For all their artistic and philosophical brilliance, the Greeks were failures at politics; Hamilton, in the Federalist, expressed horror and disgust
at the distractions with which they were agitated.
The Romans captured the American imagination because they had done what the Americans themselves hoped to do — sustain an extensive republic over a course of centuries. So the society of Revolutionary War officers called themselves Cincinnati; president,
congress,
and senate
were all Roman terms. But the Roman example was also cautionary, for when they lost their virture, they slid into empire. When Franklin said, in response to a question from Eliza Powel, that the constitutional convention had produced a republic, if you can keep it,
he and she would have remembered that the Romans had failed to keep theirs.
Rawdon-Hastings, Francis
Camden, SC — The 107-acre site includes the town of 18th century Camden, the Joseph Kershaw mansion — headquarters for Lord Cornwallis — and more. Fourteen battles of the Revolution were fought in the area.
Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington (1996)