Class Notes Fall 2026
August 18th-20th: Introduction
August 25th-27th: Rhetoric, the Republic, and Virtue
September 1st-3rd: de Crèvecoeur’s “What is an American?” (1782)
The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)
September 8th-10th: Abigail Adams and John Adams
September 15th-17th: Starting the Republic, attempt #1
September 22nd-24th: Federalist Papers #1, #10, #51, & #78
September 29th-October 1st: The U.S. Constitution (1789) and Bill of Rights
October 6th-8th: Key Amendments
October 15th: Alexis de Tocqueville, Alexis. “Chapter 9: On the Principal Causes Tending to Maintain a Democratic Republic” (1835)
October 20th-22nd: Revolutions, Civil War, Stability
October 27th-29th: Lincoln’s Evolution and the Gilded Age
November 3rd-5th: Civil Rights
November 10th-12th: Labor and Ideology
November 17th-19th: Dwight D. Eisenhower & Conservatism
November 20th: Ronald Reagan’s “Farewell Address”
December 2nd: Last Day of Class
December 8: No Class Meeting—Final Exam on Canvas