For Ourselves and Our Posterity ─ The Preamble to the Federal Constitution in American History

In For Ourselves and Our Posterity: The Preamble to the Federal Constitution in American History, author Peter Charles Hoffer offers a sweeping, dramatic narration of a crucial moment in Early American history. Over the course of five days in September 1787, five men serving on an ad hoc "Committee of Style and Arrangement" edited the draft of the federal Constitution at the Constitutional Convention, profoundly recasting the wording of the Preamble. In so doing, the committee changed a federation into a Union and laid out an ambitious program for national governance many years ahead of its time. The Preamble and all that it came to represent was the unique achievement of a remarkable group of men at a momentous turning point in American history. Providing a clear exposition of constitutional issues, For Ourselves and Our Posterity features individual portraits of the leading framers at the heart of this dramatic event.

Peter Charles Hoffer is Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Georgia. He is the author of several books, including Cry Liberty: The Great Stono River Slave Rebellion of 1739 (OUP, 2011), The Brave New World: A History of Early America (2007), The Supreme Court: An Essential History (2007), Seven Fires: The Urban Infernos that Reshaped American History (2006), and Past Imperfect (2004).