This is a controversial book that is well worth the read. The author comes at his subject from outside academe, albeit with impeccable credentials. Although he has authored nine books, has served as Director of the National Park Service and Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, and was once a White House correspondent for NBC, his approach remains outside the mainstream of history or journalism. To begin, it is refreshingly place-oriented and rich with detail of physical surroundings and personal relationships involving the nation's founders. The work is less successful in terms of the context of time. Roger Kennedy's study is not presented in strict chronological narrative, because it is a study in "character." Its analytical framework, however, is too value-laden, sometimes obscuring the political and social context of early nineteenth-century America. Kennedy sets up his straw men to praise and destroy, which is an easy feat from the vantage point of twenty-first-century morality.
The book is, nonetheless, intellectually honest (the author admits his biases upfront and in the appendix), provocative, and ultimately instructive. He blasts certain points of historical consensus and bias through the skillful use of both evidence and conjecture. He utilizes firsthand accounts of friends and associates, as well as rascals and enemies, to convey multidimensional impressions of Burr, Hamilton, Jefferson, Washington, and others. There are no flat images here. Kennedy uncovers motivations that drove these men to do great (and not-so-great) things, which is definitely not an easy feat, especially in a prosopographical study that links the lives of its main characters. When the smoke dears, Burr comes away looking quite a bit better than reputation would have it; Hamilton emerges from a mixed review about the same; but Jefferson now looks decidedly worse--not at all the guy you think of smiling on that brand-new, shiny nickel.
Burr and Hamilton were local rivals in New York politics. They had a sometimes close, but complex, relationship. When Hamilton played dirty politics (yet again) to keep Burr from becoming New York's governor, Burr uncharacteristically lost his self-control, called Hamilton out for a duel, and shot him dead in 1804. It is quite possible that Hamilton actually committed suicide, using Burr as the instrument. Afterwards, Burr took to referring to "my friend Hamilton, whom I shot." At any rate, Burr was vilified nationally for his deed, and Hamilton was less-than-deservedly martyred. Burr and Jefferson, on the other hand, were national political rivals.
Unfortunately, by choosing to focus on only a few events, Ellis's book fails in that it lacks somewhat of a scope. The book also focuses on some of the founding brothers in much greater detail than others. While I come away with a wealth of knowledge about both Adams and Jefferson, I have less knowledge of Ben Franklin and Aaron Burr, as Ellis's focus is significantly less on them.
THESIS: Thomas Jefferson was a wealthy plantation owner and politician that would speak out about slavery on a regular basis but would still employ slaves for his own use.
The author's twenty page preface details “The Generation”, which he asserts that despite current trends in scholarship, the real essence of the revolutionary era lies in the thoughts and deeds of this handful of Patriot elites, which had publicly pledged at great peril to their own lives and fortunes their undeniable support for the ideals of our founding documents. America's most famous (or infamous) duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr is the backdrop for first chapter. This might lead one to think Ellis intends to move backward in time through the book, considering it occurred on July 11, 1804, however such is not the case as mentioned. Ellis does manage to present a fairly balanced view of the part played by both participants in the long war of words which finally led to the deadly showdown near Weehawken, New Jersey, providing an accounting of the historical scholarship on this well told chapter of our history.
Edward, Rebecca and Henretta, James and Self, Robert. America A Concise History. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2012.
Before being tried for treason, Burr was the vice president in the first Jefferson Administration and he killed his rival Alexander Hamilton in a duel that ultimately destroyed any chance of Burr continuing in politics. As a result, Burr started to accumulate men and supplies as he led expeditions out West near Spanish territories to start anew and rebuild his name. However, because his intentions were made unclear and one of his co-conspirators, General Wilkinson,
The post-revolutionary war period of the Unites States saw the establishment of the first party system and an enlarging gap in viewpoints between the wealthy and the common man. The contradictory views of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were primarily responsible for the rise of political parties from 1783-1800.
George Washington became President in 1789 and since then has been regarded as America’s “Founding Father”(10). This grand and hero-like status is said to have “began gravitating to Washington six months before the Declaration of Independence, when one Levi Allen addressed him in a letter as ‘our political Father.’”(10). The preservation of Washington’s role as a national hero has been allowed by authors and the media omitting his many flaws as if they had either been forgotten or were no longer important. Yet by excluding these human faults, they have projected an almost god-like hero and inflicted him upon the nation as their Father, somebody whose “life still has the power to inspire anyone”(10).
Ellis Starts off his book with a request to the reader to consider the American Revolution not only as how we see it today, but how it would of looked to the founders, and what actually happened. He introduces you to some of the key figures in the founding of our country and the idea that some of the founders found the successful creation of the United States as inevitable conclusion. Ellis highlights some of the dangers of what the founders did along with the improbability of the “miracle at Philadelphia”. H...
Kennedy, Richard S. http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-00394.html; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000. Access Date: Sun Mar 18 12:31:47 2001 Copgyright © 2000 American Council of Learned Societies. Publish by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
There is has been much speculation as to who murdered President Thomas Jefferson in March of 1809. It is apparent that Aaron Burr had reasons for wanting the President dead. They had become enemies during their race for the presidency and remained on unfriendly terms throughout their time serving together as President and Vice President. When running for re-election, Jefferson dropped Burr from his ticket creating an even wider rift between them. Burr was known for his violent nature, having killed Alexander Hamilton during a duel, which they had entered into as a means of settling a dispute. It is also believed that Burr had intended to overthrow the United States government by carrying out an elaborate scheme involving the creation of a Latin American empire. Jefferson issued a warrant for his arrest after being informed of the plan. Thus adding to Burr's motives for wanting to murder him.
In her address to the city’s Union League Club, Jane Addams, a popular activist, advocates for change in the Government and society as a whole. Addams confronts this discrepancy by juxtaposing her present with George Washington’s time period of the past. She magnifies and stereotypes these differences in order to encourage people to adopt the honor and simple morals of George Washington. Addams primarily targets the audience she is addressing in the city’s Union League Club and possibly seems to only be writing to develop the life of George Washington; however, by comparing the social and political structures of their two time periods, Addams makes her essay applicable to almost any American reading or hearing it.
Krull, Kathleen, and Kathryn Hewitt. Lives of the Presidents: Fame, Shame, and What the Neighbors Thought. San Diego: Harcourt Brace &, 1998. Print
3. Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, Williams, eds., America Past and Present Volume II: since 1865 sixth edition (New York: Longman 2002).
...July 11, 1804, they shot on each other on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. Hamilton was fatally injured so he died the next afternoon (Famous People).
This course will cover 150 years of American history and therefore will be general. Students should have an understanding of the events and players in the major historical events from 1865 to the present. Students will also be required to be able to read historical monographs closely and discern the important information. This critical reading component will not only be useful in history classes, but also aid in their academic success in ...