Who is a Founding Father?

CHRISTIE MALY

At the funeral of Representative John Robert Lewis, former President Barack Obama delivered a eulogy in which he said that "when we do form a more perfect union … Lewis will be a founding father of that fuller, fairer, better America." When I heard these words, my ears immediately perked up. My elementary school education left me with the impression that a Founding Father—in the American context—referred to a specific group of men that had either contributed to the Declaration of Independence, fought in the subsequent Revolutionary War, or signed off on the Constitution of a newly created country: the United States of America. I knew the Founding Fathers to be individuals such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and many more men who were there at the United States’ inception. My understanding of the term made me believe that no one who followed these men could ever be a Founding Father. Therefore, when I heard Lewis being referred to as a "founding father," I was a bit confused. Moreover, I asked myself: what did it mean to be the Founding Father of a "fuller, fairer, better America"?

The American Founding Fathers - as I imagined them (Source: Pixabay)

When examining President Obama's statement in his eulogy, he characterizes "a more perfect union" as the prerequisite for the "fuller, fairer, better America" credited to individuals such as Lewis. Moreover, the description of "a more perfect union" as being a goal achieved in the future subtly indicates that when the Founding Fathers created the country, it was not living up to its ideals by the time Lewis arrived. I believe that history supports this argument. There is a dissonance between how we remember the Founding Fathers—“Founders” for short—versus how we analyze their actions. As a child, I thought of the Founders as these heroic figures who created a country that upheld human rights and freedoms as central for all citizens. In my education, the mistakes that the Founders made were glossed over even when those  mistakes had serious consequences. Despite the Founders' intentions to create a society that was representative of the people they served, unfairness was enshrined in the foundational documents of the country on a structural level. Examples of this unfairness include the notorious Three-Fifths Compromise which stated that a person who was not free would be counted as three-fifths of a person for apportioning purposes. Perhaps the most glaring example was the Declaration of Independence, which stated that "all men are created equal" yet contained no commitment to end the horrific practice of slavery. Ultimately, slavery would only be officially be outlawed 78 years later. At a personal level, the Founders themselves were also contradictory. Historian Michael Aubrecht asserts that "Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence and called slavery an ‘abominable crime,’ yet he was a lifelong slaveholder." I cannot nor will I try to speculate the reasoning behind these contradictions. However, I believe that the Founders did leave us with a unique gift: the acknowledgment of their deficiencies. In the Constitution, these men explained their goal "to create a more perfect union." They did not claim to create the "best union" nor a "perfect union." In tasking Americans with a collective responsibility to create a "more perfect union," they left a legacy that future Americans would have to strive for.  

The Signing of the Constitution - Americans were tasked to build “a more perfect union” (Source: Pixabay)

Did John Lewis strive for this legacy? To answer it, one only needs to look at his incredible life. When John Lewis was growing up in the 1950s, segregation was a normal part of his community in Troy, Georgia. Though he was uncomfortable with the status quo, his parents reminded him that "decent black folks stayed out of trouble. It was that simple," so Lewis was taught to conform to the unfairness in his society. However, upon meeting civil rights leaders such as Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Lewis became inspired to join the fight against injustice. This calling motivated him to speak at the March on Washington for Poverty and Jobs, found and work with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and be one of the original Freedom Riders. Throughout all of these various efforts, he attempted to spotlight the hypocrisy of segregation in America and advocated for voting rights, especially for minority communities. His advocacy eventually took him to serve in the U.S House of Representatives for over 30 years, and his ability to speak firmly on moral matters led to him being celebrated as the "Conscience of the Congress". However, his work did not come without personal costs. In his early years, Lewis was repeatedly the target of violent attacks by individuals angered by his unwavering commitment to calling out the injustice perpetrated against his community. Most notably, in his Bloody Sunday March on the Edmund-Pettus Bridge, he was brutally beaten by Alabama State Troopers. Throughout his life, Lewis fought to hold America accountable and fulfill the Founders' legacy. A country that does not treat minorities fairly is not a perfect union, but by pushing for equality, Lewis was committed to creating "a more perfect union" for future generations. 

John Lewis Walks on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday March (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

I firmly believe that Lewis fought relentlessly for the legacy entrusted to Americans by the Founders; however, I wonder if it is fair to refer to him as a "Founding Father" of a "more perfect union." I believe that the Founding Fathers created an imperfect country that lacked fundamental freedoms for the majority of the population at the time of America' conception. In my opinion, Lewis fought for something different and nobler than the Founding Fathers. Unlike the Founding Fathers, who disenfranchised many Americans, Lewis unequivocally fought for the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Constitution to be accessible to all. I believe that Lewis' legacy is one that is different and even superior to the Founders, and conflating Lewis with this group of men is somewhat of a disservice to Lewis' legacy. 

Lewis, along with other Civil Rights leaders, meets with President Kennedy after the March on Washington (Source: Picryl)

I think individuals such as Lewis, who contribute to positive lasting change in the U.S., should be referred to by a different term as opposed to"Founding Father of [insert positive change here]." The Founding Fathers laid the foundations for this country, but the process of building it to uphold Constitutional rights for all people involves many Americans of subsequent generations. A term such as "Builder" would more accurately describe the work of individuals such as Lewis, who built upon the Founders’ foundations. "Builder" is an inclusive term that can represent Americans across time and of various identities. Individuals like John Lewis should be recognized and celebrated for their contributions to building a country that upholds the important legacy entrusted to us by the Founding Fathers. As Americans, we should acknowledge the complicated history of the Founding Fathers—the good and the bad— and we should also celebrate the achievements of subsequent Americans as independent of the founding fathers and remarkable in their own right. 

The fight for “a more perfect union” continues (Source: Myanmore)

Works Cited

“The 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.” Edited by National Constitution Center, National Constitution Center – The 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 2020, constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xiii. 

Aubrecht, Michael. “Independence and Contradiction: Our Founding Slaveholders.” Emerging Revolutionary War Era, 25 Nov. 2017, emergingrevolutionarywar.org/2017/11/28/independence-and-contradiction-our-founding-slaveholders/. 

Pérez, Myrna. “7 Years of Gutting Voting Rights.” Brennan Center for Justice, NYU Law, 3 June 2020, www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/7-years-gutting-voting-rights. 

Rigsby, Enrique D. “Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement (Review).” Rhetoric & Public Affairs, vol. 3, no. 4, 2000, pp. 679–681., doi:10.1353/rap.2000.0017. 

Seelye, Katharine Q. “John Lewis, Towering Figure of Civil Rights Era, Dies at 80.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 July 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/us/john-lewis-dead.html.