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The Roman Republic and America

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  The Pantheon   Remember, Roman, that it is yours to lead other people. It is your special gift.      Virgil,  The Aeneid   We are the indispensable nation.  We stand tall.  We see further into the future.      Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright                  Imagine an educated Roman office from around 20 BC. He had spent most of his military career in the last decades of the Roman Republic and now is a legion commander in the first years of the Roman Empire of Caesar Augustus. Rome is at the height of its power and influence, acquired through conquest during the Roman Republic. Now image he was transported through time to today’s Washington. After marveling at the new technology (horseless chariots?), like any curious tourist he would start to look for similarities to his hometown, imperial Rome.   The similarities would not be hard to find.  ...

A New Nation, America from 1789 to 1860

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  Earliest known photograph of slaves and cotton, around 1850 Brigit Katz, Smithsonian Magazine, December 6, 2019 A New Nation, America from 1789 to 1860   If you study American history from 1789 to 1860 (just before the start of the Civil War), the political history is very complicated. But remember what caused most of this political conflict and uneasy compromises - the dynamic changes in the underlying economy. Two in particular – the spectacular increase in slave-produced cotton and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. They were related.   What is the Industrial Revolution? At its heart it is power-driven metal machinery producing huge quantities of goods. At first, the power was supplied by steam engines and water wheels. Later, in the 20 th  century, electricity. All of this used huge amounts of fossil fuels – first coal, later oil and natural gas were added.   A trend that continued from colonial times – the unusual population growth of America. Th...

The Roman Republic Commits Suicide: A Cautionary Tale for America

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Roman Legion Why Study Rome? Americans have focused on comparisons between Rome and America twice in American history.  The first time was during the period from before the Revolution to after the ratification of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, when the founding fathers and others looked to the Roman Republic for ideas and inspiration on how to structure the new government. After the American Revolution, the founding fathers, having read the Roman authors detailing the collapse of the Roman republic, worried about internal threats to the survival of their new republic.   The second time was when the United States became a superpower, especially after WWII, and then again after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Commentators compared America to the Roman Empire at the height of its power. There was some discussion about how America became a permanent warfare state and how it affected domestic democracy and civil society. ...