Jefferson vs. Hamilton: Confrontations that Shaped a Nation (Bedford Series in History and Culture) - Softcover

Cunningham Jr., Noble

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312085850 ISBN 13: 9780312085858

Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000

Synopsis

Interweaving more than 40 documents, Jefferson vs. Hamilton follows the lives and careers each man from their youth, through the Revolutionary War, to the death of Hamilton in 1804, focusing on their differing views of society and government in the formative years of the new American nation.

About this title

About the Author:

NOBLE E. CUNNINGHAM JR. is Curators' Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Missouri, Columbia. With research and writing focused on the early national period of American history, his writings include In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson (1987), The Process of Government under Jefferson (1976), The Image of Thomas Jefferson in the Public Eye (1981), Popular Images of the Presidency from Washington to Lincoln (1991), and The Presidency of James Monroe (1996). He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a senior fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Selections from the writings of two of the foremost antagonists among the Founding Fathers, edited and explained by historian and biographer Cunningham (In Pursuit of Reason, 1987). Cunningham's efforts will forever dispel any romantic notions that the Founding Fathers were a troop of amiable Boy Scouts. The Jefferson and Hamilton on display here are fierce opponents, each absolutely convinced that the other was a danger to the fledgling country. Cunningham has juxtaposed some of the principal writings of both men (most of the pieces are excerpts) and supplied some genial commentary--all intended to reveal how the two leading political figures faced the major issues of their day. Hamilton (younger than Jefferson by 12 years) did not trust the general public: The people are turbulent and changing, he wrote in 1787, they seldom judge or determine right. Jefferson, by contrast, had supreme faith in the electorate and wished to guarantee the survival of liberty by improving the education of the common people. Cunningham reveals that there is no record of the first meeting between the men, but they both were members of Washington's first cabinet--Jefferson was Secretary of State, and Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury. Their first important clash was over the formation of the national bank (Hamilton favored it--and won). Jefferson hated Hamilton's fondness for paper currency and later wrote Washington that he believed he had been duped by Hamilton and made a tool for forwarding his schemes. Hamilton later called Jefferson a contemptible hypocrite and could not bring himself to credit Jefferson even for Louisiana, whose purchase, sniped Hamilton, was due to fortuitous . . . circumstances rather than any wise or vigorous measure. Cunningham concludes--somewhat superfluously--that both men contributed greatly to the shaping of the American nation. As this useful volume of powerful prose ably illustrates, what often survives a political collision is moral clarity. (10 illustrations) -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0312085850
• ISBN 13: 9780312085858
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208