Founding Brothers
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Movie Reviews of Founding Brothers
Movie Review: True history
Summary: 5 Stars
I like the way the four individuals intertwined. DVD was masterfully done. Something every grade school student should watch and learn about.Movie Review: Jefferson the Republican and Hamilton the Federalist
Summary: 4 Stars
American history teachers will find this series worth watching and sharing some portions with students. I sometimes show episodes three and four, but time issues limit how much of the series is shown during class. After having students watch episode three, these are some of the major terms/people with definitions that are mentioned throughout the episode:
Founding Brothers: Evolution of a Revolution Part III
1796: This was the twentieth anniversary of America. There were now sixteen states including Tennessee and Washington stated in September he would not seek a third term.
Washington: He decided not to run for a third term in September 1796 and set a two-term presidential tradition. He was the first president and many people now looked at Americans who had Revolutionary credentials.
He entered and left Washington as the most revered man in America. He died on December 14, 1799.
Adams: He was the first vice-president, a Federalist, and believed in a strong central government. Adams was once good friends with Jefferson, but politics separated their friendship. He became the first president that had to deal with party politics. Although Hamilton was aHe detested and feared Hamilton, although they were both Federalists. He feared the creation of a large standing army because it could be used for tyranny.
Jefferson: He was the first secretary of state, a Republican (Democratic-Republican), and believed government should be small. He was once cordial friends with Adams, but this friendship ended because of politics. The Constitution made the second place finisher vice-president because there was no twelfth amendment in 1797. He was considered a French sympathizer.
political parties: Federalists and Republicans were the first two organized factions in America. Although not mentioned in the Constitution, party politics began during Washington's presidency. Hamilton was the leader of the Federalists and Jefferson was the leader of the Republicans.
Madison: He encouraged his close friend and fellow Republican Thomas Jefferson to run for president against John Adams. He helped write the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.
cabinet: Adams inherited a cabinet that was more loyal to Hamilton. Washington began the tradition of selecting individuals to lead lead executive departments that would advise the president.
Hamilton: He was the leader of the Federalists and an enemy of both Adams. He earned a poor reputation because of an affair with Maria Reynolds. Although he admitted to an affair, he tried to clear his reputation by publishing all love letters. Hamilton wanted to raise an army during the Quasi-War and later was made the second in command by Washington.
French Revolution: This revolution was fought between 1789 to 1799 in France. Americans, including Washington, realized that the reason France had allied itself with America during the American Revolution was to possibly regain lost territory. Although Hamilton made sure American debt was steadily repaid to France, the French were disappointed that America did not loan money.
Jay's Treaty: This was a treaty signed in 1795 between the United States and Great Britain that promoted ten years of mostly peaceful trade between the two countries. Alexander Hamilton designed most of the terms of the treaty and John Jay was the chief negotiator. Washington gave reluctant support for the treaty. Jefferson and Madison thought the British economic interests would strengthen the Federalists.
XYZ Affair: This diplomatic event dealt with strained relations between France and the United States. X, Y, and Z were nicknames given to three French agents,who were later revealed as Jean Conrad Hottinguer, Pierre Bellamy and Lucien Hauteval. The French agents demanded 50,000 pounds sterling, a $12 million loan from the United States, a $250,000 personal bribe to French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, and a formal apology for comments made by President John Adams to continue peace negotiations.
Quasi-War: By 1797, Adam's cabinet were crying out for war against France. This war was undeclared and took place between 1798 to 1800. America had to raise an army because of this short war. Some Americans accused Jefferson of being loyal to France. Adams felt a large army could be used for tyranny, but finally raised an army of 15,000 that was led by General George Washington. Alexander Hamilton was made the second in command by Washington during this war. Right at the very end of the war, Adams helped negotiate peace with France.
War Hawks: These were congressmen who wanted to raise a 50,000 man army. This term was also used by congressmen who advocated waging war against the British in the War of 1812.
Abigail: She offered lots of advise and council to her husband John Adams throughout his presidency and life. She was a very educated and informed woman, but one issue she poorly advised her husband on was his decision to pass the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Alien & Sedition Acts: This act sent away foreigners and jailed journalists who criticized elected officials. Fourteen reporters and writers were arrested by 1799 for publishing information against Adams and his administration. Jefferson used these acts to his advantage by charging Adams with being a monarchist. This was a bad term because it compared Adams to King George III. Republicans felt the acts went against the First Amendment and the American system of government. These acts damaged the reputation of John Adams.
muckraker: This is often a journalist, reporter, or writer who publishes truthful reports about crime and corruption that often focuses on elected officials and celebrities. James T. Callendar is sometimes referred to as a
muckraker because of the salacious content of some of his reporting in the wars between the Federalists and Republicans.
Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions: Jefferson and Madison anonymously wrote these resolutions explaining the states had the rights to abolish laws they deemed unconstitutional. Jefferson threatened that Virginia might secede from the union because of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Dec. 14, 1799: This is the day and year that George Washington died. He was 67 and got sick when he was caught in a snowstorm while riding on a five hour trip around his Mount Vernon plantation. It was a date of great mourning because Washington was beloved by Americans, In Philadelphia thousands of people mourned the loss of Washington because of his great leadership during the birth and infancy of the American republic. Henry Lee eulogized Washington by saying, "To the memory of the Man, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Americans were never as unified after the death of Washington.
election of 1800: Thomas Jefferson challenged John Adams once again in this election. It was a hotly contested and vicious election because of the libelous statements between Federalists and Republicans. Jefferson was called an intellectualist and Adams was called a monarchist. Adams fired most of his cabinet, which infuriated Hamilton and other Federalists.
Aaron Burr: He was a popular New York Senator. He appealed to Federalists and Republicans and it was thought if he ran for the office of president, he would take votes away from Adams. Although it was hoped he would finish second and become vice president, he tied in a 73 electoral with Jefferson, but the Republicans had hoped he would have have been vice president, he remained silent on the issue. He has a questionable reputation and is mistrusted by most of the Founding Fathers. Hamilton did not like Burr and pushed all of his weight towards Jefferson becoming the third President of the United States. In the 36th round of voting in the House, Aaron Burr was elected the vice president.
Movie Review: A good series on founding relationships
Summary: 4 Stars
This series is based upon a book by the same title, 'Founding Brothers', by author Joseph J. Ellis, who also has written books on both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson - hence it makes sense that there would be one book that brings the two of them together, along with other movers and shakers of the early American nationhood. Often referred to as 'founding fathers', in fact toward each other, they were more of a brotherhood. Hence Ellis' title.
We live in a time where the aging generation has been celebrated as 'the greatest generation', but for this title (and not meaning to take away anything of their achievement) they certain must acknowledge a rival, that being the generation of Americans who lived at the time of the Revolutionary War. Of course, this generation had a sense of greatness about it that made them conscious of what they were doing - George Washington deliberately lived and moved as if his every action would be the stuff of precedent; John Adams had his wife Abigail to begin saving his correspondence long before the outbreak of hostilities in the war.
Even with this sense about themselves, according to Ellis, 'Uncertainty, in fact, was the dominant mood at that moment' - the time when the Constitution was being drafted and ratified, there was no clear sense of what was meant by certain of the compromises, particularly the meaning of who 'the people' were in the legal and constitutional sense. If they weren't the federal government or the state governments, then just who were they?
Ellis identifies different possible ways of telling the early history of American nationhood, but most simply recapitulate the political debates of the time. Ellis sees these debates and early issues as setting the political stage for ongoing American development. He says, 'the revolutionary generation found a way to contain the explosive energies of the debate in the form of an ongoing argumetn or dialogue that was eventually institutionalised and rendered safe by the creation of political parties.' The issues of the Revolutionary period were not solved by the Constitution and early government development, according to Ellis, but rather enshrined and codified, indeed, woven into the very fabric of the nation as ongoing (and, as Ellis points out, only broke out into warfare during the Civil War).
This series develops the narrative across eight major characters, all of whom knew each other rather well. These figures are George Washington, John and Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr. These stories include the famous duel between Hamilton and Burr, a dinner party in which the location of the nation's capital city was decided, and George Washington's farewell address upon declining to run for a third term as president. He also recounts the on-again, off-again friendship and rivalry of Jefferson and Adams, up to the very point of Adams' death - his reported last words were about Jefferson, who died on the same day, in what seems like divinely inspired timing for both: July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the nation.
The history is necessarily brief in the series; the book companion is not a lengthy one either - however, history is necessarily selective, and the point of this series seems to be to emphasise the personal relationships and interactions that led to the greater developments of the nation. The series does gloss over some of the better-known aspects of history to focus more intimately on the central characters and their lives - in such a short space of time, I feel the series has done a very good job at making this period in time come alive for the viewer, and will hopefully stimulate the viewer to read, both Ellis' book and beyond, to learn more about the foundation of the nation.
Movie Review: Good but slanted intellectual history
Summary: 4 Stars
In our modern politization of history, people are forced into two groups. The first are those who've only now realized that their larger-than-life image of Jefferson, Washington and the other founders as an uncommonly civil and reasonable bunch is just that, a myth. This group is hurt by this and looks at any attempt to point out the founders weaknesses, internal inconsistencies and what-have-you as nothing less than high slander. Then there is the group that realizes that the founders WERE flawed, contradictory and not quite the proper stuff of legends. This group, though generally out of political spite, not only embraces this fact, but loves to rub any history buff's face in it, pointing to our flawed history as certain proof that America was concieved in shame. This video is refreshing because we get a good dose of amunition for both sides. Starting with George Washington's innaguration, this film takes us through a brilliant story of a people forced to govern from scratch. The film does a good job in pointing out that unlike today, presidents, cabinets, legsilators had no precedents. Who could Washington, Hamilton, the congress who in 1800 dealt with the first election recount in history; none of these, had anyone to look to anyone to see how it was done before. It wasn't done before! We go through the Washington, Adams, and Jefferson presidency; our dealings with France, a new economic system, slavery, and colliding visions of the federalists and the republicans (nowadays these would be termed the republicans and the democrats, respectively). Not quite a Ken Burns film but close!
With that said, this film is extemely biased towards the federalists. Whether in the battle of words between Adams and Jefferson, where only Jefferson is made to look hot-headed, or the constant understatement of Madison's intellect (well, that is the republican, not the federalist Madison). If you are like me, an olld whig republican (nowadays called a libertarian or classical liberal) you will be slightly annoyed at oversights like these. Jefferson was by no means a perfect or for that matter, a thorougly respectable individual but this film highlights these flaws while letting Hamilton's slide.
The only other quip I have is that the legislature and judicial branch are completely ignored. It's understandable because for a film on the History Channel must focus on what the general public is most interested in and this by far is the executive branch (can you name at least one federal judge?) but it would have been nice once in a while to be reminded of their existence.
Altough this film lacks some of the vigor that Founding Fathers had (with the fiery orations by speakers at the Constitutional Convention), it is still thorougly engrossing. It conveys what so few films, books and (PUKE!!) history lessons seem to almost, but never fully, get across; the founders and our history were/was living and breating.
Movie Review: the fun way to learn more about early U.S. history
Summary: 4 Stars
I love history and in recent months I have been voraciously reading / viewing various books / DVD collections. Founding Brothers is a documentary from the History Channel that is based on the Pulitzer-Prize winning book by Joseph Ellis. I would note that there is another DVD collection (created a few years ago by the History Channel) entitled Founding Fathers.Both DVD collections discuss the lives and times of the founding fathers (brothers). This particular DVD collection starts with post revolution times (i.e constitutional congress - 1820 or so) and really dives into how, once the war was over the bickering and infighting began amongst the founding fathers. If you are looking for pre-revolution commentary than Founding Fathers is a better DVD collection to pick up as it starts with New England dissent to the winning of the war.
1. This DVD collection is well produced. Famous actors provided the voices for the characters as in Founding Fathers. Many of the voice overs are done by the same people in both collections.
2. While the DVD is certainly worth watching I found myself wishing it had more facts about the economy and its progress but, as the title states, this series is about the founding fathers.
3. The series did a nice job of discussing how various fathers had issues with slavery. It discussed whether they were pro-slavery or against it and how some had serious troubles dealing with it.
4. The one thing I thoroughly enjoyed about the DVD collection was that it clearly depicts how each of these men came together despite their different backgrounds and temperaments to found a nation.
Most of my reviews are in business / economics and I encourage people to read them, whether here on Amazon or at my personal website. If you are interested in economic history book I would encourage everyone to read The Worldly Philosophers by Robert Heilbroner since it is more international in scope and deals with the lives and times of the most famous economists in history. If you are interested in economic development / evolution of U.S. property history I would encourage you to read Hernando DeSoto's Mystery of Capital but note his lack of focus on corruption in certain countries. A great general business book is by the management guru Peter Drucker entitled "The Essential Drucker."