Machiavellian lessons in America: Republican foundings, original principles and political empowerment / Kent Brudney -- Reflections on human nature: the Federalists and the Republican tradition / David Freeman -- Montesquieu and the ideological strain in Antifederalist thought / Abraham Kupersmith -- The fall of James Wilson's Democratic presidency / Susan Abrams Beck -- The founders, Woodrow Wilson and the public good / Dwight Kiel -- The public sphere, commercial society and The Federalist Papers / Michael T. Gibbons.