Introduction
At the Hispanic School, we have promoted Project 1776; an ongoing research project marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America (1776–2026). This project explores the influence of Second Scholastic political thought—especially from the School of Salamanca—on the intellectual origins of American constitutionalism.
Various authors have highlighted that many principles we consider pillars of modern democracies today—such as human dignity, popular sovereignty, or the limitation of power—were formulated centuries earlier by Catholic theologians and jurists of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Project 1776 not only seeks to recover a forgotten intellectual genealogy but also to offer an alternative vision—Hispanic, humanist, and Catholic—of the birth of modern constitutionalism.
"THE MARCH OF GÁLVEZ" - AUGUSTO FERRER-DALMAU
This painting represents General Bernardo de Gálvez leading his troops through a swamp during the American Revolutionary War campaign. Carrying both a Spanish and an American flag, Gálvez on horseback guides his men as they advance with difficulty through water and vegetation. Soldiers of different races, including Native Americans, participate in the march, reflecting the diversity and determination of the army fighting for freedom.
Milestones of Thought
Iberian university network
Development of a systematic reflection on economics, law, and politics in universities such as Salamanca and Alcalá.
Francisco de Vitoria: Relectio de Indis
Establishes the natural equality of all men and formulates the law of nations, the basis of modern international law.
Domingo de Soto: just price
Argues that the just price is set by the common estimation of the market and not by authority.
Martín de Azpilcueta: monetary theory
Formulates an early quantitative theory of money: its value depends on its relative scarcity. His insights on inflation and monetary stability will reappear in the federalist debates.
Tomás de Mercado: trade and credit
Studies international trade and defends the moral legitimacy of mercantile activity, describing the market as a system of voluntary exchanges.
Juan de Mariana: De Rege
Argues that power resides in the people and is delegated to the ruler. His theses on consent for taxes and the right of resistance directly influenced John Locke.
The case against Mariana
Mariana states that monetary manipulation is a hidden tax and that taxation without representation is theft. Precedent for the slogan "No taxation without representation".
Robert Bellarmine: De Laicis
Systematizes that political authority resides originally in the community. His arguments were extensively cited by Robert Filmer in the controversy that Jefferson noted in his copy of "Patriarcha".
Francisco Suárez: Defensio Fidei
Systematizes that authority resides in the community ("populum consentientem"). His work was key in the English debates that shaped the British constitutional tradition inherited by the American Revolution.
Marchamont Nedham
In republican England, he defends that sovereignty resides in the people, integrating scholastic arguments that would be cited by John Adams when discussing the separation of powers.
Robert Filmer: Patriarcha
By attacking Bellarmine, Filmer introduces the doctrine of popular sovereignty into the Anglo-Saxon world. Jefferson owned and annotated a copy of this text.
John Locke: Two Treatises
Formulates the theory of fiduciary power and the right of resistance with notable parallels to Juan de Mariana, whose works Locke owned and recommended.
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
One of the first constitutional texts based on consent and the limitation of power, reflecting the European anti-absolutist tradition soaked in scholastic theses.
American reception
Jefferson and Adams sought out and owned Mariana's works, whose defense of limited power dialogued with Locke's thought in colonial political culture.
Declaration of Independence
The principle of natural rights and consent reflects Vitoria's doctrine on equality and Suárez's on authority delegated by the community.
Virginia Declaration of Rights
George Mason formulates popular sovereignty in terms that reproduce Suárez's doctrine. The critique of taxation without representation has 16th-century Salmantine roots.
US Constitution
The separation of powers and government subject to institutional limits reflect Suárez and Bellarmine's conception of delegated power oriented to the common good.
Bill of Rights
The protection of property and individual liberties relates to Vitoria's defense of natural rights and Mariana's on the inviolability of property.
Founding Fathers
Key figures of the American Revolution whose intellectual training and personal library reveal a significant connection with the scholastic tradition.
John Adams
Adams read and cited Juan de Mariana, especially De Rege et Regis Institutione (1599), integrating it into his constitutional reflection alongside the English republican tradition.
Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson showed a sustained interest in Hispanic thought, acquiring works by Juan de Mariana and Juan de Palafox. When drafting the Declaration of Independence, he formulated principles that dialogued with natural law.
James Madison
In The Federalist Papers, Madison develops representative government and the separation of powers, reproducing the scholastic thesis that power is originally communal.
Alexander Hamilton
Hamilton links monetary stability and public trust with political freedom, sharing Mariana's premise that currency manipulation is a disguised tax.
Reception and Rediscovery
Orestes Brownson
Organic Constitutionalism (1803–1876)
Argued that sovereignty belongs to the people as a moral community, specifically citing the Thomist and Suarean tradition.
John Courtney Murray
Religious Freedom (1960)
Interpreted the First Amendment in light of natural law, recognizing the heritage of Suárez and Bellarmine.
Heinrich A. Rommen
The Natural Law (1947)
Presented the School of Salamanca as the origin of modern constitutionalism in American manuals.
Carlos Stoetzer
Systematic Research (1986)
Documented the influence of Vitoria, Suárez, and Mariana on the intellectual formation of North American constitutionalism.
Project Axes
This project is organized around several operational and research axes:
Comparative studies between Hispanic American and United States emancipations.
Studies on the influence of the Hispanic tradition on the Founding Fathers of the United States.
Publications on the influence of the Hispanic tradition on the Anglo-American political tradition.
In-person and virtual events on the previous points.
"FOR SPAIN AND FOR THE KING" - AUGUSTO FERRER-DALMAU
The painting portrays a battle scene during the American Revolutionary War, highlighting Spanish participation.
Vision and Foundations
Project 1776 seeks to dust off the Hispanic tradition, unknown or forgotten by many, update it, and place it at the service of our societies and the West, as a complementary and necessary vision to the Anglo-American one.
"SISTER FLAGS" - AUGUSTO FERRER-DALMAU
This painting shows two majestic ships, one Spanish and one American, sailing together.
Bibliographic References
Gómez Rivas, L. (2026). ‘Orígenes escolásticos de la libertad individual en los EE. UU. en el aniversario de la Declaración de Independencia (1776-2026)’. Instituto Fe y Libertad
Graf, E.-C. (2019). ‘Escolásticos: Francisco Suárez, Juan de Mariana y las revoluciones en América. Bicentenario de la independencia 1810-30’. Credencial Historia, Bogotá, pp. 42-51
Gómez Rivas, L. (2017). ‘¿Conoció George Mason a los escolásticos españoles?’. Instituto Juan de Mariana
Gómez Rivas, L. (2021). ‘Escolástica e independencia: Las bibliotecas jesuitas al tiempo de la emancipación’.
Rager, J.C. (1925). ‘The Blessed Cardinal Bellarmine's Defense of Popular Government in the Sixteenth Century’. The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 10, No. 4
Stoetzer, C. (1981). ‘Las raíces escolásticas de la Revolución Americana’. Ponencia en las XV Jornadas de la Asociación Argentina de Estudios Americanos
Stoetzer, C. (1986). ‘The Scholastic Roots of the American Constitution’. Washington D.C.
Termes, R. (2000). ‘Francisco Suárez y The Fundamental Orders de Connecticut’. Cuadernos de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, 37 pp. 161-168
Termes, R. (2005). ‘La tradición hispana de libertad’. Conferencia en el Instituto Acton, Orlando
PARTICIPATE IN THE PROJECT
If you are a researcher, academic or wish to support this line of research for the 250th anniversary of the United States, contact us.