Constellations of Character: The Moral Vocabulary of America’s Founders

This research note analyzes over 85,000 documents from the National Archives Founders Online database to study the significance of virtue in the writings of seven prominent founders: Jefferson, Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Jay, Adams, and Franklin. Using artificial intelligence and natural language processing, we identify nearly every virtue invoked in the database to map the rich constellations of character that appear throughout founding-era writings. This analysis offers three contributions. First, we show that the founders consistently employ a rich and sustained vocabulary of virtue across both public and private writings. Second, we demonstrate that specific virtues (e.g., respect, justice, prudence, and hope) appear far more frequently than generalized appeals to “virtue.” Third, we identify the top 25 most frequently cited virtues for each founder, revealing a diverse array of character qualities highlighted throughout their thought. Together, these findings provide a new empirical foundation for interpreting the moral vocabulary of the American founding.