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The Philosophies Of The Founding Fathers

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The United States was built among some of the greatest minds the world had ever seen, and to present times there have been comparably few to ever duplicate their genius. While history likes classifying these men into one unified chunk of American History, the Founding Fathers were actually a conglomerate of diverse thinkers. Some of the men believed in the philosophies of John Locke, who stated that humans were born neither good or bad, but with a blank slate. Many other men followed the human theories of Thomas Hobbes and the religion of Calvin, which viewed mankind a naturally flawed and more susceptible to a state of war. Though not all men agreed, the philosophies of Hobbes was the essential belief system that formed the ground on which …show more content…

They believed that because people are instinctively selfish, that people would have a hard time coexisting in a land where all people were supposed to be treated equal. Though the government was created to aid the people, it was also established to teach the people how to “live properly”. The fact that the constitution was written in the mindset that people needed to be, in a sense, controlled is was and remains a controversial topic. Many view the constitution’s favor for the rich, white, and male property owners was not so much of an “easier way to unify a nation” but more of a list of who it was going to be more desireable to govern. These facts aside, in order to instill equality to a newlywed nation, the people were given some basic human rights and the power to choose who was going to represent them in order to still make sure that the people were still the basis of the new government while still having control over them. Although the Fathers did organize a government based on the flaws of citizens, they also realized the innate evil that came from themselves and the people who would work for the future government, and needed to create

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The book, A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution covers many more topics than just the making of the American constitution that Americans know today. It discusses events prior to the constitution that made the founding fathers have to revisit the governmental structure they built. The founding fathers knew that they did not want a big centralized government since that is what they were escaping from in Britain. With that in mind, they gave a lot of power to the state governments, which reinforced the states not wanting to cooperate with each other since no one was really telling them or had the power to tell them to unite under one nationality. But it was a struggle to figure out how to divide up power to not let one section

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Question 1: Based on what is know of the colonies and their self-government, why would written constitutions and representative government appeal to state citizens and the Founding Fathers? The written constitution appealed to the founding fathers because they understood for the new nation to be successful the nation would essentially need a set of rules. As for why representative government appealed to the people is because of past experiences. The colonies has no representation in parliament and this would also be one of the reasons the colonies would want to break away from England.

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Hence Federalists came up with the Bill of Rights as a way to get the Constitution ratified and for people to really see a needed change. The Bill Of Rights which lists specific prohibitions on governmental power, lead the Anti-Federalists to be less fearful of the new Constitution . This guaranteed that the people would still remain to have rights, but the strong central government that the country needed would have to be approved. The 1804 Map of the nation shows that even after the ratification of the United States Constitution there still continued to be “commotion” and dispute in the country.(Document 8) George Washington stated that the people should have a say in the nation and government and everything should not be left to the government to decide.(Document 3) Although George Washington was a Federalist many believed he showed a point of view that seemed to be Anti-Federalists. Many believed that The Bill of Rights needed to be changed and modified and a new document’s time to come into place.

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In his essay ‘The founding fathers: a reform caucus in action', John P. Roche describes the Founding Fathers as practical politicians that were indeed acting on behalf the citizens they represented. Roche states the founding fathers kept in mind everyone's rights while making the Constitution. He explains how James Madison drafted the Virginia Plan. Roche describes it as a ‘Political Masterstroke'.

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There were a lot of people who were not allowed the right or be apart of the creating the constitution because of their color, gender,

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The Great Compromise which was founded at the Constitutional Convention wasn't formed without trouble. Many of the delegates that participated in the convention were wealthy landowners and lawyers, who owned many slaves. They failed to notice the diversity that excited within the nation. As they talked how to repair the Articles of Confederation, issues would arise that would create continuous debates amongst each other. One of the issues that would arise would be the nature of the new government.

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Under the guidance of Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, Federalists became a popular political party at the end of George Washington’s term. As a proud Federalists in the United States under Washington, a numerous amount of hypocrisy has consumed the population on, “What were Federalists’ views?” A Federalist strongly believed in the power of the national/central government because it would have yielded stability to the country. Instead of a democracy or popular sovereignty, an “aristocratic leader,” would have best led the nation (History in the Making- Chapter 10).

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In The Founding Fathers Reconsidered, R. B. Bernstein is seeking to remove the Founding Fathers from their elevated status without knocking them off so that we may look eye-to-eye with them rather than looking up at them. We often only recognize them for their achievements and praise them for what they have done. We do not take the time to make counter accusations against them and not only see their successes but also their failures. Bernstein is not trying to take away their achievements and label them as bad people, rather he is just trying to get a clearer picture regarding what they did. Bernstein takes the time to look at how we see them today and the words and meanings we use when talking about them.

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Starting with the pre-revolutionary era Americans have faced many challenges on the issue of balancing power between the people and the government. However, the biggest challenge of finding and defining the American nation stood in front of the people as they gained their independence from Britain after the American Revolution. Some of the intelligent and perceptive group of people took upon the challenge of finding solutions to the problems. Bernard Bailyn, the author of the book titled, “To Begin the World Anew: The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders” attempts to edify the audience of the prodigies and obscurities of the American founders. He does this by providing five separate studies that focus on the same purpose and the

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There was a division among the people as to whether or not individual rights should be included in the Constitution. The Anti-Federalist did not want a strong centralized government. Others wanted the guarantee of a written document that protected the freedoms they had fought so hard to earn. The Bill of Rights was designed to protect the right citizens believed belonged to them.

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After the Constitution was sent to states for ratification, the people felt the Constitution did not protect the natural rights of the American citizens. The cause or reason for this addition to the Constitution was to ensure that the rights detailed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were not thought to be the only possible rights of American citizens. The Anti-Federalists, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and George Mason, said that if certain rights weren't specifically granted to the people, the government would easily take over these rights and abuse the people in the country. The Federalists, George Washington, John Adams, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, said that the Constitution give the government to do things that were

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The founding fathers were smart men who the world looked up to because of their smart decisions, actions, that directed the U.S. to what it is today. But sadly in today’s society most people either have forgotten the things they did for us, or they just do not care. The founding fathers were great men who led this country to victory in war and on the political front. And often early U.S. history is portrayed as moving smoothly for the colonies turning into the a country of its own , but in reality it was just the opposite. George Washington our first president had problems figuring out ways to control the new nation as it progressed under his leadership.

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The founding fathers believed that the government’s purpose was to secure the unalienable rights of American citizens to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by protecting them against violations by foreign enemies. Although, the progressives believed that the purpose of the government was to give people the benefit of the programs the government have, while making the people more socially responsible. The Founding Fathers believed it was for the greater good of everyone to be free and do things on their own. They thought that if people had less rules and were able to do whatever they want there would be and inequality of the wealthiness.

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The Anti- Federalists claimed the Constitution gave the central government an excessive amount of power, and while not a Bill of Rights the folks would be in danger of oppression. Both Hamilton and Madison argued that the Constitution did not want a Bill of Rights, that it might produce a "parchment barrier" that restricted the rights of the folks, as critical protective

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They felt the Constitution would create a system of federalism, a system in which the national government holds significant power, but the smaller political subdivisions also hold significant power. They felt the country needed a strong central government so that it didn’t fall apart. The Ant-Federalists were on the opposing side, they felt the Constitution granted the government too much power. They also felt there wasn’t enough protection of their right with an absent Bill of Rights. Another concern of the Anti-Federalists mainly came from the lower classes, from their standpoint they thought the wealthy class would be in main control and gain the most benefits from the ratification of this document.

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