The Age Of Experiments

Course Description

From catalog: ―A study of the new nation, the War of 1812, the Jacksonian era, placing special emphasis on the political, social, and economic democratization of the United States, together with the difficulties created by change.

In an era dominated by monarchical powers, a group of British North American colonists in 1776 declared their independence from King George III. They established a republic, a government based on the consent of the people. This republican experiment was a bold move, a ―leap in the dark,ǁ as historian John Ferling has called it. Throughout history, most republics had failed. Never before did a people attempt to establish a republican government over such a large and expanding territory. How did Americans confront the challenge of establishing and securing a republican form of government? How did they adjust to their new roles as republican citizens rather than monarchical subjects? What other challenges did Americans face during the early years of the new republic, a period marked by tremendous political, economic, social, and cultural change?

This course will examine these and other questions about the nature of the early republic, providing an overview of the major political, social, economic, and cultural developments in the United States from roughly the late eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. We will cover such topics as the creation of a new national government, the development of conflict between Federalists and Jeffersonian-Republicans during the 1790s, the Jeffersonian Presidency, the Lewis and Clark expedition, the War of 1812, the development of a market economy, religious revivalism, the growth of reform movements and abolitionism, the expansion of slavery in the South, the rise of sectional conflict, Jacksonian democracy, and western expansion. As an upper- division course, this course will combine lectures with discussions. Active student participation is encouraged and expected for students to gain the most from taking the course. Ultimately, this course aims to provide students with an opportunity to enter into an ongoing and vibrant debate about the revolutionary origins of the early republic, the nature of the American founding, and its implications for the United States today.