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An Empire of Reason – Roman Law
The Romans had a horror of one word — rex, king — and after they threw out their last one, they spent five centuries building a government designed so that no single man could ever rule them again. That government is the direct ancestor of your own.
This is the story of Rome’s gift to the American founding: not philosophy, but law. The mixed constitution of consuls, Senate, and tribunes — power divided and balanced — that runs straight through Montesquieu to the checks and balances of the Constitution. The rule of law standing above the ruler. The Roman citizen wrapped in rights, able to…
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