Explore how the Declaration of Independence shaped the struggle for civil rights in America. This webinar examines how activists and movements challenged the nation to live up to its promise […]
HIST 620 O1A / POLSC 620 O1A: The Reform Tradition in America America has lived through three periods of sustained interest in reforming its political and social life, the first in the decades preceding the Civil War, the second in the decades preceding World War I and the third in the decade or two […]
HIST 643 O1C / POLSC 643 O1C: Inclusion and Exclusion Under the Constitution In the nearly 240 years since its drafting, the United States Constitution has been transformed, primarily (though […]
Congress began as a revolutionary body, gathering representatives from the colonies to protest British policy and eventually declaring independence from Great Britain. During the Revolution Congress served as the organ of government for the new United States, but dissatisfaction with their performance led to the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 and the redesign of Congress as […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
