Before the ink was dry on the Constitution of the United States, the establishment of a permanent military had become the most divisive issue facing the young republic. Would a standing army be the thin end of dictatorship? Would a navy protect American commerce against the vicious depredations of the Barbary pirates, or would it drain the treasury and provoke hostilities with the great powers? The founders-particularly Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and Adams-debated these questions fiercely and switched sides more than once. How large a navy would suffice? Britain alone had hundreds of powerful warships.

Ian W. Toll has been a Wall Street analyst, a Federal Reserve financial analyst, and a political aide and speechwriter. Six Frigates is his first book.