Here is a brief overview of each chapter:

The Duel takes a look at the deadly duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Possible reasons and causes that led to the duel are not mentioned. Was it all a miscommunication, or was it shear stubbornness that showed Hamilton to his grave. Ellis also contemplates what may have happened that fateful morning as stories differ from the few eyewitnesses.

The Dinner gives an inside look at a secret dinner meeting between Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, during which the permanent capital was exchanged for the passage of Hamilton’s financial plan for the heavily in debt colonies.

Benjamin Franklin’s petition to end slavery, his last public effort, is detailed in The Silence. This chapter reveals the cold re

Jefferson was worldly, educated, studious, multi-talented, and also a liar who had no objection to others doing his dirty work.

Franklin, although still highly respected, was by this time well on in years and in many respects over the hill, but still a hearty drinker and womanizer.

Founding Brothers is definitely not the American history that students are taught in elementary, middle or high school, and probably not in basic history courses that college students take, either. There is no idolization here, and no saints are made either. Rather, Ellis present a picture of men who are human and have human emotions and frailties, yet highly are intelligent and well educated.

Yet, despite these character flaws, good sense, of which there was a lot, prevailed, problems were worked out and goals achieved. Taking all that Ellis wrote into account, one can not help but be astounded is that so many leaders, each of them literate, well read and expressive, as well as some others on the scene who were not quite so important, were in the same place at the same time, and even more astounding, that they worked together, debated and compromised, and in the end achieved success despite their different temperaments and political outlooks.

Hamilton was ahead of his time, a remarkable financial planner, and very vain.

Burr was as smart as the rest but always seemed to let his pride get the better of him.

Some topics in this essay:
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