The two most extensive histories dealing with the period of the Confederation are George Bancroft's _History of the Formation of the Constitution of the United States of America_ (2 vols., 1882) and G. T. Curtis's _History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States_ (2 vols., 1854). In the fourth volume of Hildreth's _History of the United States_ (6 vols., 1849-52), a concise but rather dry account of the Confederation may be found. More entertaining is John Fiske's _The Critical Period of American History, 1783-1789_ (1888). Valuable information bearing on the social as well as the political history of the times is contained in the first volume of J. B. McMaster's _History of the People of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War_ (7 vols., 1883-1913). More recent histories of the period are A. C. McLaughlin's _The Confederation and the Constitution, 1783-1789_ (in _The American Nation_, vol. 10, 1905), and Edward Channing's _History of the United States_, vol. III (3 vols., 1905- ). A vigorous narrative of the exploits of the pioneers beyond the Alleghanies has been written by Theodore Roosevelt, _Winning of the West_ (4 vols., 1889-96). A more restrained account of the beginnings of Western settlement is B. A. Hinsdale's _The Old Northwest, the Beginnings of our Colonial System_ (1899). CHAPTER II THE MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION