The Pursuit of Liberty

How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America

Jeffrey Rosen

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2025
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781668053768
• Subtopic: Early American History
• Index: History

The bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happiness shows how the opposing constitutional visions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton have defined our country for 250 years, influenced presidents from Washington to Trump, and continue to drive the debate over the power of government today.

In The Pursuit of Liberty, bestselling author and former president of the National Constitution Center Jeffrey Rosen explores the clashing visions of Hamilton and Jefferson about how to balance liberty and power in a debate that continues to define—and divide—our country: Jefferson championed states’ rights and individual liberties, while Hamilton pushed for a strong Federal government and a powerful executive. This ongoing tug-of-war has shaped all the pivotal moments in American history, including Abraham Lincoln’s fight against slavery and southern secession, the expansion of federal power under Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, and Ronald Reagan’s and Donald Trump’s conservative push to shrink the size of the federal government.

Rosen also shows how Hamilton and Jefferson’s disagreement over how to read the Constitution has shaped landmark debates in Congress and the Supreme Court about executive power, from John Marshall’s early battles with Andrew Jackson to the current divisions among the justices on issues from presidential immunity to control over the administrative state.

More than ever, the clash between Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian ideals resonates today in our most urgent national debates over the question of whether modern presidents are consolidating power and subverting the Constitution—the very threat to American democracy that both Hamilton and Jefferson were determined to avoid. The Pursuit of Liberty is a compelling history of the opposing forces that have shaped our country since its founding, and the ongoing struggle to define the balance between liberty and power.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Introduction: “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived Was Julius Caesar”: The Dinner Party That Defined America
• Chapter One: “The Will of the Majority Should Always Prevail”: Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration
• Chapter Two: “The Perfect Balance between Liberty and Power”: Alexander Hamilton’s Constitution
• Chapter Three: 1790–1791: “Necessary and Proper”: Hamilton and Jefferson’s Battle over the Bank
• Chapter Four: 1792–1800: “Nullification Is the Rightful Remedy”: Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison on Sedition and Insurrection
• Chapter Five: 1800–1826: “Let the End Be Legitimate”: President Jefferson, Chief Justice Marshall, and Aaron Burr in Court
• Chapter Six: 1826–1861: “All Honor to Jefferson”: Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Calhoun, Andrew Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln on Union and Secession
• Chapter Seven: 1861–1901: “The Fame of Hamilton Is Waxing”: James Garfield, John Bingham, Joseph Bradley, and John Marshall Harlan on Reconstruction
• Chapter Eight: 1901–1932: “Hamiltonian Means to Achieve Jeffersonian Ends”: Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, Woodrow Wilson, and Calvin Coolidge on the New Nationalism and New Freedom
• Chapter Nine: 1932–1968: “Economic Hamiltonians Have Become Political Jeffersonians”: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Hugo Black, and George Wallace on the New Deal
• Chapter Ten: 1968–2016: “No Longer the Party of Thomas Jefferson”: Ronald Reagan, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Barack Obama on the New Federalism
• Conclusion: 2016–2026: “They Don’t Want Thomas Jefferson Anymore”: Donald Trump, Julius Caesar, and America at 250
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Notes
• Index
• Copyright