The Founding Principles of the United States: null

From the time of founding the United States to the end of Reconstruction, America's founding principles evolved significantly due to a variety of cultural, political, and economic factors. The vast geographic expansion of the United States, the continual friction regarding slavery, and the ultimate outbreak of the Civil War all impacted perceptions about the fundamental direction of America's founding ideals. This primary source reader, THE FOUNDING PRINCIPLES OF THE UNITED STATES, show students how the United States evolved into the nation it is today. By presenting a rich collection of primary source readings, each with clarifying commentary to ensure student comprehension, this reader traces the manifestation of seven themes from the start of the United States through the Civil War period. These seven themes are: equality of opportunity; virtue; religion; education; republican government; limited government; and economic liberalism. By using these particular themes as the basis of organization, this book provides a unique interpretation of the ideological foundations of the United States.

Dr. Steven Bullock is an Assistant Professor of History and Director of the Program for Comparative American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Dr. Bullock specializes in American cultural and political history and his book, PLAYING FOR THEIR NATION: BASEBALL AND THE AMERICAN MILITARY DURING WORLD WAR II, was recently awarded the Jerry Malloy prize given to the outstanding book published in baseball history by the University of Nebraska Press. Dr. Bullock has taught numerous classes in American history, including courses relating to the founding of the United States, sport in American culture, and comparative American studies.

Carson Holloway received his Ph.D. in Political Science at Northern Illinois University. His fields of specialization include political philosophy, American political thought, comparative politics, and politics and the life sciences. He is the author of DARWINISM AND POLITICAL THEORY (Spence Publishing, forthcoming in 2004) and ALL SHOOK UP: MUSIC, PASSION, AND POLITICS. (Spence Publishing, 2001).