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An ironic examination of the founding years of our country. Historian Ellis guides us through the decisive issues of the nation's founding, and illuminates the emerging philosophies, shifting alliances, and personal and political foibles of our now iconic leaders. He explains how the idea of a strong federal government, championed by Washington, was eventually embraced by the American people, the majority of whom had to be won over. And he details the emergence of the two-party system--then a political novelty--which today stands as the founders' most enduring legacy. But Ellis is equally incisive about their failures, making clear how their inability to abolish slavery and to reach a just settlement with the Native Americans has played an equally important role in shaping our national character. Ellis strips the mythic veneer of the revolutionary generation to reveal men possessed of both brilliance and blindness.--From publisher description.… (more)
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From the start the Founders
What was created was a triumph of human imagination; it was also a monumental failure. The founders failed to dissolve slavery. They failed to come to a fair and equable deal with the Native Americans. They failed to grant the rights they so cherished to their wives and daughters. It was left to future generations of men and women to solve the inadequacies and inequalities of the Founders. We would fight a bloody civil war to wash our nation of the terrible stain of human bondage. Only to cause the suffering a segment of our own people nearly a century of Jim Crow before they achieved legal equality. Native American tribes would be devastated and their lives turned upside down, we still haven't accounted for those ills. Women would have to fight for their rights and liberties. Labor unrest and a bias towards immigrants are nothing new to us. Our past is full of the kind of ugliness that most would like to overlook and its clear our work to achieve that elusive goal of a more prefect union still isn't done. In the face of all our problems for the republic to continue to last for as long as it has, is a testament to the genius of conversation started in the late 1790s. I can't recommend Joesph Ellis' [the American Creation] enough.
For example, the discussion of the
Ellis's treatment of the first diplomatic treaty negotiations with Alexander McGillivray leader of the Creek Indian nation provides a very interesting account of a little known episode in our early history
In summary, Ellis's premise that the failings of this creation period to adequately address slavery and the future of American Indians (east of the Mississippi) set the stage for the future failures of government is very compellingly presented.
While I found the book interesting, I didn't find it very compelling—I didn't yearn to keep reading it. Maybe it's because I'm burned out a bit on the subject matter. The writing is very good and rich with irony, but at times I thought it meandered just a bit.
Ellis asserts that the founding generation was very successful in at least five respects, but woefully inadequate in at least two. First the good news: the Founders (1) waged the first successful war for colonial independence in the modern era; (2) established the first nation-sized republic; (3) created a wholly secular state, with genuine freedom of religion; (4) rejected Aristotle’s concept that sovereignty had to reside in a single place; and (5) created political parties as institutionalized channels for ongoing debate. The bad news was that they failed miserably (1) in handling Native Americans and (2) in dealing with the institution of slavery.
Rather than tackling the entire founding era (which Ellis defines as 1775-1803), Ellis describes only a few distinct and seminal “events,” almost like short stories, to illustrate themes that run through the entire period. In a chapter entitled “The Year,” we see how the revolution was more of an evolution, in which the nature of the opposition changed from a group of King George’s loyal subjects who just didn’t want to be taxed, to a group of increasingly audacious statesmen who desired complete independence. In another chapter, Ellis explores how Washington perforce changed strategy from direct military confrontation to modified guerrilla warfare, using America’s extensive space to avoid pitched battles where possible and to wear down his British adversaries.
Ellis does an impressive job of analyzing the debate about the adoption of the Constitution and the abandonment of the Articles of Confederation. The struggle lay in determining the relative power of the new federal government vis-à-vis the states. Ellis describes the resolution of the issue as “The Great Compromise,” which “essentially declared the theoretical question of state versus federal sovereignty politically unresolvable except by a split-the-difference structure that neither camp found satisfactory. The only workable solution was to leave the sovereignty question unclear.”
With victory over the British came the thorny problem of how to deal with the many Native Americans who lived between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River. Despite the somewhat good intentions of George Washington and John Adams, the government was never able to adopt a satisfactory strategy or negotiate an equitable treaty with the various tribes. Instead, the inexorable pressures of a rapidly increasing white population and desire for cheap western land resulted in the driving of the tribes from their historic homes and the near extinction of them as a people.
Ellis’s treatment of the Louisiana Purchase is particularly well wrought. Napoleon Bonaparte was frustrated in his efforts to prevent Haiti from winning its independence from France. Moreover, his troops both in Haiti and on the mainland were being decimated by yellow fever and malaria. Napoleon's disgust with the whole enterprise presented the young American government with an opportunity to double the size of its realm at a very low price. In fact, the purchase could be financed entirely with the sale of land in the new territory to eager American buyers. The problem for then President Thomas Jefferson was that the Constitution did not specifically authorize the president (or anyone else) to take such dramatic measures. Jefferson had based his entire political career on limiting the power of the federal government. In the event, Jefferson ignored his Republican scruples because he just could not pass up the opportunity to increase the size of the republic. Ellis says, “…there was no getting around the blatant fact that it was a violation of his political creed, in effect a sin.” But, as Ellis added, “…without the capacity to enlarge presidential power toward monarchial levels of authority, it is difficult to understand how republican government could effectively respond to any genuine crisis.”
While there were numerous positive results of the Louisiana Purchase, it sealed the doom of Indians east of the Mississippi by providing a place where Eastern tribes could be relocated. [Many died during the forced relocations, or shared the fate of the tribes in the West by being annihilated or placed in reservations on the land the whites didn’t want, i.e., the most economically unviable.]
Another theme that resonates through the book is the attitude of many of the Founders to the institution of slavery. Many followed Jefferson’s “Virginia Compromise,” by simply ignoring the issue, as if the mere discussion of it amounted to a form of treason. Most of the Founders thought the problem was insolvable (at least while they were alive; the idea of emancipation evoked the unsavory prospect giving up their own slaves!). Very few of them could imagine a bi-racial society. Even most of the most liberal thought the solution would require the relocation of blacks to another country, either in Liberia or the Caribbean. Ellis shows how the Louisiana Purchase exacerbated this problem by adding a large new territory where there was no agreement about the reach of slavery.
Evaluation: This book does not add much to what was already known about the Founding period or the Founding Fathers, but it does present it in a well-organized and very readable style. I highly recommend this intelligent and perceptive analysis of the Founding Era as an addition to your Early American History library.
(JAB)
I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the origins of our governmental system and the evolution of the argument over states rights.
Fortunately, however, only the first third of this audiobook dealt with the period of 1775-1782. Thereafter, the story turns to the often neglected period after 1782, in which the fledgling republic, struggling under the inadequate Articles of Confederation is dragged, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the Constitutional era. Ellis chooses to make James Madison the hero of this story (perhaps electing not to challenge some of the outstanding biographers of other luminaries). Certainly, Madison is a worthy subject, though arguably no more influential than Hamilton or Jefferson.
After dealing quite well and extensively with the creation and adoption of the Constitution, Ellis moves on to the very worthwhile history of the fledgling Republic’s troublesome dealings with the various Indian tribes located between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic colonies. Another period of history not frequently dealt with, but well worth the effort and well covered by Ellis.
Finally, Ellis turns to the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson, focusing on the Louisiana Purchase, what he considers the final definitive act in the founding of the American republic. There is some excellent analysis concerning the hypocrisy displayed by Jefferson, not just over the issue of slavery, but the stunning acts of federal power wielded by the face of Republicanism.
As stated above, the first third of the story is a familiar rehash of the Revolutionary War period; nothing much new to offer. Thereafter, however, Ellis takes on the succeeding twenty years, a time in which the fledgling republic was very fragile, held together almost exclusively by the reputation and will of one man, George Washington. With Washington’s exit, the rise of party politics led to repeated clashes between advocates of state’s and personal rights (republicanism) and advocates of power concentrated at the federal level (federalism). This fascinating interplay and the analysis provided by Ellis make this a worthy investment of your time.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the origins of our governmental system and the evolution of the argument over states rights.