Synopses & Reviews
The Amazing True Story of the Election That Saved the ConstitutionIn 1789, James Madison and James Monroe ran against each other for Congressthe only time that two future presidents have contested a congressional seat.
But what was at stake, as author Chris DeRose reveals in Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election That Saved a Nation, was more than personal ambition. This was a race that determined the future of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the very definition of the United States of America.
Friends and political allies for most of their lives, Madison was the Constitutions principal author, Monroe one of its leading opponents. Monroe thought the Constitution gave the federal government too much power and failed to guarantee fundamental rights. Madison believed that without the Constitution, the United States would not survive.
It was the most important congressional race in American history, more important than all but a few presidential elections, and yet it is one that historians have virtually ignored. In Founding Rivals, DeRose, himself a political strategist who has fought campaigns in Madison and Monroes district, relives the campaign, retraces the candidates footsteps, and offers the first insightful, comprehensive history of this high-stakes political battle.
DeRose reveals:
Founding Rivals tells the extraordinary, neglected story of two of Americas most important Founding Fathers. Brought to life by unparalleled research, it is one of the most provocative books of American political history you will read this year.
Review
Praise for Founding RivalsLong before they fought the War of 1812 and planted the seeds of Manifest Destiny, James Madison and James Monroe fought each other over a seat in the First Congress. Their epic campaign—revolving around the size and scope of government, its taxing power, and a nation awash in debt—is America in microcosm. (Its also frighteningly relevant to our twenty-first-century democracy.) It is a fascinating story, told here by a gifted young historian, as promising as his protagonists. Thoroughly researched and gracefully written, Founding Rivals is narrative history of the most readable kind.”
—Richard Norton Smith, author of Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation and founding director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
Compelling narrative throughout. . . . A lively, clear-cut study of the myriad hurdles and uncertainty that characterized the first attempts to form the U.S. government.”
—Kirkus Reviews
An engaging account of the Republics contentious founding.”
—Publishers Weekly
Is there anyone in America who wouldnt want their next congressional election to feature a choice between James Madison and James Monroe? As Chris DeRose shows us in this fascinating new book, one lucky district, Virginias 5th (which happens to be my own), got this lucky pick in 1789. Few single contests have ever been more important for the nations future. Just like today, past elections were high-stakes affairs with enormous consequences. Unlike today, the big issues could once be argued on center stage between friends, in a spirit of unity and harmony.”
—Profess or Larr y J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of A More Perfect Constitution
Synopsis
In 1789, as the United States struggled to establish itself as a unified nation, two friends and future presidents found themselves battling each other in the most important congressional election in American history—an election more critical than most presidential races. Hanging in the balance? The Constitution and the fate of a fledgling nation. In
Founding Rivals author Chris DeRose tells the never-before-told story of the 1789 congressional election in Virginias 5th district and of the two men who fought it: James Madison and James Monroe.
Friends and political allies for most of their lives, Monroe and Madison worked together to defeat the British and create the United States of America. Yet their paths diverged after the Philadelphia Convention when they found themselves at odds with each other and on opposite sides of the battle over the Constitution. Madison and Monroe campaigned aggressively and vigorously against each other for a seat in the House of Representatives—and for a chance to shape our nations future. Pulling back the curtain on the only congressional race in which two future presidents would compete against each other, DeRoses Founding Rivals tells the story of the high-stakes political battle in which the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and even the survival of the United States hung in the balance.
About the Author
Chris DeRose is an attorney and also serves as a political strategist for candidates in state and Federal office. For the past 15 years, he has been involved in campaigns at every level in five different states. DeRose lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
Richard Norton Smith is a nationally recognized authority on the American presidency and a familiar face to C-SPAN viewers, as well as fans of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Best-known as a historian and biographer, Smith is the author of many books, including An Uncommon Man and The Colonel. He also worked for former Senator Bob Dole and has been Director of several presidential libraries. Smith lives in Virginia.