In the same work, Montesquieu made a striking observation: “At the birth of societies, the leaders of republics create the institutions; thereafter, it is the institutions that form the leaders of republics.”4 So the real issue facing the victors of the American Revolution was to create a structure solid enough to survive and begin to develop institutions that would sustain it in the long term. The question was, how to get to the point where American institutions could develop leaders?
