A major reassessment of American political culture in the days of Jefferson, Hamilton, and Burr "[A] landmark study of Hamilton and the founders."—Jeff Sharlet, Chronicle of Higher Education "Demands the attention of everyone with a serious interest in the history of American politics."—Pauline Maier, Washington Post In this extraordinary book, Joanne Freeman offers a major reassessment of political culture in the early years of the American republic. By exploring both the public actions and private papers of key figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton, Freeman reveals an alien and profoundly unstable political world grounded on the code of honor. In the absence of a party system and with few examples to guide America’s experiment in republican governance, the rituals and rhetoric of honor provided ground rules for political combat. Gossip, print warfare, and dueling were tools used to jostle for status and form alliances in an otherwise unstructured political realm. These political weapons were all deployed in the tumultuous presidential election of 1800—an event that nearly toppled the new republic. By illuminating this culture of honor, Freeman offers new understandings of some of the most perplexing events of early American history, including the notorious duel between Burr and Hamilton. A major reconsideration of early American politics, Affairs of Honor offers a profoundly human look at the anxieties and political realities of leaders struggling to define themselves and their role in the new nation. "A landmark book."—Pauline Maier, Washington Post Book World ". . . [A] romp through . . . personal notes and public papers . . . both well-researched and well-written . . . lively and idiosyncratic."—Scott Bernard Nelson, Boston Globe ". . . [A] landmark book that demands the attention of everyone with a serious interest in the history of American politics."—Pauline Maier, Washington Post "[A] lively book."—David S. Broder, Washington Post "Admirable and entertaining. . . . Ms. Freeman evaluates the weapons of 'honor defense'—gossip, letters, newspapers and even dueling—and she does so with a vigor befitting the lively political culture of the 1790s."—Bill Kauffman, Wall Street Journal " Affairs of Honor is a romp through the personal notes and public papers of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and others who joined forces against the British monarchy and then fought one another about how to replace it. . . . [It] is both well-researched and well-written, providing a read nearly as lively and idiosyncratic as the Founding Fathers themselves."—Scott Bernard Nelson, Boston Globe "[Freeman’s] explanation of the rules by which elite politicians fought is important. It allows a fuller understanding of contemporary political writings and of events such as the Burr-Hamilton duel, the elections of 1796 and 1800, even the 1798 Sedition Act. . . . Because [the book] lets us see the past as contemporaries saw it and imaginatively understand what they did and why, Affairs of Honor is, indeed, a landmark book that demands the attention of everyone with a serious interest in the history of American politics."—Pauline Maier, Washington Post Book World "A landmark book."—Pauline Maier, Washington Post Book World (Book World Raves-Nonfiction) "Freeman’s prose is lively, and she balances entertaining narrative with sharp analysis. The last few years have seen a spate of books about the founding fathers and the early republic: Freeman’s elegant study of honor and politics in the new nation will easily tower over most of them."— Publishers Weekly (starred review) ". . . .[H]ard-hitting, fast-paced, comprehensively researched . . . one of the most intelligent and innovative studies in early American political culture. . ."—Andrew Burstein, American Scholar "[An] excellent and thought-provoking new study . . . a masterful command of primary sources . . . [that] reaches out to a general audience."—Marc M. Arkin, The New Criterion "[Freeman] has much to teach political theorists . . . historians [and] other[s] with a[n] . . . interest in how to live . . . [An] excellent book."—Harvey Mansfield, Weekly Standard "Sex-tinged scandals, political mudslinging, sectarian division, tabloid exposes: Bill Clinton may have had a bad time, but the Founding Fathers had it worse. . . . To judge by Freeman’s vivid anecdotes and smart analysis, it’s a wonder the republic survived the Founders. Good reading, especially for students of political culture and early American history."— Kirkus Reviews " Affairs of Honor . . . has much to teach political theorists and American historians, as well as other souls with a merely personal interest in how to live. . . . [An] excellent book."—Harvey Mansfield, Weekly Standard "A landmark revision of political history."— Chronicle of Higher Education "[A] landmark study of Hamilton a