Synopses & Reviews
In andlt;Iandgt;The Jefferson Ruleandlt;/Iandgt;, historian David Sehat describes how liberals, conservatives, secessionists, unionists, civil rights leaders, radicals, and libertarians have sought out the Founding Fathers to defend their policies.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Beginning with the debate between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton over the future of the nation, and continuing through the Civil War, the New Deal, the Reagan Revolution, and Obama and the Tea Party, many pols have asked, and#8220;What would the Founders do?and#8221; instead of and#8220;What is the common good today?and#8221; Recently both the Right and the Left have used the Founders to sort through such issues as voting rights, campaign finance, free speech, gun control, taxes, and war and peace. They have used an outdated context to make sense of contemporary concerns.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;This oversimplification obscures our real issues. From Jefferson to this very day we have looked to the eighteenth century to solve our problems, even though the Fathers themselves were a querulous and divided group who rarely agreed. Coming to terms with the past, Sehat suggests, would be the start of a productive debate. And in this account, which is by turns informative, colorful, and witty, he shows us why.
Review
"Please, dear politicians, read David Sehatand#8217;s andlt;Iandgt;The Jefferson Rule andlt;/Iandgt;and stop pretending that everything you sayandlt;Iandgt;, andlt;/Iandgt;believe and propose is exactly what the Founders of our nation would say, believe and propose. The Founders themselves would be amazed and appalled by this. Sehat has written a splendid bookand#8212;important, well-argued, and offered at the right moment. and#8216;Politicians create the Founders in their own imageand#8217;, Sehat writes. They do, and they should stop."
Review
"In this beautifully written and provocative book, David Sehat gives the rhetoric about the Founders a history, spanning from Jefferson to Calhoun to FDR to Reagan to the Tea Party. Sehat convincingly argues that the world of the Founders has long been dead, and that Founders rhetoric dumbs down our political discourse."
Review
"The Foundersand#8217; framework is distorted and devalued, David Sehat shows, when we mistakenly treat Jefferson and his cohort as mirrors for whatever political outlooks we advance today. This book clarifies the difference between the use and the abuse of history."
Review
"David Sehat has found a fresh, meaningful way to write a concise history of American politics. andlt;Iandgt;The Jefferson Ruleandlt;/Iandgt; instructs, enlightens, and entertains."
Review
"A highly amusing and anecdotal narrative about the legacyand#8212;both real and inventedand#8212;of our divided and factious Founding Fathers. David Sehat goes from the tea party to the Tea Party, and offers a coherent recounting of a largely incoherent yet bold and boisterous history. In limpid prose, he examines the ways in which, in every era of US history, the lofty ideals that the Founding Fathers promoted, and the tortuous conflicts they addressed, have been twisted and manipulated by politiciansand#8212;from both sides of the political divideand#8212;for their own purposes. A fun yet profound ride from the colony to today."
Review
"Sehat convincingly argues that the founders were fallible and not succinct in the ways they wanted the nation to be governed. . . . Highly recommended for political junkies, historians, and rhetoricians."
Review
"Sehat ably shows how the exploitation of the founders debases political debate and neglects policy evaluationand#8212;required reading for those desperate for sane, intelligent political arguments."
Review
and#8220;A sobering, informative study of concepts from Americaand#8217;s political origins too often viewed with rose-tinted glasses.and#8221;
Review
"[A] crisply written and incisive account of the uses and abuses of the Founders."
Review
"Sehat writes masterfully of American political history."
Review
and#8220;andlt;iandgt;The Jefferson Ruleandlt;/iandgt; is a fun, challenging, and thoughtful book . . . a page-turner . . . Sehat provides readers an easy to understand, pleasure-to-read discussion of how misinterpreting the intentions, words, ideas and beliefs of the and#8216;founding fathersand#8217; has created countless problems for the United States as it progressed over the past 239 years.and#8221;
Synopsis
In The Jefferson Rule, historian David Sehat describes how everyone from liberals to conservatives, secessionists to unionists have sought out the Founding Fathers to defend their policies.
Beginning with the debate between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton over the future of the nation, and continuing through the Civil War, the New Deal, the Reagan Revolution, and Obama and the Tea Party, many pols have asked, "What would the Founders do?" instead of "What is the common good today?" Recently both the Right and the Left have used the Founders to sort through such issues as voting rights, campaign finance, free speech, gun control, taxes, and war and peace. They have used an outdated context to make sense of contemporary concerns.
This oversimplification obscures our real issues. From Jefferson to this very day we have looked to the eighteenth century to solve our problems, even though the Fathers themselves were a querulous and divided group who rarely agreed. Coming to terms with the past, Sehat suggests, would be the start of a productive debate. And in this account, which is by turns informative, colorful, and witty, he shows us why.
About the Author
David Sehat is Associate Professor of History at Georgia State University. His first book, andlt;iandgt;The Myth of American Religious Freedomandlt;/iandgt;, won the Frederick Jackson Turner Award from the Organization of American Historians. Visit DavidSehat.net.