2009-09-15

Question; Even The Founding Fathers Were Divided

If Thomas Jefferson were alive today which politician would he most resemble? Barack Obama? Ronald Reagan? Ron Paul? Anyone else?

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We keep hearing about how certain decisions made by politicians are sometimes "unconstitutional." As if this is a new phenomena. Truth is, right from the onset American politics and the Constitution we up for interpretation. Alexander Hamilton saw it as capable of changing while Jefferson was a strict constructionist. A modern proponent of this thought is Antonine Scalia.

Even the founding fathers weren't without their differences and unpopular policies. Their debates were fiery and intense.

George Washington made unpopular decisions that often some him more in line with Hamilton and Jefferson. John Adams introduced the extremely unpopular The Alien and Sedition Acts, while Thomas Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana Purchase also brought about questions of constitutionality. Adams and Jefferson, two main architects of the Declaration of Independence did not speak for years. They eventually made up and died on the same day 50 years after 1776.

Fate is fate, right?

About those Sedition Acts:

"...the Sedition Act, passed on July 14 declared that any treasonable activity, including the publication of "any false, scandalous and malicious writing," was a high misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment. By virtue of this legislation twenty-five men, most of them editors of Republican newspapers, were arrested and their newspapers forced to shut down.

One of the men arrested was Benjamin Franklin's grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache, editor of the Philadelphia Democrat-Republican Aurora. Charged with libeling President Adams, Bache's arrest erupted in a public outcry against all of the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Many Americans questioned the constitutionality of these laws. Indeed, public opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts was so great that they were in part responsible for the election of Thomas Jefferson, a Republican, to the presidency in 1800. Once in office, Jefferson pardoned all those convicted under the Sedition Act, while Congress restored all fines paid with interest."

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There can be no debating about where they believed liberty derived. It was put forth by, but not certainly not restricted to, Thomas Jefferson:

"The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time."

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