On his first day in office, President Trump already made history. He is, by and large, the wealthiest president in U.S. history.
Wealth is no stranger to the club of chief magistrate; JFK’s wealth sat around $1 billion while some of the Founding Fathers’ net worth today would rank well into the multimillions.
Wealth sits perfectly in line with the vision of some of our founders, who agreed only the wealthy should participate in government – believing they would act virtuously, and not be tempted by the pursuit of wealth.
This notion is in hindsight absurd to us, and akin to saying birds should be the only ones flying planes since they’re the only creatures naturally predisposed to flight. The pursuit of wealth, like power or any other vice, is habit forming.
Yet in the modern age of global economy where statecraft and business become muddied, how does foreign corporate interest factor into the Founding Fathers’ fears of foreign influence in our political structures? For the founders, they lived in a world of monarchy where foreign crowns watched with bated breath for our experiment to fail. Relying on them for credit and coin, precautions were taken early on to ensure that those same early alliances did not become a quid pro quo to rob the people of their sovereignty.
Through the war for independence, Congress set strict rules as to what gifts diplomats could not receive, and these lessons became the safeguards reflected in our constitution today.
Article 1, Section 9 as well as Article II, Section 2 specifically prohibit the acceptance of titles and emoluments. In regard to the electoral process, controversial as it is now, it was established to ensure foreign parties stay out of our political process.
Hamilton wrote in Federalist 68 that one of the greatest dangers to a republican government came “from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils. How could they better gratify this, than by raising a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union?”
Despite these preventatives, foreign intrigues have happened and will happen again.
Aaron Burr, shortly after his appointment at Weehawken with Hamilton was caught in a conspiracy involving both England and Spain, which led to his trial of treason.
James Madison at his first inaugural said it was the duty not only of the president but also of all statesmen “to exclude foreign intrigues and foreign partialities, so degrading to all countries and so baneful to free ones”
While we may have little to fear from monarchs in 2017, we still are susceptible to foreign entanglement perhaps not from kings but certainly from corporations, which in the modern world wield almost as much political influence as those foreign powers the Founding Fathers warned us about.
In this regard, Trump toes a unique line.
Leveraging certain safeguards like the blind trust, President Trump will avoid direct conflicts of interest. And however earnest, this effort will still draw skepticism from the American people as he keeps family members closely plugged into policy decisions.
Trump’s administration is of course not a monarchy. But the privileged, aristocratic leaders in the administration must remember that while private wealth is the right and just pursuit of every American, it can never come at the expense of a free government.
As the nation’s leader, Trump should actively ensure that our government fulfills its sacred commitment as our Founding Fathers intended: to check all forms of tyranny, whether authoritarian or economic.
President Trump has taken the oath – the oath of Washington, Jefferson and Madison. It is now his solemn duty to remember it every minute of every day, for as long as he holds this office.
(Bryan Austin is the historical interpreter of James Madison through the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s Nation Builder Program.)