"The Spirit of Party: Hamilton and Jefferson at Odds - Softcover

Published to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth, this illustrated book brings together the best of portraits and prints by such artists as John Trumbull and Gilbert Stuart, from museum holdings and private collections, in order to recount the fierce rivalry between Jefferson and Hamilton. The illustrations depict Jefferson and Hamilton surrounded by friend and foe, including, among the Federalists, Congressman Fisher Ames, Jefferson's cousin John Marshall, John Jay, and, on the Republican side, James Madison, Albert Gallatin and Aaron Burr. Margaret C.S. Christman, curator of the National Portrait Gallery's exhibition entitled "The Spirit of Party: Hamilton and Jefferson at Odds", draws on the letters and writings of Hamilton and Jefferson to detail their explosive interactions from 1790, when Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson first met, until Jefferson's election to the presidency in 1800. With different backgrounds, dispositions, political philosophies and public policies, Hamilton and Jefferson were natural antagonists. Jefferson, the political philosopher, laboured for the patriotic cause at the Second Continental Congress and won immortal fame for his draft of the Declaration of Independence. Hamilton, the soldier, served as aide to General Washington and, when given his own command, found glory in the capture of an enemy redoubt at the Battle of Yorktown. Hamilton was a strong Federalist who dreaded anarchy, and Jefferson, who feared tyranny, insisted on the prerogatives of the states. Jefferson supported agrarian interests, while Hamilton favoured merchants and speculators. Hamilton accused Jefferson of being partial to France, and Jefferson accused Hamilton of being partial to England. But their differences went beyond policy disagreements into the personal realm. Hamilton called Jefferson "a contemptible hypocrite", and Jefferson called Hamilton "not only a monarchist, but for a monarchy bottomed on corruption". Fuelled by the press, the controversy between Hamilton's Federalists and Jefferson's Republicans created a spirit of party as bitterly partisan as America has ever seen.