Jefferson Vs. Hamilton: Confrontations That Shaped a Nation (Bedford Series in History and Culture) - Hardcover

Cunningham, Noble E.

3.7

54 ratings by Goodreads

9780312228217: Jefferson Vs. Hamilton: Confrontations That Shaped a Nation (Bedford Series in History and Culture)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 031222821X ISBN 13: 9780312228217

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000

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This documentary study of Jefferson and Hamilton focuses on their differing views of society and government in the formative years of the new American nation.

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About the Author:

Noble E. Cunningham Jr. is Curator's Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

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.

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