Science and the Founding Fathers: Science in the Political Thought of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and James Madison. I. Bernard Cohen

“Legacies: What history has made of the founding fathers” shows that the founding fathers’ history has unfolded in two ways—one being their developing role in the American people’s historical memory, the other being their evolving place in history as interpreted by generations of historians. It also highlights how posterity has chosen individuals to revere or to chastise. The reputations of some founding fathers (George Washington and Benjamin Franklin) have remained consistently high; the reputations of others (Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton) have risen and fallen in historical cycles; others (John Adams, James Madison, and John Jay) have languished in neglect, only to be rediscovered and restored to the national pantheon.

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1. Words, images, meanings

The Founding Fathers: A Very Short Introduction ◽

10.1093/actrade/9780190273514.003.0001 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 1-6

Author(s):

R. B. Bernstein

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

United States Constitution ◽

Benjamin Franklin ◽

Alexander Hamilton ◽

James Madison ◽

George Washington ◽

John Adams ◽

Founding Fathers ◽

Continental Congress

The phrase “founding fathers” is central to how Americans talk about politics, and “Words, images, meanings” describes when the phrase was first coined, what it really means, and how artists have depicted the “founding fathers”—those who helped to found the United States as a nation and a political experiment. This group has two subsets. First are the Signers, delegates to the Second Continental Congress, who in July 1776 declared American independence and signed the Declaration of Independence. Second are the Framers, the delegates to the Federal Convention who in 1787 framed the United States Constitution. They include Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.

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John Adams's Machiavellian Moment

The Review of Politics ◽

10.1017/s0034670500019689 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 57 (3) ◽

pp. 389-417 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

C. Bradley Thompson

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Political Thought ◽

The United States ◽

The Political ◽

John Adams ◽

Founding Fathers ◽

The World ◽

Political Epistemology

John Adams was unique among the Founding Fathers in that he actually read and took seriously Machiavelli's ideas. In his Defence of the Constitutions of the United States, Adams quoted extensively from Machiavelli and he openly acknowledged an intellectual debt to the Florentine statesman. Adams praised Machiavelli for having been “the first” to have “revived the ancient politics” and he insisted that the “world” was much indebted to Machiavelli for “the revival of reason in matters of government.” What could Adams have meant by these extraordinary statements? The following article examines the Machiavellian ideas and principles Adams incorporated into his political thought as well as those that he rejected. Drawing upon evidence found in an unpublished fragment, Part one argues that the political epistemology that Adams employed in the Defence can be traced to Machiavelli's new modes and orders. Part two presents Adams's critique of Machiavelli's constitutionalism.

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Mathematics and Our Founding Fathers

Mathematics Teacher ◽

10.5951/mt.69.4.0301 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 69 (4) ◽

pp. 301-307

Author(s):

H. Howard Frisinger

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Early Development ◽

The United States ◽

Thomas Jefferson ◽

Benjamin Franklin ◽

George Washington ◽

John Adams ◽

Declaration Of Independence ◽

Founding Fathers

On july 4, 1776, fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. This paper will discuss the contributions to mathematics or the interest in mathematics of four of these men. Two of these four, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, made significant contributions to the early development of mathematics in the United States. In addition to the mathematical contributions of Franklin and Jefferson, we shall briefly consider the mathematical interests of George Washington and John Adams.

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3. Independence

10.1093/actrade/9780190225063.003.0003 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Robert J. Allison

Keyword(s):

British Empire ◽

Thomas Jefferson ◽

The Political ◽

Benjamin Franklin ◽

George Washington ◽

John Adams ◽

Declaration Of Independence ◽

The People

By spring 1776 British authority had collapsed in the colonies. Congress appointed John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston to draft a declaration of independence. ‘Independence’ describes this declaration and reveals how complex declaring independence would be. Americans were redefining their relationship with the British Empire, but also the basis of government and the nature of their society. The declaration was adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776, but fighting continued. Richard Howe and Henry Clinton had been sent to achieve a political end—reconciliation—through military means, but George Washington was securing a military end—victory—through the political means of cultivating support from the people the army protected.

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The Political Economy of John Taylor of Caroline

Journal of American Studies ◽

10.1017/s0021875800002589 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 387-405 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Duncan Macleod

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

Thomas Jefferson ◽

The Political ◽

Thought Processes ◽

John Adams ◽

John Taylor ◽

The Government ◽

Style Of Writing ◽

To Receive

After years of comparative neglect John Taylor of Caroline has recently begun to receive again a degree of attention more in keeping with his true importance. That his impact upon both his own generation and upon subsequent generations of historians has always been less than it might have been is due largely to his tortured style of writing and the tortuous thought processes it reflected. John Randolph of Roanoke once commented that Taylor needed only a translator to make an impact, and Thomas Jefferson, replying to a communication from John Adams in 1814, wrote that a book received by Adams must have been Taylor's An Inquiry into the Principles and Policy of the Government of the United States: “neither the style nor the stuff of the author of Arator can ever be mistaken. [I]n the latter work, as you observe, there are some good things, but so involved in quaint, in far-fetched, affected, mystical conceipts [sic], and flimsy theories, that who can take the trouble of getting at them?” Taylor himself appeared to hold a fluent style in contempt, commenting that “A talent for fine writing is often a great misfortune to politicians.”Although Taylor's style renders study of his writings far from congenial, the consistency of his purpose and thought make it relatively easy to extract the main thrusts of his arguments. Far from a rigorous theorist he provides a running commentary upon the politics of his times. In that capacity, however, he never felt compelled to define clearly, even to himself perhaps, some of the central premises from which his arguments derived.

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