The Great Triumvirate: Webster, Clay, and Calhoun Revised ed. Edition

by Merrill D. Peterson (Author)

46 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0195056860

ISBN-10: 0195056868

Why is ISBN important?

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers

from

Other Sellers

See all 11 versions

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Your Prime Store

Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Thursday, July 14 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon. Order within 14 hrs 25 mins

Or fastest delivery Tuesday, July 12

Select delivery location

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Available at a lower price from other sellers that may not offer free Prime shipping.

List Price: $29.95 Details

Save: $5.54 (18%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Thursday, July 14 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery Saturday, July 9. Order within 14 hrs 25 mins

Select delivery location

Available at a lower price from other sellers that may not offer free Prime shipping.

Enormously powerful, intensely ambitious, the very personifications of their respective regions--Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun represented the foremost statemen of their age. In the decades preceding the Civil War, they dominated American congressional politics as no other
figures have. Now Merrill D. Peterson, one of our most gifted historians, brilliantly re-creates the lives and times of these great men in this monumental collective biography.
Arriving on the national scene at the onset of the War of 1812 and departing political life during the ordeal of the Union in 1850-52, Webster, Clay, and Calhoun opened--and closed--a new era in American politics. In outlook and style, they represented startling contrasts: Webster, the
Federalist and staunch New England defender of the Union; Clay, the "war hawk" and National Rebublican leader from the West; Calhoun, the youthful nationalist who became the foremost spokesman of the South and slavery. They came together in the Senate for the first time in 1832, united in their
opposition of Andrew Jackson, and thus gave birth to the idea of the "Great Triumvirate." Entering the history books, this idea survived the test of time because these men divided so much of American politics between them for so long.
Peterson brings to life the great events in which the Triumvirate figured so prominently, including the debates on Clay's American System, the Missouri Compromise, the Webster-Hayne debate, the Bank War, the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, the annexation of Texas, and the Compromise of 1850. At
once a sweeping narrative and a penetrating study of non-presidential leadership, this book offers an indelible picture of this conservative era in which statesmen viewed the preservation of the legacy of free government inherited from the Founding Fathers as their principal mission. In fascinating
detail, Peterson demonstrates how precisely Webster, Clay, and Calhoun exemplify three facets of this national mind.

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Some of these items ship sooner than the others.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

by Merrill D. Peterson Paperback
$24.41
Get it as soon as Thursday, Jul 14 FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
by Alan Taylor Paperback
$18.00
Get it as soon as Thursday, Jul 14 FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by Gem Book and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
by Peter J. Kastor Hardcover
$15.99
Get it Jul 15 - 22 $3.99 shipping
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Ships from and sold by BestBuyAlways.

Products related to this item
Sponsored Hide feedback

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A remarkably vivid picture of American politics as a post-Founding Fathers generation fought together--and ultimately one against another--to save the Union as each faction conceived it."--Publishers Weekly

"A thorough and scholarly account of three enduring symbols of congressional leadership."--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"In this ambitious and impressively executed book, Merrill Peterson offers a work that is both a collective biography and a history of political leadership and public policy in the United States from the beginning of the War of 1812 to the early 1850s....The work succeeds engagingly in blending the
biographical approach to history with the analytical study of public policy."--Georgia Historical Quarterly

"A well-done, compact biography of three inextricably intertwined leaders."--Kirkus Reviews

"Particularly welcome because only a few historians have been successful in pulling together this period....Basing his work on a careful combing of the original sources, [Peterson] has made a distinguished contribution to the study of American history."--The New York Times Book Review

"[An] elaborate and learned study....A careful charting of these difficult, and sometimes acrimonious, interrelationships."--The Boston Globe

"[Peterson's] details enable us to recognize how little the practices of parliamentary democracy have changed."--The New Yorker

"An unusual alchemy--one part history, one part biography--by a leading American historian who argues that these three men...were the match of the founding generation of Americans."--The Wall Street Journal

"[A] well-crafted triple biography....Peterson imparts a good deal of excitement to the events of the past."--New York City Tribune

"Narrative history at its best, scholarly and a model of fairness, but at the same time full of life--much better reading than most modern fiction."--Don E. Fehrenbacher, Stanford University

"An ambitious work by one of our country's foremost scholars...indispensable to the study of American political development....A book that will surely stand as a classic in historical analysis."--Robert W. Johannsen, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"Marvelous....A rich and wonderfully compelling treatment of politics and policy in antebellum America....A master work, insightful, highly readable, replete with fresh interpretations and based on exhaustive research."--John Niven, The Claremont Graduate School

"A high narrative history of the type we seldom see anymore....It is history written out of the raw stuff of the historical record itself."--The World & I

"[Peterson] tells his story effectively, and readers looking for dramatic, well-written, and carefully documented summaries of the major political events of this period will find his book quite useful....Peterson has supplied us with a richly detailed narrative of the interactions of three of
America's most famous political leaders."--Irving H. Bartlett, New England Quarterly

"Likely to remain the definitive work on Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and John Calhoun."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"In this finely crafted narrative, Peterson presents a compelling and informing collective biography of the Great Triumvirate....A fine work by a master historian. All students of nineteenth-century American history and biography will value it."--Indiana Magazine of History

"[A] serious, substantial work that instructs as well as delights....lay readers...will rightfully be drawn to [it]."--Civil War History

From the Back Cover

Peterson brings to life the great events in which the Triumvirate figures so Prominently.

Start reading The Great Triumvirate: Webster, Clay, and Calhoun on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Revised ed. edition (December 8, 1988)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 582 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195056868
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195056860
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.99 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.22 x 6.14 x 1.59 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,272,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,602 in United States History (Books)
- #4,199 in Biographical Historical Fiction
- #4,789 in Classic American Literature

Customer Reviews:
46 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Merrill D. Peterson

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Products related to this item
Sponsored Hide feedback

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1

Customer reviews

5 star		56%
4 star		26%
3 star		12%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		7%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Thomas Mitchell

An Oldie, But Goodie.

Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

An oldie, but goodie.

Thirty years after it was first published this is still one of the best books written about both the Age of Jackson and the Whig Party. It details the careers of the three great triumvirs or rulers of the U.S. Senate from the start of their political careers just before or during the War of 1812 until the Compromise of 1850 and the election race of 1852. All three were founding members of the Whig Party in 1834, although Calhoun returned to the Democratic Party in 1837. Calhoun was the only man in American history to serve as vice president in two separate administrations (John Q Adams, Jackson) and the leader of Southern sectionalism from 1830 until his death in 1850. Clay was the architect of the Missouri Compromise of 1820-21, the tariff compromise of 1833, and the Compromise of 1850, which shaped the terms of intersectional compromise between North and South for an entire generation. He also ran for president five times and failed to win election. Webster was the great orator of his today known for his great speeches in the Senate and his appearances as an advocate before the Supreme Court. He too ran for president twice and failed to win, failing badly. This is not only their combined individual stories but the story of their interactions in the Senate that defined American politics for four decades.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

s.l.

Much more than a historical survey

Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

Some of the criticisms of this book- that it is too dense, that it jumps around in time too much- are not entirely wrong. Reading it almost felt like digesting an entire semester's graduate-level university course in a single volume. The writing doesn't talk down to you, and assumes that you already have at least the survey's knowledge of the subject matter. If you don't, it may be hard to follow and I would recommend other excellent volumes covering the similar time period (David Potter's The Impending Crisis and Daniel Howe's What Hath God Wrought specifically). But with those caveats, if you are interested and familiar with the time period covered, but want a much more in-depth examination about three very important figures in a very important time in American history, I can't recommend this book enough.

Calhoun, Webster, and Clay were, among others, the first generation after the country's founders who found themselves tasked with running and shaping American policy without the benefit of most of those founders still being alive or actively involved in American politics. It is in this time period that we begin to see how modern American democracy, economy, and society would take shape. It also provides great insight into issues still facing our government today- those who think that the current tone or divisiveness of our government is unique or without precedent should take note.

As I said, the book reads like an upper-level American history course. That means it is organized more thematically rather than chronologically (though there is a general progression in time throughout). Part biography, part examination of the political issues these men and their country faced, Peterson displays a masterful breadth of knowledge about the subject matter, and obviously did a stunning amount of research on the primary sources available. Reading it takes some work, but Peterson's writing is engaging and avoids getting bogged down in the plodding tone of an academic paper. While it's clear the book was intended for more than an audience with just a passing knowledge of the subject, it's also for more than just an academic audience. Overall, a great second step beyond the single-volume surveys if you want to know more about the political life of Clay, Calhoun, and Webster, and of the country in general.

Or you could just sign up for a graduate-level history course at the University of Virginia, but this book seems like a much cheaper and easier to get through alternative for most of us.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Richard E. Hayes

Perennial polemical democracy

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2014

Verified Purchase

[WRONG IMAGE WITH THIS TITLE]
In a formative period, 1812-1852, these three were dominant in national politics, members of the second generation of American statesmen. Webster of Massachusetts was a powerful spokesman of the declining Federalist party and the rising National Republican party. Clay of Kentucky was a Jeffersonian Republican, then Whig, representing the rising West. Calhoun of South Carolina was a Jeffersonian educated by Calvinists at Yale, Democrat and Unitarian, fanatic advocate of state rights, nullification, slavery. One admired, one despised, Paine and Jefferson. They argued endlessly about the nature of the Nation and the Constitution and slavery. One or the other denounced every President from Jefferson to Taylor. All three opposed the Mexican War and were called unpatriotic. America's culture war is perennial.
The conflict of ideas and interests represented brilliantly by these three is the essence of American history. Webster in 1802 decried the Jeffersonian "revolution of 1800" --"The path to despotism leads through the mire and dirt of uncontrolled democracy." But in 1840 Webster called for a "civil revolution" like Jefferson's in 1800 that would return the government to its republican foundations. Great men need not be consistent.
All served in the House, the Senate, and as Secretary of State, and all failed in their ambition to be President. In 1842 Clay wrote "The contemplation of what we are, what we were, and what we might have been is enough to sicken the heart." Alternately allies and opponents of each other and of Presidents, each decried political defeat as national doom. Alarmism in American politics is perennial. Dismay at disappointment of the American dream is perennial.
This deeply researched, well written, engrossing history of a momentous time, great men, great issues and conflicts, is a remedy for our daily agitation at current -- perennial -- partisan politics.

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

The Great Triumvirate: Webster, Clay, and Calhoun Revised ed. Edition

Frequently bought together

Products related to this item
Sponsored Hide feedback