The first encyclopedic treatment of the personalities, politics, and events involved in drafting the U.S. Constitution.This comprehensive treatment of all the personalities, philosophies, debates, and compromises involved in drafting the U.S. Constitution is the first encyclopedic work on the subject, compiling information into an easily accessible A-Z format. Biographies of all 55 delegates, analysis of the competing political viewpoints, procedural and substantive disputes, along with a host of other details are all presented here. Both the detail and the scholarship in this book are unmatched in any other work; the encyclopedic presentation simply does not exist elsewhere.Civil liberties, the scope of authority of the three branches of government, and other constitutional matters are increasingly at the forefront of public discussion. Scholars, citizens interested in self-education, and reference librarians faced with questions about the Constitution will find in this book all they require to answer their needs.350 A-Z entries and dozens of sidebars including persons, events, compromises, committees, constitutional provisions, and even triviaTwo separate chronologies--one for day-to-day events at the Convention and one covering key events in the years surrounding the ConventionPrimary source documents including copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution and its amendmentsExtensive cross-references, a topical table of contents, bibliographical entries, a complete index, and maps