Creating the Constitution presents a different interpretation of the Convention and the First Congress, derived largely from a close reading of Farrand's Records and the Annals of Congress. Among its special features are a critical perspective on the Framers, an examination of Court Whig influence on the Federalists, the identification of a third group--the state Federalists--between the nationalists and states' righters, and a view of the First Congress as distorting the aims of the Convention.