4 ms·
There's no evidence he read Machiavelli. His library of about 1200 titles has no Machiavelli. But, it would be tough to escape the concepts by association. Hami
by rrggrr 10y ago
There's no evidence he read Machiavelli. His library of about 1200 titles has no Machiavelli. But, it would be tough to escape the concepts by association. Hamilton for example did read Machiavelli.
- pvg 10y agoSure but this is a motto on the coat of arms. Fond as he was of the arms, making too much of the motto seems like wishful over-interpretation, to me. 'Washington, realpolitik-y pragmatist' is a perfectly sensible argument to make, I just don't think some verbiage on his carriage had much to do with it, one way or the other.
- rrggrr 10y agoImagine, "The ends justify the means", emblazoned on Air Force One now, or on Lincoln's Carriage during the Civil War, or in the 2016 Presidential election for that matter. Its rare realpolitik is openly acknowledged and endorsed in the United States. Its pretty significant.
- pvg 10y agoI'm not really seeing it. It's a motto on an old coat of arms. This is like saying 'imagine some random immaterial thing in 1775 being really important in 1861 or 2016'. I can imagine it but assigning some profound meaning or significance to it seems like a bit of a retcon.