The Virginia Dynasty
Four Presidents and the Creation of the American Nation
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A vivid account of leadership focusing on the first four Virginia presidents--George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe--from the bestselling historian and author of James Madison.
From a small expanse of land on the North American continent came four of the nation's first five presidents--a geographic dynasty whose members led a revolution, created a nation, and ultimately changed the world. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe were born, grew to manhood, and made their homes within a sixty-mile circle east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Friends and rivals, they led in securing independence, hammering out the United States Constitution, and building a working republic. Acting together, they doubled the territory of the United States. From their disputes came American political parties and the weaponizing of newspapers, the media of the day. In this elegantly conceived and insightful new book from bestselling author Lynne Cheney, the four Virginians are not marble icons but vital figures deeply intent on building a nation where citizens could be free.
Focusing on the intersecting roles these men played as warriors, intellectuals, and statesmen, Cheney takes us back to an exhilarating time when the Enlightenment opened new vistas for humankind. But even as the Virginians advanced liberty, equality, and human possibility, they held people in slavery and were slaveholders when they died. Lives built on slavery were incompatible with a free and just society; their actions contradicted the very ideals they espoused. They managed nonetheless to pass down those ideals, and they became powerful weapons for ending slavery. They inspired Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and today undergird the freest nation on earth.
Taking full measure of strengths and failures in the personal as well as the political lives of the men at the center of this book, Cheney offers a concise and original exploration of how the United States came to be.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian Cheney (James Madison: A Life Reconsidered) delivers an accessible group portrait of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Noting that all four were born, raised, and made their homes within a 60-mile radius in Virginia, Cheney contends that they formed "a dynasty whose members led in securing independence, creating the Constitution, and building the Republic." She attributes her subjects' political success to their gifts of leadership and judgment, as well as to their coming of age during a "transformative time" when it was possible to imagine a society organized by Enlightenment ideals. Virginia's unique political, cultural, and geographic make-up also played a key role, according to Cheney, who notes that her subjects, like other "talented" members of Virginia's gentry class, entered the colonial legislature at a young age, and understood Virginia's outsize influence over American politics. Charting the dynasty's evolving dynamics, Cheney sketches the Revolutionary War careers of Washington and Monroe; details internal disagreements over the Constitution, federalism, and foreign policy; and describes group efforts to "clear the way for the next Virginian in line" to the presidency. Though readers well-versed in the era won't learn much new, Cheney selects anecdotes wisely and writes gracefully. The result is an informative introduction to four of America's most important founding fathers.
