Product Description

"They could write like angels and scheme like demons." So begins Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Larson's masterful account of the wild ride that was the 1800 presidential election -- an election so convulsive and so momentous to the future of American democracy that Thomas Jefferson would later dub it "America's second revolution."

This was America's first true presidential campaign, giving birth to our two-party system and indelibly etching the lines of partisanship that have so profoundly shaped American politics ever since. The contest featured two of our most beloved Founding Fathers, once warm friends, facing off as the heads of their two still-forming parties -- the hot-tempered but sharp-minded John Adams, and the eloquent yet enigmatic Thomas Jefferson -- flanked by the brilliant tacticians Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, who later settled their own differences in a duel.

The country was descending into turmoil, reeling from the terrors of the French Revolution, and on the brink of war with France. Blistering accusations flew as our young nation was torn apart along party lines: Adams and his elitist Federalists would squelch liberty and impose a British-style monarchy; Jefferson and his radically democratizing Republicans would throw the country into chaos and debase the role of religion in American life. The stakes could not have been higher.

As the competition heated up, other founders joined the fray -- James Madison, John Jay, James Monroe, Gouverneur Morris, George Clinton, John Marshall, Horatio Gates, and even George Washington -- some of them emerging from retirement to respond to the political crisis gripping the nation and threatening its future.

Drawing on unprecedented, meticulous research of the day-to-day unfolding drama, from diaries and letters of the principal players as well as accounts in the fast-evolving partisan press, Larson vividly re-creates the mounting tension as one state after another voted and the press had the lead passing back and forth. The outcome remained shrouded in doubt long after the voting ended, and as Inauguration Day approached, Congress met in closed session to resolve the crisis. In its first great electoral challenge, our fragile experiment in constitutional democracy hung in the balance.A Magnificent Catastrophe is history writing at its evocative best: the riveting story of the last great contest of the founding period.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20987 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this absorbing, brisk account, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Larson (Summer of the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion) recreates the dramatic presidential race of 1800, which, Larson says, stamped American democracy with its distinctive partisan character as Republicans and Federalists battled for the presidency. Larson explains how a race between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson actually ended in a tie between Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr. (The tie was resolved by Congress.) The bitter infighting and the sophisticated political jockeying of 1800 spelled the end of any idea that America would be governed by enlightened consensus, resulting instead in the two-party system we know today. Readers will find many similarities between the intense electioneering of Adams and Jefferson, and the heated political races of today. For instance, Larson delineates debates about security and the Alien and Sedition Acts, the complex calculus of the Electoral College and the ad hominem remarks of commentators. Larson's volume will join Susan Dunn's Jefferson's Second Revolution as an invaluable study of a crucial chapter in the lives of the founding fathers—and of the nation. First serial to American History magazine.(Sept. 18)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
With the benefit of two centuries of hindsight, it now appears that what united John Adams and Thomas Jefferson was far greater than what divided them. However, when these onetime friends opposed each other in the presidential election of 1800, their differences were viewed as immense. As a result, the election was notable for serpentine maneuverings and intense vitriol on both sides. This was still the age when "gentlemen" candidates did not openly campaign, but the respective Federalist and Democratic-Republican camps went after each other viciously. Larson's account of the campaign is filled with juicy tidbits about the personalities of the key players. Adams was pugnacious, even obnoxious, and often felt trapped by some of the more extreme positions of his Federalist supporters. Jefferson, who shunned personal confrontation, made no effort to restrain the unfair attacks upon Adams by his followers, and he could be intemperate and irresponsible in some of his speculative remarks, particularly in his early support for French revolutionaries. This is a well-written and thoroughly enjoyable examination. Freeman, Jay

Review
"In this absorbing, brisk account, Larson re-creates the dramatic presidential race of 1800...an invaluable study of a crucial chapter in the lives of the founding fathers -- and of the nation."-- Publishers Weekly

"Pulitzer Prize-winner Larson vividly recounts America's first overtly partisan election.The colorful cast of Founders included Madison, Jay, Pinckney, Monroe and Samuel Adams; the behind-the-scenes machinations of High Federalist leader Alexander Hamilton and Republican organizer Aaron Burr were especially dramatic. Larson does justice to them all and demonstrates his storytelling mastery....[A] smartly conceived, beautifully wrought campaign history, bound to entertain and inform."-- Kirkus Reviews

"A splendid new book." -- George Will, Washington Post

"Larson...both deifies and debunks the founders in A Magnificent Catastrophe...His dramatic tale offers fascinating modern parallels." -- Gil Troy, New York Times Book Review

"Edward Larson...captures the drama -- and complexity -- of this pivotal event in American history....He is scrupulously fair and balanced." -- Glenn C. Altschuler, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Larson... provides one of the finest insights ever written into the history of the founding -- and sometimes faltering -- first steps of our modern democratic republic." -- Thom Hartmann, BuzzFlash.com (Book of the Month Review)

"Smartly conceived, beautifully wrought campaign history, bound to entertain and inform."-- Kirkus Reviews (Starred review)

"Through Larson's story, the reader can see the two-party system forming itself." -- Bruce Ramsey, Seattle Times

"The best book I've seen so far to prompt reflection on what we're doing as we prepare to elect a new president." -- John Wilson, Books and Culture

Customer Reviews

Nothing new under the sun: partisan politics, religious beliefs, fearmongering in 1800
It's amazing to me how commonly people today point to the "founding fathers" to support their own beliefs. Or how often people decry the methods and madness of modern elections. To them I say ... read this book.

The political "results" of the grand experiment of democracy instituted by the USofA basically began to form with the 1800 election. Two diametrically opposed parties with different beliefs about the role of government (and religion), but a common willingness to fabricate outright lies about the other side.

While the role of the electoral college and how the President and VP are elected were different (read the book) in 1800 than today, all the cunning involved by each side to win are essentially right out the playbook from the 21st century.

The more things change...
...the more they haven't.

Politics have not just "recently" become bitterly partisan. Not in this past generation, or the one before, or the one before that. When you read Edward Larson's account of the election of 1800, you will find yourself amazaed at the similarities in issues from then to now.

There are questions of civil liberties vs. national security, economic regulation, and the place of religion in politics. You'll find that Karl Rove had nothing on Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton and you'll read how one of the faces of Mount Rushmore almost never came to be.

Larson does a masterful job at telling the story of the first election ever campaigned for

Good history of the Presidential election of 1800
Think that 2000 featured a strange presidential election? Then, you might be interested in this book. The election of 1800 is termed, in the book's title, "A Magnificent Catastrophe." Because of a mistaken in how the Constitution stated who would be elected president, Thomas Jefferson and his vice-presidential "partner," Aaron Burr, were tied after the electoral votes were counted. Burr being Burr, he did not withdraw and allowed Congressional voting to take place (a churl, as always).

On the other hand, the High Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, so despised John Adams (the sitting Federalist President), that they worked to undermine his candidacy. In other words, what a story!

This book does a nice job of describing the dynamics of the election of 1800. It is not as detailed a work as one might have expected from the likes of Joseph Ellis or David McCullough. Nonetheless, it is a useful work and provides a solid examination of the subterranean plotting by partisan leaders in the election.