One of the most important and influencial creeds of Calvinism and the creedal standard of the Presbyterian churches.
The Westminster Confession is a product of English-Scottish cooperation drawn up at Westminster in the years 1643-46. King Charles I (r.1625-49), under the influence of the Arminianist Archbishop William Laud, had attempted during his reign to impose Anglican reforms upon the Scottish national church, which was strongly Calvinistic. The Scots rebelled and in 1638 issued their own National Covenant and invaded northern England. Charles was forced, thus, to summon parliament for the necessary funds. Parliament, however, refused to do so until the king reformed his own autocratic rule, which he refused. In 1642 the country descended into civil war, which ended in Charles's execution and the establishment—under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell—of the Commonwealth seven years later.
As part of the reforms called for by parliament—strongly influenced by Calvinist Puritans—an assembly, the Westminster Assembly (often referred to in older literature as the Westminster Divines) was appointed to formulate a creed they felt was more suitable for the country (both England and Scotland) than the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church; thus was the Westminster Confession, worked out amidst the chaos of the Civil War, birthed. The Commonwealth lasted only a decade, and with the death of Cromwell and the restatement of the monarchy under Charles II, England reverted to Anglicanism. The Scots remained, however, staunchly Calvinist and Presbyterian.
In addition to the confession, the assembly also drew up two catechisms, the Larger Catechism, for formal study, and the Shorter Cathechism, for use in pastoral circumstances such as preparing new believers for baptism.
Resources:
For the full text of the Westminster Confession
click here. 
Philip Schaff provides a summary of the events leading and an analysis of the Westminster Confession in Creeds of Christendom. Vol. 1: The History of Creeds (7.vii). To read it, click here. To view the entire book click here. 
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