The book Founding Brothers: History of Revolution
The American Revolution seemed improbable to happen, but it seemed like it needed to happen. The Revolutionary leaders spoke to the people with extreme confidence because they knew they would leave behind a legacy. At the time the leaders had no idea if their experiment would work out but they felt as if it was important to try. The last decade of the 18th century was an important part of American history. The book Founding Brothers take you on a journey with the eight head leaders: John Adams, Abigail Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.
The idea of American independence started back as an early version of manifest destiny. The people believed that an island could simply not be ruled by a continent. The founding brothers wanted to grow America and rule themselves. From what we have learned now if the British have taken the Americans more seriously from the beginning of the revolution the Americans would not have stood a chance. The founding brothers were constantly looking ahead at what the nation could become instead of being content with the way they were.
On the morning of July 11, 1804, Aaron Burr and Alexander had a duel. They exchanged pistol shots at ten paces. Hamilton was struck on his right side and died the following day. Burr’s reputation suffered an equal wound. In the most famous duel in American History, both participants were casualties.
Thomas Jefferson’s side of the story follows a plot that shows the natural way that history happens. In mid-June in 1970 Jefferson encountered Hamilton. Hamilton was not his usual confident self. While they were in the street Hamilton told Jefferson about his financial plan to recover public credit. Hamilton later submitted his plan to Congress in January.
Just a few months before Jefferson staged his historic dinner party, something happened with the Congress of the United States that nobody expected. Most of the political leaders considered it an embarrassing intrusion. On February 11, 1790, two Quakers delegations presented petitions to the House for calling to end the African slave trade. The Quakers were highly questionable patriots at the time. The House knew this could change the United States forever.
During the first half of the 1790s, George Washington was a legend in his own time. Washington was described as the father of the country. Benjamin Franklin even acknowledged Washington’s supremacy. Washington threatened his retirement multiple times. Washington then released his farewell address on September 19, 1796, which gave John Adams the chance to become President.
Washington’s status helped the United States avoid constant elections up until 1796. Only the leaders who have stepped forward at a national level would be considered eligible for the election. Jefferson and Adams were the obvious options. They were an odd couple of the American Revolution. It was the Revolution that brought this pair together.
When Adams was retiring he returned home. While Adams was home a storm followed him the next day. He saw the storm as a foreshadowing to trouble following his retirement. Adams's trouble was not stormed following him but that he kept thinking about them and would not let them go. Jefferson decided to restart his friendship with the Adams family after mistaking the tone from a letter that Abigail sent him.
The American Revolution was caused by the British wanting to impose their power over the colonies. The British wanted to be repaid for the defense they gave the colonies during the French and Indian war. The French and Indian war was a war between Great Britain and France known as the seven years’ war. The war began in 1754 and ended in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris.
The founders spoke confidently but their ideas were still developing at the time. But everything the revolution was done without any other national model. No republic has ever controlled as much territory as the 13 colonies. The colonies saw the amount of landscape they had as limitless potential. America’s long-term potential was no doubt limitless but the internal conflicts made it seem as if the nation would divide.
During the duel between Burr and Hamilton, both men were shot but Hamilton died the following day. Burr’s reputation had an equally fatal death. Aaron Burr left his home in Manhattan at dawn on July 11, 1804, to meet Alexander Hamilton for the duel. Hamilton had a higher military rank than Burr. Hamilton was 49 years old which means he was one year older than Burr. Both men had completely opposite personalities.
Hamilton approached political problems as personal challenges. On the evening of July 10th, Hamilton wrote his will and said he did not want any punishment for Burr. Hamilton saw their argument as purely political and intended to miss his first shot and give Burr a chance to reflect. Dueling was illegal in New York the duel was getting called an interview. Both men used custom-made pistols that belonged to Hamilton’s brother-in-law. Hamilton chose not to use the hair trigger which meant neither participant would hopefully be seriously injured in the duel.
In June 1790, Jefferson ran into Hamilton outside of Washington’s office. Hamilton told Jefferson about the financial plan he had given to congress. Jefferson offered to have a house party were key officials could hash out their views in private. At Jefferson’s dinner party James Madison agreed with Hamilton’s financial plan. On the day the deal was made, Jefferson wrote to James Monroe explaining the need of this compromise. Monroe responded that the deal was terrible. Two years later Jefferson admitted to Washington that the deal was the greatest political mistake of his life.
Ellis begins focusing on James Madison was 39 years old at the time. James Madison was a skilled politician. He greatly contributed to the organization to the Constitutional Convention. He later wrote the Bill of Rights and got it passed through Congress.
In February 1790, two Quakers went to present petitions to the House demanding the end of the African slave trade. Madison advised his colleagues to stay calm and to let the whole matter go away. Franklin's support to end the slave trade showed that Madison was wrong and that the matter was not going to go away. The House spent 6 hours debating the petitions. The Quakers said that the Constitution limited Congress’ ability to abolish the slave trade.
In 1796, America had it first challenged presidential election. It made sense that the next president would need to be somebody you played a crucial role between 1776 and 1789. Adams and Jefferson stood out as the two to lead the election. Jefferson was considered an unofficial member of the Adams family at the time. Jefferson and Adams collaborated multiple times which made them really close. Jefferson and Adams friendship fell out many times. Jefferson’s support for the French Revolution made Adams deem him as dangerous. Adams claimed he wanted to stay out of the Presidential race but that he was tempted. Abigail Adams reassured him that he has earned the role of being President. When the election came closer it was clear that Jefferson had the upper hand over Adams. On December 30th, it was announced that Adams barely beat out Jefferson for President. Adams had to follow in Washington’s shadow during his presidency. Adams seemed doomed from the start of his presidency. Adams was shaken up by the events that happened during his presidency but was glad he got peace with France.
John Adams returned home looking toward having a peaceful life. When Adams returned home the thoughts of what went wrong during his presidency haunted him. Jefferson’s youngest daughter died and Abigail wrote a letter saying sorry. Jefferson misunderstood the letter and took it as a chance to be a part of the family again. Jefferson admitted that his relationship with Adams had its ups and downs.
Personally, I like this book. I like how the book will take you on different journeys and not just give you one perspective. The book does a great job explaining into detail about the events. I feel like after reading this book I got a better understanding of the American Revolution. I learned about the leaders of the American Revolution and their stories about the events causing the revolution.
