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 event in the development of the American nation and state; and the United States under the Articles of Confederation.

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 event in the development of the American nation and state; and the United States under the Articles of Confederation.

This institute will focus on the life of George Washington as seen through several lenses. Focusing on Washington's personal life and connecting it to his public career will be the theme of the first week of the institute. Participants will consider Washington's education, his relationships with women, and his attitudes towards fame, religion, and death. Participants will look at Washington's own words in an attempt to understand the man. Traveling to Longfellow House, participants will meet with Paul Blandford, who has devoted his life to studying Washington's year in Cambridge. Blandford will also explain Washington's place in 19th-century New England culture. In the second week, participants will contrast the heroic Washington with the revisionist appraisal. How did John Marshall and Mason Locke Weems view Washington? Why does Richard Brookhiser still consider Washington’s life "exemplary?" Participants will analyze Michael Pack's documentary Rediscovering George Washington and meet with William Martin, writer of the novel Citizen Washington and the screenplay for a documentary on the life of Washington, George Washington: The Man Who Wouldn't Be King. To offer an alternative to the heroic Washington, participants will meet with the radical revisionist historian Howard Zinn. His visit will provide an opportunity to discuss what role the life of Washington should play in national and state history standards. Looking at current research, participants will attempt to determine whether Washington holds up in a reality-based age, whether his Mount Rushmore image and iconic status remain compelling. In the third week, participants will focus on Washington's public career and legacy. The guest speaker for the third week will be Karal Ann Marling, author of George Washington Slept Here, and numerous other books on American history. Professor Marling has taught Art History and American Studies at the University of Minnesota. She will speak on "George Washington and Memory," or "How the Colonial Revivals of the 19th and 20th centuries reshaped the character of our first President." During the third week, participants will also take a field trip to Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights.

Taking a fresh perspective on the Revolution, this seminar asks why we still generally concentrate on the lives and thoughts of the Founding Fathers when in fact ordinary people carried the burden of the American Revolution. How should the people be restored to narratives of Revolution? Were the political ideas that energized their participation the same as those of the celebrated leaders? Did the people stake out more radical positions than did the elite planters and lawyers? What exactly did the Revolution involve for ordinary Americans who lived in small communities?

The seminar will consist of three sessions. The first two, featuring lecture and discussion, will focus on the close analysis of images and primary documents. The third will concentrate on the integration of seminar ideas and material into lesson plans using the Center's Seminar-to-Classroom Guide.

Designed for high school social studies teachers who teach United States history and government, this intensive week-long workshop will immerse participants in early American history "on location" in Williamsburg, the restored capital city of 18th-century Virginia, and nearby Jamestown and Yorktown. 25 teachers and a returning mentor teacher will be selected for each session. Participants will be involved in an interdisciplinary approach to teaching social studies with colonial American history as the focus. Teachers will have the opportunity to exchange ideas with noted historians, meet character interpreters, and take part in reenactments of 18th-century events. They will review various interactive teaching techniques with a mentor teacher and with each other. Instructional materials in a variety of media will be provided to participants to use in their classrooms. Together with Colonial Williamsburg staff, teachers will prepare new instructional materials for use in their own classrooms.

The institute is divided into three levels, as follows:

101: This 40-hour training begins with an in-depth study of the Declaration of Independence. Participants will then be taken through the ancient and European origins of the U.S. Constitution, followed by the American origins. The training will continue with a famous Federalist debating a famous Anti-Federalist over whether a New York State convention should vote to ratify the Constitution in 1788.

Then attending teachers will be taken on a walk through the seven articles of the Constitution. The remainder of the time will be spent studying the First Amendment and famous Supreme Court cases on the First Amendment, including the current term cases.

The agenda is divided into blocks of time spent with scholars, followed by break-out sessions where activities are demonstrated on the curriculum covered in the scholar sessions.

201: Available to those teachers who have completed the 101 session, the advanced session begins with a look at the "Ladder of the Bill of Rights." The remainder of the three-day, 18-hour institute is spent studying Amendments Two through 10, along with Supreme Court cases decided under each of these amendments. Break-out sessions follow each scholar session with activities on the Bill of Rights.

301: The one-day, seven-hour Update Session is available to those teachers who have previously attended both 101 and 201. Participants will spend most of the time discussing Supreme Court cases that have been decided during the past few years with the scholars. They will also receive a new activity guide, which includes lessons on Federalism and writing.

What do an English historian, an Italian wine merchant, an anti-slavery advocate, and the Father of the Constitution have in common? Each of these individuals—Catherine Sawbridge Macaulay Graham, Philip Mazzei, Francis Asbury, and James Madison—paid one or more visits during the years 1783–1789 to the retired leader of the American Revolutionary forces, George Washington, at his Virginia waterfront plantation, Mount Vernon. Perhaps these guests marveled at the brilliant colors of the mansion's main dining room. They might have strolled around the grounds and seen the slaves performing the multitude of tasks necessary to make the plantation flourish. It's likely that the visitors sat on the east-facing piazza and watched the ships sail up and down the Potomac River. Finally, and most significantly, these visitors—and others like them—participated in dialogues and discussions at Mount Vernon which resulted in the creation of the American constitutional system. The Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop, "Shaping the Constitution: A View from Mount Vernon 1783–89," funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities We the People initiative, is an opportunity for educators (and ultimately their students) to gain a better understanding of Mount Vernon as a crossroads for the discussion of ideas that led to the Constitution. In brief, the workshop offers academic content about Mount Vernon, George Washington, and the Constitution; the opportunity to engage in scholarly discourse with leading academics; a stipend to help cover housing and meal costs; a transportation allowance; networking with other social studies teachers from around the nation; and ongoing professional development opportunities and the opportunity to earn graduate credit.

Designed for elementary social studies teachers who teach United States history and government, this intensive week-long workshop will immerse participants in early American history "on location" in Williamsburg, the restored capital city of 18th-century Virginia, and nearby Jamestown and Yorktown. 25 teachers and a returning mentor teacher will be selected for each session. Participants will be involved in an interdisciplinary approach to teaching social studies with colonial American history as the focus. Teachers will have the opportunity to exchange ideas with noted historians, meet character interpreters, and take part in reenactments of 18th-century events. They will review various interactive teaching techniques with a mentor teacher and with each other. Instructional materials in a variety of media will be provided to participants to use in their classrooms. Together with Colonial Williamsburg staff, teachers will prepare new instructional materials for use in their own classrooms.