The Making of an American Senate is based on extensive qualitative and quantitative research on a variety of primary sources, including records of the Constitutional Convention, congressional records, presidential papers, contemporary newspapers, and the personal papers, diaries, and autobiographies of members of Congress and other political elites. It also employs an array of methods ranging from roll call analysis to factor analysis to content analysis.

This book will engage political scientists concerned with congressional history, institutional change, and the founding of new institutions. It will also interest historians of the Founding Era and the early American Republic.