Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation By Joseph J. Ellis

Jordan Culver

History 1301-4027

October 28, 2014

Founding Brothers Review & Response

In the days of the American Revolution, Abigail and John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, John Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington were the key figures in the formation of a new nation. Their friendship, collaboration, and often contradictory ideologies would be the basis for forming the union between states, federal and state governments, national banks, political parties, and the future of the "New World" as a whole. Two conflicting interpretations and ideologies arise during and after the revolution, one is of Thomas Jefferson and his adherent's view that the revolution was a rebellion against the oppressors solely for

Ellis uses his book "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" to relate major American historical events with the founding fathers, and also uses them to consider what the nature of history is. Ellis has two major ways or methods of writing that can be shown throughout his whole book, first he details historical events during and after the American Revolution with one or more of the founding fathers present. He uses this method to show the urgency and anxiety felt by the founding fathers. Although in modern times, it might seem as though the American Revolution was a predetermined set of events, they were not, the founding fathers were never quite sure this great experiment of theirs would succeed. This way of writing causes the audience to temporarily forget about the many great things to happen to The United States and shows them a glimpse of what they felt during the period; that any day could be their last, no success was guaranteed, and the creation of The United States of America was constantly open for risk of failure. This allows Ellis' audience to empathize with the truer characteristics of the founding fathers, essentially allowing the readers to relate to them on a more personal

Thomas Jefferson and the other politicians who agreed with his views (Democratic-Republicans), were inclined to believe that the American Revolution was an act of pure rebellion, only unifying with the other colonies for a common goal of independence. Such a view, if strictly followed, would mean there would have been no reason for the colonies to stay unified, and this scenario would have surely been the end of an established powerful nation. Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists on the other hand, tended toward the view of advancing the current American experiment with a few sacrifices that would cause great turmoil amongst the states but ultimately unify them. One of these great sacrifices would be to establish a national bank in which state debt would become a total sum known as a national debt. His view was that unless each state felt indebted and/or dependent toward a federal government, that the union would eventually fall apart, and what made the United States powerful and capable of claiming their own independence would fade away. “Tell them from ME, at MY request, for God’s sake, to cease these conversations and threatening about a separation of the Union. It must hang together as long as it can be made to.” (Alexander Hamilton, 44) The author's main purpose in explaining these views is not to settle the dispute of