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In Machiavelli’s advice book to Lorenzo de’ Medici, The Prince, he contrasted starkly with famous philosopher, Aristotle, and believed that principalities were aquirred and gave knowledge rather than just a list of old orders to follow. (1) He also believed in what he calls the hereditary principality where principality is purely devoted to the preservation of inheritance. (2) One of his most famous quotes from his book is that it was better to be widely feared than to be greatly loved because a loved ruler retains authority by obligation, whereas one that is feared rules by punishment. (3)

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Machiavelli has a very indirect and direct influence on the founding fathers of the United States. John Adams, in particular, was unique among the seven of them because he read and took Machiavelli’s ideas quite seriously. In Adam’s first volume of his great opu A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, he classified Machiavelli as a philosophic defender of mixed government.

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Machiavelli also felt that whether a leader was moral or not, they must pretend to the best of their abilities in order to maintain power. (4) Fortune and virtù were two important factors in life according to Machiavelli. He felt that “fortune was like a violent river that can flood and destroy the earth, but when it is quiet, leaders can use their free will to prepare for and conquer the rough river of fate” and therefore “an effective leader maximizes virtù and minimizes the role of fortune.” (5)

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This being said, Adams knew that there were two sides to Machiavelli, the restorer of ancient republican institutions and the teacher of evil. Adams took was he needed from Machiavelli and rejected the rest. Due to his overwhelming favoritism of republicanism, Franklin, Madison, and Jefferson all followed his views when they worried about the emerging aristocracy Hamilton was creating with the Federalist Party. Hamilton also learned from Machiavelli about the “importance of foreign policy for domestic policy”. Machiavelli also influenced the Declaration of Independence by stating that “once you rid society of bad people, then the society can function and have peace.”

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Work Cited:

https://thegreatthinkers.org/machiavelli/introduction/

https://www.history.com/topics/renaissance/machiavelli

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1408595?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory/chapter/machiavelli/