Confounding Father: A Contrarian View of the U.S. Constitution
Highly Recommended - Educational Media Reviews Online “Confounding Father makes deft use of excerpts from mid-20th century educational films and portions of archival videos. These clips are explanatory and yet give a sense of fun to the film…well-suited for any lower-level undergraduate course teaching about the foundations of the U.S. government, as well as for viewing by the general public….”
Meet Luther Martin of Maryland - 1787 Critic of the U.S. Constitution - Contrarian, Drunkard & Prophet
Media & Recent Events:
National Archives Event on YouTube - “Anti-Federalists & the Bill of Rights”
National Archives Event on YouTube - “Slavery and the Constitutional Convention”
Podcast - “A Front Row Seat at the 1787 Constitutional Convention with Richard Hall” - from the show “In House Warrior” with host Richard Levick
For Constitution Day, Let’s Toast the Losers - History News Network Op-Ed by Richard Hall
Stream & Purchase
Institutions - Purchase through our distributor Docuseek.
Individuals for personal home use - purchase a DVD for only $9.50 - stream it on Ovid TV, (preferred!) Vimeo, - or, if you really must you still can purchase on Amazon & they will keep most of the profits.
Confounding Father: A Contrarian View of the U.S. Constitution
The U.S. Senate & much of the structure of U.S. government was created in part to protect the interests of an American aristocracy. Confounding Father pulls back the curtain on this and other contradictions and takes an irreverent look at the 1787 constitutional convention. Told from the viewpoint of Maryland delegate and contrarian Luther Martin, this series reveals how he feared an American empire, opposed protections for slavery, all while drinking too much, talking too much, and annoying the framers of the constitution. The series also highlights and demystifies the arguments of other opponents of the constitution – the so-called “antifederalists” who called themselves the true federalists.
Featuring:
Gloria Browne-Marshall - Constitutional Law Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Murray Dry - The Complete Antifederalist (Co-Editor)
Paul Finkelman - Slavery & the Founders
Woody Holton - Unruly Americans & the Origins of the Constitution
Bill Kauffman - Forgotten Founder Drunken Prophet: The Life of Luther Martin
Pauline Maier - Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788
Gordon Wood - The Radicalism of the American Revolution
More Reviews:
This stimulating educational film provides students with a startling account of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 . . . Martin’s ideas could be used to examine the state of today’s federal government and lead to interesting classroom discussions. Recommended. Video Librarian
. . . playfully informative and patriotically contrarian . . .should be required viewing for the nation’s whelphood” - Luther Martin Gets His Close-Up, The American Conservative, September/October 2020.
. . . has made me, a professional historian, want to rush to the nearest library, read the historians’ books in full, and contemplate anew how a country originally organized around opposition to tyranny and coercion rather quickly made the watershed move at the Constitutional Convention to lay the groundwork for a country now characterized by authoritarianism and disregard for democracy. - Rev. Ellin Jimmerson, PhD
Self-Contained Chapters - Short & Great for Classroom Discussion!
Articles of Confederation
The Convention Begins
The Virginia Plan
The New Jersey Plan
Luther Martin’s Objections
What is an Antifederalist?
Compromises and “Other Persons”
Article I - Congress & Taxes
Domestic Tranquility & Standing Armies
Article II - The Executive
The Convention Ends
Ratification
Bill of Rights
The Constitution in the 21st Century
Epilogue (Luther Martin’s Career & Death)