Founding Brothers

When studying the history of the formation of the United States, one usually thinks in terms of separate events and individuals. However, the American republic was established, instead, by a series of important decisions and the joint efforts of some of the most prominent men of all time. In a matter of ten years, these critical interactions among the eight leading figures of John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington formed a nation that to this day remains one of the most successful "experiments" of democratic governments. As Joseph J. Ellis, the author of Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation states:

What in retrospect has the look of a foreordained unfolding of God's will was in reality an improvisational affair ... If hindsight enhances our appreciation for the solidity and stability of the republican legacy, it also blinds us to the...
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