United States history through the Reconstruction era

Founding Fathers: How the Founding Fathers of America would respond to the success or the shortcomings of America's progress in keeping with their principles

America was a nation founded upon the principles of freedom but also upon compromises. One of the most notable compromises was the negotiation between free and slave states in the framing of the U.S. Constitution. The three-fifths compromise was an attempt by the Founding Fathers to determine how to count slaves in terms of population for the purpose of representation totals in the House of Representatives: "The issue of how to count slaves split the delegates into two groups. The northerners regarded slaves as property who should receive no representation. Southerners demanded that Blacks be counted with whites" ("Three-fifths compromise," 2013). Eventually, the external slave trade was abolished in 1807; this, of course, did not end the practice of slavery within the United States ("1807," 2015). These are two stark examples of the contradiction between American ideals and actual practice: although there are some indications that the Founding Fathers believed or at least hoped that slavery would die a natural death (it did not, given that the invention of the cotton gin made the production of cash crops wildly more profitable than had ever been the case in the past), it took nearly a century for America to abolish slavery itself, and then only after a long, bitter civil war.

The principles of federalism and states' rights have also been less viable given the needs of the nation-state in the modern age. Because of the security and economic demands of the current international system, the federal government requires a far more powerful infrastructure to defend the nation and attend to the needs of citizens than the Fathers could have dreamed of: provisions such as Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, the FDA, and FEMA, are only a few examples of government programs and agencies that have been placed under increased scrutiny in recent years. They reflect the needs of a growing population and an increasingly complex social infrastructure that demands greater cushioning against poverty, illness, and natural and manmade threats than existed during the founding of the nation.

It is also important to remember when comparing the reality of today with the Founding Fathers' ideals and actions that there was considerable disagreement between these men at the time of America's birth. At least some of the Founding Fathers, most notably Thomas Jefferson, envisioned a relatively small federal government and viewed politics as something that should not be pursued as a career. Others, however, such as Alexander Hamilton, thought there was a need for stronger federal government. Hamilton may be viewed as the intellectual founding father of the national banking system. "Hamilton had long believed in the need for banks to provide credit and stimulate the economy" ("Establishing a national bank," 1997). In contrast, George Washington called the concept of a national bank "an infinity of successive felonious larcenies" and along with James Madison questioned its constitutionality ("Establishing a national bank," 1997). This example demonstrates how early on there was a tension between those who advocated for a stronger and more organized federal bureaucracy and those who were mistrustful of one.