Category: Classical Republicanism
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Minerva leads America in “The Apotheosis of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington”
MINERVA, Goddess of Wisdom leads America in “The Apotheosis of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.” The Apotheosis of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington is a copperplate-printed toile fabric produced in several colorways in Britain between 1785-1800, after the first defeat of the British Empire. A banner reads “Where Liberty Dwells, There is My Country.” GALLERY…
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The Loose Tradition of Republican Writers
In regards to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, it is a great reference for understanding ‘REPUBLICANISM,’ in two different, but closely related senses. The author of the article, Frank Lovett explains that in the first sense is meant, a loose tradition or family of writers in the history of western political thought: “Machiavelli and his…
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American Romanità: What we lost when we Abandoned Classical Education | M.N.S. Sellers, Wes Callihan and Rebekah Hagstrom
“The study of ancient Greek and Latin long ago vanished from most American classrooms, and with it has gone a special understanding of the values and virtues prized by Western civilization.” — DANIEL WALKER HOWE, CLASSICAL EDUCATION IN AMERICA, THE WILSON QUARTERLY, 2011. 🗡 IN “AMERICAN REPUBLICANISM: ROMAN IDEOLOGY IN THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION,” M.N.S.…
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Benjamin Rush and Early Federalist Republicanism: Fear of Democracy, Moral Degradation, and Corruption
Fear of Mob Democracy and the Roman republic’s fate of corruption The stories of Marius, Tacitus, Livy and Sallust stress importance of morals, reason and the rule of law in a virtuous republic; also corruption of these through avarice, luxury, parties, factions and venality. According to the Roman statesman, Sallust, a republic should be free…
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J. Hector St. John on What Is An American
“In this great American asylum [haven], the poor of Europe have by some means met together, and in consequence of various causes.” (J. HECTOR ST. JOHN DE CRÈVEŒUR, LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN FARMER) “What then is the American, this new man? . . . He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient…
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Song of Liberté—Veillons au Salut de l’Empire
“Let’s ensure the salvation of the Empire” was the unofficial French national anthem under Napoleon, adapting the principles of the French Revolution under his imperial rule.
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Democracy’s Faith in the Potential of Man | Jewish American Horace M. Kallen
HORACE KALLEN’S CREATIVE DEMOCRACY SOURCE. HORACE M. KALLEN’S CREATIVE DEMOCRACY, SECTION 1: WHAT IS DEMOCRACY IN COMMUNISM, FASCISM, AND DEMOCRACY (CARL COHEN) This article is meant to contrast with Mario Palmieri on the Rebirth of Classical Studies and Lore: Critiques the Renaissance, Individualism, and Speaks of the Ancient Sages. A Jewish American, Horace M. Kallen…
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The Lost History of Liberalism From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century | Helena Rosenblatt
“I have been reading and thinking about liberalism for so long it would be impossible to list and thank all the scholars whose work has informed and shaped mine.” (HELENA ROSENBLATT, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS) What does it mean to be a liberal, and how has the meaning of the word evolved over decades and even centuries? The…
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John Adams Letter to John Taylor: “Remember, democracy never lasts long”
“Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet, that did not commit suicide.” JOHN ADAMS (FIRST VPOTUS AND SECOND POTUS) LETTER TO JOHN TAYLOR, 17 DECEMBER 1814. “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” Benjamin Franklin was asked supposedly, as he left…
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Why the Statue of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus carries a Fasces?
the Founding of a City and its Character Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, the legendary Roman who defeated the Aequians and rescued the trapped Roan Army. With one hand he returns the fasces, symbol of power and fraternity to the Dictator of Rome. In the other, a plow, which represents his life as citizen and farmer. Cincinnati…
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Columbia (American Minerva) and the Fasces in Harper’s Weekly “Reconstruction” for Equal Rights (1868)
EQUAL RIGHTS ADVOCACY “Reconstruction” by German-born American political cartoonist, Thomas Nast illustrates the Southern states being brought back into order with the North under the ancient symbol of collective power, authority and fraternity, the fasces and the nation’s motto, E Pluribus Unum (“Out of Many, One”). The symbolism of Columbia (America) depicted in Thomas Nast’s…
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“They Shall Not Perish” (1918) Poster, American Propaganda | Artist Douglas Volk
1918 Poster (Publ. N.Y. : American Lithographic Co., 1918) titled “They Shall Not Perish,” by Artist Douglas Volk (1856-1935), depicts a girl who symbolized the Near East, clinging to woman (Columbia, Minerva, Marianne, Lady Liberty) with sword and U.S. flag, symbolizing America (Republicanism—against oppression). American Committee for Relief in the Near East campaign to raise money…
The American Minervan 