  We present a manifestly rotational invariant formulation of the matrix
product method valid for spin chains and ladders. We apply it to 2 legged spin
ladders with spins 1/2, 1 and 3/2 and different magnetic structures labelled by
the exchange coupling constants, which can be ferromagnetic or
antiferromagnetic along the legs and the rungs of the ladder We compute ground
state energy densities, correlation lengths and string order parameters. We
present numerical evidence of the duality properties of the 3 different non
ferromagnetic spin 1/2 ladders. We show that the long range topological order
characteristic of isolated spin 1 chains is broken by the interchain coupling.
The string order correlation function decays exponentially with a finite
correlation length that we compute. A physical picture of the spin 1 ladder is
given in terms of a collection of resonating spin 1 chains. Finally for ladders
with spin equal or greater than 3/2 we define a class of AKLT states whose
matrix product coefficients are given by 9-j symbols.
