It is the best available introduction to the men and measures of the First Congress and it can be read with great profit by all who study and teach American history or American government.

Patrick J. Furlong, Journal of the Early Republic

scholarly and interesting...

The Washington Post

The finest short account of the origins of Congress that I have read. It could only have been written by scholars who have devoted years to the study of the First Congress as authors Bickford and Bowling have done.

Raymond W. Smock, Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives

Both intelligent general readers and specialists in American history will enjoy and learn from this incisive account of the First Federal Congress. . . . Birth of the Nation is a valuable and a necessary book.

Richard B. Bernstein, Historian, New York City Commission on the Bicentennial of the Constitution

The book is a marvelous summary of what was arguably the most important two years in congressional history. . . . Birth of the Nation is simply chock-full of interesting examples that amply demonstrate just how important that first Congress was and just how little many of us-even many historians-know about that Congress.

James T. Currie, The Public Historian