The Founders famously created a "Constitution against parties" and yet political parties emerged and organized during George Washington's administration. At the center of this partisan contest was Alexander Hamilton and […]
This seminar will examine Lincoln’s speeches and letters, as well as those of select contemporaries, on emancipation, civil war, and reconstruction. We will focus on Lincoln’s consistencies and inconsistencies on […]
In the wake of the Confederacy’s defeat, some white leaders of the South sought to modernize the region by promoting 1) sectional reconciliation, 2) a resolution to the region’s race […]
This seminar explores the presidential transition initiated by the assassination of President Kennedy and how President Johnson responded in his first year in office in terms of policy and executive […]
World War II brought about the formation of what Winston Churchill called the "Grand Alliance" of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain. But while this alliance proved […]
Wallace Stegner, “the dean of Western writers,” called Hoover Dam “one of the world’s wonders,” marveling how everything about it “is marked by the immense, smooth, efficient beauty that seems […]
The era of Reconstruction is among the most consequential—but also misunderstood—periods of all American history. This seminar introduces participants to the purpose and implications of Reconstruction. It devotes particular attention […]
The results of the Civil War clarified many fundamental issues regarding the nature of the American government and the enlightenment ideals that rooted its founding. Many new theories of government—some […]
This seminar considers some of the causes and consequences of the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. Among the topics it covers are the rise of militant Islam, […]
This workshop will examine primary documents to consider how American participation in World War I transformed American society. We will analyze debates over entering the war and expanding the postwar […]
