The Age of Jefferson

Catalog description

The Declaration of Independence articulates the fundamental principles on which the new American nation was founded. Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration's author, played a crucial role in the Revolution that destroyed the British Empire and in the creation of a new republican regime that he and his fellow founders hoped would initiate a "new order of the ages." Focusing on Jefferson's career and thought, this course will examine the momentous developments that defined Jefferson's Age, from the imperial crisis through his presidency. Jefferson's eloquent writings illuminate the history of resistance, revolution, and nation-making that led once-loyal subjects of King George Ill to claim an independent place among "the powers of the earth." Participants will explore challenges to establishing a viable union among colony-states with diverse and conflicting interests, perfecting and preserving that union under the new federal Constitution, and projecting American power across the continent. For Jefferson, the "Revolution of 1800" secured the vision of an expansive "empire of liberty" that inspired the Revolutionary generation. Displacing Indians and neutralizing European imperial rivals, the United States would also-tragically-promote development of the largest and most powerful slave society in the modern world.