Man Behind the Quill, Jacob Shallus

The hand that penned the original parchments of the Constitution belonged not to one of the Founding fathers who signed it, nor to any of their prominent contemporaries. It belonged to the little-known Revolutionary War veteran named Jacob Shallus, the son of a German immigrant. This volume, the first biography of Shallus ever published, tells his fascinating story in the context of Revolutionary era Philadelphia, 1749-1796. Appendixes provide information about Shallus' son Francis---who himself was a noted engraver---and a brief history of the travel and preservation of the Constitution are included. " . . . an original work of scholarship that anyone interested in constitutional history . . . should find quite useful . . . ." --Leonard W. Levy, [then] Editor, Encyclopedia of the American Constitution