Our Founding Fathers -- And Their Underemphasized Legacy

What was really so special about America's Founding Fathers?

Washington's integrity? Franklin's worldly ingenuity? Jefferson's brilliance? Madison's visionary statesmanship?

All of the above, right? American folklore tells us that the Founding Fathers were giants among men, the most Alpha of Alpha males. We've distilled their best characteristics down to a simple archetype, one easily found on display in the form of the John Wayne character in at least a dozen movies. You know the character: bigger, stronger, tougher, smarter (practical smarts, not that egghead book-learning stuff) and more righteous than anybody else.

That self-image neglects one of the most significant characteristics of the Founding Fathers and the legacy they established for us, though. And that characteristic is the ability to recognize what Benjamin Franklin told the Continental Congress just prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence: "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

We don't know, and can't prove whether Washington was more brave than Kosciuszko, or whether Madison was a more enlightened thinker on the subject of people and their relationship to government than was Rousseau. But we can judge the Founding Fathers objectively on one item of evidence that demonstrates that in the measure of the concept identified by Franklin's words, they were men ahead of their time.

In the 18th century, position at or near the head of a nation wasn't something that you politely handed over to someone you neither fathered nor chose. Wars of succession were the order of the day, and in the generations immediately preceding the American revolution, such wars were fought in Spain and Prussia. Catherine the Great came to power in Russia via a coup that ousted her husband, and violent overthrows of heads of state wouldn't go out of style there for more than a hundred years. England had exiled a king, James II, in 1688, and in 1745, his grandson, Bonnie Prince Charlie, was still leading armies into battle on English soil to try to restore their male line to the throne.

As for France, the perception of insufficient devotion to the cause led to the imprisonment and exile of one of the revolution's fathers, Lafayatte, and the execution of two others, Danton and Robespierre. The resulting chaos allowed an opportunistic and charismatic military leader to take advantage, and General Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor Napoleon I.

There were no such happenings in America. Though there was some support for an expansive executive role in American federal government, the historical evidence does not suggest that George Washington actively attempted any power grabbing before or after taking office, and he willingly stepped aside at the conclusion of his second term as head of state, though he surely could have held power longer.

John Adams was no fan of Thomas Jefferson or of Jefferson's politics. Adams promoted the passing of the Alien and Sedition Acts, which allowed his government to harass and intimidate political opponents. But Adams' use of governmental power against those opponents stopped far short of the global norms of the day, and when Jefferson defeated him in the election of 1800, Adams didn't fight the result, he went home to Massachusetts.

In fact, whatever might be said about the various forms of legal and political chicanery that have impacted American presidential elections, it still must also be said that transfers of the powers of the head of state in this country have always been peaceful. To date, no one has taken that power by taking up arms against the incumbent holder.

The other nations that can make the same claim do not readily come to mind. In a world of deposed monarchs and wannabe emperors, and in a world whose future held plenty of Duces, Presidents for Life and Generalissimos, our Founding Fathers recognized that establishing and playing by orderly power transfer rules was more important than keeping power for themselves and their allies.

In today's world, the idea of winning by any means necessary seems to have been elevated to the pantheon of true-blue, inherently American ideals. But it ain't so. Our Founding Fathers realized the truth of what Ben Franklin was telling them: even when you are in direct competition with your neighbor, there are times when your own interests are better served by watching his back than by stabbing him in it.

We may just be in one of those periods right about now.