I suspect that many of us, when we have occasion to think about America’s founding, might have a kind of limited vision.
I become more intrigued every day by our spectacular history. But until recently, the extent of my awareness was limited to specific Revolutionary times & events. Seeing a larger picture brings about a cohesiveness for me, that allows an appreciation & a respect for other countries, cultures & times that I just plain didn’t have before…
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When I first began to be interested in America’s founding & Founders, my focus was initially on our first Commander-in-Chief, General & President George Washington. His background still gives me great pause. My respect for & gratitude to God, for how He worked to fashion & equip this man to lead into being the greatest country ever to exist, becomes ever more profound.) Those thirteen United States of America were my only focus. From there, I soon moved forward & then branched outwards, into related topics. But I never really ventured backwards too far beyond the Revolutionary past – except for George Washington’s & Thomas Jefferson’s!
Like arriving at a movie theater a half-hour late – you have to get your bearings & find out what happened before you arrived!
In actual historical knowledge covering centuries, that can take some doing…and some time…to catch up. I suspect I/we never really will – not on this earth, in this age and dimension. It will probably take eternity to catch the full vision of God’s intentions for America, woven into the awesome tapestry of all that exists, has existed, and will exist according to the heart, mind & works of Yahweh.
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So often, I have seen language like this: “The Preamble {to the Declaration of Independence}has often been cited as a great political and a great human statement…this represented the first time in history that these principles were being put into action, as the basis for founding a new government and a new nation.” This statement continues “…in one sudden thrust…a kind of freedom that before had been only a matter of philosophical discussion…” had become that hallowed goal to which our founders most solemnly committed their all. (Vincent Wilson, Jr., ed., The Book of Great American Documents)
My heart soars whenever I read such words!
But, as I learned more about the thinking of our Founding Fathers, I discovered that much of the structure and ideas underlying & leading to our form of government had come from ancient Greece and Rome, among other sources. Since then, it has surprised me to realize that much of what I had considered uniquely American ideals & practices had their origins elsewhere. It was, in fact, opposition to the eventual corruption of systems of liberty elsewhere in the world, that provided a written narrative that crossed the Atlantic & fueled the thought processes of the Americans, leading the way to our great war for independence.
To my even greater surprise, the very country from which we so radically broke – England – has been quoted as at one time being“…a uniquely favored people, the freest in the world.”(Stanley Elkins & Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism) The England I had known was ruled by the tyrant King George III, so when did this happen?! Not only had England once been a country with a markedly American-sounding governing body, but shades & tones of future colonial ideals and endeavors appeared in the 15th., 16th. and 17th. centuries as well.
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Renaissance Italy provided what came to be a rebirth in the colonies, in times preceding the American Revolution, a “revived perception of the collectivity of public life…which men might think about and be a part of…”and which life, especially political, included virtue. (Stanley Elkins & Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism)
I backtracked to what is today the city of Florence, searching out its medieval past, and found it to be quite interesting. “…Michelangelo created his famous statue of David to be located in front of the Palazzo della Signoria as guardian to the Florentine freedom.” (About Florence) By mid-15th century, in fact, the Florentine people considered themselves “the heirs to the Ancient Roman Republic, prepared to sacrifice for the cause of freedom and liberty.” Does not such a mindset
foreshadow language to be penned over two centuries later, by men who, for the cause of freedom & independence, pledged their own lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor?
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Archaeological findings point to an Etruscan village, settled around 200 BC, as being the beginnings of 
Florence. Interestingly enough, the ‘small town’ of Rome had been included in Etruscan territory as well, until about three centuries earlier; it broke away & in succeeding decades gained control of some of the surrounding settlements. Eventually, it moved against Etruria, which had become a very powerful league of kings, and prevailed. By the time Florence was established, Etruria had been under Roman rule for about 65 years. The tables had been turned, Rome was in charge & Florence dwelt under its dominion.
A more commonly accepted history is that Julius Caesar, in 59 BC, constructed a garrison, Florentia, on the Arno River, connecting Rome to northern Italy & what is now known as France. It is unclear as to whether the garrison was built on the site of the pre-existing settlement of Florence. Either way, Florence was birthed within Roman territory. And Rome sprang from, and was influenced by, Etruria & its ways, including its theocratic republics.
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I’m not finding much about Florence during the centuries between its Etruscan village days & the 1100’s AD. At one point, it became a part of a territory called the Marquisate of Tuscany, which was founded in
Tomb of Matilda of Tuscany
the 9th century AD. Mid-11th century, Matilda of Tuscany was given rulership over the Marquisate. Matilda was “one of the few medieval women to be remembered for her military accomplishments”, and “one of the most important figures of the Italian Middle Ages.” Florence may not have had much choice about existing within her powerful domain, but upon her death in 1115 AD, it resisted her successor, resulting in bloodshed & his death, and established itself as a free commune.
First mention of Florence as an official republic has been recorded as in 1138 AD. At that time, the city 
joined with several others in forming a league against Henry X, Margrave of Tuscany and duke of Bavaria. (It was feared that Henry, who had previously oppressed them as imperial legate, might be elected emperor.)
(Note: It’s interesting to me that, according to a study conducted through the University of Florence in 2004, about 15 old, aristocratic families (money & power?) settled in Florence during the 100 yr. period prior to Matilda’s death, after which the city came into its own as a recognized republic. I say that this influx of established families is ‘interesting’ because it is today considered by many that this world is run covertly by about 12 or 13 wealthy, elite families, such as the Rothschilds or Rockefellers, among others. Were similar agendas in place in Italy during the 12th century as well?)
“After the failure of the 1378-1382 popular regime and the disappearance of the guild regime, a small number of families, long present in positions of state power, are said to have stolen political power…” (An Invisible Princely Regime, Cairn.info)
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As a free commune, life in Florence was governed by a nine-member council called a signoria. Headed by a gonfaloniere, the council members & their leader were replaced every 2 months. The new members were chosen by lottery. “The lottery was often pre-determined, and the results were usually favourable to influential families.” (Strathern, Paul, Medici: “Godfathers of the Renaissance”)
Additionally, to even be considered for a seat on the signoria, one had to be a member of one of Florence’s main guilds: bankers, judges & merchants.
“Florence was simultaneously a political regime that favoured citizen self-government and a system largely controlled by a ruling political class” (Cairn.info)
(Sound a little…contrived? Slanted in favor of the more accomplished, wealthy, powerful? Remind you of any modern-day power structures?)
…nonetheless…”the ideals that emerged in Florence at the very end of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth centuries…having numerous roots in classical Greek and Roman philosophy, as well as in the political philosophy of the Middle Ages…would ultimately have important repercussions on the constitution of a specifically modern republican tradition.” {bold mine} (Civic Humanism and Republicanism, Cairn.info)
“It was…in Florence that the modern concept of the republic was created…”
“…deliberative and electoral techniques and the forms of voting that would become standard in modern politics“ were practiced in the Florentine republic. (Florentine Political History, Cairn.info)
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Some are familiar with the concept of America as a ‘redeemer nation.’ In his preface to Redeemer Nation: the Idea of America’s Millennial Role, author Ernest Tuveson introduces a quote from an historian-statesman of the turn of the 19th century. In it, he declares what he believes is the purpose & calling of the nation. The quote ends with these words: “And of all our race He has marked the American people as His chosen nation to finally lead in the redemption of the world.” (Albert J. Beveridge) Tuveson questions, ‘when & how did the conception of an American redemptive mission begin?’ He believes those moments arrived during the reversal of certain interpretations of history that were prevalent during the Middle Ages
and the Renaissance periods, interpretations concerning St. Augustine’s ‘city of God.’ It began to be thought that perhaps a life of citizenship & being active in the commonwealth might be more desirable, or at least comparable to, a contemplative life. “…what was happening to the earthly republic here & now, or what might happen & why; and how the actions of men, both immediately and over time, could bear on its fate…” (J.G.A Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition)
Near the end of the 15th century, Dominican friar, preacher/prophet & reformer Girolamo Savonarola, active in Renaissance Florence and her spiritual & civic life, worked zealously to restore the strict virtues
Girolamo Savonarola
of republican piety to the city. Savonarola denounced tyrants in government & corruption in the clergy. He sought to purge worldly, lewd excess from the city. If she would be penitent & turn to more Godly ways, he declared that Florence would become the “New Jerusalem, the world centre of Christianity…” (Under torture Savonarola eventually confessed to having invented his many prophecies and visions, using them as “a means of enhancing his worldly glory…and effecting his political will.” Yet such a ‘prophecy’, so similar to a coming American ‘redeemer nation’ belief, gives me pause. Do we see a precursor of the future here?)
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Researching this amazing city, I am almost stunned by the crushing constancy of powers opposing its freedom. Valiantly, the people of Florence resisted princely rule longer than any commune excepting Venice. Though remaining a republic for four centuries, the clashes & turmoil, both external as well as internal, never ceased. Coups, conspiracies & assassinations peppered the times. Kings, dukes, popes & emperors marched relentlessly across the stages of Florentine history, sometimes allies, sometimes adversaries. The marriage of secular & religious power, to achieve might, shocks me. Even worse, “…Cardinal Giovanni de’Medici captured Florence with Papal troops during the War of the League of Cambrai.” (Wikipedia) Papal troops? ‘Religious’ military? What was that supposed to be, force in the name of Jesus?
In the end, a similar act of papacy-fueled civil dictate, paired with a powerful family, shut down the Florentine republic forever. “In 1533, Alessandro de’Medici was created Duke of Florence by his uncle Pope Clement VII.” Alessandro’s successor was made Grand Duke of Tuscany thirty-six years later. The Medici ruled as grand dukes over Florence until their extinction in 1737.
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As an American living in the early 21st century, reaching back in time to learn a little of the rich & complicated histories that wove life together, centuries ago, in the days of an earlier republic, I can’t help but sense a kinship of sorts. Though the Florentine republic fell, she too, as did the thirteen American colonies in 1776, stood for freedom.
Managing freedom, where men are not angels, is no easy task. Florence’s struggle, I think, was Herculean. (As is ours in the United States of America even today.) The forces that seek to steal & abuse freedom, in her case, finally succeeded. Wealth, families in power, papal/’religious’ power…not a mix conducive to liberty.
It appears to me that we in the United States of America have inherited many good things from this once thriving city-state. It seems to me that God was working through them, for our future benefit, planting seeds of blueprints, clues, instructions for government. But in my readings concerning Florentine history, though I did find many mentions of popes, I saw no mentions of Jesus. Simple, New Covenant knowledge of the Savior.
Perhaps that was their fatal flaw?
Gibson in the stunning Revolutionary War movie ‘The Patriot’. At that time, if memory serves, I wasn’t able to find much information about Francis Marion, the real-life patriot on whom Gibson’s character was based.
