It may go without saying, but the world and the country have changed dramatically since 1787. Yet for some reason, the founding fathers who wrote it have been placed on an untouchable pedestal, a sentimental cornerstone to our democratic ideals. Especially among conservatives, the myth of the angelically wise, noble freethinkers that founded our country is used to support ignorant, dangerous, and suppressive policies.
Listen, this isn’t a call to “cancel the founding fathers” as many conservatives chide. I’m simply providing a bit of historical context. Were the founding fathers really geniuses? No – they were products of their time. And because of this, there are many things they simply didn’t know at the time of writing the constitution. Including…
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Extinction (factualized in 1796)
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DNA (discovered in 1860)
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Evolution (proposed in 1859)
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Viruses (1892) and germs (1861)
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The age of the Earth (debated until the 1950s. Back in 1787, scholars were only beginning to reject biblical dating methods)
Additionally, as society advanced faster and faster, problems have arisen that they could have never predicted. We live in the age of global warming, rapid extinction, international pandemics, online misinformation, and an encroaching Amazon monopoly. The information known to the founding fathers seems insufficient to face the problems of the 21st century and beyond.
I wonder if the founding fathers could have ever imagined that 250 years in the future, the billionaire host of a reality TV show could threaten nuclear war via Twitter. Probably not. They probably could’ve predicted he’d be a straight white man, though.
In fact, you don’t need a long list of comically significant discoveries to understand the fallacy of the all-knowing founding fathers. What is common knowledge about their worldview is enough to invalidate much of their contemporary authority. We all know that these men believed enslaved Africans were property, LGBTQ+ people should be religiously persecuted, and that women were the property of their husbands. These beliefs were written into the document we use to govern all people over two centuries later. It isn’t a stretch – nor a patriotic taboo – to suggest the wishes and beliefs of the founding fathers lack relevance in the modern era.