Hofstader Analysis

In The American Political Tradition by Richard Hofstadter, the article, “Founding Fathers: An Age of Reason,” talks about the founding fathers’ views of the American people. From what is printed in textbooks, people give the founding fathers too much esteem, when they really held none for the people. Hofstadter makes the point that the founding fathers had a very negative view of the common American citizen. In the first section of the article, Hofstadter discusses the paradoxical nature of government. He states that the founding fathers believed government has to stem from the people, but the people cannot govern themselves. The founding fathers seemed think that the common man was ill equipped to help in the governing process (voting). They did not believe that man had any interests outside his own, which would lead to the downfall of the nation. On the flip side, they also believed that the people needed to have a voice in the government so that the government does not become too out of touch with the needs of the people. In the second section of the article, Hofstadter argued that the founding fathers created our government in such a way that nothing can truly be accomplished. A popular idea of the time was universalism, in which people looked at history and made grand sweeping statements about the way things were and will always be. One of these statements was that all men are selfish and unable to restrain themselves. The founding fathers believed they had set up a government in which the people could be restrained because they could not personally contain themselves. The founding fathers did not want a majority to rise up and overturn the government (mostly because at the time the majority was poor people). At the same time, they did not want any particular faction to rise up in power (even though they were themselves rich, they were smart enough to realize that not only rich people should rule). Both of these ideals led to the creating of a version