Ellis analyzes the "eight most prominent political leaders in the early republic" and the controversial issues and struggles they overcame to form our nation. Ellis uses these self-contained narratives to capture his objective of illustrating how the infant nation was shaped through a revolution, in contrast to evolution. Ellis attains his goal of capturing each of these six moments by using every perspective and as much evidence as possible to tell the story of America's beginnings in its entirety. .
Throughout the novel, Ellis conveys the conflicts between eight statesmen that have interconnected personal relationships and as a result of their conflicts our nation was shaped. In the first chapter, Ellis writes of Hamilton and Burr's duel as a result of their rival political past. .
"Burr was there because Hamilton had been libeling him throughout their criss-crossing careers in public life if he [Hamilton] did not answer Burr's challenge, he would be repudiating his well-known convictions, and in so doing, he would lose the respect of those political colleagues on whom his reputation depended If Burr went to Weehawken out of frustration, Hamilton went out of a combination of ambition and insecurity." P.38 .
Hamilton dies as a result of their dispute, as did Burr's political career. Their conflict also served as a dramatic lesson in turning the tide against the practice of dueling. However, Ellis shows that conflicts were copious between all of these intertwined statesmen. For example, Ellis writes of Hamilton's conflicting ideologies with Madison that ended in fixing America's financial dispute. In the second chapter, Hamilton proposes his nationalistic fiscal policy at dinner one night at Jefferson's. .
"Hamilton was both surprised and mystified when Madison came out against his funding scheme." p. 56 .
Through the personal clash between Hamilton and Madison over Hamilton's plan, a compromise was made.
