Ron Chernow's revelation
that partisan bickering, personal animosities, jealousies and
resentments were alive and well in the earliest days of the American
republic ("Essay:
The Feuding Fathers," Weekend Journal, June 26) was a healthy
reminder that America's founders were, after all, flawed human beings.
The extraordinary governing structure that they crafted may, in fact, be
a testament to their self-awareness and their recognition that all
governments created by humans are destined to be just as flawed. The
trick, therefore, was to create a system of strict constitutional limits
that minimized the damage that could be inflicted by imperfect leaders.
The document that emerged
from the Constitutional Convention in 1787 was unlike any the world had
seen. It struck a balance between the anarchy and despotism that would
rock France after its revolution and the power to abuse that was
accorded the British monarchy. Mr. Chernow's description of petty
grievances and harsh language that characterized the less-than-perfect
founders merely adds to the wonder of their accomplishments. A group of
45-year-old (on average) men got together in a backwoods outpost of the
mighty British Empire and, despite all of their individual defects,
designed a government that would lead to the most powerful and
prosperous nation in history.
Today's partisan rancor
may indeed be reverberations from the earliest days of the nation, as
Mr. Chernow notes, but it's very hard to imagine the current bunch of
career politicians in Washington producing anything of lasting value.
Highly charged words are fine when accompanied by remarkable
achievements. The founders soared above their human frailties and their
sometimes lowbrow personal exchanges; today's pols seem perpetually
stuck in a mud pit of pettiness and ego, with debt now the only thing
that soars in Washington.
Chris Gray
St. Augustine, Fla.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 