Adams vs. Jefferson The Tumultuous Election of 1800

by Ferling, John

• ISBN13: 9780195189063
• ISBN10: 019518906X
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-10-20
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

It was a contest of titans: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two heroes of the Revolutionary era, once intimate friends, now icy antagonists locked in a fierce battle for the future of the United States. The election of 1800 was a thunderous clash of a campaign that climaxed in a deadlock inthe Electoral College and led to a crisis in which the young republic teetered on the edge of collapse. Adams vs. Jefferson is the gripping account of a turning point in American history, a dramatic struggle between two parties with profoundly different visions of how the nation should be governed. The Federalists, led by Adams, were conservatives who favored a strong central government. TheRepublicans, led by Jefferson, were more egalitarian and believed that the Federalists had betrayed the Revolution of 1776 and were backsliding toward monarchy. The campaign itself was a barroom brawl every bit as ruthless as any modern contest, with mud-slinging, scare tactics, and backstabbing.The low point came when Alexander Hamilton printed a devastating attack on Adams, the head of his own party, in "fifty-four pages of unremitting vilification." The stalemate in the Electoral College dragged on through dozens of ballots. Tensions ran so high that the Republicans threatened civil warif the Federalists denied Jefferson the presidency. Finally a secret deal that changed a single vote gave Jefferson the White House. A devastated Adams left Washington before dawn on Inauguration Day, too embittered even to shake his rival's hand. With magisterial command, Ferling brings to life both the outsize personalities and the hotly contested political questions at stake. He shows not just why this moment was a milestone in U.S. history, but how strongly the issues--and the passions--of 1800 resonate with our own time.

Author Biography

John Ferling is Professor of History at the State University of West Georgia. A leading authority on American Revolutionary history, he has appeared in many documentaries and has written numerous books, including John Adams: A Life, The First of Men: A Life of George Washington, Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, and Jefferson in the American Revolution, and the award-winning A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic.

Table of Contents

Editors' Note	p. xi
List of Illustrations and Maps	p. xiii
Preface	p. xvii
Election Eve, 1800	p. 1
"An Affection That Can Never Die": Adams and Jefferson	p. 18
"Dark and Menacing Evils": Creating the New National System, 1786-1792	p. 36
"War on Our Own Citizens": Partisanship, 1793-1796	p. 57
"Quite at My Leisure": Jefferson and Adams on the Eve of the Battle in 1796	p. 69
"A Narrow Squeak": The First Contested Presidential Election, 1796	p. 83
"To Recover Self-Government": The Partisan Inferno, 1797-1798	p. 99
"Our Bonaparte": Summer 1798 to Autumn 1799	p. 113
"We Beat You by Superior Management": Winter and Spring, 1800	p. 126
"The Boisterous Sea of Liberty": The Campaign of 1800	p. 135
"The Intention of Our Fellow Citizens": The Election of 1800	p. 162
"Give Them the Horrors": The House Decides the Election	p. 175
"The Creed of Our Political Faith": Jefferson's Inauguration	p. 197
Epilogue: "The Revolution of 1800"	p. 207
Abbreviations	p. 217
Notes	p. 221
Index	p. 251
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