My thoughts on how the world works

I have listened to this book, and I can recommend it. It illuminates a period of American history often neglected. The period between its founding in idealistic principles, and its subsequent reorganization into a stronger Federal government (where Madison played a strong role) – and then its gradual absorption into Industrialization.

It thought of itself, early in the 19th Century, as a strong new power – when in fact it was only a minor player. The result was a war with Great Britain – when it was becoming the strongest power in the world – and was building the British Empire.

America was lucky to win a draw – which left it bankrupt – but, in its own eyes – a nation of destiny.

The War sharpened some distinctions that would become more prominent in the Civil War – the differences between the North and the South.

The North was never in favor of the war – and Yankee farmers continued to sell their produce to the enemy – because they could pay for them with hard money. The war in the North was one disaster after another. Americans never understood their Canadian brethren – and their policy of gradual independence. Americans were always in favor of war – no matter what.

The American navy, although hugely outnumbered, gave a good account of itself.

The British attack on Washington was an outstanding success for them – entirely due to the poor military defensive planning in that area. The account of how this happened (despite Madison and Monroe’s strenuous efforts) is one of the best parts of the book.

The attack on Baltimore (by contrast) was a failure – because it was well-defended.

The Battle of New Orleans was one of the few American successes – and paved the way for Andrew Jackson’s eventual presidency.

I am a fan of Early American history, and it amazes me that most American are not. But I will not go into that

The term Federalist has at least two meanings. One involved the formation of a Federal government and the Federal Constitution. The Federalist Papers still are read to understand what the Federal government was intended to be. There is even an updated version, translated into modern American English, extensively cross-referenced.

Alexander Hamilton represented this outlook in Washington’s cabinet. He favored national financing (including a national bank); improvements in roads, canals, and the postal service; the support of national manufacturing; and a national military. All similar to the British model. This represented Northern interests - and eventually, abolition.

Thomas Jefferson represented the republicans in Washington’s cabinet, which favored France and the French Revolution. It was Southern, agrarian, and slave-holding (despite the objections of the French). Although it had ratified the Constitution, it quickly revered to States Rights again. These Democratic Republicans, much like the French Jacobins, acted much like anarchists.

Both Hamilton and Jefferson resigned during Washington’s second presidency, because the conflicts between them were too strong.

James Madison was both. He wrote many of the Federalist Papers, and was a strong early supporter of Washington (writing many of his speeches) – but then attacked Washington, and joined Jefferson to eliminate John Adams (who had worked hard to prevent a war with France) to make Jefferson president. Using devious means.

As president, he even declared war on England (in the War of 1812). A war that got America nothing, but was very popular with Americans.

I am now listening to Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow.

I am listening to three histories now (including one about WWII, and one about Black Hawk), and I am enjoying this one the most. I had never been too impressed by Washington before, but I find I like the guy now. He gave his life to his country – literally, and he got nothing in return but future fame. In his lifetime, he got nothing but sorrow for his efforts.

I now see Washington more favorably – but I also see the Americans of his time less favorable – especially Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who plotted against him underhandedly.

When his first term as president was ending, everyone begged him to accept another term - certain that without him at the helm the Northern States would separate from the Southern ones. As they probably would have.

This is widely acknowledged as the first good history of Washington – more than two hundred years after his death!

Americans, as they are now, are not interested in it.

I just finished listening to Empire of Liberty, American history from 1789 (the beginning of the Federal Government) to the end of the War of 1812. Listening to this award-winning book, I keep thinking that Americans should know about this period of our history – but unfortunately, they are not interested, it seems to me, in anything so real.

‘Empire of Liberty’ was one of Thomas Jefferson’s favorite phrases, and he took it seriously. For him, and many others, America represented the hope of mankind, and was fulfilling that hope. At the end of his life, he was beginning to realize that America had become a parody of those hopes.

The belief of the Enlightenment in the innate goodness of people was sadly misplaced. America became just another example of human folly and destructiveness – and on a grand scale. It now leads the world – but in the wrong direction.

We could learn a lot from studying this period of our history, when everything started to go wrong. But we are incapable of doing so.

We do not want to know how everything went wrong – it is just too awful to think about.