Vol. 42, No. 07
07/01/2026
Pride, Humility, and Moral Clarity in the Founding of the Republic
The New American presents this bimonthly feature, “Culture Corner,” offering a deep focus on contemporary cultural issues viewed through the prism of history, art, literature, music, and theology. The goal is to recover and reinvigorate the moral and virtuous purposes of the humanities, long forgotten and compromised by materialist pedagogues and Marxist socialist ideologues in our schools and universities. In the famous description by the Roman poet Horace in Ars Poetica(19 B.C.), the ultimate ideal of humanistic learning is prodesse et delectare (to instruct and to delight). Down through the ages of Western culture, the purpose of humane letters has been the triumph of Truth and Beauty: truth to instruct us in morality and knowledge, and beauty to delight us with joy and gratitude. The inaugural Culture Corner series features a seven-article reflection on vice and virtue, from Classical and Christian sources going back to the Bible, to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and through the Middle Ages to our own world.
This article is a departure from the others in the series. To date, we have covered three of the Seven Deadly Sins and three of the Seven Heavenly Virtues: Envy and Kindness; Sloth and Diligence; and Wrath and Patience. In honor of the 250th anniversary of American independence, here we focus expressly on the monumental achievement of our constitutional Republic, and the critical role that Pride and Humility played in crafting this great experiment in liberty and self-government.
AT A GLANCE
• The distinction between republics and democracies has largely been forgotten.
• Pride and humility are both founding virtues of the American Republic.
• The Founders saw themselves and their work as subordinate to God and His plan.
• Our Republic cannot endure without civic virtue.
By almost all conventional historical accounts, our nation is past its sell-by date. The miraculous achievement of our unique Constitution and its delicate system of checks and balances is threatened by checkless power grabs and unbalanced encroachments upon on our rights, our liberties, and our very way of life. Despite the untruth of the matter, it is de rigueur to opine that the shelf life for republican forms of government is at best 250 years. The Roman Republic — an aristocratic and oligarchic republic — endured roughly 482 years (509 B.C.-27 A.D.). Most people are surprised to learn that the longest-lived sovereign republic in the world is San Marino, dating back to its founding in 301 A.D. The longest historical republic was Venice (697-1797 A.D.) — an eventual victim of Napoleon’s campaigns — and France itself has had five republics of very different types since 1792 A.D. Apparently, in 1792 “republican government” meant murdering clerics and nobility while dissolving private property rights during the Reign of Terror. Today there are more than 150 countries that claim to be more or less “republican,” including presidential republics, parliamentary republics, and assembly-independent republics, to name just a few. In fact, 147 countries actually use the word “republic” in their formal state names. The list even encompasses terrorist states such as Iran and Afghanistan, which invoke the oxymoronic title of “theocratic” republics.
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