Gather with a small group of teachers from around the country for three days immersed in discussion and exploration of a single topic in American history. Multi-Day Seminars are a free opportunity for teachers hosted near an important historical site. Teachers will prepare ahead of time for seminars by reading selected historical documents in the provided course packet. Once the seminar begins, the discussion leader guides a peer-to-peer, text-based conversation among all participants. Meals, materials, double-occupancy rooms, and historical site visits are 100% covered by Teaching American History. At the end of each course, every teacher receives a letter of participation for fifteen contact hours of continuing education and a stipend to cover travel costs.

In 1811, John Quincy Adams wrote, “The whole Continent of North-America appears to be destined by Divine Providence to be peopled by one Nation—speaking one language—professing one general System of religious and political principles and accustomed to one general tenor of social usages and customs.” Adams voiced the age’s prevailing spirit of Manifest Destiny, which regarded the United States as God’s chosen land to demonstrate democratic self-government amid a fallen world of oppressive monarchies and privileged nobilities.  But Manifest Destiny possessed a dark underside, one that justified violent continental domination, international conquest, and human enslavement. This seminar considers how the exceptionalist concept of Manifest Destiny at once explains the American national character, fueled the sectional crisis, and anticipated civil war.

During a special session on visual literacy at the Birmingham Museum of Art, teachers will engage in a critical thinking exercise designed to model the way in which works of art can be integrated with primary source documents to stimulate interest and dialogue in the classroom.
Co Sponsored by The Warner Foundation.

Please note: The Multi Day Application period is April 9-30, 2024