In 1932, Professor Joseph Quincy Adams, Jr. delivered a speech at the newly opened Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. As both a descendant of a Founding Father and a passionate Shakespeare scholar, Adams sought to articulate what Shakespeare meant to the
American imagination. He pointed out that, for Americans, Shakespeare had become “the supreme thinker, artist, poet…the chief object of [American] study and veneration.” America’s admiration for the Bard can be traced to its infancy, where we find evidence of Shakespeare’s perspective on leadership and power hidden in the founding documents. The writers of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights were shaped not only by the Enlightenment thinkers of their era, but also by the great literature that informed their revolutionary ideas. Despite having lived under a monarchy, Shakespeare’s insight into the consequences of unchecked power provided ample wisdom for the Founders as they molded what would become the American Constitution. At a moment when our democracy again feels fragile, we too can turn to Shakespeare to understand how his works helped our Founders attempt to prevent Americans from ever again living under the rule of a king.
Shakespeare’s Influence on the American Ideal
In Shakespeare in a Divided America, James Shapiro tracks the evolution of America’s relationship with the Bard as a tool for political persuasion. Shapiro highlights Shakespeare’s role at the birth of American democracy, writing, “Shakespeare’s contentious histories offered the Founding Fathers, all too aware of the vulnerabilities of the government they had created, a road map for where the young republic might be heading.” A 2016 Folger article describes how Shakespeare influenced some of the Revolution’s key players—most notably, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. “When a friend asked him to recommend books to buy,” the article states, “Jefferson encouraged him to include some works of fiction, like Shakespeare’s plays, as a guide to virtue, arguing that ‘a lively and lasting sense of filial duty is more effectually impressed on the mind of a son or daughter by reading King Lear, than by all the dry volumes of ethics, and divinity that were ever written.’”
Jefferson even traveled with fellow Bard enthusiast John Adams to Shakespeare’s birthplace in 1786, where Jefferson is said to have kissed the ground upon arrival. Adams also expressed deep admiration for Shakespeare, once describing him as a “great teacher of morality and politics.” Adams sought lessons in the plays’ depictions of historical figures such as Julius Caesar and Henry V, as well as in portraits of leaders blinded by ambition and paranoia, such as Macbeth. “Let me search for the clue which led great Shakespeare into the labyrinth of human nature,” Adams wrote. “Let me examine how men think.” In addition to a general curiosity about human nature, Adams spoke directly to the value of Shakespeare as a conversation partner in the creation of government, writing, “[Those who read these plays] ‘with a view to…the treachery, perfidy, treason, murder, cruelty, sedition, and rebellions of rival and unbalanced factions would find one of the most instructive examples for the perusal of this country.’” James Shapiro notes, “A prescient Adams even reworked a passage from Henry V to show how a foreign despot might collude in putting a more pliable leader in the White House.”
Shakespeare’s Take on Power and Leadership
A closer look at Shakespeare's depiction of power helps us understand why his writing was so valuable to those crafting a constitution meant to safeguard future generations against authoritarianism.
We learn from Julius Caesar that a paranoid and power-hungry ruler may prefer to surround himself with wealthy, contented advisers rather than deep thinkers who hunger for progress.
“Let me have men about me that are fat, sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous.” -Caesar
Julius Caesar
Act 1, Scene 2
In the same play, Brutus teaches us that those in power can easily lose sight of morality and compassion.
“Th’ abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power.”-Brutus
Julius Caesar
Act 2, Scene 1
From Macbeth, we gain insight into the mind of a man blinded by ambition and driven to the point of recklessness.
"I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself and falls on th’other."-Macbeth
Macbeth
Act 1, Scene 7
Shakespeare depicts rulers who fall into the trap of pursuing their own self-interest to the detriment of those they lead — a familiar storyline for the Founders as they sought liberation from the crushing taxation of the British crown. For more Shakespeare quotes on leadership and power that may have influenced the Founding Fathers, check out our other blog post.
Why it Matters
It is certainly ironic that the Founders looked to a writer who wrote prolifically about kings while building a democracy designed to reject 
monarchy. But while Shakespeare never directly argued against kingship, he was sharply critical of unchecked power and interested in mapping out the road to tyranny. In Tyrant, Stephen Greenblatt argues that Shakespeare sought to explore these questions through his plays. Greenblatt imagines Shakespeare asking, “Why do otherwise proud and self-respecting people submit to the sheer effrontery of the tyrant, his sense that he can get away with saying and doing anything he likes, his spectacular indecency?” The Founding Fathers grappled with the same dilemmas as they crafted a government of checks and balances—one meant to prevent any single person or group from accumulating too much power.
The link between Shakespeare and the Founders isn’t just a historical curiosity—it’s a reminder. Literature shaped their moral imagination, and it can still shape ours. In an age when democracy again feels vulnerable, returning to writers like Shakespeare can help us better understand power, resist authoritarianism, and recommit to the values that sustain a free and just society.
