America Afire

by Weisberger, Bernard A.

• ISBN13: 9780380806515
• ISBN10: 0380806517
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-10-12
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

America Afire is the powerful story of the election of 1800, arguably the most important election in America's history and certainly one of the most hotly disputed. Former allies Adams and Jefferson, president versus vice president, Federalist versus Republican, squared off in a vicious contest that resulted in broken friendships, scandals, riots, slander, and jailings in the fourth presidential election under the Constitution.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Washington, D.C., Inauguration Day, 1801	1	(12)
PART I DISCORDS OF AN UNFINISHED NATION
Philadelphia, Summer 1787	13	(16)
The Nation in 1790	29	(14)
PART II PERSONALITIES, PLACES, AND DOMESTIC DISCORD, 1789--1794
Washington's Hopeful First Term	43	(23)
The Curse of Faction	66	(17)
Mr. Burr Launches a Machine	83	(18)
Wedges of Sectionalism	101	(18)
PART III WAR ABROAD, POLITICS AT HOME, 1793--1796
Terror, Turmoil, and Citizen Genet	119	(19)
John Jay's Divisive Treaty, 1794--1795	138	(22)
Jefferson and Adams's First Round, 1796	160	(13)
PART IV TOWARD DISUNION, 1797--1800
X, Y, Z, and the French Connection, 1798	173	(27)
Gagging the Press, 1798	200	(27)
PART V CAMPAIGN AND CONSCIENCE, 1800--1801
The Climax and the Drawn Battle of 1800	227	(31)
The Crossroads of February 1801	258	(20)
The Republican President	278	(21)
Epilogue: Aftermath and Echoes	299	(12)
Notes	311	(12)
Bibliography	323	(4)
Index	327