Alexander Hamilton Essays (Examples)

Principles Of American Democracy

...Alexander hamilton Why American Democracy Has Failed and Why the Anti Federalists were Right
Introduction
The Declaration of Independence, written in 1776, asserted that “all men are created equal.”[endnoteRef:2] It was an Enlightenment notion: Thomas Paine, an avid follower of the Enlightenment Movement in Europe, had written the Rights of Man to support and promote the ideas of the philosophical revolution that had gotten underway decades prior with Rousseau’s Social Contract and the latter’s pursuit of naturalism in opposition to the Old World values, virtues and order.[endnoteRef:3] The problem that occurred in America was that the Founding Fathers were not of the same mind as Thomas Paine, though they readily used his words and ideas in their Declaration of Independence. Paine truly believed in the equality of all men and he was whole-heartedly opposed to the institution of slavery. The Founding Fathers were not, and the equality they expressed in the Declaration……