The Pursuit of Liberty - by Jeffrey Rosen (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happiness shows how the opposing constitutional visions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton have defined our country for 250 years, influenced presidents from Washington to Trump, and continue to drive the debate over the power of government today.

In The Pursuit of Liberty, bestselling author and president of the National Constitution Center Jeffrey Rosen explores the clashing visions of Hamilton and Jefferson about how to balance liberty and power in a debate that continues to define--and divide--our country: Jefferson championed states' rights and individual liberties, while Hamilton pushed for a strong Federal government and a powerful executive. This ongoing tug-of-war has shaped all the pivotal moments in American history, including Abraham Lincoln's fight against slavery and southern secession, the expansion of federal power under Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, and Ronald Reagan's and Donald Trump's conservative push to shrink the size of the federal government.

Rosen also shows how Hamilton and Jefferson's disagreement over how to read the Constitution has shaped landmark debates in Congress and the Supreme Court about executive power, from John Marshall's early battles with Andrew Jackson to the current divisions among the justices on issues from presidential immunity to control over the administrative state.

More than ever, the clash between Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian ideals resonates today in our most urgent national debates over the question of whether modern presidents are consolidating power and subverting the Constitution--the very threat to American democracy that both Hamilton and Jefferson were determined to avoid. The Pursuit of Liberty is a compelling history of the opposing forces that have shaped our country since its founding, and the ongoing struggle to define the balance between liberty and power.

Review Quotes

"An exciting and authoritative book tracing the ways our politicians have used the principles of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton throughout our history. . . . It's the kind of honest and impartial history we desperately need."--Gordon Wood, author of Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution

"An invigorating, marvelously cogent tour of democracy and its limits."--Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams and The Witches: Salem 1692

"Jeffrey Rosen brilliantly illuminates a core division that has shaped American life from the start. A must-read for anyone looking to make sense of the American story."--Yuval Levin, author of American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation and Could Again

"Jeffrey Rosen has given us another great gift: a wise, searching, and illuminating study of the tumultuous dawn of American politics and partisanship. This book is at once an important work of history and a clarifying lens on our own time."--Jon Meacham, author of And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle and His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope

"Jeffrey Rosen's writings are invariably timely because of his unequaled ability to trace the pedigree of current controversies to timeless subjects the Founders addressed."--George F. Will

"Rosen's clearly organized synthesis of American life and history, along with well-placed references to the musical Hamilton, offers a useful context for his assessment of Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian influences on the Supreme Court. And his biographical sketches of justices past and present are detailed and vivid, bringing the law to life."-- "Booklist (starred review)"

"There may be no more important argument in American history than the one between Jefferson and Hamilton over the role of government in the new republic. Jeffrey Rosen has written a powerful and timely account of this foundational debate."--Ken Burns

About the Author

Jeffrey Rosen is President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, where he hosts We the People, a weekly podcast of constitutional debate. He is also a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor at The Atlantic. Rosen is a graduate of Harvard College, Oxford University, and Yale Law School. He is the author of nine books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Pursuit of Happiness and Conversations with RBG. His essays and commentaries have appeared in The New York Times Magazine; on NPR; in The New Republic, where he was the legal affairs editor; and in The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer.