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America Afire: Jefferson, Adams, and the Revolutionary Election of 1800

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This is a wonderful book. It isn't a "scholarly tome", but it is reliable. The author draws on many secondary sources (scholarly tomes) to weave together this surprising story. Everybody should know this stuff. Nobody does.

For example, how many Americans think that the Constitution established a "democracy?" It did not. The framers were much divided about the concept, and most were initially distrustful of it. The horrors of the French Revolution didn't help matters. American democracy emerged during the decade prior to the 1800 election as a political movement that morphed into a political party. And it wasn't even a coherent political movement. It was as much about personalities as about principles.

How many Americans know that the bitter partisan politics of our own day, which culminated in the remarkable election of 2000, has been ever with us? It has. If anything, the politics of 1800 were more bilious and hateful than today's.

As to that, how many Americans know that our "Founding Fathers" pretty much despised each other? They did. Adams and Washington against Jefferson and Madison. Adams was bad-tempered, jealous, and resentful. He was also brilliant, shrewd and as indispensible in his own less than conspicuous way as Washington was very publicly. Washington and Adams were personally appalled by Ben Franklin, whom they regarded as an atheist and a womanizer (which he was), and everybody hated Hamilton. Of course Hamilton was a hard man to love. Perhaps the most effectively influential of all the Founders, he had nothing but contempt for democracy, but practically invented American capitalism and almost single-handedly set the U.S. on course to its future status as international super-power.

Everybody knows that Jefferson wrote "all men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence, but what most people don't know is that almost nobody, including Jefferson, actually believed this. Still, during the 1790's a political coalition, featuring James Madison, James Monroe, and Charles Pinkney (not to be confused with Charles Cotesworth Pinkney, the former's first cousin and an avid Federalist) formed around this remarkable idea. These early democrats called themselves Republicans, Republican-Democrats and, later, just Democrats. Their willingness to ride on what Jefferson called "the boistrous sea of liberty" and what we might less colorfully call "negative" campaigning probably saved the nation from, at the very least, reverting back to another British banana republic. Their opponents, the "Federalists", on the other hand, probably saved the nation from becoming another bloodbath like France before Napoleon.

The partisan clash of great men who were also ruthless politicians is the story of this book. This book portrays these events, and the men who shaped them, in a swift-paced and fascinating narrative. I highly recommend it.

Here's the perfect book for this election season, and one which sets our minds at ease knowing this wasn't the only closely contested election in American history.

More than that, however, is the brilliant portrait Weisberger paints of our Founding Fathers. While they came together in Philadelphia to proclaim independence, they would come together later in Philadelphia to participate in political machinations against each other concerning the future direction of the young republic. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson would suffer a rupture in their friendship that would last over ten years, not only over the course the Adams presidency took, but the mud that was slung in the campaign of 1800.

The capper to all this, and it should come as no surprise, was the role of the media (newspapers) in exploiting and encouraging the slander, the accusations and the tension between the Federalists of Adams and the Republicans of Jefferson. The media of today has nothing on the writers of the late Eighteenth Century who made absolutely no pretense about where their loyalties were. Weisberger makes it into a fascinating backdrop to the election, showing the passion and the tenor of the times.

As to the principals of 1796 and 1800, Adams is portrayed as a brilliant man, caught in the middle between England and France, while trying to steer America on a neutral course. All the while in the background is the figure of Alexander Hamilton, pulling strings to replace Adams with a friendlier Federalist candidate and almost costing Adams the 1796 election as a result.

Jefferson comes across as a consummate politican, accepting the Vice-Presidency in 1796 with a hostile Adams as President, waiting his chance in 1800 when he saw the time as being right. Adams will suffer through numerous foreign policy errors concerning France, some of his making and others the result of his Republican opponents. The Republican newspapers would cause Adams to make the biggest blunder of his Presidency over the opposition of such Federalists as John Marshall, The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1898, ostensibly designed to deport hostile foreign-born residents (mostly French) who were wont to side the Republicans and to make it a crime to criticize the Government of the United States. It was a mistake that would have disastrous consequences for him in the next election.

And yet, all of this wonderful history could turn to the dullest lead in the wrong hands. Weisberger takes the facts of America's early years and makes them come alive for the reader. By employing a clear, concise style that eschews both bombast and the tendency to lose the narrative in an ocean of information, Weisberger keeps us on the edge of our seats throughout the book, even though we already know how it comes out.

The subtitle of "America Afire" is somewhat misleading. While it purports to be about "Jefferson, Adams, and the Revolutionary Election of 1800," not until over two-thirds of the narrative have passed does author Bernard Weisberger begin to discuss the election itself and then for only one chapter. The book is really a concise political history of the United States from the ratification of the Constitution through the end of Jefferson's first term as President. The prose is lively and highly readable. And Weisberger is correct in his assertion that the election of 1800, in which a President who was denied re-election voluntarily relenquished power for the first time, was a monumental if often overlooked event in the early history of the nation.

The book actually reads like a series of magazine articles with each chapter covering a separate event. This may reflect Weisberger's longtime involvement as a contributing editor for "American Heritage" magazine. At just over 300 pages of narrative, "America Afire" reads like the work of Stephen Ambrose in the way it brings history alive for those who are not academic scholars.

America Afire's portrayal of late 18th Century America is sure to fascinate anyone with even a minimal interest in American history. Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton and Burr leap from the pages of Weisberger's descriptive, yet unassuming prose. The events depicted are fascinating. The development of the democratic ideals that we now take for granted is particularly compelling.

Perhaps even more intriguing is America Afire's adept depiction of the "unfatherly" behavior and attitudes of our founding fathers. Their views and actions are often unsettling, and sometimes downright frightening. America Afire dispels with the myth that the originators of the American Constitution were beyond petty politics and biased interpretations of the Constitution they had just written. They often felt and expressed vile hatred for each other - much beyond anything that the American public would tolerate today. As Weisberger ably demonstrates, this pettiness almost destroyed our nation in its infancy.

I will leave for the reader the factual particulars of Weisberger's account. The pages read like a novel, and even the most ardent student of American history is likely to learn many interesting tidbits regarding our nation's earliest days. This book should be read by every American high school student. American Afire brings our early history alive.

As an avid fan of Bernard Weisberger, this marvelous literary masterpiece met and exceeded my expectations. Everything about this book, from the expert writing style to the exquisite detail, left me in awe. Well researched, well written, and a fabulous read. It is interesting to see the parallel between that election and this year's. Anyone interested in other close elections in history should definitely buy this book.

This was an excellent book about the turbulent early years of our nation. I wonder if the country could have been held together without the greatness of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison and Monroe. Each of these founding fathers contributed his own special talents to preserve the union. Washington was a great moral leader. He had the bearing of a king but wouldn't accept kingship. When his second term was completed he was happy to turn over the reins of government. Adams and Hamilton (although personal enemies) were advocates of a strong central government at a time when factionalism and foreign entanglements threatened to tear the new country apart. Adams may have gone overboard with the Alien and Sedition Acts but it was mainly because of the real threat of being drawn into the conflict between England and France. Jefferson and Madison were republican-democrats who favored states rights and felt that less government was better government.

The election of 1800 was an important point of potential disaster that was narrowly averted by ballots rather than bullets. Some factions were mobilizing for conflict; but when the decision was finally made, Jefferson assumed the presidency and Adams relinquished it. In our time this does not sound remarkable but in the infancy of our country it truly was. Remember that many of the great decisions were made at a time when even the short term survival of the country was in question.

I think that weaving the webs of these great personalities into the delicate fabric of the founding of the United States made for great reading.

The cover of this book says it is about "Jefferson, Adams and the Revolutionary Election of 1800," but it is really about the period from 1787 to 1800. Only 50 pages are directly about the election; the other 260 pages are mostly about the period leading up to the election. Still, Weisberger gives a good overview of the crucial period in our country's history from when the national government was created by the constitution until the election of 1800 threatened to undo the Republic. Given the broad scope of the book, Weisberger can't give us a lot of detail in the room allotted. But I would recommend the book as a first step before delving into the details. To those who like hardbacks, the binding is fair and mine has come unglued.

A sex scandal has rocked the nation's capitol. A campaign turns negative and vicious. In the midst of all the turmoil, the outcome of a hotly contested presidential election remains in doubt for weeks.

Is it the year 2000? No, it is 1800.

With a historian's erudition and a novelist's power to mesmerize, Bernard A. Weisberger's examination of the early days of the Republic can captivate either the casual reader or a scholar. America Afire: Jefferson, Adams and the Revolutionary Election of 1800 is as much about the foibles and strengths of the United States' founders than it is about a presidential contest. Weisberger has a keen appreciation for how the absurd and seemingly mundane events shape the destiny of a nation. In the book's opening scene President John Adams hikes out of town under the cover of darkness before the person who defeated him, Thomas Jefferson, is sworn into office. Whether a petulant display or a gracious act Adams sets the precedent for the peaceful transition of power. Weisberger describes how similar actions by George Washington, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, and other great men may seem trivial at the time but come to forever define the United States. Weisberger can become a bit effusive about Jefferson (his use of exclamation points in the final chapter is a bit extravagant) but he gives the reader a rounded portrait of these towering figures. Given the praise heaped on Adams since he began to receive long overdue attention, Weisberger reveals another side to the nation's second president that is considerably darker than the one now in vogue.

The competing philosophies of American government embodied in Jefferson and Adams continue to form the contour of the nation's politics. In many ways Weisberger's account of events that took place 200 years ago is as important as the morning newspaper. As the United States once again debates the restriction of civil liberties in a time of war and rumors of war, the issues explored in America Afire resonate today.

This book covers the period from the Constitutional Convention in 1787 to the inauguration of Jefferson as President in 1801. It's a well-written introduction for the history buff, not the student or the scholar. For the student, there is "Federalist Era" by John C. Miller. The definitive study, quite detailed, is "Age of Federalism" by Elkins & McKitrick. They're all good books; take your pick.

History appears to move in cycles, with some close repetition occasionally. Now that we have lived through the election of 2000, with all of its twists and drama, it is instructive to turn to the election of 1800. That was a time of growth for our young democracy, with all the attendant fears that something new produces in the minds of the people. With untried governmental forms, there was no telling how a crisis would be resolved: would the union of states remain together, or split asunder? The author has done a masterful job in recounting this extremely turbulent period of our history. This is not new ground; I have read many works, both fiction and nonfiction, of this period, and each one of them adds something to my knowledge of what happened in the period of 1787 to 1801. This book is a quite lucid account of the times and the personalities, and is quite informative in a breezy, no-nonsense style. It's worth reading, if only to judge that we, in this time, are not unique in what we have just experienced.