Jefferson the President

Jefferson the President is the fourth volume in Dumas Malone's multi-volume biography of Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson and His Time. A continuation of Jefferson the Virginian, Jefferson and the Rights of Man, and Jefferson an the Ordeal of Liberty, this important volume is a documented account of the great American's first term as President of the Republic.

In the preceding three volumes, Jefferson's story is carried through the American Revolution, his ministry to France, and his service as secretary of state under George Washington. Now with Jefferson's first four years as President, a very crucial period in American history is handled expertly by a master historian. In 1801 when Jefferson took office this country was still in her infant years as a self-governing nation, but it was a time when the nation had become deeply divided following the administrations of Presidents Washington and Adams. It was a period, not unlike modern times, when decisions has to be made.

Jefferson the President gives a fascinating account of the details of the very important Louisiana Purchase. It tells of Jefferson's duel with the Supreme Court, his continued opposition to the Hamiltonian doctrine, and his ascendancy as an unchallenged party leader, and it shows how he is finally acknowledged as the chief American patron of science and general learning, both at home and abroad.