The Jeffersonians: The Visionary Presidencies of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe

Historian Gutzman (Thomas Jefferson—Revolutionary) chronicles the American presidency from 1801 through 1825 in this well-informed if meandering study. Recounting the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, the so-called “Virginia Dynasty,” Gutzman documents the highs and lows of each administration. He covers major historical events including the Whiskey Rebellion, the New England secessionist plot of 1804, the 1819 financial panic, and the Louisiana Purchase, and argues that Britain’s attacks on Washington, D.C., and Baltimore in the War of 1812 exposed the fault in Republicans’ insistence that “little money or effort needed to be expended in maintaining America’s defenses.” Gutzman draws sharp profiles of the era’s leading politicians and military figures, including Aaron Burr and Andrew Jackson, and stuffs the narrative with informed reflections on the personality traits of his main subjects (“a faulty speaker before a large assemblage, Jefferson shone at the dinner table”) and their families (James Madison’s wife, Dolley, had a “phantasmagorical wardrobe”). The details intrigue, but Gutzman covers well-trod ground, and his thesis often gets lost amid the anecdotes. This history needs a sharper focus. (Nov.)