Free Republic

A little over 2,500 years ago, there lived a man named Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. If his name seems familiar, that's because one of the United States' great cities is named after him. Cincinnatus had served the Roman Republic in several capacities, including Consul of the Senate of Rome. But in 458 BC, the Roman Army was struggling to defeat the Aequi, an Italic tribe to the east of the city of Rome. Cincinnatus had retired to a farm, but when Rome called, he answered. He was appointed Dictator by the Roman Senate, giving him absolute power over the city -...

Thomas Jefferson famously adapted key passages of John Locke’s Second Treatise in his draft Declaration of Independence. An 18th century gentleman could hardly regard himself as learned without the ability to quote a few Lockean passages from memory. Yet, what of the average colonial? Books were expensive imports. How were the yeomanry educated well enough in Lockean concepts to readily understand and accept this radical document, the Declaration of Independence? Through newspapers. Like modern Americans, our colonial forebears were also political junkies. Freewheeling editorials, letters to the editor that criticized parliamentary and colonial governments were standing features of public life....