The Myths Of The Founders

 Every Fourth of July, we get a new round of mythologizing the generation of men who founded the country.

For the record, the human reality of these people is that they were...people. Some examples:

John Adams' son became an alcoholic and gambling addict and died young, largely because Adams was a harsh and absent parent.

Benjamin Rush's son wound up an alcoholic and a mental patient and Rush's own asylum.

Alexander Hamilton's son died in a duel, and he was involved in a very messy public adultery case with Maria Reynolds.

Thomas Jefferson fathered illegitimate children with his slave, Sally Hemmings.

George Washington was most likely a serial adulterer, though that's never been proven.

Oddly enough, one of the few people in that generation who appears to be a pretty good father was Aaron Burr, who was otherwise a massive, suppurating asshole.

The Founders' views on slavery can be roughly categorized in the following way.

A few came to feel that it was inhuman or simply incompatible with America's professed ideals (Franklin, Rush, Lafayette, maybe Adams).

A few came to feel it impeded America's progress (Hamilton).

A few felt it was probably bad, but their livelihoods were tied up in it (Washington, Jefferson sort of, Madison, Monroe)

A few felt it was probably bad, but Blacks were so inferior to Whites that emancipation was impossible (Jefferson, Monroe, John Marshall).

Many others felt that slavery was a good thing, because of White Supremacy (Patrick Henry, pretty much anyone from South Carolina).

Probably all but a few knew that slavery would break apart the country, so they buried it. These "men of vision" weren't wrong, but by kicking the can down the country they made the bloodiness of the Civil War inevitable.

They also weren't Supergeniuses. The Madisonian system of government was more or less adequate for the late 18th and early 19th century - Madison himself said it would be a miracle if it lasted 50 years. As the world became more complex, a more active government became more necessary, yet it would take crises and supermajorities to actually enact change.

Very few countries that emerged into democracy after 1850 chose America's democratic institutions. Presidentialism - a president separately elected from a legislature, each checking the other - has very rarely succeeded in creating long lasting democracies in the developing world. South America seems to be finally teetering towards democracy, but Brazil and Venezuela certainly suggest that it's not a completed process. When America installed democracy in Japan and Iraq, we chose a parliamentary system. Even we know it's not great. And no one, I mean NO ONE, chooses an electoral college.

The accomplishments of the Founding Generation are real. They managed through sheer endurance to win independence from the British Empire. They created a true, geographically large republic for the first time. They created the idea of a written constitutions to establish the rules by which to make the rules. They created the idea of true Bill of Rights. These are very important developments.

Finally, the Tea Party/Patriot Front assholes do have roots in the Founding Generations. Many Americans - after the Constitutions was written and order created in the new country - felt that their Freedumb was too threatened by Washington DC. (Sound familiar?) These people moved out beyond the Appalachians to escape mask mandates taxation. They launched a tax revolt and Washington crushed it with an army larger than the one he commanded at Yorktown.

They also routinely threatened secession. The whole reason Jefferson purchased Louisiana was to get New Orleans so this treasonous assholes wouldn't secede. 

Anyway, Happy Fourth.