"In this essay, Max Edling provides an internationalist interpretation of the founding of the United States. Rather than focusing on domestic economic conflict, Edling's interpretation highlights international competition, both with European powers and Native American neighbors, and inter-state relations within the federal union, as the principal causes of constitutional reform"-- "An earlier version of this essay was published as "A More Perfect Union: The Framing and Ratification of the Constitution," in The Oxford Handbook of the American Revolution, eds. Edward G. Gray and Jane Kamensky (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 388-406. Reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press (http://global.oup.com/academic)"--