This course is essentially a chronological
treatment of the social, economic, political and cultural development
of the American people to 1865. Certain topics such as colonial life, the
Revolution, the political thought of Hamilton and Jefferson, reform, slavery,
abolition, and the Civil War are studied in depth.

Photo of the first Congress courtesy of Penn State University
13 original colonies flag courtesy of Valdosta University.

Opening of the Declaration of Independence 

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --