Preface v

I Jefferson’s Administration, 1801-1809

The Election and Inauguration 1

Margaret Bayard Smith Describes the Election and Inauguration 2

Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address 4

Burr Kills Hamilton 7

David Hosack Describes Hamilton’s Last Hours 7

Marbury vs. Madison 10

Excerpts from John Marshall’s Decision 10

The Louisiana Purchase 12

Jefferson Writes to Robert Livingston 13

The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Lewis’ Journal 14

The Embargo Act 18

Washington Irving Satirizes the Embargo Act 19

II Madison’s Administration, 1809-1817

Madison’s Inauguration 22

Mrs. Smith’s Report 22

The War of 1812 24

The Constitution Defeats the GuerriÈre: Isaac Hull 25

Commodore Perry Wins a Victory on Lake Erie: Oliver Perry 27

The British Burn Washington: Dolly Madison 28

The British Burn Washington: George Gleig 30

The Battle of New Orleans: George Gleig 32

The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson 35

III James Monroe’s Administration, 1817-1825

Early Days in the Mississippi Valley 37

A Husking Bee in Ohio: William Cooper Howells 38

Religion in Tennessee: Lorenzo Dow 40

Davy Crockett Runs for Office 44

Early Days in Illinois: Morris Birkbeck 47

Ominous Loomings: The Missouri Compromise, 1820 50

Representative Arthur Livermore Argues Against Extending Slavery 50

Senator James Barbour Defends Slavery 52

Representative James Stevens Argues for the Compromise 53

The Monroe Doctrine 54

Excerpts from the Monroe Doctrine 54

IV John Quincy Adams

Lighthouses in the Sky 56

Excerpts from Adams’ First Message to Congress 56

The selections by Margaret Bayard Smith, from Forty Years of Washington Society, edited by Gaillard Hunt, which begin on pages 2 and 22, were reprinted through the courtesy of Charles Scribner’s Sons.

The picture on the cover and the picture on page 1, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, were reprinted through the courtesy of the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company of Boston, Massachusetts. The picture on page 22, of the Constitution and the GuerriÈre, was reprinted through the courtesy of the New York Public Library. The picture of a political speaker on the Fourth of July on page 37 and the picture of John Quincy Adams on page 56 were reprinted through the courtesy of the Library of Congress.