Hamilton and the Election...of 1800

Election season is on the mind - the election of 1800, that is.  The two leading visions for the new nation came to a head and the results marked a shift in American history, as Alexander Hamilton's Federalists went into decline and Thomas Jefferson's Republicans began their rise. How did the United States arrive at this critical juncture? Join scholars Brian Murphy and Joanne Freeman for a look at how we got there, through an exploration of Hamilton's vision and legacy, contributions and critics, and ultimately, rise and fall. The conversation will be moderated by Library's very own Mark Boonshoft. 

Brian Phillips Murphy is the director of the Honors College and an associate professor of history at Rutgers University - Newark. He is the author of Building the Empire State: Political Economy in Early America, winner of the 2016 James Broussard First Book Prize from the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. His 2008 article “‘A Very Convenient Instrument’: The Manhattan Company, Aaron Burr, and the Election of 1800,” won the Richard L. Morton Award from the Omohundro Insitute of Early American History and Culture. Murphy was the guest curator of the Museum of the City of New York’s 2012 “Capital of Capital” exhibition on the history and development of banking and finance in New York City. He is a contributing editor at Talking Points Memo and is a former MSNBC contributor, and was graduated from Haverford College and the University of Virginia. Murphy is currently working on a book about corruption in early America and consulting for the National Park Service to produce a study of the Great Falls in Paterson, N.J. 

Joanne B. Freeman is a Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University, specializing in the politics and political culture of revolutionary and early national America. She is the author of the award-winning Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic and editor of Alexander Hamilton: Writings.  A frequent lecturer on the founding period, Freeman has appeared on PBS, The History Channel, NPR, CNN, and BBC Radio (where she stood in for Hamilton and debated Thomas Jefferson).  Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, and Slate Magazine, as well as many scholarly publications.  A leading consultant for the National Park Service's reconstruction of Alexander Hamilton's home, The Grange, she serves on the board of the National Council for History Education, the Library of America, and the International Center for Jefferson Studies.  She is currently completing her third book, The Field of Blood: Congressional Violence and the Road to Civil War, a study of physical violence in the U.S. Congress from 1830 through 1860, and beginning her fourth book, Hunting for Hamilton, an introduction to the fun and challenges of getting to know Hamilton and his world.

Mark Boonshoft is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and the historian for the Early American Manuscripts Project at The New York Public Library.  A specialist in early American history, he has published on a range of topics, including slavery and the ratification of the Constitution in New York History, religion and the American Revolution in The American Revolution Reborn, and on the early legal profession in the Journal of the Early Republic.  He is currently working on a book about education policy debates in the founding era. In addition to his academic writing, Boonshoft blogs frequently for nypl.org and The Junto: A Group Blog on Early American History.  He was the historical adviser for the Library's current exhibition, Alexander Hamilton: Striver, Statesman, Scoundrel. 

Make sure to visit the Library's exhibition, Alexander Hamilton: Striver, Statesman, Scoundrel, featuring treasures from the collections. 

Program is free, but advance registration is recommended. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance.