American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis

During the years from 1789 to 1801, the republican political institutions forged by the American Constitution were put to the test. A new nation, born in revolution, divided over the nature of republicanism, faced the challenge of creating a stable, enduring national authority and union. In this book, James Sharp offers a new assessment disputing the conventional wisdom that the birth of the country was a relatively painless and unexceptional one. Instead, he tells the dramatic story of how the euphoria surrounding the inauguration of George Washington as the country's first president quickly soured. Soon, the Federalist defenders of the administration and their Republican critics regarded each other as bitter political enemies. Despite the polarization, the nation did manage to survive its first trial. The election of Thomas Jefferson in 1801 and the nonviolent transfer of power from one political group to another ended the immediate crisis. But sectionally based politics continued to plague the nation and eventually led to the Civil War.