The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln

Winner of the Bancroft Award: "Monumental...a tour de force...awesome in its coverage of political events."-Gordon Wood, New York Times Book Review

Acclaimed as the definitive study of the period by one of the greatest American historians, The Rise of American Democracy traces a historical arc from the earliest days of the republic to the opening shots of the Civil War. Ferocious clashes among the Founders over the role of ordinary citizens in a government of "we, the people" were eventually...