Joseph J. Ellis.

American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the

Republic. New York: First Vintage Books. 2008. xi + 283 pp.

Was the founding of the American republic a monumental event in history? Were the

founding fathers demigods, racist villains or something in between? “Put simply, how did the

American founding happen?” (p. x). Joseph Ellis ventures to answer this question in American

Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic. He continues the work he

began in Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, by focusing on the founding

generation, their accomplishments, and their failures. American Creation postulates that the last

quarter of the 18th century was the “most politically creative in history,” because of five

remarkable deeds that culminated in the birth and survival of the infant American Republic: the

successful orchestration of the first war for colonial independence, establishment of the first

nation sized republic, creation of the first secular state, establishment of sovereignty with the

people rather than a singular entity, and the creation a political mechanism so that debate could

become constructive and pedagogical rather than treasonous; however, great deeds are often

surrounded by tragedy. The founders committed two heinous sins of omission by not

guaranteeing the abolishment of slavery and by not finding an equitable resolution for the Native

Americans.

So how did the founders do it? American Creation argues that the founders’

achievements should not be credited to some deific character trait, nor should the tragedies be

blamed upon them, as the heinous results of a group of tyrannical old dead white men. Ellis

believes the successes and the tragedies of the founders were “attributable to their ideological

and even temperamental diversity;” simply that “the American founding was, and still is, a group

portrait” (p. 16). Context for his conclusion is offered via a brief commentary on the opinions of

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three other historians and an acknowledgment that conventional wisdom today asserts the

founding as “inhabited only by heroes and villains” (p. 17).

The book journeys through the founding years, defined as roughly 1775 through 1803,

with a compelling narrative that exposes the “recurrent themes,” or American assets, of time,

space, and pragmatic political creativity, by which the founders accomplished so much. By

highlighting the year leading up to the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary war, the

creation and ratification of the constitution and the bill of rights (which he designates as “The

Argument), and the Louisiana Purchase, Ellis shows how the founders judiciously used these

assets to create an independent nation, guarantee it’s short term survival, and plant the seed that

would see the American Republic grow into an ocean to ocean empire.

Ellis laments that these assets were not brought to bear in any meaningful way to solve

the issues of slavery or provide an equitable resolution for the Native Americans. He declares

that the success of the first colonial war for independence of the modern era became an

overwhelming “calamity” for the Native Americans (p. 127). The extraordinary asset, pragmatic

political creativity, was never applied. Ellis portrays the general feeling of the founders on the

Native American issue by quoting correspondence from Secretary of War, Henry Knox to

President George Washington, that to “dispossess” the Indians “would be a gross violation of the

Laws of Nature;” however, the Native American problem ultimately proved insoluble for the

founders (pp. 128-129). The power to solve this problem was not within the grasp of the

political leaders, “ultimately the power lay with those white settlers streaming into . . . Indian

Country” (p. 130).

American Creation describes the 15 months prior to the penning of the declaration of

independence as, the final steps on a slow journey from the French and Indian war to the start of

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the American Revolution. Ellis explains that the American Revolution was not a revolution at

all; it was “a war for colonial independence . . . not a fundamental shift in social order that left a

world changed forever” (p. 21). Considering the use of the asset “time,” Ellis explains that most

revolutions are normally full of fast paced events, radical social changes and that the key players

are in a hurry to make things happen; however, the political ability of the founding generation to

“make an explosion happen in slow motion” or harness time to their benefit “allowed the United

States to avoid the bloody and chaotic fate of subsequent revolutionary movements in France,

Russia and China” (pp. 20-22). The asset of time, allowed the Continental Congress and the

colonist to come to the conclusion, of their own volition, that the fight and struggle for American

independence was inevitable. The text does not explain how the founders knew, that for success,

they should “make an explosion happen in slow motion.” Obviously, they were not aware of the

“bloody and chaotic fate” that would befall later revolutions.

The years between 1786 and 1788 “can make a plausible claim to being the most creative

moment in all of American political history,” thus begins “The Argument” (p. 90). “The

Argument,” as Ellis titles it, is the story of the creative political maneuverings and pragmatic

compromises of the founders, otherwise known as, the constitution and the bill of rights. This

moment resulted in: the founding of the first nation sized republic, the first secular state,

establishment of sovereignty with the people instead of a singular entity, and the creation of a

framework for ongoing peaceful political argument. Ellis gives us glimpses of the pragmatic

creativity that was brought to bear, by focusing on the story of constitutional ratification,

specifically in Virginia. He offers the “un-resolvable issue of . . . federal versus state

sovereignty” as the starting line from which the purpose of government became not the “ultimate

arbiter” but a framework for ongoing argument (pp. 242-243).

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 American Creation provides an excellent general introduction to the five core

achievements of the founders and their use of time, space and pragmatic political creativity as

uniquely American assets in the establishment of the Republic. In observing the political process

of the 1790’s Ellis reinforces the importance of the “modern argumentative context” the founders

created. Modern Americans would be well served to seek an understanding and gain knowledge

of the debates between the founders; this understanding and knowledge would provide valuable

context for the partisanship we see in politics today. The political argument of today makes sure

that the “ideological and . . . temperamental diversity” that characterized the successes of the

founders continues into the future.

Although it has many strengths American Creation contains a serious flaw, a lack of

depth. Ellis makes several critical observations, yet does not expand the narrative to include a

thorough analysis nor reasoned conclusions from these observations. For example, he makes the

observation that America was actually founded twice: once, in 1776, as a radical revolution

rejecting the idea that sovereignty resided with King George, through the penning of the

Declaration of Independence and again in 1787-1788l, where the founders put in place a central

government, not as the location of sovereignty but as the “essential protector of liberty” (p. 9).

Many questions are left unanswered about this observation and others throughout the book.

Like, how did the people (populous) move from subjects of King George in 1775, to

revolutionaries throwing off the shackles of a central authority in 1776, and then to supporters of

a central government as the “protector” in 1887? Why was the distinction between democratic

government and republic government important to the founders? Could the American founding

have happened as a democracy?

Ellis’ work offers an introduction to a few specific American events, people and ideas of

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the last 25 years of the 18th century. He illustrates why the founding of the American Republic

was a seminal event in history via the five core foundational achievements: the successful

orchestration of the first war for colonial independence, establishment of the first nation sized

republic, creation of the first secular state, establishment of sovereignty with the people rather

than a singular entity, and the creation a political mechanism so that debate could become

constructive and pedagogical rather than treasonous. He describes the founders’ judicious use of

the key assets of the nation being born: time, space, and pragmatic political creativity. The

heinous stain on the founders’ reputation of slavery and the lack of resolution with the Native

Americans is not swept under the rug by Ellis, but brought out into the light.

Many questions remain unanswered by American Creation: why did the founders chose a

republic and not a democracy, why was the American Revolution played out in slow motion and

how did the people move from on extreme political position to another just to name a few. Even

though Ellis declares that his “stories do not claim to offer either an exhaustive or a wholly

comprehensive account” one is left asking questions and wondering about the complete story,

which may be a good result for a popular introductory book about the founding of America.

William R. Cox, American Public University