American Studies

Program Director

Dr. John M. Peterson

About American Studies

At its founding America created a new political order, one dedicated to fostering a life of ordered liberty in accord with “laws of Nature and Nature’s God.” Novel though it was, the project thus begun has sought to realize conceptions of the best life for human beings as that understanding has emerged over the course of Western civilization. Coming to grasp and to assess that project, therefore, requires investigating a tradition of thought and experience extending far back in time, a tradition that has been transmitted through works of moral and political philosophy, through imaginative literature, and from historical experience of statesmanship, revolution, and constitution making.

The Master’s program in American Studies provides opportunity to consider Americans’ revolutionary enterprise in the light of precedents extending back to classical antiquity. It investigates the understanding of human nature, political order and justice underlying American institutions through the study of political philosophers, European and American statesmen and imaginative writers of the Old World as well as the New. Master’s candidates will also examine challenges to those ideas posed by dissenters resulting in transformation of some of those institutions with the Civil War and in recent times. Students will compare the present self-understanding of Americans with earlier expressions of self-definition in an effort to reestablish connections between this nation’s self-understanding and a Western tradition that has drawn guidance from reason, biblical revelation, and aspirations toward responsible freedom.

The program is designed for teachers or those interested in teaching careers on either the secondary or college level and for those interested in preparing for positions of leadership in public affairs.

Admission Requirements

Application for admission includes a complete application form, two letters of reference, a statement of purpose and an intellectual autobiography, a sample of academic writing and official transcripts of previous college work. Completion of a bachelor’s degree is a prerequisite to entrance.

Degree Information

Master of American Studies