A Child of Fortune: A Correspondent's Report on the Ratification of the U.S. Constitution and Battle for a Bill of Rights

St. John, Jeffrey.  A Child of Fortune: A Correspondent's Report on the Ratification of the U.S. Constitution and Battle for a Bill of Rights. 1991. 392p. ISBN 9780915463565. Available at 342.73 on the library shelves.

The American Revolution was violent and divisive, pitting neighbor against neighbor and causing untold damages. The Revolution also represented a war of ideas, between self-governance and domination from aboard. With the victory at Yorktown cementing America's independence, however, self-governance was achieved. A massive task still remained in front of those who had signed their names on the Declaration of Independence. Winning the war did not mean establishing a successful government.

First came the Articles of Confederation, which provided for a very weak central government. The young nation was surrounded on three sides by enemies, with the British in Canada, Imperial Spain in Florida and on the Mississippi, and Native tribes actively opposed to settlers expanding westward, and lacked an army. It could not raise its own money, so both federal and state governments were at odds on how to finance services such as a navy or army. It delegated not enough authority to the federal government. State governments remained able to print their own money, leading to runaway inflation and bad credit for all.

As a result, a Constitutional Convention was called for in Philadelphia in 1787, and a new federal constitution for the 13 colonies was created in secret. It called for a strong federal government led by a president with the power of taxation, printing money, and courts that would supervise the laws passed by the new legislature, the House of Representatives and the Senate. 

The task of selling this new form of government fell on the federalists, people like James Madison, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton, while those opposed, the anti-federalists, were primarily concerned with the lack of a Bill of Rights enshrined in the Constitution and with the secret negotiations that had taken place. George Washington was known to favor the federalists, but stayed above the fray, looking instead to become the first president of the United States.

Told from the perspective of a reporter who had access to all of the players in the colonies, as well as private correspondence, this crucial period of 18 months show that the new country could very well have been lost to a series of independent confederacies, altering the course of history. Fans of history will enjoy learning how founding fathers navigated the treacherous waters to create a unique document that created a balanced and equal co-branches of goverment to ensure life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

To read more about the American Revolution, take a look at Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for Independence or the graphic history Nathan Hale's History: One Dead Spy.