American Democracy: American Founders, Presidents, and Enlightened Philosophers

by Justin P. DePlato (Editor), Kyle Hodge (With)

Overview

Following the Renaissance, democracy was still considered a dangerous form of government. Democracy was often regarded as a fool’s folly and a madman’s paradise. The well-wishers of the Republican Government would have fanciful debates in intellectual circles, but paternal monarchies dominated the western and eastern world. Yet in a heroic and herculean way, a group of Anglo-Saxons, who grew up under proud monarchies, rose to dethrone the English Crown and to establish the greatest democracy in history. What theories inspired these men? Why didn’t they just simply create an American King? Or better yet, make themselves kings? The answers to these questions lie in the eloquent and exact writings of great American Founders, Presidents, and Enlightened Philosophers such as: James Madison, George Clinton, Edmund Randolph, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Patrick Henry, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Rush, John Hancock, John Jay, Cicero, Aristotle, John Locke, Hugo Grotius, John Winthrop, Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Ronald Reagan and more. Unlike other rulers, American rulers are bound to the law. There is no doubt that the Founding of America is an event of unparalleled greatness. This book allows the reader to share in the dreams and thoughts of these great men, in their own words, and allows the reader to draw informed conclusions that they surmise from reading the primary documents.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498503235
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	09/28/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	680
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Justin P. DePlato is assistant professor of political science at Robert Morris University.

Kyle Hodge is a graduate student of philosophy at the University of Florida.

Table of Contents

Part One: From Greece to Rome

1. Plato – The Republic: Book VIII
2. Aristotle – Politics: Book I
3. Marcus Tullius Cicero – On the Laws

Part Two: Enlightenment

1. Hugo Grotius – On the Law of War and Peace: Book I, Chapter I; Book II Chapters I and II
2. Thomas Hobbes – Leviathan: Book I, Chapters 15-20
3. John Locke – Second Treatise of Civil Government: Chapters 1-15
4. Montesquieu – The Spirit of the Laws: Book XI
5. Jean-Jacques Rousseau – The Social Contract: Books I and II

Part Three: The American Project

1. John Winthrop – A Model of Christian Charity
2. William Tennent
3. Thomas Paine – Common Sense
4. Patrick Henry – “Give me Liberty or Give me Death!”
5. Benjamin Franklin – Address to the Federal Convention
6. Robert Morris
7. Elbridge Gerry – Anti-Federalist Paper #7
8. George Clinton – Anti-Federalist Paper #69
9. Benjamin Rush – An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America Upon Slave-Keeping
10. Edmund Randolph – The Virginia Plan
11. John Adams – Thoughts on Government
12. Alexander Hamilton – Federalist Papers #70 and 78
13. Thomas Jefferson – The Tree of Liberty
14. James Madison – Federalist Papers #10 and 51
15. John C. Calhoun – South Carolina Exposition and Protest
16. Frances Wright – Speech at New Harmony Hall

Part Four: American Presidents

1. George Washington – Farewell Address
2. Andrew Jackson – National Bank Veto
3. James K. Polk – 1st Inaugural Address
4. Millard Fillmore – First Annual Message
5. Abraham Lincoln – 1st and 2nd Inaugural Address
6. William McKinley – 2nd Inaugural Address
7. Theodore Roosevelt – 1st Inaugural Address
8. Woodrow Wilson – 1st Inaugural Address
9. Calvin Coolidge – 1st Inaugural Address
10. Herbert Hoover – 1st Inaugural Address
11. Franklin Delano Roosevelt – 1st and 2nd Inaugural Address
12. John F. Kennedy – 1st Inaugural Address
13. Richard Nixon – 1st Inaugural Address
14. Ronald Reagan – 1st Inaugural Address

Editorial Reviews

DePlato and Hodge’s reader on the philosophical origins of American democracy is a welcome addition to the literature. It will be a valuable companion to monographs on American political philosophy and politics. The book includes a thematic analysis of, as well as excerpts from, philosophers and the American founders — writers such as the Ancient Greeks, Plato and Aristotle, Roman scribes such as Cicero, the contract theorists such as Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, and the Founders of the newly independent American Democratic project such as Washington, Paine, Franklin, Gerry, Jefferson, and John Adams, plus 14 American presidents from Washington to Reagan. This means that readers will be forced to interpret the significance of each historical figure to the founding of the country. The book raises the provocative question: if modern-day Americans knew nothing about the foundational principles of the country, does it matter? The answer clearly leads to the affirmative. For example, how do we explain the fact that in the aftermath of the American Revolution, English Colonials in America choose democracy instead of copying the British Empire that gave birth to the colony? In other words, the book convincingly shows any serious reader that the American democracy was truly an exceptional historical event.

Ronald T. Libby

History has shown that many governments operate as a practical matter, exerting power and legitimizing themselves according to one or another schema. Governments enacted according to philosophical principles have more often than not proven ineffectual (i.e. the great socialist states of the previous few decades). One nation—the United States of America—has survived as a practical power, coming to dominate the international scene in recent history, but rests on philosophical principles. American Democracy reveals the philosophical traditions that support the American republic and provides historical clues as to why it may continue to do so—in some form—for a long time to come.

Carl Colavito

It would be hard to fault the selections of Grotius, Hobbes, Locke, Montequieu, and Rosseau. The editors' comments and linkages to the historical context are well done.... The American Project section is sound and the primary source selections judiciously chosen.... In sum, DePlato and Hodge offer a sourcebook that instructors may adapt to a variety of intellectual perspectives... [T]hey provide ample opportunity for instructors and students to engage in a dialogue over the intellectual influences on the American Founding and its application by subsequent statesmen.

Journal Of Interdisciplinary Studies