Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Introduction: “Like a Garment to the Bodie”: On Constitutional Relationships 1
4. Part I. From Domesday to Independence, 1066–1776
5. 1 Land, Conquest, and the Substance of Constitutions: From England to America 23
6. 2 Colonies and Constitutions from Charter to Independence 40
7. Part II. Making the United States, 1776–89
8. 3 Independent States and the Challenge of the West 71
9. 4 Constitutional Solutions Before the Constitution 89
10. 5 From Convention to Ratification: Drafting a Blueprint for a Speculative Empire 105
11. Part III. The Domesday Machine in Action, 1790–1890
12. 6 Two Paths to Westward Expansion, North and South 135
13. 7 The President Who Failed to Bark: Jefferson, Louisiana, and Constitutional Change 153
14. 8 The Machine Runs Amok: Expansion, Slavery, and Civil War 170
15. 9 The Machine Stalls Out: The Challenge of the Arid West 190
16. Part IV. A Domesday Book for the United States, 1890–1990
17. 10 A Union of Three Distinct Sub-Nations and the Beginnings of Constitutional Reform 217
18. 11 The Great Transformation: The Making of a National Government and a National Society 249
19. 12 The Long Crisis of the Constitution: Governmental Change and Instrumental Stasis in the Twentieth Century 283
20. Epilogue: Toward 2090: Rethinking the Purpose of the United States 313
21. Acknowledgments 329
22. Notes 333
23. Illustration Credits 377
24. Index 381
25. A note on the type 395