Free Seminars for Social Studies Teachers: America's Founding Principles (April 13, 2002)

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America's Founding Principles
Instructor: Christopher Flannery, Azusa Pacific University
Saturday, April 13, 2002

10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Founders Seminar Room, Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio

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Session One
(83 minutes)

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Session Two
(108 minutes)

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This seminar will be a conversation about some of the central ideas of American constitutional democracy as they are illuminated in selected writings of the American Founders and those who influenced them. We will discuss the meaning, implications, and political logic of such ideas as equality, liberty, natural law, government by consent, representation, the rule of law, separation of powers, limited government, natural rights, republicanism, and constitutionalism.

Christopher Flannery is a Professor of Political Science and Chairman of the History and Political Science Department at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California. Prior to teaching at Azusa Pacific University, he served as Vice-President of the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy. He has served as a member of the California Department of Education Review Team for Draft National Standards for Civics and Government and as a consultant to the California Department of Education with respect to civics education and textbook assessment. Some of his recent publications include "Tender of the Flame," in The American Scholar, "Pedagogical Uses of Federalist 10," "Geography and Power" in Statecraft and Power, and "Educating Citizens," published in Moral Ideas for America.

Readings

Primary Reading Materials

Ashbrook Center pamphlet: Declaration of Independence, Selections from Jefferson letters to Henry Lee and to Roger Weightman; Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Second Inaugural, and Fragment on the Constitution and Union.

Carl Becker, The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas. New York: Vintage Books, 1922; 1942. "Drafting the Declaration," 135-193.

Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997. "The Declaration of Independence: The Jefferson draft with Congress's Editorial Changes," Appendix C, Maier, 235-241.

Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, eds. The Founders' Constitution. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/, selections as indicated below.

Reading Assignments

Session One
(83 minutes)

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Session One (10:00 am)

Topic: "Apple of Gold": The Centrality of the Declaration of Independence in American Political Life
Focus: Why is it important to understand the Declaration of Independence? What does the Declaration say, and why and how does it say it? What does the Declaration not say, and why and how does it not say it? What is the significance of Jefferson's draft of the Declaration?
Reading:

Ashbrook Center pamphlet: Declaration of Independence, Selections from Jefferson letters to Henry Lee and to Roger Weightman; Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Second Inaugural, and Fragment on the Constitution and Union.

Becker, "Drafting the Declaration," 135-193.

Maier, "The Declaration of Independence: The Jefferson draft with Congress's Editorial Changes," Appendix C, 235-241.