In this short work, Morris and Woodress present a selection of fascinating source materials to survey key events which occurred during the presidencies of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams. As the authors state in their preface, "The early part of the last century was an exciting time to live in America. The signers of the Declaration of Independence and the framers of the Constitution, mostly old men by now, saw that their experiment in republican government had turned out to be a success. The nation was flourishing in these years like a healthy adolescent. There were growing pains, to be sure, but no one doubted now that the youngster would reach manhood. The question was: What is he going to be like?" - Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi