Joseph J. Ellis' Founding Brothers : The Revoluntary Generation

Out of the six chapters, I prefer to write about Chapter One and Two: The Duel and The Dinner. This book was very intriguing and helped in the understanding of the post-revolutionary America and the lives of the founding brothers and what they went through.

The founding fathers, or as the book calls them the founding brothers, are an assorted group of men from wildly different backgrounds. In political terms, they were divided. Yet, they came to together to help shape this country into the place it is today. Now on their journey towards the making of this country they did encounter some trouble. They encountered heated debates among themselves though for getting through these debates they show just why they deserve to be called, founding brothers.

However, the dinner was originally planned hoping to put at ease some disagreements between Madison and Hamilton. Hamilton had a plan, he believed, could solve all financial issues in the US government; but, Madison had a plan as well that more and more people were turning to. This was causing tension between the two men, and Jefferson stepped in hoping to resolve the issue by hosting a dinner in his home on Maiden Lane in New York City. During this time, a “dinner deal” (The Compromise of 1790) was created. In order for both parties’ terms to be met, Jefferson convinced Madison not to persuade his party members in non-favor to vote for Hamilton’s financial plan; and, in return Hamilton would find a place for the capitol on the Potomac River which was mostly in the southern states (Madison’s realm). Later however, after the assumption bill and residence bill had been passed, Jefferson wrote to Monroe how that dinner had been one of the biggest mistakes in his politician career. While Jefferson was just beginning to realize his misfortunate mistake, Madison was basking in his newfound accomplishments. He was the “father of the constitution”, he co-wrote the Federalist Papers, became senator, and passed the bill of rights. It was a good relationship for a while until Hamilton proposed a different financial plan that no one

The chapters are titled "The Generation", "The Duel", "The Dinner", "The Silence", "The Farewell", "The Collaborators" and "The Friendship". In "The Duel", the story of the legendary duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr is related in its entirety. It was by far the most prominent deadly standoff between two men in history. Ellis relates the background and brief biographies of the two men involved in the duel. He also reveals the context for the duel, a culmination of political and personal jabs at Burrs character by Hamilton. In fact these jabs held a good deal of truth, and finally resulted in Burr challenging Hamilton. Both Hamilton and Burr went to the plains in Weehawken to conduct the duel in defense of their honor and characters. Historically, Hamilton is seen as a martyr in the duel and Burr seen as a treacherous murderer. This Hamiltonian viewpoint is dominant among historians because it is widely believed that Hamilton went into the duel not intending to fire a shot and that Burr fired the first shot. Ellis believes this version of the story to be wrong. He believes that Hamilton honored his bargain of not firing on Burr, wasting his first shot by firing it into the trees. Burr, thinking that Hamilton fired at him, shot and killed Hamilton with his shot.

The Quartet by Joseph Ellis was a novel to provide detail of the years following the American Revolution, and how the Quartet of George Washington, James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton each provided a quality in guiding America toward the right direction. Ellis creates a theme almost as if the reader is on a tour guide, because he explains the perspective on how America was being created between the “Second Revolution” of the years 1783-1789. But, the main goal Ellis wanted to make clear was this time period was the process of how America became a Nation. After finishing the book, Ellis was effective in making the case that the Quartet of Washington, Jay, Hamilton, Madison, as well as other major influences, greatly affected the “transition from confederation to nation.” Each Quartet presented a value in help transitioning America into a Nation, and Ellis provides excellent examples to solidify that claim.

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.

On July 11, 1804, a bullet from Aaron Burr’s pistol put an end to the life of Alexander Hamilton. However, it did not put an end to Hamilton’s vision for America. In 1806, a twenty-nine year old Kentuckian entered the U.S Senate and breathed life into Hamilton’s vision. His name was Henry Clay. For the next forty years, the man whom Abraham Lincoln called “My beau-ideal of a statesman” to natiously strove to implement a federal economic policy that closely followed

Chapter one, The Duel, is an important chapter in the Founding Brothers.Chapter one is about the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, who was the vice president to Thoman Jefferson. It took place in New Jersey in July of 1804. During the duel, Alexander Hamilton was shot and died the next day while Burr was only wounded. In the book while talking about Hamilton, it says, “He also carried a military title, thus outranking Burr with his honorary designation as “General Hamilton.” During this time period, many men who became presidents had a military background and Hamilton’s was better than Burr and he was the vice president. This is important because Alexander Hamilton could have became president or vice president and that could have changed the

At the start of the first chapter the author describes the famous deul between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. These men were rivals long before their meeting on July 11, 1804. Hamilton and Burr had met each other before the revolutionary war but did not agree on how to govern the new nation. Burr was a Republican and Hamilton a Federalist. They still remained friends though until Burr shifted his allegiance to a candidate that Hamilton supported in order to secure himself the position of Attorney General. Also Burr defeated Hamilton's relative in a race for a senate seat in 1791. In their duel Hamilton was mortally wounded while Burr escaped unharmed. It is fate that after Burrs death he had the flee politics because he was looked at as murderer. It is said that Hamilton did not intend to hit Burr even though he insinuated the duel. Hamilton freed up the Federalist Party to make more decisions in government after his death to

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, a non-fictional history book written by Joseph Ellis, discusses these individuals and how thy were able to overcome obstacles that they had faced in their lives, and how each of their characteristics had taken a great role in the making of each decision, even if at the cost of one’s own

In 1800 Thomas Jefferson (The Republican's first choice for president) and Aaron Burr (The Republican's first choice for vice president) took office in Washington, D.C. (The nation’s current capital). During his first term, he scaled down the army to cut the national debt. His plan succeeded in cutting the United States’s national debt by large amounts. Although the plan worked, there were still some pros and cons that the United States had to deal with.

Founding Brothers, by Joseph Ellis is one of the most intriguing and inspiring books to read. This book helps inform others of American politics, while also giving readers a new perspective on the unforeseeable forces that shaped history. In this book joseph Ellis uses six brief descriptions of events to show readers the contemplation and acts of our revolutionary leaders.

1 Joseph J. Ellis, “The Duel,” in Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, (New York, NY:

During America’s infancy, due to the people’s fear of going back into a type of monarch, many issues regarding government arose. The issues were related to foreign affairs, slaver, taxation, the acquisition of new territories and political parties within the government. Throughout this essay, I will analyze the issues and events discussed in Founding Brothers; The Revolutionary Generations by Joseph J. Ellis and determine their effectiveness and importance in America.

The Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis is about the time after the revolutionary war and the people who tried to figure out the future of the early United States. Ellis talks about Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, George Washington, and Aaron Burr. He goes into detail about six different events that these men were apart of, their relationships with each other, that effected the new nation. The first chapter is about the fatal Duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr and what he thinks happened, the second chapter is about Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison’s secret dinner about Hamilton’s proposal for the U.S to take the states debt, the third chapter is about Benjamin Franklin petitioning to end slavery, the fourth chapter is about George Washington announcing his retirement from his presidency and his final advice to his country, the fifth chapter is about John Adams as Washington’s successor and attempting a scheme to pass the presidency down to his son, the sixth and final paragraph is about John Adams and Thomas Jefferson putting aside their differences and rekindling their friendship.