Adams vs. Jefferson

The Tumultuous Election of 1800

By: John Ferling

Narrated by: Jack Garrett

Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Award-winning author John Ferling is a leading authority on the American Revolution. His entertaining and enlightening histories have greatly improved our understanding of early America and the Founding Fathers. Now Ferling opens a window to the past and explores the contentious presidential election of 1800.

Once close friends, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson became bitter rivals as they fought for control of the young government. In a no-holds-barred brawl, both camps used any and all methods to sway voters. There was mudslinging, name-calling, and backstabbing. After a stalemate in the Electoral College, balloting went on for days and nights. Friendships were crushed, promises were broken, civil war was threatened. In the end, a shady deal gave Jefferson the presidency, and America would never be the same.

Considering the turmoil of the modern era, Adams vs. Jefferson is a timely book through which we can better understand the antagonistic atmosphere of contemporary politics.

The “Pivotal Moments in American History” series seeks to unite the old and the new history, combining the insights and techniques of recent historiography with the power of traditional narrative. Each title has a strong narrative arc with drama, irony, suspense, and – most importantly – great characters who embody the human dimension of historical events. The general editors of “Pivotal Moments” are not just historians; they are popular writers themselves, and, in two cases, Pulitzer Prize winners: David Hackett Fischer, James M. McPherson, and David Greenberg. We hope you like your American History served up with verve, wit, and an eye for the telling detail!

Listen to John Ferling talk about this book on the October 3, 2004, edition of Booknotes.

©2004 John Ferling (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Ferling richly presents the twists and turns of the election, as well as a vivid portrait of a struggling new nation and the bruising political battles of our now revered founding fathers." (Publishers Weekly)

Interesting but titled to Jefferson

Story covers a lot of ground and is extremely interesting. However I was hoping for more of the details of the dirty campaign of 1800 and more detail of their post retirement correspondence. Well worth the listen.

Enjoyable, learned a lot of history!

The story was excellent. I felt the performance was a little flat and pedantic. Learned a lot about the times and Adams and Jefferson (and Hamiliton and Burr).

informative and moving

Detailed and descriptive with many facts and some speculations, the story of the election of 1800 is so important yet so distant. The author does a wonderful job of telling much of the back story of the main players including details - good and bad - complimentary and disturbing.
Much of what we take for granted in America's governance was not solidified before Jefferson's Presidency and this story speaks to that in a way that informed and moved me. The epilog had me in tears.
Highly recommended.

Outstanding work of interpretive history

This work, purportedly about the election of 1800, actually spends less than 1/4 of its length on the election & the various machinations associated with same. That is a good thing. Rather, it reviews, superficially yet very powerfully, the forces that in the years after 1776 brought forth the Federalists, anti-Federalists & Jeffersonian Republicans, as well as the sideward glance at the first glimmerings of a "political machine" in the hands of Aaron Burr. It is this interpretation of the 2 decades running up to the election that makes the election crystal-clear. This book also has outstanding narration. Someone who speaks with emphasis & doesn't have to be suffered through. The only weakness of the book, frankly, is the short section that follows the events of the elections, which treads on very well worn ground (Burr's post 1800 shenanigans, Hamilton, Jefferson/Adams correspondence) & does not add anything substantial to the record here. A very small complaint. It still deserves 5 stars in by book.

A worthwhile listen

This is a very worthwhile book as it covers not just the election of 1800 but all that led up to it. The development of the two parties: Federalists and Republicans is covered at length as well as their disagreements throughout the 1790s (an era even more partisan than today!). I feel it was very even handed in its treatment of most of the characters involved with the possible exception of one of the most polarizing individuals: Alexander Hamilton. To remedy this I merely recommend reading/listening to Ron Chernow's biography Alexander Hamilton to get a more complete view of Hamilton and his thoughts and beliefs. I don't see this as, in any way, an intentional act by Mr. Ferling. Instead it was likely the result of the fact that a more nuanced explanation of Hamilton's motives and ideas fell outside the scope of this book.

The basic premise of the book was that the election of 1800 was a remarkable achievement in that it was the first time that the people of the United States was presented with a choice between 2 starkly different candidates with diametrically opposed visions of where the US should go in the next 4-8 years and chose to change from a Federalist system to a Republican system. While there was plenty of high emotion surrounding the election as well as ample political drama it accomplished the remarkable feat of a bloodless transfer of power from one distinct group to another.

This book really stood out in its description of how Jefferson was finally chosen not just over Adams but over Aaron Burr. Its description of the political maneuvering that took place in the House of Representatives was powerful and engaging. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Early Republic period and is worthy to sit on a "shelf" with Joseph Ellis, Ron Chernow, David Mccullough and others.

History Just Seems To Come Alive!

I love it, when in reading (ah, I mean, listening to) a book, where the author can make the story seem to just jump off the pages and come to life. That's especially true, when there is already so much in the way of documented writings, books and movies about the topic such as in the Presidential election of 1800 which pitted John Adams against Thomas Jefferson.

Today's politics are pretty tame compared to what used to go on back in the day. What with all of the name calling, cartoon depictions, and sometimes near fisticuffs or a dual in the streets. Yes, today's politics and politicians are downright boring compared to what the author, John Ferling, describes in this book.

I'm not a big history buff, or political junky, but Ferling's book kept my attention and helped me to learn a lot of things that I didn't know about in the early days of our great nation!

this book pertains to the 1800 election and shows

selection of 1800 shows and how much it important it is to the mm election a lot of similarities in know how I important it will be

great listen

a great way to follow history. very.interesting. well written. the ins and outs of the election of 1800 facinating.

(Comparatively) A balanced account

The vitality of the two hundred year old political feuds in current history has impressed me in my reading (seven books on the 1790s now) it. Evidently its force is such that not only do we anticipate drama and bile from its scholars, we reviewers and I myself often begin to consider a book to our fellows in precisely the context of which of well known sides is it on.

But while, especially in the epilogue--isn't it wonderful when scholars show appreciable consideration in treating a sensitive area of history, only to gush all over the epilogue with how messianic one side was from the final tally?--Mr. Ferling may be described as "Jeffersonian," and other reviewers are correct that his tour drives past several popular attractions of villainy, I think the book very well satisfies its purpose of tracing the important election.

If Mr. Ferling is gentle and personally favors Jefferson, then it must be admitted sporting and professional that he is comparably gentle to the other contenders in the election. He gives the benefit of the doubt to Adams' and Burr's shenanigans as he does to Jefferson's and he says fair play to Hamilton (who, not being a candidate in 1800, does not need the same treatment as the others here, and whom ever Mr. Chernow does not say is at his best on the date in question) on several relevant occasions, including a review (presumably motivated by the trends of the recent history) of some of Hamilton's nationally formative contributions once Jefferson has ascended into the epilogue. The presentations in authorial style and reader performance did not impact my experience (good or ill).

I would recommend this book to someone who was only going to read one book to learn about the period. It draws gently positive but not totally indulgent composites of each of the major figures and at least familiarizes its attentive reader with the overview of their doings, personalities, significances (again, with respect to 1800 of course), and points of controversy. High drama, dirty pool, and epic villification certainly were and are integral aspect of the era of the subject, but Ferling admirably keeps his course to that subject though he traces several decades over all: that is, he keeps to matters relevant to the election of 1800 rather than the whole movement in political opera. On that note, it covered the election of 1800 rather well; I had very few notes of unanswered details.

If you have read some on the era, mostly this offers a review, perhaps good details on biographies whom you have not read yet, or perhaps a more nearly neutral, to any figure neither overly acidic nor apologist, consideration of the events. It does, of course, have fine details on how the electoral machine stalled and a professional assessment on what famous and little known events did or did not cause the outcome. Concluding, if you're bothering to read the reviews, I think you're interested enough and the history is well done enough that you wouldn't be disappointed.

Informative and Good Narration

I learned a lot! Actually, I listened to it a second time because there was so much information. I enjoyed listening to the narrator too.