I. The Constitutional Convention: The Setting, the Players, and the Outcome

The Origins of the Constitution

Society and Republicanism: America in 1787

The Philadelphia Convention and the Development of American Government: From the Virginia Plan to the Constitution

"Outcast" Rhode Island—The Absent State

Who Was Who in the Constitutional Convention: A Pictorial Essay of Its Leading Figures

Thomas Jefferson and the Constitution

II. Public Reception of the Constitution

The Federalist

The Constitutional Thought of the Anti-Federalists

The Constitution as Myth and Symbol

III. Ratification and the Inauguration of the Government

"Our Successors Will Have an Easier Task": The First Congress under the Constitution, 1789-1791

The Birth of the Federal Court System

The "Great Departments": The Origin of the Federal Government's Executive Branch

IV. Bill of Rights, Constitutional Adaptation, and the Future of the Constitution

James Madison and the Bill of Rights

The Nationalization of the Bill of Rights: An Overview

The Bill of Rights: Protector of Minorities and Dissenters

Religion and the Constitution

Race and the Constitution: The Case of the Japanese-American Internment

The Supreme Court and the Evolution of Women's Rights

Call a Second Convention?

The Constitution of the United States

Bicentennial Presentations

Bibliography

Illustration Acknowledgments

Index