This one-day seminar explores how 19th-century women utilized wit and satire to navigate three pivotal eras of American history: the challenges of frontier life and Western settlement, the political upheavals of the Civil War, and the social reforms of the Progressive Era.Participants will analyze how humorists like Marietta Holley and Mary Abigail Dodge used "sprightly" […]
There have been thousands of books and articles written about the Declaration of Independence, and its ringing words make an appearance in every American History textbook. Given all this commentary and interpretation, is it still possible to understand the Declaration as its authors understood it? In this seminar, we will discuss the primary sources that […]
This seminar will discuss readings that address such issues as political developments in North America and the British empire and the arguments for and against independence, culminating in the Declaration of Independence; the Revolutionary War as a military, social and cultural event in the development of the American nation and state; and the United States […]
In creating what James Madison referred to as a “compound republic,” the framers of the U.S. Constitution established a political system that was bound to generate collisions between state and federal governments. This seminar will analyze disputes about the extent of federal and state authority throughout American History, beginning with the Federalists and anti-Federalists ratification […]
What took place during the summer of 1787 is still considered extraordinary…but how did the delegates actually tackle and respond to the problems facing them to secure ‘the blessings of liberty’? Our study of these debates will attempt to understand the interests and principles that divided the members of the Convention and how they arrived […]
Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. both argued that the proper foundation for civic education is the belief that America has a moral essence derived from the principles of the Declaration of Independence, and that America’s history and purpose—its past, present, and future—is the story of our struggle to live up to those principles. […]
What was the extraordinary partnership between George Washington and Alexander Hamilton? A wealthy Virginia planter and a brash immigrant from the Caribbean helped to win the Revolutionary War and establish a “new order for the ages.” Indeed, no other founding collaboration was as important to achieving victory and nationhood as Washington and Hamilton’s. Working together, […]
There has been a complex and ongoing struggle for women’s equality in the United States. We will explore how women have challenged legal, social, and economic barriers across nearly four centuries, from the constraints of coverture laws in colonial America to more contemporary debates over reproductive rights and workplace equality. This program will be conducted […]
The global Seven Years’ War (known in America as the French and Indian War) caused Britain, France, and their allies to clash from 1754 to 1763. Although important in its own right, perhaps it is even more significant in that it reordered the world in ways that would prove consequential beyond anyone’s expectations. In colonial […]
Beginning with the upheavals of the 1960s, the United States saw a diverse set of groups pushing for social change. These included African Americans, Native Americans, women, and gays and lesbians. This seminar will focus on the legacy of the 1960s, the intersection of personal behavior with political movements and battles won and lost by […]
