The Virtues Required of Citizens In a Free Society
At first it might seem strange to ask what virtues citizens need in a free society. If citizens should be free, should we be concerned that they possess particular virtues? Is it appropriate for government to be concerned about character formation in free society? For the Founders the question was not strange. They thought that preserving freedom through self-governing institutions required that citizens have certain virtues. However, they did not believe that government would be primarily responsible for inculcating those virtues. Government depends on these virtues.
In Federalist No. 55, James Madison says that while “there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust, so there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence.” America’s republican form of government “presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form” (James Madison, Federalist No. 55, 1788).