Jefferson and Madison: The Great Collaboration

by Adrienne Koch

This book is an important and original interpretation of the half-century friendship between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. It shows how the two philosopher statesmen jointly worked out the philosophy of democracy in the clash of contending interests. It is a contribution to the history of ideas and to a fuller understanding of two political realists who founded their faith on the people and envisaged the American republic as an experiment in liberty.

Miss Koch goes behind formal statements and outward events to reveal Jefferson and Madison in their fight for democratic but strong government, free of religious ties, unafraid of political criticism, protective of civil liberties, and dedicated to learning. She recreates the personal drama and re-evaluates the political and philosophic significance of their views on federal authority, the French Revolution, the two-party system, the Alien and Sedition Acts, the public debt, the Supreme Court, the Louisiana Purchase, the location of the federal capitol, and the support of education in a free society.

To build this narrative, Miss Koch has mastered a wealth of unpublished materials from which she derived remarkable fresh insights into the origin and meaning of the American democratic tradition.

Genres: History, Presidents, Nonfiction

308 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

A specialist in the history of the American Revolution and the early republic, Adrienne Koch earned her B.A. at New York University and her Masters degree and Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. Koch taught at Tulane, the University of California, and the University of Michigan, before being appointed professor of history at the University of Maryland. The recipient of fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim, Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations and the American Philosophical Society, Koch received a senior fellowship in the humanities in 1967 from the new National Endowment for the Humanities.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

For readers relatively unknowledgeable about the revolutionary war era and the critical subsequent decades when the Constitution was written and the first administrations vied in interpreting and applying it, this book would NOT be the best place to start.

I would recommend that they first read the eminent historian Gordon Woods' latest book, "Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution," that covers the period from the mid-18th to the late 18th century in the immediate pre-war colonies and then in the United States. This would provide the depth, background and context in which this book by the gifted historian Adrienne Koch would then fit nicely.

Dr. Koch is also an authority on this period, and in this work she focuses on the friendship and extraordinary and mutually enriching work that Jefferson and Madison produced from the time of the formation of the Constitution -- in which Madison played a very formative role -- through the periods of their presidencies in the early 19th century.

Jefferson, as a true polymath, always fascinates as he has his "fingers" in so many places at the same time, seemingly extremely competent in all of them, whether it be architecture, agriculture, education, or statesmanship.

Their friendship was such -- and it is preserved for us in the presence of numerous letters written by both men to each other through their long friendship -- that we can follow their agreements and disagreements as they confronted the always-new first acquainted problems and struggles of the new republic. Yes, the Constitution provided the framework, but much needed to be done to creatively "fill in the blanks."

I particularly enjoyed how Dr. Koch shows the role the French Revolution played in driving the first serious divisions in the American polity, with Jefferson and his followers being inclined to cheering on the French (notably in the first few years when hopes were large and mass barbarism was largely absent) while Hamilton and the Federalists watched developments there with alarm and favored a closer relationship with Great Britain. Through this process, and in the accompanying domestic disputes about the proper role of the federal government in finance and internal improvements, we watch as two parties, at times bitterly opposed to each other, rather quickly coalesce. This is a development that sadly was not anticipated by the Framers of the Constitution as there is no mention of party in that document.

Jefferson was more inclined to a somewhat impetuous radicalism than the more consistently sober Madison, and this was made very clear as the paranoid Federalists passed increasingly strict legislation designed to ferret out spies and dissenters. In reaction, Jefferson played a significant role in the wording and passage of both the "Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions" that, for the first time, advanced the concept that dissenting states could ignore federal legislation that in their judgement exceeded the powers granted in the Constitution.

This seed was to bear sad and erosive fruit in Calhoun's later development of the "doctrine of nullification," an idea that began the steady process of the South's moving ever further away from the Union. And we know how that turned out!

Notwithstanding the caveat with which I began this review, this is a very readable work that provides moving insight into the minds and friendship of two of the greatest figures in our history. Yes, I know that Jefferson will forever be tarnished by the fact that he was a slave-owner and that he had children by one of them. This is a fact. So also are the immense contributions he made to the intellectual foundation of this nation, thoughts that continue to inspire, part of the truth.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was recommended reading for my high school AP American History course (1968) and has been on my reading list (and my bookshelf) ever since; I finally decided to read it for a Goodreads challenge to read something on Jefferson. The book was originally published in 1950.

Ostensibly an account of the life-long friendship/collaboration of Jefferson and Madison, it is (despite being based on original scholarship) actually a political rather than a scholarly book, designed both to idealize the two subjects and to bring them into the fold of New Deal Democratic Party liberalism. Although twentieth century concerns are not mentioned explicitly except in a very vague way, they seem to me to underlay much of the emphasis and selection of the material. The focus of the book is to emphasize Jefferson's position that the Constitution should be revised every generation to accommodate the current majority, while diminishing his strict constructionism (against those in the 1930s and 1940s who idolized the wisdom of the Constitution and the founders, as an argument for conservatism); to reinterpret the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions as a defense of civil liberties rather than "States' Rights" (the conservative code-word for preserving Jim Crow); and to suggest that the Supreme Court and the judiciary is more dangerous to liberty than the elected branches of government (an issue in the 30's; I wonder whether she would have emphasized this so much four years later, when it became a conservative argument against desegregation by court order.)

There was much of interest in the book about the history of the early republic, and particularly the struggles between the Federalists and the Republicans, but it is very selective. The biggest omission is any mention of slavery -- there is one paragraph on page 13 defending Jefferson as being against slavery (on the basis of a very early position he took in 1783) and that is literally the only mention of slavery in the entire book. After just finishing Edward Baptist's book which interprets the history of the U.S. from the Jefferson administration on as being mainly about slavery and its extension (this may be an exaggeration as well, but certainly the question was important from the beginning, and didn't just pop up at the time of the Missouri Compromise as one might gather from the usual high school history) it seemed very odd to hear Jefferson talking about the Louisiana Purchase as an "empire of liberty" without the author ever pointing out that it was in truth an empire of slavery. The entire account takes Jefferson's and Madison's rhetoric at face value, without questioning the actual tendency of their actions.

Partly of course, this was because of her interests in writing it, but it is also a symptom of the treatment of slavery and Jim Crow by American historians in general, compartmentalizing them in particular chapters as specific aberrations rather than showing them as important and even dominant factors in the general history of the country (apart from the immediate pre-Civil War period.)

I had expected to like this book, as I have always considered Jefferson and Madison as our most intelligent and among our best presidents -- as they were from a perspective of freedoms for white citizens. The country would have been much less democratic in the short term if the Hamiltonians had succeeded; but on the other hand, the North would have become dominant much earlier, had manufacturing been encouraged as Hamilton wanted. Certainly if one looks at their writings rather than their actions, Jefferson and Madison would have to be considered better than most of those who came after. I was struck by the way they emphasized education and tried to be as well read as possible; I can't help but contrast an incident in the 2008 U.S. election, where the Bush and Obama supporters argued about which candidate was better educated -- the Bush supporters accusing Obama of being better educated, and the Obama supporters retorting that Bush was. That sums up everything wrong with our electoral system today.

The book was worth reading, but not particularly great; and probably some at least has become outdated.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not a biography of either president. It is not a topical book about slavery, economics, or the history of the 1800's. This book is what the Title describes, a collaboration between two men who were instrumental in shaping our early political history. There are much better books on the history of the times, better biographies of each man (Dumas Malone and Ketcham) etc. But this book delivers how Jefferson's sometimes harsh writings were sent to Madison, who could soften Jefferson's tone without affecting their close friendship. These men shared a love of liberty, a desire that America become a land of freedom based on Constitutional principles and worked together to defeat the Federalists. (Adams and Hamilton) The did not have identical political philosophies, but were able to work together for shared goals.
This book may be a slow read when dealing with complex issues. The author wrings out the essence of how these men were able to collaborate. There were times I had to wade through some paragraphs before I fully understood the fine shades of difference between these men and their writings. Often that was because groundwork had to be laid for the reader understand the bigger picture and how all the pieces fit in place.
If you just want to know about these men this is not the book. But if you want to understand how they worked together, took on thorny issues and collaborated on how to best solve political problems then you will be rewarded with a deeper appreciation of these two formidable presidents friendship and how they could work together for the benefit of the country. I have read several biographies of these men and the time period and found this book both informative and enlightening. Just be prepared to work through some sections where you may have to reread a paragraph now and then. You will be rewarded for the effort.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A scholarly work, which means I had to pay close attention ... very much worth the effort

[Glenn Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful bio of the friendship of two important shapers and leaders of America. So much of what we have in America today is as a result of these two men-the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and so much more.

[Robfussell · Rating 1 out of 5]

A summary (at best) of American post-revolution political thought.