Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis

Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis

 

The individuals who founded the United States are covered in sufficient detail to provide an excellent background into early US history.   The tragic Raymond Burr and Alexander Hamilton duel is covered in great detail.  The debates over how to handle slavery and the decision to put it off until later were noted.  I found the idea of compensating southern slave owners for the freedom of the slaves to be less bloody outcome than the Civil War. 

These financial and moral considerations were similar to those made prior to the second world war.  The US was reluctant to criticize Germany in the 1930's because it wanted loans paid back.  A criticism of the Nazi mistreatment of Jews would have also opened the US to criticism for its continued mistreatment of African Americans.



Sheep at Mount Vernon 2012 - photo N. Carlson

This book increased my curiosity about both George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.  As a result I subsequently read their biographies and toured Mount Vernon.

Founding Brothers - Part of PBS series (15 min)

The book, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation is available from Amazon.com