I consider myself a great patriot. Every day when I wake up I thank God for America. When I go brush my teeth I do it in the name of America. As I eat breakfast I turn on inspirational all-American artists (like Team America). Throughout the day I always make sure to wear something patriotic: an American flag t-shirt; red, white, and blue shoes, and even an American themed suit at swim practice. At night, I go to bed in my ‘Murica sheets with Captain America’s shield hanging above my bed. I am a great patriot!! Yeah right. No one wakes up saying this. In fact, all of it is entirely made up (except for the Captain America’s shield part). Thus, if it makes so little sense for everything that I do to be purely inspired by patriotism, why do we assume that the founding fathers of America thought this way (class notes)? The traditional picture of our founding fathers usually reflects a group of unfairly treated renegades who assemble a magnificent revolution and break free from the horrors of Great Britain. Patriotism was in their every bone and they would do anything for their country. There is also an element of rags to riches, that these poorly treated people became the great leaders of America (class notes). However, the motives of the founding fathers likely drove deeper than mere patriotism. As Mark Twain once asked, “What is the chief end of man? To get rich. In what way? Dishonestly if we can, honestly if we must” (Brands) This was quoted in the article “Founders Chic” by
Thesis: Although they established America’s independence from England during the Revolutionary War, the Founding Fathers are in actuality another elite class who persuaded the other classes to support them during the war in order to keep control. Thus, like how England had tyranny over the Colonies, the Founding Fathers took over as tyrants to suit their needs.
In the book, “Revolutionary Characters”, Gordon S. Wood is a history professor at Alva O. Way University and Brown University. Wood was nominated for the National Book Award, but also obtaining the Bancroft and John H. Dunning prizes for his 1969 book “The Creation of the American Republic”. In the other hand, he won the Pulitzer Prize and the Emerson Prize in another book called “The Radicalism of the American Revolution”. This book demonstrates the analysis of six individual founders that lead to the United States successes once again. The prominent historical figures of this book are George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and James Madison. The founder I will discuss in the review is Benjamin Franklin because his great imaginary ideas created into reality as an inventor. The unique way I see and know about this book is the more information on wars and different achievements provided by the author and different interesting facts about each founder.
The reality of the American Revolution was that it occurred out of greed and not to strictly obtain independence and freedom from the chains that bind them to England. In 1776, some important people from the English colonies integrated and they discovered that “by creating a nation, a symbol, a legal unity called the United States, they could take over land, profits, and political power from favorites of the British Empire.” Through the process, they would then be able to decrease the amount of possible rebellions as well as make a consensus of popular support to create "a new, privileged leadership." Those important people were the Founding Fathers of the United States and according to Zinn, they were not that different from the elites of England. Like other elites, the Founding Fathers wanted to oppress the lower class for their own personal gains. In order for their plans to be effective, they needed the lower classes to support them
Joseph J. Ellis, the author of “The Founding Brothers,” identifies and give a better vision of what is happening in the American Revolution. Ellis states, “On the inevitability side, it is true there was voices back then urging prospective patriots to regard American Independence as an early manifest destiny” (3). The book introduces the revolutionaries: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin. Ellis focuses on the characteristics, actions, events, and the ideologies differences that affect the American Revolution.
When America’s founding fathers broke away from England, they weren’t the first colonial Englishmen on the American continent, there were plenty of French, Spanish, Dutch and even Russian colonial outposts established before them. What makes the English colonies along the Eastern seaboard story so important, was the fact that 13 colonies joined together to form what is now known as the United States. Furthermore, this 13 colonies New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia risk their lives, fortunes, and sacred honors to start a new nation free from Great Britain’s rule. In the mist of declaring independence from the most powerful nation on earth, America’s founding fathers created a governmental system that was unfamiliar during their era. America’s founding fathers created a government designed to protect civil liberties and encourage independence, a complex yet young and evolving system.
The Founding Brothers tells the tales of the ordinary lives and challenges that the founders or framers of the United States faced. One of the challenges was the common goal to ensure that the nation that the forefathers helped build would stand the test of time. The author, Joseph Ellis, wants the reader to understand better that the founders were more than just men, that were all white and male. Instead, the founders were men that knew the problems that the country was facing after its gaining independence from the British in the American Revolutionary War. They all fought each other tooth and nail over things that they felt were essential for this new republic to survive. Nevertheless, they all met each other to form political compromises that would aid in building the strength and future position of the new republic. These compromises would help settle many disputes that threatened to divide the new nation in half. Even though, they dealt with issues -like slavery, they understood that the entire world was watching and waiting to see what would become of this new government system that.
The Founding Fathers were not selfless and flawless human beings without any imperfections or personal bias. They were actually members of a political elite that were faced with a crumbling country that was suffering from a myriad of internal and external problems. The political environment after the Revolutionary War forced the new nation to either reform its ineffective government and address the critical issues of the time or else face complete destruction. Consequently, the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution, which created a far stronger and resilient political structure that prevented the United States from disbanding. However, this document was not the ultimate form of democracy that brought freedom to the Western world. Instead,
Founding Brothers The Revolutionary Generation , written and narrated by Joseph J. Ellis, is separated into six chapters and a preface. The six chapters are crucial events in American history, mostly the time surrounding the 1787 Constitutional Convention, which are described using many techniques, such as, quotes and dates. While each section contains one point, as a whole they can be understood to work together. The main purpose of Ellis’ writing was to inform readers of the early stages of government and how it was discussed. Founding Brothers focuses on ideals of the early revolutionary generation leaders and how conflicting their political views were. Ellis describes the personalities of Hamilton, Burr, Adams, Washington, Madison, and Jefferson with great awareness and detail. The results of these influential individuals have molded our country, and their acts of integrity will live on past America’s existence.
To achieve the goal of dissecting the personalities of the founding fathers as individuals; not as the god-like stature that they have come to achieve, I have decided to organize this paper to reflect each and every founding father as a unique person. This will humanize their immense stature and allow a deeper level of understanding. I will provide insight on their personal interpretations of their actions as well as my own personal account 1to how I perceive the situation, comparing and contrasting to the multitude of sources I supply. Therefore, the organization of this paper is not chronological but
The Founding Fathers had many reasons why they fought for the independence of the colonies. Most probably think that the taxes were too much or they were constantly at the mercy of the British. But the Founding Fathers had many more opinions over the war and the British. People like George Washington and Ben Franklin, who were known for their opinions and skills, had much that was not as well known about their thoughts over each other and the British Empire. Their opinions and thoughts had a lot of effects on how the country was formed.
In 1776, the American people declared themselves an independent nation. The American people were traumatized by the Revolution and feared a strong central government. This led to their first attempt at a government, the Articles of Confederation, which ultimately failed. After this let down of a government, the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence, which would become the law of the American land. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were two influential individuals, who were originally involved in the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Both were involved in the political side of the Revolutionary war, but when speaking of it, told alternate versions of the war. As they approached the end of their lives, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams dedicated themselves to telling extremely differentiating versions of the Revolutionary War; Jefferson focusing on the glory and Adams focusing on the hardships, while Jefferson’s version is the only one recorded in the textbooks students use today.
In the Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis, we come to understand that the United States most important priority was remaining united even if the government was a bit shaky at times. In the book the amazing individuals who founded our government include George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Madison. The gifted leaders in our founding nation’s government went through many challenges but in the end our most valued component is remaining united. And throughout the book I’ve come to understand that this was our founding fathers goal.
Jacques Godbout is a Quebecois historian, author, and filmmaker as well as the great-nephew of Adelard Godbout. He sets out to create a documentary to explore the work of his great-uncle who was once the Premier of Quebec, who has somehow been lost in the history books. This documentary is titled “Patriot or Traitor”, because Jacques openly provides the information on his great-uncle that allows the viewer to ultimately make the decision on how we wish to view this great Canadian. With slight bias, Jacques realizes his fascination with Adelard’s politics may be caused because his childhood was influenced by him, since he and his family were framed as
The Founding Fathers were strong advocates of republican values, particularly Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, George Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton,[11] which required men to put civic duty ahead of their personal desires. Men had a civic duty to be prepared and willing to