THE FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: ( POLI SCI 160 , 209, 210 , or ILS 205 ) or graduate/professional standing Course Designation: Core GenEd - Humanities & Arts Breadth - Humanities Level - Intermediate L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Grad 50% - Counts toward 50% graduate coursework requirement Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Fall 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Examine the intellectual origins and evolution of American political thought. Audience: Undergraduate 2. Explore American political thought as seen through the lens of leading politicians, novelists and social critics from the Puritans to the Civil War. Audience: Undergraduate 3. Analyze the central tensions of American political thought from a contemporary perspective. Audience: Undergraduate 4. Assess the state of a body of scholarly literature related to course themes, identify gaps in that literature, and formulate an original research question in the context of those gaps. Audience: Graduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Examine the intellectual origins and evolution of American political thought. Audience: Undergraduate 2. Explore American political thought as seen through the lens of leading politicians, novelists and social critics from the Puritans to the Civil War. Audience: Undergraduate 3. Analyze the central tensions of American political thought from a contemporary perspective. Audience: Undergraduate 4. Assess the state of a body of scholarly literature related to course themes, identify gaps in that literature, and formulate an original research question in the context of those gaps. Audience: Graduate