Heirs of the Founders: Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants - Paperback

by H. W. Brands (Author)

From the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, bestselling historian, and author of Our First Civil War comes "a historical spellbinder" (The Christian Science Monitor) about a trio of political giants in nineteenth-century America--and their battle to complete the unfinished work of the Founding Fathers and decide the future of our democracy.

In the early 1800s, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a moment when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire to their farms. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a champion orator known for his eloquence, spoke for the North and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky, as dashing as he was ambitious, embodied the hopes of the rising West. South Carolina's John Calhoun, with piercing eyes and an even more piercing intellect, defended the South and slavery.

Author Biography

H. W. BRANDS holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin. He has written more than a dozen biographies and histories, two of which, The First American and Traitor to His Class, were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. His most recent book, The General vs. the President, was a New York Times bestseller.