Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s claim that America’s Founders revolted against “the billionaires of their time” distorts history to justify modern socialist policies, according to legal scholar Jonathan Turley, who warns the revisionist narrative threatens constitutional capitalism and property rights.
The Founders Were Capitalists, Not Socialists
Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University constitutional law professor, directly challenges AOC’s March 2024 claim that America’s Founders fought against wealthy elites. Turley notes that many Founders themselves were wealthy entrepreneurs and financiers. Robert Morris, the “Financier of the Revolution,” personally funded military operations through his private fortune—equivalent to hundreds of millions in today’s dollars. Rather than opposing wealth creation, the Founders studied and embraced Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, published the same year as the Declaration of Independence, establishing the intellectual foundation for American capitalism and individual enterprise.
The historical record demonstrates that the Founders prioritized “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”—emphasizing individual opportunity, not wealth confiscation. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and other key figures actively promoted commerce, banking, and private capital accumulation as engines of national prosperity. Their vision aligned with Enlightenment individualism and free markets, not the collectivist redistribution that modern progressives advocate. Turley argues that AOC’s reinterpretation fundamentally misunderstands both the Revolution’s economic aims and the Founders’ philosophy of limited government protecting property rights.
Constitutional Protections for Property Rights Are Under Attack
The Constitution explicitly safeguards economic liberty and property ownership. Article I, Section 10 prohibits states from impairing contracts or seizing property without due process, reflecting the Founders’ commitment to protecting wealth accumulation and business stability. The Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause requires just compensation when government seizes private property. These provisions embody the principle that individuals, not the state, control the fruits of their labor. By reframing the Revolution as anti-billionaire, progressives create rhetorical justification for policies that violate these protections—such as wealth taxes, confiscatory capital gains rates, and asset seizures disguised as “fair share” taxation.
The Danger of Economic Factionalism and Mob Rule
Turley warns that AOC’s narrative echoes the “factionalism” that James Madison warned against in Federalist Paper No. 10. Madison feared that democratic majorities, driven by economic envy, could tyrannize minorities and destroy property rights through mob rule. Historical precedent validates this concern: France’s 2012–2014 wealth tax drove approximately 60,000 millionaires to emigrate, devastating investment and economic growth. When politicians systematically delegitimize wealth creation by falsely claiming the Founders opposed it, they erode the cultural and constitutional norms protecting capitalism. This “democratic despotism,” as Turley terms it, threatens America’s innovation economy and individual liberty.
The Founders explicitly feared that envy-driven populism would destroy the republic. They designed the Constitution with checks against tyrannical majorities, including the Senate, the Electoral College, and federalism. Rewriting history to justify wealth confiscation betrays their vision. Turley emphasizes that the Founders believed in “unleashing everyone’s ability to become a Morris”—enabling individuals to build fortunes through enterprise, not punishing success through punitive taxation rooted in false historical claims.
Why This Matters for Your Rights and Prosperity
AOC’s socialist reinterpretation of American history directly threatens conservative values of property ownership, individual initiative, and limited government. If progressives successfully convince voters that the Founders opposed wealth and capitalism, they remove the moral and constitutional barriers to confiscatory policies. Wealth taxes, billionaire levies, and asset seizures become politically easier to justify when wrapped in false patriotic language. For working Americans and small business owners, this erosion of property-rights norms means higher taxes, reduced investment in job creation, and fewer opportunities to build generational wealth. The stakes extend beyond billionaires—they concern whether Americans retain the constitutional right to keep what they earn.
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JONATHAN TURLEY: AOC’s war on billionaires twists America’s birth into a socialist myth