I'm re-reading James Truslow Adam's The Epic of America. I used it as a reference for a book I wrote 35 years ago, and when I look at it again today, I'm as amazed by it as I was before. It's really a very long essay, showing how the disperate fragments of our history fit together, like a puzzle.
I am reminded of Thomas Jefferson's dream when I read this book, and since I'm blogging about the War of 1812, nearly ready to discuss the Embargo of 1807 as a precursor to it, I find myself having to go back a bit -- which, at this point in our history, means all the way back -- to Jefferson's philosophy of social contract as opposed to Hamilton's, how and why Jefferson prevailed over the Hamiltonians (Federalist) and how and why this prevailing led to war.
