Founding Fathers: Politically Right or Left?

By Robert Snizek

There is a tendency (especially in today’s political climate) to frame the Founders in “right” or “left” terms. I am pretty confident that the vast majority colonial Americans did not see the world, or the framing of the Republic in right and left terms. The whole notion of “right” and “left” is a European construct — literally where members sat in chambers while performing their legislative duties. Those that sat on the left side of the chamber were typically communists/socialists, while those that sat on the right were typically fascists. Both of these European right and left models trend toward big government control over individual choices, place less emphasis on individual liberty, and more emphasis on “collective” salvation. Although they represent different models in regard to property ownership, and a few points — in terms of power over people they are more alike than different.

The Founders, including Thomas Jefferson (author of the Declaration of Independence) George Mason (Father of the Bill of Rights) Patrick Henry, and James Madison (Father of the Constitution) saw government structures “up” and “down” terms. Up represented maximum control or tyrannical government (which they had been living under and fighting against) while “down” represents maximum freedom. If one establishes a government with too little government, anarchy is the result. The precursor to the Constitution was the Articles of Confederation, which only provided a loose confederation of “friendship” between the states. The federal government was too weak (many felt) to work long term, and created as many problems as it solved. The proposed Constitution moved government power “up” to solve the problems seen under the Articles. Many Founders had problems with the Constitution as it was initially proposed (without a Bill of rights) as they felt it pushed the scale too far upward toward greater control. Many were worried about setting up a new government that could only too quickly become just like the one they fought to free themselves from; Founders like Patrick Henry, George Mason, Thomas Paine and Herman Husband had their concerns, and some actively fought against the Constitution’s ratification.

What always seems hard (or maybe impossible) to do is to understand the Founders on their own terms, and not attempt to plop them down in 21st century America, amid the constructs we have created to understand the world today with our definitions – not theirs. In my opinion, if the Founders were resurrected today, and we defined them with our words like “Progressive, Communist, Socialist, right and left, they would look at us like we just sprouted a second head. They saw the world through the prism of kings and subjects, liberty vs. tyranny. Perhaps, if we more often used their measuring stick of government, we would see more clearly examples of abuse before it develops, and certainly when it happens, regardless of which party is abusing Constitutional powers.