What Might The Founders Think?: Election 2016

By Brian Caldwell Fansler

As of Election Night 2016, 240 years have passed since the Declaration of Independence (Declaration). Does anyone remember what they were doing then? The previous Presidential election in 2012 marked the 225th anniversary of what we call today the Constitutional Convention (Convention). The Founders would see it as ironic that we call it the “Constitutional Convention” today. In 1787, the newspapers called it the “The Grand Convention” or “the Convention among the States”. If it had been called a “Constitutional Convention”, about 2/3 of the delegates would have run away. Talk about Kryptonite to Superman.

Despite the idiosyncrasy, the Founders' reputation and accomplishments are still legendary. The Founders caused historic change—a system of government where people govern themselves, rather than by a monarch or a dictator. Since their time, our country and the world have undergone significant changes, and, in ways they never would have even imagined. Perhaps, in some ways, they wouldn’t want to imagine.

The Founders’ unsurpassed place in American history originates from their creating a living, breathing, constantly changing organism, the United States of America. The Founders built this country through the manuals they created: The Declaration of Independence; The United States Constitution; The Federalist Papers; and The Bill of Rights. If anyone were to know how the United States was intended to operate, it would be the Founders themselves. Just don’t ask them when they have had too many pints.

Even today, in a debate, advertisement, opinion piece, letter to the editor, book, classroom, boardroom, political office, blog, website, social media, poll, etc., the question is often asked what would the Founders think or how would they respond to an issue or situation. American political figures have used the Founders’ words and actions as a means of promoting their own political beliefs. We have seen this time and time again especially during a favorite time of year for Americans—election season. It ranks right up there with Americans’ other all-time favorites—public speaking, death, taxes, colonoscopies, and raw liver.

It is reasonable and prudent to ask if the perceptions, wisdom, experience, and biases of white, property-owning, aristocratic men from over 225 years ago would mean anything in the modern world. Despite their remarkable reputations and accomplishments, the Founders were unable to resolve all the issues they faced in their own time. Slavery is the first and the most notable issue but another major issue was federal versus state sovereignty (where does one begin and the other end? Inquiring minds want to know). The Founders knew they were making history as they went and that they would be viewed and judged by subsequent generations of Americans. That might make a good reality show today. The 2016 election certainly felt like one.

A question which has been asked among historians, journalists, and others is what would the Founders think of these events and how would they respond? This book’s purpose is a hypothetical attempt to see the 2016 United States’ Presidential Election Day through the eyes of the Founders. What might the Founders have thought? This book attempts to answer that question based on previous research done on the Founders by others, and applying that to the 2016 election night as it happened.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian Caldwell Fansler
• Release date: Mar 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370170715

Brian Caldwell Fansler

Brian Fansler has been a twenty-plus year California state employee primarily in budgeting and transportation. He is also a long-time volunteer having served in multiple volunteer positions over the last ten-plus years at the Lincoln Memorial Museum Committee, Women Escaping A Violent Environment, the Cordova Recreation and Park District, and currently with the National Park Service and also as a member of the Civil War Trust. Brian's first passion has always been history but that passion was re-discovered while visiting Philadelphia's Independence Hall, Gettysburg National Park, and a host of national and state parks in recent years. Brian was born in Charlottesville, Virginia and has also lived in Lincoln, Nebraska as well as Phoenix, Arizona. Brian has lived in Sacramento, California for the last twenty two years.

Book preview

WHAT MIGHT THE FOUNDERS THINK?: ELECTION 2016

By

Brian Caldwell Fansler

Copyright © 2018 by Brian Caldwell Fansler

All Rights Reserved.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Outline.

Why Might We Care?

How Did We Get Here?

Where Are We?: The Reunion.

What Is That Contraption?: The Broadcast.

Do They Seek The Office?: The Candidates.

How Tally So Quickly?: First Results

How Choose The President?: People, Legislature, or Electors.

Show Us Your Leader. For Real? The Presidency.

Are They The People?: The Voters.

What is the bane of a Republic?: Factions.

What is the Path to the Future? The West and Debt.

What Say The People?: A President is Chosen.

What Say We To The People?: The Founders Speak.

Sources.

OUTLINE

Why Might We Care?

The Founders’ place

America’s 225+ year history

Degrees of historical separation

America in 1787

Why are the Founders different?

U.S. is unique as a nation

Founders were not superhuman

This book’s attempt

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Who are the Founders?

The American Revolution

The Articles of Confederation

The Constitutional Convention

The Constitution Ratification Debates

Federalists and Anti-Federalists

How did the Constitution get ratified?

The creation of the two- major party system:

The First President: George Washington

The end of the Revolutionary Character Era/The Start of the Political Party Era

WHERE ARE WE?: THE REUNION

Independence Hall

They’re Here

John Adams

Benjamin Franklin

Alexander Hamilton

Patrick Henry

Thomas Jefferson

James Madison

George Mason

Gouverneur Morris

Thomas Paine

Charles Pinckney

Roger Sherman

George Washington

James Wilson

OUTLINE

WHAT IS THAT CONTRAPTION?: THE BROADCAST

The Constitution as an interim plan

The Free Press

Objections to the Constitution

The Bill of Rights

Honor/Reputation of Leaders

Human Nature

Secrecy at the Convention

Another Convention

DO THEY SEEK THE OFFICE?: THE CANDIDATES

Campaign promises

Political ambition

Campaigns in the Founders' time

The first Permanent campaign

Women and Minorities

HOW TALLY SO QUICKLY?: FIRST RESULTS

Key Race Alerts

Lessons of War

The Spirit of ’76 and the Constitutional Paradox

Federal vs State Sovereignty

Salaries of Public Officials

Presidential Property/Wealth Requirements

HOW CHOOSE THE PRESIDENT?: PEOPLE, LEGISLATURE, ELECTORS

The Popular Vote vs Legislative Selection

The Electoral College

What if no majority in the Electoral College?

Electoral College Alternatives

OUTLINE

SHOW US YOUR LEADER—FOR REAL? THE PRESIDENCY

Presidential Powers and Agenda

Legislative Priority?

The Separation of Powers

A Singular or a Plural Presidency?

Presidential terms of office

Presidential Rotation and Impeachment

ARE THEY THE PEOPLE?: THE VOTERS

We The People

Gentlemen in Society

Voting qualifications

Public opinion

WHAT IS THE BANE OF A REPUBLIC?: FACTIONS

Definition of a Faction

Competing Factions

Implications of a Faction

How to Remedy a Faction

WHERE LAY THE FUTURE? THE WEST AND DEBT

The Western States

Native Americans

The Nation’s Capital

Public Debt

Generational Sovereignty

WHAT SAY THE PEOPLE?: A PRESIDENT IS CHOSEN

Fame

Presidential decision-making

The Presidential standard

The Presidential Title

The Presidential cabinet

Projection

OUTLINE

WHAT SAY WE TO THE PEOPLE?: THE FOUNDERS SPEAK

John Adams: The Revolutionary generation is not demi-gods. We are all Founders.

Thomas Paine: The Cause of America. We are all Americans.

Thomas Jefferson: A Rebellion every now and then

Benjamin Franklin: The Constitution and a Republic.

George Washington: The national interest and a central government.

Gouverneur Morris: Conduct and country, and the Constitutional meaning.

Roger Sherman: Compromise--the art of the possible.

Alexander Hamilton: The Federalist Papers' Message.

Charles Pinckney: America’s uniqueness. Why haven’t we replicated the Founders?

Patrick Henry: Liberty, the public good, and government limits.

James Wilson: Education and the power of the People.

George Mason: Participate in and own the country.

James Madison: Co-Father of the Constitution.

WHY MIGHT WE CARE?

As of Election Night 2016, 240 years have passed since the Declaration of Independence (Declaration). Does anyone remember what they were doing then? The previous Presidential election in 2012 marked the 225th anniversary of what we call today the Constitutional Convention (Convention). The Founders would see it as ironic that we call it the Constitutional Convention today. In 1787, the newspapers called it the The Grand Convention or the Convention among the States. If it had been called a Constitutional Convention, about 2/3 of the delegates would have run away. Talk about Kryptonite to Superman.

Despite the idiosyncrasy, the Founders' reputation and accomplishments are still legendary. The Founders caused historic change—a system of government where people govern themselves, rather than by a monarch or a dictator. Since their time, our country and the world have undergone significant changes, and, in ways they never would have even imagined. Perhaps, in some ways, they wouldn’t want to imagine.

The Founders’ unsurpassed place in American history originates from their creating a living, breathing, constantly changing organism, the United States of America. The Founders built this country through the manuals they created: The Declaration of Independence; The United States Constitution; The Federalist Papers; and The Bill of Rights. If anyone were to know how the United States was intended to operate, it would be the Founders themselves. Just don’t ask them when they have had too many pints.

Even today, in a debate, advertisement, opinion piece, letter to the editor, book, classroom, boardroom, political office, blog, website, social media, poll, etc., the question is often asked what would the Founders think or how would they respond to an issue or situation. American political figures have used the Founders’ words and actions as a means of promoting their own political beliefs. We have seen this time and time again especially during a favorite time of year for Americans—election season. It ranks right up there with Americans’ other all-time favorites—public speaking, death, taxes, colonoscopies, and raw liver.

It is reasonable and prudent to ask if the perceptions, wisdom, experience, and biases of white, property-owning, aristocratic men from over 225 years ago would mean anything in the modern world. Despite their remarkable reputations and accomplishments, the Founders were unable to resolve all the issues they faced in their own time. Slavery is the first and the most notable issue but another major issue was federal versus state sovereignty (where does one begin and the other end? Inquiring minds want to know). The Founders knew they were making history as they went and that they would be viewed and judged by subsequent generations of Americans. That might make a good reality show today. The 2016 election certainly felt like one.

The question of the Founders’ relevance is also appropriate because the United States of America, as a single country, is still relatively new to the global stage. Many countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, as well as Central and South America go back hundreds, or even thousands of years. America’s relatively short history stands in stark contrast to the time-comparable histories of much older countries. In the last 225 plus years, France has endured a king’s and queen’s beheading during the French Revolution, five republics, two empires, two kingdoms, and fascism. Germany has been a series of independent countries, an empire, a republic, the Third Reich (1933-1945), and then two republics—one communist (East Germany), ultimately reunited in the early 1990s with its democratic counterpart (West Germany).

Compared to other unified countries and their long histories, the United States is still a child, maybe a teenager at best. America is still growing up under its Stetson hat. Due to the United States’ brief history so far, our Founders are still in relatively close proximity to us and they still cast long shadows over us. Besides, who wouldn’t want to ride those coattails? America’s relatively short history means only a few degrees of historical separation exist between the Founders and today’s Americans. Far older countries like China and India cannot say that about themselves.

Yet, despite a relatively young history, the United States has well-established and continuing institutions. America’s judicial system dates to 1789, only two years after the Convention. The American army has existed since 1775, and Congress has met regularly since 1774. America may still be a relatively young country but our institutions are already well-established. We may be young, but we grew up quickly. Perhaps it really was the Stetson hat.

During my research, I came across Richard Brookhiser’s book What Would The Founders Do?. When Mr. Brookhiser was in college, he attended a lecture by Alger Hiss who was later convicted as a spy for communists. As a young adult, Alger Hiss clerked for United States Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. While a young Civil War officer, Justice Holmes scolded President Abraham Lincoln for showing himself over a low wall while visiting the front lines, possibly exposing himself to Confederate bullets. While in his thirties, President Lincoln served in the United States House of Representatives with John Quincy Adams (son of John Adams, our second President). As a boy, John Quincy Adams heard cannon shots at the battle of Bunker Hill from his family’s home in Massachusetts. From the American Revolution to today, it is only a handful of degrees of historical separation.

At the time of the Convention in 1787, America was fragile and uncertain about itself. We were a newcomer, a beggar among nations as our national treasury was empty. Our debts to foreign governments and even our own citizens were unpaid, a severe blow to our national honor and credit. Civil unrest was rampant as there was no unity among the individual states, no national law enforcement force of any sort, and the restoration of law and order was constantly in doubt. Where was Dirty Harry then?

In 1787 America, travel could not be taken for granted. The roads that existed then were few and primitive, and the weather added to the hazards of travel. The primary mode of travel, horse-drawn stagecoaches, were bone-jarringly uncomfortable and left passengers physically drained within a few days. On good days, stagecoaches could travel 50 miles. Today, we complain if we travel less than 50 miles an hour. Stagecoaches were also vulnerable to disaster with gaping holes, mud if it rained, raging streams, as well as severe accidents. Sounds like today’s roads and highways, doesn’t it? Especially in the big cities.

The America of 1787 was also not nearly as ethnically diverse as today. In 1787, about 75% of the American population was Caucasian, primarily of British or Irish descent. Sunscreen, if it was available, would have been a major seller back then. Does anyone have a time machine they’re not currently using? I would only need to borrow it for one round-trip. About 85% of the American population spoke some form of English, and the most common religion was Protestant. The American population then was so confined along the East Coast that the population center in 1790 was 25 miles east of Baltimore, Maryland. Today, it is about 2,000 miles further west, at Plato, Missouri. At least both states start with M.

At the same time, America’s ethnic diversity was considerable compared to European countries at the time. The majority Protestant population was split into multiple groups. In addition to people of British-Irish descent, there were also people of German, Scandinavian, Spanish, and French descent and about 20% of the American population was of African descent (mostly slaves). America in 1787 was also far more rigidly socially and economically stratified than we are today. It was a deferential society where the population granted certain people offices and powers by birthright. In most communities, there was a small group of men who made the basic decisions and almost always were automatically elected. The Kardashians would never have become famous in such a society. So why does the phrase: I told you so come to mind? Score one for deferential society.

A few bright young men could rise into the top of American society. More often, those in control were born into power and received schooling to prepare for their roles. The top people saw themselves as the naturally selected leaders of their community and the common people usually didn’t object. This is in much the same way as Americans look at celebrities today as somehow larger than life, or possessing a special knowledge or insight handed down from a higher source. Apparently, the more things change, the more they stay the same. It makes one wonder if the top people back then generally behaved better than celebrities today.

Throughout recorded human history, there have been other revolutions and attempts to forge a new nation. In the United States, some of the same men who made the Revolution successful also secured it via the Constitution. For some, the Revolution focused on individual sovereignty depicting government as an alien force, making rebellion against government a natural act. For its part, the Constitution also included sovereignty, but in a collective called the people. Government is depicted as the protection of liberty, not the enemy, and, in some cases, values social balance and harmony over individual liberties. It is unprecedented in recorded human history for the same political elite to straddle both viewpoints. Talk about an identity crisis.

The Founders are original in that they