The battle after the war : how the men of Virginia and Massachusetts went from allies to political adversaries while forging a new republic / by Melissa Bryson.

Before the American Revolution, Massachusetts and Virginia unified following the Coercive Acts of 1774. Four men, Patrick Henry, George Mason, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock forged political alliances and friendships with one another as independence was declared and the United States became free of Great Britain. In the years following the Revolution, the Articles of Confederation failed, and the Union was threatened without a strong centralized government. Following the Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia and the creation of the U.S. Constitution, these four men went from political allies and friends to foes. As the Constitution made its way to Virginia and Massachusetts to be ratified, Adams and Hancock voted in favor after their reluctance to accept it. Meanwhile in Virginia, Henry and Mason remained proponents of the Constitution and fought to prevent ratification. Through the course of the ratification conventions, each man saw the republic differently than the other resulting in them going from allies to foes.