Hannah Reynolds

Professor H.
American National Politics
May 7
th
2014
The Founders
After the American Constitution was ratified in 1787, it was unclear to many where the
young country was destined to go or what the purpose was for their revolution. To others, such
as the "Founding Brothers the mission was very clear. The "Founding Brothers" were trying to
accomplish a country rooted in individual freedom and patriotism and were successful in
building the stage in which they established.
The first goal for the "Founding Brothers" was to build a society based on individual
freedom and representation. Their emphasis on representation was a key reason the founding
fathers decided to form the new country into a republican form of government. A republic
would ensure that the personal voices would be heard by their selected leaders and their
individual freedoms would not go unnoticed. Individual freedom, along with representation,
were among the prominent reasons the "Founding Brothers" gave for seceding from Britain, and
they wanted to guarantee that the people's voices were not stifled in the new republic that was
supposedly founded by and for the people. America was not founded on the "ignorance" that
select men were given a "divine right" by God to rule over all others, but it was founded in a
time, and by people, who understood individual rights more than those who had come before and
knew what it meant to be truly "free.
The revolutionary idea that "all men are created equal" and should be responsible for
their own government not only went against the social "norms" of the day, but also laid way for
future tensions in regards to slavery. Shortly after the ratification of the Constitution, the debate
arose on how the individual freedoms and representations should be applied to slavery. While
this first conflict in regards to slavery was short lived, many pro-abolitionists walked away with
the belief that slavery was not consistent to the ideals of the revolution. This being because it
went against the belief that "all men are created equal" and possessed certain "inalienable rights"
that ought to be protected and represented by their government. This tension would eventually
give way to the closely approaching civil war
The second goal of the "Founding Brothers" was a society protected and maintained in
patriotism. The Revolutionary War was fought by "patriots" who refused to sit back and watch
the British Empire deprive them of their natural rights and freedoms. Britain wanted to transform
America into a conquered colony existing for the sole purpose of serving and supporting the
British monarchy without representation. The "Founding Brothers" were inspired by these
"patriots" to form a society where the citizens were not afraid to fight for their liberties and
overthrow the government when they were failing to protect the people's freedoms. The
"Founding Brothers" placed the responsibility of individual happiness in the hands of the people
in hopes that they would rise up and defend the happiness that was threatened. In his farewell
address, Washington gave the charge to the citizens of America to be responsible for their own
happiness and if the citizens were not free and happy it was their own fault. Fundamentally,
Washington warns the citizens of the young union that their future and freedom is entirely their
responsibility, and if they should ever feel like they are not completely happy or their freedoms
are being restricted, they will have no one to blame but themselves.
This creed of individual accountability is prominent in today's society. America is full of
thunderous citizens complaining how their rights and freedoms have been trespassed upon yet
America is also full of lazy citizens who are too timid to do anything about it. In Washington's
view, the fault for this does not lie with the government, but with the people who allowed the
government to infringe up their individual liberties. The "Founding Brothers" were trying to
accomplish a union where the ultimate power for change lay in the hands of the people. They
intended America to always be filled with "patriots" who would fight for change when it was
needed and humble the government when it overstepped its bounds. Instead, the "patriots"
became comfortable in their peaceful state and were content to just complain when their rights
were threatened instead of taking action against such trespassing. Now that those men have been
dormant for so many years, whenever they do rise up against such a government, they are given
a much different title: Anarchists
The "Founding Brothers" built the stage for American citizens to be the example of
"human greatness and felicity, a society that would stand before the world and be a "city on a
hill" of what civilization, at its fullest, could be. The union was to be rooted in individual liberty
that would be protected by patriots. While they were successful in making a new form of
government where people held the power for change, their dream of a "patriotic" society where
the people held responsibility for their own happiness did not hold firm throughout the
generation. As Alexander Hamilton said We can only regret the circumstances, and must abide
the consequences."