The Degradation of the Public Virtue and the American Transformation to a Modern Commercial and Industrial Society

摘要

Many of the founding fathers were greatly influenced by the classical republicanism.They adhered to the ethical norms based on the public virtues advocated in the Renaissance Era,constantly watched out the corruption from power and strove to avoid excessive expansion of wealth which might bring about the disintegration of social cohesion.Therefore,they laid emphasis on the importance of the public virtues in the development of this newly independent country.However,their classical republic ideas were obviously incompatible with the trend of American development after independence.Thus many of them experienced a course of gradual identification with modern industrial civilization.As a result,this identification promoted the United States to march toward a society of commerce and industry in great stride.