Published between 1889 and 1891, this nine-volume masterpiece chronicles American history during the administrations of Jefferson and Madison.

In this groundbreaking new account, historian Gutzman looks beyond Madison's traditional moniker--The Father of the Constitution--to find a more complex and realistic portrait of this influential founding father, who often performed his founding deeds in spite of himself.

Published between 1889 and 1891, this nine-volume masterpiece chronicles American history during the administrations of Jefferson and Madison.

Born in 1753 to a prominent Dutch-American family in Hackensack, New Jersey, Richard Varick became a lawyer, then a Patriot officer in the American Revolutionary War. Colonel Varick served with distinction as aide to generals Philip Schuyler and Benedict Arnold. Later, George Washington entrusted him with the editing of his wartime papers—forty-four volumes now housed in the Library of Congress. In peacetime Varick helped initiate the new Federalist-oriented government of New York City, becoming its mayor from 1789–1801. Next he turned his energies to the accumulation of lucrative real estate, all the while furthering the development of Columbia University and the Society of the Cincinnati, and starting the entity that became Jersey City. His personal passion was to help promulgate the Christian message, especially through the founding of the American Bible Society and the New York Sunday School Union. A highly respected, multitalented businessman and national hero, he was returned to Hackensack for burial in 1831.