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The American Experiment: Classical Roots of a Revolutionary Nation
Thomas Jefferson's library once contained a bust of Cicero, while Washington kept a copy of Addison's "Cato" by his bedside. These weren't mere decorative choices-they represented the intellectual foundation of a nation. "First Principles" by Thomas E. Ricks has been hailed by presidential historians as "required reading in the White House," with Barack Obama naming it among his favorite books of 2020. This sweeping exploration of how classical thinking shaped America's founding generation reveals a startling truth: the country we know today emerged from a profound dialogue between ancient wisdom and revolutionary ideals.
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Classical Education as America's Intellectual Bedrock
The classical world stood much closer to America's founders than to modern Americans. While Greek and Roman antiquity now seems remote, studied briefly in college and then forgotten, it was intimately present in Revolutionary leaders' lives, shaping their political vocabulary and personal values. Colonial classicism permeated early American culture. John and Abigail Adams used classical pseudonyms (Lysander and Diana) in their courtship letters. James Madison kept a bust of Athena on his mantelpiece and a small head of Homer above his drawing room doorway. Thomas Jefferson's Monticello greeted visitors with a marble statue of Ariadne in a front hall designed in the Ionic style.
The colonials named their horses and enslaved humans after classical figures. Jefferson's stables housed Caractacus and Diomede, while Adams instructed his wife that "Cleopatra ought not to be fed too high." Among the enslaved, Madison had one called Plato, Jefferson owned Jupiter and Hercules, and Washington held Neptune and Cupid. Even those without college education knew Roman heroes worthy of emulation.
For the Revolutionary generation, "virtue" was the essential element of public life-not merely morality or female chastity as understood today, but putting the common good before one's own interests. The word appears about six thousand times in the founders' collected writings-more often than "freedom." The practice of virtue was paramount, which explains why George Washington, despite not being articulate, loomed so large over the post-Revolutionary era.
The founders' conception of the ancient world differed markedly from our modern view. While today's education emphasizes Greek thinkers over Romans, the Revolutionary generation favored Rome, with the Greek world often seen as obscure and impractical. When they did admire Greeks, they preferred Sparta to Athens, seeing Spartans as plainspoken, simple, and stable, while considering Athenians turbulent and fickle.
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Washington: The American Cincinnatus
Because classicism was the cultural context of upper-crust colonial America, acting in a Roman manner was the clearest path to social advancement. George Washington exemplifies this, despite being the least learned of the first four presidents. Lacking formal education, he was acutely sensitive to status markers in society. Washington spoke only English, read narrowly on farming and military affairs, and never traveled to Europe. Despite his intellectual limitations, Jefferson ultimately found that Washington embodied classical virtues: prudence, integrity, and inflexible justice-essentially the American Cato.
Washington's most consequential Roman role was one he initially resisted-becoming the American Fabius during the War for Independence. After suffering terrible military setbacks in 1776, Washington reflected and adjusted his approach. Though he would win few battles, he grasped that this wasn't a war to be won through decisive engagements. Like the Roman general Fabius who defeated Hannibal by refusing direct battle, shadowing his forces, and attacking supply lines, Washington adopted a strategy of patience and attrition.
Washington's greatest Fabian victory came bloodlessly when the British evacuated Philadelphia on June 17, 1778. After eight months of occupation yielding little strategic advantage, the British departure represented a major defeat for them. The entry of France into the war had changed British naval calculations, forcing them to consolidate forces. The retreating British baggage train stretched twelve miles, making an enticing target for American militiamen who were particularly adept at harassing tactics.
As the war faded, Washington rejected becoming America's Julius Caesar, though he could have easily seized power. In spring 1783, his officer corps at Newburgh was restless and unpaid. Alexander Hamilton suggested Washington use this discontent to pressure Congress. Meanwhile, anonymous letters circulated in camp calling for officers to demand their pay and consider rebellion. Washington responded forcefully, convening officers at the "Temple of Virtue" where he delivered his famous Newburgh Address, invoking his personal honor and sacrifice: "I have never left your side one moment... my own Military reputation as inseparably connected with that of the Army."
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John Adams: The American Cicero
John Adams embraced revolution earlier than any of the first four presidents. While Washington still sought favor in the British Empire, Jefferson quietly studied law, and Madison was just a boy, Adams was already leading Boston toward independence. Adams chose Conyers Middleton's "Life of Cicero" as his Detur Prize book at Harvard, beginning a lifelong devotion to the Roman orator whom he would later claim to have "read for almost 70 years and seeme to have him almost by heart." Cicero's life provided a blueprint for Adams-a plebian "new man" who rose to Rome's highest office through rhetorical brilliance rather than noble birth or military glory.
Adams deeply loved Cicero's speeches, reading them aloud at night for both pleasure and health, finding that "The Sweetness and Grandeur of his sounds" gave physical benefits. Among all founders, Adams most consciously modeled himself after Cicero, drawn to how the Roman showed that "eloquence lends charm to what is good." Like his idol, Adams rose from modest origins through oratory and intellect, though unlike the wealthy Cicero, he lived simply. They shared striking similarities in personality-both possessed sharp wit that often offended others, nursed petty grievances, and suffered from excessive vanity.
At Harvard, Adams repeatedly studied Robert Dodsley's influential textbook "The Preceptor," reading it "over and over" and sharing it with others. This comprehensive two-volume work outlined what a gentleman needed to learn and was owned by many founding fathers including Washington. The text contained revolutionary ideas about sovereignty flowing from the people and their right to withdraw it from corrupt authorities-seeds of Revolutionary sentiment that would bloom in the 1770s.
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Thomas Jefferson: The American Epicurean
Thomas Jefferson emerges as America's most aesthetically minded early president-widely read, scientifically observant, musically talented, and architecturally brilliant. Unlike his predecessors, Jefferson was arguably more Greek than Roman in his intellectual orientation, preferring Athenian culture to Roman stoicism. This preference for Greek thought may have inoculated him against the rigid Federalism of Adams and Washington.
Jefferson's classical education began early. At age five he learned letters and numbers at a neighborhood school. By nine, he studied Latin with "Mr Douglas," a Scottish clergyman. After his father's death in 1757, Jefferson studied under James Maury, "a correct classical scholar" of French Huguenot background. The fourteen-year-old Jefferson, having just lost his father, was particularly drawn to passages about mortality, copying sections from Cicero's Tusculum Disputations into his commonplace book.
In 1762, Jefferson moved from William & Mary College to study law with George Wythe, a man he called of "exalted virtue"-a decision he later considered "one of the most fortunate events" of his life. Unusually learned in classical languages thanks to his widowed mother's tutelage, Wythe was, in Jefferson's words, "the best Greek and Latin scholar in the state" and "might truly be called the Cato of his country." Wythe's approach to law was distinctly classical-as chief of the Virginia Chancery Court in the 1790s, he cited classical literature some eighty-five times across twenty-one cases, far more than was customary in English courts.
Jefferson's lifelong devotion to Epicurean philosophy began with his reading of Diogenes Laertius in 1767. Jefferson summarized Epicurean belief as "Happiness the aim of life. Virtue the foundation of happiness. Utility the test of virtue..." with virtue consisting of Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice. Later in life, Jefferson declared to William Short, "I too am an Epicurean," considering this philosophy "the most rational system remaining of the philosophy of the ancients." This Epicurean outlook may explain Jefferson's reluctance to confront personal contradictions that might cause discomfort.
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James Madison: The Architect of Constitutional Balance
Of the first four presidents, James Madison was most influenced by Scottish thinking, which led him to the Enlightenment and classical philosophy. When choosing a college in 1769, Madison made the surprising decision to attend the College of New Jersey (Princeton) rather than William & Mary, the normal choice for wealthy Virginians. Princeton under John Witherspoon had become "a provincial carbon copy of Edinburgh" and "a major outpost of the Scottish enlightenment."
Despite his physical limitations-being pale, sickly, and standing just over five feet tall-Madison thrived at Princeton. He found an atmosphere of intellectual freedom where students were encouraged to disagree with their teachers, as the college emphasized "a spirit of liberty, and free enquiry" and students' "right of private judgment." In Witherspoon's moral philosophy course, Madison encountered ideas about balancing competing interests in government that would later influence his Federalist Papers.
Madison arrived first in Philadelphia in May 1787 for the Constitutional Convention, determined to document the proceedings for posterity, recognizing their historical importance for "the happiness of a people great even in its infancy, and possibly the cause of liberty throughout the world." Though physically unimposing at barely five feet tall and a hundred pounds, and not an impressive speaker, Madison was nonetheless the best-informed man in America on principles of government. In a major speech on June 6, he argued that the purpose of national government included securing private rights and dispensing justice.
In Federalist 10, Madison challenged the classical republican view that pursuing self-interest violated public spirit. Unlike older figures like Franklin who condemned "sordid self-Interest," Madison argued that factions were inevitable-"The causes of faction cannot be removed"-so the solution was controlling their effects by harnessing competing interests against each other. His innovative insight was that larger republics were actually more stable because they contained more diverse interests, making it harder for any single faction to dominate.
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The Declaration: America's Classical Manifesto
The Declaration of Independence stands as Jefferson's singular literary achievement, praised by G.K. Chesterton as "perhaps the only piece of practical politics that is also theoretical politics and also great literature." Unlike Jefferson's typically verbose style - characterized by lengthy sentences and complex subordinate clauses - the Declaration features strong, plain political prose with solid, short words and active verbs. Jefferson explained this stylistic departure as intentional - he wrote in "terms so plain and firm" because he considered the Declaration "an appeal to the tribunal of the world." This conscious choice of accessible language made the document both powerful and universally comprehensible.
The Declaration's second paragraph contains America's foundational principles and reveals Jefferson's Epicurean philosophy without explicitly citing it. Beginning with "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," Jefferson makes a revolutionary assertion that sweeps aside millennia of hierarchical social order. The concept of self-evident truths drew from both Enlightenment rationalism and Scottish common sense philosophy, while the equality principle challenged the divine right of kings and aristocratic privilege. By replacing Locke's "life, liberty and estate" with "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," Jefferson marginalized the principle of social class and transformed liberty from a negative concept centered on property protection to a positive developmental right. This subtle but profound modification emphasized human flourishing over mere property rights.
Jefferson's Declaration created not just a justification for revolution but a document of lasting philosophical and literary merit. His assertion that "all men are created equal" established a standard against which America would repeatedly measure itself - often falling short but always striving toward its ideal. This phrase echoed through American history in Elizabeth Cady Stanton's 1848 Seneca Falls Declaration, which demanded women's equality; Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which reaffirmed national dedication to human equality; Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, which called America to fulfill its original promise; and Harvey Milk's defense of gay rights. The document's influence extended beyond American shores, inspiring independence movements and constitutional reforms worldwide, from the French Revolution to twentieth-century anticolonial struggles.
The Declaration's structure itself proved revolutionary, combining philosophical argument with practical grievances in a way that created a template for future political manifestos. Its careful enumeration of specific complaints against King George III established a precedent for holding rulers accountable to their people - a radical concept in 1776. The document's elegant progression from universal principles to particular grievances to necessary conclusion helped establish it as both a practical revolutionary document and a timeless statement of human rights.
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The Constitution: Classical Wisdom Meets American Reality
The Revolutionary generation increasingly drew inspiration from Roman and Greek wisdom as they contemplated their nascent nation's governmental structure. They studied classical texts extensively, finding particular resonance in Cicero's writings on republican virtue and Aristotle's analysis of different forms of government. Enlightenment philosophers, especially Montesquieu with his theories on separation of powers, stood just behind classical authors in their influence. Yet paradoxically, the Constitutional Convention would ultimately devise "a new basis of republican government, a way of achieving viable self-government that did not require virtue as its base." The resulting document would contain no mention of "virtue" - using classical thought to escape its influence while simultaneously drawing upon its frameworks.
Classical references manifested most troublingly in Southern defenses of slavery. The Georgia and South Carolina delegations made their position unequivocally clear: they would not sign any document suggesting emancipation. Charles Pinckney exemplified this selective use of classical precedent. Despite earlier criticizing ancient analogies as irrelevant to modern governance, he later invoked Greece and Rome to justify human bondage, claiming "In all ages one half mankind had been slaves." He pointed specifically to Athens' reliance on slave labor during its golden age and Rome's extensive use of slaves in agriculture. This reliance on classical precedent stood in direct contradiction to Enlightenment influences like Montesquieu and Locke, who fundamentally questioned the morality and practicality of slavery. The Convention ultimately chose expediency over moral clarity, passing the ethical burden of slavery to future generations, who would pay for this compromise in blood during the Civil War.
Despite their serious reservations about certain aspects of the Constitution, Madison and Hamilton believed it vastly superior to continuing under the weak Articles of Confederation. They launched an intensive campaign for ratification, with Madison maintaining regular correspondence with Washington through dozens of detailed letters analyzing the document's prospects in different states. Their most remarkable achievement was producing the Federalist Papers - eighty-five persuasive essays written between October 1787 and August 1788. These papers masterfully addressed concerns about federal power, individual rights, and the balance between state and national authority. The first three dozen, published between October 1787 and March 1788, were particularly crucial in shaping public opinion. The historian Peter Gay rightfully called this collection "the most characteristic product of the American Enlightenment," as it merged classical republican theory with modern political philosophy in a uniquely American context.
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The Revolution of 1800: Classical Ideals Meet Democratic Reality
The election of 1800 marked a true revolution in American governance, as significant as the revolution of 1776. Jefferson's inaugural address, delivered in the new capital of Washington DC, acknowledged his party's victory while promising equal rights for the minority. He called for toning down political rhetoric, arguing that "every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle," and emphasized freedom of the press. Notably, "virtue," once central to political discourse, was barely mentioned.
John Adams, humiliated by his electoral defeat, left Washington at 4 a.m. on inauguration day. "I was turned out of Office, degraded and disgraced by my Country," he lamented, concluding that the American people lacked sufficient virtue. Back on his farm, he wrote bitterly that he had "made a good exchange... of honors & virtues, for manure." Adams began writing a memoir to settle scores, stating it would counter "that Mass of odious Abuse" he had suffered.
The electoral winners attacked not just elites but the classicism that had long served as their political vocabulary, seeing it as a symbol of elitism. An essay in the Argus asserted that Federalists despised workingmen who "have not snored through four years at Princeton." Even younger Federalists like Edmund Trowbridge Dana complained that American poetry was mired in the ancient world: "One is hagridden... with nothing but the classicks, the classicks, the classicks!" He called for less rhetoric and thinking, more nature and feeling-signs of emerging American Romanticism.
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The End of American Classicism
After Jefferson's "revolution," America faced two major challenges: the tension between elitism and growing egalitarianism, and the more insidious contradiction of a nation founded on freedom yet practicing slavery. The founders had made a deal with the devil, and some suspected as much. Because of slavery, fears of civil war constantly bubbled beneath the surface, with Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase ironically setting the stage for future conflict over whether slavery would be permitted in these new territories.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 horrified Jefferson, who emerged from his classical retreat to follow the news. He described the compromise as "a fire bell in the night" that "awakened and filled me with terror." The geographical division between slave and free territories would, he feared, "never be obliterated," with each new conflict marking it "deeper and deeper." He viewed the compromise as "an act of suicide" and "treason against the hopes of the world," making him question his life's work.
As Madison worried about America's future, Alexis de Tocqueville traveled throughout the United States, observing that Americans had moved beyond classical models. The young Frenchman noted that "Democratic peoples hold erudition in very low esteem and care little about what happened in Rome and Athens," preferring instead to hear about themselves. The Enlightenment fell into disrepute as Romanticism emerged, with Greece rather than Rome becoming the classical focus.
The Industrial Revolution delivered the final blow to American classicism. Steam power transformed transportation and commerce, with steamboats on western rivers growing from 17 in 1817 to 727 by 1855. Railroads and telegraphs accelerated the movement of people, goods, and information to unprecedented speeds. American colleges adapted to this new world that contained "so much more to know than ever before." By 1831, a Yale commencement speaker equated the steam engine with Cicero's orations. After the Civil War, even the Scottish approach to education that had been crucial to American colleges disappeared. By the early twentieth century, classical education seemed an exotic relic, with Yale finally dropping its Latin requirement in 1931 after William Howard Taft's death, and Harvard ceasing Latin diplomas in 1961.
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The Founders' Fatal Flaws
The founders' deep immersion in classical knowledge, while informing their vision of republican government, ultimately led them astray on three fundamental issues. First, they placed excessive faith in the concept of "public virtue," believing that moral self-restraint alone would prevent abuse of power. This idealistic view, drawn from their readings of Roman philosophers, overlooked humanity's tendency toward self-interest and corruption - a miscalculation that would repeatedly challenge the young republic's stability.
Second, they fundamentally misunderstood the nature and inevitability of party politics. Drawing from classical warnings about factions, they regarded partisan divisions as unnatural and destructive rather than recognizing them as natural outgrowths of democratic discourse. This blindspot nearly proved catastrophic in the 1790s, when bitter rivalries between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans threatened to tear the nation apart. The election of 1800, with its tense transition of power from Adams to Jefferson, demonstrated both the danger and the eventual resolution of this misunderstanding.
Third and most grievously, they enshrined human bondage in the nation's fundamental law. The Constitution's acceptance of slavery - through the Three-Fifths Compromise, fugitive slave provisions, and the 20-year protection of the slave trade - revealed the profound moral limitations of the founders' vision.
The reality of slavery in the founding era was far more brutal than the genteel plantation imagery often portrayed. Washington, Jefferson, and Madison - despite their philosophical musings about liberty - emerged from what historian Annette Gordon-Reed describes as "a society built on and sustained by violence." Documentation from their estates reveals horrific punishments: enslaved people endured having toes amputated as punishment for escape attempts, suffered floggings followed by "pickling" with salt brine to intensify the pain, and in extreme cases faced burning at the stake. Unlike the Roman system of slavery, which was not racially based and offered paths to citizenship, American slavery created a permanent racial underclass. Roman slaves could legally petition against extreme abuse, and freed slaves could become full citizens - options completely denied to enslaved Black Americans.
Yet paradoxically, the founders' greatest legacy lay in creating a system capable of transcending their own moral and intellectual limitations. The Constitution's revolutionary opening phrase - "We the People" - established a crucial principle: ultimate sovereignty resided with citizens, not states or government institutions. As Madison later reflected, "the censorial power is in the people over the government, and not in the government over the people." This fundamental principle has enabled subsequent generations to reinterpret and expand the concepts of liberty and equality, gradually working toward fulfilling Jefferson's declaration that "all men are created equal" - even as Jefferson himself failed to live up to these words. Each era's expansion of rights - from emancipation to women's suffrage to civil rights - has built upon this foundational capacity for self-correction and moral growth.
