American Democracy

American Founders, Presidents, and Enlightened Philosophers

Edited by Justin P. DePlato - With Kyle Hodge

Following the Renaissance, democracy was still considered a dangerous form of government. Democracy was often regarded as a fool’s folly and a madman’s paradise. The well-wishers of the Republican Government would have fanciful debates in intellectual circles, but paternal monarchies dominated the western and eastern world. Yet in a heroic and herculean way, a group of Anglo-Saxons, who grew up under proud monarchies, rose to dethrone the English Crown and to establish the greatest democracy in history. What theories inspired these men? Why didn’t they just simply create an American King? Or better yet, make themselves kings? The answers to these questions lie in the eloquent and exact writings of great American Founders, Presidents, and Enlightened Philosophers such as: James Madison, George Clinton, Edmund Randolph, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Patrick Henry, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Rush, John Hancock, John Jay, Cicero, Aristotle, John Locke, Hugo Grotius, John Winthrop, Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Ronald Reagan and more. Unlike other rulers, American rulers are bound to the law. There is no doubt that the Founding of America is an event of unparalleled greatness. This book allows the reader to share in the dreams and thoughts of these great men, in their own words, and allows the reader to draw informed conclusions that they surmise from reading the primary documents.

Lexington Books

Pages: 680 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-1-4985-0322-8 • Hardback • October 2015 • $189.00 • (£146.00)

978-1-4985-0324-2 • Paperback • September 2015 • $87.99 • (£68.00)

978-1-4985-0323-5 • eBook • September 2015 • $83.50 • (£64.00)

Subjects: Political Science / American Government / General, Political Science / History & Theory, Political Science / Political Ideologies / Democracy

American Democracy

American Founders, Presidents, and Enlightened Philosophers

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Following the Renaissance, democracy was still considered a dangerous form of government. Democracy was often regarded as a fool’s folly and a madman’s paradise. The well-wishers of the Republican Government would have fanciful debates in intellectual circles, but paternal monarchies dominated the western and eastern world. Yet in a heroic and herculean way, a group of Anglo-Saxons, who grew up under proud monarchies, rose to dethrone the English Crown and to establish the greatest democracy in history. What theories inspired these men? Why didn’t they just simply create an American King? Or better yet, make themselves kings? The answers to these questions lie in the eloquent and exact writings of great American Founders, Presidents, and Enlightened Philosophers such as: James Madison, George Clinton, Edmund Randolph, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Patrick Henry, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Rush, John Hancock, John Jay, Cicero, Aristotle, John Locke, Hugo Grotius, John Winthrop, Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Ronald Reagan and more. Unlike other rulers, American rulers are bound to the law. There is no doubt that the Founding of America is an event of unparalleled greatness. This book allows the reader to share in the dreams and thoughts of these great men, in their own words, and allows the reader to draw informed conclusions that they surmise from reading the primary documents.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 680 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-1-4985-0322-8 • Hardback • October 2015 • $189.00 • (£146.00)

978-1-4985-0324-2 • Paperback • September 2015 • $87.99 • (£68.00)

978-1-4985-0323-5 • eBook • September 2015 • $83.50 • (£64.00)

Subjects: Political Science / American Government / General, Political Science / History & Theory, Political Science / Political Ideologies / Democracy

Author

Justin P. DePlato is assistant professor of political science at Robert Morris University.

Kyle Hodge is a graduate student of philosophy at the University of Florida.

Table of Contents

Part One: From Greece to Rome
1. Plato – The Republic: Book VIII
2. Aristotle – Politics: Book I
3. Marcus Tullius Cicero – On the Laws
Part Two: Enlightenment
1. Hugo Grotius – On the Law of War and Peace: Book I, Chapter I; Book II Chapters I and II
2. Thomas Hobbes – Leviathan: Book I, Chapters 15-20
3. John Locke – Second Treatise of Civil Government: Chapters 1-15
4. Montesquieu – The Spirit of the Laws: Book XI
5. Jean-Jacques Rousseau – The Social Contract: Books I and II
Part Three: The American Project
1. John Winthrop – A Model of Christian Charity
2. William Tennent
3. Thomas Paine – Common Sense
4. Patrick Henry – “Give me Liberty or Give me Death!”
5. Benjamin Franklin – Address to the Federal Convention
6. Robert Morris
7. Elbridge Gerry – Anti-Federalist Paper #7
8. George Clinton – Anti-Federalist Paper #69
9. Benjamin Rush – An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America Upon Slave-Keeping
10. Edmund Randolph – The Virginia Plan
11. John Adams – Thoughts on Government
12. Alexander Hamilton – Federalist Papers #70 and 78
13. Thomas Jefferson – The Tree of Liberty
14. James Madison – Federalist Papers #10 and 51
15. John C. Calhoun – South Carolina Exposition and Protest
16. Frances Wright – Speech at New Harmony Hall
Part Four: American Presidents
1. George Washington – Farewell Address
2. Andrew Jackson – National Bank Veto
3. James K. Polk – 1^st Inaugural Address
4. Millard Fillmore – First Annual Message
5. Abraham Lincoln – 1^st and 2^nd Inaugural Address
6. William McKinley – 2^nd Inaugural Address
7. Theodore Roosevelt – 1^st Inaugural Address
8. Woodrow Wilson – 1^st Inaugural Address
9. Calvin Coolidge – 1^st Inaugural Address
10. Herbert Hoover – 1^st Inaugural Address
11. Franklin Delano Roosevelt – 1^st and 2^nd Inaugural Address
12. John F. Kennedy – 1^st Inaugural Address
13. Richard Nixon – 1^st Inaugural Address
14. Ronald Reagan – 1^st Inaugural Address

Reviews

It would be hard to fault the selections of Grotius, Hobbes, Locke, Montequieu, and Rosseau. The editors' comments and linkages to the historical context are well done.... The American Project section is sound and the primary source selections judiciously chosen.... In sum, DePlato and Hodge offer a sourcebook that instructors may adapt to a variety of intellectual perspectives... [T]hey provide ample opportunity for instructors and students to engage in a dialogue over the intellectual influences on the American Founding and its application by subsequent statesmen.
— Journal Of Interdisciplinary Studies