George Tucker produced only two major historical works in his long and active life: a two-volume biography of Thomas Jefferson (1837) and a four-volume History of the United States (1856-1857). Each was a pioneering work, each was a commercial failure, and each has been largely forgotten, even by professional historians. Tucker's historical writings fell below the best standards of his own day in certain respects and might easily be dismissed according to the standards we pretend to uphold today. But they have enormous value, and some of their merits are unique.

Tucker was born in 1775 in Bermuda, to a family which had early established itself there and in Virginia. He was quite grown up and prepared to assume the business of a lawyer with whom he had been studying, when he determined to seek his fortune in the United States. The year of his migration was 1795, the United States...