| |
May 20, 2026
|
|
|
|
|
HIST 1776Z - The American Civic Tradition- American Civic Literacy
This course examines the development of U.S. constitutional thought and civic practices from the colonial period through the post-World War II Civil Rights Movement. It traces the evolving understanding of liberty, equality, sovereignty, and political economy articulated during the debates over American independence, slavery and secession, Reconstruction and citizenship, gender relations, Gilded Age industrialization and Progressive Era reform, and the rights revolution of the 20th century. The course focuses on the foundational documents of the American Republic, together with the ideas and ideals that inspired them and continue to shape public discourse up to the present day.
Credit Hours: 3
Thematic Arches: General Education Code (students who entered prior to Fall 2021-22): 2HL
Repeat/Retake Information: May be retaken two times excluding withdrawals, but only last course taken counts.
Lecture/Lab Hours: 3.0 lecture
Eligible Grades: A-F,WP,WF,WN,FN,AU,I
Learning Outcomes: - Students will be able to employ historical methods and terminology to analyze foundational U.S. civic texts.
- Students will be able to analyze and interpret foundational U.S. civic texts as products of their specific political and intellectual context.
- Students will be able to describe the intellectual context that shaped the creation of major U.S. civic texts and identify how the authors drew on earlier ideas and traditions.
- Students will be able to define philosophical concepts, such as natural rights, liberty, and justice,as they appear in U.S. civic texts.
- Students will be able to evaluate how eighteenth-century moral and ethical arguments shaped debates over citizenship, governance, and public authority.
- Students will be able to explain on how U.S. leaders used narrative, persuasion, and symbolism to express political ideas.
- Students will be able to analyze how debates in intellectual history, such as republicanism, liberalism, and civil rights philosophy, inform interpretations of civic texts.
- Students will be able to evaluate shifts in political ideas over time and connect those changes to broader intellectual, cultural, and social developments.
Add to Portfolio (opens a new window)
|
|
