The Constitution of the United States of America: Books

While the Antifederalists lost the battle against Constitutional ratification, they won the war by getting the Bill of Rights into the Constitution as its first ten amendments. In restraining the national government's power and guaranteeing individual liberties, the Bill of Rights has come to dominate modern U.S. politics and law. Volume 1 features biographies of 140 prominent Antifederalists, including Samuel Adams, George Clinton, Mercy Otis Warren, and James Monroe. The entries on each Antifederalist contains details about personal and public life, early political career, revolutionary activities, friends and enemies, basis for opposing the Constitution, and subsequent historical reputation. Volume 2 collects important speeches and writings of the Antifederalists, along with annotations to help the reader place these articles into their historical context. Many of these documents are difficult to find, and have never before been collected into one edition. Primary documents include: major pamphlets; broadsides; newspaper articles; and speeches delivered in state legislatures, at the Philadelphia convention, and in state ratification conventions.

The Federalist represents one side of one of the most momentous political debates ever conducted: whether to ratify, or to reject, the newly drafted American constitution.

In thirteen essays-one on each state-noted historians provide a fascinating picture of the political process by which competing interests and ideas formed the Constitution.