By Adolph Caso

Beccarias little book, On Crimes and Punishments, was so influential that many nations of Europe changed parts of their constitutions while the author was still alive. In America of the revolutionary period, the little book was more influential than any other single book, its spirit incorporated in documents such as the Declarations of Cause and of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. John Adams quoted from it as early as 1768; later, the same Adams quotes Beccaria in both English and in Italian. Jefferson made extensive usage of the book, as did many other prominent Americans of this period. It may be a surprise to many students and historians alike that Beccaria’s little book was published in America long before any book of men such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu, to name just a few.

Boston Branden Press Publishers, 1975, 279p.

By Joy Elmer Morgan

To be a good father, mother, brother, sister, or friend; To be a dependable, faithful, and skilled worker in home, school, field, factory, or office; To be an intelligent, honest, useful, and loyal citizen, with faith in God and love of fellowman; To recognize the brotherhood of man and to five by the Golden Rule— These are the aspirations that have brought happiness and achievement to the America we all love. These are the aspirations that must help us find our way to new glory and grace in the midst of worldwide change. A great civilization must have its roots in the soil of the past and its branches reaching to the stars of the future. Otherwise it lacks the experience and motive necessary for noble achievement in the present. Has the nation lost its way? Let it return again to the faith of its youth. This faith is found at its best in the lives and writings of great leaders who have quickened and purified the national spirit.

National Council for the Social Studies, 1968, 417p.