Author
The author, Joseph John Ellis was born in 1943 and is currently professor at the Mount Holyoke College of History on the Ford Foundation. He wrote the Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation in 2000 and received the Pulitzer Prize in History in 2001 for it. He received his PhD and MA degrees from Yale University and his BA degree from the College of William and Mary. He has also won the National Book Award in 1997 for his American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. With the Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, Ellis has successfully secured his status as the greatest historian alive of the Revolutionary period. 1
Style
Joseph John Ellis, who is one of the noted scholars of the Revolutionary Age and is aware of the misconceptions that have been attatched to the era, wrote Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. He has first hand classroom experience in the subject and has also mastered the academic materials helping the readers balance the long-term and short-term perceptions of history. This is important when covering the age where the leaders were conscious that they were creating history. The story is mainly placed in the former American colonies of Britain. Most of the action has been set in the 2 early capitals of Philadelphia and New York, but spreads over to George Washington’s Mount Vernon, estate of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello and many more places. The style of the book is very graceful, compelling, lively, illuminating and intellectual and it highlights crucial moments of our history in an unforgettable and vivid fashion.2
Scope
In the Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation Ellis broadens the scope achieved with his previous work, American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. Here instead of exploring only one of America’s founders, he writes about the core group of people, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, involved in not just inventing the United States of America, but even determined the constitutional views to be followed by the country, which remains fundamental even today.3
Sources
During the mid 1770s the leaders of 13 British colonies spread over the North American Atlantic Coast surprisingly were able to break loose from the Imperial control. During 1780-90 they somewhat struggled in transforming the small nation states into viable unions and thus, survive in the hostile era. They took the example of France and realized that a revolution only meant more bloodshed and also the infliction of a new type of totalitarianism. Some viewed The Constitutional Convention of 1787 as a compromise thus, abandoning the Spirit of ’76, while others thought that it was a necessary and natural evolution. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson who were close friends characterize the two positions, even sacrificing their friendship for promoting their views. Although the Founding Fathers, called the Founder Brothers here, did not agree with each other’s viewpoints and even became political enemies, but they were always unified by their primary goal that America as a Republic should always stay together.
Thesis
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation examines the important controversies and events that occurred during the struggle of the early republics for their survival. Important moments of American history has been discussed in the book like the impact and causes of the clash between Hamilton and Burr, the development of arguments between the supporters of state rights and their opponents for forming a firm central administration, the failure of the Congress to deal with slavery, Madison, Jefferson and Hamilton’s secret dinner, how Abigail Adams influenced the Revolutionary politics, Washington’s Farewell Address, the complex friendship of Adams and Jefferson and the formation of Constitution. Ellis provides his readers with the gripping fears and assumptions that inspired America when it first encountered with organized interests and ideologies, now known as parties.
According to Ellis the 1790s were the most crucial decade of America’s history when the best statesmen of that generation together defined a new republic and set its course for the coming generations. He argues that the balances and checks, which allowed the survival of the new American republic, were not completely institutional or constitutional or even legal but were extremely personal and were embedded in the interactions of the leaders having different values and visions. In one of the chapters, Ellis debates over the actual meaning of Revolution. He also discusses about the fundamental differences among the various Republicans and Federalists when he writes about the renewed friendship of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. He says that while the former viewed the Revolution to be an act of liberation and considered the Declaration of Independence above all, the latter viewed the Revolution to be a mere step for building the American state and held the Constitution to be sacred. This is all evident from the approach of the author, “The most succinct version of the story might go like this: On the morning of July 11, 1804, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton were rowed across the Hudson River in separate boats to a secluded spot near Weehawken, New Jersey”. 4
Ellis relates the different moments of history though the subconscious views of the participants and also through historic records. Sketches made from the various letters of the politicians appear to be like biographies that help to provide a better understanding of the era. The book gives us a taste of raw history of that era and also the practices of the late 18th century governance and society along with a glance of the values and personalities of the Founding Fathers as exposed by their relationship among each other. Ellis tells us that in 1790 American Republic was a mere fragile hope rather than reality. But it was the Founding Fathers who fused the message in the Constitution with the principles of Declaration of Independence to establish a proper working government.5
Bias or influence
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation has been greatly influenced by the various incidents that took place in the Post-Revolutionary Age bringing it alive. Ellis was greatly influenced by the Founding Fathers of the American Republic and through an engaging and lively account tells us the collaborative, cunning and aggressive interactions among these men. Throughout the book Ellis has explained the personal nature of the seven early American politicians revealing their private personas behind their public image.6
Quotes
The following is an excerpt from the Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation that manifest the nature of the action oriented movies of the writer for the text.
“Two shots had rung out and Hamilton had just been hit.” 7
“So, there you have it: Hamilton safely buried and assuming legendary proportions as a martyr; Burr slipping out of town, eventually headed toward bizarre adventures in the American West, but already consigned to political oblivion. This seems the most appropriate closing scene in our attempted recovery of ‘The Duel’ as a famous and eminently visual story.” 8
Works Cited
Carey, Brycchan; Teaching & Learning Guide for: Slavery and Romanticism; Literature Compass; 4, 6, 1683-1687; Kingston University, London, 2007
Christopher, Anthony J; Race in the Commonwealth; Population, Space and Place; 11, 2, 103-118; Department of Geography, University of Port Elizabeth, 2005
Ellis, Joseph J; Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation; Vintage (2002)
Footnotes
- Carey, Brycchan; Teaching & Learning Guide for: Slavery and Romanticism; Literature Compass; 4, 6, 1683-1687; Kingston University, London, 2007
- Christopher, Anthony J; Race in the Commonwealth; Population, Space and Place; 11, 2, 103-118; Department of Geography, University of Port Elizabeth, 2005
- Carey, Brycchan; Teaching & Learning Guide for: Slavery and Romanticism; Literature Compass; 4, 6, 1683-1687; Kingston University, London, 2007
- Ellis, Joseph J; Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation; Vintage (2002) pp 1
- Christopher, Anthony J; Race in the Commonwealth; Population, Space and Place; 11, 2, 103-118; Department of Geography, University of Port Elizabeth, 2005
- Carey, Brycchan; Teaching & Learning Guide for: Slavery and Romanticism; Literature Compass; 4, 6, 1683-1687; Kingston University, London, 2007
- Ellis, Joseph J; Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation; Vintage (2002) pp 25
- Ellis, Joseph J; Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation; Vintage (2002) pp 26