“Constitution 101” is Hillsdale’s most popular online course. Since the course launched in 2012, hundreds of thousands of people have taken it, deepening their understanding of the Constitution, how it has been undermined, and what it will take to restore it. "Constitution 101" is also the course that is most urgently needed.
Topics covered in this course include: the natural rights theory of the Founding, the meaning of the Declaration and the Constitution, the crisis of the Civil War, the Progressive rejection of the Founding, and the nature and form of modern liberalism. Join more than one million Americans who have taken a Hillsdale College “Constitution 101” online course by enrolling in this free …
To further these efforts, Hillsdale College produces free online course that provide timeless lessons on politics, history, philosophy, literature, religion, and economics. Join thousands of our fellow citizens and begin your Hillsdale College online education today.
Hillsdale College is a private conservative liberal arts college in Hillsdale, Michigan. Founded in 1844 by abolitionists known as Free Will Baptists, it has a liberal arts curriculum that is based on the Western heritage as a product of both the Greco-Roman culture and the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Single Subject Social Science. One course (two semester units or three quarter units) in the provisions and principles of the U.S. Constitution. The course should include content such as: the Bill of Rights, federalism, the separation of powers, and checks and balances.Oct 10, 2019
Enroll in a Free Online Course from Hillsdale College and Start Learning Today. Hillsdale College's free online courses equip you with the knowledge you need for self-government and happiness.
Hillsdale College is a Christian school with an earnest and vibrant spiritual life. The College has always welcomed anyone to study here regardless of their faith tradition. For that reason, we do not have an institutional statement of faith to which all students must submit, nor do we have a required chapel service.
29-33 (2019–20)Hillsdale College / Typical ACT scores
Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes.
In the Preamble to the Constitution, the Framers stated the six goals they wanted the national government to accomplish: form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and the …Dec 8, 2021
Concepts" of constitutional law, which are the principles, theories, and analytical constructs that elucidate the Constitution as a whole and its particular powers and rights provision, are commonly used by courts in their opinions.
Hillsdale College is ranked #46 in National Liberal Arts Colleges. Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.
Hillsdale is the largest city and county seat of Hillsdale County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,305. The city is the home of Hillsdale College, a private liberal arts college noted for its academics and its influence in politics and education.
Founded in 1844, Hillsdale College is an independent, coeducational, residential, liberal arts college with a student body of about 1,400. Its four-year curriculum leads to the bachelor of arts or bachelor of science degree, and it is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
The Constitution established a limited government, but a government with sufficient powers to protect Americans’ God-given rights to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”.
Dante’s Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy is one of the greatest works of Western literature. An epic poem in three parts, it tells the story of Dante’s journey through the afterlife: Inferno describes the suffering of souls warped by vice. Purgatorio explores the theme of repentance and the elements of good character.
In 1776 , America was founded on the principle that “all men are created equal.”. This course examines the Founders’ understanding of equality, natural rights, and civil rights; the quest for justice in America through the Civil War, during Reconstruction, and in the 20th century; and the danger posed to freedom and civil rights today by identity ...
With introductory and concluding lectures by Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn, this nine-lecture course—taught by members of Hillsdale College's politics department faculty—focuses on the importance of the principles of the American Founding and the current assault on them by the Progressives.
The principles of the American Founding, embodied in the Declaration of Independence and enshrined in the Constitution, came under assault by Progressives of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Progressivism rejects the Founders’ ideas of natural rights, limited government, the separation of powers, representation, and federalism.
Woodrow Wilson— who served as president of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey, and as America’s 28th president—was one of the earliest Progressive thinkers. His critique of the Founding—namely, his rejection of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution’s system of the separation of powers—is one ...
Post-1965 Progressivism is an incoherent blend of the earlier Progressive emphasis on material and spiritual uplift coupled with a new, adamantly relativistic orientation. This altered Progressivism champions an understanding of freedom as “the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the meaning of human life.” Policies that attack the traditional family through the promotion of sexual liberation, the redefinition of racial equality in terms of atonement for alleged historical victimization, and a preference for the preservation of the environment over human flourishing—demonstrate that post-1965 Progressivism not only rejects the ethical ideal of earlier Progressivism; it also denies the Founders’ conception of equality and rights as grounded in “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”
Progressivism represents a radical departure from the Founders’ understanding of the purpose and ends of government. Comparing and contrasting the arguments of the Founders and of the Progressives regarding six key principles of government—the meaning of freedom; the purpose of government arising from the meaning of freedom; the elements of domestic policy; the extent of foreign policy; the centrality of the consent of the governed; and the size and scope of government—shows decisively that Progressivism is not a logical outcome of the Founders’ principles, but rather a conscious rejection of them.
Led by Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn, the course also examines the major challenges posed by Progressivism to American constitutionalism.
Therefore the Founders designed the Constitution to enable the people as much as possible to make well-reasoned laws that are beneficial to the common good. 8.
Course Overview. The American Founders believed that the principles of the Declaration and the Constitution were not simply preferences for their own day, but were truths that the sovereign and moral people of America could always rely on as guides in their pursuit of happiness. This course considers the principles of the American Founding—which ...
This lesson explores the question of sovereignty in the United States. In a representative and federal government, it is sometimes difficult to see who has the supreme authority, or the final say in matters of great importance. The principles of American government , however , require the sovereignty of the people. They express their will through a constitutional majority, although they themselves do not rule directly.
As the sovereign, the people separate the three functions of government into departments and delegate specific powers to each, which protects against tyranny and preserves liberty. To that end, the principle of separation of powers helps the people maintain control of their government. 9.
The Problem with Progressivism. Progressivism asserts a new view of the purpose of American government. This political philosophy seeks to replace Founding principles—such as equality, consent of the governed, and separation of powers—with the belief that all ideas are true only in the contexts in which they develop.
The election of 1800 demonstrated the legitimacy of the American system of government because the people were able to assert their will and change the government, according to the strictures of the Constitution.
David Hume—like Descartes before him—questions man’s ability to acquire scientific knowledge. Contrary to Descartes, Hume adopts an empirical approach that attempts to account for the apparent limitations of experience and observation.
In Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes argues for a radical skepticism of the senses. He makes the case for a rationalist philosophy grounded in the self—“I think, therefore I am.”
Philosophy—a word that means love of wisdom —seeks to know the ultimate or eternal things. Human beings are drawn to this pursuit because of our innate sense of wonder and a concern with the good.
Western philosophy began in ancient Greece as a pursuit of knowledge about human nature and the best way of life. Later, medieval Christian philosophers sought to understand the relationship between faith and reason.
Thomas Aquinas argues that God governs the universe by directing all things to the good or to their perfection. In the second part of the Summa Theologiae, Aquinas explains that rational beings participate in this divine plan through the natural law.
He argues that a man's soul must be prepared by a good musical education to recognize truth.
In the first line of the Metaphysics, Aristotle writes, “All human beings desire to know.” He adds that wonder leads us to investigate the four kinds of causes of natural things: material, efficient, formal, and final.