TTC Video – What America’s Founders Learned from Antiquity

In creating this new regime, the founders took inspiration from the political systems of ancient Rome and Greece. But what exactly were these influences? And how deep did they go? What were the founders’ sources, and what precisely did they take from them? And did the founders’ interface with the ancient world shape the new nation in far-reaching ways?

To grapple with these questions is to uncover a complex and revealing story—One that sheds a profound light on the political, philosophical, and human issues that surrounded the American conflict with Britain, and which blazed a new system of government that would change the world.

What America’s Founders Learned from Antiquity reveals the influences of the ancient world on the American founders. In 24 lectures, taught by Professor Caroline Winterer of Stanford University, you’ll explore the thought and actions of the American revolutionaries to see how classical antiquity shaped every aspect of the revolutionary and founding era. You’ll better understand why it was natural for American revolutionary thinkers to turn to classicism to make sense of their growing disunity with the British, and to envision and forge a new kind of government.

As you’ll witness throughout the course, the founders dug deeply into classical texts, from Homer, Virgil, and Cato to the writings of historians such as Tacitus, Sallust, and Livy, with particular focus on the political theory and philosophy that surrounded the ancient Roman republic and the subsequent and corrupt Roman empire.

A Profoundly Transformative Epoch

As a backdrop to the story, the world of classicism deeply permeated the culture of the founding era. And, ancient political ideology, as revealed in specific texts, figured integrally in the thinking of the revolutionaries as they charted a new course and a new republic. Consider

At critical moments in his military and political life, George Washington modeled the actions of the Roman general Fabius and the soldier Cincinnatus.
In his essays defending the new federal Constitution, Alexander Hamilton used examples from Roman history to argue for a powerful central government and presidency.
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the signature achievement of Thomas Jefferson, was undertaken to keep the United States as a republic of farmers, modelling the ancient Roman republic.
In James Madison’s essay Federalist #63, he wrote of his admiration for the balancing effects of the Senate of ancient Carthage.
In drafting the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, John Adams spoke of the purpose of government in terms laid out by Aristotle.
As the course unfolds, you’ll look in detail at the thinking of many of the iconic figures in the story, such as James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine, and how the influences of classicism were different for each founder. And you’ll note that the lessons they took from ancient thinkers bore both on what to do to create a viable and stable republic and equally on what not to do.

You’ll trace how fears of tyranny, decline, and fall, harking back to ancient Rome and Greece, motivated revolutionary calls for a truly representative government by the people and for the people; how ancient political ideas shaped the new US Constitution in 1787; and, most remarkably, how the founders went far beyond classical examples to create a government that was truly revolutionary and unique, which no Greek or Roman would have dared to imagine.

In What America’s Founders Learned from Antiquity, you’ll experience the thrilling atmosphere of the revolutionary era, as you gain extraordinary insight into both the founding and the unfolding of the American republic.

Thinking That Changed the World

Professor Winterer demonstrates an astonishingly comprehensive knowledge of the era, together with a keen skill at unpacking the currents of thought and experience that drove the revolutionaries. In a multilayered look at the founders’ epoch, you’ll investigate key features of the story, such as

A Culture of Classicism. Explore the ethos of classicism that deeply imbued the world of the founders, as Americans of the Colonial era surrounded themselves with the Greek and Roman classical world, which, in John Adams’s words, offered “models to all mankind” for education, beauty, art, architecture, and politics. Following the Revolution, see how the architecture and design of Neoclassicism became an expression of the republican ideals of the new nation.
The Clash with Britain. Discover that, for founding-era thinkers, Roman and Greek political philosophy became a framework for understanding their own turbulent times. In the wake of oppressive British taxation, track the ways in which Roman history served as a guide, as revolutionaries identified with the virtues of the Roman republic of farmers, viewing the British as a monarchical empire veering into tyranny, as had the Roman empire.
Revolutionary Spirits. Over five lectures, dig deeply into the thought of iconic founders Washington, Adams, Madison, Jefferson, and Franklin. Observe how influences such as Adams’s study of Cicero, Franklin’s reading of Socrates, and Jefferson’s “classical republicanism” shaped their public actions. Note the ways in which American women passionately embraced classicism, using it to work for political freedoms, broader equality, and human rights.
Classicism, Christianity, and the Enlightenment. In grasping the mindset of the Revolutionary era, uncover the synthesis of Christian values with the ethical precepts of classical philosophers that characterized the ideals of the founders; also assess key currents of Enlightenment thought, such as the novel conception of progress, which countered the earlier cyclical view of history, deeply informing the founders’ vision of a republic which could endure through time.
Surpassing the Ancients: The US Constitution. Take account of the integral classical influences in the US Constitution, including Aristotle’s ideas about “mixed government” and the views of Polybius on the fragility of republics. Then see how the framers, going far beyond the ancients, created a radically new political model based in the unprecedented conception of equality, separating the branches of government, and placing all power in the hands of one element: the people.
A Revolutionary Possibility

In a wide-ranging view of these amazing times, you’ll explore matters such as the interface of classicism with both enslaved Africans and Native Americans. You’ll learn that the revolutionaries’ immersion in classicism extended beyond Rome and Greece to encompass Carthage, Germania, and even ancient Egypt. And you’ll discover that classical painting, architecture, and interior design aided Americans in crafting a new identity, distinct from the European world.

What America’s Founders Learned from Antiquity offers you a unique and penetrating look at the thinking that forged a truly revolutionary form of government—a system that remains a major force in today’s world. Within this extraordinary series, you’ll discover a new way of appreciating the exciting history of the birth of the American republic.

What Will You Learn?
Discover how the revolutionaries identified with the ancient Roman republic

Dig deeply into the classical thought of five of the iconic founders

Learn how the Founding Fathers created a radically new political model based in the conception of equality

See how classicism affected women’s rights, the enslaved in America, and Native peoples of the Americas