Barry Sullivan (Loyola University Chicago School of Law) has posted a Book Review Essay of five books on the origin of the Constitution (American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 29, p. 173, 1988) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
The bicentennial of the Constitution has provided the occasion for an outpouring of scholarship concerning the origins of the Constitution and the founding of the American nation. Given the intellectual richness and political complexity which characterize the debates concerning the adoption of the Constitution, together with the extent to which those debates continue to inform our public discourse concerning the nature of American federalism and nationhood (notwithstanding the revolutionary changes wrought by the Civil War, the Civil War Amendments, and the influx of immigrants into American society), this new scholarship is welcome indeed. If nothing else, it may contribute some measure of information, and, perhaps, of balance, to the current, heated debate over the proper role of "original intent" in constitutional adjudication.
Posted at 2:30 PM