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Tyson Reeder's book evokes early America's rocky beginnings, when foreign interference and political conflict threatened to undermine its aspirations and ideals, even its very existence. Spanning the period from the Revolution to the War of 1812, and focusing particularly on the presidency of James Madison, it reveals a nation adjusting to rancorous partisanship, subjected to the untested and imperfect new tools of governance, and learning to live with the growing power of media.
List of contents
- Introduction: The Spy and the Con Artist
- The Politician
- Partisans
- Sovereigns
- The West
- The Crisis
- Chapter 1: "Guile in the Garden"
- The Theorist
- The Council
- Allies
- Peace
- Congress
- Confederacies
- Chapter 2: "Calamities from Abroad"
- The Journey
- The River
- The Mansion
- The Convention
- The General
- Federalists
- Separatists
- Chapter 3: "The Epoch of Party Formation"
- The Cabinet
- Partners
- Number 7
- Backchannels
- Debt
- Boarders
- Parties
- Chapter 4: "Kindling Parties"
- The Mission
- Vox Populi
- Vox Dei
- Terrorism
- Games
- Chapter 5: "A Vile Underhand Game"
- Marriages
- Fires
- Number 10
- Accusations
- Whispers
- Opponents
- Farewells
- Chapter 6: "Jefferson's Election as President"
- Candidates
- The Election
- The Conspiracy
- The Bribe
- The Pole
- Shade
- Strategy
- Chapter 7: "Embryo of a Tornado"
- Chess
- Storms
- The Inauguration
- The Territory
- The Secretary
- Neighbors
- The Purchase
- The Minority
- Chapter 8: "Corrupting the Citizens"
- The Gulf
- The Proposal
- The Recall
- The Press
- Argent
- Sovereignty
- The Venezuelan
- The People
- Chapter 9: "The Burr Fever"
- Merry
- Yrujo
- Number 13
- Arrests
- Blame
- Prisoners
- The Trial
- Chapter 10: "The Election of Mr. Madison"
- Conflict
- Embargo
- Documents
- The Junto
- The Spy
- The Suit
- Chapter 11: "Murdered By British Intrigue"
- Land
- Prophetstown
- The Treaty
- The Battle
- The Triumvirate
- Chapter 12: "A Serpent, in the Shape of a Spy"
- The Irishman
- The Count
- Trust
- Distrust
- Names
- Eden
- The Message
- Epilogue: The Fall of Washington
- Flames
- Madisons
- Legacy
- Notes
About the author
Tyson Reeder teaches history at Brigham Young University and taught previously at the University of Virginia, where he was an editor of the Papers of James Madison. He is the author of Smugglers, Pirates, and Patriots: Free Trade in the Age of Revolution (2019) and editor of the Routledge History of U.S. Foreign Relations (2021), in addition to numerous articles and book chapters.
Summary
A story of espionage, shadow diplomacy, foreign scheming, and domestic backstabbing in the formative years of the American republic.
Tyson Reeder's book traces early America's rocky beginnings, when foreign interference and political conflict threatened to undermine its aspirations and ideals, even its very existence. Spanning the period from the Revolution to the War of 1812, and focusing particularly on the presidency of James Madison, it reveals a nation adjusting to rancorous partisan politics, aggravated by the untested and imperfect new tools of governance and the growing power of media. Foreign powers, mainly Great Britain and Napoleonic France, exploited these conditions to advance their own agendas, interfering in U.S. elections to promote the outcome they favored. Dissent and disloyalty became dangerously interdigitated, nearly bringing the new republic to the brink of collapse.
No figure was more in the center of it all than James Madison. As a leading delegate at the Constitutional Convention, Republican congressional leader, secretary of state, and president, Madison grappled with foreign meddling for over three decades. At the same time, he emerged as a political leader, feeding the very partisanship that bred foreign intrigues. As chief executive, he presided over the calamitous barrage of accusations and counteraccusations of foreign collusion that culminated in the War of 1812. Madison left a mixed but indelible legacy: as a fierce adversary of foreign interference, a fiery champion of political debate, and a partisan operative who facilitated the former by inflaming the latter.
Forged in partisan conflict, the United States remains vulnerable to forces that test whether the constitutional system Madison was so central in implementing can withstand outside meddling while accommodating partisan conflict. Madison's successes and failures, along with his original vision of the Constitution and party politics, illuminate the ongoing struggle between domestic polarization and foreign interference.
Additional text
Serpent in Eden recounts the volatile political atmosphere in the US between independence and the conclusion of the War of 1812...His research is exhaustive and impeccable, as one might expect given his former role as an editor of the Papers of James Madison. Fortunately, the book is also quite well written. With Madison as the focal point, readers see both his brilliance and his limitations as a leader. Students of the early republic will find this book engaging and enriching.
