The Founders: Death and Taxes

The impetus to form a new government to replace the Confederacy was born, majorly, from the fact that the Continental Congress had no power to levy taxes. There were, no doubt, other reasons that are easily demonstrated, but the one that reverberated with those who served through the Revolutionary War both in arms and in Congress was that of direct revenue. The situation near the end of the war echoes eerily today as the states engaged in a war that The Congress was in want of tax revenue to pay for and the debts incurred to do so, both foreign and domestic, threatened to destroy that which so much blood was spilled to gain.

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Jefferson and Adams; Political Enmity and Friendship

In this time of division in the nation, interesting stories from the nation’s founding can often lend some perspective. The fact that people of often very different political minds could work closely together to create a nation for the ages often goes unnoticed today. In the presentation of The Founders and their times in idyllic stories we loose the truth and, what is to me, a valuable insight which can help guide our expectations as well as enhance our oversight of the people we elect to our government.

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Hamilton’s Paradox, an error for the ages

There are many stories about Hamilton’s early life. I have encountered a few, but I have no doubt that Ron Chernow, Hamilton’s biographer, has read more than I have so I concede to his conclusions. In general, the early life of a founder may not be seen as relevant, however in this case, it has bearing on a paradox that influenced his vision, and wove what I see as a critical error into the very fabric that would become the United States. It is my conjecture that Hamilton retained a child-like reverence for the wealthy, stemming from the recognition of his potential and his subsequent “rescue from poverty” by the merchants operating in his hometown.

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Fox News, The Post, at the Founding of the Nation

The news media today crawls in sludge of partisan attacks and dirty laundry from which it seems impossible to rise. The current trend towards ruthless politicking well beyond reason has no doubt furthers the media’s descent. The stories include:

“The treasury secretary is an aristocratic tool of the rich, using his office to further the financial gain of his powerful friends at the expense of the common man …” “The former president traded sexual favors from the wife of the candidate to secure votes…” “The president, described as a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman” plans to name himself king and groom his son as his heir…”

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Alexander Hamilton’s markets, bubble, and fear realized

Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton’s biographer, defends his subject from charges frequently levied upon him: “He was never a hireling of monied interests; rather, he wanted to attach them to the new country’s interests. Like many thinkers of his day, he thought that property conferred independent judgment on people and hoped that creditors would bring an enlightened, disinterest point of view to government. But what if they succumbed to speculation and disrupted the system they were supposed to stabilize? What if they engaged in destructive short-term behavior instead of being long-term custodians of the nation’s interest? If that happened, it might undermine his whole political program.”

Well, lets see how that turned out…

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Thoughts on the Founders, their times and Lessons lost: Jefferson and Statues

What I found was contradiction; and near the end of my reading, I wasn’t sure how I felt about Jefferson. During his political career in the fledgling U.S. government he saw himself as a man of the people. According to several sources, as president, he often answered the White House door and greeted visitors in bedroom slippers. In direct contrast to Washington and Adams before him, he walked rather than riding in drawn carriages essentially reversing the hints of royal privilege one might see in the acts of his predecessors. However, he lived on a large estate on the top of a mountain tended to by hundreds of slaves; very much out of reach of “the people”.

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