American Thought and Culture to 1865

Undergraduate

This course examines major ideas, figures, and movements from the establishment of the colonies of British America to the nation’s fragmentation in the Civil War. There is an emphasis upon Puritanism, Enlightenment, and Romanticism as dominant patterns of thought. The course also explores antebellum reform as a case study. Topics to be considered include the migration of ideas from Europe and their subsequent modification in America; the conflict between ideals and actualities in social, political, and cultural life; and the conceptual significance of equality and difference in the construction of American subjectivities. Open to all classes.