1 What Has Athens to do with Rome? Tocqueville and the New Republicanism 1 Alexander Jech Department of Philosphy University of Notre Dame Forthcoming in American Political Thought Prepublication draft; do not cite ȃȁWhat is man that thou art mindful of him?Ȃ … The whole political, social, and economic structure of any society is largely determined by its answer to this pressing question … whether man is a cog in the wheel of the state or whether he is a free creative being capable of facing responsibility.Ȅ 2 Martin Luther King, Jr. I. The New Republicanism: Freedom and Equality Recent philosophical discussions of liberty have been enriched and reinvigorated by the reappearance of ȃrepublicanȄ conceptions of freedom. Freedom so-understood consists not in the absence of interference, constraints, or coercion, but instead, according to exponents of the view such as Quentin Skinner and Philip Pettit, in the absence of domination. The republican tradition is rooted in a set of texts that elucidate and defend republican ideas and ideals (by authors such as Cicero, Polybius, Livy, the Machiavelli of The Discourses, Harrington, Milton, Sidney, etc.) as well as a series of historical regimes in which republicans ideals are to a partial but significant extent embodied (such as the Roman Republic, the Florentine and Venetian city- states, the Dutch republic, the English Commonwealth, the American Republic, and so on). 3 1 For helpful comments and improvements to this paper I owe gratitude to [removed for anonymity]. 2 Martin Luther King, Jr.DZ ȃWhat is Man?Ȅ, The Measure of a Man (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2001), 9. 3 See Philip Pettit, On the People’s Terms: A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 6Ȯ7.