America's Second Revolution: How George Washington Defeated Patrick Henry and Saved the Nation

The Declaration of Independence liberated one continent from domination by another, but the Constitution revolutionized the world——by entrusting citizens with rights never before in history granted to ordinary people. Far from the genteel unity implied by the Constitution’s opening words “We the people,” the struggle to create and ratify this powerful document was as difficult as the fight for independence from Britain had been. The road to independence had led straight to hell. America was ablaze in anarchy and civil strife. As civil war threatened, George Washington called for a new constitution creating a powerful new federal government to restore order. For the majority of Americans, the new Constitution drafted in Philadelphia seemed a disaster, creating a new American government with the same powers of taxation as the former British government and led by a president with powers to succeed himself indefinitely and become a monarch. Former Virginia governor Patrick Henry cried out