Rival Visions: How Jefferson and His Contemporaries Defined the Early American Republic

The emergence of the early American republic as a new nation on the world
stage conjured rival visions in the eyes of leading statesmen at home and attentive observers
abroad. Thomas Jefferson envisioned the newly independent states as a federation of republics
united by common experience, mutual interest, and an adherence to principles of natural rights.
His views on popular government and the American experiment in republicanism, and later the
expansion of its empire of liberty, offered an influential account of the new nation. While
persuasive in crucial respects, his vision of early America did not stand alone as an unrivaled
model.
The contributors to Rival Visions examine how
Jefferson’s contemporaries—including Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Madison, and
Marshall—articulated their visions for the early American republic. Even beyond America, in this
age of successive revolutions and crises, foreign statesmen began to formulate their own
accounts of the new nation, its character, and its future prospects. This volume reveals how
these vigorous debates and competing rival visions defined the early American republic in the
formative epoch after the revolution.