Spring Course: America at 250

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 
How has the United States evolved since that founding moment, and where are we headed next? 

HISTORY 25 & 250 / AMSTUD 25 / LAW 7157: America at 250 is a 1-unit course that brings together 30 faculty members from across the university to discuss issues from democracy and governance to the economy, immigration, national identity, foreign affairs, and religion. 

Instructors: Jonathan Gienapp, Associate Professor of History and Law & Pamela Karlan, Professor of Public Interest Law and Co-Director of SLS's Supreme Court Litigation Clinic

Sponsored by: Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford Democracy Hub and Department of History

Tuesdays, 3:00–4:20 pm, CEMEX Auditorium

Open to undergrads and grads from all Schools. Members of the Stanford community are also welcome to attend individual sessions. 

Learn more and register here!

Week 1 (3/31): The Declaration of Independence in Context

What did the Declaration of Independence originally mean to people in the eighteenth century? 
How has this document been used across U.S. history, 
and how has its meaning both changed and remained constant?

Speakers: Jonathan Gienapp (Associate Professor of History and Law) and Caroline Winterer (William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies) 

Week 2 (4/7): Religion

How have Americans understood religious freedom from the 18th century to the present? 
How do religion and secularism co-exist in a single society? 
How does a democracy deal with religious diversity?

Speakers: Lerone A. Martin (Martin Luther King Jr., Centennial Professor in Religious Studies), Michael McConnell (Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law) and the Rev. Dr. Tiffany Steinwert (Dean for Religious and Spiritual Life)

Week 3 (4/14): National Identity and Immigration 

How has the makeup of the “people” described by the Declaration of Independence changed across American history? 
What effect has this had on the legacy of that document? 
How has the makeup of the populace provoked conflict and disagreement, and how have excluded groups fought for inclusion and recognition?

Speakers: Gregory Ablavsky (Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law), Asad L. Asad (Assistant Professor of Sociology), Elizabeth Hidalgo Reese (Associate Professor of Law), and Pedro L. Regalado (Assistant Professor of History)

Week 4 (4/21): Crime and Justice 

How have Americans understood the rule of law from 1776 to today? 
What is judicial independence and why has it been considered so important? 
What is the relationship between law and politics in a democracy? 
How has the criminal justice system evolved over U.S. history, and what challenges has it faced?

Speakers: Matthew Clair (Assistant Professor of Sociology), Judge Jeremy Fogel (Executive Director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute, former Director of the Federal Judicial Center in Washington D.C.) and David Sklansky (Stanley Morrison Professor of Law)

Week 5 (4/28): The Arts and Communication

How does the Declaration of Independence function as a piece of rhetoric? 
How has it been used by artists and political communicators across time? 
How have changes to the technology of communication transformed, strengthened, or challenged American democracy?

Speakers: Gavin Jones (Frederick P. Rehmus Family Professor of Humanities and English), Alexander Nemerov (Carl and Marilynn Thoma Provostial Professor in the Arts and Humanities), and Nathaniel Persily (James B. McClatchy Professor of Law)

Week 6 (5/5): Equality and Rights

How have the concepts of equality and of rights been understood and contested across American history? 
What is the relationship between the Declaration of Independence’s promise of equality and individual rights?

Speakers: James Campbell (Edgar E. Robinson Professor in United States History), Jud Campbell (Professor of Law), Pamela Karlan (Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law), and Brian Lowery (Walter Kenneth Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior, Graduate School of Business)

Week 7 (5/12): Capitalism, Trade, and Economics 

How has the United States interacted economically with foreign nations throughout its history? 
Why and how have Americans debated the merits of free trade versus protectionism? 
Is democracy compatible with advanced capitalism?

Speakers: Jonathan Levin (President and Bing Presidential Professor, Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Business, Professor of Economics), Stephen Redding (Kleinheinz Family Professor of International Studies and Professor of Economics), Jonathan Rodden (Professor of Political Science), and Debra Satz (Vernon R and Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences and Marta Sutton Weeks Professor of Ethics in Society)

Week 8 (5/19): Democracy and Governance

What is the meaning of democracy, and how has it evolved across American history? 
What has posed the greatest threat to democracy over time? 
How has bureaucratic governance grown over time, and in what ways has it bolstered or threatened democracy?

Speakers: Emilee Chapman (Associate Professor of Political Science), Larry Diamond (Mosbacher Senior Fellow of Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution), and Anne Joseph O’Connell (Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law)

Week 9 (5/26): The Military and Foreign Affairs

How has the United States engaged with the world and debated the value of engagement as compared to isolationism? 
How has the place of the military in American life changed over time? 
How do civil and military authority work together in a democracy, and what challenges does this present?

Speakers: Admiral James O. Ellis Jr. (U.S. Navy, retired; Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution), David Kennedy (Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Emeritus), Jenny Martinez (Provost and Professor of Law), and Michael McFaul (Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies in Political Science)

Week 10 (6/2): Science and Health

What is the place of scientific expertise in a democracy? 
How has public health policy changed and been debated across American history?

Speakers: Persis Drell (Provost, Emerita; James and Anna Marie Spilker Professor; Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and of Physics), Steven Goodman (Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health and of Medicine) and Kathryn Olivarius (Associate Professor of History)