Founding Fictions: Democracy and American Literature

How did early Americans conceptualize their new nation in distinction from Great Britain, and how did their foundational texts shape the evolution of American democracy? This course examines the literary, political, and legal fictions that structured the early republic, focusing on how concepts such as ''asylum,'' ''liberty,'' and ''the people'' informed governance and national identity. Through close readings of key documents--including the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and early immigration and naturalization laws--we will analyze how founding texts established the principles of democratic republicanism and the tensions embedded within them.