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

First Principles For Independence Day

Every Fourth of July, I try to review a book that celebrates the themes of the day. This year, the choice is Pulitzer Prize winning author Thomas Ricks' acclaimed book, "First Principles: What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How that Shaped our Country". (2020) The book discusses the Declaration of Independence at some length and even includes the full text as an Appendix. It is difficult to imagine a work more suitable for Independence Day.

Ricks states that he received the idea for his book following the presidential election of 2016 when he felt the need to reconsider what the United States was about. He began with a reading of Aristotle's "Politics" followed by the Declaration of Independence and other formative American documents. He gradually decided to focus on how the Founders were educated and the books that they read. He concluded that the works of the Ancient Greeks and Romans were more influential on the Founders that the work of John Locke, for example, who is commonly thought a crucial influence. Thus, Ricks' book traces the influence of the Greeks and Romans on the first four presidents, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison and explores what this influence teaches about the founding of our country and what may be learned today from the Revolutionary generation's encounter with the classical world.

The book covers a great deal of material in a brief scope. It begins with young George Washington's experiences in the early stages of the French-Indian War, covers the following rift with Britain which led to the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War, and takes the reader through the Articles of Confederation and the subsequent Constituional Convention. Ricks discusses the administrations of each of the first four presidents and explores the decline of the classical influence and the rise of parties and interest-based politics. The book concludes with Ricks' thoughts on what Americans today may learn from this history.

For Ricks, the Roman influence on the Founders predominated over the Greeks, with the exception
of Thomas Jefferson and it centered on the concept of virtue. For the Founders, as for the Romans, virtue meant putting aside one's private interest in an effort to act for the common good. The concept of virtue derived from the years of the Roman Republic and from the classical figures who sought to preserve it. His book traces the influence of the Romans on Greeks on the different Founders at different stages of their lives. Washington, the only one of the first four presidents who lacked a college education, showed in his life and actions the greatest bearing of a classical Roman. In Ricks' account, as in the accounts of many historians, Washington is the indespensable and the greatest of the Founders. The second key Founder was James Madison with his devotion to learning and to constitutionalism. Madison was able to see as well, the limitations of the Roman model and to make changes for the new American republic. While recognizing their importance, Ricks tends to be less favorably disposed to John Adams, in particular, and to Jefferson.

With respect to the Declaration of Independence, Ricks discusses who Jefferson tried to write a document understandable and inspiring to the many people who lacked a strong formal education. The Declaration was influenced by Thomas Paine's pamphlet "Common Sense" and, according to Ricks, by the philosophy of Epicurus more than by John Locke. Although I learned from Ricks' account, I was not fully convinced.

Ricks praises the Founders for their study of classicism and of virtue. He properly finds classical republicanism had its strong limitations in that it put aside the force of personal self-interest and the power of politics. Most importantly, classical republicamism accepted the existence of slavery which, Ricks concludes, "would prove disastrous to the nation they designed". They "sustained a system that was deeply inhumane and rested on a foundation of sexual and physical abuse, including torture."

I found "First Principles" an inspiring book for Independence Day. I enjoyed Ricks' writing and I especially enjoyed revisiting the Founders and their efforts. Ricks book shows how much still may be learned from a study of America's early history, through both its great achievements and its large shortcomings.

In the Epilogue to his book, Ricks draws ten lessons from his history for today's Americans. The ten seem to me of varying merit but several are highly insightful. Ricks counsels Americans to remember that we are not the first to face difficult times and unenlightened leadership. He also advises Americans, wisely, to "know your history" and to study. With specific reference to the Declaration of Independence, Ricks advises his readers to "Rehabilitate 'happiness'". His discussion is worth quoting.

"Today many Americans tend to think of 'happiness' mainly in terms of pleasure-seeking, usually in physical form -- sex, food, alcohol, sports, and video games that excite the senses. But by focusing on feeding the flesh we risk starving the mind and spirit. We need to appreciate the Enlightenment's broader, richer notion of happiness and make it again about finding one's place in the world, enjoying what we have and what we see in it, and appreciating the beauty of the Earth during our short time on it. None of that prescription would be a surprise to Jefferson. We should remember that as he laid out his path to happiness, the fourth of the Epicurean ideals he listed was 'justice'."

"First Principles" is a worthy book for Americans to read to think again about our history and its significance.

Robin Friedman