The Importance of Creativity in the American Republic

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"When you write as well as you do, you can even get people to read the books," he says. "My intention here is to suggest that the story of the founding isn't a melodrama ... It's an epic in which irony and paradox are the dominant values" The book looks at five triumphs and two tragedies during the last quarter of the 18th century.

Joseph Ellis, of Mt. Holyoke College and author of American Creation, talks about the triumphs and tragedies of the founding of the United States. His goal in the book and in this podcast is to tell a story for grownups rather than for children, where the Founders are neither saints nor evil white, patriarchal slave-holding demons. It is a nuanced story of triumph--a military victory over a seemingly unbeatable vastly more experienced army, the creation of the first geographically large republic, a nation without a state religion, a nation that creates a party system with a loyal opposition, a Constitution with the virtues of ambiguous sovereignty, and tragedy--the failure to resolve the slavery issue, and the tragic conflict with the Native Americans. Some of these outcomes were intended by the Founders, others emerged unintended.