Unlike many other books, George Van Cleve's readable and original history of the nation during this period does not treat it as the "backstory" of how the Constitution came to be, but, rather, on its own terms.

Open the pages of this book to get an inside look at the Articles of Confederation.

We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public.

The essays in this collection question much of the heritage of eighteenth-century constitutional thought and suggest that many of the commonly debated issues have led us away from the truly germane questions.

Readers discover the story behind the first written constitution of the United States—from the factors that inspired its creation to the reasons why it was replaced.

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, commonly referred to as the Articles of Confederation, was the first constitution of the thirteen United States of America.

Using original data, Keith L. Dougherty shows that states contributed to the national government when doing so produced local gains.