US History Honors
Founding Brothers Questions
1. The triumph of America is greatly taken for granted by many citizens, and can only be greater understood through a descriptive narrative like Founding Brothers. People of the recent and present times are only familiar with today’s country, unified, developed and successful. It is simply too far back to even comprehend the nation’s past fragility. Joseph Ellis effectively conveys the serendipitous events through anecdotes showing America as a nation that fights back with not only luck but also strength; such as the Benjamin Rush segments. Readers realize that the Americans missed a stifle of the rebellion by the British by a mere hair. Ellis makes American History equally suspenseful, …show more content…
In the duel, for both Burr and Hamilton, everything politically and socially everything was at stake being two figures with a large public presence. The duel was truly about honor, something that back then, was greatly important for a political figure. If public slander was used to ruin another’s reputation, then it would only be acceptable for oneself to deal with it, henceforth calling a duel. Burr’s goal to achieve honor would all be destroyed through Hamilton’s word of mouth. Because he did not revoke his words, Hamilton had paid the price of this life. However, Hamilton did the right thing sticking with his original statement, he stood by the things he said about Burr. Ultimately, the fight between Hamilton and Burr was more about honor rather than the fate of the nation. In the time of the incident the media would exaggerate any verbal attack as opposed to present day in which there are more ways to communicate than through newspaper. The media would play the role of messenger, a position that was highly depended on by the common …show more content…
Founding Brothers focuses on the humans that were imperative in America and imperative in American history. Joseph Ellis provides strong evidence of the courage of the founders and the unlikelihood of this nation. Rather than merely going over a chronology of events, Ellis guides the reader through the process of every single person’s decisions by including their intuitive thoughts and insight, intricately showing the way our Founding Brothers’ mind’s worked. An example is when petitions for slave liberation created ruckus in the political realm. Founding Brothers illustrates James Madison’s perception, the audience reads about James’ reasons for being against emancipation. He feared that the social reaction and costs were far too great a risk. Ellis explains the forward thinking of all the leaders and he continues to explain the mindsets of the “founding brothers” and the reasons why America was so fortuitously