Product Description
In this landmark work of history, the National Book Award—winning author of American Sphinx explores how a group of greatly gifted but deeply flawed individuals–Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Madison–confronted the overwhelming challenges before them to set the course for our nation.
The United States was more a fragile hope than a reality in 1790. During the decade that followed, the Founding Fathers–re-examined here as Founding Brothers–combined the ideals of the Declaration of Independence with the content of the Constitution to create the practical workings of our government. Through an analysis of six fascinating episodes–Hamilton and Burr’s deadly duel, Washington’s precedent-setting Farewell Address, Adams’ administration and political partnership with his wife, the debate about where to place the capital, Franklin’s attempt to force Congress to confront the issue of slavery and Madison’s attempts to block him, and Jefferson and Adams’ famous correspondence–Founding Brothers brings to life the vital issues and personalities from the most important decade in our nation’s history.
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Amazon.com Review
In retrospect, it seems as if the American Revolution was inevitable. But was it? In Founding Brothers, Joseph J. Ellis reveals that many of those truths we hold to be self-evident were actually fiercely contested in the early days of the republic. Ellis focuses on six crucial moments in the life of the new nation, including a secret dinner at which the seat of the nation's capital was determined--in exchange for support of Hamilton's financial plan; Washington's precedent-setting Farewell Address; and the Hamilton and Burr duel. Most interesting, perhaps, is the debate (still dividing scholars today) over the meaning of the Revolution. In a fascinating chapter on the renewed friendship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson at the end of their lives, Ellis points out the fundamental differences between the Republicans, who saw the Revolution as a liberating act and hold the Declaration of Independence most sacred, and the Federalists, who saw the revolution as a step in the building of American nationhood and hold the Constitution most dear. Throughout the text, Ellis explains the personal, face-to-face nature of early American politics--and notes that the members of the revolutionary generation were conscious of the fact that they were establishing precedents on which future generations would rely. In Founding Brothers, Ellis (whose American Sphinx won the National Book Award for nonfiction in 1997) has written an elegant and engaging narrative, sure to become a classic. Highly recommended. --Sunny Delaney
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 great book
This was a birthday present for my hubby who is a history nut. By the 2nd chapter he was hooked. He says great writing, keeps your interest and hasn't been able to put it down.
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 Sibling Rivalry ( fgsajksgh )
It looked a lot prettier in those Gilbert Stuart and John Trumbull paintings. If there's an overall theme to Joseph Ellis's 2000 book "Founding Brothers", it's that the United States was tempered as much by internal conflict as by war with Great Britain.
Ellis's approach deals with the aftermath of the American Revolution, post-Constitution, in six drawn-out narratives exploring various facets of the often-feuding Founding Fathers. He begins with the most famous and deadly of them, when Aaron Burr, then a sitting vice president, killed Alexander Hamilton for expressing disapproval of Burr's character. It was a duel, agreed to by both men, but a strange way for Burr to uphold his honor.
Ellis's treatment feels weak. As a story-teller, he muddies the waters by flipping back and forth in time, losing the suspense of "Interview at Weehawken" by teasing out various pet theories about the reason for the duel. As a historian, he misses some vital, commonly-known points, like Burr's gloating right after the duel and conjecture that Hamilton's pistol shot down a tree branch, which if true could confirm he had no intention of shooting Burr that day.
Ellis's middle chapters take on the question of how Washington, D.C. became the nation's capital; why slavery was allowed to remain in effect for so long; and what Washington was thinking when he either penned, or merely signed, his famous Farewell Address.
All of these chapters are readable, occasionally poignant. You get a sense of Washington as the supreme stoic in his standing behind an unpopular treaty. "Clouds may and doubtless often will in the vicissitudes of events, hover over political concerns, but a steady adherence to these principles will not only dispel but render our prospects brighter by such temporary obscurities," he writes.
But there is a lot of nothing in them, too. The chapter about Washington, D.C., "The Dinner", for all its scene-setting, doesn't establish any such dinner, to talk over locating the Capital and assuming state debts, really took place at all. Ellis presents the slavery question well enough, but struggles with coherent storyline. The idea was the South didn't want to end slavery, and the North didn't want the South to leave the Union. But as with the Dinner, there is some mystery as to the particulars which Ellis doesn't dispel.
The last two chapters of "Founding Brothers" give it life, memorableness, and probably that Pulitzer. It focuses on two Founders, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, in kind of a bookend way to Burr and Hamilton. Jefferson and Adams also had a bitter fallout, but patched things up and corresponded over their last 14 years. Adams is portrayed more positively, which seems to me fitting, but not without his peevish flaws. Jefferson was a hypocrite on slavery and a consummate fabulist about everything, but it was hard to hold that too much against him when one of those inventions was America.
Ellis presents the pair as the yin and yang of early America; Adams earthy and rooted to reality, Jefferson the dreamer. Jefferson had the ability to construct an edifice, Adams the cussedness to look for structural flaws with brilliant argumentation. In the end, you had a sturdy dwelling, but some hard feelings it took the two a while to resolve.
They did resolve it, though, holding out hope for Americans decades and centuries hence that what unites us can overcome what divides us. It's a nice lesson, presented subtly, but feels more tacked on than it should in this somewhat unfocused book.
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Really there was no syllabus to follow!
Joseph Ellis has written another book which is completely different than all his other historical efforts. He has taken a rather different look at America in its infancy.
In this effort, Ellis focus is on a half a dozen political personages. The six people in this study are John Adams, George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
This rather eclectic group helped to form the precedents and the very foundation of our government.
Ellis goes on to explain how each of these people contributed to the formation of our government. He explains the settlement of the issue of the placement of our capital of Washington. It was determined to be an area in Virginia to placate the Southern Republicans. The trade off was the Federal Government assuming all state debts thus strengthening Hamilton's Federalist position as Secretary of the Treasury.
Also noted was the beginnings of party politics which was not done as it is today in doing direct political attacks. In our Country's infancy it was done with pseudonyms in the newspapers to attack opposing ideas.
These attacks became so severe that in John Adams' administration the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed. In reality this was the suppression of the first amendment. One must remember this was before the strong Supreme Court of John Marshall! One must realize, everything was new and untested. The Country was young and was seeking its own direction.
As Ellis recounts all was not easy in the formation of our government. As Michiko Kakutuni explains in her New York Times Book Review Ellis' book is a "lively and illuminating epic, if somewhat arbitrary book that leaves the reader with a visceral sense of a formative era in American life."
I agree with her. This is an excellent read of which you will learn much.
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GLAD I FOUND THESE BROTHERS
I followed McCullough's 1776 and John Adams to Joseph Ellis' remarkable compilation of stories centered around the exploits of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Burr, Hamilton and Madison. The political intrigue, posturing, and backstabbing that takes place in these stories is rendered more fascinating in that it takes place in the shadow of America's newly won independence. The traits displayed in these stories compliment the sheer genius of these men, and leave the reader with multidimensional founding fathers as opposed to the cardboard heroes we were taught to worship in elelmentary school. Washington the land speculator, Burr the murderer, Hamilton the monarch in the making, the two faced Jefferson, and the honorable Adams. This history is simply missing from our history books. These stories are incredibly worthwhile and they detail with which they are presented is remarkable. Forget the history buff, this is a must read for everyone. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
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it seemed like a good idea at the time
There is a great tendency to deify the "founding fathers" these days. As if by invoking the phrase "founding fathers", you can gain their approval. Founding Brothers explains very well that the American Revolution didn't happen for us. It happened because the folks who carried it out did it for themselves. Their biggest motivation was the idea that they could get away with it. After that they had to make up the rest as they went along. It was ok: the rewards for succeeding would be the Northwest Territories. It is a good thing this happened before socialism, or it would have been described as socialism by the British and the French Monarchy.
The primary difference between Hamilton and Burr was that Hamilton could balance a check book.
There were also differences between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Thomas Jefferson was good at venerating freedom and Farmers, yet lived as a slave holder and a Planter. Some say he would have freed his slaves if the price of land ever appreciated enough. Land didn't appreciate much, because there was so much new land in the northwest territory and louisiana purchase. John Adams worked for a living and as a yeoman farmer. John Adams could also balance a checkbook.
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