COLLOQUIUM: Mortimer Sellers, University of Baltimore, "The Classical Origins of America's Founding Principles"

Modern historians of the founding principles of the United States of America have often dismissed the Revolutionaries' frequent references to Greek and Roman history, politics, philosophy, statesmen and literature as "illustrative, not determinative, of thought". This profound mistake deprives contemporary legal and political discourse of some of the most useful and profound insights of our founding generation. The framers of our national institutions and the leaders of our nascent republic considered themselves to be participants in a republican tradition that began in Rome, revived in Italy, England, and throughout Europe, but would finally be preserved and protected in America. They took inspiration, courage, and principles from the Roman Republic and a valuable warning from Rome's corruption and eventual destruction. Nor are these principles of solely historical interest. They remain embedded in our institutions and available to those who would improve the law and politics of today's flawed republic. "Res publica res populi. Populus autem non omnis hominum coetus quoquo modus congregatus, sed coetus multitudinis iuris consensu, et utilitatis communione sociatus".