Summary Of The Quartet Orchestrating The Second American Revolution Harvard

Joseph Ellis’s The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 is a factual and historical account of events leading up to the creation of the Constitution of the United States of America as well as the unification of the states. This historical narrative centers on four prominent politicians, George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, who are credited with creating the American republic. These statesmen shared many commonalities as they were all deeply invested in the American Revolution, found deficiencies within the Articles of Confederation, and yearned for a modified constitutional framework that would sustain the American republic. Though the founding fathers formulated one objective, to form

He did not perceive the founding fathers to be experimental in nature. Ellis introduces each member of “The Quartet” with high praises, calling attention upon Washington’s organizational abilities, Hamilton’s financial skills, Madison’s drafting abilities, and Jay’s diplomacy tactics. Ellis advocated that through the superior leadership of each member, the creation of the American republic was inevitable. He argues, “To say, then, that ratification represented a clear statement about the will of the American people in 1787-1788 would be grossly misleading. What ratification really represented was triumph of superior organization, more talented leadership, and a political process that had been designed from the start to define the options narrowly” (Ellis 174). Each member excelled in his own field and persuaded fellow colleagues and the American people for the need for a document to replace the Articles of Confederation. Ellis additionally expounded on the built-in advantages these founding fathers had. He stressed upon their strengths, such as their ability to convene with similar ideas, versatility in many fields, persuading members of the opposition, and developing tactical propositions. After the founding fathers defeated Patrick Henry, a strong adversary and a harsh critic to the Constitution, Ellis wrote, “For better and for worse, the Constitution was destined to become the law of the land” (Ellis 187). These innate built-in advantages of the founding fathers were what helped them to achieve their goals. After analyzing these traits, Ellis concluded that the creation of the republic and the success of the founding fathers was indeed a special destiny, which was bound to