Historic expressions continue to shape our national political ideals.
These forms of communication have created the American identity with ideas of liberty, equality, naturalism, rugged individualism, self-reliance, revolution, westward expansion, the progressive era, civil women's rights, labor, the nation's various wars. These methods of communication have also expressed and created the images of the darker side of the American character, most notably racism and isolationism. We will explore and critically examine various speeches, letters, essays, documents, poetry and songs written by various Americans and how they reflect both mythic America idealism and the darker side of our national character. This exploration will include works by Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Walt Whitman, Thoreau, Emerson, FDR, JFK, Betty Friedan, George Wallace, Martin Luther King, Jr., etc.