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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSFounding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis examines six episodes from the early American republic that together reveal how a small group of leaders held a fragile new nation together through improvisation, personal rivalry, and often bitter disagreement. The cast includes John and Abigail Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. Ellis argues that the founding generation got lucky as much as they got it right: they were making up the rules under pressure, knowing full well that the republican experiment could collapse. Each chapter focuses on a single charged moment, from the duel between Burr and Hamilton to the long-delayed reconciliation of Adams and Jefferson, and together they show a founding era that was contentious, precarious, and anything but inevitable.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book does a survivor say he must go back to speak with the man he has just shot?
✓ Answer
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
Halfway down the path, Burr stopped and pleaded that he must go and speak to the wounded Hamilton. Van Ness refused and shielded Burr behind an umbrella to maintain deniability for any future court case.
- First half
In what book is a private dinner at 57 Maiden Lane offered to break a deadlock between two rivals?
✓ Answer
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
Jefferson had just moved into 57 Maiden Lane in New York City and offered it as the site for the dinner. Ellis notes he made the offer even though a migraine had dogged him for over a month and he had barely settled into the new quarters.
- First half
In what book is one statesman accused of mistaking a humble American river for a Euphrates flowing through paradise?
✓ Answer
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
Fisher Ames of Massachusetts said that the customarily sensible Madison had come under a biblical spell and confused the Potomac with a Euphrates flowing through paradise. Ellis uses the quote to mock Virginia's mythic view of its own river.
- Second half
In what book is a retiring leader described as Zeus, Moses, and Cincinnatus all rolled into one?
✓ Answer
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
Ellis uses this triad to convey Washington's mythic stature in the 1790s. The image sets up the puzzle of a republican leader who looms like a god yet must voluntarily step down.
- Second half
In what book does a Virginia rival call the president America's Samson and Solomon, shorn by the harlot of England?
✓ Answer
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
Jefferson's letter to Phillip Mazzei was the one that wounded the friendship beyond repair. Once it appeared in the newspapers, all correspondence from Mount Vernon to Monticello stopped forever.
- Near the end
In what book does a former president take the four o'clock stage out of town on his successor's inauguration morning?
✓ Answer
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
Rather than ride to the inauguration with Jefferson, Adams left town on the early stage to rejoin Abigail in Quincy. Ellis notes the two men did not exchange another word for twelve years.
