The Constitution

From the Editor

When delegates from twelve states gathered in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, many of them feared that the quarrels between the states, the sudden rash of internal rebellions, the continuing presence of enemies on our national borders, the embarrassing debts owed to foreign nations and to our own citizens, and the vulnerability of our merchant marine on the oceans all spelled doom for the young republic. The new frame of government that these political leaders produced was thus born in crisis— but it proved capable of surviving that...More »