This volume contains correspondence and public papers of John Jay, the first chief-justice of the United States serving from 1789 to 1795, former member and president of the second Continental Congress, Minister to Spain from 1779 to 1782, member of the commission to negotiate treaty of independence, envoy to Great Britain and second governor of New York from 1795 to 1801.

Thomas Jefferson advocated a republic of small farmers--free and independent yeomen. And yet as president he presided over a massive expansion of the slaveholding plantation system, particularly with the Louisiana Purchase, squeezing the yeomanry to the fringes and to less desirable farmland. Now Roger G. Kennedy conducts an eye-opening examination of the gap between Jefferson's stated aspirations and what actually happened. Kennedy reveals how the Louisiana Purchase had a major impact on land use and the growth of slavery. He examines the great financial interests (such as the powerful land companies that speculated in new territories and the British textile interests) that beat down slavery's many opponents in the South itself (Native Americans, African Americans, Appalachian farmers, and conscientious opponents of slavery). He describes how slaveholders' cash crops--first tobacco, then cotton--sickened the soil and how the planters moved from one desolated tract to the next. Soon the dominant culture of the entire region--from Maryland to Florida, from Carolina to Texas--was that of owners and slaves producing staple crops for international markets. The earth itself was impoverished, in many places beyond redemption. None of this, Kennedy argues, was inevitable. He focuses on the character, ideas, and ambitions of Thomas Jefferson to show how he and other Southerners struggled with the moral dilemmas presented by the presence of Indian farmers on land they coveted, by the enslavement of their workforce, by the betrayal of their stated hopes, and by the manifest damage being done to the earth itself. Jefferson emerges as a tragic figure in a tragic period. Mr. Jefferson's Lost Cause was a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2003.

From noted historian Bruce Chadwick—acclaimed as "a writer incapable of dull storytelling"—Triumvirate is the dramatic story of the uniting of a nation and the unlikely alliance at the heart of it all. When the smoke cleared from Revolutionary War battlefields, independent-minded Americans turned against each other. Strong individuals with wildly different personalities, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay joined forces to convince wary Americans and thirteen headstrong states to unite as one. Together they wrote the startlingly original Federalist Papers not as an exercise in governmental philosophy, but instead aimed at overcoming the common man's fears. Their relentless efforts laid the groundwork for ratifying the Constitution against rampant opposition. United by an intense love for their emerging nation, Hamilton, Madison, and Jay forged its legacy in pen and ink. "Dr. Chadwick tells an exciting story. His analysis will provoke further debate about this momentous period in American history." Dr. Paul Clemens, the Chairman of the Rutgers University Department of History PRAISE FOR TRIUMVIRATE "The author effectively details the fi erce debates in Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York and the serpentine political machinations that helped bring about the birth of a nation…Not just a history lesson, but an examination of the fundamental ideas that gave birth to the United States." Kirkus Reviews "Chadwick tells an exciting story…His analysis will provoke further debate about this momentous period in American history." Dr. Paul Clemens, Rutgers University "If you think you know how America's founding document came about, think again. In this remarkable new book, Bruce Chadwick reminds us of the three extraordinary men who worked state by state, individual by individual, to ensure passage of the Constitution. It's a fascinating tale, well told." Terry Golway, author of Washington's General and Ronald Reagan's America PRAISE FOR BRUCE CHADWICK "A writer incapable of dull storytelling." Kirkus Reviews "Chadwick vividly brings to life a time of turmoil and hope in a book that should endure as a fi ne example of historical journalism." Willard Sterne Randall, author of George Washington: A Life

Profiles the personal qualities, political achievements, and life ambitions of Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson.