The Founding Fathers : An Age Of Realism

Fisher Ames was one of the great founding fathers who helped start the United States of America. Although citizens today may not hear or know much about him he is as much a part of the history of this nation as other more known men such as Thomas Jefferson. Ames was a good man who did not want conflict and enjoyed the simple things in life. This is seen in the following quote: “…in his distaste for publick diversions, and his preference of simple pleasures” (Ames 1809, page ix). All in all, fisher Ames had an interesting background, important views on Christianity and the Bible and how they relate to government, as well as equally important views on government in general.

The reasoning behind the Constitution of the United States is presented as 'based upon the philosophy of Hobbes and the religion of Calvin. It assumes the natural state of mankind in a state of war, and that the carnal mind is at enmity with God.' Throughout, the struggle between democracy and tyranny is discussed as the Founding Fathers who envisioned the Constitution in Philadelphia in 1787 believed not in total democracy, but instead saw common man as selfish and contemptuous, and therefore in need of a 'a good political constitution to control him.' Being a largely propertied body, with the exception of William Few, who was the

When asked if the Founding Fathers were democratic reformers, the likely response is that yes, they were, because they believed in democracy and strove to create a nation that would be successfully governed by the people. Although this answer may be correct, the debate between historians on this subject shows that the motives of the Founding Fathers cannot be so easily discerned. According to historian Alfred F. Young, the Founding Fathers were not democratic reformers because they were elites and did not represent the interests of the general public, because they admired the British model of a strong national government that protected the wealthy from the people, and because they only included democratic accommodations to ensure that the people

The Founding Fathers: A Reform Caucus in Action, written by John P. Roche, addressed the difficulty that the Founding Fathers had in constructing the U.S. Constitution because of the high level of stress they received and the limited amount of time that they had to carry out the formation of this document while keeping the best interest of the country as a priority. John P. Roche starts of by commenting on why the creation of the Constitution was so effective and how the Articles of Confederation benefitted the ratification of the new U.S. Government. As it turns out, the delegates elected to attend Pennsylvania were mainly people who had served in Congress and had experience in the weakness of the Articles in granting too little power to the national government. In addition, the delegates were appointed by the state legislatures, not by the people, as justified by the Articles of Confederation.

Chapter one of The American Political Tradition by Richard Hofstadter is centered on the Founding Fathers. The very beginning of the chapter says that the Constitutional Convention was trying to create a government that would pay debts and avoid currency inflation. The Democratic ideas that the Founding Fathers were so against appealed mostly to less privileged classes, and not at all to the higher classes. This chapter says that the Founding Fathers thought that if no constitutional balance were achieved, one specific class or would take over others. Three advantages of a good constitutional government were listed in this chapter as well. One: keep order against majority rule. Two: a representative government. Three: aristocracy and democracy

When writing the Constitution, one of the most prominent arguments focused on whether America should be considered a Democracy. A large percentage of the founding fathers feared the term “Democracy” because they strongly believed that if the people had control, then there would be disorder and violence. As James Madison stated in Federalist No. 10,

During the ratification of the Constitution, Paine was in France helping the revolution, so he was not able to campaign against the document in the United States. Nevertheless this did not stop him from voicing his critiques. Many of Paine’s complaints about the Constitution stem from the differing viewpoints the founding fathers had on human nature versus his own. Whereas Paine had faith in man’s ability to reasoning and self-governing, the founding fathers saw mankind as selfish and inclined towards conflict, incapable of making governing decisions on their own (Parsons, William B 95). It is this belief of the founding fathers that led them to create many of the standout features of the constitution. These features include the bicameral legislature, the powerful executive position, the need for a judiciary branch, and the series of checks and balances put in place throughout government. Paine saw many of these features as unnecessary and crippling to a true democratic system. He stressed the fact that the only true important branch of government was the legislative branch, which would be run by the will of the people in representation. Paine believed that the Constitution took too much power away from the people and hindered the democratic system. According to Paine, all men are equally capable of reasoning, so having a powerful executive position like the president, or a judiciary branch made up of a few wise men made to interpret the laws governing the people, were both backwards and unneeded (Parsons, William B 97). Because of his basic faith in human capabilities to self-govern, Thomas Paine was opposed to the Constitution and the many “big government” features it contains. Although the Constitution still supports a democratic system, it was not Democratic up to Paine’s standards and he

Richard Hofstadter examines the political beliefs of the founding fathers in the first chapter of the American Political Tradition. Ideas thought about by most Americans to be the center of our organization, our founders viewed liberty, democracy, and property, as evil. The composition can be depicted to be vicious as well, because liberty, democracy, and property are linked to the United States Constitution.

In offering alternative interpretations of the origins of the Constitution, the author accomplishes his secondary purpose, to make the reader challenge what they know about the framing of the Constitution. Holton details the rebellion of the “Unruly Americans” against the state and national governments, using Adonijah Mathews as an ultimate example of the “common man.” Mathews’ views are presented in order to contrast the views of James Madison, whom it seems the author

The Founding Fathers were not selfless and flawless human beings without any imperfections or personal bias. They were actually members of a political elite that were faced with a crumbling country that was suffering from a myriad of internal and external problems. The political environment after the Revolutionary War forced the new nation to either reform its ineffective government and address the critical issues of the time or else face complete destruction. Consequently, the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution, which created a far stronger and resilient political structure that prevented the United States from disbanding. However, this document was not the ultimate form of democracy that brought freedom to the Western world. Instead,

In chapter one, "The Founding Fathers", Schlosser brings to life the post World War 11 era. He talks about the booming economy and the view that anything was possible. He does mention the Ku Klux Klan once throughout this part of the book, but he never mentions the race issues during this time or the presence of Mexican Americans. What was his motivation of bringing up the Ku Klux Klan at this point in the book? And did he use the founding of Taco Bell as an example of the appropriation of Mexico at the time?

The founding fathers may have been smart but they were lacking of important human qualities. Compared to some of the world leaders we have today, that's no question. Despite being that smart, you would think they would try not to be hypocritical, when writing one of the most important document in the history of the United States. The constitution's preamble is hypocritical, it was then and it is now, but more so in 1789. The Preamble was hypocritical in 1789 because of the voting system that the US had, when the Preamble says “Insure domestic Tranquility”, and when the Preamble says “We the people.”

The Federalist papers as a whole are a defining piece of American history that can never be forgotten. It marks the debate that the founding father s had after the failed articles of confederations about whether our new government should be a strong national government or continue with the states holding the most power. Predominantly written by alexander Hamilton the papers make arguments to the people and opponents on why they should elect to have a strong national government. Without these papers discussing the possible options the founding fathers are leaning towards the general public would not have known what is going on and therefor these are one of the first examples of how the founding fathers really tried to fix their mistakes of the failed articles of confederations and make a viable government that this nation can grow and develop under. Papers 78 and 81 talk about the judicial branch, more specifically paper number 78 focuses on the structure of power and jurisdiction, focusing on the method of appointing judges and the tenure by which they are to hold their office. Paper number 81 focuses on the judiciary authority between different courts and what type of court is the Supreme Court.

The United States had created a new social contract in the form of its Constitution, in which they realized the ideas of Enlightenment. The natural rights of man, and the ideas of liberty, equality, and freedom of religion, were no longer unrealistic Utopian ideals. The framers of U.S Constitution rejected the Greek model of civic republicanism. They distinguished between the notion of “democracy” and their own proposed system of representative democracy. This made the

During the time period in which the Constitution was crafted, in 1787, there were two different types of people, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The Federalists were people who were in favor of the United States Constitution and supported its ratification; they also believed in a strong central government. Key Federalists included Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and George Washington. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists were people who opposed the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and did not like the idea of a strong central government. Some important Anti-Federalists included John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, and Richard Henry Lee. In the following paper I will be discussing the different views of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists when it comes to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, and will be analyzing specific civil liberties and discussing the pros and cons of them.