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Since many of them were classically educated, I think that they would have some perspective based on their study of philosophy.
I think they would find it fascinating to consider how or if the social contract can function when The People consists of more than 300 million humans.
They would find advances in technology interesting and exciting.
They would be embarrassed by the consequences of the slave economy, in which most participated.
Most would find it appalling that the right to vote has been extended to people other than white male landowners.
Well first I think they would be befuddled and demanding to know by what work of magic they have been reanimated and vaulted into the 21st Century and for what purpose. They would want to know if they can be returned to their own time when they were still alive and if so, would they meet themselves or replace themselves? And they would want to know what those strange iron birds in the sky were.
Once they are over the shock of having this seemingly supernatural experience take place, and some trust is established between the time travelers and those who brought them forward, then they would have to be brought up to speed on a couple of centuries worth of events since they were last on the stage. They would have to learn about the wars, the termination of slavery and debtor's prisons, women's suffrage and the feminist revolution, nuclear bombs, communism, 9/11, professional sports, same sex marriage, giant corporations, the internet...there will be a lot to explain, an awful lot. I wouldn't want to be the one who has to answer when they ask about the show "Dexter."
I would think that they would all be so blown away by the changes and technological advances, not to mention the experience of being yanked through time, that their personalities would be so deeply altered that it becomes impossible to predict how they would react to today's USA.
I think a very bright person from the past, someone like Jefferson or Franklin, would be fascinated by modern technology. Once they got over the initial shock, they would enjoy spending a few years learning about everything. Eventually though, they would realize that we are very different people from them, with different values. Some things that are important to them are not important to us and vice versa. They might well decide that, on a very basic level, they don't understand us and don't feel comfortable among us.
Would they be at all pleased? Whenever I am looking at a question like this most of the things that people say are negative and only the bad things are focused on. I would like to know what else would they think of this country? What would they think of our inventions, cities, current politics, the people, and everything else. Suppose that they were brought here from Jul 4th 1776.
Well i wont be negative, i think they would be amazed at the inventions, but very angry and upset about other things. I dont believe our forefathers invisioned that this country would be what it is when they draftted the constitution. Just my opinion.
They would despair at how the right to vote had been extended to everyone. Mob rule, they would say, is one of the things they tried so hard to avoid.
The encouraging part is that a great many voters - those with no skin in the game - stay home and don't vote anyway. Usually.
I can imagine a dialogue today like this between someone like myself and Thomas Jefferson.
Me: Mr. Jefferson, can I chat with you for just a bit?
TJ: I'm still trying to absorb the shock of returning to the world. Pardon me. Things are much different than they were when I left. As a man of science, though, I am fascinated.
Me: Are you proud of the fact that the Constitution that you and you contemporaries passed into law is still the document that we are using today?
TJ: I'm actually shocked that you are still using it. Its not what I would have preferred. Let me explain. In many of my writings, I advocated that each generation should be able to determine the laws that it wanted to follow. I had hoped for a system where every twenty years--or at the end of each generation--all laws ended. Than, the people would have to reenact the laws t hat they desired. I am puzzled that still claim you are following the original Constitution.
Me: What about the Civil War?
TJ: We, Founding Fathers, should hang our heads in shame when we think about that. It was our inability to resolve the issue over slavery that lead, inevitably to the Civil War. In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time on the issue of ending slavery through legal means. I advocated abolition of slavery when I was younger, but as my personal debts mounted and I grew older I became preoccupied with other matters. Lest any of you think that the system we devised for you under the Constitution was perfect, just think of that Civil War where you lost 600,000 people.
Me: What do you think about the balance of power in our current system between the federal government and the states?
TJ: You'll remember, I always advocated for a weak central government and strong state governments. The federal government is very powerful today. However, I admit this is a much more complex issue than I could imagine. My protege, James Madison, wrote in the Federalist Papers, that there were some advantages to a federal government. He felt (and I agree) that special interests are all powerful on a local or statewide level. On a federal level, no one special interest is all powerful and they tend to cancel each other out. I was something of a hypocrite myself as President. You may remember that I was always saying that if the Constitution didn't specifically give the federal government a power than it did not have that power. Than, despite any Constitutional authority to do so, I authorized the Louisiana Purchase and doubled the size of this country over night. In reviewing what's happened since I died, I see the problems that America has faced as a nation. Many of those problems could not have been resolved without the central government using its powers. So, I guess I'm saying that after the Louisiana Purchase and creating the conditions that lead to the Civil War, neither I or my contemporaries have a right to judge you.
Me: You once supported the French Revolution and revolutions in general, didn't you, as a way to affect political change?
TJ: Yes, and I've had many second thoughts about it. I've since learned about the Russian Revolution, the Chinese War and Revolution in 1949, and the Mexican Revolution that lasted from 1912-1920. I'm horrified at the extent of killing that went on and the innocent people who died. I still believe that men have a right to revolt when a tyrannical government--which by the way is not a government they elect--takes away their freedom. What some people today have lost sight of is that we didn't have the power to vote King George out of office. We didn't have the power to repeal Parliament's tax laws, like the Stamp Act. If we had those powers--like you do today--no responsible person would have been advocating a revolution. And, we tried to peacefully resolve those problems with England for a number of years before any violence resulted. If England hadn't sent troops to Boston and occupied the whole city to punish Boston for the "tea party", I'm not sure there ever would have been an armed revolution. For George Washington and many of us that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Me: What do you like most about today?
TJ: The advances in health care and medicine. In my day, two out of every three children died before age seven. Mostly because of infectious disease. I had the awful experience of watching a child of my own die. Many died of infections that your antibiotics now cure. I wish we had had some of those things available to us. I did live to be 83 though. John Adams lived to be older than I did. So, medical advances aren't everything. I admit I'm more fascinated by changes in science and technology than I am by your system of government. Many people don't realize how much time I spent as a scientist and trying to learn more about the world around us.
Me: What do you think of things today like the Patriot Act, wiretapping, and waterboarding terrorists?
TJ: Clearly, we intended to prevent such abuses when we gave you a Bill of Rights that prohibited "unreasonable searches and seizures" and "cruel and unusual punishments". That's one lesson that I am shocked you haven't completely learned in the 224 years since the Constitution was ratified. We faced similar and even worse threats during the American Revolution and its why we built those protections into the Bill of Rights.
Me: Do you have any advice for us today?
TJ: Yes, don't worry so much about what we, the Founding Fathers would have done in similar situations. Don't talk so much about "original intent" when you try to make sense of the Constitution. As I've already said, we made plenty of mistakes of our own. We failed to resolve the slavery issue and that lead to the Civil War. There is no one "original intent" to the Constitution. Do you know that 55 delegates went to the Constitutional Convention? Thirty-nine signed the Constitution before it was sent to the states to be ratified. I can promise you there was more than one "intent" among all those delegates. The document you got was the result of compromise by Anti-federalists like James Madison and Federalists like Alexander Hamilton. Its the only way you got a Constitution at all.
I think all the Founding Fathers would also be surprised at your reluctance to the amend the Constitution when you have a problem. We built the amendment process into the Constitution for that very reason. You've chosen to avail yourselves of it only about 30 times in the last 226 years.
Me: Can I ask another question.
TJ: No, I better leave it here. I don't want to have to comment on Sally Hemmings or my fights with Hamilton and the other Federalists. I'll just say, when you maintain a free press and free speech, you have laid the keel for a sound ship. In many ways, despite all the changes that have occurred you have built a good system--not a perfect one. What happens now is up to you and your children. I would have it no other way.
TJ: No, I better leave it here. I don't want to have to comment on Sally Hemmings or my fights with Hamilton and the other Federalists. I'll just say, when you maintain a free press and free speech, you have laid the keel for a sound ship. In many ways, despite all the changes that have occurred you have built a good system--not a perfect one. What happens now is up to you and your children. I would have it no other way.
Good day, sir.
Interesting presentation, markg. Of course in reality the show wouldn't not have asked permission to explore the Sally Hemmings situation, they would have brought Sally and Martha Jefferson forward in time as well and then brought them out to ambush Thomas, hopefully leading to an on stage brawl.
1. They're dead and they weren't gods or really fathers....just men. 2. If they were living in these times they wouldn't be the same people they were during the 18th century...who can tell what they would think?
That they created. tbh the SCOTUS is the only branch of govt that is working as intended, and even there there have been hiccups (e.g. Bush V. Gore)
The Supreme Court is a disaster. The Supreme Court has wrecked more of our freedom, then any other branch of of the US Government. They have ruled in favor of slavery, in favor of segregation, in favor of locking up US citizens without due process, in favor of allowing the Government to seize private property, in favor allowing the police to search without warrants, and the list goes on and on. What ever is popular at the time, they do it. I don't think that is the way the founding fathers intended it to work. It's amazing that this country has even survived with our crappy Supreme Court.
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The Supreme Court is a disaster. The Supreme Court has wrecked more of our freedom, then any other branch of of the US Government. They have ruled in favor of slavery, in favor of segregation, in favor of locking up US citizens without due process, in favor of allowing the Government to seize private property, in favor allowing the police to search without warrants, and the list goes on and on. What ever is popular at the time, they do it. I don't think that is the way the founding fathers intended it to work. It's amazing that this country has even survived with our crappy Supreme Court.
