ABSTRACT
Aristocratic institutions arise in history when the more talented members of a more or less consanguine group of upper-class families not only take over the political leadership of the state, but also give tone to a literature, and authority to ideas for several generations. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton have educated the American elite since the nation’s founding in almost the same proportion as Oxford and Cambridge in England—eight presidents of the United States, including John Fitzgerald Kennedy and the Adamses, John and John Quincy. While the Adamses are America’s first family, the descendants of Governor John Winthrop have remained at the top of society far longer than any other family in American history. Finally, and perhaps the most important in the long run, the heirs of Calvinism in America were the major founders of schools and colleges, especially before the Civil War.
