First Principles: What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country

Most of us have heard how the Founding Fathers were influenced by the Enlightenment, but the Ancient Greeks and Romans played a significant role in shaping their views. That's the premise of "First Principles, What America's Founders learned from the Greeks and Romans and How that Shaped Our Country." The author makes a convincing case in a relatively short 297 pages. The book reads incredibly well; indeed, historian Thomas E. Ricks manages to keep it simple and far from dry, writing about a vast and complex subject. If you are at all interested in the Founding Generation, you'll find this a fascinating and worthwhile read.While creating a new nation, the Founding Fathers looked to the ancient Greeks and Romans for inspiration; in particular James Madison, who studied the Greek republics while gathering information for the Constitutional Convention; and George Washington, who modeled his leadership qualities after a number of Roman generals; in particular Fabius, and Cincinnatus, and, decidedly, not Julius Caesar.Ricks also underscores the point that Washington, while a brilliant military strategist and leader, was the least educated of the Founders (a number of his influential state papers were ghost-written by others). A good portion of the book deals with Washington as a military leader during the French and Indian Wars and, of course, the war for independence that followed, and his years as our nation's first president; and with Madison in his quest to form a more perfect union.All of the Founders were obsessed with the Greek and Roman ideals of public virtue. In the Ancient World "public virtue" equated to putting the public welfare ahead of personal ambition. What did the Founders read? "The Iliad", Plutarch's "Lives of Ancient Greeks and Romans", the philosophy and literature of Xenophom, Epicurius, Aristotle, and the speeches and commentaries of Cato and Cicero.Of particular concern to Madison, was the formation of political factions, which was the root cause of the breakup of the Greek and Roman Republics. As a possible solution, Madison looked to several Enlightenment philosophers, particularly to French philosopher Charles Montesquieu, who, the author says, constituted a bridge between the Enlightenment and the Classical World; his masterpiece, "The Spirit of the Laws" while largely rejected in France due to the popularity of the monarch, proved highly influential among the Founders, and was essentially a meditation on how to inject ancient wisdom into modern governance. While the author builds a strong case for Montesquieu's influence on Madison, he largely ignores Scottish philosopher David Hume, who also wrote a significant and influential essay on how to create a republic that effectively counteracted factions. Indeed, historian Douglass Adair, makes a strong case for Hume's influence on Madison (see "Fame and the Founding Fathers", by Douglass Adair). Surprisingly, while Ricks writes eloquently about Montesquieu, he pretty much ignores Hume's influence.Also, while the author admires Madison and Washington, he does not think highly of John Adams (his reputation is over-rated), or Thomas Jefferson (whose "avoidance of reality" he found disturbing), or Alexander Hamilton (too ambitious and something of a conniver).Despite being mostly about the influence of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the author also delves deeply into the influence of the Scottish Enlightenment, which arrived on American shores in the form of books by David Hume, Adam Smith, Thomas Hutchison and others, as well as a host of scholars, tutors, and teachers who arrived on American shores in the mid-eightenteenth century. Among them was William Small, who tutored Thomas Jefferson while a teen. Donald Robinson, who tutored James Madison while a teen, and Hugh Knox, who, while teaching in the Caribbean, was the first to recognize Alexander Hamilton's literary skills, and arranged what amounted to a scholarship for Hamilton's college education in the American colonies. John Witherspoon, who as a college professor at the College of New Jersey at Princeton, taught James Madison. Witherspoon would go to be a part of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.The author admits he researched and wrote his book in the wake of Donald Trump's election as president, which he found disturbing. While he lauds the Founders for creating an enduring republic, he laments that, being such an incredibly intellectually-gifted and well-read group, the Founders failed to find a solution to slavery, which today lives on in the form of white supremacy. At the close of the book, the author offers ten steps "that I think might help us more on the course intended by the Revolutionary generation to help us move beyond where we are stuck and instead toward what we ought to be."Early in the book he writes: "We are a nation fundamentally dedicated to equal standing before the law, yet also have developed a political system in which one of the two major parties always seems to have offered a home to white supremacists, up to the present day . . . our government remains an experiment that requires our serious and sustained attention to thrive."

The author breathed life back into our founders and brought them back from the grave; much needed during these teetering times in America.The argument can be made; having been alluded to by many citizens, politicians and journalists that we're living in "Two Americas", as was also mentioned by Martin Luther King Jr. in as early as 1967. The author, Thomas Ricks, ponders this question and more importantly wonders what kind of nation we've become and digs deeper into the question of did the founders design or intend it to be the way it is now? Ricks visited several libraries and resources, immersing himself in the philosophy and literature that shaped the founders' thinking. Also included in his research were letters they wrote to each other debating these crucial works—among them the Iliad, Plutarch’s Lives, and the works of Xenophon, Epicurus, Aristotle, Cato, and Cicero. One would think the founders would have spent much more time reading the books of English political philosophers like John Locke, who were more focused on the concerns of their own era. However, what was learned is that they were much more interested in the literature of the ancient worlds of Greece and Rome and how those societies would influence their thinking and the eventual birthing of The United States.George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison; the four men who became the first Presidents Of The United States, studied the classical world extensively and their studious endeavors played an essential role into the formation of what would become The United States Of America. "First Principles follows these four members of the Revolutionary generation from their youths to their adult lives, as they grappled with questions of independence, and forming and keeping a new nation."Because of the polarizing political climate of the past several years and the unending frenzy of hatred that it has spawned, I usually steer clear of the opinionated diatribe that is contained in many of these books, but this one was an exception. My hopes were that I would learn more about these four Presidents, who they were and what they cared about and what drove them to create the greatest democratic republic in the world. I was not disappointed. The author breathed life back into our founders and brought them back from the grave; an opportunity to learn from them; much needed during these teetering times in America.During this gipping tale of the times and people who shaped our republic, I had a better understanding of how and what the founders and signers of the United States Constitution were thinking when they put their pens to paper. Likewise with the Declaration Of Independence. I learned of the surprising number of people who opposed these documents and I also learned of the doubts and the devout patriotism that even the founders openly expressed regarding what they had authored. All four men had their flaws but even so their brilliance shines on today, 245 years after the birth of our country.Of the four presidents, I mostly enjoyed learning about Washington. A mostly uneducated man, broadly criticized regarding his tactics as Commander of The Revolutionary War, he found a way to win and to become the Father of our country.If you are as dissatisfied with the current state of affairs in this country, as I am, and need to see things in a different perspective- try seeing the world as our founders did. You might just come away feeling much more optimistic about our future.This is a must read!

This is one of those books that makes you realize that your were not as educated as you thought. Turns out your 'education' might have been more of an indoctrination into the creation myths of your country [the U.S.A.] and much less about the realities. This book gives a pretty vivid picture of the first four presidents of the U.S.A. It's a much more 'human' picture that we got in grade school, high school, and [in my case] a liberal arts education in an conservative university.Specifically, you get deep insights into the personalities and the intellectual influences of Washington, Adams, Hamilton, and Jefferson, along with the brilliance, and faults, foibles, and contradictions in the character of these men. It's not so much that Thomas Ricks enjoys knocking them off their pedestal, as it is an honest effort to portray them as not just exceptional, but as complex, and fully human, like the rest of us.If you've ever heard the phrase "It's not the man who makes the office, it's the office that makes the man. Recent history has shown that, in the case of the U.S. presidency, that's not always the case, but is probably more the rule than the exception.This is history at it''s most illuminating, surprising, interesting and ─ dare I say it ─ entertaining. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Recommend it to anyone interested in history, education, and the human condition. And, to his credit, Ricks shows the the somewhat tortured path, with all it's consistencies and deviations, from the hopes and aims of the founders to the present day. Simply put, it has relevance to and informs the present.

Loved this book. Certainly gives mea new perspective on the current GOP and the original Democratic party. A must read for anyone who wants a better understanding of the principles of the founders of the USA and the framers of the constitution were striving for.Highly Recommend

THE INTELLECTUAL RIGOUR IS OUTSTANDING.AMERICANS NEE DTO READ THIS AND APPLY IT TO THE WORLD TRUMP HAS CREATED.

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