What Is America?: Understanding the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution

Real education is about pursuing great questions, and the goal of this course is to pursue the most important question for us as citizens: namely, What are the fundamental principles of America's Founding? This is the course you always wish you had taken when you were an undergrad. Professor Sikkenga, a skilled teacher, who passionately ascribes to the founding principles that make America great, expertly teaches you the history of the founding documents in 18 erudite lectures. More than ever before, Americans are reclaiming our national identity based on these founding principles. Through this course, you will explore what defines us as Americans, especially the fundamental principles embodied in our founding documents: the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. From these lively lectures, you will understand the Declaration and Constitution as never before. How and why were the critical sections written? What principles do they enshrine and how do these principles define the limits of government and the rights and freedoms that make us American? Understanding the answers to these questions has never been so vitally important. In a time when the limits of government power and individual freedoms are being tested, it is essential to understand how our founding fathers meant for these documents to steer a right path towards freedom and prosperity. Join Professor Jeffrey Sikkenga, Associate Professor at Ashland University, in exploring the rights and freedoms that the founding fathers granted us in these two great documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. You will love this course. We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it. -Thomas Jefferson

About the Author :
Jeffrey Sikkenga is professor of political science and co-director of the Ashbrook Scholar Program at Ashland University, adjunct fellow of the John M. Ashbrook Center, and senior fellow in the Program on Constitutionalism and Democracy at the University of Virginia. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and William E. Simon Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. Jeffrey Sikkenga is professor of political science and co-director of the Ashbrook Scholar Program at Ashland University, adjunct fellow of the John M. Ashbrook Center, and senior fellow in the Program on Constitutionalism and Democracy at the University of Virginia. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and William E. Simon Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University.