Leader
Professor of History
University of Nevada, Reno
National Humanities Center Fellow
About the Seminar
In the three decades after the American Revolution, the identity of the new nation remained far from settled. American writers and politicians asserted that the United States differed from Europe, but they disagreed about how. Did the American people possess a new national character? If they did, what was it, and on what was it based? What threats did the new nation face? What policies and practices would best ensure its survival? And how would a nation founded on the principle that “all men are created equal” address the contradictions of its own inequalities?Presentation PDF
Download the presentation PDF.Online Evaluation
Online evaluation for seminar participants.Technical Help
Visit our technical specifications page for information about the seminar forum and classroom.
View a brief introduction to AIC online seminars.
Assigned Readings
- The Apotheosis of Washington
- Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801 and Letter to John Holmes, 1820. Notes and discussion questions.
- Noah Webster, Oration on the Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, 1802. Notes and discussion questions.