Affairs of Honor; National Politics in the New Republic

In this extraordinary book, Joanne Freeman offers a major reassessment of political culture in the early years of the American republic. By exploring both the public actions & private papers of key figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, & Alexander Hamilton, Freeman reveals an alien & profoundly unstable political world grounded on the code of honor. In the absence of a party system & with few examples to guide America's experiment in republican governance, the rituals & rhetoric of honor provided ground rules for political combat. Gossip, print warfare, & dueling were tools used to jostle for status & form alliances in an otherwise unstructured political realm. These political weapons were all deployed in the tumultuous presidential election of 1800--an event that nearly toppled the new republic. By illuminating this culture of honor, Freeman offers new understandings of some of the most perplexing events of early American history, including the notorious duel between Burr & Hamilton. A major reconsideration of early American politics, Affairs of Honor offers a profoundly human look at the anxieties & political realities of leaders struggling to define themselves & their role in the new nation.

Joanne B. Freeman is assistant professor of history at Yale University