A Note on Organization

The synopses contained in this section are the core of FirstPrinciples.US.  The site is organized to allow one to proceed from basic tenets of governance to an in-depth investigation of the complexities of modern democracy, and to look at the relationship between the individual and society; the mutual rights and obligations of each.  

The books we discuss are grouped in four sections and are ordered from basic to advanced within each group. These volumes represent an historical overview of the intellectual philosophy and practical implementation of a free society. In understanding the history and rationality of that system the citizen will be in a better position to apply its lessons in the modern world.

Books in Section I Part 1 offer an investigation into the foundations of constitutional representative government. Those in Part 2 discuss free governance in a real-world setting.

Books in Section II Part 1 are current in the broad sense and discuss history and political philosophy as they progressed, primarily in America, since the turn of the twentieth century. Books in Part 2 address the basics of economics in a free society.

Books in Section III are slightly more sophisticated and nuanced. They explore and explain governance and the need to consider, in some detail, the effects of the human psyche on the body politic.

Books in Section IV relate to what is to come. These volumes investigate matters that will directly affect the future of self-governance.

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States are offered directly in the reading materials, not in an appendix.  To be both fully appreciated and placed in context these two documents should be read where they appear, not as related reference works or just an afterthought.  Familiarity with each text will offer a benefit going in both directions; viz., the synopsized books will be a little more comprehensible and the Declaration and Constitution will be a little more meaningful for having read all of them together.

From here it is up to the reader to determine if these fundamentals and their development, which is intricately followed from the birth of rights in ancient Greece, to the awakenings of freedom in the 17th century, to the depths of totalitarianism in the twentieth, resonate in such a fashion as to bring the observer to carry the torch of freedom, with its opportunities and responsibilities, on to the next generation.

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