The Great Divide
The Conflict between Washington and Jefferson that Defined a Nation
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In the months after her husband's death, Martha Washington told several friends that the two worst days of her life were the day George died -- and the day Thomas Jefferson came to Mount Vernon to offer his condolences.
What could elicit such a strong reaction from the nation's original first lady? Though history tends to cast the early years of America in a glow of camaraderie, there were, in fact, many conflicts among the Founding Fathers -- none more important than the one between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The chief disagreement between these former friends centered on the highest, most original public office created by the Constitutional Convention -- the presidency. They also argued violently about the nation's foreign policy, the role of merchants and farmers in a republic, and the durability of the union itself. At the root of all these disagreements were two sharply different visions for the nation's future.
Acclaimed historian Thomas Fleming examines how the differing temperaments and leadership styles of Washington and Jefferson shaped two opposing views of the presidency -- and the nation. The clash between these two gifted men, both of whom cared deeply about the United States of America, profoundly influenced the next two centuries of America's history and resonates in the present day.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the dawn of the American republic, the Founding Fathers, once united in their common pursuit of freedom, split ideologically. Thomas Jefferson's distrust of monarchical tendencies led him to oppose the more pragmatic and Federalist George Washington. Caught between these two men was James Madison, a confidant of Washington who co-wrote The Federalist with Alexander Hamilton before becoming Jefferson's most brilliant ally though Madison returned to his Federalist convictions at the end of his life. Fleming (A Disease in the Public Mind) finds this divide at the heart of every subsequent American political battle, but his book about this era is more polemic than analysis. Fleming has nothing but praise for Washington, whom he sees as a flexible, shrewd, and selfless chief executive. The same cannot be said for Jefferson; the author misses no opportunity to illustrate Jefferson's hypocrisy, arrogance, paranoia, duplicity, and self-pity. Fleming's blatant bias for the Federalists does a great disservice to the issues at hand, reducing a critical disagreement about American governance to a one-sided rant. Despite its imbalance, Fleming's book remains moderately enlightening in its impassioned defense of Washington's presidency, and more entertaining for its interest in the pettiness and foibles of our oft-lionized founders. B&w images.
