Commentaries on the Constitution: Public and Private, a six volume set, is an integral but autonomous part of the Ratification series. The documents in this volume present the day-by-day regional and national debates over the Constitution that took place in newspapers, magazines, broadsides, pamphlets, and private letters. This volume contains nearly 110 documents covering a six week period, April and May 1788, near the end of the struggle, but nonetheless demonstrating that debate remained rich and vigorous until the final moments. This documentary series is a research tool of remarkable power, an unrivaled reference work for historical and legal scholars, librarians, and students of the Constitution. The volumes are encyclopedic, consisting of manuscript and printed documents-contemporary newspapers, broadsides, and pamphlets-compiled from hundreds of sources, copiously annotated, thoroughly indexed, and often accompanied by microfiche supplements.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Michael Kammen has noted that The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution series will be of enduring value centuries hence and described it as one of the most interesting documentary publications we have ever had. The American Bar Association Journal has stated, Each new volume now fills another vital part of the mosaic of national history.