November 2022: The Election of 1800: Jefferson v. Adams
Please join us in November 2022 for a Virtual Reading Group with Cara Rogers.
Pre-registration is required, and we ask you to register only if you can be present for ALL sessions. Most readings are available online; PDFs of the remainder will be emailed upon registration confirmation. Participants who successfully complete ALL sessions will be eligible to receive an Amazon e-gift certificate.
In our current political climate, America can appear more divided than ever before. Politicians and pundits rage at one another, utilizing personal attacks, and each party seems to believe that the other side will destroy the republic. In this course, we will examine one of the elections in American history that was arguably more divisive than those of the current era: the Election of 1800. This election marked the first time that Americans peacefully transferred power from one political party to another, proving that a republic could be maintained in spite of great personal and political divisions. We will discuss the reasons why tensions were so high during the late 1790s—including several issues that will sound surprisingly familiar, such as freedom of the press and immigration bans. We will also examine the two leaders—Thomas Jefferson and John Adams—who first tried to destroy one another, but who later provided a model for future Americans on how to maintain friendship with a political enemy. Documents will include the Alien and Sedition Acts, Kentucky Resolution, and Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address, as well as several letters between Jefferson, Adams, and their associates.
Session I: Monday, November 7, 4-5 EST: The Fight
From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 4 June 1798
Session II: Monday, November 14, 4-5 EST: The Election
From Thomas Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, 26 January 1799
Jefferson to John Dickinson, 6 March 1801
Jefferson to Joseph Priestley, 21 March 1801
Session III: Monday, November 21, 4-5 EST: The Reconciliation
See PDF document. All excerpts taken from https://founders.archives.gov.
Virtual Reading Groups
- One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare’s Plays
- December 2023: H.G. Wells, Technocracy and Liberty
- November 2023: Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War: the Gettysburg Address
- September 2023: Islam and Liberty
- September 2023: H. L. Mencken on Commerce, Culture, and Democracy
- August 2023: The Price of Power: Bring Up the Bodies and The Prince
- July 2023: Civil Society and Political Economy
- June 2023: The Challenges of Democracy in a Diverse Society
- April 2023: Understanding Reconstruction - the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
- March 2023: Foundations of Modern Environmentalism
- February 2023: Bruno Leoni: Freedom and the Law
- January 2023: Oakeshott’s Moral Vision
- January 2023: The Messiness of Progress: Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and David Hume’s Essays and Histories
- December 2022: Classical Tragedy and the World of Ideas
- December 2022: J.S. Mill “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion"
- November 2022: The Election of 1800: Jefferson v. Adams
- October 2022: Shakespeare’s First Tetralogy
- September 2022: The Evolution of American Federalism
- September 2022: Liberty and Virtue in the Axial Age
- August 2022: Jane Austen’s Persuasion: Aristocracy, Independence, and Economics
- May 2022: THE BILL OF RIGHTS: SELECT CASES IN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
- April 2022: Education in a Free Society
- March 2022: Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Women
- March 2022: Ancient v Modern Liberty
- February 2022: Joseph Schumpeter’s “Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy”
- January 2022: James Madison and the Conflict Between the Executive and Legislative Branches
- November 2021: Pericles' Funeral Oration
- September 2021: Celebrate Constitution Day
- August 2021: Agriculture, the State, and Liberty
- June 2021: Adam Ferguson’s History of Civil Society
- May 2021: The Colonial Origins of the Bill of Rights