Founding Brothers Chapter Summary

Chapter One: The Duel was a well-known duel in American history. Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. July 11, 1804 is the exact date when the duel took place. It was presumed to have taken place in Weehawken, New Jersey; when in actuality, the duel really took place on a ledge above the water near Weehawken. This isolated spot was foolproof for illegal acts like this. Hamilton ends up dying because of Burr. Burr shot him from a distance. The bullet hit a rib and then ricocheted off into his spine mortally wounding Hamilton. Hamilton was the one that chose the position and the weapons for the duel, but the public thought that Burr killed him in cold blood. The public also started to call Burr the new Benedict Arnold. (Benedict Arnold was considered a traitor.) Burr was never harmed in the whole incident. Because everyone thought Burr was the initiator, he had to leave the city and this was the decline of his political power. Both of these men’s reputations were failing by 1804. Hamilton was appointed the first Secretary of Treasury under George Washington after the Revolutionary War. The Federalist Party was in decline and Hamilton did not hold office for approximately ten years. Burr lost the support

There were several issues in which the founding brothers found themselves on opposite sides of an issue. In the case of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, Hamilton had questioned Burr’s qualifications in Burr’s run for

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis is an episodic recount of six pivotal moments in post-revolutionary America’s history. The book follows Abigail Adams, John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington through these events. The author seeks to show not only the outcomes that occurred in them, but to give in detail deeper thought about the thinking and actions that lead to those outcomes.

In the battle between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton was one of the most famous duels in the early 19th century. Both men were very significant political leaders of the United States. The men had clashes throughout the 1790’s which lead to a duel between the two and Alexander Hamilton lost his life.

In the book Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis, the author relates the stories of six crucial historic events that manage to capture the flavor and fervor of the revolutionary generation and its great leaders. While each chapter or story can be read separately and completely understood, they do relate to a broader common theme. One of Ellis' main purposes in writing the book was to illustrate the early stages and tribulations of the American government and its system through his use of well blended stories. The idea that a republican government of this nature was completely unprecedented is emphasized through out the book. Ellis discusses the unique problems that the revolutionary generation experienced as a result of governing under the

3. What was Hamilton’s plan for debt reconciliation? Hamilton suggested funding the debt by selling government bonds, and further proposed that state debts be assumed by the national government. Why was Madison opposed to it? Madison believed that Hamilton's plan "was betraying the ideas of the American Revolution."

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation is a well written narrative about America’s founding fathers and the years that followed the Revolutionary War. Ellis’s book is appealing to anyone who is interested in learning about the roots of our founding brothers. The book is also well written in the aspect of not being long and drawn out into one big story. Instead, Ellis breaks the book down in to six stories that talk about different situations with American historical figures. Ellis uses more than one type of historical writing throughout the six stories. He uses social, economic and political types of history throughout this book.

5. According to Ellis’s explanation, why did Hamilton and Burr duel in the first place?

During the days preceding the duel, General Hamilton attempted to calm tensions and avoid such a tragic confrontation with Colonel Burr. When Burr insisted on a duel to end disagreements, General Hamilton did the most

A meeting, called the Continental Congress, took place where representatives from each state would discuss how they could improve it. Hamilton was one of the three representatives from New York, but he was the only Federalist of the three, which means he was the only one that was in favor of a strong national government. Eventually, the Continental Congress agreed on the Constitution. It would take more work than that though. After the Constitution was agreed upon by the Continental Congress, it had to get ratified by each state, and New York would be one of the hardest to get the Constitution ratified in. Hamilton, knowing that it was going to be hard, took a stand alongside James Madison and John Jay, and the wrote a series of essay entitled The Federalist, defended the new U.S. Constitution. The three of them combined wrote a total of eighty five essays, of which Hamilton himself wrote fifty one. The essays convinced the people of New York City of how important it would be, but upstate farmers were holding out. It wasn’t until New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution and thus make it law, that New York realized that holding out wouldn’t benefit them and accepted the new Constitution, on the condition that there would be a list of amendments that we now call The Bill of

Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. Print.

In Founding Brothers, the three most important chapters that impact America today were The Duel, The Silence, and The Farewell and the least important was The Friendship. The book is about our seven founding brothers and about different events that happened to them in post revolutionary America. It is a nonfiction book that was written to show what they experienced and how they interacted with others.

Whose side would you have been on in the 1790s, Thomas Jefferson’s or Alexander Hamilton’s? Both of these men served under George Washington in the first presidential cabinet, yet they had very different views of what government should be (Davis 86). My objective in this research essay is to inform the reader of why there was so much controversy between these two founding fathers, and to determine which side had the better views for our newly forming country.

The Burr and Hamilton duel is a major part in american history. It was a moment in history were two foes battled out their anger in each other. Though many historians wonder if Hamilton able to avoid this duel. Many people would agree that this is one thing that would not turn into a big deal if it was avoided. Today many history classes are debating “was the consequences of the the Burr vs. Hamilton duel inevitable?”