Kevin Gutzman- THE JEFFERSONIANS The Visionary Presidencies of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe

Before the consecutive two-term administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, there  had only been one other trio of its type: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Kevin R. C. Gutzman’s THE JEFFERSONIANS: The Visionary Presidencies of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe  (St. Martin’s Press) is a complete chronicle of the men, known as The Virginia Dynasty, who  served as president from 1801 to 1825 and implemented the foreign policy, domestic, and constitutional agenda of the  radical wing of the American Revolution, setting guideposts for later American liberals to follow. The three close political allies were tightly related: Jefferson and Madison were the closest of friends, and Monroe was  Jefferson’s former law student. Their achievements were many, including the founding of the opposition Republican  Party in the 1790s; the Louisiana Purchase; and the call upon Congress in 1806 to use its constitutional power to ban  slave imports beginning on January 1, 1808. Of course, not everything the Virginia Dynasty undertook was a success: Its chief failure might have been the ineptly  planned and led War of 1812. In general, however, when Monroe rode off into the sunset in 1825, his passing and the  end of The Virginia Dynasty were much lamented. THE JEFFERSONIANS details a time in America when three  Presidents worked toward common goals to strengthen our Republic in a way we rarely see in American politics today.  KEVIN R.C. GUTZMAN is Professor of History at Western Connecticut State University and a faculty member at  LibertyClassroom.com. He has his law degree from the University of Texas Law School and his Ph.D. in American  history from the University of Virginia. His books include Thomas Jefferson - Revolutionary; James Madison and the  Making of America; Virginia’s American Revolution; and, with Thomas Woods, Who Killed the Constitution