CSLD Fall 2026 Reading Group

"civic virtue" painting of American colonial era men of different life stations talking amiably together in an open field.

American Foundations

Facilitator, Dr. Benjamin Haines

Celebrate America’s 250th birthday, with a study of texts central to the American founding:

Alternating Wednesdays, 9/16-12/2, UW Law School Room 7200

Week 1: John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, August 24, 1815; John Adams to Hezekiah Niles, February 13, 1818; Locke, Second Treatise of Government, chapters 1-9, 19

Week 2: Montesquieu, Spirit of the Laws, Book I, chapter 1-3; Book II, chapters 1-5; Book III, chapters 1-11

Week 3: Civic Virtue Lecture @ 6:00, followed by Hume (selections tbd)

Week 4: Mayflower Compact; John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity”; Jonathan Mayhew, “A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers”

Week 5: Paine, Common Sense

Week 6: Declaration of Independence

Free pizza and readers provided.