Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Founding Fathers
I am going to be looking at the founding fathers and their views on how our country should be set up. So far i have read Ben Franklin's autobiography, some letters of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and also some of George Washington's autobiography. For the most part from Franklin's and Washington's autobiographies there was not a lot about how they think about the government and what system would work better but it was about their principles and morals. They were always about what is good for the community and country. Repeatedly Ben Franklin had so many chances to make a lot money and have high political offices but he refused because it would not be in the best interest to the colonists. Washington is the same way, I forget the exact time but after Washington was President he went back home and some one came back and told him that the country needed he help and he said have I not done enough for my country already. But as you guessed it he went to Washington D.C. and did what was needed of him. These men were the most reputable and honest men you could think of. In the many letters that I have read by Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and Hamilton many times they talk about that the government should protect the people and that the people should have a say. I still have a lot of reading to find out more but I think I'm on the right track.
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I thought this was pretty interesting since it is hard to know what they were thinking besides the propagandistic stuff you can find in an autobiography. I took a class in Political Science that was really interesting. Maybe it would be a good idea to interview someone in the Pol Sci dept. If you are interested I can look up the professor's name that I had. She was really interesting and had a bunch of anectodic stuff to make her class interested in the topic. Maybe she has some sources that can help you.
ReplyDeleteBeing interested in history I really like the approach you are taking for this project. To research and find out what these men were actually thinking during these defining moments of the founding our country is a tremendous insight to have. I think it would be interesting to see what kind of disagreements these men had with each other and how they solved them. Now a day’s things are so “what can you do for me first” in politics, I find it welcoming to have the perspective other end of the spectrum.
ReplyDeleteYou have a good start on it. sounds good finding where we started and then seeing where we ended up.Is the base of all problem kind of the same no matter the year?
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in history as well so I can relate to this research. I like that you go directly to the sources like Franklin's autobiography, and letters that these men wrote instead of citing someone else's interpretation of the founding fathers words. The letters are extremely helpful, I think. The letters between Adams and Jefferson after they each were President are especially interesting.
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