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.
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 4.Hugo Grotius - On the Law of War and Peace: Book I, Chapter I; Book II Chapters I and II 5.Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan: Book I, Chapters 15-20 6.John Locke - Second Treatise of Civil Government: Chapters 1-15 7.Montesquieu - The Spirit of the Laws: Book XI 8.Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The Social Contract: Books I and II Part Three: The American Project 9.John Winthrop - A Model of Christian Charity 10.William Tennent 11.Thomas Paine - Common Sense 12.Patrick Henry - "Give me Liberty or Give me Death!" 13.Benjamin Franklin - Address to the Federal Convention 14.Robert Morris 15.Elbridge Gerry - Anti-Federalist Paper #7 16.George Clinton - Anti-Federalist Paper #69 17.Benjamin Rush - An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America Upon Slave-Keeping 18.Edmund Randolph - The Virginia Plan 19.John Adams - Thoughts on Government 20.Alexander Hamilton - Federalist Papers #70 and 78 21.Thomas Jefferson - The Tree of Liberty 22.James Madison - Federalist Papers #10 and 51 23.John C. Calhoun - South Carolina Exposition and Protest 24.Frances Wright - Speech at New Harmony Hall Part Four: American Presidents 25.George Washington - Farewell Address 26.Andrew Jackson - National Bank Veto 27.James K. Polk - 1st Inaugural Address 28.Millard Fillmore - First Annual Message 29.Abraham Lincoln - 1st and 2nd Inaugural Address 30.William McKinley - 2nd Inaugural Address 31.Theodore Roosevelt - 1st Inaugural Address 32.Woodrow Wilson - 1st Inaugural Address 33.Calvin Coolidge - 1st Inaugural Address 34.Herbert Hoover - 1st Inaugural Address 35.Franklin Delano Roosevelt - 1st and 2nd Inaugural Address 36.John F. Kennedy - 1st Inaugural Address 37.Richard Nixon - 1st Inaugural Address 38.Ronald Reagan - 1st Inaugural Address
