Christopher C. Burkett

POLSC 370B / HIST 352: THE AMERICAN FOUNDING

The purpose of this course is to better understand the American political mind as it was during

the Founding Era. Through an examination of writings and documents from that time, we will

consider the foundational ideas – namely, nature, history/tradition and religion – that influenced

and animated American political life during the Founding Era and into the early nineteenth century.

Contrary to the claims of some recent scholars, the American Founding did not simply represent

an extension of British political and social customs. The American Founding was strongly influenced

by a backward-looking appeal to political traditions (Classical Republicanism, for example) and a

forward-looking religious identity (for example that America was the land of God’s chosen people).

The American Founding, however, was unique among all previous “foundings” because it represented

a conscious act of “reflection and choice,” to borrow a phrase from Hamilton, as Americans turned

to a particular understanding of “nature” as both the justification for their independence and the

standard for justice in their political order. The American way of life – or the regime, as it used to be

called – was understood to be compatible with political and moral laws derived from what was knowable

about the nature of human life, and particularly about human nature. The “turn toward nature”

affected not only political institutions, but nearly every aspect of what Jefferson called “the American

mind,” including education, religious liberty, the family, and political rights.

This foundation on “nature” provided Americans with a coherent framework for their political way of

life. Without a proper understanding of this framework, it is difficult to comprehend how Founding-era

Americans could possibly justify what seem to be blatant contradictions in the eyes of contemporary

Americans. How, for example, could a regime founded on the idea of natural equality allow for the

development of actual inequality? How could men and women be considered equal when they did not

enjoy the same political privileges? How was it that not all men could vote in a political system that claimed

to be based on the principle of consent? It is with an eye to answering these and other questions that we will

engage in our pursuit to understand the nature of “the American mind” during the Founding Era.

Download the latest version of Adobe Reader (necessary to view files posted on this website)