John Ragosta is a fellow at Virginia Humanities, the Faculty Director of the Summer Jefferson Symposium at UVA, and was previously the Acting Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello. He has taught law and history at the University of Virginia, George Washington University, and Hamilton, Oberlin, and Randolph Colleges. Dr. Ragosta’s most recent book – For the People, For the Country: Patrick Henry’s Final Political Battle – has received highly favorable reviews in the Wall Street Journal and New York Sun. Ragosta, an award-winning author and frequent commentator, holds both a PhD and a JD from UVA. Before returning to academia, Dr. Ragosta was an international trade partner at Dewey Ballantine LLP. He is also a beekeeper.
About the Book
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.