Introduction: "Like a garment to the bodie" : on constitutional relationships

Part I: From domesday to independence, 1066-1776. Land, conquest, and the substance of constitutions : from England to America

Colonies and constitutions from Charter to independence

Part II: Making the United States, 1776-89. Independent states and the challenge of the west

Constitutional solutions before the Constitution

From convention to ratification : drafting a blueprint for a speculative empire

Part III: The domesday machine in action, 1790-1890. Two paths to westward expansion, north and south

The President who failed to bark : Jefferson, Louisiana, and constitutional change

The machine runs amok : expansion, slavery, and civil war

The machine stalls out : the challenge of the arid west

Part IV: A domesday book for the United States, 1890-1990. A union of three distinct sub-nations and the beginnings of constitutional reform

The great transformation : the making of a national government and a national society

The long crisis of the Constitution : governmental change and instrumental stasis in the twentieth century

Epilogue: Toward 2090 : rethinking the purpose of the United States.