(Editor’s Note: As America begins its 250th year, it is fitting to draw attention to the great people and ideas that made it possible. Neither the Declaration of Independence of 1776 nor the Constitution of 1787 appeared out of the blue. A remarkable intellectual enlightenment preceded them. In this essay for The American Spectator, economist and historian Lawrence W. Reed illuminates an essential aspect of that enlightenment, namely, the inspiration that American patriots derived from ancient Rome.)
During the American Revolutionary War in the awful winter of 1777-79 at Valley Forge, General George Washington defied the wishes of Congress by ordering Joseph Addison’s play, Cato: A Tragedy, performed for his bedraggled troops. Fearing that its sad conclusion would demoralize the men (Cato took his own life rather than submit to rule by Julius Caesar), Congress had forbidden it, but Washington reckoned otherwise. He knew that Cato’s principled resistance and ultimate sacrifice would inspire the troops, and indeed they did.
Addison’s play debuted in London 65 years earlier. Its vast popularity on both sides of the Atlantic testified to the keen interest in ancient Rome that both British and American citizens possessed in the 18th Century.
In an article titled “The Founding Fathers and the Inspiration of Rome,” Michael F. Bishop writes:
Thomas Jefferson at William & Mary; James Madison at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton), John Adams at Harvard, and George Washington in his private studies all devoured the poetry of Horace and Virgil; the speeches of Cicero; and the histories of Plutarch and Tacitus. The classics were the common language of the educated elite, or, in the case of Washington, one who wished to move among them. But even those early Americans without the benefit of higher education or a well-stocked library — a vast majority — were, if they went to school at all, taught the rudiments of ancient history from a young age.
America’s Founders knew the history of classical Rome, probably better than any subsequent American generation. Most of Washington’s troops likely knew who Cato was before they watched Addison’s play. The men who produced America’s Constitution just ten years after Valley Forge were profoundly influenced by the lessons of the Roman experience. From their speeches and correspondence to The Federalist Papers, it is apparent that they sought to borrow the best from the old Republic and avoid the problems that led to its dissolution into the imperial autocracy we know as the Empire.
America’s Founders knew the history of classical Rome, probably better than any subsequent American generation.
Cato’s courage inspired the learned patriots of Washington’s day. So did the words of the Roman poets Virgil, who advised, “Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them” and Horace, who wrote “So live, my boys, as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts” and “The man who is tenacious of purpose in a rightful cause is not shaken from his firm resolve by the frenzy of his fellow citizens clamoring for what is wrong, or by the tyrant’s threatening countenance.”
Dr. Joseph Warren lost his life at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775. He had gained a reputation as an eloquent defender of individual rights and American independence. In a famous speech in Boston three years before his untimely death at age 34, he invoked the spirit of the Roman Republic:
It was this noble attachment to a free constitution which raised ancient Rome from the smallest beginnings to that bright summit of happiness and glory to which she arrived; and it was the loss of this which plunged her from that summit, into the black gulf of infamy and slavery. It was this attachment which inspired her senators with wisdom; it was this which glowed in the breasts of her heroes; it was this which guarded her liberties, and extended her dominions, gave peace at home, and commanded respect abroad….
Many prominent American patriots devoured the writings of Roman historians Livy, Tacitus, and Sallust. From those ancient sages, they learned that freedom requires strong personal character and that when character erodes, freedom disappears; that concentrated, unchecked power is freedom’s mortal foe; and that what some call “democracy” can easily descend into capricious, liberty-killing mob rule.
“The old Romans,” wrote Livy, “all wished to have a king over them because they had not yet tasted the sweetness of freedom.” But in 509 B.C., as Americans did in 1776, Romans mounted a revolution of both ideas and governance. They overthrew the monarchy and established a new order that ultimately included a Senate of mostly elder statesmen, popularly elected Assemblies, the diffusion of centralized power, term limits, a constitution, due process, habeas corpus, and respect for property rights. Though the age-old and universal institution of slavery persisted, republican Rome brought more freedom to more people than any previous society.
America’s Founders understood that, as Tacitus put it, “Lust of absolute power is more burning than all the passions.” They knew that free societies are rare in human history — in part because, as Sallust lamented, “Only a few prefer liberty; the majority seek nothing more than fair masters.”
A favorite Roman among the patriots of 1776 and 1787 was Marcus Tullius Cicero, perhaps the greatest orator, statesman, and defender of the liberties of the Roman Republic. Thomas Jefferson called him “the first master of the world.” John Adams proclaimed, “All the ages of the world have not produced a greater statesman and philosopher” than Cicero.
By Cicero’s time in the First Century B.C., the Republic was hanging on by its fingernails. It was rife with corruption and power lust. The outward appearances of a republic were undermined daily by civil strife and a growing welfare-warfare state. Many who gave lip service in public to republican values were privately conniving to secure power or wealth through political connections. Others were corrupted or bribed into silence by government handouts. Cicero spoke truth to power and called for a restoration of republican virtue. His voice was eventually drowned out by a rising tide of political intrigue, violence, and apathy about those values that had once made the Republic so great.
After Cicero’s assassination in 43 B.C., the mob cried out for a strong man to bring order amid the chaos. That man would be Augustus, the first Emperor of a Rome that had shunned one-man rule for half a millennium.
Cicero’s enduring legacy, however, was assured when America’s Founders invoked his ideas of natural law, justice, individual rights, the limits of power, and the subjection of government to an inviolable constitution. Cicero argued that a primary duty of the State was the protection of private property, and so did the men who wrote America’s founding documents.
The extraordinary extent to which America’s Founders drew from the history of ancient Rome (as well as Greece) is a theme of Carl J. Richard’s 1994 masterpiece, The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment. From Richard’s remarkable work, we learn of Benjamin Franklin’s lifelong use of Roman symbols and his admiration of Cato; Thomas Paine’s appreciation of Cicero’s concept of natural law; and Benjamin Rush’s approval of Brutus, one of the ring leaders of the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar and restore the Republic.
Roman influence is abundantly evident in the creation of America’s Constitution. John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison chose the pseudonym of “Publius” when they authored the 85 essays known collectively as The Federalist Papers. Publius Valerius, their inspiration, was one of the founders of the Roman Republic. In arguing for the adoption of the new Constitution, they frequently invoked Roman history.
Even the Anti-Federalists who opposed the Constitution (such as George Mason, Patrick Henry, and Mercy Otis Warren) drew inspiration from the Roman experience. “Brutus” was the chosen pen name for one of their number. The Bill of Rights emerged in part because the Anti-Federalists argued persuasively that a Constitution without it would doom American liberty as surely as factionalism and power lust had killed off the Roman Republic.
These are but a fraction of the powerful connections between Rome and America, between those who loved Rome for its liberty and those who loved America for its promise of the same, and so much more. For those who wish to explore this topic in further detail, I recommend a list of readings below.
Britain’s King George III reportedly expressed astonishment that George Washington would accept neither titles nor duties that smacked of royal authority, even if some of his fellow citizens wanted to make him a king. It is not by accident or coincidence that in Washington’s lifetime and still today, the historical figure most often likened to the great General and first President is a Roman named Cincinnatus, who saved the Republic during a time of crisis, then eschewed power by retiring to his farm.
One cannot fully explain America without ample references to the lessons of ancient Rome.
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