American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies in the Founding of the Republic [Paperback]

Countless historians have written about the accidental or noninevitable nature of the American Revolution. The story bears repeating for Americans have enough trouble remembering what happened in their own lifetimes let alone 225 years ago. In the capable hands of Joseph Ellis the miracle of the founding is once again brought to life. As he did in Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, Ellis takes another look at the achievements and the failures of the founding of the republic.

Ellis admits that his version of the founding is not very au courant with academic history departments. Here the founders have been reduced to dead white males who were "racists, classists, and sexists, a kind of rogues gallery of greats." Nor does he subscribe to the other extreme view, that the founders were demigods who created the republic through some masterstroke of divine inspiration.

The reality was that the founders were exceptional, but not without their flaws. Rather than one continuous narrative, Ellis has written seven essays dealing with certain pivotal events between the formative years of 1775 and 1803.

In the tradition of the "great man" school of history, Ellis chronicles certain key moments in American history as they were being acted out by famous individuals. Very different from, say, Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present (P.S.), a victim's history of America. We have Washington and the Continental army at Valley Forge; John Adams during the writing of the Declaration of Independence; James Madison and Patrick Henry at the Constitutional Convention, etc. The triumphs are well-known even to a forgetful country.

The tragedies that Ellis speaks of (to which Zinn devoted his entire book) were the failure to abolish slavery and to come up with a "truly just Indian policy."

The issue of slavery was never resolved because the Southerners at the Constitutional Convention threatened not to ratify unless slave-holding rights remained intact. Looking the other way was the only way the founders could get the new charter ratified. The issue festered for many years until it was abolished by the belated and bloody Civil War.

Ellis also has an excellent chapter on the negotiations between War Secretary Henry Knox and the charismatic Indian leader Alexander McGillvray. They were unable to consumate a peace treaty because their respective constituencies rejected the terms of the agreement.

Both tragedies were the product of the newly created and imperfect democracy. Southerners did not want to end slavery and Westerners did not want to allow the Indians any land. It was the tragedy of a democracy in which not every person had the right to vote.

If 1775 to 1803 was the time of American Creation, the years 1786 to 1788 were the most consequential. The debate between James Madison and Patrick Henry during the Virginia Ratifying Convention on federal and state's rights left open the question of which would have supremacy. The question is still open and the debate is still going on. The tension between state and federal government remains one of the most distinctive virtues of American government. Madison argued that government should not have the answers, but provide a forum for the debate. Now that's revolutionary.

Joseph Ellis is a terrific historian and, by self-proclamation, shuns the politically correct editorializing of American history which is a very welcome change from many 21st century historians.

Like "Founding Brothers" which deservedly won many prizes, this book is a collection of "stories" about the founding of America starting from 1775 and the outbreak of war and the Declaration and ending in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase. In between are Valley Forge, the writing of the Constitution "starring" James Madison, Washington's Indian policy and the development of political parties. Also like "Founding Brothers" Mr. Ellis includes little known facts to embellish the histories and give a fresh perspective. Particularly "new" were his accounts of Valley Forge and Washington and Knox's attempts to rewrite America's Indian policy. the former put the myth in perspective and the latter was this country's only attempt to incorporate the Indians (eventually) into America.

As good as the content was - and it was very good - I found the pacing and writing a bit plodding. Also, although Mr. Ellis eschews "hindsight" history, I found he engaged in it fairly frequently, especially regarding slavery.

There were some recurring themes through the collection, such as republicanism vs federalism, dubious limits on executive power in the Constitution and the "Spirit of '76" vs the federal sovereignty, but the stories are best taken separately as no central theme carries throughout.

This is a very good history, just not as readable as "Founding Brothers" and some other recent Revolutionary era histories (like "Washington's Crossing" and "Revolutionary Characters").

While touring to promote his Founding Brothers, Ellis was asked, "Why do we have to choose between John Kerry and George Bush when 200 years ago we could have chosen between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson?" Fascinating question, and his answer, American Creation, is a truly insightful and well-crafted book.

Ellis breaks the founding down into a number of different pieces like the War for Independence, Slavery, the Louisiana Purchase, the Constitution and Native Americans. He treats all of them very even-handedly, framing them in the context of what the realities were around 1800, but also giving penetrating insights into how we might look at things differently today and why.

The theme that runs throughout the book is that the people Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton and Washington were fallible characters who were meaningfully different from the legends Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton and Washington we see now. That said, Ellis really shows how an alignment of the right thoughts, the right time and the right opportunity conspired to pull some extraordinary things from people who might have remained unknown to history had the planets lined up differently.

You come away from the book understanding far more about what the politics of the founding were really like. In some ways, they aren't as dissimilar from today's politics as we might think; in other ways, they are, but for very specific reasons that Ellis makes clear.

Highly recommended for any fan of history.