Overview

In this extraordinary book, Joanne Freeman offers a major reassessment of political culture in the early years of the American republic. By exploring both the public actions and private papers of key figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton, Freeman reveals an alien and profoundly unstable political world grounded on the code of honour. In the absence of a party system and with few examples to guide America's experiment in republican governance, the rituals and rhetoric of honour provided ground rules for political combat. Gossip, print warfare, and duelling were tools used to jostle for status and form alliances in an otherwise unstructured political realm. These political weapons were all deployed in the tumultuous presidential election of 1800 - an event that nearly toppled the new republic. By illuminating this culture of honour, Freeman offers new understandings of some of the most perplexing events of early American history, including the notorious duel between Burr and Hamilton. A major reconsideration of early American politics, Affairs of Honor offers a profoundly human look at the anxieties and political realities of leaders struggling to define themselves and their role in the new nation.

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9780300088779

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Professor Freeman not only sheds new light on that complex code of honour in American eighteenth-century life and politics which made inevitable the Burr-Hamilton duel, but she has also, a propos, written the clearest account to date of the presidential election of 1800, in which Jefferson and Burr tied for first place, causing Jefferson to behave with more than his usual subtlety while imputing, characteristically, bad faith to his rival Burr, who, according to their original agreement, raised not a finger in his own behalf and so behaved honorably. After two centuries, it is nice to know what really went on in that Dark Age when we had no kindly Supreme Court to determine our elections 5-4. Gore Vidal Affairs of Honor is a landmark work in the history of our national origins. With considerable style and grace, Freeman shows that the central story line must include such old-fashioned notions as honor and character, and that, in her capable hands, political history is once again alive and well. Joseph J. Ellis, author of Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

Sex-tinged scandals, political mudslinging, sectarian division, tabloid exposes: Bill Clinton may have had a bad time, but the Founding Fathers had it worse. Freeman (History/Yale) opens her lucid study of early American politics with an anecdote. Arguing before a hostile crowd to defend the Jay Treaty of 1795, Alexander Hamilton was beaned by a rock. The bleeding Federalist left the podium only to encounter a Republican opponent and, after an exchange of angry words, challenge him to a duel. Rebuffed, Hamilton challenged the next group of Republicans he met to a fistfight; one of them responded with an offer to duel with pistols. The events of that summer day were by no means unusual, Freeman writes. Governed by a class-bound code of honor, the revolutionary generation regarded political contests as personal ones; they were quick to take offense and quick to fight. Early American politics, she maintains, was a rough-and-tumble affair of wounded egos and hurt pride that can be understood only in the context of this honor culture, which had rules we moderns can scarcely comprehend. There was an emotional logic to [early politicians'] actions and reactions that is apparent only in the context of their time, Freeman notes, adding, Of course, logical decisions can be bad decisions. Among the many she chronicles are the vicious wars Thomas Jefferson waged in print on his many opponents (including sometime friend John Adams), the duel that left Hamilton dead and opponent Aaron Burr disgraced, and the vituperative presidential election of 1800, during which, a Republican recalled, a Federalist was insolent enough to dictate to me that tho' he esteemed me as a Man, yet we must all be crushed and that my life was of little Importance when compared to the peace of the State. To judge by Freeman's vivid anecdotes and smart analysis, it's a wonder the republic survived the Founders. Good reading, especially for students of political culture and early American history. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Joanne B. Freeman is assistant professor of history at Yale University. She recently appeared in the PBS American Experience documentary The Duel, exploring the fatal 1804 clash between Burr and Hamilton. She is also the editor of Alexander Hamilton: Writings, published by the Library of America.

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