Adams vs. Jefferson : the tumultuous election of 1800 / John Ferling.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ferling, John E., author.

Series:

Pivotal moments in American history.

Pivotal moments in American history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826.

Jefferson, Thomas.

Adams, John, 1735-1826.

Adams, John.

Presidents--United States--Election--1800.

Presidents.

United States--Politics and government--1797-1801.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288 p. ) ill., maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2004]

Summary:

In this crisp, compelling narrative , John Ferling traces the 1800 election, from its roots in the politics of the 1790's to its epochal conclusion. He brings together both the outsize personalities and the hotly contested political issues of the time, to show why that moment was a milestone in U.S. history.

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 in the Electoral College and led to a crisis in which the young republic teetered on the edge of collapse. Adams vs. Jefferson is a gripping account of a true turning point in American history, a dramatic struggle between two parties with profoundly different visions of how the nation should be governed. Adams led the Federalists, conservatives who favored a strong central government, and Jefferson led the Republicans, egalitarians who felt 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--Federalists called Jefferson "a howling atheist"--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 election ended in a stalemate in the Electoral College that dragged on for days and nights and through dozens of ballots. Tensions ran so high that the Republicans threatened civil war if 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. Jefferson's election, John Ferling concludes, consummated the American Revolution, assuring the democratization of the United States and its true separation from Britain. 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.

Contents:

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Editors' Note

List of Illustrations and Maps

Preface

1 Election Eve, 1800

2 "An Affection That Can Never Die": Adams and Jefferson

3 "Dark and Menacing Evils": Creating the New National System, 1786-1792

4 "War on Our Own Citizens": Partisanship, 1793-1796

5 "Quite at My Leisure": Jefferson and Adams on the Eve of the Battle in 1796

6 "A Narrow Squeak": The First Contested Presidential Election, 1796

7 "To Recover Self-Government": The Partisan Inferno, 1797-1798

8 "Our Bonaparte": Summer 1798 to Autumn 1799

9 "We Beat You by Superior Management": Winter and Spring, 1800

10 "The Boisterous Sea of Liberty": The Campaign of 1800

11 "The Intention of Our Fellow Citizens": The Election of 1800

12 "Give Them the Horrors": The House Decides the Election

13 "The Creed of Our Political Faith": Jefferson's Inauguration

14 Epilogue: "The Revolution of 1800" 207

Abbreviations

Notes

Index.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-972854-2