Jefferson vs. Hamilton : confrontations that shaped a nation / Noble E. Cunningham, Jr.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This documentary study of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton focuses on their differing views of society and government in the formative years of the new American nation. Interweaving more than 40 documents into 7 chronological chapters, the text follows the lives and careers of the two men from their youth, through the Revolutionary War, to the death of Hamilton in 1804. In each chapter, generous excerpts from their public papers and private letters reveal the two men's often divergent views on government and the Constitution, economic and foreign policy, and the military, and illustrate the roles they played in the emergence of political parties.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Different Paths to Fame
• Diverging Courses
• Poles Apart on Banks and Factories
• Conflict in Washington's Cabinet
• Disagreement on Foreign Affairs
• Political Competitors
• Hamilton and President Jefferson
• The Legacies of Jefferson and Hamilton

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

This ninth volume in the "Bedford Series in History and Culture" focuses on two adversarial American legends, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. As with other works in this series, the format, which combines narrative commentary with primary documents, emphasizes brevity. In a succinct narrative that composes less than half the volume, Cunningham (emeritus, history, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia) once again demonstrates his considerable skill as historian and writer. Numerous key letters, speeches, reports, and other primary documents interwoven into the text illustrate fundamental differences between the democrat from an established family and the equally talented social outsider with an even sharper entrepreneur's eye. The "Bedford" series is aimed at college American history courses, and this latest volume will be useful in that setting. It will also appeal to general readers who want mini-biographies and samples of the written works of these two American political giants.DWilliam D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Supplemental readings are abundant and largely forgettable. Occasionally, however, a quality contribution appears. Cunningham (Univ. of Missouri--Columbia, emeritus), author of significant contributions to Jeffersonian historiography (The Process of Government under Jefferson, CH, Dec'78, a magisterial contribution to the field; In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson, CH, Nov'87), knows the area and the two men as do few living scholars. Rather than writing an introduction followed by the documents, Cunningham integrates the documents (almost all letters or reports of the two men) with a brief, smoothly written narrative divided into seven chapters: "Different Paths to Fame," "Diverging Courses," "Poles Apart on Banks and Factories," "Conflict in Washington's Cabinet," "Disagreement on Foreign Affairs," "Political Competitors," and "Hamilton and President Jefferson." With an epilogue, a Jefferson and Hamilton chronology, selected bibliography, index, and illustrations, this book should be given serious consideration for usage in US history survey classes and in courses in the early national period. General and undergraduate readers. C. L. Egan; University of Houston

Booklist Review

However revised and edited by historians, those long-haired radicals of the early republic irresistibly invite inspections of their lives, actions, and reputations. Ferling confines his portraits of Washington, Jefferson, and Adams to the War of Independence. From early in life, a desire for renown actuated them: Washington became well known from his military career in the French and Indian War; Adams and Jefferson earned their spurs of celebrity in the Continental Congress that proclaimed independence. Ferling is most interested in how the reputations of the three men measure up to their performance in the ensuing war. Unfortunately for Jefferson, his name takes a battering from Ferling's research and pen, for he sat out almost the entire war, except for his short, disastrous governorship of Virginia in 1780. Washington and Adams, by contrast, receive Ferling's accolades as genuine devotees to the revolutionary cause, Adams especially for his diplomatic skill in winding up the war in 1782^-83. Such semicontrarian judgments, coming from an academic historian, ought to be added to larger collections about the American Revolution. Cunningham edits documents about the Jefferson-Hamilton head butting during Washington's first presidency. As the two antagonists disputed principles fundamental to the Constitution and crucial to contemporary issues, such as the balance between state and federal power, libraries will always find useful having a volume going back to the primal sources. This one contains excerpts from Hamilton's state papers on finance, with Jefferson's objections, all enlivened by each man's comments about the other's character in letters to their friends. A resource suited to student researchers. --Gilbert Taylor

Kirkus Book Review

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 ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.