As of 2018-19 American Conversations will be offering a redesigned set of courses
AmCon 111 Borders and Empires
The United States was founded by breaking away from an empire, yet has grown into an imperial power. This course explores territorial expansion, the development of a pluralistic American state with varied internal borders and cultural realms, and the emergence of the United States as a world power. Examining American history through lenses used by creative artists, historians and social scientists, students consider such topics as global trade, slavery, urbanization, and war.
Previous offerings:
AmCon 102: Democratic Vistas, 1800-1900
First Year, Semester II
Amcon 102, “Democratic Vistas,” focuses on America in the nineteenth century, an era characterized both by America’s geographic expansion from East to West and by the conflict over slavery that divided the North and South. As the course title indicates, this was a time in which writers such as Tocqueville and Whitman celebrated the triumph of American democracy. But it was also a time when slavery was expanded – often in the name of so-called democratic ideals such as “popular sovereignty.”
America’s vistas expanded westward, opening up opportunities for countless migrants and immigrants, but at the expense of Native Americans forced off their ancestral lands. In this course, students weigh America’s ideal of individual rights, as well as and the belief in the power of social and moral reform against its gravest sins – slavery and Indian removal. Topics range from the art and literature of the Transcendentalist movement to the creation of utopian societies to the Civil War and the closing of the American frontier.
Explore some of the topics, themes and student projects in Amcon 102