Why do liberals insist that the Founding Fathers and colonials were liberals?

Question

Here is the truth of the matter and a little history lesson. The colonists were not radical revolutionaries or liberals. There actually was no revolution in the literal sense. They were not trying to overthrow the British Crown.

There was actually very little British taxation on the colonies before the renewed hostilities with France. After that old rivalry heated up again, the British started imposing new taxes on the colonies to fund the war. The colonists were understandably upset with this because they had no representation in Parliment. The colonists were fighting for independence to preserve tradition and self government that they had enjoyed for so long without British interference. In this respect, the colonists were actually conservatives in the traditional sense.

Answer 1

Great point... even if you wanted to call them "liberals"... they certainly do not have anything in common with modern day liberalism. Our forefathers were for independence and less taxation. Do you see any liberal leader anywhere saying this? Didn't think so....

Hey... 13 thumbs down... I must be super right! Let's try and bump that up a bit...

Answer 2

Does it REALLY matter if they were LIBERALS, CONSERVATIVES or a bunch of women in Victoria Secret WINGS????? They were our founding fathers, they set up this country, our constitution and our bill of RIGHTS and AT the time they set it up, there WERE no liberals or conservatives....wigs and torys if I remember my history lessons correctly from 40 YEARS ago... Oh and 99% of the colonists fought TOGETHER against taxation without representation and then our freedom from the British throne... there was none of this backstabbing cutting down of people because they were liberal or conservative... ACTUALLY, when it comes right down to it, the colonists were NO DIFFERENT THEN THE HIPPIES who demonstrated and protested the VIET NAM WAR----it was a protest against a bad government (MUCH LIKE IT WAS IN REVOLUTIONARY WAR TIMES) they might not have been fighting for the same THINGS, but the concept was the same... I wonder when this country is EVER going to act like that ONE NATION, indivisable with liberty and justice for ALL.....!!!!

Answer 3

I'm pretty sure that they didn't have parties back then. Not 100% sure, but 99% and that's close enough.

The Democrats (or American Democracy) were opposed by a party that chose a name, derived from the Patriots of the 1770s who started the American Revolution, the Whigs. Both of these parties proclaimed their devotion to republicanism.

mr. Bombs_away_today guy:

Are you aware that 95+% of the military is republican? So cons are over there fighting in Iraq. If you were in the Air Force as you claim then you would know that you can't decide when you deploy. Stop using the whole "why aren't you over there fighting" line, it's old and holds zero relivance to any discussion you us it in.

Answer 4

They were liberals. But in those days liberal meant something different than now. They desired freedom and small government. They believed in self reliance. They believed in limited taxation. They liked the constitution and the bill of rights, all of it.

I think you better hit the books again. You seem to have missed some important parts.

Answer 5

i think of of that they are neither. because of fact the Conservatives have themes approximately them that no longer each and all of the founding fathers could desire to have self assurance and the comparable is going with the liberals. even although, i think of of that they had in all probability lean in direction of the Conservative section because of fact we are for united statesa.'s sturdy. yet Thomas Jefferson could be a Democrat, in all probability no longer a liberal, extremely because of fact of what he believed in and that he replaced precise into extremely better to the left than a great style of the others.

Answer 6

The founding fathers were classical liberals, or they are most akin to the Libertarians of today. Of course this is because Libertarians modeled their views directly from those of some of the founding fathers. It is impossible to discern what they would be today. THEY LIVED 230 YEARS AGO!

Answer 7

they werent much of anything loyalist and revolutionaries , then wig party members and umm some more i cant think of and then the republican-democrats no as to which way they swong all diferent in fact they were still fighting over a confederacy and a having a federal goverment also the federalist... they had more to worry about than the little diferences like those present in modern times also all the founding fathers had all different perspectives and they probably changed over time so it would be interpeting when reading works they wrote and it would be selective about the time and age when they wrote something

Answer 8

Even if you define "revolution" as "overthrow" -- which is a new one for me -- the founding fathers certainly wanted to LIBERATE themselves from the British Empire. Many of them were Deists, instead of strict Christians (which, even then, was the conservative religion). They were brave enough to contradict the traditional (read: conservative) way of life and forge into a new, liberated way of life. Hence: liberals.

Answer 9

Well. did you ever read the Declaration of Indepencence ?
We hold these truths to be self evident THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL...That does not sound like a conservative stance to me. Of course they were liberals.
Read Kevin Philips " The Cousin's Wars " some time.
Its a lot more complex than that...and if the British did not have Lord North to affect policy, perhaps things may have turned out differently. The mercantile Navigation Acts only encouraged rebellion.

Answer 10

Actually, the conservatives of the day were the British Loyalists, NOT the ones wanting independence. While that doesn't necessarily make the founding fathers liberals, it surely does not make them conservatives.

Answer 11

Hmmm...Thomas Paine must be rolling over in his grave.

"A little history lesson".....hahahahaha. That's the funniest load of malarkey I have read all night.