ebooks The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution; 1783-1789 by Joseph J. Ellis in History

Review

188 of 195 people found the following review helpful. Joseph Ellis and the Making of a Nation.By Robin FriedmanJoseph Ellis' new book; "The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution; 1783 -- 1789" examines the United States' movement from independence to nationhood following the Revolutionary War. Ellis; retired as Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College; has written many works about early American history and has received both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.Ellis' short but broad; thoughtful; and provocative book argues that the United States did not become a nation upon winning independence but became instead a group of loosely-connected separate states. Ellis maintains that most people at the time lacked even a concept of national identity beyond the provincial boundaries of their communities. They thought they had fought a hard war to free themselves from the distant centralizing government of Great Britain. With the ineffective Articles of Confederation; the thirteen states appeared headed for separation and quarrels; similar to the nations of Europe.Other parts of Ellis' book are more controversial. Ellis maintains that while the first American Revolution might be viewed from the ground up; the second worked "from the top down". He finds that four individuals; the "Quartet" of his title; were primarily responsible: George Washington; Alexander Hamilton; James Madison; and John Jay. The first three names are unsurprising. Ellis clearly regards Washington is the essential member of the group and as the leader of both the first and second American revolutions. He gives Washington more credit than he sometimes receives for his intellectual foresight in an early writing about the deficiency of the Articles of Confederation and the need for a central government. Ellis sees Madison more as a highly savvy politician and lawyer than as an original thinker. The partial surprise on Ellis' the list is John Jay who tends to be less well--known than he deserves. Jay negotiated the treaty of Paris and worked early and diplomatically; including with opponents; for the cause of nationhood. Other leaders who play supporting roles in Ellis' account include financier Robert Morris; Thomas Jefferson; and Gouverneur Morris; the drafter of the Constitution.In another claim that will provoke controversy; Ellis' reading of the second American revolution is avowedly elitist. He argues that most people had no interest in nationhood because a broad national vision would be inconsistent in some ways with their limited goals such as avoiding taxation and living beyond their means. Ellis recognizes the controversial nature of his perspective. He writes in the book's Preface:"All democratic cultures find such explanations offensive because they violate the hallowed conviction that; at least in the long run; popular majorities can best decide the direction that history should take. However true that conviction might be over the full span of American history; and the claim is contestable; it does not work for the 1780s; which just might be the most conspicuous and consequential example of the way in which small groups of prominent leaders; in disregard of popular opinion; carried the American story in a new direction."Ellis takes the reader through the Confederation years; the preliminaries to the Constitutional Convention; the Convention itself;; and the proceedings in the states for the ratification of the Constitution; including the writing and significance of "The Federalist Papers". The book concludes with the enactment of the Bill of Rights. Ellis does not attribute superhuman wisdom to the founders but he also avoids the current tendency to belittle their accomplishments through an anachronistic importation of today's values into the late 18th Century. Among other things; his book discusses briefly but well the dilemma the founders faced over slavery. The book stresses the value of ideas and thinking; compromise; practicality; commitment; and humility in the second American revolution and the founding of the national government and its shifting contours of Federalism.This book has a great deal to teach and provides ample material for reflection. It also made me want to learn more about George Washington; whose role throughout the Revolutionary Era amply comes through in this book; by reading the Library of America volume of his writings. George Washington : Writings (Library of America). Washington and his accomplishments cannot be over-emphasized.Robin Friedman167 of 180 people found the following review helpful. Another highly informative yet thoroughly entertaining book by Joseph EllisBy Robert MooreA few years ago Joseph J. Ellis was involved in a confusing plagiarism scandal (the major element being that he had claimed military service when; in fact; he had not served in any branch of the military). I had enjoyed several of his previous books; in particular his splendid short biography of John Adams and his biography of Jefferson; entitled AMERICAN SPHINX; in which he found Jefferson a bit more perplexing than I believe is warranted (for a pair of splendid short biographies on Jefferson; try R. B. Berstein's THOMAS JEFFERSON: THE REVOLUTION OF IDEAS and Richard K. Matthews's magnificent THE RADICAL POLITICS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON: A REVISIONIST VIEW; each of which will bring more understanding of Jefferson than Dumas Malone's imposing multi-volume biography). Ellis is not a master of original research like Gordon Wood; Bernard Bailyn; or Douglass Adair; but he is an unusually fine writer. His gift is repacking the early events in American history in forms that are perhaps the most accessible every written; while at the same time not distorting history of any ideological purpose. I wouldn't quite call him a popular historian; but a brilliant expositor. If you have read a fair amount on early American history; there is very little here that will be new; but by teasing out a narrative of events that was already there he makes the founding of the United States as a unified nation understandable in a way that it has rarely been in the past.The dilemma of American history has always been why; after fighting a war of independence from both the English crown and the dominating landed families in Great Britain; some of whom literally owned individual colonies; did Americans decide to bring themselves once again under a central government; though one constituted and run by themselves? What I like most about Ellis's book; in addition to its excellent prose and clear narrative; is his focusing primarily on four Americans that students of the writing of the constitution know as crucial. but who more casual students might not. He correctly leaves out figures like John Adams (though he played an important role at the constitutional convention); Thomas Jefferson (though he did play a role indirectly as the major influence on James Madison; who is arguably the most important person in the creating of the constitution and getting it ratified) is for the most part absent from the story; as is Benjamin Franklin; whose health had begun to fade by the mid-1780s. Instead; he tells the story from the standpoint of George Washington; who contributed little of substance to the creation of the new nation apart from lending his formidable support to the idea of a new nation (indeed; except for creating the precedent of presidents not serving for life; which he could easily have done had he wished; Washington's ideas were for the most part not followed by Congress or later presidents: he pushed for a far more powerful central government that we ended up with; symbolized by many such institutions as a national university to be situated in the national capital and supported the inclusion of Native Americans in the new nation; as long as they gave up hunting and embraced agriculture); James Madison; Alexander Hamilton (the individual whom neither the Right or Left today wants to count as one of their own; largely because he was in most ways a conservative while at the same time agreeing with Washington on the need for a strong central government - the best book that I've read on Hamilton; and in fact maybe the best book that I've read on the Founding Generation apart from Gordon Wood's many masterpieces; Bernard Bailyn's THE IDEOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION; and Douglass Adair's remarkable collection of essays FAME AND THE FOUNDING FATHERS; is Gerald Stourzh's ALEXANDER HAMILTON AND THE IDEA OF REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT [on a personal note; I had looked for a copy of this book for years until finally locating one; and was ecstatic upon receiving it to see the signature of the previous owner of the book; "Merrill D. Peterson;" the author of some of the finest books ever written concerning the history of the United States; including a superb short book on the complex relationship between Adams and Jefferson and his masterful volume on the dominant Congressional personalities in Congress during the antebellum period; THE GREAT TRIUMVIRATE: WEBSTER; CLAY; AND CALHOUN - sadly Peterson made only a couple of marks in the book]); and John Jay. The latter is the greatest of the Founders of whom people know almost next to nothing. Apart from serving as an ambassador; writing several of the FEDERALIST papers; and serving in the Supreme Court people know next to nothing about him; and I firmly count myself among them. One of the greatest services of this book is helping to give Jay the credit he deserves for his role in creating the United States.I strongly recommend this book. I don't love Ellis like I do Gordon Wood; whom I consider a national treasure; or find myself looking at everything differently; like I do after reading Richard Mansfield or Douglass Adair; but because of his skill as a writer I find myself enjoying Ellis more than any other writer about this period of American history. My only complaint with Ellis is that he tends in his overall output to keep crisscrossing the same time period. I would love to see him write something outside his specialized field. Even if he were only to write a book on the conflict between Jefferson and Marshall; it would be nice to see his take on something other than the original set of Founders. But as long as he continues to write such informative yet entertaining books; I won't truly complain.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. A Concise; yet moving; Introduction into the Development of a New NationBy Christopher J. ToyWithout overdoing the review; I felt that this book demystified the evolution of the constitution during the period between the initial Declaration of Independence and the initiation of the Constitution in 1791. The era of the "Articles of Confederation" was always just that; a title; with little explanation of the nature of the federation and why the constitution became a necessity.Other reviews have criticized this book for using too broad strokes; but I think the for average American whose U.S. history is often limited to a virtual "whitewash"; the breadth of these "strokes" is far finer and valuable introduction to the real people who were the "Founding Fathers". The four main figures -- Washington; Hamilton; Jay; and Madison -- each had a significant role to play in guiding the disparate states to form a union that could in its albeit lurching manner forge a path as a nation into the future.The author uses a style that is very accessible and has a firm momentum that keeps the narrative moving forward. What is more important is that level of detail will whet one's appetite for more and provide the skeleton on which to hang a more complex analysis. Although I am not an American history scholar; I sense that this analysis is based on original sources which one will not find contradicted in any subsequent reading were the reader to decide to dive deeper into the subject.For someone who wants a solid understanding of how our national structure found its way into existence; this book is a very fine introduction.