Founding Brothers
In this landmark work of history, the National Book Award--winning author of American Sphinx explores how a group of greatly gifted but deeply flawed individuals--Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Madison--confronted the overwhelming challenges before them to set the course for our nation.The United States was more a fragile hope than a reality in 1790. During the decade that followed, the Founding Fathers--re-examined here as Founding Brothers--combined the ideals of the Declaration of Independence with the content of the Constitution to create the practical workings of our government. Through an analysis of six fascinating episodes--Hamilton and Burr's deadly duel, Washington's precedent-setting Farewell Address, Adams' administration and political partnership with his wife, the debate about where to place the capital, Franklin's attempt to force Congress to confront the issue of slavery and Madison's attempts to block him, and Jefferson and Adams' famous correspondence--Founding Brothers brings to life the vital issues and personalities from the most important decade in our nation's history.From the Trade Paperback edition.
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What Hacker News says
- His Excellency, by Joseph J. Ellis, is very good. I strongly recommend it. Founding Brothers, by Ellis, is also very good (and short).
David McCullough has several tremendous US history books, including John Adams, 1776, The Wright Brothers, The Path Between the Seas.
- We can potentially say that in hindsight but politicians at the time could not come to that conclusion. After 80+ years the US was still the only major democracy and it was teetering. Unionist politicians, embodied by Lincoln, were afraid that letting the US fall apart would deal a blow to democracy everywhere. Lincoln so eloquently voices this concern in the Gettysburg Address.
Historian Joseph Ellis said (I think in his book "Founding Brothers") that we now take democracy as the inevitable conclusion of liberalizing politics but that formed only after the US Civil War.
(This also doesn't address the moral horror of allowing slavery to continue for who knows how many years in the Confederacy.)
- Joseph J. Ellis, in his book "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation", makes the case that it wasn't till the 1810s and 1820s that Americans began to argue about the origins of the country, and increasingly settle upon July 4th, 1776, as the starting point of the country.
It's an unusual decision, because most countries base their holidays around when the first battles occur. The French celebrate Bastille Day, which is July 14th. But in the USA there are no celebrations on April 19th, which is a bit surprising. The heroism shown at the battles of Lexington and Concord are forgotten, whereas a bunch of men signing a document is raised to the level of something epic. And it is said that the USA began in 1776, instead of 1775. If the French followed such reasoning, they would say that the French Revolution began on September 20th, 1792, because of the Battle of Valmy.
To suggest that the USA begins on July 4th of 1776 represents a victory for Thomas Jefferson, and for the factions associated with him. The key thing is that Jefferson's factions were very popular during the 1810s and 1820s, when Americans were making up their minds about how they should understand the origin of the country.
https://www.amazon.com/Founding-Brothers-Revolutionary-Josep...
