{"id":3223,"date":"2026-07-01T21:10:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T21:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3223"},"modified":"2026-07-01T21:10:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T21:10:03","slug":"hamilton-jefferson-and-trump-historians-see-a-founding-era-playbook-still-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3223","title":{"rendered":"Hamilton, Jefferson and Trump: Historians see a founding-era playbook still at work"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the nation celebrates its 250th birthday, some historians say President Trump\u2019s emphasis on states\u2019 rights, national self-sufficiency, American First foreign policy and a revival of manufacturing harkens back to the vision embraced by America\u2019s founding fathers.<\/p>\n

Read more Cash-strapped British military embarks on radical new course<\/a><\/p>\n

The comparison can be hotly debated because the United States has evolved dramatically since 1776, and the founders themselves were not unified on a specific agenda. In fact, they fought bitterly over some of the issues that divide Americans today.<\/p>\n

Still, historians see much of the founding fathers in Mr. Trump\u2019s agenda, from Alexander Hamilton\u2019s economic nationalism to John Jay\u2019s fear of being overly reliant on foreign economies to Ben Franklin\u2019s anti-immigration stance and Thomas Jefferson\u2019s fear that a too-powerful federal government would trample states\u2019 independence.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything Trump is doing is consistent with the founding fathers\u2019 view of the Constitution,\u201d said historian Craig Shirley. \u201cHis agenda on immigration, boosting manufacturing, states\u2019 rights is a callback to the founding fathers\u2019 legacy of sovereignty, self-sufficiency and not having the federal government exceed its authority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone shares that view.<\/p>\n

In a recent op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, journalist Jonah Goldberg argued that the founding fathers would have \u201cgotten rid of\u201d Mr. Trump. He argues that Mr. Trump has placed himself above the law and that actions like his proposed $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund and pardons would have alarmed the founding fathers, who would have been frustrated with the lack of accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI struggle to think of hypothetical scenarios that would be more likely to arouse in Madison and his contemporaries the \u2013 now misplaced \u2013 reassurance that impeachment was an available remedy,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Since returning to office, Mr. Trump sought to dismantle the Education Department to give states more control over schools, rolling back federal energy regulations so states can dictate their own oil and gas policies, and even arguing that states have a right to draw their own congressional districts.<\/p>\n

During his first term, Mr. Trump appointed the conservative justices who eventually overturned Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion issue to the states.<\/p>\n

Though the founders differed on the appropriate balance between state and federal authority, many, led by Jefferson, shared the belief that preserving state sovereignty served as an important safeguard against excessive national centralization and that local governments were better equipped to serve their communities than a distant national government.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump has coupled that vision with an effort to reduce the size of the federal government, reducing its total workforce to its lowest level since 1966. After implementing a nearly 12% cut in government workers, only 1.6% of workers are employed by Uncle Sam, according to data from the Heritage Foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe founders would be astonished at the size, scale and scope of the federal government and be aghast at that,\u201d said Michael Maibach, director of the Center for the Electoral College, who speaks on the founders\u2019 Constitutional design.<\/p>\n

However, some argue that Mr. Trump has been inconsistent on the issue of states\u2019 rights. The president dispatched the National Guard to places such as Chicago and Los Angeles over the objection of governors. He ultimately removed the guard members after the Supreme Court blocked the federalization of the guard in Illinois.<\/p>\n

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Mr. Trump is also trying to federalize election laws, which are traditionally handled by the states, with the SAVE America Act that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID at the polls.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresidents generally support state autonomy when this suits their policy goals, but they embrace federal authority when doing so aligns with their policy goals,\u201d said John Dinan, who teaches federalism at Wake Forest University.<\/p>\n

Long before America First became a campaign slogan, the founding fathers debated whether the young Republic should be economically self-reliant or become deeply entangled with foreign trade.<\/p>\n

Hamilton argued the United States could not remain independent if it stayed dependent on European manufactured goods, pushing for tariffs and subsidies to build up America\u2019s manufacturing base. Jefferson echoed that argument, envisioning a nation of independent farmers who would be economically self-reliant.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s tariff policy and his push to reshore manufacturing have been presented by his supporters as a 21st-century update of the same argument. Manufacturing has now reached its highest level in four years, according to the Institute for Supply Management, which tracks factory activity across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump is doing lots of important things to reestablish supply lines and the supplies themselves that are very important to us,\u201d Mr. Maibach said. \u201cHamilton would be pleased that we are the world\u2019s most productive manufacturer and economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

This extends to energy policy and Mr. Trump\u2019s push to maximize domestic oil, gas and mineral production. The White House has cast this effort as a means to insulate the country from supply shocks and price spikes that come from relying on foreign producers, drawing parallels to the founders\u2019 wariness of being involved with powers whose interests don\u2019t align with America.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe founding fathers weren\u2019t organizing an English protectorate; they were organizing a unique American government run by American citizens. That\u2019s what Trump is trying to do. He wants a government that looks out for the interests of Americans and is not dictated to by illegals for foreign governments,\u201d Mr. Shirley said.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the clearest thread tying Mr. Trump to the founding fathers is his approach to foreign policy. George Washington warned in his farewell address against permanent foreign entanglements.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s America First policy draws on this tradition by pressing NATO allies to shoulder more of their own defense costs, questioning the value of open-ended military commitments, though he has somewhat undermined this policy with military operations in Venezuela and Iran.<\/p>\n

Washington argued in his remarks that America\u2019s geographic separation from Europe allowed it to disengage in world affairs.<\/p>\n

Read more 350 Tren de Aragua arrests under Trump so far<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the nation celebrates its 250th birthday, some historians say President Trump’s emphasis on states’ rights, national self-sufficiency, American First foreign policy and a revival of manufacturing harkens back to the vision embraced by America’s founding fathers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-3223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics","tag-donald-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nHamilton, Jefferson and Trump: Historians see a founding-era playbook still at work - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3223\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hamilton, Jefferson and Trump: Historians see a founding-era playbook still at work - 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