John C. Pinheiro (PhD, University of Tennessee) is professor of history and the founding director of Catholic Studies at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he also cofounded the Semester-in-Rome. Prior to joining the Aquinas faculty in 2004 he was assistant editor on the Presidential Series of the Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia. Dr. Pinheiro also is the consulting editor on James K. Polk for the American President Resource at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs. He is the author of books and articles on the early American...
Overview
In this lecture, Dr. John Pinhiero speaks on “Virtue and Liberty in the American Founding.” Lord Acton said, “Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.” Dr. Pinheiro says Lord Acton’s thought is keeping in the tradition of Augustine, who stressed the freedom to incorporate morality in our decisions. He discusses the political philosophy of the American Founders: “In the eighteenth century most every founder believed liberty was a gift from God. They believed we possess liberty simply by being human." He also talks about the American founders' views on the French Revolution and the thinking of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.
