Thread: What would the founding fathers of the USA think if they could see us now?

being armed and being trained to the proper time to use a weapon are very important. just having a gun is a determent, knowing when and how to use that weapon and letting others know that you are not afraid to use it is the greatest determent of all...

I think our founders would have been appalled, they fought and risked their lives and fortunes to set up a government that derived its just powers from the consent of the governed, but that has morphed into the people derive their just powers(rights) from the consent of the government. The major swing in that direction was the civil war. The south within their rights chose to succeed, the north felt it was their right to preserve the union by any means neccesary. The civil war was not about slavery it was about the federal government coercing sovereign states to bend to their will. I dont see how a federal government that got their power delegated from the states all of a sudden was more powerful than the states.

Jefferson was not agnostic, he was a diest. Same with alot of our founders. They believed in a god, just not the religions that told them there was a god. Jefferson actually rewrote the bible and it was called it the life and morals of jesus of nazareth, it was actually given to new congressmen for around a hundred years. To find out more about a diests belief system see the age of reason by thomas paine(his writing that turned the tide of some of our founders like sam adams against him). I think Jefferson would have been dismayed to see that we are getting to the point that we can only believe what our government says is the truth, no more freedom of thought/conscience.

Franklin would of never accepted a dollar bill, he would be one of the gold hoarders. He made a speech in congress about how turning coins into paper was the same as theft. The coin had a set value based on the weight of the metal in the coin, a dollar was worth whatever it was said to be. His last speech in congress was about how avarice and ambition are the two main movers of humans and if you make a position a place of both power and wealth, you will attract the vilest human beings available. I think he would have been shocked to see how many in government go in middle class and come out millionaires.

Hamilton would have loved what he saw,since this is his vision of the government he had. According to Jefferson and John Adams he looked up to the british model as the gold standard. He loved the corruption inherent in that system and felt it could be used to control the governmental players. He came up through the military so he believed in the most efficient government which usually means big and powerfull with few checks.

Washington was a far more principled man than hamilton but shared a lot of the same beliefs. He felt handicapped by not having a more powerful central government during the war. If I remember right he was the only sitting president to lead troops against the citizenery when he took 10,000 troops to Mass. to put down the rebelion of Shays, though I would like to point out that it was done at the request of the govenor of the state of Mass, unlike when Lincoln used troops to control the southern states.

I think if our founders where alive today they would ask why did we fight for it, we are right back where we were before the war with britain. I also think they would ask us why we didnt pay attention to all their dire warnings. It seems to me the more I read of history that they were more prophets than politicians since most of their predictions have come true, they atleast new far more about human behaviour than we ever will. They understood that absolute power corrupts absolutely, therefore they gave the federal government very limited powers, and as the constitution says if its not listed they dont have the power to do it. To bad politicians these days love to make new laws even though they cant read the original law that controls them(constitution).

Sorry about the rant, but american history is my favorite subject.

-Jason

Actually, Washington was not the only sitting president to lead troops against citizens. Lincoln actually went into the field and led one mission during the civil war. Washington was certainly justified in feeling disadvantaged by a weak central government. He repeatedly asked for aid the government did not send. It wasn't until the congress gave him full authority in the field that he was able to see the backs of those red coats. As for middle class millionaires, sad but true. It's become obvious that by now, some animals are more equal than others.