On the topic of happiness as understood by the founders, Carli Conklin seems to overlap and agree with Rosen while also offering a more expansive assessment, one that includes three additional aspects or dimensions: Christianity, the English legal tradition, and the Scottish Enlightenment. I haven't read the book yet myself, but I mentored a student through a term paper last semester and she made good use of Conklin's 4-part analysis.
Thanks for writing this. Curious if you've read or heard of First Principles by Thomas Ricks? It covers a lot of similar ground as Rosen's book (which I have not read). It looked at their readings more through a lens of who aligned or studied primarily Greek vs. Roman texts. Regardless, was great inspiration to put my head down and read, read, read this year. Also picked up how popular the performance of Cato, A Tragedy was during the American Revolution from reading that book.
is a good read and was popular in its time to the point that it is said King George lll even read it . It is not in the boring winded overly inflated lawyerly prose of the other founders .
Hate reading from computer screen ; have copied hundreds and hundreds of pages out to read on paper, roll them up in ribbons afterwards for those little library boxes , actually very cheap, especially for expensive out of print obscure tomes .
Does anyone else wonder if young John Adams actually kept to his ambitious schedule? Or could he have been like us modern folk who have great intentions (and even write them down as he did), but then don’t follow through?
This is a powerful reminder of something we’ve quietly lost. Reading doesn’t just inform us, it forms us. The Founders understood that books weren’t entertainment, they were tools for shaping character, disciplining emotion, and expanding what a person could become.
What I love about this text is how clearly it shows the difference between modern “self-help” and the older idea of virtue. Happiness wasn’t pleasure or comfort, it was the lifelong work of cultivating excellence, self-command, and meaning. They didn’t read to escape reality. They read to become someone who could meet reality with strength and clarity.
And that part hasn’t changed. The same way Jefferson, Adams, Douglass, and Ginsburg grew through reading, we can too. We just forget how powerful it actually is. Fifteen minutes with something meaningful will change you more than an hour scrolling or streaming ever will.
Sometimes reading doesn’t just influence your life, it recalibrates you. It gives you back the ability to think, to feel deliberately, and to live with intention.
George Washington owned and managed slaves at 11 years of age and went on to buy 71 himself plus the others he inherited .He dropped out of school to do that .
Yes one would think owning slaves would affect one’s ethics more than reading classical Greek, whose nobles of course also owned slaves . Though he did beat some it must have affected him for upon his death he issued manumission to them .
There's a podcast to go with this, Henry https://constitutioncenter.org/news-debate/podcasts/pursuit-the-founders-guide-to-happiness
thanks!
Thank you! I looked it up and plan to listen.
Polytropic!! It was not in my dictionary, but Google helped of course, even giving mathematical equations.
Lovely word
Cheers to the Founders and the belief you are what you read. Feeding the mind is as important as feeding the body. Well written review.
On the topic of happiness as understood by the founders, Carli Conklin seems to overlap and agree with Rosen while also offering a more expansive assessment, one that includes three additional aspects or dimensions: Christianity, the English legal tradition, and the Scottish Enlightenment. I haven't read the book yet myself, but I mentored a student through a term paper last semester and she made good use of Conklin's 4-part analysis.
Oh thanks I’ll check it out
Thanks for writing this. Curious if you've read or heard of First Principles by Thomas Ricks? It covers a lot of similar ground as Rosen's book (which I have not read). It looked at their readings more through a lens of who aligned or studied primarily Greek vs. Roman texts. Regardless, was great inspiration to put my head down and read, read, read this year. Also picked up how popular the performance of Cato, A Tragedy was during the American Revolution from reading that book.
‘The Journal of Major George Washington’
is a good read and was popular in its time to the point that it is said King George lll even read it . It is not in the boring winded overly inflated lawyerly prose of the other founders .
I intend to find and read it.
Home Laser Print Press
If you cannot find it .
https://gutenberg.org/
Hate reading from computer screen ; have copied hundreds and hundreds of pages out to read on paper, roll them up in ribbons afterwards for those little library boxes , actually very cheap, especially for expensive out of print obscure tomes .
Does anyone else wonder if young John Adams actually kept to his ambitious schedule? Or could he have been like us modern folk who have great intentions (and even write them down as he did), but then don’t follow through?
Oh he didn’t keep to it , but it does help you do more
This is a powerful reminder of something we’ve quietly lost. Reading doesn’t just inform us, it forms us. The Founders understood that books weren’t entertainment, they were tools for shaping character, disciplining emotion, and expanding what a person could become.
What I love about this text is how clearly it shows the difference between modern “self-help” and the older idea of virtue. Happiness wasn’t pleasure or comfort, it was the lifelong work of cultivating excellence, self-command, and meaning. They didn’t read to escape reality. They read to become someone who could meet reality with strength and clarity.
And that part hasn’t changed. The same way Jefferson, Adams, Douglass, and Ginsburg grew through reading, we can too. We just forget how powerful it actually is. Fifteen minutes with something meaningful will change you more than an hour scrolling or streaming ever will.
Sometimes reading doesn’t just influence your life, it recalibrates you. It gives you back the ability to think, to feel deliberately, and to live with intention.
George Washington owned and managed slaves at 11 years of age and went on to buy 71 himself plus the others he inherited .He dropped out of school to do that .
Rosen deals with that issue directly throughout the book
Yes one would think owning slaves would affect one’s ethics more than reading classical Greek, whose nobles of course also owned slaves . Though he did beat some it must have affected him for upon his death he issued manumission to them .