Joseph J. Ellis - Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

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It is customary to refer to the 'Founding Fathers' when speaking of the men who precipitated, organized and led the breakaway of the American Colonies from Mother England. It seems this period of 'nation building' almost requires the image of virile men fathering a new nation.

In reality Pulitzer Prize-winning author Joseph J. Ellis crafts a much more fitting metaphor when he writes of the Founding Brothers. In truth they were much more brothers than fathers. Hamilton, Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Adams, Madison ...the names resonate through the history of the United States. Franklin was the sagacious older brother, 20 years-plus senior to the others. The remaining all fell within 20-some years of the others in age.

Like brothers, each man had his vision of the future and the place he envisioned the unique American republic holding in this new world. Like brothers, they cooperated against common foes while shuffling their personal allegiances and efforts to best forge each man's vision of America's future.


Many of these stories we all learned in school. How these men worked together to drive the British from the Colonies, forged this new nation, and marched smartly into the future ...cue the fife and drums.

But here in Founding Brothers we move beyond the simple stories of triumph we all learned as youngsters. Instead, we learn of a fragile alliance of states struggling with the competing ideas of state's rights versus the need for a strong central government.

We learn of the divisions that were already swelling between the industrial, 'free' northern states and the rural, 'slave-owning' states of the south.

We learn that these brave men chose to not talk about slavery to avoid a discussion and decision that would have torn asunder the fragile, newborn Union.

We learn of the significance of Washington's decision to not seek a third term as President; how that cemented the idea of the Presidency being a temporary albeit powerful position. We learn of the lessons that Washington tried to instill in the people of his day, and those who would follow down through the ages, by the words of his Farewell Address.

We learn of the bonds between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson that stretched and twisted, that repelled and attracted, but that always led each (eventually) to mutual respect of the other. It seems fitting that they would both die on the same Fourth of July day in 1826.


The Bottom Line
It is important to recognize, as Ellis reminds us, that the founding brothers realized their place in history and the importance of their everyday activities and words. Indeed, early in Founding Brothers he notes that their letters and their speeches were written as much for us as for the citizens of the day. They all seemed to have an innate sense that their words would last through the years, decades, and centuries to follow. Indeed, in that belief they were certainly correct.

Founding Brothers is richly seeded with quotations from the participants, heavily footnoted so the reader might pursue additional resources, and so engaging as the reader is drawn into the lives of these men to whom we as a nation owe all that we are.

This book will make you rue the state of politics we suffer ignobly today. Oh for men of character that might see beyond today and beyond their petty wants and needs and lust for power. While the founding brothers suffered the same faults, they were able to repress them to move toward a common goal. Pray we find such men again ...soon.



This review is an entry to the 2008 version of the 'Lean-n-mean' write-off. I urge you to check it out and challenge yourself to write 'lean-n-mean' when possible.

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