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The Influences that Shaped the American Founding

CLEI Summer Civics Series

2023 Professional Learning Series

David Aldred and Michelle Cowden

Regional Civics Literacy Coaches

Bureau of Standards and Instructional Support

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Influences of Greece and Rome.
Influences of the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Influences of the European Enlightenments of France, England and Scotland.

Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

Topic Agenda

Topic Agenda. 30 seconds.

Facilitator Says:

Today's presentation will address the following topics:

The influences of Greece and Rome on the American Founding.

The influences of the Judeo-Christian tradition on the American Founding.

The influences of the European Enlightenments of France, England and Scotland on the American Founding.

We have heard some concerns regarding our second topic, the influences of the Judeo-Christian traditions on the American Founding. We believe that after that section, you will have a better understanding of that topic and hopefully we will be able to put to rest some of those concerns. More on that a little later.

Public Domain. United States Congress. Great Seal of the United States (reverse). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Seal_of_the_United_States_(obverse).svg.

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Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

Instructional Objective

This session will examine the political theories, histories and intellectual influences that helped shape the Founders’ views. 
The focus will be on Greece, Rome, the Judeo-Christian tradition and the European Enlightenments.

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The purpose of today’s session is to relate the revised civics and government standards to their related content

Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

Instructional Purpose

Topic Agenda. 30 seconds.

Facilitator Says:

Today's presentation will address the following topics:

The influences of Greece and Rome on the American Founding.

The influences of the Judeo-Christian tradition on the American Founding.

The influences of the European Enlightenments of France, England and Scotland on the American Founding.

We have heard some concerns regarding our second topic, the influences of the Judeo-Christian traditions on the American Founding. We believe that after that section, you will have a better understanding of that topic and hopefully we will be able to put to rest some of those concerns. More on that a little later.

Public Domain. United States Congress. Great Seal of the United States (reverse). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Seal_of_the_United_States_(obverse).svg.

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Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

Applicable Benchmarks

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Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

Quotations from the Presentation

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CLEI Civics Series

2023 Professional Learning Series

Influences of Greece and Rome

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How did ancient notions of citizenship, freedom and unfreedom and the responsibility of civic participation influence the American Founders?

Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

Framing Your Thinking

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Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

“When forced, therefore, to resort to arms for redress, an appeal to the tribunal of the world was deemed proper for our justification. This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take.” Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Henry Lee, May 8, 1825.

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What Do We Mean by “Influences?”

“Influence” does not necessarily suggest a direct cause.

Discussion can involve the relative weight of certain influences of principles.

Political theories, histories, traditions and intellectual influences shaped the Founder’s understanding of law, justice, morality, public offices, institutions, virtue, civil discourse and civic participation.

Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

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The Greater “Western” Tradition

Greece, Rome, medieval Europe, the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment trace the evolution of the Western tradition.
Principles of individual liberty, religious freedom, economic freedom, constitutionalism, and rule of law.
The founding of the United States in the 18th century is a part of and a continuation of the Western tradition.

Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

The greater Western tradition. 1 minute 30 seconds.

Facilitator Says:

The philosophy, political systems, belief systems, ethical systems, customs and social norms of the “west” are a rich tapestry woven together over two millennia. The Western tradition centers around certain principles, chief among which are individual liberty, religious freedom, economic freedom, constitutionalism and rule of law. In the public sphere, the individual is at the core of what the West is about.

How did the Founders understand the Western tradition? Well, they certainly did not have all the historical evidence that we have access to now. Based on what they knew at the time, we can seek to understand “how they understood themselves in their own period in history.”

The founding of the United States in the 18^th century is a part of and a continuation of the Western tradition. The American Founders understood themselves as part of a larger culture of Western civilization and sought to preserve that great bequest.

Source: Breidenbach, Michael. Ave Maria University. Interview. Conducted by David Aldred. 2-9 May 2023.

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The Greeks – Aristotle

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“Nature does nothing in vain; and man alone among the animals has speech…Speech serves to reveal the advantageous and the harmful, and hence also the just and the unjust.”

“Hence it is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by nature a political animal. And he who by nature and not by mere accident is without a state, is either above humanity, or below it…”

From Aristotle’s Politics.

Greeks – Aristotle. 2 minutes.

Facilitator Says:

Aristotle says that man is a “political animal.”

Aristotle claimed that man is by nature a political animal because he has the power of speech and moral reasoning that enable him to form complex communities and achieve collective happiness.

[Quotation 1 from the slide]

When combined with his moral reasoning, man must use his speaking abilities for the benefit of humanity

[Quotation 2 from the slide]

This claim implies that the polis, or the city-state, is the natural and superior form of human association that fulfills man's telos, or purpose.

Source: Florida Civics Seal of Excellence Course. Florida Department of Education.

Public Domain. Bust of Aristotle. Marble, Roman copy after a Greek bronze original by Lysippos from 330 BC. Museo nazionale romano di palazzo Altemps. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpg.

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The Greeks – Aristotle

Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

The Polis and Citizenship.

“the virtue of the citizen must necessarily be with a view to the regime.”

“the city exists not only for the sake of living but rather primarily for the sake of living well.”

From Aristotle’s Politics.

Greeks – Aristotle. 2 minutes.

Facilitator Says:

Cities don’t emerge like an acorn from a tree (human political nature is different from biological nature). Cities are “founded,” they require human intervention: Lycurgus – Sparta; Theseus and Solon – Athens. Founding is the highest activity of statesmanship.

Therefore, nations can be established or “founded,” and that the act of founding permanently imprints the identity of the regime.

[Quotation 1 from the slide]

The importance of Aristotle’s idea is that in “founding” our nation, the ideals become a permanent imprint on the American nation. As long as we exist as a nation, the imprint of the Founders is with us. This is why you see the emphasis in the benchmarks on the Founding ideas and the study of the primary founding documents, including the Federalist papers.

Man can only really live well in the polis (political community). The city offers the conditions for satisfaction of his physical needs, allows him to exercise his sociability, provides a forum for the debate about justice and is the arena in which he can most fully exercise virtue.

[Quotation 2 from the slide]

In the best regime, the virtue of a citizen is the same as the virtue of a human being, because the aim of the city is to live well according to virtue.

Because we are political animals it is necessary that we be political beings – to live well we need to participate (voting, civil discourse, civic engagement, etc.).

We are fully actualized human beings when we do so – we are pursuing the highest Good.

Public Domain. Bust of Aristotle. Marble, Roman copy after a Greek bronze original by Lysippos from 330 BC. Museo nazionale romano di palazzo Altemps. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpg

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The Greeks – Aristotle

Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

Equality was for citizens (the virtuous).

“The most manifestly free man is the one who apprehends the best end achievable in human action, and successfully directs himself towards it.” – Moira Walsh, Aristotle’s Conception of Freedom.

Greeks – Aristotle. 1 minute 30 seconds.

Facilitator Says:

Aristotle had no conception of inherent human dignity, and therefore had no reason to assume that all human beings are free and equal.

To Aristotle, a natural slave is one "who participates in reason only to the extent of perceiving it but does not have it.” A natural slave is different from one who becomes enslaved as a prisoner of war. Natural slavery reflects the “unfreedom” first mentioned in the Framing your Thinking question at the beginning of this section.

Therefore, freedom is the opposite of natural slavery. Freedom presupposes the correct use of reason. It is right reason which directs man to the ultimate end of his existence, or telos.

As historian Moira Walsh has said on this topic, [Quotation 1 from slide] "The most manifestly free man is the one who apprehends the best end achievable in human action, and successfully directs himself towards it. Thus, it would not be fitting for a free man as such to direct himself towards a limited end (intermediate – “I want money”) as if it were his final end; it would be slavish to work for the sake of any good less than the virtuous life." Moira Walsh “Aristotle's Conception of Freedom" (Journal of the History of Philosophy).

Source: Florida Civics Seal of Excellence Course. Florida Department of Education.

Source: Breidenbach, Michael. Ave Maria University. Interview. Conducted by David Aldred. 2-9 May 2023.

Public Domain. Bust of Aristotle. Marble, Roman copy after a Greek bronze original by Lysippos from 330 BC. Museo nazionale romano di palazzo Altemps. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpg.

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The Romans – Cicero

“For nature makes common understandings for us and starts forming them in our minds so that honorable things are based on virtue, disgraceful things on vices” - On Duties.

“True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application...” – On the Republic.

Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

Romans – Cicero - Natural Law. 2 minutes.

Facilitator Says:

Cicero is the first writer to publish a philosophic defense of “natural law” and is the author of famous and influential books on friendship and on duties.

[Quote 1 from the slide]

He argued that a virtuous life required active involvement to improve the well-being of one's community and feared that a loss of virtue was the source of Rome's difficulties.

Since humans are by nature communal and political beings, he is emphatic in stressing that a natural justice means that one must never do harm and must always serve the common good. (CICERO and the NATURAL LAW, Walter Nicgorski, University of Notre Dame.)

Cicero develops the notion of “following nature” or of what is “right according to nature.”

[Quote 2 from the slide]

Cicero recognizes the connection between “right reason” and “nature,” that is, natural law.

Source: Breidenbach, Michael. Ave Maria University. Interview. Conducted by David Aldred. 2-9 May 2023.

Public Domain. Marcus Tullius Cicero, by Bertel Thorvaldsen as copy from roman original, in Thorvaldsen’s Museum, Copenhagen. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M-T-Cicero.jpg.

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The Romans – Cicero

“But when you survey with reason and judgment the entire field of human society, of all associations none is closer, none dearer, than that which unites each of us with our country.” – On Duties.

“Only in states in which the power of the people is supreme has liberty any abode.” – On the Republic.

Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

Romans – Cicero – Community, Justice and Liberty. 1 minute 30 seconds.

Facilitator Says:

[Quote 1 from the slide]

Like Aristotle, Cicero recognizes the importance of the unifying aspect of community.

[Quote 2 from the slide]

Cicero recognized the connection between the sovereignty of the people and liberty.

Cicero stayed loyal to the Roman Republic against Julius Caesar. Antony had him murdered for his principles, and his head and hands were nailed to the Senate speaker’s podium as a warning to others, making him a model for revolutionary leaders resisting tyranny.

Source: Breidenbach, Michael. Ave Maria University. Interview. Conducted by David Aldred. 2-9 May 2023.

Public Domain. Marcus Tullius Cicero, by Bertel Thorvaldsen as copy from roman original, in Thorvaldsen’s Museum, Copenhagen. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M-T-Cicero.jpg.

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Classical Republicanism

“In the eighteenth century, to be enlightened was to be interested in antiquity, and to be interested in antiquity was to be interested in republicanism.” – Gordon Wood, The Legacy of Rome in the American Revolution.

The virtue that classical republicanism encouraged was public virtue.

Republics were fragile and subject to corruption.

Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

Classical Republicanism. 2 minutes.

Facilitator Says:

Rome in its prime…had a well-functioning system that avoided mob rule and tyranny through a government that was a mixture of democracy, aristocracy and monarchy, a complex system of checks and balances that rested atop a fundamental separation of powers. (Meany. Cicero, Locke, and the American Founding. Cato Unbound. January 2021).

Public virtue was the sacrifice of private desires and interest for the public interest (“positive liberty”). Republics were fragile and subject to corruption. Republics required more virtue and morality from their citizens than monarchies did. Without virtue and self-sacrifice, republics would fall apart.

The revolutionaries hoped to realize what England according to its critics, had been unable to realize – the antique republican values of the good society, free of contention, selfishness and luxury.” (Wood. Legacy of Rome in the American Revolution).

It was a neoclassical age, and it was a neoclassical revolution the Americans undertook.

Source: Breidenbach, Michael. Ave Maria University. Interview. Conducted by David Aldred. 2-9 May 2023.

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Classicism

“It was impossible to be tired of as agreeable a subject as ancient Rome.” – Baron de Montesquieu.

“The minds of youth are perpetually led to the history of Greece and Rome or to Great Britain; boys are constantly repeating the declamations of Demosthenes and Cicero or debates upon some political question in the British Parliament.” – Noah Webster. On the Necessity of Fostering American Identity After Independence 1783, 1787.

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Greco-Roman Architecture

Activity - Greco-Roman Architecture. 3 minutes.

Facilitator Says:

For this activity we will focus on the architecture of Greece and Rome and eventually the impact that architecture had on the American Founding.

So when we look at these images, what are some the distinctive elements of classical Greek and Roman architecture?

[Describe the features for the participants] (the Greeks used thick columns and angular rectangular structures. They were mostly temples but also had some civic buildings. The Romans borrowed the Greek columns and rectangular structures for temples. However, the Romans added domes and rounded some of their structures. The obelisk also became an architectural feature.

Why would the Greeks and Romans make these choices?

(Form – what is its purpose? the shape of buildings are certainly pleasing to the eye. Beauty was a virtue to the Greeks and Romans. The temples and civic buildings also had a usefulness which is related to their function. For the Greeks and Romans form and function were interrelated.

Finally, for the Greeks and Romans the architecture signals certain values; truth, justice, civic participation, rational discourse. The symmetry reflects proportion in nature.

We derive political meaning from the architecture of these buildings.

Those who achieved the American Founding understood themselves to be engaged in a momentous project to secure liberty for themselves and their posterity, and by proving it possible, to determine the future of republican government.

It was to be, if it succeeded, a novus ordo seclorum – a new order of the ages.

Public Domain. Antique Greek temple architecture reconstruction. Kev Bourne. 2013. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antique_Greek_temple_architecture_reconstruction.jpg

Public Domain. John Pentland Mahaffy. Greek Pictures, drawn by Pen and Pencil, by J. P. Mahaffy, London, The Religious Tract Society, 1890. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Greek_temple_at_Paestum_-_Mahaffy_John_Pentland_-_1890.jpg

Public Domain. Panini, Giovanni Paolo. Roman Capriccio: The Pantheon and Other Monuments. 1735. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_Capriccio_The_Pantheon_and_Other_Monuments_by_Giovanni_Paolo_Panini.jpg

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American Classicism

Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

“The American’s aim in their literature, painting and architecture of the 1780s and 1790s was to give a new and fresh republican spirit to old forms, to isolate and exhibit in their art the eternal and universal principles of reason and nature that the ancients had expressed long ago.” – Gordon S. Wood, Legacy of Rome in the American Revolution.

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Activity – American Classicism. 1 minute.

Facilitator Says:

In this activity, the participants will examine images of federal architecture and the Great Seal of the United States. Participants will discuss elements of classical architecture present in these buildings and discuss the implications of these choices. In the Great Seal, the participants will discuss the Latin mottos.

Before we begin, let’s look at what historian Gordon Wood had to say about AMERICAN classicism. [Quote from the slide].

Notice he speaks about “fresh republican spirit” to “old forms” – integrating the old with the new.

He also says that in American, the art of the 18^th century reflected “eternal and universal principles of reason and nature,” evoking the thoughts of both Aristotle and Cicero.

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Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

“The American’s aim in their literature, painting and architecture of the 1780s and 1790s was to give a new and fresh republican spirit to old forms, to isolate and exhibit in their art the eternal and universal principles of reason and nature that the ancients had expressed long ago.” – Gordon S. Wood, Legacy of Rome in the American Revolution.

American Classicism

Activity – American Classicism. 2 minutes 30 seconds.

Image: U.S. Capitol building.

Facilitator Says:

What elements of Greek or Roman architecture do you see?

For example, if they notice that the Supreme Court building looks similar to the Greek Pantheon, ask them why the architecture might intentionally look like a temple. What are the values the architect is trying to convey? Suggest the etymology of the word temple ("to cut off") and what that might mean in the context of the Supreme Court.

Form refers to not just the shape of the building but also its intended purpose. Function refers to the usefulness of the building (shelter, offices, space for legislative assembly, etc.) . A building could have elements that are not, strictly speaking, for its utility (its function).

Some elements can be for both form and function (e.g., columns can physically support the structure, but can also be beautiful and have decorative elements, as in the case of Doric columns).

Why would an architect include these elements, such as decorative elements ?

In these federal buildings, what elements showcase the form, the intended purpose of the structure?

What do those elements convey about the significance of the buildings, what goes on there, what that might mean about American civics?

What do you think that significance is about the placement of the buildings?

This might lead to a discussion about the Capitol’s elevation (Capitol Hill) and its echo of the ancient Roman Capitoline Hill. The “Senate” was also a Roman name, and so on. Higher elevation also indicates importance and the ability for all to see.

How might this architecture shape the views of both politicians and the people about their government and the role of politicians and citizens?

Public Domain. Architect of the Capitol. U.S. Capitol West Front. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Capitol_-_west_front.jpg

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Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative

“The American’s aim in their literature, painting and architecture of the 1780s and 1790s was to give a new and fresh republican spirit to old forms, to isolate and exhibit in their art the eternal and universal principles of reason and nature that the ancients had expressed long ago.” – Gordon S. Wood, Legacy of Rome in the American Revolution.

American Classicism

Activity – American Classicism. 1 minute 30 seconds.

Image: U.S. Capitol Dome.