| Description |
419 pages ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
Ch. 1. Alexander Hamilton : the enlightenment fulfilled -- Ch. 2. John Adams : the enlightenment transcended -- Ch. 3. Thomas Jefferson : romantic America |
| Summary |
"In this book, Darren Staloff forcefully reminds us that America owes its guiding political traditions to three founding fathers whose lives embodied the collision of Europe's grand Enlightenment project with the birth of the nation." |
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"Alexander Hamilton, the worldly New Yorker; John Adams, the curmudgeonly Yankee; Thomas Jefferson, the visionary Virginia squire - each steered his public life under the guideposts and constraints of Enlightenment principles, and for each his relationship to the politics of Enlightenment was transformed by the struggle for American independence. Repeated humiliation on America's battlefields banished Hamilton's youthful idealism, leaving him a fervent disciple of enlightened realpolitik and the nation's leading exponent of modern statecraft. After ten years in Europe's diplomatic trenches, Adams changed his stance toward the politics of Enlightenment, a stance that became increasingly that of the gadfly of his country. And Jefferson's frustrations as a reformer and then Revolutionary governor in Virginia led him to go beyond his previous enlightened worldview, and to articulate a new and radical Romantic politics of principle |
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As a consequence, Americans demand a government that is modern and efficient yet constrained by checks and balances, one capable of appealing to our loftiest aspirations while adhering to decidedly pragmatic policies." "Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson is a reminder that the world of ideas is inextricably bound up in the long trajectory of historical events."--BOOK JACKET |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 363-401) and index |
| Subject |
Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804 -- Political and social views.
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Adams, John, 1735-1826 -- Political and social views.
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Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 -- Political and social views.
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Enlightenment -- United States.
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| SUBJECT |
United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140413
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United States -- Politics and government -- 1783-1789. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140414
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United States -- Politics and government -- 1789-1815. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140419
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United States -- Intellectual life -- 18th century.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140364
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| LC no. |
2005040433 |
| ISBN |
9780809077847 hardcover alkaline paper |
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0809077841 hardcover alkaline paper |
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