This documentary study of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton focuses on their differing views of society and government in the formative years of the new American nation. Interweaving more than 40 documents into 7 chronological chapters, the text follows the lives and careers of the two men from their youth, through the Revolutionary War, to the death of Hamilton in 1804. In each chapter, generous excerpts from their public papers and private letters reveal the two men's often divergent views on government and the Constitution, economic and foreign policy, and the military, and...

"A major contribution." Washington Post
The authoritative single-volume biography of Thomas Jefferson, perhaps the most significant figure in American history. He was a complex and compelling man: a fervent advocate of democracy who enjoyed the life of a southern aristocrat and owned slaves, a revolutionary who became president, a believer in states' rights who did much to further the power of the federal government. Drawing on the recent explosion of Jeffersonian scholarship and fresh readings of original sources, IN PURSUIT OF REASON is a monument to Jefferson that will endure for...

Filled with new insights and fresh interpretations, this is the richest study yet published on the presidency of James Monroe, the last Revolutionary War hero to ascend to that august office.

Noble Cunningham's history of the fifth presidency (1817-25) shows a young nation beset by growing pains and led by a cautious politician who had neither the learning nor the intellect of Jefferson or Madison, but whose actions strengthened both the United States and the presidency itself.

Cunningham makes clear that the mislabelled "era of good feelings" had more than its share of crises,...

The rise of the Jeffersonian party is a phenomenon in American history that has often attracted the attention of historians. However, little examination has been made of the actual instrumentalities with which the principles of Jeffersonian democracy were implemented or rejected. This book traces, from its nebulous beginnings to its first great victory in 1800, the formation of the national party organization that lay behind the elevation of Jefferson to the presidency.

Originally published in 1958.

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