TY - BOOK AU - Ellis,Joseph J. TI - THE QUARTET: orchestrating the second American Revolution, 1783-1789 SN - 9780385353403 U1 - 342.7302/9 23 PY - 2015/// CY - New York PB - Alfred A. Knopf KW - Statesmen KW - United States KW - Biography KW - Politicians KW - Confederation of states KW - History KW - 18th century KW - Federal government KW - Constitutional history KW - HISTORY / United States / Revolutionary Period (1775-1800) KW - bisacsh KW - HISTORY / United States / General KW - HISTORY / Revolutionary KW - Politics and government KW - 1783-1789 N1 - "A Borzoi book"--Title page verso; Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-277) and index; Preface : Pluribus to Unum -- The Articles and the Vision -- The Financier and the Prodigy -- The Domain -- The Courting -- Madison's Moment -- The Great Debate -- Final pieces -- Appendices N2 - "The prizewinning author of Founding Brothers and American Sphinx now gives us the unexpected story--brilliantly told--of why the thirteen colonies, having just fought off the imposition of a distant centralized governing power, would decide to subordinate themselves anew. The triumph of the American Revolution was neither an ideological nor political guarantee that the colonies would relinquish their independence and accept the creation of a federal government with power over their individual autonomy. The Quartet is the story of this second American founding and of the men responsible--some familiar, such as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, and some less so, such as Robert Morris and Governeur Morris. It was these men who shaped the contours of American history by diagnosing the systemic dysfunctions created by the Articles of Confederation, manipulating the political process to force a calling of the Constitutional Convention, conspiring to set the agenda in Philadelphia, orchestrating the debate in the state ratifying conventions, and, finally, drafting the Bill of Rights to assure state compliance with the constitutional settlement"-- UR - 9780385353403.jpg ER -