HIS 3410 History of American Political Thought

3 Hours

Prerequisites: HIS 2010 or HIS 2020

This course is a survey of American political thought from the founding period to the Cold War. Some central questions will persist. Two themes, 1) the problem of human nature and 2) the relationship between ideas about the individual to ideas of community, develop throughout the course. In examining these themes, students will consider questions that have long troubled politicians, theorists, and philosophers who have thought carefully about the peculiarities of American democracy/republicanism.