"This course is an intensive study of the constitutional convention, the struggle over ratification of the Constitution, and the creation of the Bill of Rights. It will include a close examination of the Federalist Papers and the antifederalist papers."

"This course focuses on three topics: political developments in North America and the British empire and the arguments for and against independence, culminating in the Declaration of Independence; the Revolutionary War as a military, social and cultural events in the development of the American nation and state; and the United States under the Articles of Confederation."

"What perhaps more than anything else distinguished the Revolution and Founding from European experience was the American transformation of the idea of a social contract from theory to practice. By focusing on the role of the social contract this seminar can shed new light on the old question, 'Was the American Revolution a revolution?' The enormous importance of the idea of a social contract in America after the revolutionary era can be tracked by studying, among other developments, the land reform movement or the uses of the Declaration of Independence, down to Martin Luther King's famous 'I Have A Dream' speech of 1963." Will use primary sources to examine the effects of the American Revolution and the U.S. concept of a social contract, including the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, the English Declaration of Rights, the Gettysburg Address, and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

"In this seminar, we will attempt to lay out Jefferson's understanding of executive power, trace its consequences for American political development, and discern its contribution to republican theory."

"This seminar will trace Woodrow Wilson’s evolution as a world leader. A novice in foreign affairs when he entered the White House, he ardently championed U.S. neutrality for the first two years of the war, then joined it on the side of the Allies but insisted on American command of American troops. Admired throughout the world by the end of the war, Wilson figured prominently in the peacemaking and pressed for a new world order in which nationalism would be tamed by internationalism. To that end, he persuaded the world to establish the League of Nations, and although he could not persuade his own nation to join, the main tenets of his new order (collective security, national self-determination, and the spread of democracy) remain central to American foreign policy."

"Across the country, an increasing number of teachers have discovered an exciting and innovative way to promote a love of history. Easy-to-use software (such as Microsoft’s PhotoStory and Movie Maker, and Apple’s iMovie) and extensive copyright-free online images (like those found on the Library of Congress’s American Memory site) make it possible for students to create high quality, Ken Burns-like videos combining narration, text, graphics, and historical images and music. Professor Mintz, a pioneer in the application of new technologies to history teaching and research, will lead teachers through the process of creating digital documentaries with their students."

"This seminar views the American Declaration from three global perspectives: first, by placing 1776 into the context of contemporary international and global connections; second, by examining the legacy of the Declaration in the century or so after 1776; and third, by analyzing other declarations of independence since 1776 for their debts to -- and divergences from -- the American model. The result should be an enriched understanding of the importance of the Declaration in world history, as well as a novel account of what was truly revolutionary about the American Revolution."

"This seminar gives special emphasis to selected Jefferson manuscripts, offering participants an intensive exploration of primary sources—the building blocks of historical study. Monticello itself is the site of several study tours. Lecture and discussion topics include Jefferson and the West; archaeology at Monticello; African Americans at Monticello; the architecture of Monticello; Jefferson’s empire; the Louisiana Purchase; and Jefferson and the Constitution."

This seminar explores the history of the American antislavery movement, from its institutional and ideological origins in the post-Revolutionary era to the eve of the Civil War. A particular focus of the course will be the historical reality and mythology of the Underground Railroad, understood through the lives, strategies, writings, and fate of black abolitionists.

"This seminar is concerned with the formative period of early American constitutionalism. It begins with the pre-Revolutionary debate over the rights that the American colonists could claim under the 'ancient' imperial constitution, and ends with the escalating controversies over the interpretation of the Federal Constitution of 1787, culminating (in a sense) with the Supreme Court’s much-heralded decision in Marbury v. Madison and its less known but arguably more important holding in Stuart v. Laird a week later. In between, the heart of the seminar focuses on the constitutional experiments of the 1770s and 1780s: the adoption of the first state constitutions (1776-1780), and the framing and ratification of the Federal Constitution (1787-1791, if we throw in the first ten amendments)."