The American Political Tradition Richard Hofstadter

U.S. History

Mr. Bielecki

The American Political Tradition – Richard Hofstadter

Chapter 1 – “The Founding Fathers: An Age of Realism”

 The Founding Father’s conception of human nature – selfish

- i.e. Shay’s Rebellion (ensuing Const. Conv. – debate between Feds. And Anti-Feds.), and the lessons they had learned from their life’s work

- Therefore, monarchy (although some supported it) and democracy (although they felt government should, somehow, come from the people) were not good choices

- Democratic ideas were most likely to take root among the discontented and oppressed – dangerous to the Founders (b/c they were the minority)

- Contradiction – “Let it stand as a principle that gov’t originates from the people; but let the people be taught…that they are not able to govern themselves.”

“Wherever the real power in a government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Government the real power lies in the majority of the community…” James Madison

 Danger of democracy, pure majority rule

Pg. 6 – “As the Revolution took away the restraining hand of the British government, old colonial grievances…flared up anew…” – Hofstadter  the conservative impulse of the Founders

 b/c man is selfish the gov’t must control him and itself

- “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition…” Fed. #10

- “balanced government” pg. 11

- “a harmonious system of mutual frustration” – pg. 11

 “The Founding Fathers thought that liberty with which they were most concerned was menaced by democracy. In their minds liberty was linked not to democracy but to property.” – pg. 14

 “Democracy, unchecked rule by the masses, is sure to bring arbitrary redistribution of property, destroying the very essence of liberty.” – pg. 15

- The Founders thought democracies can’t last – property must be protected so men can be free to exercise their faculties and accumulate property

- Stake in society theory

Classical/Traditional interpretation of the Founders (god-like men, very altruistic, etc.) vs. Charles Beard’s cynical economic interpretation

“They accepted the mercantile image of life as an eternal battleground, and assumed the Hobbesian war, but merely to stabilize it and make it less murderous. They had no hope and they offered none for any ultimate organic change in the way men conducted themselves. The result was that while they thought self-interest the most dangerous and unbrookable quality of man, they necessarily underwrote it in trying to control it. They succeeded in both respects: under the competitive capitalism of the 19th century America continued to be an arena for various grasping and contending interests, and the federal government continued to provide a stable and acceptable medium within which they could contend; further, it usually showed the wholesome bias on behalf of property which the fathers expected.” Pg. 21