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This assignment is due the second day of school after the summer break. The assigned reading is: *Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. Joseph Ellis. 2000. Read the book carefully. As you read the book, answer the following questions. You can type or handwrite your answers but YOU must include answers to ALL PARTS of the questions and you must use complete sentences. Answers must be thoughtful and complete. Do not share your work with other students-?I will check and grade accordingly. The assignment is available on the Engineering School website also.
Essential Questions Founding Brothers Preface Founding Brothers: The Generation 1 . What “founding brothers” does the author focus his book on? 2. Which “founding brother” instructed his wife to start saving all his letters in order to record “the great events which are pressed, and those greater which are rapidly advancing”? 3. Was the creation of a separate American nation revolutionary or evolutionary? 4. What has become the political norm in the 20th century? 5. To fully understand the revolutionary generation Ellis says we need to be both nearsighted and far sighted. What was the key farsighted insight? 6.
What was the one argument used to discredit the authority of Parliament and the British monarch? 7. Name at least one of the “unseemly features” of the Constitutional Convention? . Some call the Constitutional Convention “The at Philadelphia” 9. According to the Constitution, sovereignty rest with: 10. What was the original definition of “American” and “democrat”? 1 1 . List one asset and one liability America had according to the text? 12. The decades that rival the revolutionary decade in importance were the 1855-1865 and 1940 – 1950 decades according to Ellis. What major event occurred during these decades? 3. Which author saw the war as a liberal movement? 14. Which author depicts the American Revolution as a deep seeded liberation movement? 15. What distinguishes the American Revolution from most, if not al subsequent revolutions? 16. What are the common themes of the events Ellis choose to illustrate? Chapter 1 Founding Brothers: The Duel 1. In 1804 what political office did Aaron Burr hold? 2. Who called Hamilton “the bastard brat of a Scottish peddler’? 3. Was dueling legal in New York? 4. Who was the challenger in the Burr-Hamilton duel? 5. Who died July 12, 1811 as a result of the duel? . Explain what the best evidence tells us about Alexander Hamilton at the duel? 7. Name one piece of evidence that Burr did not mean to kill Hamilton. 8. Who fired first (Hamilton or Burr) in the verbal exchange? . According to the “code duel” which charge could lead a gentleman to demand satisfaction? A. Personal b. Political 10. On which occasion did Burr and Hamilton sit by one another days prior to their duel? 11. Why did Hamilton simply not retract all negatives he had said about Aaron Burr in the past? 12. What infamous Revolutionary War figure has Burr been compared to? 13.
In the 1800 presidential election, Hamilton lobbied the House of Representatives to support which candidate over Aaron Burr? 14. Who was Hamiltonians chief political enemy? 15. What was Hamiltonians core criticism of Burr? 16. At the time of the Hamilton-Burr duel, were the United States yet a nation of laws and established institutions capable of surviving corrupt or incompetent officials? Chapter 2 Founding Brothers: The Dinner 1 . Who were George Washington’s Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury? 2. What southern Congressman blocked Hamiltonians financial plan on public credit? 3.
What provision of the plan did he specifically block? 4. Who hosted the meeting between Hamilton and James Madison and left the only historical record of the meeting? 5. What did southern states receive in exchange for supporting Hamiltonians financial plan on public credit? . Did Jefferson continue to believe his part in the “dinner” bargain between Hamilton and Madison was just. 7. Who led both the assumption and residence questions in the House of Representatives? 8. What honorary title did Madison receive for his work on the Constitution? 9. Who were the authors of The Federalist Papers? 0. In the case of James Madison why were looks deceiving? 11. In the 1 sass, what two men were the “the great collaboration”? 12. Why was this so? 13. In 1790 the total debt of the United States was $77. 1 million. Label the following from 1 to 3 with 1 being the greatest share of the debt and 3 being the mallets share. Domestic Foreign State 14. What did it mean when Hamilton proposed that all citizens who owned government securities should be reimbursed at par? 15. What was a major problem with Hamiltonians proposal? 16. Did Madison support Hamiltonians funding and assumption schemes? 17.
What was the only southern state not to have retired most of its debt? 18. Did Madison believe the assumption issue was primarily about economics or the power of the federal government over the state government? 19. What nation served as Hamiltonians economic model? 20. Hamilton believed that when money was spread out it was only money, but hen concentrated it was is a public curse”? . 21. Who believed “A public debt 22. Who did Hamilton see as the central figures in the emergent American society? 23. To the southern gentry, especially Virginia, what was the ultimate measure of wealth? 24.
What health problem plagued Thomas Jefferson? 25. List one reason why Jefferson wanted to broker a compromise between Hamilton and Madison. 26. What state seemed to have the edge as the future site of the nation’s capital? 27. Who was given the unofficial title “Big Knife” for cutting deals with Congress? 28. What was the geographic midpoint between northern Maine and southern Georgia? 29. Was the Hamilton, Madison, and Jefferson “dinner” the only secret political meeting or dinner in the late spring and early summer of 1790? 30. What founding father ultimately selected the exact site for Washington, D.
C.? 31 . Who led the Virginia attack against the passage of the Assumption Bill? 32. The first session of Congress was held in what new but temporary national capital city? 33. Historically, which have power to be the most daunting task – securing a revolt or winning a revolution? Why? 34. Was the selection of Washington, D. C. As the new national capital a victory of diffusion or victory of consolidation? Chapter 3 Founding Brothers: The Silence 1. On February 11, 1790, two Quaker delegates to Congress presented a petition tend what practice? 2.
The United States Constitution said this practice could not be abolished until what year? 3. The Pennsylvania Abolition Society made two new points in their petition for the abolition of slavery. Name one. 4. The Pennsylvania Abolition Society’s appeal to Congress arrived under the signature of what ‘founding brother”? 5. All the southern states had ratified the Constitution with what understanding as a primal precondition? 6. Southern legates proclaimed what two “documents” endorsed slavery? 7. Why did John Page of Pennsylvania believe silence on the end to slavery and the slave trade were dangerous? 8.
What United States document gave lyrical expression to a widespread belief that a general emancipation of slaves was both imminent and inevitable? 9. What was the first state to declare slavery illegal within its border? 10. What did James Madison believe was the most divisive issue at the Constitutional Convention? 11. Name the Maryland representative who gave the most forceful expression against slavery and the Pennsylvania delegate who scribed slavery as an economic curse? Maryland= Pennsylvania= 12. Which southern state had the chief burden of proving the Deep South’s position that those states could not survive without slavery? 3. What was the most important clause of the Northwest Ordinance of 1781? 14. The “Sectional Compromise” saw the Deep South backing a mere majority vote in Congress on federal regulations of commerce in exchange for New England’s agreeing to an extension of the slave trade for years. 15. What state had the largest slave and free black population? 16. South Carolina’s James Jackson called slavery a “necessary ‘ 17. What Thomas Jefferson book did James Jackson and William Leighton Smith use in their arguments against the abolition of slavery? 18. What was the ultimate legacy of the American Revolution on slavery? 19.
When was the first census of the United States? 20. According to the first census what were the only two northern states with a sizeable slave population? 21. What were the two major weaknesses of the antislavery arguments according to the Deep South? 22. What were two assumptions made by those that favored gradual emancipation? 23. Was there a model of a genuinely biracial society anywhere in the world for the United States to study? 4. Which aspect of gradual emancipation seemed the closest to unsolvable – owner compensation or relocation of former slaves? 25. Which “founding brother” seemed to lead the attack on slavery? 6. Name two “founding brothers” who had spoken out against slavery but now desired the debate on slavery in the House of Representatives to end? 27. Who led the behind the scenes political maneuvering that resulted in Congress relinquishing its power to ever ban slavery? 28. Where would the power to regulate slavery (where it existed) be placed? Chapter 4 Founding Brothers: The Farewell 1 . Who was America’s only indispensable character? . George Washington’s announcement he was not going to run for a third term as President of the United States received what title from the “Courier of New Hampshire”? 3.
Washington’s voluntary surrender of the presidency after two terms would not be broken until the election of what president in 1 940? 4. Which constitutional amendment sets the Presidential limit at two terms or 10 years? 5. What is the short answer as to why George Washington decided to retire in 1 796? 6. What is the main charge levied against Washington? 7. By resigning early Washington was declaring his deepest allegiances were horology 8. How can the themes in Washington’s Farewell Address be easily summarized? 9. When George Washington rejected the mantle of emperor who allegedly called him “the greatest man in the world”? 0. Washington believed there was no such thing as a permanent international only permanent national . 11. What was the one big thing Washington knew about America? 12. What was the linchpin of Washington’s foreign policy? 13. What 1794 Treaty dissolved the Franco-American Alliance of 1778? 14. Did the House of Representatives pass Jay’s treaty? 15. Thomas Jefferson denounced Washington’s quenching of the Rebellion in 1794. 16. In the 1 sass was Thomas Jefferson an Anglophile or a Francophone? 17. Who orchestrated the campaign of vilification against George Washington? 18.
List any two of the labels that have been used to describe the different visions of America’s abiding national interest during this period. 19. Who was the most pro-French example of Republican mentality? 20. What three features did George Washington want to set into his Farewell Address? 21 . Washington’s Farewell Address was a collaborative effort between what three men? 22. Did Washington’s campaign for a national university succeed? 23. How did Washington advise America it could manage its way through the post-Washington phase of development? 24. What was the only dark spot on America’s political horizon in December 1797? 25.
Did Washington believe the power of the federal government needed to be enlarged or reduced in the wake of his retirement? 26. What was the largest constituency that was excluded from Washington’s Farewell Address? 27. List one-way Washington differed from Madison and Jefferson in his views toward African Americans? 28. What provision was made for Washington’s slaves in his will? 29. In his “Address to the Cherokee Nation” what was the only realistic solution to the clash between whites and Native Americans according to Washington? 30. What state became the homeland of the Republican opposition during George Washington’s retirement? 1. When did George Washington die? Chapter 5 Founding Brothers: Collaborators 1. Did candidates for public office openly solicit votes in the late 17th /early 18th centuries? 2. Who were the “candidates for president in 1796? 3. What event had originally brought these two men together? 4. Who did John Adams marry in 1764? 5. At the time of the Constitutional Convention, who were the two leading outspoken opponents of England? 6. List any two services to America performed by John Adams prior to becoming the nation’s first vice-president. 7. What two duties does the vice-president possess according to the Constitutional? . Was John Adams an active participant in the formulation of the policies of the Washington administration? 9. Thomas Jefferson support for what European event drove a severe wedge in his friendship with John Adams? 10. Which constitutional amendment mandated a vote for one ticket of a presidential and vice presidential candidate? 11. Match the man who ran for president in 1796 and the man he was teamed with? John Adams a. Alexander Hamilton Thomas Jefferson b. Thomas Pinkeye 12. Who won the 1796 presidential election and who became his vice-president?
President – Vice President – 13. How did John Adams let it be known that his Federalist administration would be bipartisan at least in foreign policy? 14. Why did Thomas Jefferson not allow himself to be drawn into the policy-making decisions of the John Adams administration? 15. Who was John Dam’s Federalist cabinet most loyal to? 16. In what two ways did John Dam’s handle the undeclared naval war with French privateers? 17. During John Dam’s administration who was the deader of the political opposition? 18. Name one of the two early controversial appointments made by John Adams? 19.
The three French officials who demanded a bribe as a prerequisite for treaty negotiations with the American delegation became known as 20. The passage of what piece of legislation proved to be the biggest blunder of John Dam’s presidency? 21. Who played a decisive role in persuading John Adams to support the Alien and Sedition Acts? 22. What was the most significant and successful decision of the Dam’s presidency? 23. Was the 1799 Franco-American treaty popular with Adams own political party? 24. List one reason John Adams sent the peace delegation to France in 1 799? 25. Who was James Calendar? 6. What was the core problem Jefferson, Madison, and the Republicans had with the Federalists? 27. Who were the authors of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolves (Resolutions)? 28. What were Jefferson two arguments against the Sedition Act? 29. What modern doctrine does James Madison arguments against the Sedition Act lead to? 30. What virtually assured the Republican victory over the Federalists in the 1800 Presidential election? 31 . Who was elected president and vice- president in 1800? 32. What became of the Federalist Party? 33. What was the last major duty of the Dam’s presidency?
Chapter 6 Founding Brothers: The Friendship 1. In the first year of his retirement, who were the two men at the top of John Dam’s enemies list? 2. What was John Dam’s most enduring anti-Jefferson legacy? 3. After the death of Jefferson youngest daughter, who authored a series of letter exchanges with Thomas Jefferson? 4. The Dam’s “team” leveled two charges against Jefferson political honor. What were they? 5. Which Jefferson term in office is considered to be the most successful – the first or second? 6. Who led the debate in Congress that led to the passage of the Declaration f Independence? 7.
Who did Benjamin Franklin correspond with during his retirement in a series of letters which discussed the two men’s “dreams’? 8. Is there a distinction between history experienced and history remembered? 9. John Adams believed that the founding fathers from which state were the chief beneficiaries of all the highly stylized and romanticizes histories? 10. Recent scholarships have suggested that John Adams suffered from hyperthyroidism. This disease leads to a congenital inability to do what? 11. Name two misguided propositions about European affairs that Jefferson wholeheartedly believed in he sass. 2. Who recounted a dream to John Adams that he had of Adams and Jefferson? This helped rekindle Adams and Jefferson friendship through correspondence. 13. Did Jefferson write Adams first or vice-versa? 14. Adams and Jefferson exchanged how many more letters over the next fourteen years? 15. Why did Adams take the first step and begin writing Jefferson? 16. What was incredible about the deaths of Adams and Jefferson? 17. In his letters, who did Thomas Jefferson blame for the breakup of the Adams- Jefferson friendship? 18. Who set the intellectual agenda for the Adams-Jefferson correspondence? 19.