Why did the founders think that virtue was so important to the success of a republic?
About this video
The speaker explains that in a republic power flows from the bottom up, from the people, unlike a monarchy where power flows from the top down. That makes a republic fragile: it depends on virtuous citizens who will sacrifice private interests for the public good. The founders, including John Adams, constantly asked whether Americans had enough virtue to sustain a republic, a question that still matters for democracies today.
You'll be able to
- compare how power flows in a republic and in a monarchy.
- define virtue as the founders used the word.
- explain why the founders worried that a republic might not last.
Key words
- Republic
- A government where power comes from the people, who choose elected officials.
- Monarchy
- A government ruled by a king or queen who usually inherits the position.
- Virtue
- As the founders used it, a willingness to sacrifice your private interests for the public good.
- Res publica
- Latin for "public things" or the public good; the origin of the word republic.
- Consent
- Agreement; a government based on consent gets its authority from the people agreeing to it.
Transcript
Well, I think when you become a republic, you're saying, look, we're going to have elected officials not initial set up foisted on us or by monarchs. Position is assumed simply because of their father and grandfather and so on, going back in time immemorial. Republics, power flows from the bottom up. A monarchy flows from the power flows from the top down. If it's going to come from the bottom-up then that's a fragile state. It depends on people who are virtuous, meaning people who are willing to sacrifice their private interests for the sake of a public good. Res publica means public things, public good. It's a radical step to take. To move into republicanism requires a special people. Americans felt they were that people in 1776 able
to support a republican government. That depended on the caliber or the character of the people in the society. Very few people expected, or understood in the 18th-century, that people could sustain a government. There were no republics left of any size by the 1800s, Rome was the last great republic. The question was, could we sustain a Republican is modern day. They ask themselves that question over and over, and it was debated everywhere. Do we have sufficient virtue?
John Adams had many doubts that we have too many people who are trying to make money at the expense of the public good. That was always a question. Of course, it remains a question for us even today. Do we have the caliber of character to sustain this government that's based on consent. It's really a perennial question for democratic societies.
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