America at 250: A History

This one-time-only course examines U.S. history from 1776 to the present, in advance of the nation’s semiquincentennial (or 250th birthday) in 2026. Taught jointly by Professors Joanne Freeman, David Blight, and Beverly Gage, the course emphasizes the history of the nation-state and the contested nature of American national identity. The class explores U.S. political history broadly conceived–not just as a realm of presidents and elections and wars (though there will be plenty of those) but as a conversation across time between citizens about what the United States is, was, and was meant to be. It proceeds from the premise that the American Revolution was the first but not the last radical act of national reimagining in U.S. history.

Joanne Freeman
Class of 1954 Professor of American History and of American Studies

David Blight 
Sterling Professor of History and African American Studies

Beverly Gage
John Lewis Gaddis Professor of History

Dates & Location

Fall 2025
Tuesdays and Thursdays
11:35 a.m.–12:25 p.m.
Location TBD

Course Format and Registration

The lecture course meets two times per week. Lectures are open to fully enrolled Yale undergraduate students, as well as to registered members of the broader Yale and New Haven communities. All Yale students enrolled for credit are required to register for a discussion section that will meet once per week. Professors Freeman, Blight, and Gage will together record a brief discussion after lecture each Thursday, as a guide to engagement with the week’s lectures and texts. 

The course is open to all Yale undergraduate students. There are no pre-requisites.

Students should register for this lecture like any other course.

Course Readings

Each week’s course assignments will focus on in-depth readings of one or two primary sources. It is also suggested that students supplement each week’s lectures with contextual reading from a recommended textbook.

Assessment and Grading

Class preparation and participation are crucial to an effective seminar. Students are expected to attend all class meetings and to be ready to discuss the week’s readings. The reading load for the course is approximately 100 pages per week. Each week, in advance of section, students will submit a brief comment or question (100-250 words) in preparation for discussion. Comments should be submitted through the appropriate thread in the Discussion section of the course Canvas site. Comments will not be graded individually, but the overall level of effort and analysis will be reflected in the final grade. Attendance, preparation, participation, and comments will comprise 20 percent of the final grade.

The written work for the course will consist of one primary-source document analysis (3-5 pages) and one proposal for a public-history intervention related to the semiquincentennial (3-5 pages). Each paper will be worth 20 percent of the grade.

In addition to the written assignments, there will be a take-home midterm exam (20 percent) and an in-person final exam (30 percent).

Academic Integrity (courtesy of the Yale Writing Center)

You must document all of your source material. If you take any text from somebody else, you must make it clear the text is being quoted and where the text comes from. You must also cite any sources from which you obtain numbers, ideas, or other material. If you have any questions about what does or does not constitute plagiarism, ask! Plagiarism is a serious offense and will not be treated lightly. Fortunately, it is also easy to avoid. If you are the least bit careful about giving credit where credit is due, you should not run into any problems.

Course Schedule

1: August 27: Introduction (JF, DB, BG)

2: September 2: Revolutionary (and Not So Revolutionary) Beginnings (JF)

3: September 4: The Declaration of Independence (JF)

4: September 9: The Problem of Union (JF)

5:  September 11: Framing a Nation: The Constitution (JF)

6: September 16: Republican Precedents and Presidents: The Placement of Power (JF)

7: September 18:  Hamilton & Jefferson & Visions of America (JF)

8: September 23: Jacksonian “Democracy” (JF)

9: September 25: Whose America? Protest and Reform (JF)

10: September 30: The Mexican War and its Aftermath: Compromise or Armistice (DB)

11: October 2: Road to Disunion: The Impending Crisis of the 1850s (DB)

12: October 7: Secession and War, 1860-1862 (DB)  

13: October 9: Union Victory and Emancipation as Policy and Process (DB)

14: October 14: Reconstruction: Andrew Johnson vs. the Radical Republicans (DB)

October 16: Fall Break

15: October 21: The Retreat from Reconstruction, 1870-1877 and Beyond (DB)

16: October 23:  Age of Capital and the Aftermath of Reconstruction, South, North, and West (DB)

17: October 28: The New South and the Origins of Jim Crow (DB)

18: October 30: Wealth, Inequality, and the Problem of Class Warfare (BG)

19: November 4: Progressivism and the Birth of the Modern State (BG)

20: November 6: Immigration and its Discontents (BG)

21: November 11: New Deal America: How the Social Welfare State was Built (BG)

22: November 13: The National Security State and the Liberal International Order (BG)

23: November 18: New Left, New Right (BG)

24: November 20: Reagan’s America (BG)

Thanksgiving Break

25: December 2: Consensus or Polarization? The 1990s and Beyond (BG)

26: December 4: America at 250 (JF, DB, BG)