The founding of the United States went through a difficult time uniting an entire nation. The United States, at many points, was almost doomed to failure. Many beneficial decisions and people have kept what is now known as America alive. Some of the most unexpected people who helped shape the United States were Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Unlike any other feud between politicians of the era that ended with choice words, Burr and Hamilton ended in death. Many pivotal moments occurred during America's early years and for much of the time America was simply a dream that many thought would never come true. Without the influence of the men who shaped the nation, this type of "experiment" would have failed. Founding Brothers writer Joseph Ellis describes two phases that were pivotal moments in America's history. The first was the drafting of the Constitution. It states that “…the primary purpose of the Constitution was to provide the structure for bringing together the scattered sectors of the population into a more coherent collective worthy of that designation.” (Ellis 10). At that time the United States still felt tied to Great Britain. People still had the idea that the government would become too powerful and take over their freedom. Others thought that if people had a lot of power, everything would spiral out of control. The other was the identity of the nation (Ellis 10). These two factors presented the founding fathers with a dilemma. How would they appease all the states and unite the nation? The founders had to unite for the same cause and unify themselves before they could unify a nation. However, not all of the founders were united and this caused problems with the central unit that had to be formed for the founding of the nation.... ..middle sheet......the United States is still united today. No matter how many corrupt politicians or unvirtuous men take office, the men who created the Constitution created a document that would keep the people united enough to fight against it and the people would prevail. Hamilton defended the narrow-minded idea of ​​republicanism even though there was no certainty that it would prevail. Burr was a threat to the republic and was corrupt enough to break what little unity America had. Even though the founding fathers were considered wealthy white men who only cared for their own personal needs, they are the ones who unified the nation when no one else would. Their form of checks and balances with each other was central to the checks and balances in the Constitution. Without these men the United States would be something different and would not have the same independence as it does today.