To founder: To fail or to sink. So says the venerable Merriam-Webster dictionary. That’s not what comes to mind when we are talking about the founding fathers. In this time of heart-stopping uncertainty in the political arena it may be worthwhile to take a closer look at what the Founding Fathers were really like. If one reads the history of the early days of our country and its leaders, quite a different picture rises from the misty-eyed view we commonly hold about our forebears.
George Washington: First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen. That’s what we learned in elementary school right after we were told he could never tell a lie. Of course, we won the revolutionary war but it was in large part because the British were distracted by their European entanglements. In actual fact, General Washington lost all of his battles with the exception of the battle of Trenton which we remember only as the courageous crossing of the Delaware River as depicted in a graphic painting by the German artist Gottlieb Leutze, done 75 years after the fact. As President he was revered in his first term but a sizeable faction of the electorate thought him a senile oaf in his second term and plots were afoot to assassinate him.
John Adams: Our second President, who is nearly forgotten, was called His Rotundity. Short of statue and wide of girth, Adams was a deeply insecure man who felt, with some justification, that no one appreciated his brilliance. He had the disturbing habit of disappearing from the capitol, Philadelphia at the time, and retreating to his home in Quincy, Massachusetts whenever the going got tough. He was often gone for many months without having any input in the affairs of the nation. This probably served his paranoia well since wife Abigail was a staunch supporter.
Thomas Jefferson: Our neighboring hero of Monticello, he is revered for writing the Declaration of Independence. He was there, all right, but so were Ben Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut. Jefferson’s draft, widely plagiarized from many previous documents, was severely altered by his co-authors, much to Jefferson’s chagrin. Jefferson’s worst acts were the undermining of John Adams presidency from within the Cabinet while he served as Vice President. Had the full extent of Jefferson’s duplicity been known a charge of treason could have easily been supported. He doomed Adams’ re-election. Everyone knows the story of Jefferson’s terrible judgment in matters financial. Don’t forget about the willing slave, Sally Hemmings, and all the children she bore for the master of Monticello.
Alexander Hamilton: The first of the Founding Fathers who astoundingly overcame a terrible childhood was the architect of American fiscal policy. Extremely competitive he had aspiration for the Presidency but was thwarted by Jefferson; they were bitter enemies. Hamilton was unrelenting in vicious public criticism of anyone who opposed him. His affair with Maria Reynolds and the blackmail to which he submitted continued to plague him until the end of his short life. Other affairs, possibly with his sister-in-law Angelica Church, were always lurking in the shadows of Hamilton’s personal life. His certitude in the rightness of whatever position he held was legendary. Failure to compromise on any front led to his death at the hands of Vice President Burr in 1804. The controversy still remains as to whether Hamilton fired his weapon into the trees and Burr then deliberately murdered him. No charges were ever filed.
We remember all these men, among many others equally flawed, as responsible for the founding of America . . . and rightly so. The point of this brief cataloguing of their humanity is that our country survived in spite of the weaknesses and failures they showed. As we go to the polls . . . AND PLEASE DO YOUR DUTY AND VOTE . . . let’s remember that deeply troubled leaders have guided us in the past; let’s hope that our current candidates can rise above their all-too-obvious deficiencies, that sensibility and good judgment can lead us out of the morass in which we are currently mired.
Hayden Hollingsworth
