Analyzing Founding Brothers: A Closer Look at the

Founding Fathers in the Young American Republic

In his Pulitzer-Prize-winning book entitled Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary

Generation (published in 2000), Professor Joseph Ellis incisively provides us with a more in-depth

view, coupled with incisive, thought-provoking, and original historical analysis and commentary, of

the prominent historical events that occurred among the Founding Fathers (Thomas Jefferson,

Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and George Washington) of the new American

republic. Ellis focuses on the conspicuous and secret interactions of these astute intellectuals and

political figures, who played major roles in the early development of the United States of America.

In particular, Ellis gives us a detailed historical account of the events and political intrigue leading

up to the often misunderstood duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton in July 11, 1804,

describes Thomas Jefferson's account of the private dinner party held for James Madison and

Alexander Hamilton in order to fashion out the "Compromise of 1790" (which allowed federal

government to assume all state debts in exchange for placing the national capital in Washington,

D.C.), recounts the tacit agreement by the nation's founders to avoid the issue of the future of

slavery in the states because it was a volatile and divisive subject for the Union, and analyzes the

Farewell Address of President George Washington, including Washington's reasons for refusing the

third term and his hopes and views on the future of the United States.

In the first chapter entitled “The Duel,” Ellis describes to the fullest extent the events and

heated political exchanges leading up to the famous duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander

Hamilton. At the time, Burr was the Vice President, and Hamilton was an extreme Federalist. Burr

challenged Hamilton to the duel (which took place on July 11, 1804). Each arrived at the duel site

by separate boats. Hamilton was very positive about the duel, and he believed that he was going to

win. Two shots were fired, and Hamilton was hit on the right side and died.

In his insightful analysis, Ellis refers to the primary sources Pendleton and Van Ness. The

Hamiltonian version involves Burr firing first and hitting Hamilton, which results in Hamilton

inadvertently firing at the trees above Burr. However, both accounts were biased because the

Hamilton side wanted to make Hamilton a martyr, while the Burr side wanted to make Burr

honorable and following the dueling code of honor. Ultimately, the author concludes that most

history books believe the Burr version, but it is most plausible that Hamilton purposely misfired

into the tree above Burr because Hamilton had pledged to waste his first fire. Ellis concludes that

the reason the duel happened was because Burr was frustrated from the fifteen years of Hamilton’s

libelous comments against him, and Hamilton could not refuse due to his ambitious political

mindset and convictions. The author astutely states that Hamilton was afraid that the republican

government would fail to survive the political storms ahead. Therefore, it was justified for

Hamilton to publicly denounce Burr for his political schemes to divide the Union with secessionist

conspiracies. Thus, the author believes that the famous duel between Burr and Hamilton was more

than just a personal altercation between two men, but rather a case of Burr threatening the American

republic, and Hamilton defending this new, fragile government.

In the second chapter entitled "The Dinner," Ellis describes Jefferson's personal account of

the private dinner party during which Madison and Hamilton negotiated a compromise, which

called for the assumption of all state debts by the federal government in exchange for placement of

the national capital at Washington, D.C. (on the Potomac River). This is supplemented with

conversations about the economic conditions of the times. In addition, the author contends that this

compromise was the result of several discussions and that George Washington ultimately named the

national capital after himself, with the central street named Pennsylvania Avenue to ease the

Pennsylvanians (since Pennsylvania was the capital before).

In the third chapter "The Silence," Ellis illustrates the issue of slavery and how this issue

was brought up by petitions to the House of Representatives from two Quaker delegations that

wanted to end the Africa slave trade. The author mentions that the southern states, especially

Georgia and South Carolina, were in favor of slavery, and so they aimed at Congress ignoring the

petitions since the Constitution prevented government action regarding African slave trade until

1808. The northern states had already begun emancipation, and the southern states even threatened

to secede if this matter was not addressed. The result was that the House did nothing, and James

Madison helped to amend the Constitution so that Congress would have no power to interfere with

slavery.

In the fourth chapter "The Farewell," the author focuses on the Farewell Address of George

Washington, explicating Washington's refusal to serve the third term and outlining his hopes and

goals for the future of the American republic. Washington urged for national unity, the danger of

partisanship and party politics, and advocated the foreign policy of neutrality and American

independence from European turmoil. Due to Washington's legacy, presidents can only serve two

terms, with the exception of Franklin Roosevelt who served three full terms and died during the

fourth. The 22nd Amendment was made in 1951 to make the two-term rule formal. The author

concludes by describing that public opinion was saddened by Washington's departure because

Washington was respected as a god-like figure.

One of the strengths of the book is that it has solid primary sources to support the author’s

recounts of famous historical events, and the author makes conclusions which are objective, logical,

and profound. For example, in “The Duel” chapter, the author presents both sides to the story of the

duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, and then makes his own point about what really

happened and logically explains the reasonable motives of the two parties involved. This shows

that the author is being fair and objective, and gives a thought-provoking historical perspective on

the famous duel. One of the weaknesses of the book is that the author makes conclusive statements

which may have more shades of meaning than the author could anticipate.

The author’s method and approach to the historical events is to first describe the events as

they are perceived in the history books (by including extended quotes, as on page 20). Then, the

author provides us with more details of the actual events from the primary witnesses, and gives us

both sides of the story using primary sources from the parties involved. Afterwards, the author

interjects with his own unbiased interpretations and analyses of the events with profound

conclusions. For example, the author logically confirms that Hamilton did not fire first because

Hamilton's gun was still “undischarged and still cocked” because he had not realized that he had

fired his pistols (page 26).

The author's style of writing is replete with clear, direct diction and cogent sentence

structures, which help to support his concise logical analyses and interpretations. The author

seamlessly provides supporting examples by including necessary quotations at the proper locations.

The author asks many incisive questions, and then attempts to answer these with relevant supporting

evidence and analysis. Furthermore, the significance of the events have been mentioned in the

summaries preceding.

From the above summaries and analysis, it is clear that Professor Ellis' Founding Brothers is

extremely provocative and unique because it gives a detailed historical perspective, replete with

insightful and objective analyses of the events and main interactions among the Founding Fathers

involved. The author's recounts of the famous Burr-Hamilton duel, the Madison-Hamilton

Compromise of 1790, the slavery silence, and the Washington farewell illustrate the subtly

tumultuous political climate of the post-Revolutionary War era, in which the young American

republic was struggling to survive. A thorough understanding of the author's analysis and

interpretation ultimately clarifies our understanding of the political intrigue and accounts of what

actually occurred in the generation of the Founding Fathers.