Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the British Challenge to Republican America, 1783–95

Michael Schwarz deftly analyzes early US foreign policy concerns. In addition to his treatment of competing strategists Hamilton, Madison, and Jefferson, he carefully outlines the negotiating position of British envoy George Hammond and lays out the urgent issues that divided the United States and Britain in the period preceding John Jay’s controversial mission to London. This lively study ably chronicles the posturing, predations, and power plays of all those who refused to take their eyes off a host of commercial and territorial claims in the 1790s and beyond. -- Andrew Burstein, Louisiana State University
Michael Schwarz's account of the formidable alliance between Jefferson and Madison and their effort to craft a distinctively American response to British influence at home and abroad is a tour de force. This inveterate Hamiltonian found Schwarz's compelling work to be impressively researched and remarkably even-handed. All those interested in the principles and practices of the men who shaped the early republic should read this exceptional work of scholarship. -- Stephen F. Knott, United States Naval War College