Dinner at Mr. Jefferson's: Three Men, Five Great Wines, and the Evening That Changed America

by Charles A. Cerami

Overview

The Constitution was two years old and the United States was in serious danger. Bitter political rivalry between former allies and two surging issues that inflamed the nation led to grim talk of breaking up the union. Then a single great evening achieved compromises that led to America's great expansion. This book celebrates Thomas Jefferson and his two guests, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, and the meal that saved the republic. In Dinner at Mr. Jefferson's, you'll discover the little-known story behind this pivotal evening in American history, complete with wine lists, recipes, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470083062
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	02/01/2008
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.51(w) x 9.43(h) x 0.98(d)

About the Author

Charles A. Cerami is the author of several popular histories, including the New York Times extended bestseller Jefferson's Great Gamble, Young Patriots, Benjamin Banneker, and ten other books. He was formerly the foreign affairs editor at the Kiplinger Washington Editors, where he oversaw international subjects for the company's half-dozen weekly publications as well as for Changing Times. His articles have been published in the Atlantic Monthly, Playboy, the New York Times, and Foreign Policy.

Read an Excerpt

Click to read or download

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

1 Before the Clash.

2 An Old Friend’s Bombshell.

3 The Mounting Anger.

4 The Radical Conservative.

5 Aggressive Lobbying.

6 Thoughts of Breaking Up.

7 Jefferson’s Awakening.

8 A Country without a Capital.

9 Doubters and Believers.

10 Nearing a Decision on the Capital.

11 That Day on the Street.

12 Dinner at Secretary Jefferson’s.

13 The Philadelphia Story.

14 Doubts Settled, Doubts Revived.

15 Hamilton the Unstoppable?

16 Before the Fall.

17 From Brilliance to Disaster.

18 The Disappearing Cabinet.

19 One Heart and One Mind.

20 The Jefferson Factor.

Appendix A: Recipes from Monticello’s Kitchen.

Appendix B: Alexander Hamilton’s Letter to New Coast Guard Officers.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Cerami wittily recounts the evening in rich detail, embracing the culinary details as well as the larger story of President Washington's quarrelsome cabinet, the evolution of the dual party system, and Jefferson's emergence as a persuasive national leader."" (Library Journal, February 1, 2008)

It was 1790, and Thomas Jefferson and one of his dinner guests, James Madison, were determined to work out a political compromise critical to the nation’s future with their third dinner companion (and political opponent), Alexander Hamilton. This gathering around Jefferson’s celebrated table involved nothing less than the creation of the young nation’s finances, foreign relations and the eventual location of its capital. The dinner’s results? An agreement that, Congress willing, the new government would assume the states’ war debts, issue bonds to fund the national debt and make the Potomac’s banks the capital’s permanent site. Congress agreed. Cerami (Jefferson’s Great Gamble) presents a fast-paced narrative of an event well-known but never told so brightly—nor at such unnecessary length. While Cerami puts the dinner-table agreement at his story’s center, it was but one of a number of seismic events, acts and decisions of the 1790s. Cerami slights many of those when he’s not giving us too much detail about other minor ones, such as Jefferson’s cooking recipes and a short disquisition (and a long document) on Hamilton’s role in the Coast Guard’s founding. Compression would have made this inherently fascinating story pack the punch it should. (Feb.) (Publishers Weekly, October 22, 2007)

From the Publisher

In the wake of the American Revolution, the United States, collectively and individually, had acquired a sizable debt to numerous foreign governments. Questions of how to deal with the debt, as well as foreign policy and the location of the national government, led to a dispute between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison on one side and Alexander Hamilton on the other. To resolve these differences, Jefferson arranged a dinner between the three, during which they worked out solutions. William Dufris narrates this detailed historical work with ease. With his expressive and clear delivery, he sounds more like a storyteller recalling an intricate story than someone who is reading a text. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

OCT/NOV 08 - AudioFile