Professor David Tucker discusses the ideal "American character" and government, as suggested by several of the Founding Fathers, including Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton.
To listen to this lecture, scroll to session four, and select the RealAudio link to the left of the main body of text.
The American South plays a central role in American history, from the first permanent English colony through the election of 2008. This course will focus on key episodes when Southern history and the history of the nation intersected at particularly important points: the emergence and spread of slavery, the founding, the Civil War, the creation of segregation, and the civil rights struggle. The course will be taught in Richmond, Virginia, a city rich in museums and historic sites that the seminar will use to explore the subjects addressed in the seminar.
This iCue Mini-Documentary describes "Nativism," or the resentment of foreigners, which revived in the late 19th century as greater numbers of new immigrant groups arrived in America.
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This iCue Mini-Documentary describes the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico, which completed the continental United States from coast to coast.
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This iCue Mini-Documentary describes the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave the United States the northern portion of Mexico that eventually became the southwestern states.
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This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces General Zachary Taylor, whose reputation during the Mexican-American War propelled him to the presidency.
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This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces David Wilmot, a Democratic Representative from Pennsylvania, who, in 1848, insisted that slavery be banned in any new states acquired from Mexico.
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This iCue Mini-Documentary describes the original division of public opinion over the Mexican-American War. Many accused President Polk of provoking a war.
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This iCue Mini-Documentary describes President Polk's determination to acquire California and the southwest. Polk provoked a war with Mexico to achieve his goal.
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Professor Maria Montoya of New York University explains the origins of "Manifest Destiny," which caught Americans' imaginations and propelled them westward.
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