Serpent in Eden

• Verfasst von: Reeder, Tyson [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Serpent in Eden
• Titelzusatz: foreign meddling and partisan politics in James Madison's America
• Verf.angabe: Tyson Reeder
• Verlagsort: New York, NY
• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• E-Jahr: 2024
• Jahr: [2024]
• Umfang: 1 online resource.
• Gesamttitel/Reihe: Oxford scholarship online
• Fussnoten: Includes bibliographical references and index. - Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (viewed on February 26, 2024)
• ISBN: 978-0-19-762862-1
• DOI: doi:10.1093/oso/9780197628591.001.0001
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Bibliogr. Hinweis: Erscheint auch als : Druck-Ausgabe
• Sach-SW: History
• Sach-SW: History of the Americas
• K10plus-PPN: 1897425503
• K10plus-PPN:
  Universitätsbibliothek
• Lokale URL UB: Zum Volltext

Abstract

Tyson Reeder's book evokes early America's rocky beginnings, when foreign interference and political conflict threatened to undermine its aspirations and ideals, even its very existence. Spanning the period from the Revolution to the War of 1812, and focusing particularly on the presidency of James Madison, it reveals a nation adjusting to rancorous partisanship, subjected to the untested and imperfect new tools of governance, and learning to live with the growing power of media.

Abstract

"Between Dissent and Disloyalty traces early America's troubled history of foreign meddling and political conflict through the career of James Madison. Spanning the period from the American Revolution to the War of 1812, it reveals a nation ensnared by partisanship and foreign hostility. Foreign governments exploited party distrust and interfered in U.S. elections to advance their own agendas and weaken the United States. As political hostility mounted, Americans confused dissent with disloyalty, imperiling the United States. As a leading delegate at the Constitutional Convention, Republican congressional leader, secretary of state, and president, Madison grappled with foreign meddling over three decades. At the same time, he emerged as a party leader, feeding the very partisanship that bred foreign intrigues. His career embodies the calamitous barrage of accusations and counteraccusations of foreign collusion that culminated in the War of 1812. Madison left a complicated legacy as a fierce adversary of foreign meddling and determined champion of political debate-but also as a partisan operative who facilitated the first by inflaming the second. Forged in partisan conflict, the United States remains vulnerable to foreign powers that aggravate political discord. Americans continue to test whether the constitutional system Madison was so central in implementing can withstand foreign interference while accommodating intense political hostility. That question remained inconclusive during his lifetime, but his successes and failures, along with his original vision of the Constitution and party politics, may help Americans chart a path away from political hysteria and polarization"--