The American Founding, 1763-1789

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course examines the founding of the United States from the global crisis of the British Empire following the Seven Years' War to the launching of the new national government in 1789. The architects of the American republic believed they were laying the foundations not only of a new political regime but also of a new world. As Thomas Paine's revolutionary pamphlet Common Sense asserted in 1776, American independence would "begin the world over again." The lectures consider the revolutionary origins of the United States in the long-term context of three centuries of world history commencing with Columbus' arrival in the Americas in 1492. Course readings consist of primary sources ranging from major works of Enlightenment social and historical theory to political pamphlets, newspaper opinion pieces, and parliamentary debates. This is a lecture course; the assignments consist of two take-home essay exams and a paper.