Vindicating the Founders

Rating:
Summary: A defense of the founders that flounders
Review: A well-written, focused, and spirited defense of the founders from attacks that they were racist, sexist, classist (etc, etc.) is something that would contribute greatly to current historical debate about the founding of the American nation.

Unfortunately, Thomas West's book "Vindicating the Founders" is not that book.

West's book suffers from a lack of focus as it seeks to defend "The Founders" from attacks by "Historians" on topics such as "Slavery", "Property Rights" and "The Role of Women". The obvious problem is that the founders were a diverse group of people with diverse views on such things as slavery, property rights and the role of women. And on top of that, the historians who are attacking the fouders are doing so from a number of different points of view as well. West lumps together left-wing polemicists whose rants no serious student of history would take seriously with liberal authors like Gordon Wood whose well-argued and sophisticated critiques must be carefully considered.

There is a maxim in warfare that the person who defends everything, defends nothing. West should have followed this.
The disapointing thing is that there is a potential for a great book about the intellectual history of slavery in the South. West summarzies it as such: at the time of the Founding the majority of Southerners recognized slavery as an evil, though also recognizing that it was an established institution that would have to be phased out over time. By the eve of the Civil War those views had changed radically. Southerners now saw Slavery as a positive good. West cites a speech by Alexander Stephens the Confederate Vice-President. First, Stephens attacks Jefferson: "The prevailing ideas entertained by him [Jefferson] and most of the leading statesmen of the time of the formation of the old constitution, were the that the enslavements of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally or politically." Stephens does not cite this approvingly as would say Lincoln or the modern reader. Stephens conclusion was the opposite: "These ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong".

This speech by Stephens is one that is not referenced by many historians of this period. West would have done a better job by concentrating on these and other primary texts that showed the Southern de-valuation of the Declaration of Independence and it's principals over the period 1776 to 1861.

As it is, readers interested in this topic need to look to other sources for the kind of material that shows the founders were not truly "pro-slavery". Good examples are "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" (by the previously mentioned Gordon Wood), "Charles Sumner" by David Herbert Donald and almost anything recently on Lincoln. ("Lincoln At Gettysburg" by Garry Willis is a good example.)

Rating:
Summary: Not a good read
Review: Dr. West has a very wishy-washy argument, arguing against the ideas that blacks, women, and the poor enjoyed life, liberty, and happiness at the founding. He argues the point that the Founding Fathers BELIEVED in TRUE EQUALITY for all, and he proves his point by using the writings of the founders. However, the simple proclamation of principles does no good for society when they are not carried out. He only goes on to explain WHY the Founders could not carry out their principles.
This book is very heavy on the philosophical/principled side of politics, and very lacking in it's examination of the actions undertaken at the founding. I'm only reading the book because it's for my politics class (at the university where he teaches. . . I wonder why we had to buy it. . $$$)

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Summary: USA Founders Racist, Sexist Land Barons? No You Commies!
Review: For many years race hustlers like Jackson and Sharpton, abortion mongers at NOW and NARAL, gay bathhouse mafia, and tree huggers have justified their beer-hall putsch conduct by saying that America's founding was racist, sexist and elitist.

Now finally, Thomas West comes out with research and well-reasoned arguments to answer these Leftist loonybirds. Most reviews of the founders force contemporary viewpoints on colonial Americans. The "progressive" critique of the founders also assumes that we understand the declaration of independance and constitution better than the founders did. "We're evolved, the founders were primitive hypocrits," so say the America Haters.

Rather than concoct a theory to fit a radical leftist agenda (what most professors studying the founders do) West actually dug into public papers, colonial demographic data and other colonial-time data to see understand the founders as the founders understood their beliefs.

The Left tried to ignore West's work or personally attack West (standard operating procedure for modern liberals)

After years of browbeating of American kids from elementary school textbooks to "scholars" cranking out "social science" deliberately designed to highlight the hypocrisy of America's founders, WEST'S EFFORT PERMANENTLY RECLAIMS THE HIGH GROUND.

The Left cannot and will not rationally debate America's founding. Actually, the only real rational debate on the founding is going on between conservatives, that is, between Robert Bork, and Thomas West and Harry Jaffa. West and Jaffa think Bork does not elevate the declaration of independance to the status of the constitution, thereby inadvertantly denigrating the founders.

Hey Hey Ho Ho Left Wing Protesters Have Gotta Go!!!

Rating:
Summary: Not a good read
Review: In his book "Vindicating the Founders", Thomas West expounds upon the American Founding Fathers, and the political, moral, and social methodology that led them to make the laws and set up the structures that they did. West constantly strives to disabuse, what he percieves as, the modern erroneous notions concerning the American Founders and thier political and social stances. Throughout his book, the author attracts attention to the growing ambivalence towards the Founding Fathers, and the seemingly fashionable debasement of them that has permeated much of the modern educational establishment. In his preface, the author states that, "many of our leading sophisticates today would rather talk about the Founders' failures." He furthermore goes on to lament the fact that, "Instead of the victories that they won on behalf of freedom, we hear loud complaints about thier supposed racism, sexism, and elitism." (Preface xi)
While the book's predominant focus revolves around the disection of those individual controversial issues such as slavery, women's rights, property rights, and immigration, West does not succumb to the temptation of neglecting the inter-relationship between the topics or their integral place in the larger puzzle. Throughout the book he draws a series of ideological battle lines, and contrasts the skeptical views of the educational intelligentsia against the accumulated historical evidence. West describes the philisophical debate as the Old vs. the New Liberalism, and argues that the ultimate issue in question is "whether we can justify our departure from the founding." (Preface xv)

Rating:
Summary: A Must-Read for Any Critic of the Founders
Review: No one should criticize or condemn the Founding Fathers of this country until they've read either this book by Tom West or every one of the speeches, letters, and other writings of the Founders for themselves. One of the problems in today's country is that we have a bunch of self-appointed PC historians that regularly badger the Founders for falling short of today's enlightened sense of justice without taking the time to read what the Founders had to say on these issues themselves. West lets the Founders speak for themselves by documenting both their writings and their actions. Truly, a valuable contribution to the study of American history.

I hope to see more from Tom West.

Rating:
Summary: excellent concise examination
Review: This is a good book that is concise yet covers many aspects of the negative views of the US founding era (and incidentally, the negative views of the US by Americans in general). 1 of the most interesting things is how Mr. West touched on so many negative points that we have come to believe were inherent in the Constitution, but if you read it, they are indeed "nowhere to be found", such as precluding women from office, etc. Unfortunately our American society has become so self-flagellant that even a staunch patriot like me thought there must have been more bias in the founding documents than there really is. Mr. West has done a great deal to refute those views and spurs interest to look into it more for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: Thomas G. West does a masterful job of explaining the commonly held political and social beliefs of the Founders, all the while he debunks numerous myths from both the Left and the Right. West, a disciple of Leo Strauss and Harry Jaffa, stays within the tradition of natural law theory as currently advocated by the Clairemont Institute as he explains the true meanings of the words found in the Declaration and the Constitution. Each chapter begins with quotations from various historians or influential thinkers who have misinterpreted their meanings, then West gathers quotes from the Founders within context and gives the reader the proper meaning. This is then followed by what might be called application and social critique, telling us things that may surprise us.

Although I think he underplays the racism that was evident in their thoughts and behaviors, I believe he is correct in most of his conclusions and I learned quite a bit. It could be a conservative compliment to *Lies My Teacher Told Me* by James Loewen. For those who want to gather the true meaning of the what the USA was founded on, they could get no better book than this.

Rating:
Summary: Quick and surprising read full of facts few know
Review: Thomas West assembles a compact read in "Vindicating the Founders" that spiritedly challenges the modern critique of America's Founders.

"Vindicating" shows that post-revolutionary America was, without a doubt, a shining example to the rest of the world of a republican democracy, with thoroughly advanced notions of voting rights, property rights, and welfare.

Rejecting those who criticize the Founders for what they didn't do, namely, abolish slavery, Mr. West shows that the philosophy embodied in the Declaration of Independence practically animated the Founders actions, making early America a model of freedom and laying the course for the ultimate extinction of slavery.

"Vindicating" is not meant to be an exhaustive treatise on early America. It aims to debunk modern myths that denigrate the Founders, and, in this, "Vindicating" is more than up to the task.

Rating:
Summary: How to answer PC revisionism? Throw historical fact at it.
Review: Thomas West presents the founders in their own words and presents their principles and ideals that shaped of the Revolution, the founding of the Republic, and the Constitution. West challenges political correctness and the tired old diatribe about how freedom stopped in the 1790's with the "white male property-owning slaveholder."

Rating:
Summary: The Real Deal
Review: West doesn't apologize for the unfortunate aspects of America's history. I think his methods of helping readers understand the perspectives of the colonial period and how some have grossly misinterpreted them are solid. Everyone, regardless of political affiliation or ideology should read this book, and at least ponder what it has to say. C'mon, we're all supposed to be open-minded right? There, you have no excuse to pass this book by.