Cost and Registration Information

Early Registration Price (May 7 at 9 am** – May 24 at 4 pm): $195
Regular Registration Price (May 24 at 4 pm – first day of class): $214.5

** Registration opens online at 9 am. Phone registration will be accepted starting at 10 am.

Members, seniors, and students get a 10% discount.

Seminar Description

The U.S. Constitution is recognized by Americans for its protection of individual liberty, but most of us overlook the way another document—the Declaration of Independence—expresses a counterbalancing commitment to another value, that of equality. Guided by ground-breaking research, this seminar will explore the Declaration’s invocation and exposition of equality as the basis of its argument for a nation’s independence. In addition to improving their knowledge of U.S. history, participants will develop their powers of close reading and their familiarity with our country’s founding documents.

Four sessions. E – $195, L – $214.5

Joseph S. Harrington holds an MA in history from the University of Connecticut and has previously led Newberry seminars on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Materials List

Required:

• Danielle Allen, Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality. W.W. Norton, 2014. ISBN: 978-0871406903

Optional:

• Alexander Tsesis, For Liberty and Equality: The Life and Times of the Declaration of Independence. Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN: 978-0195379693

First Reading:

• For the first class please read Part IV of Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality.

This class is part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program. Learn more about our registration procedures.