A More Perfect Union

Visions of America then and now

DESTINATION
Philadelphia

DATES
October 4 – 8, 2009 (4 nights) (NOTE CHANGE OF DATES)

READINGS
John Winthrop’s “City Upon a Hill,” the Declaration of Independence, excerpts from the Federalist Papers and Toqueville’s Democracy in America, and Andrew Delbanco’s The Real American Dream: a Meditation on Hope

Description/Itinerary
Occasionally, it is worth thinking about how we should live together. The year following a pivotal presidential election is such a time. In the cradle of American democracy, we will examine seminal writings throughout American history in an effort to answer that question.

The New England Puritans were the originators of America’s political culture and rhetoric. They laid the foundations of national consciousness. In a 1630 sermon, John Winthrop warned the colonists that their new community would be a “City Upon a Hill” divinely ordained and watched by the world. This identity wed privilege to responsibility.

More than a hundred years later, the Declaration of Independence became the nation’s most cherished symbol of liberty. But the Founding Fathers were not utopians, and they recognized that expansion was a matter of survival for the young republic.

By the late 18th Century, democratic values which championed money-making, hard work, and individualism had eradicated most vestiges of old world aristocracy and values in the North. It was then that French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville attempted to capture the peculiar nature of American political life. He saw both an industrious population yearning to amass vast fortunes and a political culture that promoted a relatively pronounced equality, but also, as he put it, a middling mediocrity.

In his book, The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope, Columbia University professor and acclaimed social critic, Andrew Delbanco revisits America’s history and its literature and prods readers to think about how the idea of the nation relates to their deepest desires and hopes.

We will stay in Philadelphia’s Old City, home of Independence Hall and the new Constitution Center. We will explore historic sites, wander the nation’s oldest outdoor market, and tour the famed wall murals.

Click here to view itinerary

Leader
Gary Schoepfel is a seasoned discussion leader with the Great Books Foundation, Harrison Middleton University, Classical Pursuits and beyond.

Accommodatiation
The Morris House, 4 nights

Fees
Price: $1800 Cdn
Single Supplement: $350 Cdn

Fee includes books, accommodation, two meals a day, discussions, walking tours, talks, excursions and admissions.

Non Refundable Deposit:
$500 CDN due at registration