Creating the Constitution presents a different interpretation of the Convention and the First Congress, derived largely from a close reading of Farrand's Records and the Annals of Congress. Among its special features are a critical perspective on the Framers, an examination of Court Whig influence on the Federalists, the identification of a third group&;the state Federalists&;between the nationalists and states' righters, and a view of the First Congress as distorting the aims of the Convention.
Thornton Anderson is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Maryland and author of several books, including Russian Political Thought (1967) and Brooks Adams: Constructive Conservative (1951).