greykit.essays — #republicanism
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1863-11-19
[american-civic]
The Gettysburg Address
Lincoln's 272-word dedication at Gettysburg — "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
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1801-03-04
[american-founding]
First Inaugural Address
Jefferson's conciliatory inaugural after a bitter election — "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.
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1798-12-24
[american-founding]
The Virginia Resolutions of 1798
Madison's companion to the Kentucky Resolutions — the states may "interpose" against unconstitutional federal acts like the Alien and Sedition laws.
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1798-11-10
[american-founding]
The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798
Jefferson's anonymous protest against the Alien and Sedition Acts, arguing the states may judge federal overreach — the compact theory of the Union.
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1797-03-04
[american-founding]
Inaugural Address
Adams's inaugural, professing attachment to the Constitution at the first transfer of the presidency between two men.
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1796-09-19
[american-founding]
Washington's Farewell Address
Washington's valedictory letter to the American people, warning against party faction, sectionalism, and permanent foreign alliances.
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1791-02-23
[american-founding]
Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank
Hamilton's defense of implied powers and a loose reading of the Constitution — the founding argument for broad federal authority.
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1791-02-15
[american-founding]
Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank
Jefferson's strict-construction reply — the enumerated powers bind Congress, and a bank is nowhere among them.
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1789-04-30
[american-founding]
First Inaugural Address
Washington's first inaugural — the diffident opening of the presidency, invoking "the sacred fire of liberty.
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1787-10-27
[american-founding]
The Federalist Papers
The eighty-five essays by "Publius" arguing for ratification of the United States Constitution.
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1787-09-17
[american-founding]
The Constitution of the United States
The original 1787 Constitution establishing the federal government of the United States.
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1787-07-13
[american-founding]
The Northwest Ordinance
The charter for the Northwest Territory — guaranteeing rights, mandating public education, and forbidding slavery north of the Ohio.
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1777-11-15
[american-founding]
The Articles of Confederation
The first federal constitution of the United States — a league of sovereign states whose weaknesses prompted the Convention of 1787.
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1776-12-23
[american-founding]
The American Crisis
Paine's thirteen wartime Crisis papers (and A Crisis Extraordinary) — "These are the times that try men's souls.
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1776-04-01
[american-founding]
Thoughts on Government
Adams's blueprint for republican government — a bicameral legislature, an independent judiciary, and annual elections — written as a letter and taken up by several state constitutions.
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1776-01-10
[american-founding]
Common Sense
Paine's incendiary case for American independence and against monarchy and hereditary rule.
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1748-01-01
[sources-of-liberty]
The Spirit of the Laws
The Enlightenment treatise on government the founders cited above all others — the source of the doctrine of the separation of powers, from the selected books on the forms, principles, and corruption of government and on political liberty.
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1689
[sources-of-liberty]
Second Treatise of Government
Locke's foundational argument for government by consent, natural rights, and the right of revolution — the deepest source of the American founding.
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c. 44 BC
[sources-of-liberty]
On Friendship
Cicero's dialogue on friendship, spoken by Laelius — on friendship as the accord of virtue, and a staple of the founders' classical education.
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c. 44 BC
[sources-of-liberty]
On Old Age
Cicero's dialogue in the voice of Cato the Elder, defending old age against its reputation — one of the most beloved classical texts among the American founders.
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c. 54 BC
[sources-of-liberty]
On the Commonwealth
Cicero's dialogue on the best form of the state — the mixed constitution, the doctrine of a natural higher law ("True law is right reason"), and the Dream of Scipio. Surviving in fragments, it shaped the founders' idea of a republic.