Review: James Madison the Founding Father

Author: Robert Allen Rutland
Format: 12discs (11 hrs 40 min) 287 pg equivalent
Subject: Life and contributions of James Madison
Genre: Biography
Source: public library audio book download
Challenge: US President's Biographies

Several years ago--I think it must have been in the late 70's--I decided I wanted to read a biography of each of the US Presidents in order of their service. I figured that way I could learn about the history and the personalities in an organized fashion. I did fine until I got to Madison. There just didn't seem to be any good solid but readable edition of his life on the shelves in Northern Virginia where I was then living. So I put the whole endeavor on hold. Last year, my sister and I decided to open the challenge again, and began the quest on LibraryThing. We now have almost 50 people reading along with us. So I had to take the plunge and get on with it.

This is a well researched, very readable biography of one of our early presidents. Rutland makes the case that Madison is truly "The Founding Father" since he was present and actively involved in all aspects of the nation's birth and early years up to the cementing of the concept of a united group of states acting and being perceived by the world as one nation.

The book dwells mostly on his years when he represented Virginia at the Continental Congress, then served in the House of Representatives during Washington's term. He also served as Secretary of State before becoming the 4th President. His authorship of the majority of the Federalist papers in support of ratification of the constitution was explained with many elucidating quotes to highlight how he felt the nation should progress. At the time of his death, he had the only set of notes surviving from the Continental Congress, notes that have served to enlighten us as to the thinking of the founders as they brought the country to birth.

This was a very interesting and enlightening book about one of the most important and influential presidents we have had, who often gets lost in the shadows of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson.

As I've been doing this US President's Challenge, many of the participants have remarked on how difficult it has been finding a good biography of Madison. This one is bare bones, but does have enough flesh on its bones to give us a decent feel for the man and his accomplishments. It certainly has opened my eyes to see how he fits into the procession of presidents, and will form a good basis for going to the next one in the line. It was especially well done in the audio format I found, holding my interest even through boring workouts on the elliptical

Review: American Lion, Andrew Jackson in the White House

Before I read this book, I knew that Andrew Jackson was the 7th president, he led the army in victory at the Battle of New Orleans, and there was a great deal of scandal/ dispute over his marriage to Rachel Donelson. After I read this Pulitzer Prize winning discussion of his years as President, I now know all I ever wanted to know (and a WHOLE lot I could have done without) about the ladies dispute over 'receiving' Mrs. Margaret Eaton, wife of his secretary of war. It seems Margaret was regarded as a rather loose woman by many of the grand dames of Washington, and the author chose to spend literally 100's of pages discussing the reactions to her and Jackson's insistence that the Eatons be treated with respect. Meacham's theory seems to be that Jackson was sympathetic to the couple since he had undergone the same kind of shunning when he married Rachel. Consequently, we are given short shrift on some of the more vital aspects of Jackson's life and presidency. For instance, Jackson's views on slavery are fairly glossed over. There are exactly 5 pages devoted to his ownership of slaves (he owned 150), and the fact that he did not ever free any of them. We hear nothing of his actual views of this abominable practice. We are treated to his denunciations of the US Bank and pages upon pages of everything he did to try to disband it, but for those of us with a lack of indepth knowledge of the issue, we are never given a good reason WHY he wanted to disband the bank. Again we are treated to many many pages of personality conflicts of all the players in this debacle, but scant delineation about the issue itself. We hear of Jackson's views on nullification and secession, and very his often conflicting views about the Native American population---I definitely would have liked to have had a much more indepth discussion of this vice the ladies tea party debates. Jackson's policies led directly to the Trail of Tears -- the forced expulsion of the Cherokees to western lands, but nowhere do we see how he reacted to it. We are given speeches in which he identified himself as the Great White father, and some indication that he felt justified in breaking treaties, but the subject deserves much more if this book were to truly explain Jackson's achievements. Meacham posits that because Jackson was orphaned so young, he deeply missed having the opportunity of belonging to family. He saw the American people as his family, and used his popularity to enforce his views. He believed in a powerful executive. He was the first American president to have used the veto simply because he disagreed with a bill Congress had passed. Prior to Jackson, presidents had only vetoed bills they thought were unconstitutional. If you were white, you were entitled to the full protection of the government. If you were black or Native american, (or Mexican--we mustn't forget the few pages devoted to the Mexican wars), you didn't deserve the liberties spelled out in the Constitution. Meacham sums it:

(Jackson) also proved the principle that the character of the president matters enormously. Politics is about more than personality; the affairs of a great people are shaped by complex and messy forces that transcend the purely biographical. Those affairs, however, are also fundamentally affected by the complex and messy individuals who marshal and wield power in a given era. Jackson was a transformative president in part because he had a trancendent personality.....he gave his most imaginative successors the means to do things they thought right. The great often teach by their failures and derelictions. The tragedy of Jackson's life is that a man dedicated to freedom failed to see liberty as a universal, not a particular, gift. The triumph of his life is that he held together a country whose experiment in liberty ultimately extended its protections and promises to all--belatedly it is true, but by saving the Union, Jackson kept the possibility of progress alive, a possibility that would have died had secussion and separation carried the day.

Jackson certainly changed the role of the Presidency. Whether those changes were good or not so good is impossible to determine from reading only this book.

Review: Dinner at Mr. Jefferson's

Here's the Amazon description:

The Constitution was two years old and the United States was in serious danger. Bitter political rivalry between former allies and two surging issues that inflamed the nation led to grim talk of breaking up the union. Then a single great evening achieved compromises that led to America's great expansion. This book celebrates Thomas Jefferson and his two guests, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, and the meal that saved the republic. In Dinner at Mr. Jefferson's, you'll discover the little-known story behind this pivotal evening in American history, complete with wine lists, recipes, and more.

I was frankly disappointed in this book...very little about the dinner when Jefferson was Secretary of State for Washington...lots of politics, lots of conjecture on the part of the author, references to more well known and respected authors such as David McCullough, but if you're looking for a book about dinner, and wine and recipes, this isn't it. It does give an easy to understand description of some of the struggles Washington went through with his cabinet; the "two surging issues" referred to in the book blurb were the formation of a National Bank, and the designation of Washington D.C. as the nation's capital; it discusses Jefferson' differences with Hamilton; it paints Hamilton as a brilliant politician well loved by Washington; it drops in glimpses of Madison, and Henry Knox, but if it's history you're after, this isn't it either. If you have limited reading time, this wouldn't be a book I'd recommend spending it reading.

ARC received: American Lion

As you can see on the Waiting to Be Reviewed list in the sidebar, I received an Early Review copy of American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, by John Meacham. (Thank you LibraryThing!). I'm really anxious to get into this one because I'm participating in the LibraryThing "US Presidents" challenge to read at least one good biography of every American president before the next election. I wasn't really planning to start this challenge in earnest until I'd finished my other current 999 challenges, and I'd hoped to read them in order of their serving, but this has been so highly praised by everyone who's read it--and it won the Pulitzer Prize--that I'm jumping the queue and going to read this within the month. When I get an ARC (Advance Reader's Copy) or ER book I try to read and review as soon as I can. I'm rarely disappointed, so look for this review to post sometime soon. Thanks also to Random House for making these copies available to LT. We really do enjoy being able to spread the word.