The ancient Greek and Roman worlds deeply shaped the thinking of America’s founders. In this course, you’ll explore the ethos of classicism that permeated the founders’ era and how the revolutionaries identified with the ancient Roman republic. You’ll dig deeply into the classical thought of five of the iconic founders, and you’ll learn how the Founding Fathers created a radically new political model based in the conception of equality.
What America’s Founders Learned from Antiquity
Dive deep into America’s revolutionary era in this riveting course and discover the astonishingly far-reaching influence of the Greek and Roman classical world on the nation’s founders.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Beep Beep from
Intriguing title to catch my curiosity.
As a retired physician who majored in American History in college, I am always interested in different/new views on the subject. Dr Winterer's course was both illuminating and enjoyable. It looked at our founding fathers and revolutionary history through a different lens than I had seen or read before. Combining the world of classicism and our own history was, for me, a fun way to see how our own history was influenced by antiquity. She covered several relevant subjects, including specific founders ( Washington, Jefferson, etc) and the political, cultural, and social aspects of classicisms influence on these subjects. She obviously enjoys her subject and made me smile more than a few times during her lectures. I do these courses hoping to learn something new and also stimulate me to try learning a little more about it. More importantly, to keep this old brain from shutting down.
Date published: 2024-09-06
Rated 4 out of
5
by
PDNY from
Great topic, mixed results:
These lectures provide a well known historian's views on the changing relationship between classical learning (Greek and Roman classics) and the ways in which Americans (from the founders to more recent periods) have viewed themselves historically, politically, and culturally.
Prof. Caroline Winterer begins in the Revolutionary moment of our history. She discusses the idealization of the "yeoman farmer" largely based on sources like Cato and Cicero who saw in the self-sufficient farmer the epitome of civic virtue, which was held to be the basis of a healthy republic in Rome. This agricultural vision of America soon came into conflict with the increasingly commercial visions of Hamilton and others who were drawn to analogies with the Roman Empire, a vast political entity with much commerce and great centralized power. This led to a schism between Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian outlooks, and the emergence of political parties that came into conflict around these competing visions of America.
It would take Americans several decades to feel at home with Athenian Democracy as a political and cultural touchstone. Radical egalitarianism had not yet come into its own, and only with the expanding franchise and appeal to masses by populist, Andrew Jackson, did the "Age of Democracy" emerge, as famously described by Tocqueville who visited at that time. These are just a few examples of changing ways of perceiving and governing the nation based on conceptions of the classical world, and efforts to improve on those ancient polities in the present.
The idea of improving on the classical models of government and society was largely a product of the Enlightenment faith in human reason and history. Winterer emphasizes 2 aspects of Enlightenment thought: a) It is guided by human agency rather than divine forces and b)It is linear and thus moves "forward" (progress) or "backward" (decline) rather than being cyclical (Greek and Roman view) or encumbered by original sin (Christian theological view).
She focuses on particular founders such as Adams, Jefferson and others to show some of the variations on the theme of appropriating classical learning to create a new reality in America. There is much to be learned, and some of the content is original work continuous with the lecturer's published output in books on these subjects.
My own reservations about the content has to do less with what she discusses and more with what is left out. As was also the case in her book, American Enlightenments , she has little to say about the role of the Protestant Reformation in England, and, in particular its influence on what would later become classical liberalism, focused on religious toleration and pluralism. I believe that in order to fully appreciate the American Enlightenment/s (she uses the plural in her book), one needs to understand the historical context in which thinkers like Locke (mentioned in the series) and Milton, and others well known to the colonists and founders, wrote. The England these thinkers inhabited had severely limited the powers of the Monarch (including a regicide) , and functioned as a largely parliamentary system consistent with Locke's notion of the "consent of the governed" which was largely a rallying cry during England's Glorious Revolution when they expelled their King on largely religious grounds. The 17th century also brought forth a profusion of radical protestants (Quakers, Levellers, Anabaptists, Separatists, Puritans) many of whom ended up in North America to escape persecution. This was a great impetus to the emphasis on liberty from the English government.
The influence of all this on early liberalism can be seen in figures like Roger Williams and William Penn, both of whom came for religious reasons, and both of whom in different ways came to epitomize the idea that state and church should be separate, and religious affiliation a matter of the "liberty of conscience" within each individual. The 2 pillars of early liberalism (individualism and tolerance) are largely products of the Reformation and its American offshoots.
Winterer does not discuss this aspect of the American story. When she discusses religion in a lecture devoted to it, she suggests that Christianity was fused with classical learning in an inventive way that was not related to the long and difficult religious wars in Europe, or the various religiously based colonies that existed here. Many of the thinkers I have in mind (Milton, Locke, Roger Williams, William Penn et al.) were learned in their own right. Their appropriation of the classics, or engagements with them were deeply informed by their views on religion which was the burning question of the times they lived in-- the religious wars and Glorious Revolution. The synthesis of classical and religious ideas as discussed by Winterer is abstract and intellectual rather than embedded in actual struggles and urgent questions faced in England and the colonies that were to become the United States.
The point here is not that the US was a "Christian Nation" as that phrase is now used. It never was. Rather, it was diverse and inclusive largely because of the liberalism that emerged in the crucible of religious conflicts which cannot be separated from early American history. So, when Jefferson-- a man who had little interest in doctrinaire religion-- used the phrase, "a wall of separation between church and state" he was quoting Roger Williams, whose thought on religious tolerance he so admired. When we look at the First Amendment, the very first one in the Bill of Rights, we see the rather new idea that there will be no established national religion, and that each individual is free to worship as they please. This, at least in theory and to some extent in practice, included Jews, Muslims and Native Americans. Of course, the Protestant bias would be strong throughout much of US history (only with Kennedy do we get a Catholic president, for example). But the great tolerance of-- and even encouragement of-- diversity begins not with Greeks or Romans, but radical and dissenting protestants who, without intending it, so influenced classical liberalism of the late 18th century and most of the 19th as well.
There is much knowledge to be gleaned in this course, but the (deliberate?) exclusion of the impact of religious dimensions of American history before and after the founding do leave important areas (esp. American individualism and liberalism in the older sense) out of the account.
Date published: 2024-09-03
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Joyce42 from
Not worth the time
If this had been my first course i would never have purchased another one nor subscribed to Wondrium.The information is so inaccurate as to make me wonder how the instructor managed to get her degree. Just one example is her statement about the founding of Harvard. another is the symbols on the dollar bill. I understand you can't tell everything in a course, but this seems like a deliberate rewrite of history as she wish it had been or even worse, an example of how pathetic university instruction is.
Date published: 2024-08-18
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Colonel Bo from
I don’t give stars
I watched this series on Wondrum/Great Courses Plus. I was disappointed that the lecturer/ The Teaching Company didn’t explain the basis on which rich planters, as they were called, made the decisions to separate from England. Then how did they communicate that plan considering that most people living in the New World at that time didn’t see another human being for a month or more.
She mentioned a book written in 40 BC/BCE. That was no such date. It would have been very interesting to hear whose calendar these rich planters were using. There was no universal calendar at the time. Each state/country/religion had its own calendar. Considering their involvement with France, France rewrote their calendar in the last five years of the nineteenth century.
Taxation without representation. Leaves a lot to be desired. The only ones the king of England could tax were loyal citizens. Due to pirates, places like Boston and New York City, you would have bought your merchandise on the black market.
This course leaves a lot out.
Date published: 2024-08-17
Rated 5 out of
5
by
AnnePMitchell from
Fantastic Lecture Series as Viewed by a Lawyer
I write this as an attorney who has a deep interest and learning background in constitutional history. This is a fantastic lecture series! Not only does Professor Winterer pull together several different threads, explaining how they became interwoven to lead to the founding of the country, and how that unfolded to ultimately lead to the creation of the United States, but she does so in an incredibly engaging way, including the use of visual media and lots and lots of quotes from both the founders of the country and the ancients on whom they relied for guidance. Highly recommended!
Date published: 2024-08-16
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Rod58 from
Excellent
This course connected many concepts for me in how the Founders were influenced by their education and "classical-influenced" culture. The overall content was very good; wish that I would have heard the lecture on art when I lived in DC area with close access to the many museums. Very good presentations by excellent lecturer.
Date published: 2024-08-13
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Car 54 from
Knowledgeable presentation
Very much enjoyed this course.I learned a lot about the minds of the Founders and about the centrality of the Classics in their world-views. The presenter,Dr Winterer has a thorough knowledge of her topic,both the historical and literary aspects.Her delivery is geared just right.I hope she does another course.
Date published: 2024-08-12
Rated 3 out of
5
by
BobCPut from
A narrow Middle-class view
I've hit Lecture 16. how the author was blind to this stuff is beyond me.
Time off from work. If you are not in the limited number of states with Vote by Mail, voting can be very inconvenient.
In addition, the purging of "excessive" Polling places can cause long lines and waits, and uncomfortable/unhealthy situations. People without easy transportation face additional barriers.
Purging "inactive" registrations: Completely unnecessary. The number of people going to multiple Polling stations is near zero. The net result is to deny many people their legitimate voting rights.
Purging "duplicate" names: A naked effort to eliminate the large number of African-Americans that have inherited their slave-holders' (typically British) last names.
Date published: 2024-08-11
Overview
About
Caroline Winterer is the William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies at Stanford University, where she is also a Professor, by courtesy, of Classics. She earned a PhD in History from the University of Michigan. She specializes in American history leading up to 1900. For mapping Benjamin Franklin’s social network, she received an American Ingenuity Award from the Smithsonian Institution. She is the author of six books, including American Enlightenments and The Culture of Classicism.
Trailer
01: Antiquity Erupts in 18th-Century America
Relive the discovery of ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum, which brought the classical world vividly alive for 18th-century Europeans. Learn how founding-era Americans were steeped in classical antiquity through their education and culture, and why they looked to ancient Rome and Greece to understand their own turbulent times and to create a new republic based in representation and equality.
29 min
02: A Republic of Farmers: America and Early Rome
In the 1760s, ancient Rome became politically relevant to Colonial Americans. Grasp how colonists, predominantly farmers, drew upon Roman thinkers’ notions of the farming class as the backbone of civic virtue, independence, and freedom. Note the ways in which the Roman republic became a language of opposition for Americans to oppressive taxation by the globally expanding British empire.
31 min
03: The Dangers of Empire: Rome and Britain
As of 1763, harsh taxation gradually eroded American colonists’ contentment with British rule. Here, trace the colonists’ response to British policy, as they began to view the British as a tyrannical empire, drawing on both contemporary and ancient writings. See how Americans used the contrast between the Roman republic and the corrupt Roman empire to make sense of their political dilemma.
32 min
04: Are We Rome? America’s Conflicted Identity
From the founding era until today, assess America’s associations with ancient Rome and how it became part of the national fabric of America. Within this story, look at two fundamental perceptions: the identification of America with the Roman republic—the society of simple farmers—and, in contrast, with the aggressive Roman empire. Observe how these associations have shaped the nation’s ideological dialogue and politics.
33 min
05: American Ambivalence toward Ancient Greece
Investigate Americans’ perceptions during the founding era of ancient Greece. Note their selective admiration for Spartan military history, and their wariness of the perceived instability of Athenian democracy. Witness the gradual transformation of these perspectives into the modern view of Greece as the cradle of democracy and Western civilization.
31 min
06: The Founders on Carthage and Germania
Beyond Rome and Greece, the founders took inspiration from ancient Carthage in North Africa. Learn about their view of Carthage as a break-away Phoenician colony with admirable government, whose major threats from Rome mirrored America’s own from the British. See also how American revolutionaries invoked the history of the Germanic Saxons’ subjection to British rule to criticize the British monarchy.
33 min
07: The Lure of Ancient Egypt for a New America
Uncover America’s many associations with ancient Egypt. Begin with the Puritans’ linking of their flight from religious persecution in England with the biblical Egypt of the Book of Exodus. Look into the classical Egypt Americans encountered through Greek and Roman sources, and the “Egyptomania” of the 19th century, which influenced the ideology of both pro- and anti-slavery activists.
33 min
08: George Washington: The American Cincinnatus
Of all the founders, Washington’s life was the most publicly classical. Discover how Washington used Greek and Roman sources to shape and give meaning to his own path. In particular, see how he invoked the acts of the Roman general Fabius and the farmer and soldier Cincinnatus in his military and political decisions. Observe his use of classical symbols at Mount Vernon and in his public persona.
34 min
09: John Adams: The American Cicero
John Adams’s political life was deeply rooted in Greek and Roman history. Trace his route to the presidency, echoing his Roman hero Cicero as a lawyer, orator, and public thinker. Take account of his powerful writings denying the legitimacy of British policies, articulating the “revolution principles” of classical theorists, and proposing a framework for government that would balance power.
33 min
10: Thomas Jefferson’s Total World of Classicism
Classicism infused Thomas Jefferson’s public and private lives. Chart his classical education, “agrarian republicanism,” and passionate advocacy for classical architecture. Witness his use of Roman political ideology in his revolutionary role, the influence of neoclassicism in his diplomatic life in France, and his work as president to create a Roman-style republic.
33 min
11: James Madison’s Classical Vision of Government
Delve into the fertile mind of James Madison, and his rich contribution to the US Constitution. Assess his view of the classical world, and his faith that history could guide the present. In approaching the writing of the Constitution, track the lessons Madison took from ancient Greek political confederacies, and how he went beyond their history to propose something totally new.
30 min
12: Benjamin Franklin’s Practical Uses for Antiquity
Learn how Benjamin Franklin’s view of classicism differed from many other founders. Follow his youthful career as a printer and his later life in public service, highlighting his work to reform classical education, and his advocation of Socrates’ prescriptions for practical living based in humility and strategic thinking. Note that as a diplomat, Franklin became an emblem of republican virtue among the French.
28 min
13: Revolutionary Lessons from Roman Histories
America’s founders drew inspiration from three prominent Roman historians: Livy, Sallust, and Tacitus. Explore the ways in which the writings of these historians gave the revolutionaries a framework for understanding their own times, providing incisive insights into republics and their fragility. Learn how founding-era Americans used perspectives gained from these historians to write their own histories of their Revolution.
33 min
14: Classical Ideas in an Enlightenment Age
Grasp how Enlightenment thinkers built on the Renaissance recovery of classicism, by adding new emphasis on knowledge, reason, and the conception of progress. Then learn about two historians who exemplify the Enlightenment approach to classical history, Montesquieu and Gibbon, and their influence on the American founders’ thinking about the design of their own government and how to prevent its fall.
33 min
15: Classicism and the Christianity of the Founders
In fundamental ways, the education of the founders’ era synthesized the classical and Christian worlds. Observe that figures such as educator Ezra Stiles and Thomas Jefferson both mixed Christianity and classicism in their thinking and teaching. Note how Revolutionary-era thinkers in America found, in the philosophies of Epicureanism and Stoicism, an ethical system that supplemented Christian belief.
34 min
16: The Ancient Roots of the US Constitution
The US Constitution has deep roots in Greek and Roman political thought. Note the influence of Aristotle’s Politics, Polybius’s Histories, and the philosopher Montesquieu on the framers’ conception of how to structure a government by the people. Take account of the ways in which the framers integrated concepts from these thinkers but went beyond them to create something truly revolutionary.
34 min
17: How the Aeneid Became America’s Founding Myth
Virgil’s epic poem the Aeneid was read by all children in the Revolutionary era. Uncover the themes of rise and progress, civic duty, and patriotic devotion in the epic, which gave the founders a national story in the exile of the warrior Aeneas, who journeyed westward to found a new empire. Reflect on the poem’s theme of empire building, which has both inspired and haunted Americans.
34 min
18: How American Women Used the Classical World
Track the inspiration American women found in classicism, in challenging both British and male authority. Follow women’s adoption of classical personas, their efforts for broader equality and education, and their writing of histories of Greece and Rome that were also criticisms of their own society. Observe how these actions and others helped open the path to both women’s rights and global human rights.
32 min
19: How Greece and Rome Shaped American Slavery
The classical world affected even the enslaved in the Americas. See how slaveholders viewed Greco- Roman slavery in relation to their own practice of enslavement, with both pro- and anti-slavery activists invoking classical sources to argue their beliefs. Witness Black people’s use of classicism before and after the Civil War to resist slavery, gain education, and to push for universal equality.
33 min
20: Native Americans and the Classical World
Founding-era thinkers used the lens of classical antiquity to comprehend the Native peoples of the Americas. Study the colonists’ use of classical texts, art, political theory, and language to classify and come to terms with the unfamiliar peoples surrounding them. Then, discover how Native peoples themselves encountered the classical tradition, through schooling and Puritan proselytizing.
32 min
21: The Classical City in America
In the aftermath of the Revolution, Americans changed the face of their major cities. Learn how classical cityscapes expressed the republican ideals of the new nation. Examples include Boston, an old city that received a major classical facelift, and Washington, DC, a completely invented city that was the first in the world to be built from nothing, into the image of ancient Rome.
32 min
22: America’s Classical Homes and Gardens
In the new republic, Neoclassicism flourished not only in architecture, but also within American homes and gardens. Study the elements of Neoclassical interior design and decoration, as practiced by major design figures of the era, as well as Neoclassical trends in women’s and men’s attire. See how these stylistic features telegraphed American ideals of simplicity, virtue, and patriotism.
33 min
23: Classical Strokes in American Painting
Portraits and landscape paintings of the early American nation created an image for the United States as a new Rome. Learn to decode the classical symbols, imagery, and political import in the work of four major painters of the era: Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, and Thomas Cole. Trace the key themes and meanings as the artists reflected the new discourse of republics in their paintings.
32 min
24: The Afterlives of Antiquity in America
The story of classicism in America did not end with the founders. Observe how Greek democracy rose as a model for the country after the Civil War, and how classicism in American education declined, replaced by the study of “Western Civilization,” a conception that is now questioned. See the legacy of classicism today in areas such as Freudian psychology, scholarship, politics, and more.
38 min
