Joseph Ellis Founding Brothers Summary

Joseph John Ellis was born July 18th, 1943. He is a writer, professor, and historian.He has taught at multiple colleges including West Point and Mount Holyoke College. He currently lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. He is married and has three sons. He also has three dogs. He has won a Pulitzer Prize for the book Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. He has written other books as well. He was a captain in the Army. He received his Bachelor’s Degree at the College of William and Mary. He also joined Theta Delta Chi at the College of William and Mary. He earned his Master’s Degree and Ph.D. at Yale. He has appeared in many documentaries. Mr. Ellis states in the acknowledgements that “The entire manuscript was handwritten in ink, not with a quill but with a medium-point rollerball pen” (Ellis x). The book is about several events that occurred to and/or because of the founding brothers. It is also about how they affected and influenced things that happened. I believe the thesis statement is “No event in American history which was so improbable at the time has seemed so inevitable in retrospect as the American Revolution” (Ellis 3). This thesis statement is the first sentence in the preface of Founding Brothers. At the time, it was unexpected for …show more content…
There is the legislative, which contains Congress. Congress is broken into two subgroups called the House of Representatives and the Senate. They pass laws. Next is the executive branch. This branch includes the President. They enforce, execute, and administer laws. The final branch is the judicial. This is the branch that has the Supreme Court and federal courts. They are presented with cases and interpret and apply laws. When needed they decide whether or not something is constitutional. This is called judicial review. The three branches check on each other to make sure that each branch is doing what they are suppose to do. This is called checks and