THE FOUNDING FATHERS

by Nathan Schachner ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1953

It is seven years and more since Schachner's incisive biography of Alexander Hamilton established him as one of the authorities on the period of the early republic. Now with this extensively documented work, he has written an exhaustive and absorbing (despite its length) study of years when the infant nation tottered on the brink of disaster. We are too apt to glorify ""the founding fathers"" -- think of giants in those days- envisle. Washington's administration as a continuous honeymoon of approbation and adoration. If other contemporary historians have not exploded this portait. Schachner certainly does it here. We agonize through the fearful problems Washington faced:- internecine feuds -- virtually- among the members of his own cabinet, quarrels over states rights, quarrels with Congress over the relative power of legislature and executive branch, overwhelming problems of debt and the bitter struggle on the part of the gifted and difficult Hamilton to put the country on a stable footing, to establish credit, to make the federal government responsible for state indebtedness of the war years. The crooked deals and speculation come to for more critical appraisal than in his Hamilton. Even Washington emerges less of a saint:- the violence of his temper, his naivete in handling some issues, his inability to control his coworkers, his early lack of understanding of the widening gulf social, political, economic, between North and South. Various precedents were laid down in these years: amendments and interpretations and implementations of the Constitution took time and experiment. Frontier situations,- French, British, Spanish, Indian- were powder kegs. And the foreign relations kept threat of new wars constantly a menace. With Adams' succession came the explosive issues of the Naturalization Act and the Alien and Sedition Laws. And always the threat of insurrection and violence, within and without. The Jay Treaty almost blow the country asunder; the successful negotiation of the San Lorenzo Treaty with Spain went almost unnoticed. Political Turmoil resulted in the emergence of the party system. War with France was avoided- with England postponed. With the election of Jefferson, domestic issues seemed paramount, as the country survived twelve years of growing pains. An important book, informative, and for the greater part, extraordinarily good reading.

Pub Date: March 1, 1953

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1953

Categories: NONFICTION