Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation.

By Joseph J. Ellis. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. Pp. [xii], 288. $26.00, ISBN 0-375-40544-5.)

Joseph Ellis introduces his notes at the back of Founding Brothers with the following disclaimer: "The awkward truth is that this book represents a distillation of my reading in the historical literature on the revolutionary era over the past thirty years" (p. 249). However, there's nothing awkward about this book. Rather than pronouncing truth from an ivory tower, the author writes in a breezy, conversational style that invites discussion: "Here are my thoughts," Ellis seems to be saying, "what are yours?" The dominant theme of the book is that current scholarly and political debates about whether the writing of the Constitution fulfilled the promise of the American Revolution or betrayed it represent a continuation of political sparring that goes all the way back to the summer of 1787. Scholars will not be surprised, of course, but Ellis provides an excellent and readable introduction of that debate for general readers, and colleagues will welcome the synthesis of a generation of scholarship, new speculations, and a running commentary on current theory in the notes.

Ellis traces the politics of the half century that followed the Declaration of Independence by examining the relationships and interaction between seven men and one woman--Abigail Adams, John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. The foundation of Ellis's interpretation rests on a basic assumption: "[T]hey all knew one another personally, meaning that they broke bread together [and] sat together at countless meetings.... Politics, even at the highest level in the early republic, remained a face-to-face affair ..." (p. 17). It is Ellis's judgment that some of them would have never come to the fore on the crowded European political stage--their world made them as much as they made their world. The phrase "Founding Brothers" is not intended to ask readers to imagine the romanticized revolutionary band of lore, but rather encourages them to see past the image of wise, patrician fathers making pronouncements from on high, visualizing instead competitive siblings fighting over a valued inheritance.

Ellis uses six episodes he considers to be crucial windows to the past. He begins with the duel between Burr and Hamilton, which led to the latter's death, to discuss themes about honor and character in the "dangerously fluid" political world of the early 1800s (p. 46). Next, a dinner hosted by Jefferson, who wished to sit down and facilitate a discussion between Madison and Hamilton to iron out difficulties in 1790, sets the stage for a discussion of sectional versus national loyalties and different visions of the role elites should play in the nation's future. Ellis then examines the first Quaker petitions calling for the end of slavery and the congressional debate that followed to highlight not conflict between North and South, but rather the role Virginia's statesmen played in relieving tensions between New England and the Deep South. A chapter on Washington's Farewell Address examines the jockeying for position that took place in the first president's administration and makes much of the fact that Hamilton and other key Federalists had served in the Continental Army while Republicans Jefferson and Madison had not. Ellis concludes with a chapter about the trials and travails of John Adams that led him to sign the Alien and Sedition Acts, and a chapter that explores the retirement correspondence of Ellis's latest biographical subjects--Adams, whom he characterized as the "passionate sage," and Jefferson, the "American sphinx."

Founding Brothers is not without problems. Ellis's reasons for leading off with the Burr-Hamilton duel do not ring true, and by the time readers finish the book, they will probably conclude that Ellis did so in order for his two chapters about Adams and Jefferson to appear sequentially at the end. Also, the author's frankly sympathetic portrayal of Alexander Hamilton in that first chapter seems to be at odds with his portrayal of Hamilton throughout the rest of the book. These are small matters indeed, however, for Founding Brothers is a terrific book and a wonderful read. Ellis challenges readers to really and truly walk a mile in the shoes of these people of the past, rather than simply lionizing them based on the longevity of their ideas--and at a time when debates about impeachment, the electoral college, and the Second Amendment dominate the headlines, nothing could be more timely. I enjoyed it immensely and recommend it without reservation to general readers interested in the earliest manifestations of tension between the longing for liberty and the need to establish a strong nation, to politicians who lead off speeches with "Our Founding Fathers intended ...," and to professors looking for stimulating topics for classroom discussion.

KIM M. GRUENWALD
Kent State University