Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character

by Roger G. Kennedy

Book Overview

This book restores Aaron Burr to his place as a central figure in the founding of the American Republic. Abolitionist, proto-feminist, friend to such Indian leaders as Joseph Brant, Burr was personally acquainted with a wider range of Americans, and of the American continent, than any other Founder except George Washington. He contested for power with Hamilton and then with Jefferson on a continental scale. The book does not sentimentalize any of...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195130553
• ISBN13: 9780195130553
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent

This book has been given quite a good number of reviews on this site, so I would like to merely add some pertinent points. In my opinion, the format that Kennedy used in this book, zooming backward and forward in time, and in and out from one scenario or character to the next, was wholly appropriate given the task he set for himself. Kennedy did not intend, nor claim to intend, to review the full chronological history here. His intention was to zoom in on what he saw as the salient elements of the characters of these men. This style should not be confusing to one who has read previous biographies and histories of these men. I found the book immensely gratifying. I have been a "student" of Burr history for over twenty years. The truth is, there are a tremendous number of discrepancies in prior accounts of Burr, which no previous scholar has resolved. Kennedy has pulled together a massive amount of material to bring together the facts which lead to his insights, and I believe that those insights are dead-on right.

A Burrite is Pleased

This is an enormously satisfying book, one that goes farther to rescue Aaron Burr from an undeserved historical contempt than any book since Gore Vidal's elegant fiction BURR. It is still a reflex to dismiss Thomas Jefferson1s first Vice-President as a sly scheming traitor who murdered the well-beloved Hamilton in a one-sided duel where Hamilton deliberately and romantically threw away his shot.. It is all thoughtless and unscrutinized balderdash, and Kennedy has a wonderful time proving it. There are surprising and provocative ideas on every page, and fascinating portraits of the brilliant neurotic Hamilton, and the almost perfect hypocrisy and subtle genius of Thomas Jefferson. Most of all, however, is the picture Kennedy draws of the witty, graceful gentleman who was Aaron Burr. Kennedy calls him America's first professional politician, but he was far more than that. To say that he was an abolitionist or a feminist does not really do him justice; he practiced what he preached, as Kennedy amply describes, fifty, even a hundred, even two hundred years ahead of his time. His generosity was outsized, his intellect without cant or self-delusion. A scion of one of the colonies first and oldest familes, he was an honest to God Revolutionary War hero not once but many times, (unlike The Sage of Monticello, to say the least). Like Jane Austen's Gentleman, Burr never apologized and never explained. This last was a grievous mistake, because his silence, to his contemporaries and to posterity, though elegant, ceded much ground to his enemies. There was much to admire in both Hamilton and Burr, and their contemporaries did so. But Hamilton carried molten envy of Burr for many years, years during which Burr apparently had not a clue that his friend-rival-ally-competitor was viciously and continuously slandering him, sharing opinions about Burr that went beyond the norm of political rivalry, making certain that Burr would not succeed in politics even if it meant that Jefferson whom he despised, would. But Kennedy suggests that Burr was more than Hamilton's opponent; he was the man who, in almost every respect, from military heroism to family background to manners to wit to success with the ladies, Hamilton yearned to be. And everything Hamilton hated in himself, argues Kennedy, he projected on to Burr. And then there is Jefferson. It has become open season on Jefferson these last few years, and high time too. Jefferson's undoubted brilliance as a literary stylist and his extraordinary ability as a practical and cunning politician have kept him at the top of the heap for decade after decade, but perhaps there is less here than meets the eye. Kennedy is wonderful in discerning plausible motives to Jefferson's unquenchable need to destroy Burr, a man who might very well have moved up abolition1s cause by 50 years. The various accounts of back room snakiness by The Sage, and the similarity between Je

If You Want History Without Halos---This Is It!

Unlike the current flood of Founding Father hagiography, Roger Kennedy's look at the fractious ties between Jefferson, Hamilton, and Burr gives you the sense of these characters as their contemporaries knew them. Kennedy writes the way your favorite college professor lectured---with humor and a profound grasp of how mortals act in the political trenches. His insights into the early struggle over slavery at that stage in our history is worth the price of admission alone. Kennedy offers clearly stated conclusions on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. But the reader comes away with confidence that those opinions are come by after lengthy research and thought. If you have a friend who is addicted to early American history, this is the gift.

If You Want History Without Halos---This Is It!

Unlike the current flood of Founding Father hagiography, Roger Kennedy's look at the fractious ties between Jefferson, Hamilton, and Burr gives you the sense of these characters as their contemporaries knew them. Kennedy writes the way your favorite college professor lectured---with humor and a profound grasp of how motrals act in the political trenches. His insights into the early struggle over slavery at that early stage in our history is worth the price of admission alone. Kennedy offers clearly stated conclusions on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. But the reader comes away with confidence that those opinions are come by after lengthy research and throught. If you have a friend who is addicted to early American history, this is the gift.

If You Want History Without Halos---This Is It!

Unlike the current flood of Founding Father hagiography, Roger Kennedy's look at the fractious ties between Jefferson, Hamilton, and Burr gives you the sense of these characters as their contemporaries knew them. Kennedy writes the way your favorite college professor lectured---with humor and a profound grasp of how motrals act in the political trenches. His insights into the early struggle over slavery at that early stage in our history are worth the price of admission alone. Kennedy offers clearly stated conclusions on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. But the reader comes away with confidence that those opinions are come by after lengthy research and throught. If you have a friend who is addicted to early American history, this is the gift.