Intellectual and Cultural History of Colonial America

Catalog description

This course surveys the intellectual and cultural history of the British colonial origins of the United States up to 1763. We'll study the ideas, philosophies, religious beliefs, art, literature, popular culture, entertainment, artifacts, and everyday habits of Americans who lived during this early period. Several interrelated themes structure this course: the changing relationship between "high" and "low" culture; the evolution of thinking about representative democracy and government; the recurrent national quest for distinctly "American" forms of intellectual and cultural expression; and the role of religion, schools, and science in shaping American thought.