Very readable story about a neglected period in American history. ( )

H.W. Brands book, "Heirs of the Founders" looks at American history and political leaders , roughly between the years between 1800 through 1850. The United States was a brand new nation, with a brand new democracy and form of self government. The Constitution had been ratified, but many clarifications, interpretations, and rules had yet to be refined. The Founding Fathers and framers of the Constitution had passed on, and Brands looks at the next generation of leaders, and how they dealt with the issues facing the new Country. Much of the focus is on Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, although many other well known individuals, including all the Presidents from John Quincy Adams through John Tyler, receive significant attention.

During this early period of American history, the processes of government were evolving. The Executive Branch, Legislative Branch, and Judicial Branch all had to work out how the Constitution would be interpreted as it applied to them. Disputes arose between each Branch of the Government as well as among the States themselves, especially concerning States Rights vs. a strong Federal Government. There was also considerable disagreement between Northern States and Southern States involving slavery issues, about enacting tariffs without favoring any particular section of the Country, and how slavery should be handled in new States admitted to the Union.

The Country may not have survived those turbulent times without political leaders capable of forging grand compromises among disagreeing parties. John Calhoun and Daniel Webster were especially important spokespersons for finding ways forward. The statesmen and political leaders of this era had to deal with the issues mentioned above, as well as a variety of other issues. The British were interfering with maritime trade and violating U.S. Sovereignty, which led up to the War of 1812. Tariffs were enacted in the early 1800's as a source of revenue and to protect local products, but tariffs helped some areas and hurt others. There were disagreements over the need and desirability of maintaining a National Bank, which became an issue between Congress and the Executive Branch, most specifically President Andrew Jackson. With disputes among the various States, the issue of whether States could secede from the Union became relevant. Also, questions involving what was and was not "unconstitutional", and who made those determinations needed resolution. Determining how new States should be admitted to the Union without altering the relative strength and balance of Southern States and Northern States needed to be determined. Westward expansion was ongoing, and Texas, then a break-away part of Mexico and a newly independent Republic, was petitioning for admission to the Union. Also, President Polk seemed determined to provoke a war with Mexico, and the Treaty ending that conflict brought more territory to the Nation. The Missouri Compromise had temporarily how slavery would be handled with new States, yet continued arguments on the issue raged.

Brand looks at all these issues, and more, giving the reader an enlightening, if not a particularly riveting, review of American history during the first half of the 19th Century. As an audiobook listener, I thought the narrator could have picked up the pace a little. Also, I thought Brand introduced some non-relevant data in parts, and skipped around a little in terms of chronology, but I appreciated his treatment of this portion of American History, often an overlooked period between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Key points I got out of the book were seeing the importance of compromise in finding solutions to political differences; gaining insights into various Court rulings and interpretations of Constitutional issues; and developing a better understanding of the issues leading up to the Civil War. ( )

5727. Heirs of the Founders The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants, by H.W. Brands (read 28 Dec 2020) This is the 8th book by Brands I have read, and as always he has turned out a very readable book with not a boring page therein. I have previously read four biographies of Clay (The Life of Henry Clay, by Glyndon Van Duisen (read 12 July 1969), Henry Clay, Statesman for the Union, by Robert V. Remini (read 30 June 1983), Henry Clay The Essential American, by David S. Heidler (read 5 Feb 2011), and Henry Clay and the War of 1812, by Quentin Scott King (read 8 July 2014), and I read a three-volume biography of Calhoun by Charles M. Wiltse (in June and July 1976), and read four biographies of Webster (volume one of the biography by Claude M. Fuess (read 31 July 1976}, one by Irving H. Bartlett (read 26 Oct 1976), one by Morris G.Baxter (read 7 Oct 1986), and one by Robert V. Remini (read 26 Oct 1998) and I cannot say there was too much new fpr me in this book but it was good to read the well-put-together book which does not rely on secondary sources and often quotes the actual words of the senators (reminding me again of the impressive power of Webster's oratory). Really a good book to read. ( )

A great, must-read history of an overlooked period in American history: the decades leading up the Civil War, as both America's size and its sectional tensions grew steadily. Brands focuses his story on the three giants of the time, who died within a short time of each other: Daniel Webster, the eloquent Massachusetts orator; John Calhoun, the fiery South Carolina slaveholder; and Henry Clay, the Kentucky moderate. (Other giants of the era, half a generation older, also play prominent roles: Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams.) Clay plays the largest role, as indeed he did at the time, as a three-time presidential candidate and the dominant intellectual figure in the Whig Party. Calhoun serves as an antagonist, increasingly championing secession and moving sentiment in the South from a reluctant to a full-throated defense of slavery.

Though the issues are different than the ones we deal with today, and the political system quite different, the more general questions that Clay, Webster and Calhoun wrestled with — when to hold firm and when to compromise, and how to balance particular interests against the common good — remain with us today. Many of the quotes from the speeches that Brands quotes at length in this book remain almost as relevant in the 21st Century as they were in the 19th.

My criticisms as only quibbles: Brands sometimes isn't very clear about dates, leaving the reader struggling to position the debates he's describing in time. Large parts of the book are simply extended quotations, with moderate context, from one observer or another of the events in question — rather than a more rigorous narrative that cuts back and forth between different perspectives (though he does this, too, for some sections). But I still highly recommend this to anyone interested in American history, especially those whose knowledge of events in between the Early Republic and the Civil War is somewhat spotty. I probably know more than most Americans about that period but I still learned a lot (perhaps most notably about Webster's great address in the Webster-Hayne debate, which had long-since ceased to be a staple of public education by the time I was in school).

Excellent and essential. ( )

Great book. He writes about Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John Calhoun, three American leaders who are less well known than they should be. ( )