In Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation, the author, Joseph, J. Ellis concentrates on six landmark moments of the new nation of America at its "infant" stage. Throughout the book, Ellis presents the events as they occurred in history, how they occurred, the responses of the vanguard figures of the Revolutionary era, and perhaps some conclusions based on how those events occurred. These events are presented in the form of six chapters, which include Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr's famous but deadly duel; the secret dinner at which the location of the capitol was determined; the issue of the most defining and central problem of slavery; Washington's Farewell Address; the collaboration of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams; and finally the renewed friendship between that collaboration. All of this by Ellis is just plain history as it was, but in between the history, you get tidbits of the author's main idea.
             What I thought to be Ellis' main idea, I gathered mostly from his preface, The Generation. Here, he talks about the meaning of the Revolution and the improbability of the achievement of the republican legacy, and yet the inevitably of it occurring. This view is expressed in the first sentence of the book, or preface, and he goes on to explain this improbability by saying how it was common sense that an island could not rule a continent, and presents arguments such as rebellions against imperial domination (British army and navy... "constituted the most powerful military force in the world") had never occurred, until now that is. Because of this improbability, Ellis' purpose seems to be that of trying to get the reader to understand the real magnitude of such an improbability actually occurring in our history. You get that idea when he says, "These legacies are so familiar to us, we are so accustomed to taking their success for granted, that the era in which they were bo...