LEADER 00000pam  2200361 i 4500 
001    910566523 
003    OCoLC 
005    20160307154610.0 
008    151030s2016    nyua     b    001 0 eng   
010      2015017286 
020    9781451691931 
020    1451691939 
035    (OCoLC)910566523|z(OCoLC)894746788 
040    DLC|beng|erda|cDLC|dTOH|dYDXCP|dBTCTA|dBDX|dOCLCO|dOCLCF
       |dIMmBT|dUtOrBLW 
042    pcc 
043    n-us--- 
082 00 327.7309/033|223 
092    973.44|bBOR 
100 1  Bordewich, Fergus M.,|eauthor. 
245 14 The First Congress :|bhow James Madison, George Washington,
       and a group of extraordinary men invented the government /
       |cby Fergus M. Bordewich. 
250    First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition. 
264  1 New York :|bSimon & Schuster,|c2016. 
300    xv, 396 pages :|billustrations ;|c25 cm 
336    text|btxt|2rdacontent 
337    unmediated|bn|2rdamedia 
338    volume|bnc|2rdacarrier 
504    Includes bibliographical references (pages 369-377) and 
       index. 
505 0  An ocean always turbulent -- The fostering hand of 
       government -- A new era -- Pomp and quiddling -- A very 
       perplexing business -- A great and delicate subject -- 
       Vile politics -- Propositions of a doubtful nature -- 
       Paper guarantees -- A centre without parallel -- Interlude
       I -- The labyrinth of finance -- A gross national iniquity
       -- The trumpet of sedition -- Cabals, meetings, plots & 
       counterplots -- A southern position -- Indians -- 
       Interlude II -- Freedom's fav'rite seat -- A most 
       mischievous engine. 
520    The little known story of perhaps the most productive 
       Congress in US history, the First Federal Congress of 
       1789–1791.  The First Congress was the most important in 
       US history, says prizewinning author and historian Fergus 
       Bordewich, because it established how our government would
       actually function. Had it failed—as many at the time 
       feared it would—it’s possible that the United States as we
       know it would not exist today.  The Constitution was a 
       broad set of principles. It was left to the members of the
       First Congress and President George Washington to create 
       the machinery that would make the government work. 
       Fortunately, James Madison, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton,
       and others less well known today, rose to the occasion. 
       During two years of often fierce political struggle, they 
       passed the first ten amendments to the Constitution; they 
       resolved bitter regional rivalries to choose the site of 
       the new national capital; they set in place the procedure 
       for admitting new states to the union; and much more. But 
       the First Congress also confronted some issues that remain
       to this day: the conflict between states’ rights and the 
       powers of national government; the proper balance between 
       legislative and executive power; the respective roles of 
       the federal and state judiciaries; and funding the central
       government. Other issues, such as slavery, would fester 
       for decades before being resolved.  The First Congress 
       tells the dramatic story of the two remarkable years when 
       Washington, Madison, and their dedicated colleagues 
       struggled to successfully create our government, an 
       achievement that has lasted to the present day.  
610 10 United States.|bCongress|n(1st :|d1789-1791) 
651  0 United States|xPolitics and government|y1789-1797.