Fear, Greed, Civic Virtue and the Fall of the Elites
Members of America’s founding generation had an ambivalent and evolving understanding of the role and importance of public or civic “virtue.”
In the 1760s and 1770s, many of them believed in a republican idea that made civic virtue the cornerstone of any republic, where the anchor of government was the virtue of the free citizenry, not well-designed constitutions or legal accountability.
By the late 1780s, however, many developed a more pragmatic view of human nature, focusing on creating systems to counterbalance greed, the drive for power, and other negative aspects of human nature.
The anchor of republican government wasn’t well-designed constitutions or legal accountability. It was the virtue of the free citizenry.
Author’s summary: America’s founders had a complex view of civic virtue.
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