BOOK REVIEW: Serpent in Eden: Foreign Meddling and Partisan Politics in James Madison’s America by Tyson Reeder (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2024) $35.00 cloth, $23.99 Kindle.
Tyson Reeder, James Madison historian and history professor at the University of Virginia, explores the role of foreign empires/confederacies in his excellent book, Serpent in Eden: Foreign Meddling and Partisan Politics in James Madison’s America. The title is perfect: whereas America’s open enemies are known for what they are, the hidden enemies slither duplicitously through the Garden of Eden like the biblical serpent of the Old Testament. The young United States, already a weak union of states after the American Revolution, was preyed upon by Great Britain, France, Spain and indigenous nations, each one hoping that the new country would fall apart. It is a wonder that the United States did not die in its infancy, for “Party strife and foreign meddling left American political institutions in crisis and the republic teetering on the brink of disaster.” (page 9)
The Introduction, “The Spy and the Con Artist,” briefly describes the embarrassing situation that President Madison found himself in when, in 1811, he paid fifty thousand dollars to British spy John Henry for access to letters that Henry claimed would embarrass Federalists. The content of the letters was useless, but Madison and Secretary of State James Monroe scrambled to justify the huge payment. Foreign issues had torn apart George Washington’s cabinet. Factionalism, once a situation that a naïve Madison had promised would not happen in a republic, created a two-party system and ignored Washington’s advice in his Farewell Address to steer clear of foreign entanglements. Things between the two parties had gotten so bad by Madison’s presidency that underhanded tactics were used to injure the other party. The John Henry scandal was discussed in greater detail in the final chapter, “A Serpent, in the Shape of a Spy.”
The first two chapters, “Guile in the Garden” and “Calamities from Abroad,” focus on the immediate foreign dangers to American sovereignty just after the Revolution. Native American nations that had allied themselves with the British were still a major threat, and Spain, which was somewhat of an ally during the war, controlled the Mississippi River and the city of New Orleans. The Cherokees and Shawnees were debating who would be their new allies, while Spanish agents pushed for a separate western confederation that would stop British influence in Spanish Louisiana. In the third chapter, “The Epoch of Party Formation,” the French representative at Washington’s first inauguration, Count de Moustier, saw the dire situation of the new nation: it would need France to pull the strings of the new government, for if it did not, then Britain and Spain surely would. Factions were forming over who to consider the better “partner”: France or Britain. Secretary of State Jefferson advocated for France and Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton wanted a better relationship with the former mother country. The French Revolution and the decapitation of the French king changed the situation drastically. The fourth chapter, “Kindling Parties,” saw the entrance of Edmond-Charles Genet on the stage, and his that machinations led to violent anti-Washington demonstrations.
In chapter 5, “A Vile Underhanded Game,” Reeder explains how British agents tried to undermine Edmund Randolph in order to facilitate the passage of the wildly unpopular Jay Treaty. The close relationship that Federalists sought with Great Britain led French agents to meddle in the presidential election of 1796. John Adams won, much to the chagrin of the French. As president, Adams led the nation through what is known as the Quasi-War. Most Americans clamored for a larger war with France because of the XYZ Affair, but Adams was able to use diplomacy to keep the peace (giving up his political future as a result). Vice-President Jefferson continued to undermine Adams by secretly negotiating with France, even using the Polish war hero Tadeusz Kosciuszko. By the seventh chapter, “Embryo of a Tornado,” Napoleon was the emperor of France, bringing order to the nation (as Federalists claimed). Napoleon’s hopes for establishing an empire in North America would have been a disaster for the United States, but luckily instead he sold the Louisiana Territory to President Jefferson.
In the last four chapters, Reeder continues to show how prevalent the interference of foreign nations into American affairs was. Aaron Burr’s machinations in the West involved Great Britain and Spain, leading to Burr’s trial for treason. By the time Madison became president, British ships were attacking American ships. In Chapter 11, “Murdered by British Intrigue,” two new characters enter the story because of the British-Indian alliance: Tenskwatawe the Shawnee Prophet and his brother Tecumseh. The epilogue ends the book with the burning of the city of Washington during the War of 1812.
Serpent in Eden: Foreign Meddling and Partisan Politics in James Madison’s America is a tense narrative, making the reader wonder how the United States got through it all. Why Americans don’t speak French or sing “God Save the King” is a wonder because at so many points in the nation’s early history, foreign states almost took full advantage of America’s weaknesses. There are multiple familiar characters all throughout. One recurring theme was the use of newspapers by foreign agents. The inclusion of several political cartoons that were published in these papers was a master stroke, showing how the situations were viewed by Americans of both political factions. Once again, this is an excellent contribution to early American history scholarship.
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One thought on “Serpent in Eden: Foreign Meddling and Partisan Politics in James Madison’s America”
The assertion in the first paragraph that Indigenous nations preyed upon the United States is ahistorical giving readers the wrong narrative. In the second decade of the eighteenth century, Native nations allied with European powers to prevent further setter westward expansion but were not existential threats to coastal regions or the United States. Americans preying upon Indians in their effort to acquire new lands and resources is more accurate.