Sober Expectations

I feel that Martin Diamond’s title of “Sober Expectations” means a few different things. When Martin Diamond says sober expectations I think he means like the term “sober up” which means to be more realistic, or sober as in plain. I believe this because the founding fathers did have very realistic expectations for their new government. The founding fathers knew that for there new country to survive they needed to create a government that would tend to the needs of the colonists. One thing that I have really thought about that Dr. H mentioned in class was that the founding fathers were not trying to make a utopia. They knew that they couldn’t make a utopia and had very realistic expectations on the government they were setting up. That is why I think that the founding fathers were able to compromise on such issues as slavery. The founding fathers knew slavery was a big flaw but knew that they would have to leave it alone for the time being to know for the revolution to take place. They knew that later when the United States of America was more established they could correct some of the flaws and eventually they did correct some of the flaws. That is what is great about the government that was set up was that it could correct itself and restore order. An example of this that Dr. H talked about in class is President Richard Nixon leaving office after the Watergate controversy. In many other governments if an event that bad happened the whole country would be in utter confusion and peril. The United States of Government has been set up in such a beautifully structured way that problems such as the Watergate scandal can be solved peacefully. I also think when Martin Diamond said “Sober Expectations” he meant sober as in plain. The American Revolution was not like other revolutions in the past. The American Revolution did not kill the government officials above them or overthrow them. There were many loyalists that were disgraced but I have read that the favorite tactic of the patriots to intimidate the loyalists was to tar and feather them. Being tarred and feathered is very painful but it will not kill you. All of the revolutions before the American Revolution had been very violent, lots of blood was shed, and heads of the leaders were usually chopped off with guillotines. Which makes it so amazing that the founding fathers could create a revolution that ended up working without much fighting within the colonies. Martin Diamonds “Sober Expectations” eloquently praises the founding fathers for being realistic and explains how they were not trying to make a utopia. I found the article quite interesting as it explained how the American Revolution was the first of its kind. From reading the Book "Just and Holy Principles" I give credit to the founding fathers but I also believe that most of the credit should go to God. The American Revolution only happened because of divine intervention. Many founding fathers actually believed that the revolution only happened because of the helping hand of God. I believe that God did play a major role in the creation of the United States of America and am very thankful for it.