Federalists in Dissent

For a recent college history course, I was "forced" to read this book and give an oral presentation as well as a five-page written review of it. At first I was afraid that I would be terribly bored by it, but the book gives such a refreshingly different point of view from the "textbook" opinion that I was immediately intrigued. The Federalists of the early nineteenth century are often given a bad rap in today's history books. They are typically seen as power-hungry men who were disgruntled simply because they were out of power, contrary personalities who disagreed with the Republicans merely for the sake of being disagreeable. Linda Kerber does an excellent job of providing another perspective. Through the generous use of the writings of a wide variety of Federalists, she shows that these men often had very logical reasons behind their dissenting viewpoints, that it is possible to "account for the opposition to Jefferson on grounds other than the obvious one of partisanship." Kerber convincingly shows that altogether, the complaints of the Federalists added up to one thing: the Republicans were undermining the stability of established societal institutions, and they doing so under the false pretenses of preserving the nation. Among other things she discusses the very important issues of slavery, education, and scientific study in coming to her conclusions.The book as a whole is very engaging and well-written. The documentation that she included for all her sources impressed me. I thought the weakest aspect of the book was Chapter 5, where Kerber makes a lengthy and somewhat confusing digression to cover a single Congressional decision. Other than this, the book kept a firm grasp on my attention, and I would recommend it to anyone wishing to broaden their understanding of the moral and ideological issues dividing our nation in the era of Thomas Jefferson and his party.

For a recent college history course, I was "forced" to read this book and give an oral presentation as well as a five-page written review of it. At first I was afraid that I would be terribly bored by it, but the book gives such a refreshingly different point of view from the "textbook" opinion that I was immediately intrigued. The Federalists of the early nineteenth century are often given a bad rap in today's history books. They are typically seen as power-hungry men who were disgruntled simply because they were out of power, contrary personalities who disagreed with the Republicans merely for the sake of being disagreeable. Linda Kerber does an excellent job of providing another perspective. Through the generous use of the writings of a wide variety of Federalists, she shows that these men often had very logical reasons behind their dissenting viewpoints, that it is possible to "account for the opposition to Jefferson on grounds other than the obvious one of partisanship." Kerber convincingly shows that altogether, the complaints of the Federalists added up to one thing: the Republicans were undermining the stability of established societal institutions, and they doing so under the false pretenses of preserving the nation. Among other things she discusses the very important issues of slavery, education, and scientific study in coming to her conclusions.The book as a whole is very engaging and well-written. The documentation that she included for all her sources impressed me. I thought the weakest aspect of the book was Chapter 5, where Kerber makes a lengthy and somewhat confusing digression to cover a single Congressional decision. Other than this, the book kept a firm grasp on my attention, and I would recommend it to anyone wishing to broaden their understanding of the moral and ideological issues dividing our nation in the era of Thomas Jefferson and his party...