Preface: The Generation-

1. The key insights acknowledged in varying degrees by the revolutionary generation were
that America had the possibility to be a great nation due to the isolation and natural
resources. Also, they realized that Britain couldnt control such a large population/nation
forever.
2. The two interpretations are one, the revolution was a break from a corrupt monarchy, and
two, the revolution was a developing, somewhat hidden national movement within the
colonial era.
3. The founding brothers were successful because of the diverse personalities and ideologies,
they all knew each other on a personal level, the threatening issues were kept off the
agenda, and the figures of the revolution seem mythologically heroic
4. He refers to them as Founding Brothers because it conveys the sense of connection the
individuals shared with each other, rather than the sense of superiority the word father
gives. Brothers shows a greater equality in the connection of the men.
Chapter One: The Duel (July 11, 1804)-
1. It was legendary because it was the most famous encounter of its kind, the duel ended in
both participants being causalities.
2. Their 15 year relationship was hostile. In 1789, when Burr accepted the office of attorney
general after campaigning for Hamiltons candidate- who lost- the shift in loyalty by Burr
caught Hamiltons attention. Burr also used his voice in the senate to oppose Hamiltons
fiscal program, and the problems escalated from there.
3. Hamilton calls Burr the Catiline of America because he claimed that if Burr can he will
certainly disturb our own institutions to secure himself permanent power and with it
wealth. He is a treacherous man.
4. The conspiracy hatched was to recruit Burr in a scheme in which New England would
succeed after Jeffersons reelection and capture New York to create a Federalist controlled
confederacy of Northern States.
Chapter 2: The Dinner (June 20, 1790)-
1. The members of the dinner were James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander
Hamilton. The agenda was the financial plan for the United States.
2. The issue of assumption was the fact that the government would take on (assume) all the
debt accumulated by all the states. Even though Madison first thought it was a good deal, he
later saw it as an alarming idea.
3. Hamiltons plan for debt reconciliation was federal government assuming all the debt of the
states, and use government funding to pay it off.
4. Madisons objections to assumption were economic injustices against states thatd already
paid most of their war time debt, and it gave the government power over the economies of
all the states.
5. The residency question was the question of where the capitol would be located. The
question was finally resolved due to Madison and Jeffersons efforts, and the capitol was
placed on the Potomac.
6. The compromise was, in exchange for Hamilton supporting the Potomac site for the capitol,
Madison would no longer block assumption in Congress and would deliver the important
Virginia votes for the idea.
7. The economic status of the young United States was a confusing one, with all the different
ideas for what to do about previous debt, from the war and such (considering that was is
one of the most [if not the most] expensive thing a country can do).
8. They wanted it to look like Hamiltons idea, and they used the argument that it was much
closer in proximity to George Washingtons home at Mount Vernon.
Chapter 3: The Silence (February 11, 1790)-
1. Two Quaker delegations from New York and Philadelphia put forth a petition for the
immediate end of the African slave trade.
2. Smith and Jackson both argued that the slave trade was something in the economy that had
to happen before other things could get done, and if this precondition was not met, the
states and nation could not prosper.
3. Laurance and Gerrys counterargument claimed that while the constitution had temporary
protection for slavery, it was going to end sooner or later because it could not survive in the
long run.
4. The proposals for gradual emancipation were that slave owners would be compensated,
then most of the free slaves would be moved elsewhere, such as to Sierra Leone or the
American West.
5. Franklins role in the debate was as an anti-slavery advocate. He was president of the
Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and he made anti-slavery the final project of his life. Under a
pseudonym, he published a parody of Jacksons speech.
6. What Ellis meant when he said that Madisons position on slavery captured the essence of
what might be called the Virginia straddle was that he saw the proslavery arguments as
shamefully indecent but he also thought the efforts to end slavery were premature and
counterproductive.
7. The tragedy that happened because of the Founding Fathers refusal to end slavery was The
Civil War
8. Jeffersons original draft of the Declaration of Independence has a passage which
condemned Britain for the slave trade, stating it as a plot of an evil English Monarch. It
wasnt included because it was the Continental Congress took it out.
9. The Founding Fathers blamed the British for slavery.
10. The reasons why emancipation didnt work is because the compensation amount was too
high (140 million dollars) and there was no place to move the free slaves after they were
emancipated.
Chapter 4: The Farewell-
1. Washington decided to retire for several reasons- his age, lack of stamina to handle political
pressures, and his reputation was also wounded.
2. Jays Treaty is considered a landmark in the shaping of American foreign policy, because it
was a realistic bargain that set up the standards for foreign policies to follow.
3. The rift that developed between Jefferson and Washington was caused by the differing
national visions between Washington & Jefferson.
4. Paine claimed that Washington was either a person who denounced political beliefs or an
imposter, and he questioned whether Washington ever had good principles at all.
5. The Aurora made a charge against Washington by saying that Washington was going to sell
out the American cause (that he was a traitor,) but Benedict Arnold beat him to the punch.
6. The main themes of Washingtons farewell address were excessive partisanship and foreign
alliances.
7. The attempted plot Washingtons officers devised was The Newburgh Conspiracy.
8. Washingtons provision to his will stated that all his slaves should be freed after his wifes
death, and that word was kept. They were released.
9. The one path Washington advised Indians to take was to not contest the expansion of
Americans westward, but to assimilate themselves into the American ways.
Chapter 5: The Collaborators-
1. The strengths of John Adams were hed already been vice president, hed contributed a lot
to the new nation, and he was one of the earliest to advocate for independence. His
weaknesses were that he was unpredictable, stubborn, and very opinionated.
2. Jefferson didnt join in the bipartisan cooperation because he didnt want to have to work
side by side with the federalists of Adams cabinet.
3. Adams responded to the XYZ affair by putting forth the Alien and Sedition Acts, which
would deport foreign born residents, mostly the French, if they disposed the Republican
Party.
4. Adams negotiated an end to the Quasi-War firstly because he distrusted Hamilton. He also
got word from John Quincy that Talleyrand wanted peace with the United States. Lastly, he
got personal satisfaction from defying the party agendas.
5. The primary function of the Jefferson-Madison collaboration was to generate mutual
reinforcement for their assault on the presidency. Their response to the Alien and Sedition
Acts was a pamphlet campaign against what Jefferson called, the reign of witches.
6. Two main criticisms that were untrue were that Adams sent a second delegate to France
because it served his own purposes and not the best interest of the nation, and, that he was
an oppressor/hypocrite (written by Callender.)
7. If the electoral votes ended in a tie, the House of Representatives would determine which
one would be President.
8. Jefferson did not partner with Adams because Adams was now leader of the Federalist
Party, and Jefferson was leader of the opposition.
9. Adams biggest blunder as president came at the very beginning when he kept all the
cabinet members that had served during Washingtons term.
10. Rather than turning to his cabinet, Adams looked towards his wife, Abigail, and other family
and close friends for advice.
11. The measures Jefferson used to discredit Adams included the Kentucky and Virginia
resolutions which claimed that states had a right to nullify the Constitution over injustices
like the Alien and Sedition Acts. Then, after the split between Hamilton and Adams,
Jefferson had John Callender to write articles which ridiculed Adams both personally and
politically. This measure backfired when Callender was arrested under the Alien and
Sedition acts for the articles. Callender believed Jefferson underpaid him, so he published
story of Jeffersons supposed affair with his slave, Sally Hemings.
12. Hamiltons plan was to use the New Army as his own personal instrument of power.
Hamilton was going to march his army through Virginia, and then down to the Louisiana
Territory, Mexico and Peru, liberating all the French and Spanish domination.
13. Jefferson and Madison believed Adams and the Federalists were capturing the government
from the American people because of the expansive agenda for the federal government and
the neutrality that aligned America more with England than with France.
Chapter 6: The Friendship-
1. The significance of the midnight judges was that they were the last judicial appointments
made by Adams before he was succeeded by Jefferson.
2. Jeffersons misguided proportions of European Affairs were that he failed to prevent the
War of 1812, and that The Embargo Act of 1807 was a complete failure.
3. The correspondence between Adams and Jefferson reveals that Adam's political beliefs
supported a strong central government; Jefferson supported that the main political power
be granted to individual states.
4. The dialogue illuminated the issues critical to the early republic because the Party System
dissipated during this period, and the dialogue showed the collapse of the early system. The
number of Federalists was almost nothing and Republican unity was in pieces.