Perhaps the most intelligent Founding Father was Benjamin Franklin

[Cyrano]

He was a philosopher, an inventor, a free-thinker, a man who believed in the freedom of all human beings, and a man who was incredibly far ahead of his times. (And yeah, he believed in free love and practiced it with the consent of his lovers as often as possible.)

His famous comment about the results of the Constitutional Conference, was a reply to a woman who asked what had been created. "A Republic, madam, if you can keep it."

Today, we are desperately in need of a man like Franklin who demands such respect for speaking truth, reason and sanity.

There are people like Franklin who exist today. But, unfortunately, there ar far too many who can't hear it, are just not paying attention, or who are listening to the rantings of a madman.

How did the first attempt at a constitutional America (with all it's flaws) get so fucked up??

[Aristus]

1. I think Thomas Jefferson may have edged him out in pure intelligence.

But TJ was far less pragmatic, less responsible, and of course, he was a lot more racist than Franklin.

[tavernier]

9. Not according to Hamilton.

😂

[unblock]

2. Really the key difference is they were statesmen rather than politicians

Maybe more accurately, the politics of that era encouraged politicians to act like statesmen.

They represented their states and interests, but they were also very concerned about the structure of government, about good government in general, and protecting against tyranny, etc.

They thought through, hey, if I wouldn't want my political opponent to have certain powers, maybe I shouldn't have those powers myself when I have that same office.


Today's political discourse has practically none of that.

[vlyons]

3. Many of our founding fathers were brilliant, well-educated intellectuals

College educated. Many had read Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, the classics - Cicero, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Plato, Aristotle, etc. These men were in the midst of the Enlightenment. They were not Christians; they were Deists.

Just read about the horrors of the French revolution, which was but a few years after our own revolution. How did we miss ending up like that?

[Alpeduez21]

5. Partly, because the ruling class

lived in England rather than here. The British troops were removed. When England left the Colonial shackles left, too. We were on our own. Georgie Boy III and his cronies believed we'd fail and come begging England for help a few years after they left.

In France, the ruling class was still around and centuries of abuse was fresh on people's minds. Plus I don't think the ideas of representative democracy was much read as you alluded.

To further your question how did the ex-colonies avoid the violent retribution of EVERY revolution.

It's interesting that when England left India there was not the great violence either. Maybe England's practice of constitutional monarchy allowed for an easier path to democracy once the monarchy left. Canada, too.

[Klaralven]

6. It really wasn't the American Revolution. It was the War of Independence.

It was a war between the colonial ruling class and the ruling class of the mother country. The ruling nobility sent by Britain had comparatively little influence and the colonial bourgeoisie had already accumulated most of the political and economic power in the colonies. It was the colonial bourgeoisie who resented the taxation without representation and the Crown's restrictions on their acquiring and settling the lands of the Northwest Territories recently conquered in the French and Indian War. The colonial bourgeoisie remained intact during the War of Independence and there was no reordering of society in the colonies.

[zipplewrath]

7. We didn't

When England quit, a large number of the "loyalists" had to flee to either Canada or back to England. Many of them lost their fortunes as well since much of their wealth was wrapped up in their land holdings. It wasn't pretty, but yes there were no guillotines.

[Wounded Bear]

4. No surprise he's the Founding Father of the Postal System...

Pre-Revolutionary War, one key ingredient was the Letters of Correspondence shared by the Founding Fathers throughout the Colonies. Without that, the organization and limited collective action that resulted in American Independence would have been much more difficult, perhaps even unlikely.

[Cyrano]

8. Ironic that Trump is trying to destroy us with Franklin's brilliant concept

that was intended to bring people closer to each other.

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Also the inventor of the Public Library, an institution which did much to help educate ...

... poorer Americans throughout the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries.

[Wounded Bear]

12. Amazing the socialist institutions our Founding Fathers conceived of...

Hell, Thomas Paine even wanted a UBI, IIRC.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. Tell it ...

https://atlantic.lnk.to/BenFranklinsSongAW (WARNING: NSFW)

[crickets]

13. K&R for the post and the discussion.