These essential documents, formulated over the course of twenty years encapsulate a period of crucial significance to the United States and the world. They are the embodied results of centuries of thought, debate, and experimentation - finally espoused in a practical fashion. The foundations for the experiment of liberty and law that is the United States of America, they are the fundamental guide for securing the blessings of liberty. 

By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. 

The Articles of Confederation created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. 

The Constitution defines the fundamental law of the U.S. federal government, setting forth the three principal branches of the federal government and outlining their jurisdictions. It has become the landmark legal document of the Western world, and is the oldest written national constitution currently in effect. 

The Federalist Papers is a collection of essays written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton in 1788. The essays urged the ratification of the United States Constitution, which had been debated and drafted at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. They serve as the best single source to the insights of our Founding Father's view of the Constitution.

In the fall of 1796, nearing the end of his term, George Washington published a farewell address, intended to serve as a guide to future statecraft for the American public and his successors in office. 

First Principles explores the influence of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome on the founding of the United States by looking at the educations of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison as expressed through their speeches and writings. 

 Thomas Edwin "Tom" Ricks is an American journalist and author who specializes in the military and national security issues. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting as part of teams from the Wall Street Journal (2000) and Washington Post (2002). He has reported on military activities in Somalia, Haiti, Korea, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Kuwait, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He previously wrote a blog for Foreign Policy and is a member of the Center for a New American Security a defense policy think tank. 

 A history of the American Constitution's formative decades from a preeminent legal scholar

When the US Constitution won popular approval in 1788, it was the culmination of thirty years of passionate argument over the nature of government. But ratification hardly ended the conversation. For the next half century, ordinary Americans and statesmen alike continued to wrestle with weighty questions in the halls of government and in the pages of newspapers. Should the nation's borders be expanded? Should America allow slavery to spread westward? What rights should Indian nations hold? What was the proper role of the judicial branch? 

 In The Words that Made Us, Akhil Reed Amar unites history and law in a vivid narrative of the biggest constitutional questions early Americans confronted, and he expertly assesses the answers they offered. His account of the document's origins and consolidation is a guide for anyone seeking to properly understand America's Constitution today. 

Akhil Reed Amar is an American legal scholar known for his expertise in constitutional law and criminal procedure. He holds the position of Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, and is an adjunct professor of law at Columbia University.  

In addition to the driving prose that explains the drama behind Washington’s Farewell Address, Avlon takes a deep look at its legacy in American history, bringing into play the stories of how fellow officeholders, including Jefferson, Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan, relied on Washington’s sage advice.

Avlon then challenges all Americans to carry on the task of Washington in these current troubling times and learn a thing or two from our Founding Father. This book belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who has a serious interest in American history and in the subsequent fate of our nation.

Reviewed by James A. Percoco

April 8, 2018

John Avlon is the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of The Daily Beast and a CNN political analyst. He is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics and Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America as well as editor of the anthology Deadline Artists: America’s Greatest Newspaper Columns. Previously, he was a columnist and associate editor for the New York Sun and chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ award for best online column in 2012.