Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis (2000)
More popularly known as our Founding Fathers, historian Joseph J. Ellis shows us in Founding Brothers that these great men, being of the same generation, were more closely revered by each other as brothers. Their common ties were based on republican principles, and those common ties were strong enough to bond those brothers together through a revolution with the most powerful nation on Earth.
After the American Revolution the founding generation continued their fight to argue for the best course for the new nation. The author writes- “They created the American republic, then held it together throughout the volatile and vulnerable early years by sustaining their presence until national habits and customs took place.” We’re lucky they did what they did. The author rightly calls them “the greatest generation of political talent in American history.”
Each chapter is its own story in itself. The stories are presented in chronological order with the exception of the first chapter, called The Duel, which details the circumstances of the final showdown between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. The author explains his choice of moving this one to the front-
“In addition to being a fascinating tale designed to catch your attention, it introduces themes that reverberate throughout all the stories that follow by serving as the exception that proves the rule. Here is the only occasion within the revolutionary generation when political differences ended in violence and death rather than in ongoing argument.”
Chapter 2 is about the famous dinner where Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Hamilton made a deal to pass Hamilton’s financial plan in exchange for the permanent home of the young nation’s capital to be the proposed site on the Potomac River. The author calls this “the most meaningful dinner party in American history.”
Then comes The Silence. On Virginia, the author writes, “the political leadership of the Old Dominion relished its role as the chief spokesman for ‘the principles of ’76,’ which place slavery under a permanent shadow and seemed to align Virginia against the Deep South.” But the author goes on to contend that “Virginia’s true position was less principled than it looked,” concluding that “Virginia, in short, talked northern but thought southern.”
In the next two chapters we say goodbye to George Washington and then read why among the Founding generation “the [John] Adams-Jefferson tandem stood out as the greatest collaboration of them all.” But by the end of four miserable years as president, Adams was out and “the Jefferson-Madison collaboration was the politics of the future.”
If Adams’ sharp decent brings the reader down, then don’t worry because the mood changes sharply as the author ends the book very pleasantly with a chapter titled The Friendship, on the post-public life relationship between Adams and Jefferson. Together, the Sage of Braintree and the Architect of Liberty forged the greatest correspondence between two great thinkers the world has ever seen.
This is one of my favorite books. A must read.
