The Constitution Before the Judgment Seat

In the late 18th century, the national discussion triggered by the ratification of the US Constitution in each state of the new nation set the stage for the political, economic, and cultural development of the US under the new system of government. This study presents the ratification debate as a complex event involving all strata of society at the national, state, and local levels. The author details the ratification debate's effects on public and private life and its role in the shift from a traditional to a modern society. Of special interest is a chapter detailing the public celebrations surrounding ratification. This abridged and edited translation contains a new introduction summarizing Heideking's ideas on the Constitution and a discussion of factors influencing Heideking's perspective. Author Heideking was a historian. Editors Kaminski and Leffler are affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The book was first published in German in 1988 as Die Verfassung vor dem Richterstuhl: Vorgeschichte und Ratifizierung der Amerikanischen Verfassung, 1787-1791, by Walter de Gruyer GmBH and Co., KG Berlin. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jurgen Heideking was a prominent U.S. historian and authored or edited over twenty books, including Celebrating Ethnicity and Nation: American Festive Culture from the Revolution to the Early Twentieth Century. John P. Kaminski and Richard Leffler head the Center for the Study of the American Constitution in the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and are the editors of the multivolume Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution.