Read James Madison: The President, 1809-1812

James Madison: The President, 1809-1812

Irving Brant

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Description:By virtue of the first four volumes, Irving Brant's massive life of James Madison has long since established itself as a classic of historical biography. Now James Madison: The President once again portrays James Madison as the moving spirit in a great epoch. The book introduces much new evidence and reveals a Chief Executive whose mildness of manner concealed the boldness with which he exercised the powers of his office, a President who worked with vigor and foresight to maintain the interest and honor of the United States, without war if possible, and with it if unavoidable, as it proved to be.James Madison became President in 1809 at a moment of crisis in relations between the United States and England. The Napoleonic Wars, resumed six years before, were at their height. With England and France each forbidding neutrals to trade with the other, great numbers of American ships were taken and confiscated, with England the worse offender since her navy ruled the sea. Resentment against her was increased by the impressment of thousands of American seamen onto British ships of war. President Jefferson's embargo law had been widely evaded and finally revealed.During his first month in office Madison notified the governor of Pennsylvania that of necessary he would use force to carry out a Supreme Court decree against which that state had "interposed" its sovereign authority. The governor yielded.Before that month ended Madison sent secret word to London that if Great Britain revoked her Orders in Council against American commerce and France failed to take similar action he would do his best to being about war with France. If the Orders in Council were not revoked, war between the United States and England was almost certain.These early actions, neglected by historians, open a biographical narrative which gives President Madison a new place in American history. this fifth volume covers the period from his inauguration to the date of the declaration of war against Great Britain, June 18, 1812. Letting previously unknown or underutilized facts speak for themselves, Irving Brant shows that the President not only mapped the nation's policies but steered the development of the public opinion needed to put them into effect.In 1809 Madison reached a thorough understanding with the British Minister Erskine. The London government, however, repudiated the agreement on the claim that Erskine exceeded his instructions. He was replaced by England's most ruthless diplomat, "Copenhagen" Jackson, who tried his talents on Madison and was ordered out of the country.Shortly after Congress adjourned in 1810, Madison published quantities of newly arrived diplomatic correspondence of a sort to stir the indignation of the people. He said he hoped that the force of public opinion would rouse the passive spirit of the Congress. The people responded by retiring nearly half of the House and sending numbers of War Hawks in their stead.For two years the President himself did the work of his incompetent Secretary of State. In the spring of 1811 he asked for Robert Smith's resignation and supplanted him with James Monroe, a man who knew how to write and how to take orders. Jefferson played an important role in ending the previous unfriendliness between Madison and Monroe, but Irving Brant totally disproves the common assertion that Jefferson guided the Madison administration.This volume presents evidence discovered by the author that President Madison conducted a systematic newspaper campaign to stimulate the country's war spirit during a period in which many historians have pictured him as vainly trying to resist the pressure of the War Hawks. Two months before Congress declared war, the nation was electrified by a belligerent exhortation ascribed to Speaker Henry Clay, and rumored to have been disliked by the President. Brant found the original draft of it, much interlined and corrected, in the Roosevelt Library at Hyde Park. It is in the handwriting of Madison's principal propagandist.Throughout Madison's career he often found it inexpedient to lay claim to some of his boldest and most brilliant actions. He was more interested in results than in the credit for them. In volume after volume, Irving Brant's vast and painstaking research has rediscovered Madison's responsibility for them and so raised his stature to heroic proportions. Since James Madison: The President covers a period in which historians have often presented Madison as a weak and fumbling executive, the present volume alters the picture more strikingly than any preceding volume and shows Madison as active, wise, and resourceful, a President leading his people with strength and shrewdness in a time of crisis.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with James Madison: The President, 1809-1812. To get started finding James Madison: The President, 1809-1812, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Pages: 540

Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.

Release: 1956

ISBN

Description: By virtue of the first four volumes, Irving Brant's massive life of James Madison has long since established itself as a classic of historical biography. Now James Madison: The President once again portrays James Madison as the moving spirit in a great epoch. The book introduces much new evidence and reveals a Chief Executive whose mildness of manner concealed the boldness with which he exercised the powers of his office, a President who worked with vigor and foresight to maintain the interest and honor of the United States, without war if possible, and with it if unavoidable, as it proved to be.James Madison became President in 1809 at a moment of crisis in relations between the United States and England. The Napoleonic Wars, resumed six years before, were at their height. With England and France each forbidding neutrals to trade with the other, great numbers of American ships were taken and confiscated, with England the worse offender since her navy ruled the sea. Resentment against her was increased by the impressment of thousands of American seamen onto British ships of war. President Jefferson's embargo law had been widely evaded and finally revealed.During his first month in office Madison notified the governor of Pennsylvania that of necessary he would use force to carry out a Supreme Court decree against which that state had "interposed" its sovereign authority. The governor yielded.Before that month ended Madison sent secret word to London that if Great Britain revoked her Orders in Council against American commerce and France failed to take similar action he would do his best to being about war with France. If the Orders in Council were not revoked, war between the United States and England was almost certain.These early actions, neglected by historians, open a biographical narrative which gives President Madison a new place in American history. this fifth volume covers the period from his inauguration to the date of the declaration of war against Great Britain, June 18, 1812. Letting previously unknown or underutilized facts speak for themselves, Irving Brant shows that the President not only mapped the nation's policies but steered the development of the public opinion needed to put them into effect.In 1809 Madison reached a thorough understanding with the British Minister Erskine. The London government, however, repudiated the agreement on the claim that Erskine exceeded his instructions. He was replaced by England's most ruthless diplomat, "Copenhagen" Jackson, who tried his talents on Madison and was ordered out of the country.Shortly after Congress adjourned in 1810, Madison published quantities of newly arrived diplomatic correspondence of a sort to stir the indignation of the people. He said he hoped that the force of public opinion would rouse the passive spirit of the Congress. The people responded by retiring nearly half of the House and sending numbers of War Hawks in their stead.For two years the President himself did the work of his incompetent Secretary of State. In the spring of 1811 he asked for Robert Smith's resignation and supplanted him with James Monroe, a man who knew how to write and how to take orders. Jefferson played an important role in ending the previous unfriendliness between Madison and Monroe, but Irving Brant totally disproves the common assertion that Jefferson guided the Madison administration.This volume presents evidence discovered by the author that President Madison conducted a systematic newspaper campaign to stimulate the country's war spirit during a period in which many historians have pictured him as vainly trying to resist the pressure of the War Hawks. Two months before Congress declared war, the nation was electrified by a belligerent exhortation ascribed to Speaker Henry Clay, and rumored to have been disliked by the President. Brant found the original draft of it, much interlined and corrected, in the Roosevelt Library at Hyde Park. It is in the handwriting of Madison's principal propagandist.Throughout Madison's career he often found it inexpedient to lay claim to some of his boldest and most brilliant actions. He was more interested in results than in the credit for them. In volume after volume, Irving Brant's vast and painstaking research has rediscovered Madison's responsibility for them and so raised his stature to heroic proportions. Since James Madison: The President covers a period in which historians have often presented Madison as a weak and fumbling executive, the present volume alters the picture more strikingly than any preceding volume and shows Madison as active, wise, and resourceful, a President leading his people with strength and shrewdness in a time of crisis.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with James Madison: The President, 1809-1812. To get started finding James Madison: The President, 1809-1812, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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