American History

It was the time when Americans struggled to win independence. It was the time of the creation of a new republican government. It was also the time set in Joseph J. Ellis masterpiece, Founding Brothers The Revolutionary Generation.

Joseph J. Ellis was born in 1943, a son of a secret service officer. After graduating from the College of William and Mary, he took his M.A. and Ph.D from Yale University.  He joined the United States Army and taught in West Point until 1972.

Due to the career choice of his father, Ellis spent a lot of time in Washington, D.C. It was said that while walking in the streets of the city, Ellis older brother pointed at manhole covers. His father told him, Thats what we have to watch, which means to look under the surface, beneath what you already see (Arana, Joseph J. Ellis). In the environment Ellis was raised, he learned to look at presidents in a unique way.

It is interesting to note that Joseph J. Ellis intended to pursue a career in law. However, lack of funds led him to study history under a scholarship grant in Yale. Being a bit apprehensive that his classmates that were more knowledgeable, Ellis was advised by one professor, Others here may know stuff you dont know. But you can learn it. What you know, they can never learn. Ellis remained (Arana, Joseph J. Ellis).

Today, Joseph J. Ellis had been a professor, dean and even president of Mount Holyoke College. He has written over nine novels. Among which are American Sphinx that received the National Book Award and Founding Brothers, winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize.

Founding Brothers illustrates the American Revolution. But it is not just the American Revolution that we read about in history books that are filled with dry facts. No, Ellis seeks to capture the moments, the people, the circumstances, and each nuance that would make the reader understand why and how American democracy came about. The author does not sugar coat the circumstances nor put the founding fathers on a pedestal. He shows them as individuals that can plot and devise sometimes more for themselves than their country.

Ellis showed the tension in bits and pieces through a series of small stories focusing on the founding fathers George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and John Adams.  In each, the author portrays that everyone was thinking on what the revolution was all about and as to how they can contribute to make it work. For Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Henry and most of the South, the revolution was about liberty. On the other hand, for Hamilton, Washington, the Adamses, a revolution was needed to build a new nation.

The focal points of the novel, Founding Brothers centers into six key moments that exemplify the most crucial issues faced by a new nation the duel between Burr and Hamilton a secret dinner where the permanent seat of the capital was to be determined Washingtons announcement to retire in public office and his last advice to the nation Franklins petition to end slavery, and Madisons efforts to stop it Adams term as president and a renewed communication between Jefferson and Adams at the twilight of their lives where they compared their different views of the Revolution.

To illustrate all these, Ellis made an extensive amount of research. The book is filled with footnotes, using citations from biographies, autobiographies, even a compilation of letters and a mountain of secondary resources that give explanations and insights though the footnotes were found not at the end of the page, but at the end of the book. The research done by Joseph Ellis was such that a history buff would actually find little known facts about the founding fathers like the quality of Hamiltons skin and Adams stature.  What Ellis was trying to point out was for the reader to get to know these great men and women as persons with weaknesses and strengths not just historical figures to know them perhaps as one knows a close friend or a peer, thus, understanding them better and learning from them.
Joseph Ellis is to be commended for the amount of effort he has done in his research, though, sometimes, one cant help but notice that he was a bit biased in some parts. For example, his impression of Jefferson, as a man of very little moral backbone whose success is attributed to his mastery of prose. On the other hand, Adams was shown to be a person that was much misunderstood.

Through his book, Ellis is someone who definitely does not swim with the current.  He provided information that would rebel against accepted facts of history. As cited earlier, the relationship between Jefferson and Adams in comparing both men, it seems that Ellis is determined to tarnish Jefferson while more benevolent towards Adams. Ellis accused Jefferson of romanticizing history while praising Adams who believed that the revolution was a product of randomness and chance. It is not hard to think that two passionate individuals would clash as both had conflicting beliefs. Jefferson supports small business and farming while Adams encouraged big business. The former supported France while the latter Great Britain. Ellis should have presented both sides but his critique figured that Jefferson got the brunt of it.

Nevertheless, I liked the book. Ellis is a brilliant writer. I especially liked the interesting tidbits that he provided about persons and events that would never find its way in a history book. Like for example, the quality of Hamiltons skin. Or a haggard and dejected Hamilton confided to Jefferson over his financial plan.  These small details are what one would remember not the date nor the name of the place, but most importantly, why.

The title itself is interesting. To tell the truth, the historical figures that took part in the revolution are always referred to as the founding fathers that I kind of forgot that they were also like brothers. And that they each had a special relationship with one another that had set the country right.

The only thing I noticed about the book was that it was not for light reading. It requires utmost attention, and for the most part shows the extensive vocabulary of the author.

Nonetheless, Ellis was able to provide a fresh look at history. His critic shows a more thoughtful manner of seeing facts, like for example the version of the duel between Hamilton and Burr was decided in favor of the losing party, and in fact was entered in history, immortalizing Hamilton and putting Burr in political oblivion. For his contribution in literature and history, Ellis definitely deserved the Pulitzer Prize for history.