Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution Volume 18: Commentaries on the Constitution, no. 6

Edited by Kaminski, Saladino, Leffler, and Schoenleber

"The most important editorial project in the nation." -Leonard W. Levy, constitutional historian

"Commentaries on the Constitution: Public and Private," a six volume set, is an integral but autonomous part of the 'Ratification' series. The documents in this volume present the day-by-day regional and national debates over the Constitution that took place in newspapers, magazines, broadsides, pamphlets, and private letters. This volume contains nearly 200 documents, many never before printed in modern editions, that suggest the political complexities involved in ratifying the Constitution, the sense of awe at what the U.S. had accomplished in drafting and adopting a new form of government founded on reason rather than force, the rivalry among states over the location of the capital, and the importance of George Washington as the inevitable first president under the Constitution.