Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis, Book Review Example

The Founding Fathers of the USA are the group of great people who led the war for independence and who shaped the nation in the early period of its existence, not letting the states fall apart and generating the unification idea of a strong nation-state – these figures are known worldwide due to their extreme importance for the destiny of the US at the dawn of its establishment. However, there is little known about the true value of the union, the genuine war that was unleashed after the country’s independence was gained; there was too much for the Founding Fathers to do before the country would be called the United States in the whole sense of the phrase. The book of Ellis titled Founding Brothers gives an insight into the dramatic and at times desperate struggle of US first leaders for the idea of a unified nation – the author humanizes the key figures if the US history and shows what challenges they came across in the early years of US independence, how they aspired to the nation’s prosperity and what ways they chose to achieve this goal. It is true that consensus could be achieved not always, so the huge discrepancies deriving from difference in viewpoints, characters and policies are highlighted in the work of Ellis, showing the true history of the USA and the origin of the system that governs the country nowadays.

Generally, the book is divided into six chapters, each of them discussing a separate challenge and resistance that marked the beginning of the republic. The author has also included the introductory chapter titled “The Generation” that discusses how grand the period of US creation was and how little people realized this fact when being participants of this epochal event. Ellis evaluates the level of novelty and endeavor undertaken by the Founding Fathers who acted in a truly revolutionary, unprecedented way in creating the country from nothing, from a bunch of separated states. He also ponders over the secret of US success from the angle of the first revolutionary generation that actually did not realize the autonomy of its nation and wanted to return to the monarchy of the British Crown. The first chapter titled “The Duel” is dedicated to the conflict of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton that ended in their duel in which Hamilton was killed. The second chapter, “The Dinner”, reveals the complex political process of founding the US capital and deciding on its location. Chapter three touches upon the issues of slavery, chapter four is dedicated to the farewell address of Washington in which the first US President shares his idea of a strong state with his nation. The fifth chapter describes the complex relationships of John and Abigail Adams during Adams’ Presidential term, while the final chapter tells about correspondence of Adams and Jefferson on the issues of US politics. As one can see, much work has been done by Ellis on summarizing the most important events that shaped the image of the US in its early years, and the forces that kept the state together and helped it develop.

The book offers an alternative insight into what the political life in the USA was: it is very interesting and at the same time surprising to find out what the real relationships between Washington and Jefferson were, what role Hamilton played in the newly-established government and how hard it often was for the Founding Fathers to arrive at a common decision in politically important issues. It is a true surprise to find out that Jefferson was spreading rumors about Washington, and the supreme Founding Father himself was highly reluctant to serve the second term as the US President, threatening to refuse from Presidency even before his inauguration for the first term (Ellis 124). It may seem a discovery for some readers that the farewell address that has become so popular and that marked Washington’s departure from the position of the US President was in fact written by Hamilton who amended the sentimental ideas of Washington considerably to make it the final document that the whole humanity now knows (Ellis 122-123).

The slavery issue is also described in detail as a fight of persuasion and the policy of tremendous scales. It is true that Washington was a fierce opponent of slavery and himself made a vow not to purchase any slaves (Ellis 113); however, it is knows that the anti-slavery movement gained its force long afterwards in the USA and nearly led to its destruction. The hard fight of Washington for his ideals and the idea of a strong, unified country is also described as a humane, hard everyday effort – with the conspiracies of opponents, with the resistance of the nation, with the unwillingness of the government etc. The author marks that it was a serious division within the revolutionary generation that Washington was trying to overcome and to make the nation see itself as a collective unit with a common destiny (Ellis 136, 155). There are many more issues worth considering in the work to acquire a better understanding of what the USA and its government in fact represented at the end of the 18^th century, and how hard they fought for the future.

The book produces a positive impression because of the intriguing details of the political life and struggle in the early years of the United States, the contradictions Founding Fathers had but had to overcome because they indeed became Founding Brothers for the sake of national unity. Any reader may be the target audience of the book because it is very easy to read except several fragments in which detailed historical descriptions are included, making it hard to understand and rather boring. However, US students of history may be fascinated to know so much non-mainstream information about the Founding Fathers and to understand how complicated it was to rule the country and to get to a unified course of action at the dawn of US existence. The book produces a strong impact on the reader because there are hardly many people who know how hard it was in fact to sustain the unity of the USA and to create a strong state in which thankful citizens live nowadays. It is highly recommendable for all people wishing to know more about the US and its early years; more than that, every US citizen has to know at what expense his/her country was built and what could have happened if the things went wrong.

Works Cited

Ellis, J. Joseph. Founding Brothers. Vintage. 2002.