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105 reviews for:
The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789
Joseph J. Ellis
3.99 AVERAGE
105 reviews for:
The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789
Joseph J. Ellis
3.99 AVERAGE
A succinct account of the politics and process behind creating the Constitution. Due to the brevity, details and minor characters have, of necessity, been largely ignored.
Ellis has written another concise, accessible book on this fascinating period of American history. The body of the book is only 200 pages, and in those pages, Ellis lays out the problems with the initial American Confederacy and the men who shaped the country. He emphasizes that these men are fallible, and highlights how different they were--and how they all were vital in the process of creating the American government. I particularly enjoyed learning more about Robert Morris and Gouverneur Morris; I knew very little of their contributions.
I highly recommend checking out this book about a little-discussed period. All too often it's just "The Articles of Confederation were problematic, so they held the Constitutional Convention, and then the Constitution was ratified." The story is an interesting one.
I highly recommend checking out this book about a little-discussed period. All too often it's just "The Articles of Confederation were problematic, so they held the Constitutional Convention, and then the Constitution was ratified." The story is an interesting one.
I've read this book twice now. The second time I wanted to read it again after seeing the Hamilton musical. After having seen the musical all of the characters in the book just came alive to me. The debates and arguments made for nationhood were powerful and nuanced. This was an easy read and very interesting and entertaining.
informative
medium-paced
Joseph J. Ellis is one of my favorite historians, in particular because he is a specialist and expert on colonial and revolutionary America and the founding fathers. Ellis is able to isolate the founding fathers from their fanfare and semi legendary status in Americana and really explore the nuances that made the men of their generation - from their wants and dislikes, along with their motivations towards revolution and subsequent shaping of the American republic that we live in today.
Another point that helps Ellis stand out among his peers is that his books don't always focus on more traditional epochs and personas, but rater events and the evolution of ideas from the founding fathers. In "The Quartet", Ellis takes a look at the four personalities that helped usher in the "second American Revolution" - George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. While Ellis notes that other contemporaries of the time were also part of the monumental process to move the states away from a confederation system to that of a republic, and Ellis outlines how these four in particular were instrumental in shaping the states, legislatures, the fourth estate, the public, and international perspective on ensuring the initiation of a constitutional convention.
I think for many, it is lost on them that the idea of having a constitutional convention - when that was not the original intent behind amending the Articles of Confederation, in an era where getting messages took weeks if not months, was an astounding feat. It is nothing short of a Herculean feat of maneuvering the Constitution from conception into passage and ratification by the states.
If you are looking into reading historical books, or just tying to get into the habit of reading non-fiction, give Ellis and this book a try.
Another point that helps Ellis stand out among his peers is that his books don't always focus on more traditional epochs and personas, but rater events and the evolution of ideas from the founding fathers. In "The Quartet", Ellis takes a look at the four personalities that helped usher in the "second American Revolution" - George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. While Ellis notes that other contemporaries of the time were also part of the monumental process to move the states away from a confederation system to that of a republic, and Ellis outlines how these four in particular were instrumental in shaping the states, legislatures, the fourth estate, the public, and international perspective on ensuring the initiation of a constitutional convention.
I think for many, it is lost on them that the idea of having a constitutional convention - when that was not the original intent behind amending the Articles of Confederation, in an era where getting messages took weeks if not months, was an astounding feat. It is nothing short of a Herculean feat of maneuvering the Constitution from conception into passage and ratification by the states.
If you are looking into reading historical books, or just tying to get into the habit of reading non-fiction, give Ellis and this book a try.
Probably one of the best history books I’ve ever read. The book focuses on a period of time that I don’t think a lot of Americans have read about.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
First off, I want to thank JJ for introducing me with Founding Brothers to one of my favorite historical periods of all time -- the Federalist Era -- and to the entire historical discipline in general. The way Ellis weaves historical sources and historiographical debates into the political narratives of the era is sublime.
The Revolutionary Generation sent Ellis to our era with an assignment to squash the belief that they were "quasi-divine creatures with supernatural powers of mind and heart", and to erase the Progressive dogma that they were entirely economically motivated, constructing a government that has perpetuated its own elitist white agenda. This book accomplishes that, perhaps to a fault, when placed in the context of the other books that I've read by him. It reiterates the same historical argument but not in a novel enough way.
Regardless, JJ is my favorite historical writer. His lifework is more convincing than any other historian's, while also painting the most fascinating picture of this nation's founding -- of complicated men, with their own deeply entrenched character flaws, with their own sets of political and economic ideologies, fighting together and with each other to build a country whose future was entirely not inevitable, and perhaps even inevitably tenuous.
James Madison (unsurprisingly) shines the most here as a powerful, determined thinker, balancing the line between political philosophy and acumen, drafting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights with a sound sense not seen in the other important Framer figures Ellis discusses. I also adore Hamilton as a fiery underdog. Overall, the story of how the Articles were cast aside, and how the Constitution was first whispered about in letters, then proposed, then debated on and finally adopted is interesting . . . but I feel like Ellis may have done a disservice to the real material debate at hand. What about paper money -- a huge issue in Rhode Island's refusal to ratify -- which Ellis does not broach at all? Why does he not pay closer attention to the Progressive / Beardian arguments, looking at the class divides at the time, at the indebted farmers versus mercantile city folk?
Ellis' books are so compelling because they look at how the personalities at the top strive and succeed to build a long-lasting and fruitful nation out of nothing. (And he does this with a masterly writing style worthy of the topic.) But perhaps he should also pay attention to the American people too, and show us the extent to which they contributed to the making of this country.
The Revolutionary Generation sent Ellis to our era with an assignment to squash the belief that they were "quasi-divine creatures with supernatural powers of mind and heart", and to erase the Progressive dogma that they were entirely economically motivated, constructing a government that has perpetuated its own elitist white agenda. This book accomplishes that, perhaps to a fault, when placed in the context of the other books that I've read by him. It reiterates the same historical argument but not in a novel enough way.
Regardless, JJ is my favorite historical writer. His lifework is more convincing than any other historian's, while also painting the most fascinating picture of this nation's founding -- of complicated men, with their own deeply entrenched character flaws, with their own sets of political and economic ideologies, fighting together and with each other to build a country whose future was entirely not inevitable, and perhaps even inevitably tenuous.
James Madison (unsurprisingly) shines the most here as a powerful, determined thinker, balancing the line between political philosophy and acumen, drafting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights with a sound sense not seen in the other important Framer figures Ellis discusses. I also adore Hamilton as a fiery underdog. Overall, the story of how the Articles were cast aside, and how the Constitution was first whispered about in letters, then proposed, then debated on and finally adopted is interesting . . . but I feel like Ellis may have done a disservice to the real material debate at hand. What about paper money -- a huge issue in Rhode Island's refusal to ratify -- which Ellis does not broach at all? Why does he not pay closer attention to the Progressive / Beardian arguments, looking at the class divides at the time, at the indebted farmers versus mercantile city folk?
Ellis' books are so compelling because they look at how the personalities at the top strive and succeed to build a long-lasting and fruitful nation out of nothing. (And he does this with a masterly writing style worthy of the topic.) But perhaps he should also pay attention to the American people too, and show us the extent to which they contributed to the making of this country.
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced