The American Founders and the Classics

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The American Founders and the Classics analyzes theories of democracy from America’s founders and connects them with the ideas of classical and Renaissance political philosophy. The text explores classical thinkers from Ancient Greece, political writing from the Enlightenment, and America’s founders.

Students will read Aristotle’s Politics: Book I and Cicero’s On the Laws. They will consider how Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws and Rousseau’s The Social Contract may have impacted the work of American founders such as Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and John Adams. The text allows students to connect writers such as Plato, Locke, and Hobbes with founders such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Alexander Hamilton. The anthology includes the entirety of all original documents paired with commentary, analysis, and imagery to enhance both interest and comprehension.

Featuring original illustrations, The American Founders and the Classics is an accessible and enjoyable text that gives students a comprehensive, analytical overview of America’s great political thinkers and serves as a reminder that America was founded with pragmatism, compromise, and aspiration. The book is well suited to courses on American government, political thought, and the Constitution, as well as introductory political philosophy classes.