Associate director of the institute on constitutional democracy. Thanks to cspan for being here. We are doing something a little differently because of cspan being here. For instance, im going to say a little bit more about what the institute is at the beginning for the tv audience. Founded in 2014, it is a joint project between the university of missouri Political Science and history departments in cooperation with other scholarly groups on campus. Dedicated to research, teaching, and Community Engagement on the subject of american political thought and history seen in broad context and from a wide variety of perspectives. It is created from a generous gift from the Kinder Foundation of houston, texas, and we are they made history and social sciences at the university of missouri as one of their philanthropies among many others they could choose. Our goal is to teach and learn about american constitutional democracy as the founders created it, but not just that. We want to understand the ideas that inspired the founders as well as those they disagreed with and over. We want to understand public shortcomings as well as accomplishments. The changes it has gone through as all as its eternal truths. Finally, and here is the big one, we want to model what we like to think is the true spirit of deliberative constitutional democracy and academia properly understood and practiced, and that is working intellectually toward enlightenment, liberty, and justice for all and the renewal of our democracy through searching inquiry and vigorous discussion, such as which i am sure we will have right now. In addition to our programs for graduate and undergraduate students, we put on an extensive series of public talks and lectures such as the series were kicking off today. If you are in town, please come back, and i think on cspan, if you come back, come back for constitution week next week where we will be hearing from speakers about Thomas Jefferson and james madison. This is tv, so i need to say you can find all about the institute and all of our programs online mocracymissouri. Edu, or on twitter. Lets move on to todays speaker. Todays speaker is professor craig smith from William Woods university. Full and missouri, about 30 miles from here. Fulton, missouri, about 30 miles from here. Craig is an assistant professor of history and director of the History Program at William Woods. He graduated from st. Johns university in new york. He earned his phd at brandeis university, where he studied with the great David Hackett fischer. He has studied at numerous areas around the boston area and has won awards and fellowships, including the fred w smith study of George Washington that is at mount vernon. He has already also won the above and beyond award and has only been there for a year. Good job, craig. One of the reasons craig is here is he has a book coming out in april from the university of North Carolina press called american honor the creation of the nations ideals during the revolutionary era. It promises a strong return to the notion of ideas as the driving force a behind the American Revolution. It will argue the revolution was not only a revolution for liberty and freedom, but a revolution for ethics of the good kind. Much has been written about concepts like virtue and honor as they relate to early american thought and culture and maybe of heard about this hamilton musical. Maybe you have heard of that. Craig has returned to these topics with bold, new thoughts and we would like to welcome craig smith did the institute today. [applause] thank you for that fine introduction, and thanks, everyone, for turning up. I usually sit back there and get to relax, but i have people watching me, so i have to Pay Attention for the next hour or so. But thanks so much to kinder. They have welcomed me with open arms. I am new to the missouri area, and i feel right at home here. It is a Great Community the progresses, the staff, the graduate students. I see many new faces and i hopefully will get to meet you at some point. Thank you for the kind introduction, and im thrilled ideashere to talk about drawn from my new book, american honor, and again, shameless plug, april 23, up four amazon preorder next week. Done with shameless plug. For now. Thank you for coming, and like jeff said, really good introduction, looking at the American Revolution based on ideas honor and virtue, ethics, things that are often dismissed. Today we are talking about ben rise,in, and early to Benjamin Franklin and the creation of of ascending honor. You are probably wondering, what on earth is ascending honor . Hmm. So, we join our story in the 1784. A 78yearold Benjamin Franklin nine years paris for on a diplomatic mission. , stoppingde paris off point to the royal splendor of the versailles, Benjamin Franklin resided in le petit hotel. He was a nonpaying guest. He has been here for online years. Terrace,d on the watching as the waters meandered past. War, threeish of the months after the piece of paris, a war that ravaged his native country you wont begrudge and a moment of respite , to watch the rivers flow. Inside, she wrote to his firstborn daughter, and the words he put down in 1784 fundamentally revolutionized the concept of honor, the concept of aristocracy, the concept of birth status that had basically consumed europe most of its history. Inside, he wrote, honor does not descend, but ascend. What does he mean . 2 things. Linked. Or, merit become no longer are you honorable because of who your parents were. You are responsible for your own actions. Not just that, those who taught you to behave that way are also due credit. Before i get started, again, shameless plug. Leave this here for two seconds. Moving on. The question im often asked is what is honor, and this is a question im asked by academics, and, well, my family. What is honor . It is a very difficult thing to define. Ly, it israphical understood as many, many different things. Pointoblem is, at no real in history has anyone been particularly clear. You probably think this im not going to rap for you duel, the concept of reputation. What honor you had, you had to defend it, risk being shot to defend your position. Im here to say that this is only a small, small part of it. Part that was a dismissed by most of the key members of the founding generation franklin, washington among others. So lets look at some supporting evidence. There is no easy understanding to explain a word which is used by all men very unsteadily, and by most without any meaning at all. It is very difficult to define honor even in the 18th century. It was a concept that was understood, but what exactly did it mean . Maybe rutherford, cambridge [indiscernible] honor is a vague expression to which custom has given different meetings. Ar, military and if you are a literary man, the history of tom jones, true honor and true virtue or almost synonymous. Know what webster, honor was any particular virtue much value. Dignity, reputation, virtue. I too much apprehend that your notions of honor and mine are very different from one another. In the 18th century, it was confusing as to what these concepts were. Honor was probably Something Like reputation. Virtue, probably similar to morality, usually linked to religion. Ethics was a term not very much used in the 18th century. It was reserved literally for talking about aristotle. One of the earliest references to the word ethics in america is made by ben franklin. So where does this leave us . If anyone is familiar with engrams, you can search anything published from 1500 to 2008. I have done this apparently i cannot remember my slides quick rule of thumb, the further north you go, honor and virtue are separate. The termsuth you go, are used almost interchangeably. Honor isto argue that richer is ethics, as it was understood in the 18th century. When i say ethics, i mean the modern concept of the idea of doing what is right, doing what you believe is proper. Honor,in the word british and american spelling, the selling changes in the early 19th century, and virtue. What you notice here, the spikes are right around the revolutionary era. Curious why that was. The basicto this, premise of my book is that honor is a cause of the American Revolution and helps to shape how the fenders go into founders go into war and how they leave it. Why dont we think of honor anymore . Go to the top flight. Slide. Honor is slowly, slowly dying. But ethics is rising. You see in the early 20th century, there is literally a moment when honor and ethics intersect and change. So what i want to invite you all to do is consider the possibility that when the founders are speaking of honor, they dont mean just reputation, dont mean just courage. They mean something more. Born theanklin was youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back at a time when birth status actually mattered. He is the son of a candle and soap maker and born right about theire. If someone can tell me what address that represents, good for you. Humble beginnings. And his parents couldnt afford to send him to school, so he only had about 2 four more years huge 2 formal years. He turns to literature, and this is very common for the period. New england was one of the most literate places on earth can so he turns to literature. In boston, those are usually going to be religious texts, including bunyans pilgrims progress. Here he learns that honor and virtue are very much connected to religion. Here, he learns that honor and virtue are connected to religion. A man may cry out against a sin of policy, but you cannot abort by a virtue of a godly antipathy against it. I have heard many cry out against sin in the pulpit, who yet can abide it well enough in the heart, house, and conversation. What are does that mean . It is not enough to speak about virtue, it is not enough to speak about honor, you actually have to live it. Who is the perfect example . Jesus was such a person of honor. Cotton mather, leading puritan figure, one of the big families in the boston areas in the boston area, he is going to say that his invaluable honor to do good is an incomparable pleasure a man must look upon himself is dignified and gratified by god when an opportunity to do good is put into his hands. A divine element. It is a service to god. Without christ, you are not christian. All virtue is by christ. So, franklin, from an early age has this idea of puritan honor where virtue is something akin to religion. But, he also has to struggle with his own birth. Lives,plutarchs which is sort of an ancient history of the classical figures, greece, rome, alexander, that sort of stuff. In there, he finds a reference of a spartan king granting honor and prestige to persons of worth and virtue but who were , miserably poor. This is one of the early references that franklin finds that if you are a virtuous person, if you behave well, you can make your way into society. He takes this to heart. One of the chief and points and factors for franklin was a gentlemans magazine called the spectator. They collected witty essays and things he would hang out at a coffeehouse with pure the spectator, by Addison Richard by addison steel is going to , make the following claims. These are all in volume three. It is the first volume that franklin picked up. In the founders of great families, such attributes of honor are generally corresponded with the virtues of that person to whom they are applied. But in the descendents, they are too often the marks rather of grandeur than of merit. Aristocratic rank, prestige, the first person to earn them, the idea that it comes from merit, then after that, it whittles down to the person who may hold the generations from now may have literally nothing to do with that initial action. Keep this in mind about ascending versus descending. If you are doing something for euro means, also. Already which is not founded on merit or virtue, so by birth, it is supported by stratagem. It is a way to advance. So, franklin, if you can see the backdrop, it is silence do good letters. As a teenager, he disguises himself as an older woman by the name of silence dogood. You may remember this from such films as national treasure. He takes the name dogood from cotton mathers essays, to do good. He is understanding breath status and of the rules of honor. He makes sure in his fake introduction where he is posing as a middleaged woman, to point out that people need to know who it is that is speaking before they actually listen to him. Are they a person of status or are they lowly . He makes sure to remind his readers that she, i should say, is a friend to virtue. Therefore, she must be telling the truth. Everything, except the identity, i suppose. In there, he also takes aim at what he sees as more unworthy, nonmeritorious. He targets one particular institution of higher learning, and that is harvard college. He says let students get and only because of the purses of my parents, rather than their capabilities. Harvard produces nothing but dunces and blockheads. All they learn is how to carry themselves handsomely and enter a room genteel he. You can see there is a little bit of angst because he does not get into harvard. He views this as the idea of a sending based on your familys position as inherently wrong. 1723, the new england current, in the guise of the minutes of a Gentlemans Club meeting, franklin introduces his concept of ascending honor. On titles of honor. Honor properly ascends and not descends. Basically, he flipflops this in 1704. He takes my words got cut off. It takes he takes issue with this concept of had honor. What is hacked honor . Anyone know . The idea of doffing a cap to your superior. Franklin says, i am going to paraphrase, he says hi honor is false. Because honor exists from the beginning. But hats were an invention of man. So, therefore, hat honor must be newer and therefore not be true. To show you the comparison, this is very much modeled after the spectator. You will see the idea of virtue as the most reasonable and genuine source of honor and it comes from merit. Franklin here uses the bible. He says look at the bible, there are no titles of honor, it is not my lord abraham, the right honorable abraham. But is he not entitled to this position . So he is taking issue and using , the accepted ideology of the time to counter. This is 1723. He does not say another word about a sunday honor until 1784. Instead, he runs away from his apprenticeship and heads to philadelphia. Then he goes to london. In london, he has a different sense of his own morality. At the time, lord chesterfield who is going to write a very prominent dyad for how young men need to live their lives is going to be there at the same time. This is giving you a sense of what would have been understood the honor and virtue alone could help you advance in society. This is what franklin takes to heart. This is his way in. However, while in london he is going to come to the conclusion that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world and that device and virtue were empty distinctions, no such things exist. I ask you, was he one of those gentlemen, or that gentleman . He would not be the first young man to come to these conclusions, or at least wish them to be true. On his return to philadelphia, quaker dominated area, he suddenly recants of his sort of hedonistic guide to virtue. He comes to something that is closer to the greater good or the general good, the idea that actions are not right or wrong based on general ideas, but because they are good for the community. Something honorable must serve the Community Must serve the , general good. He influences the Broader Community in different ways. He forms the jintao, which is a joint meeting where they talk about morality, virtue, and politics. He forms the Library Company of philadelphia, which is still in existence. To allow people who cannot afford to purchase books to have access. He found spore Richard Stallman act, where he has his witty oneliners. And the pennsylvania gazette, where he publishes pieces on morality and he also publishes many of the early works that to deal with it, including novels. Like pamela. He lists them as books of ethics. This is one of the first mentions of the term ethics, something other than related to aristotle. Well, he also comes up with his 13 names of virtue. One of them got cut off. The last one is humility, something you could argue and franklin never had in his life. He comes out with this end he has a specific plan. Literally create a spreadsheet. He walks around with a notebook with columns. He marks off which of these he excels in every day, and one and he puts a mark if he doesnt. But it gets better. You can only do it one at a time. Man is only human. You have to go down the list, you will notice chastity is number 12. Even when we get there, his loose interpretation, chastity allows for affairs and premarital sex, as long as no one finds out, therefore no one can be hurt. These are coming from his audio biographies. They do not become public until it is published in the 1790s. This is what is he is this is what he is doing in his life. He comes to other conclusions, that selfdenial is not the essence of virtue. This is going against a self flagellating christian culture. You can be wealthy, you can enjoy life. It is nothing sinful. I chopped off he said, stop putting yourself on the cross, anyone not practicing this idea of selfdenial is a lunatic. Im sorry that got cut off. Imagine it was good. Literally, insane. He also wants to form what is called a knighted party of a united party of virtue. Literally he imagines a world in , which men of Different Countries get together, men of morals based on virtue, and they run this sort of wider World Community based on this concept of the general good. We are still waiting. He found sleek college of he founds a college of philadelphia. Which is based on the concept of honor and reputation, depend on the morals of the youth. The ideas that the college has to instruct the students and how the students behave. And it reflects back on the college. Similar to his idea of a sending honor which he does ascending honor. This is the ben franklin we think of. The whole kite thing. This is how we pictured right when he retires from being that is what he actually looked like. Franklin became a gentleman when he retired, because he no longer had to work with his head. He lived like one. And he acted like one. And he dressed like one. Why . His learning had helped him advance in the world. It went to his head. Take the line from the spectator to heart and he says, titles and honors are the rewards of virtue. Had he not been virtuous, he has a notebook that says so. Therefore, he is entitled to the honors. Colonel of the militia. Apparently, this is a procession that is reserved only for the princes of the royal blood. For a man who just became a gentleman. Franklin is going to claim he is ignorant of this, but even in his audio biography his autobiography, you can sense the smirk. The frenchindian war ends, we get taxation without representation. Franklin at this point has made his way in the empire. He is a firm friend of king george as any man. Stand back, no taxation without representation. Franklin actually considers the stanback could only hurt themselves without by hurting the colonists. He is trying to heal this divide. But he does say that in regards to boycotts and things of this sort, he would rather surrender his own dead. He would other lose money because of because they are debts of honor. Franklin comes late to the idea of being a patriot. Others but, what it draws him into this idea of being a patriot is in the late 1760s, two men, governor Thomas Hutchinson and Andrew Oliver preside over boston during a period of taxation of various bills that were seen as oppressive. Franklin is trying to heal the nation. Hell the colonies heal the colonies in britain. How does he get them . He says honorably, use your imagination. He is going to send them back to massachusetts and tell people to only show a privately. The atoms have it published and it ends up being debated on the floor of the local government. Franklin is not put out by this. He knows that he is using these two men as scapegoats. Use the words as, keep these letters secret and suppression of liberty. There is many positive procolonial things and here. These two men become the scapegoat. Franklin did that on purpose. He is going to say right here, if they are good men, that they will sacrifice their reputation to return to the mother country to the colonies. Those in england do not see it that way. The plan works in america. He is called before the privy council. Unfortunately, he shows up before the privy council at the same time as they received news of the boston tea party. The British Government is very unhappy. He is basically berated, humiliated for an hour in front of a public audience. He is called dishonorable. He is stripped of his positions in america. Postmaster. He loses his way to advance. Honor and virtue have failed him in the british world. Or at least, his concept. Moving on, meanwhile, first Continental Congress, they are going to come to this conclusion. The colonists are viewing themselves as bound in honor. Honor that john adams is going to say is becoming more and more alike between north and south. The war breaks out. Franklin was not there. But he is present at the discussions of the declaration of independence. Now, it is not just franklin. There are other thinkers as well. Montesquieu, mattel, they are all viewing british behavior as being dishonorable. Because the king is dishonorable, he has broken his balance. For there is no problem of separating. What had initially been about the british parliament, and segued to the king, the tricky part was how do you break an oath to the king . The idea was that the king was no longer honorable. The john adams quote, the idea it is true that some of our southern brother have not and i be same ideas to politeness but we have, but i have the pleasure to observe everyday that we learn to think and feel alike more and more. How there is a separation between honor and virtue, one more religious, they start to come together. Honor becomes a word that can be used interchangeably for how the wars should be fought. How they need to act. Its something a secular religion but they learned how to all understand. Meanwhile, they pledged their sacred honor. Franklin goes to france, where he is the toast of paris, and also the center of fashion for wearing a fur hat. He will be so popular and so prominent and so well loved among the ladies of versailles, that king louis is going to commissioner commission a chamber pot with his likeness at the bottom. He is going to be responsible for the alliance of 1778, which is going to bring the french enter the American Revolution by turning a colonial war into a fundamentally into a fundamental world war. Afterwards, peace, that was a short war. There we are at the signing of the treaty of paris in 1783 in which franklin is crucial. He gives one of his little witty franklin lies. John adams is a little perturbed, he is always perturbed by franklin. While they are both in france, he continuously complains to congress that franklin should be fired because he is not there working for america, he is there employing scribblers to trumpet his own fame. John adams where do we get to ascending honor . The war ends. There is a little matter of what to do with the Continental Army . In revolutions, in wars, usually, Standing Army is not a good thing. In the british mindsets, british standing armies is a sign of oppression. They think back to julius caesar. Angloamericans are convinced they are the heirs to ancient rome. They knew the end of the war there was a possible attempted coup against congress by the Continental Army that washington manages to dissolve. Washington, in 1783, resigned his commission. It literally giving power back to the civilian government, maintaining the billion order civilian order. First time it has really happened this way. But because of the new berger affair, because military officers felt they were not getting paid, they were afraid of maintaining their position. They created ancestral group called the society of the cincinnati. It still exists today. You had to be an officer, not a soldier, of the Continental Army or french army, and you can only get in afterwards if you are the firstborn blood male descendent. Does that sound like anything . Franklin thought so. He called them in order of hereditary knights. The cincinnati denies this. They say, no, we are for fraternity, for maintaining national honor. Honor against honor. This is where franklin returns to his older concept, to his daughter. Hes going to say, the order of credit of hereditary knights, the idea that you could have this institution. They can exist, they can receive honor and merit, but those men only, not their children, not their grandchildren. Four honor is in its nature, a personal thing. The idea that when you think of reputation, that is part of honor. That is a personal thing. Franklin does not deny this. He says it has to be harnessed and used for the greater good. That is why we get honored is does not descend but ascend. What does he mean . Ascending is something higher. He views it as credit to parents, teachers, he also views it as something lost year. The sending of the earth de scending of the earth. Acsending any turn belief system. He goes on and says, this is actually provable. He is going to say that if you look in the descendents, those who gain the honor, the position of their parents, all they are going to become is develop meaningless, servility, and wretchedness. The idea that they will not inherit these traits. We will stick on this one. He actually says he built it in part on ancient chinese philosophy. But he makes it very much applicable to america. Particularly in regards to the cincinnati. He says it is mathematically provable. What he does is, he imagines if a descendent is half of that initial person, he follows it through nine generations and he says by that point, a person will be a 512ths of that original member. It is over 1000 people to make one knight. That implies all the wives have been virtuous. Where do these ideas get put into play . Franklin is constantly influencing the world around him. And a lot of it comes from the publication of his autobiography. He picks it up again in 1784. The exact moment he is writing of a ascending honor. He is starting to reconceptualize his life. He is thinking about ideas he wants to pass on, like in Poor Richards on the neck or the pennsylvania gazette, he has always tried to influence others. The idea of getting tradesmen of the common man a chance to excel. Another interesting fact about ascending honor, republican womanhood, the idea of republican womanhood that women exist in this new world as women of honor to help raise the new generation to be good republicans. Not to get too historiographical, it is often based on adam smith, william arvidson, who frankly knew and wanted. Franklin, you will recalls, says honor is due to the parents. They raise children who are worthy and will contribute to the state. Just the same as this idea of republican motherhood, raising good to dozens. Franklin, in his definition, who is due honor, never differentiates between men or women. He uses them both. As intertwined. This is something that is allowing more people to contribute to society. Literally doing three things. He is making moving on or from birth, linking it to merit, he is then tying honor to the good of the state or the good of the society. He is then making it accessible to different genders. All in. A lot of this is revealed through his autobiography. Your account of yourself will show you are are ashamed of no origin, a thing the more important as you prove how little necessary all origin is to happiness, virtue, or greatness. The idea that any person can build themselves up in advance a being immoral, being a moral, ethical person. Franklin will die before the book was released. The proverbs of solomon are a good cable of ethics. Though inferior to the maxims of dr. Franklin. Franklin had fundamentally changed the idea of merit, the idea of birth status, the idea of what behaving ethically was. They were seized by the nation through his writing, through his work with the college of philadelphia, and it became institutionalized and spread throughout the country and throughout the world. [applause] we have plenty of times time for questions. I have been given ground rules by cspan which is raise your hand and then they have to come mic, and the boom dont Start Talking until the guy with the mic is there. Or else the tv audience will not be able to hear you. We also have tried to let the student asked the first question. I see lots of students out there graduate and otherwise. , if someone wants to start, raise your hand. Aaron . Student thank you very much for your talk. I really enjoyed it. I have a question on how franklin how you believe franklin intended to spread this concept of honor . In his autobiography, he says he is a ds. Is he looking to organize religion to help the Little People actually believe in this or what . Prof. Smith that is a great question. Youre right to point out that he considers himself a dias. I am going to go with you that he is a deist. There is a recent book by thomas kidd that may argue with me and i will go with you and say he is a deist. He is he does not like the dogma of traditional religion. He has run out of boston for a combination of things. Atheism and vanity, both of which in that context may have been true. He says he is not focusing on individual religion. He is focused on religion for introducing morality. That is what he is focused on. What he is doing is creating a system of morals divorced from any dogma. Belief in god is pretty universal during this period. But the idea of, if you are acting in the best interest of those around you, you will be behaving morally. I think what we see during this period, they are almost secularizing. It is what we see from a lot of founders. Particularly when we get to the formation of the nation. Through honor, which is moral ethical concept that can be removed from religion. I dont think he is necessarily saying the make shall inherit the earth. I think he is saying you can make your own way through this understanding. Student thanks again, craig. I had a question about advancement. All the honor is going to help people advance. But this idea of what advancement is, in my right and not . Prof. Smith the idea is, and i think how it is being understood is involvement and inclusion in society. Who is recognized as being a man of honor or a woman of honor . The idea being that you are accepted, you are viewed as a certain status. It affords you political power in many respects. At least, a say in your wider community. Not to get too much into the gentleman versus, at her, but the idea is that if a person behaves well, in whatever thered station, their station, they are entitled to be viewed as a honorable person. This will be recognized. Franklin is more open on the birth status per washington still read still retains social hierarchy. You can move, you can be steamed, but you may not necessarily jump. Franklin is viewing it through learning, through behaving popular, through moral choices, you can make your way in the world. This is what he attributes to his life. All those definitions, honor can be vague. By this point, he is really referencing something about ethical behavior. And about, if you serve the greater good, you serve the nation, you are behaving well. That is my understanding. Student i thought it was interesting how you talked about his evolving concept of honor. It seems to take shape in his own benefit. He is taking honor. By the end, it encompasses men and women. What about slaves . Does it encompass africanamericans at all . Do africanamericans have the ability to ascend . Smith a very good question. Chapter six. I am going to give you the quick answer. Franklin does start to apply this to slavery. The earlier on in his life, he is a little silent on the subject. He does speak of applying certain proper moral ideals to the enslaved. The first time he references is in the 19th in the 17 70s. Dont quote me on that. Later in life, he becomes a prominent member of the pennsylvania abolitionist society. Through that idea of morality, serves the greater good. He brings his idea of ethics and honor and virtue, and he applies it to abolitionists. He dies shortly thereafter. He does not become as prominent of a figure as, lets say he lives another 20 years. But he does make that connection. Does he do it later . Yes. Was it something that was central prior to the war . No. He is one of the more prominent founders to take a very active stand. I say yes, he does. Obviously there is an inherent complication. Student i wanted to pick up on that question. One of the things that was interesting about this is how you can map this new idea of honor on to the material politics and the high politics of the revolutionary break. I wonder if you are suggesting that his central to the evolution of this new idea, or if that is an implication of it . What, for instance, does the story look like if you pace the economic and social foundation of the story . Isnt this new idea of honor really derivative of patterns of landholding, the emergence of the new market, the economy, the relative weakness in the United States as a Central Institution and so forth . The political story is an outgrowth of that social and economic foundation. Smith i mentioned this very point of my introduction because i have been asked this question many times. It is a fair point. It is the complete counter to what i am saying. The idea that there is tangible interests here. This is what i have done to my students. I literally had a student, two separate ones, raise their hands while i was talking and say honor is a stupid notion. I was like, i grade your papers, right. [laughter] i literally have a line about this exact topic. Please forgive me, this is how i have done this. I am picking on you because you asked the question. You would do anything for money . Student no. Not anything. Professor smith no . You just answer the question. [laughter] im not saying there on out economic motivations. I am not arguing that. Lets say there is matter of money. What i am saying is that there are other issues at play. The idea that there is something else. How i look at this, i am basically saying there is a change, and ethical change it the revolution breaks out. They are starting to speak in much the same way. I point to the first Continental Congress. First Continental Congress is the first time many of these founding generations actually meet in person. But, within a few a short amount of time, they are pledging their sacred honor. That can be suggestive of a shared belief system. This does not mean there are not economics. There are not other factors. Im just suggesting that this ethical component has not been looked at. I think it would give a fuller picture of the revolution. I am not arguing with anyone. I am saying they have done a great job in the field may have looked at, but no one has looked at it like this before. Student i really enjoyed the talk. Im wondering if you can link more clearly for me im a political scientist. A lot of this is fuzzy for me. The concept of honor to civic virtue. Gordon would points out no other word than liberty is used more. There is a crisis of virtue in the immediate postconstitutional era. Patrick henry describes the american policy as daters lasik Kerry Washington says men of virtue are but a drop in the ocean. Our theory of politics requires virtue. Somebody has to democratize virtue and honor just as a political process. Dressed with national survival. Is that speaking to franklin at all . Professor smith great point. Gordon wood was on my original dissertation committee. [laughter] there is a democratization of the concept. I think we start to see that through franklin. Arguing against the hereditary aspects, the officer class. You are fundamentally right. There is democratization. You see this in arguments of definition. Farmers viewing themselves as the true heirs of the proposal of the revolution. They are fighting for the true honor against oppressive government. Where we start to see what you are talking about, the breakdown and a lack of virtue, comes a little bit later. It starts bubbling up there is a brief period during the war. 1787 it starts being talked about. There is a clash between civilians and the military, it concludes the other has lost all virtue. What actually snaps the mount is the treason, which has everyone looking at each other and saying no, we are of like mind. It starts with the creation of political parties, in my finding. French revolution era, constitutional era, when you start having federalist and antifederalists each claiming to maintain national honor, each policy and motivation are for the benefit of national honor. Each claims the other is lost. This political maneuvering is where we get this. What i see from franklin and other founders as well is the idea that it is not necessarily class base. That everyone can perform the service for the nation. I like to use that washington issued, i should like to think that any post in the benefit of the nation is a post of honor. I think that is what is going on. Are the do the terms become politicized . Absolutely. But at the same time, you will see that aaron burrs, the men of virtue by some political parties, and also called the manna to be trusted by others. You are absolutely right. Student that was a great talk. I really enjoyed it. I look forward to the book. You kind of ended on Benjamin Franklin as sort of this great note about he has changed what it meant to have honor, the definition of how it was understood in the 18th century. I am curious if you take it forward into the 19th century, this idea, how does what i am thinking of is honor and culture in the 19th century. It seems to be a very gendered idea of what honor is. Kind of defending your masculinity. You are explicit by saying franklin has this genderless notion or that it is open to both men and women. How do you get from there to honor and culture in the 19th century . ,rofessor smith great question chapter seven. You are absolutely right. The prominent notion of what honor is is the idea of the dual. Usually in the antebellum south. This is the idea and perception. I am not going to book drop on you because you probably do not want to. I think thats absolutely correct. This more violent, public, more masculine notion of honor couple 100 comes into being in the 19th century. But, it is not the founding generation, per se. It is the next generation. Their sons, their grandsons, who have not had this glorious cause to fight for. They do not have a way to advance themselves as if the war had done it. They have to have another way to prove themselves. You start to see this in the early 19th century. They were of 1812. The idea of revolutionary war veterans who are constantly mocking these children who do not understand the older concepts. We see it in the chesapeake affair, the idea that honor is more personal. I have to defend myself, rather than what the good of the nation or the ship, or whatever it may be. One of my favorite stories is this happens they had a Grammar School in the early 19th century. For anyone who has been a teacher, this may resonate with you. The one School Professor is in for the room, back turned to one Student Makes a noise. He loses it. He goes around and calls another teacher and they demand an apology and a mission from one of the students. None of them do it. He says in front of the whole class, he says your honor is that of a band of themes. The next day, two of his students beaten with an umbrella. They send a letter home to his father. The father probably cheers his children in defending their own personal honor. It does change. Im going to go two years later, like adams and jefferson. They come to this concept of natural aristocracy. Their natural aristocrat is someone who is taught in this ethical behavior, and when the university of virginia, he is complaining that the students no longer think the same way. It does change. I do not want to bore you. Student do you have a chapter on the founding generation who were in the military . They clearly knew what dueling was. Not with umbrellas. Hamilton, monroe. Professor smith you are absolutely right. You do have this spike when they start interacting very much with english and french officers. Certainly afterwards. The issue is, if you are looking at the numbers before 1800, i there are 75 duels known total, in the history of america. After 1800, 600, 700. That is only reported. You are right. There are certain officers that engage in it. Most are speaking ill of it. The most famous hamilton bird will becomes a moment of antidueling. You even have avid dualist repenting. Hamilton is cast as the idea of suicide, but also of burrs killing him. The idea that they both sacrificed, they both prove it prevented the nation from what could have come from these men. Youre absolutely right. There are some older ideas. There are some about maintaining personal courage. Not necessarily the norm. Although it is very visible. I completely concede that. We have time for one more. Student [indiscernible] professor smith we have discussed the concept of this deism. He has already made this split. He is looking more in a secular means. Madison even when proposing separation of church and state, he is thinking in the idea of not dismissing the idea of a divine power with the presence of god. But it is indicative of this split where the idea is you can behave ethically. You can behave properly in the service of the nation. In the service to your community, of your neighbors, without having to be out of a particular religion. I think it is in line with that. I think that it is indicative of this more secularized ethics that transpires prior to the war that allows this to happen. That is my thinking. One more . If not, lets thank craig for coming. [applause] thanks, everyone for coming. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] youre watching American History tv, 48 hours of programming every weekend on season 10 three. 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