Why do some people think the founding fathers were liberals?

Question

They would not support abortion
They would not take prayer out of schools
They would not take down the Ten Commandments they put up
They would support the right to bear arms
on and on and on

Answer 1

the founding fathers left conditions that liberals promote. great question!

Answer 2

I doubt there was as much labelling of liberal/conservative in those days as exists in today's society. I think the founding fathers were more untied in their frontier spirit and excited about the future than we are today. They didn't need to think outside the box because there was no box. They supported free speech. They created a Bill of rights. They separated governmental power into different areas (executive, legislative, judicial). Pretty liberal ideas in comparison to the monarchies of Europe at the time. Even the right to bear arms... Do you really think a dictatorship would want it's citizens armed?

Answer 3

You had better study your history a little more. They did not want to establish a Christian coutry. Want proof? Google the Treaty of Tripoli. " Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
This was unanamously appoved by the Senate and the president. The founding fathers were not liberals, in fact Hamilton wanted a manarchy. But anyone to the left of the neo-cons is labeled a liberal because they cannot accept any other opinion but their own.

Answer 4

they also think Jesus would be a liberal. go figure.

"It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect...No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States."
George Washington
- 1st President of the United States In his "Inaugural Address."

"And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance?..]Without His concurring aid...we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword
down to future ages."
I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth - that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise and fall without His aid?
-Benjamin Franklin

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion... Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people . It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
"[I]t is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. Religion and virtue are the only foundations...of republicanism and of all free governments."
-John Adams

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep forever."
-Thomas Jefferson

Answer 5

You have no idea what their view on abortion would have been....probably, some would have been pro-choice and some would have been pro-life.

The founding fathers were very much for the separation of church & state (it was essentially the whole reason why the fled England in the first place, for religious freedom & political freedom -- separation of church & state makes both institutions stronger, not weaker)....so in a private home or business - there would be no issue with displaying the Ten Commandments....on government property - different story.

Our founding fathers WERE progressive.....if they were not, we would all be bowing to queens & kings.

Stop with the fear-mongering with the "right to bear arms" thing....it is only the smallest minority of fringe elements on the left who want to take your guns away....relax.....the VAST majority of liberals/Democrats have no intention of repealing the 2nd Amendment.

Answer 6

You are citing all the present day neocon litmus tests. The simple answer is that within the context of their time, they were progressive, forward looking people -- revolutionaries, actually -- concerned first and foremost with the liberty and personal freedoms of the people. This shames the present administration, which is being morally consumed by their flirtation with police state tactics/totalitarian means to an end.

--And of course, as we all know, Jesus was a liberal.

Answer 7

WOW, someone on here who can think!!! Good question!! How about "all men are created equal" what about slaves, women, and the people who were indigenous to the continent? Anyone who didnt own land couldnt vote. Anyone who owned land did not have to fight in the war if they could pay someone else would go. Thomas Jefferson lived as a slave owner and died as one. They were definatly NOT liberals.

Answer 8

liberalism in those days were more about freedom from oppression from england and this brought about the notion of all men being equal which progressed to the elimination of slavery and culminated in the civil rights bill of today.....the issues you bring up belongs to modern day civil rights notions and it is unfair to speculate as to what the founding fathers would definitively have thought about them

Answer 9

Because they were.

They revolted against an oppressive government.
They believed in the separation of church and state and the right to pursue any religion you wished (including Deism and the occult Rosicrucianism).
Many of them were firm believers in science.
Your speculation about abortion has no credence in facts.
Prayer in schools would not be eliminated, nor would it be encouraged.
The founding fathers did not put up the 10 commandments. You are confused.
Liberals support the constitution. They just happen to think gun violence is a problem.
Also, many of your so-called Republican forefathers grew hemp (that's marijuana) as a main cash crop.
Many of them also had slaves and refused to allow women to vote. So in that sense, they were very Republican.

Answer 10

The most "liberal" of the FF was probably Thomas Jefferson. He is spinning in his grave...

Even Jefferson, a self-described "deist," who clearly departed from the mainstream, believed in maintaining social mores...

Answer 11

First of all, liberalism in the 18th century is not the liberalism of today. Do some research before you spew more nonsense. It makes you look silly.