Yet they inherited the single greatest problem in American history that had been left unanswered by the Constitutional Convention: what to do about slavery, an institution thought to be critical to the survival of the Union.īrands fleshes out three flawed giants, each driven by ambition, each hoping to snare the presidency (all three fell short). Many of these men had little or no knowledge of what it was like to be a British subject. In many ways, Heirs of the Founders is a portrait not only of the men at the center of American politics during the early 19th century, but of the republic itself.īy 1812, the time of their political ascendancy, the Revolutionary War generation was quickly leaving the scene, and the “new American” was taking the reins. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, collectively referred to as the American Triumvirate. Brands has given us a peek into that room by chronicling the voices that resonated there in pre-Civil War America, specifically those of Henry Clay, John C. Fortunately for us, historian and biographer H.W. If walls could talk, its tales would be profound and legion. To this reviewer, one of the most sacred spaces in Washington, DC, is the Old Senate Chamber in the U.S.
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