Heirs of the Founders

The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants

By: H. W. Brands

Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin

Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

From New York Times best-selling historian H. W. Brands comes the riveting story of how, in 19th-century America, a new set of political giants battled to complete the unfinished work of the Founding Fathers and decide the future of our democracy

In the early 1800s, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a moment when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire to their farms. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a champion orator known for his eloquence, spoke for the North and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky, as dashing as he was ambitious, embodied the hopes of the rising West. South Carolina's John Calhoun, with piercing eyes and an even more piercing intellect, defended the South and slavery.

Together these heirs of Washington, Jefferson, and Adams took the country to war, battled one another for the presidency, and set themselves the task of finishing the work the Founders had left undone. Their rise was marked by dramatic duels, fierce debates, scandal, and political betrayal. Yet each in his own way sought to remedy the two glaring flaws in the Constitution: its refusal to specify where authority ultimately rested, with the states or the nation, and its unwillingness to address the essential incompatibility of republicanism and slavery.

They wrestled with these issues for four decades, arguing bitterly and hammering out political compromises that held the Union together, but only just. Then, in 1850, when California moved to join the Union as a free state, "the immortal trio" had one last chance to save the country from the real risk of civil war. But by that point, they had never been further apart.

Thrillingly and authoritatively, H. W. Brands narrates an epic American rivalry and the little-known drama of the dangerous early years of our democracy.

©2018 H. W. Brands (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Lively and learned... Brands has produced a narrative that pulsates vigorously... The three senators wear themselves out and all but die on the job, their respective causes still unresolved, their long public service having earned them fame, but not the political prize for which they most lusted: the presidency (though not for want of trying).” (Harold Holzer, Wall Street Journal)

“A historical spellbinder... A lively, vivid, and thoroughly researched account of a time when discord gripped the nation and wouldn’t let go.” (David Holahan, Christian Science Monitor)

“Brands’s easy prose and superior, simple organization makes this work an engrossing, entertaining, and educating read on issues important then that echo today in the modern debate on the limits of federal government power.” (Robert Davis, New York Journal of Books)

Outstanding, interesting and cogent. Topical.

This book presents a great deal of past history representing our current political situation. Our political resentments are as strong now as they were when these great statesmen lived.

great book on great statesmen

a great book on 3 of the most influentiakl men to ever serve our country in congress. they tried to save the union but ultimately on postponed its divided and separation

History I Needed to Understand

Before I read this book, I couldn't have told you two facts about Presidents Martin Van Buren or John Tyler. Even though I am well-read on lots of American history, I must admit that my 1820 - 1850 history knowledge was weak. Until this book came out, I just wasn't intrigued by the book offerings for this history period. Thank goodness that this book grabbed me when I became aware of it on Audible.

Telling the history from the viewpoint of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster allowed for the author to give a full history of all sides of political activities for this time. I know a book of this type is good if it intrigues me enough to do lots of internet research about other topics such as Marshall Supreme Court cases and America's war with Mexico.

On a personal level, I am as strongly convinced as I always was that the Civil War was about slavery and not primarily about states rights, but this book explained to me how people from the Southern states felt states rights protected them from burdensome tariffs and taxes supported by Northern states. I didn't know much about that reasoning before. The knowledge I received from this book exceeded my expectations.

I only gave 4 stars because there were some "dry" parts of this book that were too long, but the narration was good and I never wanted to stop listening.

First-rate analysis of crucial period for US

I read "Heirs of the Founders" (well, listened to it) shortly after Daniel Walker Howe's also excellent "What Hath God Wrought". Both deal with the period roughly from 1815 to 1855. This is the time when the new country pushed to the Pacific, ruthlessly shooing native Americans and Mexicans from its path. The drive west pulled Northern and Southern states farther apart, many of the first industrialising, while many of the second reaped riches from slave cultivation of commodity crops. Populist politics also took hold during this time, with President Andrew Jackson its first main beneficiary. Against this background (but not in these books) the Civil War broke out.

The particular pleasure of Mr Brands's book is that he brings to life three of the most gifted and complex politicians ever to bestride the national stage. Henry Clay of Kentucky, the great compromiser who at least delayed the break; John Calhoun of South Carolina, the states' rights advocate who put his own state on the road to Fort Sumter; Daniel Webster, adopted son of Massachusetts, whose powerful oratory
helped to keep the train on the Unionist rails until it didn't: these were the successors to Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Adams and Washington. They shaped the second phase of America's development as the Founders did the first. None was ever elected president, not for lack of trying, and they died within months of each other.

Mr Brands does not hesitate to quote, often extensively, from his subjects' speeches and letters. Lest hearts sink, at least two of the men were master wordsmiths, so this is in fact a joy. I suspect that Henry Clay was the author's own favourite. He was also something of a hero to the man who shaped the third phase of America's history, Kentucky-born Abraham Lincoln. But Daniel Webster. too, was often at Lincoln's elbow, for example in the writing of the Gettysburg address.

So we await "The Heir to the Heirs of the Founders" -- or do we? I think I'll just go back to "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Fascinating history of pre-Civil War politicians

I need to reread this in print. I'm fascinated with this era and the competing value systems of this time.

Riveting Read on Rivals

Fascinating book to hear about these leaders and rivals in the 1800s who were critical in shaping America during a period of rapid Western and economic expansion. They played an important role in holding the Union together when sectional tensions were rising rapidly. Narrator did a great job too.

A brilliant, well written, and compelling history

When it comes to non-fiction, my favorite genre is either economic or political history. I find that a well written book of either genre, and really helped to illuminate the human condition. This book is one of the best.

The author tells a compelling narrative, about three (four, if you include John Quincy Adams) of the most important figures from American history.

I listened to Klotter’s book on Clay a few years ago (which is also excellent) but I found that I learned a lot from this book as well.

The author does a very nice job of moving the narrative along, giving an accounting of the relevant events and how each player contributed.

If you are interested in political history, look no further.

History as biography

If you're looking for a fresh perspective on the period leading up to the American Civil War, this is a good place to start. “Fresh Perspective” is practically HW Brands’ middle name. As in his other books about the 19th century, he approaches history by way of biography, in this case through the stories of an ardent proponent of slavery (Calhoun), an opponent (Webster), and a man devoted to preserving the Union, whatever compromise is required (Clay).

Two other people haunt the narrative as well. Through much of it, especially in the early part, Andrew Jackson plays a major role: in fact the book begins with an account of his victory at New Orleans in 1815. Brands has written a biography of Jackson, and I don't know how much is duplicated here. Whether you consider Jackson the Great Democratizer or the Great Destroyer will depend on which aspect of his presidency you choose to focus on. Personally, I’m inclined to the second: while he saved the Union in the nullification crisis, he destroyed dozens of other nations — nations of non-white people, of course — in his embrace of white supremacy.

Another person who makes his appearance late in the book is Solomon Northup, the man who wrote Twelve Years a Slave. Brands narrates the political debates about slavery in detail, but doesn't discuss the actual conditions of slavery until he comes to Northup’s story. If there is a weakness in the book, it's here: although he gives a passionate and moving account of Northup’s own suffering, Brands omits a lot of what Northup had to say about the suffering of those around him.

This is not a wide-ranging cultural or economic history of the pre-war period like What Hath God Wrought by Daniel Walker Howe or Waking Giant by David S Reynolds. Brands is doing history by way of biography, and he keeps the focus pretty steadily on his three main participants. As in his other books, Brands is generous in his quotations from letters and speeches, to the extent (in this case) that I almost felt I was sitting in the gallery in Congress watching the debate. Without access to any of the notes or bibliographical references that may have accompanied the text, I have to assume many of these speeches represent cleaned-up and maybe enhanced versions prepared by the speaker for posterity. But even so, they create a sense of immediacy that is sometimes lacking in accounts of the period.

Eric Martin’s narration is crisp, clear, and well-paced. When Brands’ narrative reaches an emotional peak, Martin allows his voice to express the emotion, rather than trying to keep the tone on a reserved, “objective” level. Not everyone will appreciate that approach to history, but I did.

I'm looking forward to reading Brands’ next book in the “series”, The Zealot and the Emancipator, which takes up the parallel stories of John Brown and Abraham Lincoln.

Heirs of the founders

Not only John Calhoun, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster the main characters in this,historical story, but a kidnapped free black man also of that time who's story also provided background on these days a decade before the civil war. very interesting how the statesmen compromised to bring forward means to deal with the slavery problem, yet still maintained their own philosophy and position on slavery!

The Conflict in the Constitution Personified

Another first-rate book by H.W. Brands. The conflicts built into the Constitution are embodied in the lives, words and deeds of three dominant political leaders in the run up to the Civil War who are scarcely remembered in the transitory world of electronic news and daily soundbites. The historical themes of this period are underpinned with the kind of granular detail that sustains interest in his story of this period when the country transitioned from a Federal Republic to an American Nation; from States and Territories into a Nation. The lurking irony in Brands' book is that we are now in a period where a nation is transitioning into conflicting regions and various interest groups under the banner of the same Constitution, as amended. A similar process, but in reverse. The heirs of John Calhoun are reviving his spirit. There are no known heirs of Webster or Clay.