Chapter 9

[Alexander]

Feel free to begin discussing!

[Jane]

I just finished ch. 9 and am up to discuss. Again interesting to read another perspective of this particular time in America. I can't quite figure out if McCullough hates Hamilton or not. He certainly doesn't shy away from implying that AH had almost unequivocal influence over any office-holding Federalist, and that there was something shady about it. Not that he holds anything back when talking about TJeffs shenanigans, either.

Ah the Alien and Sedition Acts, among the first of many gross and shameful laws put into practice in the U.S. Every immigrant wave gets a taste of this in one form of another, don't they?

Favorite sentences: "Strangely, cats were dying all over the city. The streets were filled with dead cats." This is never explained.

"Madison, a tiny, sickly-looking man who weighed little more than a hundred pounds and dressed always in black, had emerged as the most formidable figure in the House..." Yes from ch. 8 but I put it here anyway because it's so vivid.

[Jane]

Perhaps I will re-watch the mini-series instead... :)

[Patti]

No one would blame you?

[Alexander]

The thing with this book is (as I've said before) that Adams is the protagonist of his own story. So although it feels like McCullough hates Hamilton (& he very well may), in Adams' life Hamilton was very much the enemy.

It was the same in the Jefferson book I just finished reading and it is now the same in the Burr book I am reading. Although that author is very clearly biased towards Burr... I find myself yelling at it very often.

[Patti]

I only wish I could like the man more, because I acknowledge his accomplishments in our history. I can't fault the author, or Adams himself, really, for what is basically a clash of personalities between Adams and myself. And I know that's crazy on my part. I will feel much better when I'm finished reading, so I resolve to get on that by the weekend.

[Jane]

Alexander, re that Burr book, I have read elsewhere that it is sympathetic to AB to an uncomfortable degree. Which seems really weird, but historians do contain a rich tapestry. I guess.

[Jane]

Should we carry on with the next chapter? I finished the book, found it fairly interesting though over the top with praise. While I don't enjoy the image of elderly Adams and Jefferson rekindling their beautiful friendship, I did find even more reasons to dislike TJeffs, so there's that.

[Alexander]

I can put up Chapter 10! I usually put up the new discussion on the Sunday or Monday of the reading list schedule (or I try to anyway. Sometimes I'm late).