
Founding Partisans
Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics
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Narrated by:
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Robert Fass
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By:
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H. W. Brands
From bestselling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H.W. Brands, a revelatory history of the shocking emergence of vicious political division at the birth of the United States.
To the framers of the Constitution, political parties were a fatal threat to republican virtues. They had suffered the consequences of partisan politics in Britain before the American Revolution, and they wanted nothing similar for America. Yet parties emerged even before the Constitution was ratified, and they took firmer root in the following decade. In Founding Partisans, master historian H. W. Brands has crafted a fresh and lively narrative of the early years of the republic as the Founding Fathers fought one another with competing visions of what our nation would be.
The first party, the Federalists, formed around Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and their efforts to overthrow the Articles of Confederation and make the federal government more robust. Their opponents organized as the Antifederalists, who feared the corruption and encroachments on liberty that a strong central government would surely bring. The Antifederalists lost but regrouped under the new Constitution as the Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson, whose bruising contest against Federalist John Adams marked the climax of this turbulent chapter of American political history.
The country’s first years unfolded in a contentious spiral of ugly elections and blatant violations of the Constitution. Still, peaceful transfers of power continued, and the nascent country made its way towards global dominance, against all odds. Founding Partisans is a powerful reminder that fierce partisanship is a problem as old as the republic.
©2023 H. W. Brands (P)2023 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
A Kirkus Reviews Best History Book of 2023
"An essential book for understanding the foundation of American partisanship.” —Kirkus Reviews *Starred Review*
"The author writes with a sharp and absorbing style, turning what could be a fairly dry topic into a highly readable tale worthy of a cable miniseries with backstabbing characters, high drama, shady deals, and huge egos all clashing to determine the course of the new country. For anyone who thinks that gridlock and partisan machinations are a recent development, this book will quickly lay those misconceptions to rest." —New York Journal of Books
"As H.W. Brands reminds us in this absorbing new book, partisanship is an ancient, indeed perennial, force in human affairs. From the early hours of the Republic, Americans of good will have struggled to ensure that party feeling be not reflexive but reflective. On that distinction, the Founders understood, hangs the fate of popular government." —Jon Meacham
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Difficult and illuminating
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Letters and documents gave emotions of the time. New insight
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H.W. Brands
I have come to find the author reliable and relatable. I would have enjoyed if he had narrated the audiobook, because his enthusiasm for history comes out in his delivery.
There have been many books about the relationships between the founding fathers. What makes this book unique is that a great deal of quotations from the subject’s correspondence are used. Not without explanation, so it is useful.
The use of these quotations forces the listener/reader to slow down and almost interpret their words into modern vernacular.
An example is Hamilton’s public apology for his sex scandal. He very eloquently goes to great length to explain that he thought with the wrong head and was taken in by the badger game. He explains about his suffering wife and how he did not use public funds to pay the blackmail money.
Initially this verbosity makes one think, could you just tell me what happened in plain English?
However… you quickly realize if you slow down and analyze, you’re actually taking a breath and enjoying taking a little time, growing to know the founders better.
Very educational
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e wishes today's partisanship was the result of real issues, not the pursuit of raw power.
Makes you feel you were there
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The literary brilliance and command of language that these Founders had was incredible?
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Too much reliance on long quotes instead of analysis and summary
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This is for true history types only
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Comments from a reader
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