HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

The Founding Fathers Thought America Was Doomed

Views:969
@ReasonVids

“The fact that it hasn’t ended in the past 230 years suggests that maybe it will last a good deal longer,” says historian Dennis C. Rasmussen, author of "Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America's Founders."

------------------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ReasonTV?subconfirmation=1
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
----------------
For those who predict that the American experiment can't last, and who worry the social fabric is disintegrating at a time of rising political division, it's worth remembering that back when the ink had barely dried on the Constitution, the founding fathers' were deeply pessimistic about the future of the country they had created.

Hamilton called the Constitution a "frail and worthless fabric." Washington lamented the growth of political factions. Adams thought a lack of civic virtue doomed the republic. Jefferson watched sectional divisions between North and South with horror, calling the "sacrifice" made "by the generation of '76" "useless," because it would be "thrown away by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons." "My only consolation," he wrote, "is to be that I live not to weep over it."

"Their pronouncements may seem overly dramatic to the modern ear," says Syracuse University professor Dennis C. Rasmussen. In his latest book, Fears of a Setting Sun, Rassmussen wrestles with the founders near universal pessimism in the future of the country they created.

"I think that's because they thought that so much was at stake. They really thought that the future of Republican government and the future of human liberty was riding on this American experiment. And so the potential failure of that experiment, they thought would be a world historical calamity."

Should Americans see the founders' dissolution as a sign that America is flawed beyond hope? After all, we're still beset by many of the fears the founders identified.

"We hear people pronounce the end of American democracy at every turn," says Rasmussen. "The fact that it hasn't ended in the past 230 years suggests that maybe it will last a good deal longer."

"But the fact that these problems have been with us since the very outset, since the founders themselves, suggest that they might be more systemic, more baked in than we sometimes dare to hope."

Produced and edited by Meredith Bragg.

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
    Thumbnail for Los Angeles Is Squandering $1.2 Billion While Homeless Face a ‘Spiral of Death’26:51
    Los Angeles Is Squandering $1.2 Billion While Homeless Face a ‘Spiral of Death’
    ReasonVids
    942 views
    Thumbnail for "White Men Stole It All"5:37
    "White Men Stole It All"
    AmericanRenaissance
    1513 views
    Thumbnail for Basic Facts About Race in 13 Minutes13:05
    Basic Facts About Race in 13 Minutes
    AmericanRenaissance
    2159 views
    Thumbnail for Peter Schiff on Greece, Puerto Rico, and America's Looming Economic Crisis3:25
    Peter Schiff on Greece, Puerto Rico, and America's Looming Economic Crisis
    ReasonVids
    962 views
    Thumbnail for Kamala Harris: Drug Warrior, Vice Cop, Draconian Prosecutor7:37
    Kamala Harris: Drug Warrior, Vice Cop, Draconian Prosecutor
    ReasonVids
    932 views
    Thumbnail for Remy: Best Song Ever! (One Direction Parody - Tax Code Edition)1:55
    Remy: Best Song Ever! (One Direction Parody - Tax Code Edition)
    ReasonVids
    1016 views
    Thumbnail for Are Drone Strikes and Kill Lists The New Normal? Q&A w Newsweek's Eli Lake6:28
    Are Drone Strikes and Kill Lists The New Normal? Q&A w Newsweek's Eli Lake
    ReasonVids
    1051 views
    Thumbnail for Drugs Win the 2020 Election!3:03
    Drugs Win the 2020 Election!
    ReasonVids
    993 views
    Thumbnail for 3 Reasons Why Obama's High-Speed Rail Will Go Nowhere Fast3:08
    3 Reasons Why Obama's High-Speed Rail Will Go Nowhere Fast
    ReasonVids
    986 views
    Thumbnail for John Tierney - Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength7:40
    John Tierney - Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength
    ReasonVids
    965 views
    Thumbnail for 'Climate Change Is Real, But It's Not the End of the World:' Michael Shellenberger1:03:09
    'Climate Change Is Real, But It's Not the End of the World:' Michael Shellenberger
    ReasonVids
    833 views
    Thumbnail for Destruction of Europe through the UN1:55
    Destruction of Europe through the UN
    AOUisgay
    623 views
    Thumbnail for Kennedy and Producer Andy Schuon on the Golden Age of MTV28:42
    Kennedy and Producer Andy Schuon on the Golden Age of MTV
    ReasonVids
    1022 views
    Thumbnail for The Growing Power of the Presidency12:50
    The Growing Power of the Presidency
    ReasonVids
    1052 views
    Thumbnail for What Happens After Cruise Ships Get Cut in Half | BRIGHT SIDE9:18
    What Happens After Cruise Ships Get Cut in Half | BRIGHT SIDE
    invidious
    347 views
    Thumbnail for How is this Possible? | Rays Works6:09
    How is this Possible? | Rays Works
    invidious
    309 views
    Thumbnail for Martin Luther King Jr.'s Unwavering Opposition to Violence Still Matters4:55
    Martin Luther King Jr.'s Unwavering Opposition to Violence Still Matters
    ReasonVids
    1025 views
    Thumbnail for Freeing Small Farms: Institute for Justice & Minnesota Farmers Fight Protectionism2:49
    Freeing Small Farms: Institute for Justice & Minnesota Farmers Fight Protectionism
    IJvids
    1090 views
    Thumbnail for "Black History Month" or Baseball0:21
    "Black History Month" or Baseball
    AOUisgay
    495 views
    Thumbnail for 3 Reasons Mitt Romney and Republicans Lost Big in Election 20122:31
    3 Reasons Mitt Romney and Republicans Lost Big in Election 2012
    ReasonVids
    984 views
    Thumbnail for Love240 tries to adopt a nigger0:59
    Love240 tries to adopt a nigger
    bestofupgoat
    248 views
    Thumbnail for Don't trust China, China is 'Asshoe'0:13
    Don't trust China, China is 'Asshoe'
    bestofvoatxyz
    561 views
    Thumbnail for Get out reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee1:13
    Get out reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
    EricaPolarBear.Archive
    497 views
    Thumbnail for Joe Biden’s Endless River of Debt and Regulation3:37
    Joe Biden’s Endless River of Debt and Regulation
    ReasonVids
    1067 views
    Thumbnail for Young woman has huge hose0:48
    Young woman has huge hose
    bestofpoal
    2217 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle