Review: The Founding Fathers

The Founding Fathers by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a collection of four titles: George Washington by James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn, John Adams: The American Presidents Series: The 2nd President, 1797-1801, Thomas Jefferson: The American Presidents Series: The 3rd President, 1801-1809, and James Madison by Gary Wills.

James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States, serving between 1817 and 1825. Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States and it seems a missed opportunity to not include him, considering the title, intent, and repeated introduction by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. to each book.

I have read other biographies of all the subjects as well as books on the era, of course. Each gives me a different view and impression. This time, I felt George Washington came across as quietly elitist and entitled, one that "protests too much" on the burden of leadership - thought still pretty noble and deserving compared to other presidents. John Adams seems always to strike me as unfortunately superficial, but more here I felt the divisiveness of armed bands and secessionist pronouncements of loosely confederated states during this era. Thomas Jefferson, so intelligent and industrious, continues to disappoint as I read more of him backing down from opportunities to lead or be decisive. I feel he was a theorist, even visionary, who could not really put into practice and he seemed to have the most glaring hypocrisy with regard to slavery.

James Madison was the only I really had the dimmest opinion of, and now I feel the oft-forgotten War of 1812 was the more pointless and unfortunate and with Madison's faults there and disreputable approaches to altering the record seems to have a much better view in history than he deserves.

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