The Civil War placed the US Constitution under unprecedented strain. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Mark Neely examines the US Constitution and its often overlooked cousin, the Confederate Constitution, and the ways the documents shaped the struggle for national survival.

The Civil War placed the U.S. Constitution under unprecedented - and, to this day, still unmatched - strain. Neely examines for the first time in one book the U.S. Constitution and its often overlooked cousin, the Confederate Constitution, and the ways the documents shaped the struggle for national survival.