Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character

His most significant contribution was in Revolutionary War. No one seems to dispute this part of Burr's life, and yet his reputation was not based on this record. Otherwise, Burr is a spoiler in different elections with no accomplishments, an unwitting accomplice in Hamilton's suicide! I have three last thoughts from the book. First, it is clear that Washington, Hamilton, and Jefferson detested Burr, and character witnesses for Burr are tepid. We are led to conclude that those who did not detest him were of equal esteem Adams, Jay, Marshall, Jackson , therefore allowing the reconsideration of Burr.

Second, Jefferson's racism clearly explains his actions post-Revolutionary War. Racism is something apart from slavery, although the former is used to justify the latter. I feel the myth of the author of the Declaration of Independence is given a pass on this, even if one understands that the enlightened man had to struggle to throw off so many other misconceptions about humanity.

I am left with the opinion that most of the other founders did not have this problem of considering non-whites as inferior. Third, the story of the expansion of the United States is complicated and difficult to appreciate. It was a revelation to me that in , Jefferson, the Governor of Virginia, sent George Rogers Clark to the western front to secure it to Virginia, away from Pennsylvanians who were acting on behalf of George Washington.

Jefferson wanted to preserve those lands as havens for slave owners, and he feared the anti-slave disposition of Pennsylvanians would spoil that outcome.

Jefferson's signature half-truths come out as he failed to explain to George Washington that he ordered Clark not to act together with the Pennsylvanians. This book helps you to take yourself back to the times, when the alliance of the thirteen colonies was new and uncertain, when the benefits of uniting were less clear in the face of the perils of uniting e.

Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson

You begin to see how history turns when seemingly worthless sandy land of much of the South is transformed into wealth by the simultaneous occurrence of the cotton gin, slave labor, and trade with Great Britain. You realize that another dimension of slave labor is the selling of the progeny of owned slaves and that the expansion of slave states increased the demand for slaves. It's another long review. I write to enhance my own understanding.

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Any readers are responsible to themselves for having invested their time. Go read for yourself! Jan 12, Socraticgadfly rated it it was amazing Shelves: This is a good re-evaluation for the better of Aaron Burr, basically freeing him from years of accretion of the It also fits well in some recent columns and essays about Jefferson who, as Kennedy notes, was the first explicitly lying president, and able to be believed, anyway, by following on Washington, definitely, and also on Adams.

And, we get dollops of Hamilton playing off of both.

First, Kennedy established that, This is a good re-evaluation for the better of Aaron Burr, basically freeing him from years of accretion of the First, Kennedy established that, when the electorally tied election went to Congress, Burr did nothing to "angle" for election himself. It's well known that Hamilton worked against him. That said, Kennedy points out that, had Burr wanted the position it could have been his.

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Burr got electoral votes in and 96 as well as In the first two cases, many were in the South. Related to this, Burr had Federalist as well as anti-Federalist friends, esp. Hamilton, Burr, Jay worked together on abolition in New York as part of that. A lot of the enmity went back to the Revolution. Burr was mistrusted by Washington due to his assn. Hamilton used this when Washington was prez to poison him against Burr.

Marshall, as chief justice, presided over Burr's treason trial in All of the above, remembering Jefferson's "runaway" governorship of Virginia, had reason to disdain him. He also hints that Hamilton may have seen the duel as a chance for "suicide by opponent" along with one last bit of revenge, having wrecked Burr's chance at the presidency, his chance at New York's governorship earlier in , and before that, John Adams' presidency.

Jefferson himself had designs on both the Floridas and Mexico himself, after all.

Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character

But, with a chance to reset the "New World Order" in Louisiana, to meet the idealism of the Declaration and make it slave free, Jefferson took a pass. But, that's not now. Given that, pre-Constitution, Virginia claimed the entire Old Northwest, as well as the future Kentucky, it was therefore largely vacuous. There's lot more like this, combined with a "hail, reader" style of writing by Kennedy that I find generally ingratiating.

Aug 27, David Garza rated it it was ok. This book, though I did not get too far into it, was not what I expected. I was hoping that this would be a lesson on character, showing how our forefathers used unwavering principles to guide the actions and results of their lives. Instead this is a book that the author is using to reestablish Aaron Burr as a figure to be adored, to discredit Alexander Hamilton as not as great as people think, and to neutralize Thomas Jefferson as an inconsistent leader.

If you're really into history for the sak This book, though I did not get too far into it, was not what I expected. If you're really into history for the sake of knowledge, this might be a great book. If you're into history for the sake of wisdom, look elsewhere. Sep 23, Chrystal Harkleroad rated it really liked it. Heller rated it liked it Aug 08, Jay rated it liked it Oct 31, Jon Farmer rated it really liked it Jan 07, Neil W Parrott rated it did not like it Jan 18, Daniel Stern rated it liked it Jan 19, Adam Gravano rated it it was amazing Jul 05, Coyla rated it did not like it Sep 26, Chandra rated it liked it Feb 21, Michael Grillo rated it liked it Apr 30, Dan O'Meara rated it really liked it Dec 17, Ron Ellis rated it it was amazing May 17, Mark Selby rated it it was amazing Sep 07, Kennedy does a credible job of removing Burr from the trash heap of American History and re-installs him as a founding father.

As always funny and loaded with "psycho-babble", the unique style of Kennedy. Abolitionist, proto-feminist, friend to such Indian leaders as Joseph Brant, Burr was personally acquainted with a wider range of Americans, and of the American continent, than any other Founder except Oxford University Press Bolero Ozon. Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character.

This book restores Aaron Burr to his place as a central figure in the founding of the American Republic.

He contested for power with Hamilton and then with Jefferson on a continental scale. The book does not sentimentalize any of its three protagonists, neither does it derogate their extraordinary qualities.

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They were all great men, all flawed, and all three failed to achieve their full aspirations. But their struggles make for an epic tale. Written from the perspective of a historian and administrator who, over nearly fifty years in public life, has served six presidents, this book penetrates into the personal qualities of its three central figures. In telling the tale of their shifting power relationships and their antipathies, it reassesses their policies and the consequences of their successes and failures.

Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson - Roger G. Kennedy - Oxford University Press

Fresh information about the careers of Hamilton and Burr is derived from newly-discovered sources, and a supporting cast of secondary figures emerges to give depth and irony to the principal narrative. This is a book for people who know how political life is lived, and who refuse to be confined within preconceptions and prejudices until they have weighed all the evidence, to reach their own conclusions both as to events and character. This is a controversial book, but not a confrontational one, for it is written with sympathy for men of high aspirations, who were disappointed in much, but who succeeded, in all three cases, to a degree not hitherto fully understood.

He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Kennedy succeeds in demonstrating that all three men were flawed giants and that Burr deserves more credit than most authors have given him. Recommended for university and large public libraries.

Standing alone, each would have fascinated any age in which he lived.