"The founding fathers were conservatives" is a blanket statement which is
untrue. Within the political climate of the late 18th century the ideas of the
revolution were not considered conservative. The founding fathers covered a
gamut of political ideology. If they had all been conservative John Adams and
Thomas Jefferson would not have had their falling out.(Adams refused to be
present at Jefferson's inauguration.) The political argument was which was to
hold more power, the federal government, or the states. The Federalists wanted
a strong national government while the Democratic-Republicans wanted strong
state governments. The argument raged until 1865. The civil war was not
initially fought over slavery but, rather, which political entity would be
more powerful. Incidentally, the Republican party was originally the liberal
party. "Free land, free trade, and free men," you can't get any more liberal
than that. Sorry about the history lesson but this is what I have been doing
for almost 40 years. Paul Hatter
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