5/10/2023 0 Comments Gordon s wood empire of libertyHe traded Adams’ six-horse coach for a market cart, halved the military budget and repealed federal taxes on whiskey and land. Empire of Liberty explains how his libertarian vision became America’s dominant political philosophy- with ironic results.Īfter narrowly defeating Adams in the 1800 presidential election, Jefferson set to work dismantling the pomp and prerogative of the first two presidencies. But Jefferson preferred nearly no national government at all. Federalists Alexander Hamilton, John Adams and George Washington looked to a stronger central government endowed with, the monarchist-inclined Adams said, “the splendor and majesty” to inspire (and if necessary coerce) allegiance to the nation. Once the Constitution became law, however, the Founders were deeply divided about how to revamp the government. A consensus had emerged among the Founders: Drastic reforms were needed to check what Wood labels the “logrolling, horse-trading, and pork-barreling” of parochial state politics that had run rampant under the Articles of Confederation. The precarious compromises wrought during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 set the stage for this epic chronicle of the early republic by a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian. Book Review: Empire of Liberty- A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 CloseĮmpire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815.
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