The Summer of 1787
Subtitle: The Men Who Invented the Constitution
Edition: First
Series: The simon & schuster america Collection
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: May 20, 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 349
ISBN-13: 9780743286930
Subjects: Constitutions; Political History; United States - 18th Century; History / General; United States - General; History; History - U.S.; History: American
First sentence: Snow was falling outside as George Washington mulled over the problem with his neighbor; George Mason.
Description: The successful creation of the Consititution is a suspense story.  The Summery of 1787 takes us into the sweltering room in which delegates struggled for four months to produce the flawed but enduring document that would define the nation--then and now.  The room was croweded with colorful and passionate characters, some known-alexander Hamiton, Gouverneur Morris, Edmund Randolph--and others largely forgotten.  In a country continually arguing over the document's original intent, it is fascinating to watch these powerful characters struggle toward consensus--often reluctantly--to write a document that coul evolve with the nation.
Notes: Mr. Stewart ... has done a fine job of pulling together the details of the deliverations that resulted in the U.S. Constitution. . . . He unfuses the story with drama and provides glimpses of life during the hot summer . . . also offers fascinating biographical portraits. . . . Like any good historian, David Stweart looks beneath the surface to find that real story, and this makes The Summer of 1787 a valuable addition to the literature about the creation of the American Constitution.
Table of contents: title: The Delegates; title: The United States in 1787; title: Chapter One -- It Started at Mount Vernon:  March 1785; title: Chapter Two -- Blood on the Snow:  Winter 1787; title: Chapter Three -- "A House of Fire":  Spring 1787; title: Chapter Four -- Demigods and Coxcombs Assemble:  May 1787; title: Chapter Five -- Virginia Leads:  May 25 - June 1; title: Chapter Six -- Wilson's Bargain:  May 31 - June 10; title: Chapter Seven -- Three-Fifths of a Human Being:  June 11; title: Chapter Eight -- Festina Lente:  June 12 - 19; title: Chapter Nine -- to the Brink:  June 21 - July 10; title: Chapter Ten -- The Small States Win:  July 11 - 17; title: Chapter Eleven -- The Touch of a Feather:  July 9 - 14