The prizewinning author of Founding Brothers and American Sphinx now gives us the unexpected story–brilliantly told–of why the thirteen colonies, having just fought off the imposition of a distant centralized governing power, would decide to subordinate themselves anew.

After the triumph of the American Revolution there was no guarantee that the colonies would relinquish their independence and accept the creation of a federal government with power over their individual autonomy. The Quartet is the story of this second American founding and of the men responsible–some familiar, such as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, and some less so, such as Robert Morris and Gouverneur Morris. Through their efforts, they diagnosed the systemic dysfunctions created by the Articles of Confederation, conspired to force a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, orchestrated the debate in the state ratifying conventions, and, finally, drafted the Bill of Rights, which assured state compliance with the new constitutional settlement.