathas, London School of Economics
“Richman delivers an accessible, incisive, and well-grounded argument that the Constitution centralized power and
undid some of the Revolution’s liberating gains. He rebuts patriotic platitudes but avoids the crude contrarianism so
common in libertarian revisionism written for popular consumption. He does not romanticize America’s past or overstate
his case. Radical and nuanced, deferential to freedom and historical truth, Richman rises above hagiography or
demonization of either the Federalists or anti-Federalists to produce an unsurpassed libertarian exploration of the
subject.”
— Anthony Gregory, Independent Institute
“[A]fter reading this book, you will never think about the U.S. Constitution and America’s founding the same way
again. Sheldon Richman’s revealing and remarkably well-argued narrative will permanently change your outlook. . . .
Richman . . . [is] one of this country’s most treasured thinkers and writers . . . . [H]e draws on the most contemporary
and important scholarly research, while putting the evidence in prose that is accessible and compelling.”
— Jeffrey A. Tucker, Liberty.me and Foundation for Economic Education