Studies in the Early American Republic
An immersion into the central events of the early republic and the complex intellectual world of eighteenth-century America
The early republic, which this class defines as the period between 1776 to 1791, occupies a unique place in the American political imagination. During these years, early Americans created the structure and much of the vocabulary of the nation’s political system. Once North American colonists declared their independence from Great Britain, they engaged in a failed experiment in constitution-making before drafting the Constitution, itself now the oldest written constitution still governing any nation. By tracing the ideas and events of this critical period in American history, this course will expose teachers to a range of sources and discussion topics they can use in their classrooms.
Students will examine the political thought of the Founders through close readings of the some of the central texts of this period, including the Declaration of Independence, Common Sense, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, and The Federalist. Alongside those primary sources, course participants will explore the interpretative traditions surrounding the Founding through secondary sources, class participants will work together to build collections of primary sources for understanding the American Founding and share instructive ways to ignite K-12 student interest in this formative period. Participants will then demonstrate their learning by developing a multipart final project on how to teach a particular topic from the course that included an in-class presentation, essay, and bibliography of primary and secondary sources.
This synchronous course is entirely virtual, and is taught by Dr. Alan Gibson, Distinguished Fellow at the University of Missouri Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy this June to early July.
HIST 8021: Studies in the Early Republic
- Week 1: June 8 – June 12, 5pm – 7pm CT
- Week 2: June 15 – June 19, 5pm – 7pm CT
- Week 3: June 22 – June 26, 5pm – 7pm CT
- Week 4: June 29 – July 2, 5pm – 7pm CT
The deadline to apply is May 1, 2026. 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.