First Principles: What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country

by Thomas E. Ricks

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I recommend First Principles for those who want to understand how and why our Constitution was created. The author does a very good job of explaining how the Founders were influenced by ancient Roman and Greek republics. I was surprised to learn that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and even John Adams modeled themselves after ancient Roman and Greek leaders.I would have given this book five stars, but the author looses the focus of the book and his theme when he laments how America should rethink its emphasis on the liberty of oneself and think more about the common good and how divided America is today.For example, early America was a very limited democracy. While many people may think that America is too much influenced by an oligarchy of wealthy individuals, corporations and politically power pressure groups today, early America was heavily influenced by the oligarch of the educated in Greek and Roman classics. Senators were elected by state legislatures until 1914. Initially only white males who owned property or paid taxes (about 6% of the population) could vote. A small group of educated, wealthy white males, the elites of 1790s', were able to vote. (Check Timeline of voting rights in the United States in Wikipedia.) These are only two examples.Still, it is a great book, and I now have a better understanding why the Constitution was written as it was. Everyone who is interested in politics today should read it.