The Origins of American Political Principles
(Chapter 1)

I. A Tradition to Draw From

A. The Ancients: Who Rules and for What Purposes? 
• The philosophy of Plato and Aristotle is based around the following: Speech and reason are the fundamental characteristics of humans. Communities should be organized into a polis or city-state. Within a society, tasks and labor are divided among those who are the most able.
.
B. The Greeks: Kingship, Aristocracy, Democracy
• According to Plato, the purpose of politics is to create an order that fosters human excellence. The leader of this order was to be the philosopher-king. While Plato doubted the reality of this king, he identified three forms of government:
1. Monarchy -- rule by one leader.
2. Aristocracy -- rule by a few good men.
3. Democracy -- rule by the many.
.
C. Plato also theorized that governments would decay. Thus, monarchy decays into tyranny, aristocracy into oligarchy, and democracy into mob rule.

D. Aristotle: Political Order based on Reality

• Aristotle dealt more with the everyday reality of government. He contends that oligarchy and democracy are the most common regimes. Therefore, the best elements of each might be combined into a polity.

II. The Romans: Republicanism and Mixed Government

A. The Roman Polybius believed a stable order could be produced through the balance of institutions that would mediate between rich and poor. This order was a republic.

B. Cicero believed the stable order was dependent upon liberty, equality, and the informed consent of individuals.

C. Cicero's impact upon the Framers is seen with the concepts of limited government, separation of powers, and checks and balances.
 

St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas influenced the Middle Ages. They believed that the highest goal of man is salvation and eternity with God.

A. This goal had political implications. To achieve salvation the political order was to be organized to further religion.

1. Order was needed to allow religion to prosper in peace.
2. There was a need for hierarchy.
3. Power had to flow down this hierarchy, with obedience flowing up.
4. Together these conditions led to the formation of a peaceful community.

B. These ideas influenced the Framers in a negative way.

1. The Framers learned to place more emphasis upon individualism and the eventual separation of religion from public life.

IV. Secularism, Individualism, and the Idea of Progress

By the 1600s the idea of order based upon power and hierarchy began to shift. Slowly, more emphasis was placed upon the idea that individualism and freedom would lead to order.

A. Secularism and the Priority of the City of Man
1. Increasingly there was less emphasis upon salvation. Temporal concerns became more important.
2. Religion was now starting to become a backdrop to politics.
.
B. The Italian political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli observed Italian politics and concluded that absolute power was needed if order and individual goals of power were to flourish.

C. Individualism and the Protestant Reformation 

• Both Martin Luther and John Calvin triumphed the place of the individual within religion.
1. This was in solid opposition to the church hierarchy.
2. However, political hierarchy was still needed to provide peace and order.

V. Empiricism and the Idea of Human Progress

Secular issues such as power, social order and economic development began to slowly replace religion. Several philosophers led this revolution.

A. Francis Bacon believed that science and discovery rather than salvation would lead to human progress.

B. Thomas Hobbes witnessed the impact of the English Civil Wars and advocated the need for a monarchy to reign in and over human self-interest.

C. John Locke stressed the idea of a social contract based upon individual consent. Locke had such a strong impact upon the Framers that they based the Declaration of Independence upon contract theory.

D. Hobbes and Locke differ in their approach to who rules. Hobbes favored an absolute monarch to create peace and order. Locke was impressed by the ideas of popular sovereignty, parliamentary supremacy, and a limited monarchy.

F. Adam Smith applied these political principles to the economic realm and declared that markets had a natural order, implying that a hierarchy may not be needed.

The undiscovered land of America invited the radical ideas of individualism, freedom, liberty, and equality. American land development grew up with these ideas.
 

VII. Oppression in Europe and the Settlement of America

Religious, social, and economic factors all combined to drive settlers to America.

A. Religious Persecution

1. Most early groups to America fled religious persecution.
2. The most important were the Puritans.
a. From 1629 to 1640 Charles I sought to exclude Puritans from English society.
b. As a result, almost 21,000 Puritans left England.
3. Other groups, the Quakers and the Huguenots among them, left England and France.

B.   Denial of Social and Economic Opportunity

1. The English Civil Wars between 1640 and 1688 forced many to flee England in pursuit of economic and social peace.
2. The abundance of American land with no formal system of land control attracted many poor and middle class people.

C. Political Participation in the Early Colonies

1. Few people came to America in search of democracy.
a. Neither the religious leaders nor the mass of people believed in the utility of democracy.
b. In the words of John Cotton: 'If the people be governors, who shall be governed?'
2. The New England town meeting was not initially democratic. It was a guided discussion to educate the community.
3. Southern colonies were generally oligarchic in their governance with elite plantation owners controlling government.

VIII. A Natural Liberalism in America

A. "Space" for Dissent

1. Because America was so large, dissenters in a community could, if they wished, move over the next hill and live their own type of religious, economic, or political life.
a. In England Puritans and Quakers faced oppression from the Anglican Church.
b. In America, however, other choices were available.
2. Religious orthodoxy began to collapse and become watered down. The expanse of America permitted the unorthodox to simply leave.
a. When Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts colony, he simply moved to what is now Rhode Island.
b. The Quakers pushed the Scotch-Irish from Philadelphia to the western frontier.

B. Economic Opportunity and Social Fluidity
 
1. Two factors allowed for self-sufficiency and social mobility into the next social class.a. America was overwhelmingly agrarian.b. Nearly 80 percent of people made their living from the land.
.
C. Heterogeneity
 
1. By the mid 1700s, the population of America was diverse.
a. Out of a population of 1,850,000 in 1765, only 53 percent of people were of English origin. 
b. There were also many diverse and active religious groups.
.
D. Equality and Tolerance
 
1. This diversity led to a respect for tolerance of other religious groups.
a. Some groups practiced this as a matter of doctrine.
b. Others witnessed oppression firsthand and tempered their treatment toward other groups.