The rivalry that made history

"Jefferson and Hamilton:

The Rivalry That Forged

a Nation"

By John Ferling

Bloomsbury; 464 pages; $30


On this book's jacket, Jefferson and Hamilton face off antagonistically. That's as it should be, for in the first quarter-century of our nation's history no two public figures so consistently differed. Further, their regular disagreements occasioned little respect; rather, it fanned hostility.

Their antagonism got its official start when they joined George Washington's first cabinet. The first secretaries of State (Jefferson) and Treasury (Hamilton) were as unlike as flint and powder, according to John Ferling.

As the draftsman of the Declaration of Independence and as the wartime governor of Virginia, Jefferson had firmed up his beliefs in small government, individual liberty and an agrarian economy. He was opposed to a national bank, to federal overreach and to a standing army.

Hamilton, who was 12 years younger, foreign born, a Federalist Papers co-author, and a former Washington aide-de-camp, favored vigorous government. In his mind, fledgling and vulnerable would be the United States until it had a strong executive, a ready military, the courage to tax, and a bank in which to do its business.

During Washington's and John Adams' administrations, the indefatigable Hamilton got most of what he wanted, including an appointment as major general of the new army.

Jefferson and his colleagues, meanwhile, got the removal of the government's center to a site on the Potomac and the derailment of Hamilton's "Quasi-War" with France.

Hamilton's successes cost him. He had taxed the populace just after a revolution triggered by taxes. Worse still, he had taxed whiskey.

Also, it scared people that he now oversaw the military. Might he use it to join Britain in its latest French war? To seize Spain's New World possessions? To quell dissent?

When Jefferson came into office in 1801, he did much to undo his rival's work. Then, three years later, Hamilton lost his life in a duel with Aaron Burr.

So who ultimately won? Jefferson or Hamilton? And which is winning today? Ferling expresses his opinion at the end of this solid, informed and deftly written history.

JOHN CUSSEN, PH.D, teaches literature and writing at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.