The book Founding Fathers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis demonstrated or portrayed the overview of the early American years to the post-revolutionary era. To emphasize, the book Founding Fathers mainly focuses on the main or background perspective of our true founding fathers. To add, the author Joseph J. Ellis does a great job pointing out the information that was never read or anyone knew about. The author shows the problems that our founding fathers faced and the way they are portrayed in our modern texts or readings. So, America was among one of the successful countries during the late 1700s.
America had the power to overthrow a government. In that case, America was successful in the revolution because it withholds the power to overthrow the strong, powerful British government from its authority. Since the America had patriotic Americans and France with them. Therefore, America was a symbolization of victory that was strong as a mother country. In other words, America was also successful in the revolution since they were fighting home and the British were away from home. To add, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr have always been in a battle against each other.
In other words, they were two people with different personalities. Their battle or duel was due to political differences and complex disagreements. Hamilton was a federalist, yet, burr was in the favor of the democraticrepublic government. The battle began when “In 1791 Burr defeated Philip Schuyler, Hamilton’s wealthy father-in-law, in the race for the United States senate, when several rival factions within the clannish, even quasi-feudal, politics of New York united to unseat the incumbent, who was generally perceived as a Hamilton supporter” (Ellis 40). Hamilton started to hate Burr more when Jefferson/Burr’s election took place.
After a lengthy campaign, “The election was thrown into the House of Representatives because of the quirk in the electoral collegesubsequently corrected by the Twelfth Amendment which gave Burr and Jefferson the same number of votes without specifying which candidate headed the ticket”(Ellis 41). Since Hamilton wasn’t on the sides of any candidates, he went completely against Burr. Therefore, in order to take Burr out of the race, “Hamilton lobbied his Federalist colleagues in the House to support Jefferson over Burr for the presidency, a decision that probably had a decisive effect on the eventual outcome.
Eventually, Burr lost and both of the men were hating each other. In other words, they were full of hatred among each other. To emphasize, angry letters and the use of abusive, bad words led Burr to begin a challenge with Hamilton. Eventually, heavy political differences and opinions on them led to the one of the most known duels in the American history. Yet, at this time of the era, duel or a battle was considered morally right or acceptable. Yet, many people did regret or raised their voices over what happened.
However, only grieved or mourned over the life of a great federalist. As a result, the consequence or the punish for Hamilton was simply death. However, Burr was convicted or pled guilty of murder for his actions. Unfortunately, Burr’s political career was over and ended for the rest of his life. To emphasize, slavery has been a major part of the American history. Especially, slavery has been a special part of the early American history. In addition to that, slavery has also been one of the most debatable or arguable events of the American history.
Well, the Quakers have been groups that have always been against slavery and wanted to ban it. They portrayed or viewed slavery negatively. Therefore, Quakers did all they could and “On February 11, 1790, two Quaker delegations, one from New York and the other from Philadelphia, presented petitions to the House calling for the federal government to put an immediate end to the African slave trade” (Ellis 81). Well, the congress was surprised or was in shock of the petition while the south was against it to its fullest point.
The congress prohibited any argument slave trade until the year 1808; therefore, the petition went fading. As a result, one of the positive leaders that came up as a result of the slavery was Benjamin Franklin. He opposed slavery. Therefore, he signed a petition that was written to end slavery or he wanted to fight to end slavery. Well, the House of Representatives didn’t feel that they should ignore the petition of one of the reflective or inspiring leaders of the new country. So, Franklin’s petition said that slavery was not right and immoral.
Also, the congress needs to take proper action in order to prevent it (slavery). On the other hand, James Jackson was not against slavery. Instead, James Jackson advocated slavery and used biblical references to support what he said. He said that slavery was the (heart) or the main part of the southern economy and abolishing or taking it away will negatively affect America. Well, the decision was out of congress’s hands and starting a civil war was the only way or solution to solve this problem.
George Washington, as you know, was the first president of the U. S. Therefore, he was very well respected. As Charles Newton once said, there is always a reaction to an equal or less action. The same saying went for our first commander in chief. Well, one a literary critic said, Washington had committed himself to that cause, and in so doing, he had become the beneficiary of its political imperatives, effectively being cast in the role of a “republican king” who embodied national authority more potently and more visibly than any collective body like congress could possibly convey” (Ellis 127).
To add, there was one other critic or theory of President Washington. Eventually, after the Whiskey rebellion, President George Washington sent a militia or military to make things clear. After this commanding action, Jefferson criticized or placed remarks on President Washington as a totalitarian. Yet, there was another inspiring critic of President Washington was Benjamin Franklin Bache replied, “We have given him the powers and prerogatives of a king” (Ellis 126). Meanwhile, President Washington never received any criticism throughout his profession or career.
However, at the end of his career or era, the critics grew spontaneously. To emphasize, there have always been rivals or disputes between the two parties. Well, one of the biggest disputes in the U. S history can be classified amongst Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Well, as Washington’s cabinet started to begin, Jefferson joined the popularity. As a result, Addams started to get jealous of Jefferson’s quick rise in fame (once used to be friends). Even though, Adams as the vice president, yet, he was not as popular as in comparison to Jefferson.
Therefore, these (political) differences caused them to depart or not get along wi vith each other. Eventually, they joined different parties: Federalists and the Democratic- Republicans. Nevertheless, when Adams won the election by three votes, the rival or the completion between them grew stronger. Well, after a few years, lefferson won the election and Adams retired from his position. Unfortunately, the fight didn’t end until Adam died. Well, Adams thought that he will overpower or out strong Jefferson, but he turned out to be wrong.
His last words were “Thomas Jefferson survives”, meaning that Jefferson had won. Well, this was an end to their fight and it is said to be one of the saddest parts of the American history because the two friends died fighting or competing with each other. To conclude, the book “Founding Fathers” demonstrated all of the founding fathers with the events from their life. In addition to that, the book went in depth with deeper information. To add, these men were not only the ones who just signed the constitution. These men have accomplished more than an average politician does.
They are the people who revolutionized and defined the America. To emphasize, they were the ones who laid the background or the bricks of the modern political system or America’s government. Basically, each and every step they took was to make America a better place to live. These men were friends and not only politicians who met to do official work like the signing. In fact, they were even friends to the ones whom opposed their ideas or were their enemies. In the end, they strived to death to make America a better place for all.
