The founders and the idea of a national university : constituting the American mind / George Thomas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thomas, George, 1970-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education, Higher--United States--Philosophy.

Education, Higher.

United States.

Philosophy.

Education, Higher--Aims and objectives--United States.

Education, Higher--Aims and objectives.

Founding Fathers of the United States.

Education and state--United States.

Education and state.

Constitutional history--United States.

Constitutional history.

Democracy and education--United States.

Democracy and education.

Physical Description:

x, 241 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Summary:

"This book examines the ideas of the Founders with regard to establishing a national university and what those ideas say about their understanding of America. It offers the first study on the idea of a national university and how the Founders understood it as an important feature in an educational system that would sustain the American experiment in democracy. Their ideas about education suggest that shaping the American mind is essential to the success of the Constitution and that this is something that future generations would need to continue to do"-- Provided by publisher.

"Constituting the American Mind is about early efforts to establish a national university and what those efforts say about the nature and logic of American Constitutionalism. This book offers the first in depth study of the efforts to establish a national university from a constitutional perspective. While mostly noted in passing, the national university was put forward by every president from Washington to John Quincy Adams as a necessary supplement to the formal institutions of government; it would help constitute the American mind in a manner that carried forward the ideas the constitution rested on including, for example, the separation of the "civic" from the "theological.""-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction; 1. The national-university vision and American constitutionalism; 2. The national university and constitutional limits; 3. The national university and state institutions; 4. Constituting the university; 5. Education, the national university, and constituting national identity; 6. The civic dimensions of American constitutionalism; Conclusion: the Constitution and the American mind.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781107083431

1107083435

9781107443884

1107443881

OCLC:

886380957

Online:

Cover image