Analysis Of The Founding Fathers: An Age Of Realism

The Founding Fathers: An Age of Realism Richard Hofstadter once said, “A properly deigned state, the Fathers believed, would check interest with interest, class with class, faction with faction, and one branch of government with another in a harmonious system of mutual frustration”. He acknowledges that the Founding Fathers of the USA believe that a properly designed government cancelled out the powerful with power and did not let anyone get ahead. The Founding Fathers believed this because of their experience with human nature. The men who drew up the Constitution believed that “men are selfish and contentious”, and this is why they felt that men cannot and should not govern themselves (in the form of a democracy). The Framer’s based this

The Fathers were working men ranging from merchants to politicians and they had seen human nature on display. From their experiences they felt that human nature led people to selfishness, which leads to want which is the reasoning for the founding father’s belief that the people were unfit to retain a true democracy. A true democracy gives all the power to the people but if the power is vested in the people there is no way that the power will be evenly distributed because of social class. The wealthy have leverage over the poor which defeats the purpose of democracy; to give every person an equal say in his or her government. And so because of human nature’s desire for self-preservation and will to get ahead, the Founding Fathers felt that a true democracy was not a possible form of government. The Founding Fathers also new that they could not change human nature and the government they

The government was to be made in such a way that no group or person could become too powerful. It would force various interests to check and control one another. They believed they needed this because without checks on power, one group or person could rise up with more power than anyone else and change the government into a monarch like model which was the Father’s worst fear. This government was being made to protect the unalienable rights of the people, which the Monarchy did not do, so the Fathers had to guarantee that nobody could legally take those rights away. They still did not want to give the all the power to the people but they felt that it had to originate from the people as Jeremy Belknap said, “Let it stand as a principle that government originates from the people but let it be taught… that they are not able to govern themselves”. So the Father decided that if the people elected representatives to represent them in government it would be giving the people enough power to have a say in government without giving them the chance to destroy the government. The Fathers also felt it was necessary for the government to protect against a popular uprising such as Shay’s Rebellion to protect the people and to protect the government. They decided that if the states were bound together by a central