America's Founding Ideas ((4 Credits))

Catalog description

The founding of the United States of America is one of the defining events of world history, and the political ideas of the founding generation continue to be invoked all manner of political debate. But questions about the founding generation remain: How did the American founding generation understand terms like 'liberty,' 'democracy,' and 'freedom'? How did diverse individuals and communities interpret the ideas associated with the American founding? What were the intellectual and historical contexts that made the founding possible? Students in this course will read primary and secondary texts, and apply contemporary and historical evidence, to gain a fuller appreciation of the complexity of the founding period and U.S.’s founding ideas in order to better understand some of today’s political contests, challenges, and ideas.