This team-taught graduate seminar focuses on the development of an indigenous political culture in the British North American colonies. It pays special attention to the role of religion in shaping the American experience and identity of ‘New World’ inhabitants, as well as to the development of representative political institutions and how these emerged through the confrontation between colonists and King and proprietors. This course was delivered online using synchronous video conferencing.
This team-taught graduate course examines religion as a factor in American history, with particular emphasis on the connection between religion and republicanism, and the role of religion in shaping American civic identity. Critical attention is paid to the effort at secularization in the late nineteenth-century, the response to this effort and the various ways both have affected American self-understanding and politics, as well as to the relationship between religion and dissent in American politics, especially in relation to the labor and civil rights movements.
This asynchronous online course was offered during a compressed-schedule winter term, The purpose of the course was to introduce students to the history of political ideas, organized around three major themes: the nature and ends of politics; the relationship between politics and economics; and the nature of citizenship. In order to create a sense of online community, students were asked to participate in a series of asynchronous VoiceThread discussion activities, draft regular reflective response posts on classroom blogs, as well as comment on the blogs of other students.
The purpose of this asynchronous online course was to introduce students to central principles of American political thought as articulated in the Declaration of Independence. The course utilized both textual and visual materials to explore these concepts, focusing especially the ways that the American people’s understanding and application of the ideas of 'equality' and 'liberty' have developed over time. Major themes of the course included: the nature of republican citizenship; the proper duties and limits of government; the role of religion in American dissent and civic identity; and the concept of difference in American politics.