The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization (AHI) has received a grant to offer free to the public two seminars on the relationship between the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. One seminar will be taught beginning in September 2010 and the other will be taught beginning in January 2011.  The fall seminar will be located at the Media Center Room in the AHI’s headquarters, 21 West Park Row, Clinton, NY.

“The Making of American Scripture” builds on a major colloquium sponsored by the AHI in April 2010 and focuses on how the interpretation of these two cherished documents by prominent thinkers and politicians shaped the meaning of America. The course will explore the differing philosophical and political assumptions that underlie the documents and will cover the period from the American founding to the Fourteenth Amendment.

With the current political debate on the relationship between the rights of the federal government, the states, and individuals, the AHI hopes that this course will provide a timely discussion of the origins and importance of liberty. Both the fall and spring courses will be led by AHI resident fellow Dr. Christopher Hill, a prize-winning teacher and author, and will feature contributions from several other prize-winning teacher/scholars.

The seminar will meet Wednesday evenings from 7 to 9:30 PM, beginning 8 September. The seminar will end the evening of 8 December.  We are currently seeking applicants for the course and hope to reach teachers, attorneys and others with a particular interest in this subject. The seminar is free and open to the public, but enrollment for each course will be limited to twenty. If you are interested, please contact Bob Paquette atbob@theahi.org or Christopher Hill at chill@theahi.org We hope to see you there!

The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization (AHI) promotes rigorous scholarship and vigorous debate in the study of freedom, democracy, and capitalism. The AHI offers a rich menu of scholarly activities–lectures, colloquia, conferences, fellowships, internships, and awards–to educational institutions in upstate New York and across the country, in support of scrupulous research and reasoned conversations on American history and Western culture.