Lesson Summary
The Founding Fathers of America were certainly wise and remarkable men. But did they pull the Constitution out of nowhere? Certainly not. Their wisdom was mostly due to the number of things they read and history they knew. Not only that, but long before the Founders were born, American order and tradition were already well-established. Order is the path we follow, or the pattern by which we live with purpose and meaning. We all need many types of order: in the family, in our souls, and in society. Order in society starts when plunder becomes more difficult than production — this is achieved through instituting laws to prohibit theft.
The Roots of American Order start way back with the Hebrews and the Bible. It was the prophets of Israel, not kings, that taught the Israelites order. The Bible also teaches us that a people can maintain their identity even if they are enslaved. Greek Roots come especially from the philosophy of Greece. The ancient philosopher Plato once wrote a majestical book titled The Republic. Each chapter of this book describes in great detail how one is to create order in the soul. An ancient Athenian statesman named Solon also contributed to this concept of American order. After instituting some laws and reforms, Solon embarked on a period of self-imposed exile from Athens. He crafted his laws so well that they remained in force without him.
The Roman Roots of American order have much to do with the strength of the Roman family, and the great orator Cicero’s concepts of natural law. He thought that the real law came from God, and it was the same for everyone, no matter what their local laws were. The better a government matched its laws to God’s law, the better the government was.
The Middle Ages, often termed the “dark” ages, were actually a period of much light. During this period, order was established through strong understandings of common law, feudal society, and God. Finally, the Reformation instituted roots of American order through Protestantism and the Book of Common Prayer. These periods and events in history provide a foundation for Constitutional law both today and in 1776.
