Any book recommendations for the period from the adoption of the constitution, to the beginning  of the civil war?  Is there a good general history of that era?  

Thanks in advance.

For starters I'd look at something about the events leading up to the War of 1812. It's said that 1776 started us as a country, but 1812 defined us as a nation.

A good Andrew Jackson biography should cover a good portion of the period in question.

And the Civil War changed us from a "Union of States" to "The United States."

Constitution and its ratification
"Contested Conventions" by Yazawa
"Liberty, order and Justice" McCellan

Mexican American War and Westward Expansion
"A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion" by Amy S Greenburg
"A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and its War with the United States" By Henderson
"So far from God" Eisenhower
"Manifest Destinies" By Woodworth
"Personal Memoirs of US Grant" by Grant
"Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion" Greenburg
"Blood and Thunder" (Kit Carson) by Sides

Slavery Issue
"Defending Slavery: Pro Slavery thought in the Old South" Finkleman
"Jefferson Davis: The Essential Writings" Cooper


In my opinion the Mexican-American War is an often overlooked, but very important event between ratification and the Civil War. Understanding it, and the issues of westward expansion, is paramount.

Thanks for the replies!

On the Google books app you can do a search for downloadable free books about the US Navy during the war of 1812, and the war with the Barbary pirates. A majority were written before 1850, so they are either eyewitness accounts or told to the author narratives of what occurred.