U.S. Constitution Not Broken, Worth Defending

It pains me to disagree with Samuel Moyn, from whose fine books on human rights I have learned so much. Yet I believe that the recent New York Times essay by him and R. D. Doerfler, “The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed” (New York Times, August 19, 2022), is fundamentally wrong and mischievous.

The recent reevaluation and criticism of the slave-owning American Founders — especially Jefferson, Madison, Patrick Henry, and even George Washington — is long overdue. Annette Gordon-Reed’s two books on Jefferson and his black slave and concubine Sally Hemings and their children comprise excellent historical revision. The related, overdue upgrading of Alexander Hamilton’s reputation in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s popular musical is a welcome surprise. These are valuable examples of the perennial civilizing process of personal and national self-knowledge that comes from reflecting on American history.

It pains me to disagree with Samuel Moyn, from whose fine books on human rights I have learned so much. Yet I believe that the recent New York Times essay by him and R. D. Doerfler, “The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed” (New York Times, August 19, 2022), is fundamentally wrong and mischievous.

The recent reevaluation and criticism of the slave-owning American Founders — especially Jefferson, Madison, Patrick Henry, and even George Washington — is long overdue. Annette Gordon-Reed’s two books on Jefferson and his black slave and concubine Sally Hemings and their children comprise excellent historical revision. The related, overdue upgrading of Alexander Hamilton’s reputation in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s popular musical is a welcome surprise. These are valuable examples of the perennial civilizing process of personal and national self-knowledge that comes from reflecting on American history.

About the Author

M.D. Aeschliman

M.D. Aeschliman is professor emeritus of education at Boston University and author of The Restoration of Man: C. S. Lewis and the Continuing Case Against Scientism (3rd English-language ed., Seattle: Discovery Institute, 2019 and French-language rev. ed., Paris: Pierre Téqui, 2020).