As socialists appear to rise in America, attacks on the country’s Founders oddly are accompanied by efforts to co-opt the Revolution and American values. For instance, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has emphasized how the Revolution was a battle against billionaires of the revolutionary period. This distracts from the fundamental point of the Revolution: that the revolutionaries united in skepticism of too much government power, not out of a desire to have a government that steals some of its citizenry’s wealth.
In researching the Founders for the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I encountered a group engaged in very diverse enterprises. There were lawyers, farmers, and merchants. The cause welcomed the wealthy along with others. In the National Archives, where the Declaration is displayed, one exhibit notably draws attention to Charles Carroll, a signatory who the exhibit notes “may have been the wealthiest man in the American colonies.” He supported the Revolution alongside others, like Alexander Hamilton, of very humble beginnings.
What bound this group of revolutionaries together as an effective fighting force against the world’s most powerful nation was a shared commitment to economic freedom. Unlike typical socialists, the revolutionaries did not demand what belonged to others, but called for the right to create their own wealth freely. Freedom to do so would improve the lot of themselves, their families, and their communities. As the Declaration explains, they felt there was a right to liberty and to pursue happiness.
The Declaration’s wording is unsurprising. While the exact level of each Founder’s total personal wealth varied, the Founders still might be viewed collectively as a group of small business people engaged in enterprises of limited scope. The revolutionary lawyers, for instance, were the type who might hang a shingle to attract clients rather than partners in huge multinational law firms. Such business endeavors were particularly vulnerable to regulatory burdens such as the hated Stamp Tax. Even today, entrepreneurs who lead smaller enterprises — the types of businesses that remain critical to fueling the American economy — are wary of regulatory overreach. Like their modern counterparts, the revolutionaries naturally were sensitive to burdens imposed by government and sought to eliminate ill-advised barriers to their pursuits. Accordingly, the revolutionaries sought to limit unnecessary constraints on their freedom in a more permanent way.
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Early American law Illustrates this desire for economic freedom and enshrines that goal as a basic American value. For example, under the Takings Clause of Constitution, the government cannot seize the property of its citizens without proper compensation. Perhaps less appreciated is the Constitution’s Contracts Clause that limits government interference with valid legal agreements, even those originally formulated under a “billionaire” King. For centuries, this commitment to legal certainty and the rule of law helped attract capital to American businesses that yielded the greatest economy in world history.
While the Founders may have been imperfect, we should not be distracted from the core motivations of the revolutionaries. In this important Anniversary year, we must recommit to the true American values at the Founding, so a socialist squad does not become an army successfully assaulting the foundation of America’s success.
Kenneth M. Rosen is a Professor of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law and serves as a member of the Uniform Law Commission. The views expressed herein are his own.