HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

The Founding Fathers Thought America Was Doomed

Views:939
@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
    907 views
    Thumbnail for "When do Americans get their freedom back?" Jim Jordan and Fauci CLASH during hearing on COVID-196:52
    "When do Americans get their freedom back?" Jim Jordan and Fauci CLASH during hearing on COVID-19
    bestofpoal
    1652 views
    Thumbnail for Paved With Good Intentions: A Story of Race Relations in America1:06:47
    Paved With Good Intentions: A Story of Race Relations in America
    AmericanRenaissance
    1359 views
    Thumbnail for   Bake All Heebs (A-Ha: Take On Me)4:25
    Bake All Heebs (A-Ha: Take On Me)
    judenhass
    2418 views
    Thumbnail for Jew-Funded Antifags and BurnLootMurder Terrorist's Anti-White Hate Created The Real Life Joker - Gypsy Crusader12:14
    Jew-Funded Antifags and BurnLootMurder Terrorist's Anti-White Hate Created The Real Life Joker - Gypsy Crusader
    AOU
    1330 views
    Thumbnail for Fiery BUTT Peaceful? | Grunt Speak Live Highlights5:11
    Fiery BUTT Peaceful? | Grunt Speak Live Highlights
    Terrence Popp
    1315 views
    Thumbnail for Activists cover BLM statue in Vienna with White Lives Matter memorial dedicated to women and children murdered by migrants and refugees0:57
    Activists cover BLM statue in Vienna with White Lives Matter memorial dedicated to women and children murdered by migrants and refugees
    AOU
    7976 views
    Thumbnail for How Washington Learned to Love Video Games5:34
    How Washington Learned to Love Video Games
    ReasonVids
    1040 views
    Thumbnail for "White Men Stole It All"5:37
    "White Men Stole It All"
    AmericanRenaissance
    1477 views
    Thumbnail for Licensed Funeral Director Laura Jeffery On Post-Vaccine Embalming  Nci-143:29
    Licensed Funeral Director Laura Jeffery On Post-Vaccine Embalming Nci-1
    AOUisgay
    488 views
    Thumbnail for Basic Facts About Race in 13 Minutes13:05
    Basic Facts About Race in 13 Minutes
    AmericanRenaissance
    2125 views
    Thumbnail for This is ‘lawfare at its worst,’ ex-prosecutor says5:13
    This is ‘lawfare at its worst,’ ex-prosecutor says
    invidious
    109 views
    Thumbnail for US vetoes draft resolution of the UN Security Council calling for an immediate truce in Gaza Strip | Al Jazeera English5:33
    US vetoes draft resolution of the UN Security Council calling for an immediate truce in Gaza Strip | Al Jazeera English
    invidious
    331 views
    Thumbnail for This is the American way of life that we promote abroad with wars0:19
    This is the American way of life that we promote abroad with wars
    bestofsaidit
    811 views
    Thumbnail for More Proof That What's Going On Has Been Planned For Years4:15
    More Proof That What's Going On Has Been Planned For Years
    AOU
    1129 views
    Thumbnail for Paved With Good Intentions: A Story of Race Relations in America1:06:47
    Paved With Good Intentions: A Story of Race Relations in America
    AmericanRenaissance
    1359 views
    Thumbnail for BIMSTEC Summit 2025: মোদী -ইউনুস বৈঠক, নতুন সমীকরণ ! Muhammad Yunus |Narendra Modi।Bangladesh News | R PLUS NEWS 24X78:26:20
    BIMSTEC Summit 2025: মোদী -ইউনুস বৈঠক, নতুন সমীকরণ ! Muhammad Yunus |Narendra Modi।Bangladesh News | R PLUS NEWS 24X7
    invidious
    66 views
    Thumbnail for Kamala Harris: Drug Warrior, Vice Cop, Draconian Prosecutor7:37
    Kamala Harris: Drug Warrior, Vice Cop, Draconian Prosecutor
    ReasonVids
    897 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
    929 views
    Thumbnail for P.J. O'Rourke on Millennials and Baby Boomers36:01
    P.J. O'Rourke on Millennials and Baby Boomers
    ReasonVids
    887 views
    Thumbnail for TRUMPED: The Donald, The Widow and Eminent Domain2:44
    TRUMPED: The Donald, The Widow and Eminent Domain
    IJvids
    1001 views
    Thumbnail for The Growing Power of the Presidency12:50
    The Growing Power of the Presidency
    ReasonVids
    1019 views
    Thumbnail for Jamie Carragher got told off 😂 | CBS Sports Golazo0:20
    Jamie Carragher got told off 😂 | CBS Sports Golazo
    invidious
    309 views
    Thumbnail for I know a deal when I see one! ⛽️ Telling my husband I put regular gas in his diesel truck🤣 #shorts | Janie Ippolito0:56
    I know a deal when I see one! ⛽️ Telling my husband I put regular gas in his diesel truck🤣 #shorts | Janie Ippolito
    invidious
    398 views
    Thumbnail for Nigger vs Bear 0:35
    Nigger vs Bear
    bestofupgoat
    432 views

points

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