Master of the Senate: The Desks of the Senate
Robert Caro
1.
What was Webster’s view on the Constitution that was a “novelty in 1830”? Has that novelty worn off?
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2.
Why did the framers provide so much power to the legislature in the Constitution?
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3.
If the source of authority was the citizenry, why was there such a fear of the “people themselves” amongst the founders?
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4.
The framer’s establishment of the Senate had a goal. What goal? How does the design and function of the Senate reflect that goal?
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5.
How and why were the responses of the Senate to national events and concerns so much different than the House of Representatives?
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6.
What does Caro use the trial of Samuel Chase to illustrate?
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7.
What made the Senate’s “Golden Age” so glittering?
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8.
Which Senator do you feel Caro finds most compelling about the triumvirate of Calhoun, Clay, & Webster? How does he illustrate this?
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9.
How, according to Caro, did the Senate both preserve the Union but also light the fuse that would tear the nation asunder?
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10.
Do you think the Triumvirate failed?
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11.
After secession and the start of the Civil War had caused all but one Southern Senator from the Senate, Caro claims that the South had “long shackled the union [24].” Is this a compelling argument?
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12.
Caro claims that the “removal of a president by Congress solely because of a dispute over policy could have transformed the entire political system.” How?
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13.
What forces led to the strengthening of the Senate?
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14.
As government and business becomes ever more entwined during the Gilded Age, there was a transformation in the role of government. How did the Gilded Age change the rose of the Federal government?
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15.
Caro claims that between 1874 & 1900 the Senate stood firmly “as a great bulwark against” the will of the people.
What evidence did he provide in support of this problem?
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16.
How did the Senate – according to Caro – set the stage for the “American Century”? What are the traits of the
American Century?
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17.
How did the Senate weaken itself (in foreign relations)? What proved that this was not a total loss of power?
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18.
What about the construction of the Senate caused Wilson’s appeal to the American people to fail?
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19.
How did the Progressive Era concerns influence the Senate?
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20.
Caro accuses the Senate at the end of the Chapter…of what? What issue do you think Caro will hold up as the greatest sin of the Senate (later in the book)?
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21.
Why do you think Caro used the Webster-Hayne debate to start his chapter about the Senate?
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