Full name: The Failure of the Founding Fathers: Jefferson, Marshall, and the Rise of Presidential Democracy

Author: Bruce Ackerman Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: History, Politics Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780674018662 9780674023956 0674018664 0674023951

The ink was barely dry on the Constitution when it was almost destroyed by the rise of political parties in the United States. As Bruce Ackerman shows, the Framers had not anticipated the two-party system, and when Republicans battled Federalists for the presidency in 1800, the rules laid down by the Constitution exacerbated the crisis. With Republican militias preparing to march on Washington, the House of Representatives deadlocked between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Based on seven years of archival research, the book describes previously unknown aspects of the electoral college crisis. Ackerman shows how Thomas Jefferson counted his Federalist rivals out of the House runoff, and how the Federalists threatened to place John Marshall in the presidential chair. Nevertheless, the Constitution managed to survive through acts of statesmanship and luck. Despite the intentions of the Framers, the presidency had become a plebiscitarian office. Similar books: Jefferson and Hamilton by John Ferling The Founding Fathers Reconsidered by R. B. Bernstein American Creation by Joseph J. Ellis Rising Tide by John M. Barry American Dialogue by Joseph J. Ellis Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen Modern Times by Paul Johnson Reconstruction by Eric Foner The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood The Making of the English Working Class by E. P. Thompson How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky Race And Culture by Thomas Sowell A History of the Modern Middle East by William L. Cleveland The Arabs by Eugene Rogan Ain't My America by Bill Kauffman The Age of Federalism by Stanley Elkins The Rise of American Democracy by Sean Wilentz A History of the American People by Paul Johnson Poor People's Movements by Frances Fox Piven