Customer Reviews

The Turning Point: Jefferson's Battle for the Presidency

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The Turning Point: Jefferson's Battle For The Presidency offers a comprehensive presentation of the dramatic, dead-heat, 1800 presidential campaign between Thomas Jefferson and his vice presidential running mate Aaron Burr. This is also the story of other key personalities involved including Margaret Bayard Smith, the daughter of a firm Federalist, who defied her family and gave her heart to Samuel Harrison Smith, a pro-Jefferson newspaper editor. Then their was Margaret's cousin, Delaware congressman James A. Bayard who held the key vote when Jefferson, after thirty-five deadlocked ballots in the House of Representatives, finally wrested victory from Aaron Burr amid threats of civil war, thereby concluding the Federalist era of aristocratic rule and opening American politics to the age of modern democracy. The Bayard-Smith love letters from the basis of this insightful, original presentation of the issues, events, and politically active personalities of an intensely fought and pivotal presidential campaign that would profoundly influence American history.

A solid account of the political turmoil surrounding the 1800 election, with vivid portraits of Jefferson, Hamilton, and Aaron Burr (J. Adams is more sketchy, a fact more evident in the post-McCullough treatment days.) There's less on broad electoral college strategizing than there might be and more on romance, as the narrative is centered around a series of love letters which might interest others more than they did me. Well-written and factual, to my knowledge, certainly worth a read by those interested in this era.