American History Intensive
Agora Foundation Online Intensive - The Story of America
Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in Democracy in America that “Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.” By most accounts, America is a profound experiment whose effect on the world cannot be overstated. Through a keen sense of destiny and a wealth of natural resources, the country has helped to transform political structures globally, as well as humankind’s vision of itself. The meaning of the “shot heard round the world" in 1775 is still unfolding, with no guarantee that a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” By varying degrees, the nation continues to strive to live up to its principles, and the struggle for equality for all its citizens continues to be a central difficulty.
Through the lenses of race, religion, politics, education, media, commerce, science, and culture, this series will explore the history of America through three four-month sections, and will attempt to find answers to our essential American questions: How can we describe the American Mind? What are the country’s core values and central tenets? Can those core values and central tenets endure? How has America’s role on the international stage changed over time?
All reading materials will be supplied and sessions will be facilitated by tutors experienced in shared inquiry and the Socratic method. Groups will be limited to 12 participants and no prior knowledge is required. Teachers will be offered 3 CEU credits for participation in each section.
Each Four-Five Month Weekly Series
(Each Section) is $600-$700.
Community of Lifelong Learners subscribers receive a discount of $100 through a refund.
-- NOW MEETING --
Section Two - The Declaration of Independence to the Civil War
Wednesday evenings, beginning September 29, 2021 and ending Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Section Two Texts:
1) The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin
2) Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
3) These Truths - A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
4) The Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation
5) Selected Federalists and Anti-Federalists Papers
6) The Constitution of the United States
7) Selected speeches from Abraham Lincoln
8) Selected Supreme Court decisions
Make one $700 payment to join Section Three (subscribers receive a $100 refund)
Make three monthly payments of $233 to join Section Three (subscribers receive a $100 refund)
American History Intensive - Dates and Curriculum -
Section Two - The Declaration of Independence to the Civil War
Suggested Pre-Reading
These Truths - A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
Part One - The Idea
- Pages 3-149
1) Session One
Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation
2) Session Two
Wednesday, October 6, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel Boorstin
Book One - Community
Part One The Versatiles: New Englanders
Chapter 1 The Sea Leads Everywhere
Chapter 2 Inventing Resources: Ice for the Indies
Chapter 3 Inventing Resources: Granite for a New Stone Age
Chapter 4 Organizing the American Factory
Chapter 5 From Skill to Know-how: “A Circulating Current”
Chapter 6 A Common-Law Way of Thinking
Chapter 7 The Improving Spirit
- Pages 3-48
3) Session Three
Wednesday, October 13, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
Part Two - Thomas Jefferson
7. Enlightenment
8. Black Exhibits
9. Created Equal
- Pages 79-119
4) Session Four
Wednesday, October 20, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
These Truths - A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
Part Two - The People
Five - A Democracy of Numbers
- Pages 153-188
5) Session Five
Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
Federalists Papers 1, 2, 6, 9, 10
6) Session Six
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
Federalists Papers 51, 52, 62, 68, 69, 70
7) Session Seven
Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
Anti-Federalist Papers Brutus I and Cato II
8) Session Eight
Wednesday, November 17, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel Boorstin
Part Two The Transients - Joiners
Chapter 8 On the Continent-Ocean: Men Move in Groups
Chapter 9 The Organizers
Chapter 10 Community Before Government
Chapter 11 The Natural Law of Transient Communities:
Claim Clubs and Priority Rule
Chapter 12 The Natural Law of Transient Communities:
Vigilantism and Priority Rule
Chapter 13 Leaving Things Behind
Chapter 14 Getting There First
Chapter 15 The Democracy of Haste
- Pages 49-112
Off Wednesday, November 24 for Thanksgiving Holiday
9) Session Nine
Wednesday, December 1, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
Part Two - Thomas Jefferson continued
10. Uplift Suasion
11. Big Bottoms
12. Colonization
- Pages 120-158
10) Session Ten
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
These Truths - A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
Part Two - The People
Six - The Soul and the Machine
- Pages 189-231
11) Session Eleven
Wednesday, December 15, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
The Constitution of the United States and the Amendments
12) Session Twelve
Wednesday, December 22, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel Boorstin
Part Three The Upstarts - Boosters
Chapter 16 The Businessman as an American Institution
Chapter 17 The Booster Press
Chapter 18 “Palaces of the Public”
Chapter 19 The Balloon-Frame House
Chapter 20 Culture with Many Capitals: The Booster College
Chapter 21 Competitive Communities
- Pages 113-168
Off Wednesday, December 29 for the Holidays
13) Session Thirteen
Wednesday, January 5, 2022 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
Part Three - William Lloyd Garrison
13. Gradual Equality
14. Imbruted or Civilized
15. Soul
16. The Impending Crisis
- Pages 161-213
14) Session Fourteen
Wednesday, January 12, 2022 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
These Truths - A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
Part Two - The People
Seven - Of Ships and Shipwrecks
- Pages 232-271
15) Session Fifteen
Wednesday, January 19, 2022 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel Boorstin
Part Four The Rooted And The Uprooted - Southerners, White And Black
Chapter 22 How the Planter Lost His Versatility
Chapter 23 Indelible Immigrants
Chapter 24 Invisible Communities: The Negroes’ Churches
Chapter 25 The Unwritten Law: How It Grew in Slavery
Chapter 26 How Southern Gentlemen Became Honor-bound
Chapter 27 Metaphysical Politics
- Pages 169-218
16) Session Sixteen
Wednesday, January 26, 2022 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel Boorstin
Book Two Nationality
Part Five The Vagueness Of The Land
Chapter 28 A Half-known Country: Settlement Before
Discovery
Chapter 29 Packaging a Continent
Chapter 30 Government as a service Institution
Chapter 31 Uncertain Boundaries
Chapter 32 A Dubious Destiny
- Pages 219-274
17) Session Seventeen
Wednesday, February 2, 2022 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
Lincoln Speeches One
Lyceum Address, Temperance Address, Mexican War Address
18) Session Eighteen
Wednesday, February 9, 2022 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
Lincoln Speeches Two
House Divided Speech, Cooper Union Address
19) Session Nineteen
Wednesday, February16, 2022 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Dred Scott Decision, the Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
Part Three - William Lloyd Garrison
16. The Impending Crisis
- Pages 202-213
20) Session Twenty
Wednesday, February 23 2022 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel Boorstin
Part Six American Ways Of Talking
Chapter 33 An Ungoverned Vocabulary
Chapter 34 Tall Talk: Half-Truth or Half-Lie?
Chapter 35 Booster Talk: The Language of Anticipation
Chapter 36 Names in Profusion and Confusion
Chapter 37 A Declamatory Literature
- Pages 275-324
21) Session Twenty-One
Wednesday, March 2, 2022 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel Boorstin
Part Seven Search For Symbols
Chapter 38 Heroes or Clowns? Comic Superman from a
Subliterature
Chapter 39 The Mythologizing of George Washington
Chapter 40 How Local Patriotism Made National Heroes
Chapter 41 The Quest for a National Past
Chapter 42 A Festival of National Purpose
- Pages 325-390
22) Session Twenty-Two
Wednesday, March 9, 2022 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
These Truths - A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
Part Two - The People
Eight - The Face of Battle
- Pages 272-307
And Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
23) Session Twenty-Three
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 - 5:30-7:30PM PST
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
Part Three - William Lloyd Garrison continued
17. History’s Emancipator
18. Ready for Freedom?
- Pages 214-234
24) Session Twenty-Four
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel Boorstin
Part Eight A Spacious Republic
Chapter 43 The Imperial Vagueness: From Sovereignty to
Federalism
Chapter 44 The Federal Vagueness: Born in Secession
Chapter 45 Quests for Definition: Constitutions of the
United States
Chapter 46 Unionist Ways from a Secessionist Tradition
- Pages 391-430
-- Completed Section One --
Colonial Experience to the Declaration of Independence
Wednesday evenings, beginning April 21 and ending Wednesday, August 4, 2021. Section One Texts:
1) The Americans: The Colonial Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin
2) Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
3) Declaration of Independence
American History Intensive - Dates and Curriculum -
Section One - The Colonial Experience to the Declaration of Independence
Session One:
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Book One - The Vision and the Reality
Part One - A City Upon A Hill:
The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay
Pages 1-31
Session Two:
Wednesday, April 28, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Part Two - The Inward Plantation: The Quakers of Pennsylvania
Pages 33-69
Session Three:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Part Three - Victims of Philanthropy: The Settlers of Georgia
Pages 71-96
Session Four:
Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Part Four - Transplanters: The Virginians
Pages 97-143
Session Five:
Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
Stamped from the Beginning
Prologue
Part One - Cotton Mather
1. Human Hierarchy
2. Origins of Racist Ideas
3. Coming to America
Pages 1-46
Session Six:
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Book Two - Viewpoints and Institutions
Part Five - An American Frame of Mind
Pages 145-168
Session Seven:
Wednesday, June 2, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Part Six - Educating the Community
Pages 169-188
Session Eight:
Wednesday, June 9, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Part Seven - The Learned Lose Their Monopolies
Pages 189-206
Session Nine:
Wednesday, June 16, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Part Eight - New World Medicine
Pages 207-240
Session Ten:
Wednesday, June 23, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
Stamped from the Beginning
Part One - Cotton Mather
4. Saving Souls, Not Bodies
5. Black Hunts
6. Great Awakening
Pages 47-76
Session Eleven:
Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Part Nine - The Limits of American Science
Pages 241-266
Session Twelve:
Wednesday, July 7, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Book Three - Language and the Printed Word
Part Ten - The New Uniformity
Pages 267-290
Session Thirteen:
Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Part Eleven - Culture Without a Capital
Pages 291-316
Session Fourteen:
Wednesday, July 21, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Part Twelve - A Conservative Press
Pages 317-340
Session Fifteen:
Wednesday, July 28, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Book Four - Warfare and Diplomacy
Part Thirteen - A Nation of Minute Men
Pages 341-372
Session Sixteen:
Wednesday, August 4, 2021 - 5:30-7:30PM PDT
Stamped from the Beginning
Part Two - Thomas Jefferson
7. Enlightenment
8. Black Exhibits
9. Created Equal
Pages 79-119 and The Declaration of Independence
Section Three - Summer 2022
Reconstruction to the 1970s
1) The Americans: The Democratic Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin
2) Stamped From The Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
3) These Truths - A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
4) Selections from Du Bois, Douglas, Cooper, and others
5) Supreme Court Cases
6) Speeches from Martin Luther King
7) Essays on 20th Century American politics