The American Founders looked to the ancient world not simply for inspiration, but for instruction. Few historical examples loomed larger than the Roman Republic, whose achievements offered a model of republican government and civic virtue, while its collapse provided a powerful warning about the fragility of free government. Foundations of Liberty: Rome and the Constitution explores how the history, political thought, culture, and symbols of ancient Rome shaped the Founders’ understanding of republican government and influenced the creation of the American constitutional system.
Participants will begin with the origins and political development of the Roman Republic, examining its distinctive mixed constitution and the ideas of res publica, libertas, virtus, patriotism, natural law, and the rule of law. Through the writings of Polybius and Cicero, teachers will consider how Roman thinkers understood the relationship among political institutions, citizenship, character, and the preservation of liberty. The seminar then turns to the Republic’s decline, exploring the political conflict and personal ambition associated with figures including the Gracchi, Cato, Cicero, and Julius Caesar. Rome thus emerges as both an exemplar of republican greatness and a cautionary tale about how republics can fail.
The seminar will then place Roman ideas in conversation with the American Founding. Participants will examine the Founders’ use of Roman history and pseudonyms such as Publius and Brutus, the Constitution’s adaptation of ideas about mixed government, and Federalist No. 9’s argument that a new “science of politics” might remedy the defects that plagued ancient republics. Particular attention will be given to Joseph Addison’s Cato, a work admired by the Revolutionary generation and performed at Valley Forge during Washington’s encampment, as well as the continuing influence of Roman ideas on debates over executive power.
A field study in Washington, D.C., will allow teachers to encounter Rome’s American legacy firsthand through architecture, public art, symbolism, and institutions. Throughout the week, lectures, primary-source discussions, field study, and pedagogical workshops will ask participants to consider an enduring question at the heart of both the Roman and American experiments in self-government: What institutions, principles, and civic virtues are necessary to preserve liberty and sustain a republic?
Speaker:
Joseph Fornieri, PhD
Dr. Joseph R. Fornieri is Professor of Political Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Director of RIT’s Center for Statesmanship, Law, and Liberty, a nonpartisan center devoted to the study of statesmanship, constitutionalism, political leadership, and responsible citizenship. He earned his BA from SUNY Geneseo, MA from Boston College, and PhD from The Catholic University of America.
A scholar of American political thought, Fornieri is particularly recognized for his work on Abraham Lincoln, statesmanship, and the First Amendment. His books include Abraham Lincoln’s Political Faith; The Language of Liberty: The Political Speeches and Writings of Abraham Lincoln; Lincoln’s American Dream: Clashing Political Perspectives; and more. He is currently working on a biography of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
Fornieri has received numerous academic and teaching honors. He was a Fulbright Lecturer at Charles University in Prague in 2009 and has twice received RIT’s Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching, as well as the Richard and Virginia Eisenhart Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. His Abraham Lincoln, Philosopher Statesman received the Superior Scholarship Award from the Illinois State Historical Society in 2015. He also serves as a Founding Forward Senior Fellow, and was a senior fellow of the Alexander Hamilton Institute and an academic advisor to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
A former high school teacher, Fornieri maintains a strong commitment to civic education and teacher professional development, connecting his scholarship on political thought and statesmanship with secondary and collegiate teaching.
Typically scheduled from Sunday through Friday in the summer, Founding Forward’s week-long teacher seminars are hosted at Union League Liberty Hill, a 300+ acre private conference center and golf course in suburban Philadelphia. Each seminar has a single theme and consists of content-focused talks by highly regarded scholars (morning and afternoon) interspersed each day with activation sessions featuring either lesson demonstrations from master teachers and presentation from resource providers like Retro Report or Periodic Presidents. Finally, each seminar includes an out-of-classroom field study to historic sites, archives, and museums.
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