Who Influenced the Founders the Most?

("John Locke," Wikimedia Commons)

While there is no doubt that John Locke was one of the most influential writers of the Founding era, there is some deal of controversy about which authors and which texts had the greatest impact on the Framers of the Constitution. Indeed, Locke’s contributions were primarily influential in the pre- Revolutionary era when the Framers were seeking justification for their war against the crown. In pamphlets, books, and newspaper essays written during the 1760s, references to Locke accounted for more than 10 percent of all references to political or philosophical authors, a greater percentage than any other author.⁷ (Montesquieu is second at 8 percent, after which the percentages taper off significantly.) The frequency of references to Locke drops off very quickly though, falling to 7 percent in the 1770s and then just 1 percent in the 1780s.

So who was the most influential author on the Framers as they drafted and debated the Constitution in Philadelphia? By a wide margin, the most cited author of that period is Montesquieu who had much more to say about the practical arrangement of governments than Locke did. Montesquieu’s greatest contribution to the American Founders was undoubtedly his emphasis on the separation of powers. During the 1780s, references to Montesquieu accounted for 14 percent of all references to political authors or philosophers.⁸ However, it would be misleading to suggest that Locke or Montesquieu or any other author had an overwhelming amount of influence on the Framers. Indeed, a sampling of more than three thousand political writings from the United States between 1760 and 1805 included references to more than two hundred and thirty different authors⁹.

What is most striking, however, about the references the Framers and other politically active citizens made during that time period is the importance of religion. Fully 80 percent of the political pamphlets written in the 1770s and 1780s were written by ministers and when all references from the political writings of this time period are taken into account, a staggering 34 percent of references made are to the Bible. In fact, Deuteronomy by itself ranks as the most cited book during this era.¹⁰