The Founders and the Classics II
Trace how the ancient Greek practice of political freedom through self-rule influenced early Americans from the colonial period through Reconstruction.
Using close readings of primary sources, this course traces how the ancient Greek practice of political freedom through self-rule influenced American Founders. Students will examine how such ideas framed accounts of Native governments, where colonists employed classical models and practices to describe how Indigenous peoples governed themselves in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They will also analyze how framers of the Constitution and other early Americans relied on the classics to express essential ideas such as freedom, liberty, and self-government from the American Revolution through the Civil War era.
Students will read ancient sources alongside those written by early Americans, from Herodotus and Aristotle to James Madison and W.E.B. DuBois. The professor will evaluate students based on their participation, an in-class presentation, and a final project designed to be of use in the classroom.
This synchronous course is entirely virtual, and is taught by Dr. Kendall Sharp, Sheffield Family Distinguished Instructor in the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults at the University of Chicago Graham School of General Studies this July.
This course is open to active teachers in any state. Teachers will receive 2.5 graduate credits from The University of Chicago upon completion of the course.
Credit from this course can transfer:
- 2.5 credits to the Jacksonville State University M.S.E. in Secondary Social Studies Education
MLAP 30613: The Founders and the Classics II
- Week 1: July 6 – July 10, 9:30am – 11:30am CT
- Week 2: July 13 – July 17, 9:30am – 11:30am CT
Please direct any questions to JMC Graduate Consortium Manager, Moyra Eaton, at meaton@gojmc.org.
This course is a part of the Jack Miller Center’s Civics Foundations Graduate Consortium, which seeks to provide K-12 teachers with high-impact graduate education centered around American civics and history. Click the link below to read more about the consortium and explore other available courses.