Publisher's Synopsis
*Comprehensively covers the lives and careers of Jefferson and Madison from before the Revolution to their presidencies.
*Comprehensively covers colonial history leading up to the Revolution.
*Includes pictures of important people, places, and events.
*Looks at the influences on the political philosophies of the two architects of the Democratic-Republican Party.
*Discusses their arguments with the Federalists.
*Includes a Bibliography
The story of the United States of America is one of a nation founded upon the loftiest ideals of representative government, attempting to fulfill its goals while encountering competing domestic and global forces. From the beginning, Americans debated how their national government should govern, balancing powers between the federal government and the states, which led to the establishment of the first political parties. At the same time, the nation has struggled to reconcile its guarantee of universal rights and individual liberties with several stark realities, including the presence of millions of slaves at the time of the Declaration of Independence.
Nobody spent more time in the thick of these debates than Thomas Jefferson, one of the most famous and revered Americans. Jefferson was instrumental in all of the aforementioned debates, authoring the Declaration of Independence, laying out the ideological groundwork of the notion of states' rights, leading one of the first political parties, and overseeing the expansion of the United States during his presidency.
The Founding Fathers have become so revered by Americans in the last 200 years that the "Father of the Constitution" himself is often overlooked among the rest of the pantheon. Today James Madison's legacy mostly pales in comparison to the likes of George Washington, Ben Franklin and his closest colleague, Thomas Jefferson, but Madison's list of important accomplishments is monumental. A lifelong statesman, Madison was the youngest delegate at the Continental Congress from 1780-83, and at 36 he was one of the youngest men who headed to Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
Despite his age, Madison was the Convention's most influential thinker, and the man most responsible for the final draft of the U.S. Constitution. Along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, Madison was one of the most persuasive advocates for ratifying the Constitution, authoring some of the most famous Federalist Papers, and he drafted the Bill of Rights that was later added to the Constitution. But his work was far from done; along with Thomas Jefferson, Madison was one of the founders and ideological cornerstones of the Democratic-Republican Party that guided the young nation in the first 30 years of the 19th century. That included his own presidency, in which he oversaw the War of 1812.
Creating the Democratic-Republican Party chronicles the amazing lives and careers of Jefferson and Madison, discussing their relationships with each other and other important Founding Fathers. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the architects of one of America's first political parties like you never have before.
