Is the current America the nation that the founders wanted? I had a discussion about the issue recently, and this was my conclusion.
To follow the metaphor of “founding fathers,” some parents have very specific desires for their children: to marry a particular person, to continue the father’s profession, to follow the parents’ religion. Those parents are usually disappointed. Other parents want to set their children on a good path and turn them loose. They want their children to be happier and more successful than themselves, and trust their children to find the best path.
Most of the founders would probably be in the second group of parents, proud that the adolescent America they helped establish has grown into an adult nation beyond their dreams. That’s not to say they would like everything they saw. Parents always have disappointments.
The parent metaphor breaks down at some point. Better to imagine grandparents 10 generations back suddenly resurrected. The first response would be stunned confusion. But as these ancestors gradually learned the nation’s history and saw how we got where we are, they might not be as surprised as we expect, since most of them saw great changes in their own lifetimes.
The founders did everything they could to discourage “faction,” but then created political parties even more divided than our own. They saw amazing growth, but also political chaos. They participated in the early stages of the western expansion and the impending slavery disaster. They knew of the steam engine, the cotton gin and other precursors to the coming industrial revolution.
So, the more open-minded founders might not be surprised to see women voting or that we recently had a Black president. They wouldn’t judge our results so much as how we achieved them.
Each founder would have different views on the political changes today. George Washington would be pleased to see “energetic” (a favored description of executive power) presidents, but not so pleased with the foreign entanglements he warned against.
Alexander Hamilton would be thrilled with our military power and world leadership. Thomas Jefferson would appreciate our expansion to the West, but not our moving far beyond being a nation of farmers. Benjamin Franklin would love to play with our cool technology and would be less shocked than others at our social changes.
How would James Madison, the “father” of the Constitution, look on current government? I suspect he would be angry: “We gave you provisions to amend the Constitution. Why didn’t you use them?” We’ve had only 15 amendments (Prohibition excluded) since the Bill of Rights, many of them unimportant. “We passed 12 amendments in the first 20 years,” he might say. “You should have reformed more.”
Madison would have mixed feelings about a more central government — which he supported at the Constitutional Convention, but later opposed as president. He would probably wish some changes had been done by amendment rather than by judicial interpretation.
Of course, this is speculation. Historical what-ifs can be fun and perhaps educational, but the Founding Fathers are not here to rate our achievements. We are on our own to decide what we can do to fulfill their hopes and expectations.
People today don’t hesitate to associate their ideas with the founders. Often, the less they know of our early history, the more certain they are of following the founding footsteps. We see this on both sides as people rate the administration of President Donald Trump.
It’s hard to compare Trump to founders like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson or James Madison, but some compare him to Andrew Jackson, who was too young to be a founder. But Jackson changed American society — for better and for worse — as radically as Trump is doing.
Consider the following summary. Is it about Donald Trump or Andrew Jackson?
“He has been described as a populist who promoted faith in the wisdom of the ordinary citizen, as well as an autocratic demagogue who crushed political opposition and trampled the law.”
Ultimately Trump, like Jackson and all political leaders, will be judged by long-term results. Americans may put up with authoritarian tendencies if all of us, including his opponents, become successful and wealthy. So far, the predictions that tariffs, deportation of workers and militarism will lead to inflation, recession and loss of freedom have not been borne out for most of us. But it’s still early.
Are we cursed or blessed to live in times as earth-changing as the founding? All I can predict is that neither liberalism nor conservatism will ever be the same again.
