We hold up men who engaged in a violent, bloody revolution as national heroes, but most of our citizens cannot articulate an argument for why the founders' actions were patriotic but subsequent armed insurgencies are not. Many Southerners saw the Civil War as a 2nd American Revolution, and understandably so; in their mind they fought for their God-given liberties and right to be governed by “consent of the governed” just as their grandfathers had under George Washington.
Here’s Jefferson in 1787 on Shay’s armed rebellion against the federal government:
“God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion … what country can preserve it’s [sic] liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
These are chilling words but hardly surprising from a man who wrote of the French Revolution in 1793, when executions of aristocrats were increasing:
"My own affections have been deeply wounded by some of the martyrs to this cause, but rather than it should have failed, I would have seen half the earth desolated. Were there but an Adam and an Eve left in every country, and left free, it would be better than as it now is."
Add to this that millions are taught from childhood that the 2nd Amendment ensures they can overthrow the government should they decide the need arises. Many, I suspect, would say this was the purpose of the 2nd Amendment, in part because many seem never to have read it:
“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
The goal was the security of the established government order, not facilitating its overthrow.
Finally, throw in the “Christian nation” mythology, where the country was “founded on Judeo-Christian principles.” Do those principles include chattel slavery and waging war against the uniformed military of the governing authorities, which many Americans would insist are “God-ordained” and must be submitted to?
Fundamentalists like to highlight language from the country’s founders about “Providence” and “the Creator” to paint them as pious Christians rather than a motley collection that included slave owners, womanizers, and more Deists than Evangelical Protestants. Jefferson impregnated one of his slaves and, unlike Washington, didn’t even free his slaves upon his death.
I applaud the wisdom of our Constitution, whatever its flaws, and most of the ideals set forth by the country’s founders. But we cannot live up to these ideals without honestly confronting the ugly aspects of our origin story and dealing with our country’s original sins.
