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107 reviews for:
The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789
Joseph J. Ellis
4.0 AVERAGE
107 reviews for:
The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789
Joseph J. Ellis
4.0 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
It's surprising how often the complex story of the Constitution's creation and ratification is simply lumped in with the Declaration of Independence. Ellis makes a convincing case that the idea of popular support for a federal republic is a myth, and that we need to reevaluate this founding story.
Oh it was a privilege to read this book, just as much it is a privilege to have such forefathers who had the foresight to intelligently, fairly and succinctly outline our country's supreme law of the land, first of its kind, and predicting and anticipating for its exponential growth, "allow for latitude with which future generations could make their own decisions".
Ellis expertly condenses the few strenuous years immediately following 1776, in which after bravely and resolutely marching towards Independence and having achieved it, no one seemed to have a plan for what came after. Ellis breaks down point by point the current political landscape of the time, the reasoning behind it, and as is the Socratic way, necessity bred invention, and our Quartet stepped up to the challenge of creating a unifying document to bind our nation states together forever more.
I enjoyed this book for its conciseness, for a U.S. history newbie like me, it was very easy to follow, and Ellis' outlines and arguments made sense, and were methodical. I would highly recommend for anyone wanting to dive deeper into this time period, and is a definite favorite read of 2023 so far.
edited 14APR23, minor spelling errors
Ellis expertly condenses the few strenuous years immediately following 1776, in which after bravely and resolutely marching towards Independence and having achieved it, no one seemed to have a plan for what came after. Ellis breaks down point by point the current political landscape of the time, the reasoning behind it, and as is the Socratic way, necessity bred invention, and our Quartet stepped up to the challenge of creating a unifying document to bind our nation states together forever more.
I enjoyed this book for its conciseness, for a U.S. history newbie like me, it was very easy to follow, and Ellis' outlines and arguments made sense, and were methodical. I would highly recommend for anyone wanting to dive deeper into this time period, and is a definite favorite read of 2023 so far.
edited 14APR23, minor spelling errors
Essentially short bios of Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, John Jay, and James Madison during the period 1783-89. Ellis describes this period, following the end of the American Revolution, as the "second revolution." After the war with Britain ended, the colonies basically expected to go back to being independent countries, and it was then that the political revolution had to happen to unite different colonies, with different cultures, concerns, and dreams, into one great whole. Ellis explains how these four founding leaders, each brilliant in his own way, worked separately and together to bring about this second American revolution. Highly recommended!
Very enjoyable. Learned a lot about the early american finances and the importance Robert Morris. Alexander Hamilton's drive and intrigue was pretty amazing.
What do you do after you’ve won a revolution? For 13 loosely affiliated new states, the answer was to fight tooth & nail against anything resembling a central govt. Ellis tracks the rocky road from the state-sovereignty Articles of Confederation to the more-perfect-union Constitution. He charts the maneuvers of 4 Founding Fathers: Washington, Hamilton, Madison & John Jay. Interesting stuff, particularly the historical profiles. But he's a dry writer. Often academic & repetitive, even at just over 200 pages. We the people were a little bored.
informative
medium-paced
The time after the Treaty of Paris and before the Constitution has always been of interest to me and Ellis does a great job of writing about this transitional period of when the United States decided to grow into a real nation.
It wasn't easy as most people were happy to be just Virginians or New Yorkers, but Ellis identifies four people, Washington, Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, as the prime movers in getting the United States to change from being a loose confederation of states that few of the great powers of Europe took seriously into the much more cohesive nation-state it is today.
The audiobook version is very good. You can stop listening before the appendices unless you want to listen to the Articles of Confederation read to you aloud.
It wasn't easy as most people were happy to be just Virginians or New Yorkers, but Ellis identifies four people, Washington, Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, as the prime movers in getting the United States to change from being a loose confederation of states that few of the great powers of Europe took seriously into the much more cohesive nation-state it is today.
The audiobook version is very good. You can stop listening before the appendices unless you want to listen to the Articles of Confederation read to you aloud.
Originally published at Novel Escapism
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph J. Ellis’ new book looks at what he terms “the second American Revolution,” bringing thirteen disparate states into one United States through the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Ellis postulates that it was four men, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison, who were instrumental in bringing about the Constitutional Convention and subsequent ratification of American nationhood. Ellis paints a profound picture of the obstacles that “the quartet” faced in turning states very much focused on their own issues and just finished fighting a strong central government structure into accepting a national republic. Just as in his previous book, Revolutionary Summer, which detailed the incredible circumstances surrounding the beginning of the war for independence, Ellis uses straightforward prose to discuss a dramatic, complicated and precarious time in American history. By all accounts, the fact that the United States just celebrated its 240th birthday is astonishing and truly impressive.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph J. Ellis’ new book looks at what he terms “the second American Revolution,” bringing thirteen disparate states into one United States through the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Ellis postulates that it was four men, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison, who were instrumental in bringing about the Constitutional Convention and subsequent ratification of American nationhood. Ellis paints a profound picture of the obstacles that “the quartet” faced in turning states very much focused on their own issues and just finished fighting a strong central government structure into accepting a national republic. Just as in his previous book, Revolutionary Summer, which detailed the incredible circumstances surrounding the beginning of the war for independence, Ellis uses straightforward prose to discuss a dramatic, complicated and precarious time in American history. By all accounts, the fact that the United States just celebrated its 240th birthday is astonishing and truly impressive.
I will write more later, but it is interesting to read a history of a particular part of history and compare it to the many biographies of the same people covered. It is different and I think useful to read both. Biographies necessarily make the individual the main focus. And everything revolves around the person's involvement. So it can look like anything not mentioned is less important. Histories look at the events but not usually deeply at the people and so they can miss how the people matter to the history.
Full review on my blog http://bookwi.se/quartet/
Full review on my blog http://bookwi.se/quartet/