American Ideals
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Founding a "Republic of Virtue"
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The United States is often thought of as a "young" nation. But in fact, it is the oldest continuing democracy in the world. What were the philosophies and social forces that made this country unique—that enabled it to become the first successfully self-governing republic in modern times?
In American Ideals: Founding "Republic of Virtue," Professor Daniel N. Robinson explores the principles that guided the founding of the United States, the conditions that led to the break with Great Britain, and the creation of such founding documents as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
This course deepens your understanding of fundamental ideas—the role of government, and human nature—that inspired American independence, and which continue to have a profound influence on American thought.
 Write a Review of American Ideals
 
pgmd2, February 17, 2006
Reviewer: pgmd2
Actually the course entitled “American Ideals” by Professor Daniel Robertson seemed sort of a misnomer to me, and should have instead have been called just “American History”.
Yet the angle in which Robertson approached the “American Ideals” course was quite clever indeed. Instead of just merely reciting events like a history textbook, Professor Robertson explored the history of America by using the many documents that were used to shape it. Thus the course focused on how the American "ideas" changed over time.
His lectures started off by looking at the role of religion in the first colonialists to this continent and how their religion influenced the way laws were made, and also the colonialist’s behavior at that time.
Robertson’s lectures continued by looking at the “Declaration of Independence” and how each word was carefully chosen to represent the country. However the most interesting lectures were on the United States Constitution. Having been taught this briefly in school, Professor Daniel Robertson’s critique of it provided a different view to what type of nations the founding fathers wanted to create. This was shown in the way they tediously wrote and discussed what words or ideas would be conveyed in the documents.
“American Ideals” was available on audio cassettes with a listening time of six hours.
- Published:
2002
- Number Of Lectures:
12
- Lecture Time:
30 Min.
- University:
Georgetown University
- LearnOutLoud.com Product ID:
A006697
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Volumes |
ISBN |
ISBN-13 |
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Audio CD |
6 Discs |
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Cassette |
6 Tapes |
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DVD |
2 Discs |
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Politics
U.S. Government
Politics
Political Philosophy
History
American History
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