National Conservatism, Fusionism, and the Legacy of the American Founding

Abstract

Opposing conservative camps often claim the American Founding as their own. This leads to confusion amongst conservatives: What exactly does the American Founding mean for today’s politics? This article examines this question by focusing on the policy consensus of the Founders on the issues of foreign policy, trade, and immigration, three issues that currently divide the conservative movement. National conservatives are far closer than their opponents to early American policy on these issues.