“Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800” was written by John Ferling (the author of biographies I’ve already read and reviewed on both George Washington and John Adams).  Though “Adams vs. Jefferson” is is not really a presidential biography, I nevertheless decided to read it as part of this journey, wondering if it might serve as a nice bridge between our second and third presidents (it does), and looking forward to reading something a bit “different”.

History well recalls that the presidential election of 1800 was a contentious affair and led to an early test of our electoral process.  But despite the book’s premise (the title itself suggests a rather sharp focus on the election), neither the campaign nor the election are discussed in earnest until the last one-third of the book.

The majority of the book is spent, instead, laying groundwork and setting the stage…

– Click here for the full review at BestPresidentialBios.com –