It seems easy to paint the Founding Fathers with one broad brush but these 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence are just as diverse as the interests they served.
While we all know about Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Ben Franklin, what would the tale of the lesser known signers tell us about this group of so-called revolutionaries? Look no further than our first entry, Carter Braxton, to show the complexity of this moment in U.S. History. Braxton was many things: rich, prestigious, influential, political and mercantile. Revolutionary seems like a bit of a stretch for someone like Braxton and yet his name will forever be affixed the most important document of the American Revolution. It almost never happened, Braxton only received an offer to attend the Continental Congress when Peyton Randolph died unexpectedly. Braxton was a last-second replacement and it seems that he did not fit in from the start. "Independence is in truth an elusive bait which men inconsiderably catch at, without knowing the hook to which it is affixed." These are the words of Braxton who famously took on John Adams and his plan with a pamphlet known as "An Address to the Convention". It may not have won him friends in New England or made him a lovable figure for history textbooks but it does show the conservative and hesitant nature to this revolution. Remember that these Founding Fathers were not the poor and down-trotten. They already had relative affluence and power, that is why they were so annoyed by Britain's attempts to usurp their local autonomy. It also led to difficulties in pulling the plug and declaring independence because so much was on the line for these dignitaries. A revolutionary loss would destroy the financial and political empires these men had created, particularly in the Old Dominion. After all, it was the British law that inspired this revolution and leaving that country means leaving the protection of the Magna Carta and the Petition of Right. Braxton eventually was won over that independence was the only viable option, but it was clear he did not relish the concept of severing ties with the mother country. "However necessary it may be to shake off the authority of arbitrary British dictators, we ought nevertheless to adopt and perfect that system, which England has suffered to be so grossly abused, and the experience of ages has taught us to venerate." In other words, our goal should be "to make Great Britain great again" not start completely anew. He took this concept with him after he was released from the Continental Congress and was sent back to the Virginia House of Burgesses. Being from the Tidewater area, Braxton had a prominent slave plantation called Chericoke for most of the Revolutionary Era where he owned over 12,000 acres and 165 slaves. He clearly did not want to re-establish a new world order but instead restore the gentry of Virginia back to power. He followed the Alexander Hamilton route of perfecting the British system in America. When thinking about the political impact of the Declaration of Independence, let us remember the men like Braxton who came to Philadelphia and the goals they purported. They knew their Enlightenment philosophers, Braxton even quotes Montesquieu in his famous written response, but they used them to re-enforce the past and not build some radical innovate new structure. This is the kind of convoluted revolution America was fighting.
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August 2016
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