Popular histories of the early Republic have seen a boom over the past decade or so, with nearly every Founding Father enjoying a new biography and a number of best-selling authors adding their takes on the era.
But one moment in the revolutionary epoch has remained a historical “black hole,” in the words of College of Charleston political science professor Thomas Patrick Chorlton, who shines some light on the darkness in “The First American Republic: 1774-1789,” covering the period that begins with the First Continental Congress and ends with the implementation of the Constitution.
Histories of the Articles of Confederation era have been written, of course, but Chorlton takes a path less traveled, focusing on the 14 men who served first as president of Congress, then (after ratification of the Articles) as president of the United States in Congress Assembled.
