ABSTRACT
This chapter indicates at the time of Constitution's adoption widely held views about the principles and practices that have to be prevalent to sustain a democratic republic. It identifies views in writings of the individual American Founding Fathers major political documents of the constitutional era, the thought of the philosophers of republican government who especially influenced the thinking of the Founders. And the retrospective assessment of the greatest commentator on the American democratic republic, Alexis de Tocqueville. Tocqueville mentioned the federal system as crucial to the American democratic republic. The many references to education in statements and writings of the Founding Fathers and Tocqueville make one conclude that while it is crucial for the sustenance of a democratic republic, it did not have to be of the same type for everyone. Philosophical deficiency is probably partly due to the fact that from its earliest times America historically has been a nation of practical people—men of affairs—not philosophers.
