NOREEN: Our founders were great, but not perfect
In six days we’ll commemorate Thomas Jefferson’s 267th birthday. How would Jefferson view America?
A lot of states’ rights backers and strict constructionists say they know the answer — that Jefferson and the other founders would be highly critical of what America has become.
Let’s walk out on that speculative thin ice.
“Jefferson wouldn’t have wanted to bail out Citibank,” said Paul Harvey, history professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Yet Harvey questions “this whole business about what the founders would do” with regard to numerous issues.
No one then could have envisioned the U.S. becoming a dominant world power and that a strong White House would be required.
Gay marriage?
“They couldn’t have even thought about that,” Harvey said.
But David Kelly, who runs a local group, Liberty on the Rocks, (see my blog) disagrees; he has no trouble concluding “Thomas Jefferson would have supported gay marriage.”
Strict constructionists are uneasy about the concept of an evolving constitution. Harvey and Kelly, though, figure the founders knew changes would be coming.
“They would expect the constitution would have to incorporate the westward migration,” Harvey said, noting that issues such as how to deal with American Indians existed, but unaddressed in the constitution.
The founders — especially those who could have been hanged for signing the Declaration of Independence, deserve our respect, but like today’s leaders, their vision was limited.
All men are created equal? They envisioned an America in which women couldn’t vote and black slaves each would count as only three-fifths of a human being. They knew slavery was going to be a huge issue, but to get the nation started, they were willing to let it slide.
As brave and visionary as Jefferson was, we must remember that he and other founding fathers put their pantaloons on, and took them off, one leg at a time.
Not only was Jefferson a founding father, he was the father of at least one son by his long-time slave, Sally Hemings. Their sexual relationship could be said to have been consensual — to the extent any slave can refuse to consent to anything.
Jefferson’s willingness to bend his beliefs extended beyond the bedroom. As much as he favored states’ rights and limited government and distrusted centralized authority, he pushed hard for the Louisiana Purchase, using his leverage to persuade Congress to spend $10 million on his vision for a vast national empire. It was a great deal with huge, largely unforeseen, implications.
Happy birthday, Mr. President, and thanks for understanding that whatever you might think, we’re going to have to take it from here.
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