The Creation of the Constitution [Paperback]

In this essay, Max Edling provides an internationalist interpretation of the founding of the United States. Rather than focusing on domestic economic conflict, Edling's interpretation highlights international competition, both with European powers and Native American neighbors, and inter-state relations within the federal union, as the principal causes of constitutional reform.Series IntroductionIntroduction: A Union of Republics in a Predatory WorldAn international interpretation of the founding of the United StatesArticles of Confederation and Perpetual UnionThe critical period of the 1780sThe movement for reformReforming the UnionSectionalism and the renewed compact of statesRatification of the ConstitutionConclusion: A New Approach to the Constitutional Settlement of 1787Further ReadingEndnotesMax M. Edling is a member of the History Department of King's College London and a historian of the American founding and the early federal government. He is the author of A Revolution in Favor of Government: Origins of the U.S. Constitution and the Making of the American State and A Hercules in the Cradle: War, Money, and the American State 1783-1867.