I am writing in response to Alex Freitag’s column entitled U.S. founders not experts now (SN 2/18). This article seemed to devalue the role of the Founding Fathers in forming and maintaining this great nation, and I would like to set the record straight. Any good politician, statesman, intellect, economist, artist or stay-at-home mom has done at least one thing: Read a history book. Why? Because history matters.
The same is true for our nation. Can we go back in time and find a specific speech or policy prescription given by a Founding Father, such as Thomas Jefferson or George Washington, for contemporary crises or debates, such as the war in Iraq or the debate about gun control? — probably not. But that doesn’t mean they have nothing to offer us in making decisions on what course of action we should take.
Their example from the past can help us determine what we should do in our future. Freitag’s column seemed to ignore the true genius and foresight the founders had when they built this nation. Instead, he attacked the founders for their inability to abolish slavery, their formation of the “bogus” Electoral College and even some of the ways they formed the balance of powers. Let me be clear: The Union would never have stayed together if the founders had tried to abolish slavery. This was an infant nation, and though slavery was — and is — an atrocious institution, the founders knew that the two sides of the nation could not be reconciled unless the South could carry out slavery.
Along with that, the three-fifths compromise, not a policy of the Founding Fathers as the column tried to suggest, offered by Sen. Henry Clay (known in history as “The Great Compromiser”), demonstrated the men that formed this country were willing to do all that was necessary to keep it together, including compromising. As for the Electoral College, though some may question its validity, it has not been changed in more than 200 years.
Let us not forget that it was the courage and determination of the Founding Fathers that made this nation what it is today. It is that courage and determination that we all might find in ourselves, passed down from generation to generation of Americans. So, as we continue to forge our way through the future as Americans, let us not forget to look back to our forefathers from time to time. They might just have something to offer.
Dan Redford
international relations sophomore
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