Research On The Theory Of Republicanism In The American Constitution

“Republicanism” is an ancient political concept.During the American Revolution,American founders learned lessons from the various political theories and political practices in history,and redefined the connotation of Republicanism in light of the actual situation in the United States.Two hundred years ago,Alexander Hamilton,one of the founders of the American constitutional system,put forward a question that still deserves to be pondered:“Does the human society really be able to establish a good government through deliberation and freedom of choice,or that they are forever destined to rely on opportunities and strengths to determine their political organization.” Historically,the choice of a political system is indeed determined by force and chance,and it seems that mankind has not yet been able to design a good system based on deliberation and freedom of choice.However,the constitutional practice of the United States has achieved this.It broke the Republic can only be a small-scale tradition,through the representative system to a large republic based on people's sovereignty.By changing the tradition,the United States has achieved a compound structure of separation of powers and power constraints.At the same time,the concept of republicanism in the United States has changed and it is different from classical republicanism.The ideological origin of a nation is the basic consensus of a country's spirit,national character,and historical development.The American political system precisely reflects the convergence of modern politics and classical traditions.The Republican Revisionist School claim that the ideological origin of the United States originated from classical republicanism.Obviously it is inappropriate.The idea is a transformation of classical republicanism.During the founding period,the classical republicanism changed to modern republicanism,especially the concept of virtue.How can modern people restate virtues in a commercial era? Although the Federalists value the concept of virtue,they are more likely to suspect the possibility of virtue in the United States.This article is divided into four parts:The first part is an introduction to the leading doctrine of the origins of the American Constitution.Charles A.Beard believes that economic interests have prompted American Constitution and it provides an opportunity for negotiation of interests.Louis Hartz claimsthat there is no feudal traditions in the United States.Thus the political ideology of the United States is similar to Locke's.Hannah Arendt takes the citizens' participation and rights as the core.Instead,the civic virtue is the core of classical republicanism.The Republican Revisionist School associated the classical republican tradition to the American Revolution.However,their doctrines are not in line with the real situation.Refleting on the leading doctrines help to understand the difference between the leading doctrines and the “modern republicanism.”The second part is to sort out the previous republicanism before the United States.This part emphasizes that the Republican Revisionist School's interpretation is unreliable.They did not realize the ancient and modern changes of republicanism.“Catto” combined Locke's ideas with the ideas of the Whig party and formed "new republicanism",which became the basis for American independence.The third part analyzes the factors influencing the creation of modern republicanism in the United States.Including the system design in the colonial period,the social and historical environment,and the ideology of the founding fathers.The Republican Revisionist School pointed out that the anti-Federalists hold the view of positive freedom,but under the influence of this modern republican spirit,anti-Federalists are more inclined to the negative freedom.By analyzing the cases,the principle of modern republicanism still influence the United States.The United States Constitution protects personal interests in commercial era and avoids excessive exercise of such individual freedom.In the fourth part,since from Machiavelli,the concept of virtue in classical republicanism has changed.It is the concept of virtue that made American modern republicanism.This change can be achieved through the virtue of American founding fathers.Through the analysis of human nature,the founding fathers affirmed that it is impossible to rely on civic virtue to build a nation in a commercial society.Their rationality made them recognizes the inadequacy of human nature and sought to establish the country through institutions and laws.