Wednesday, January
th
5
Contact Information
American Heritage office
•166 SWKT/Phone 801-422-6076
•Hours: 9 am-5pm M-F
•americanheritage@byu.edu
•Website – americanheritage.byu.edu
American Heritage Review Room
•173A SWKT
•Hours: 9 am-4pm M-F
Professor Bradford
173 FOB
•Office Hours: Mondays 3pm to 4pm,
Thursday 10 am to 11 am, or by appointment
American Heritage sections cannot be added with an add/drop card. All enrollment in the class must be done via
Route Y.
Add/Drop deadline is Tuesday, January 18th by 5:00 pm
Texts for the class are as follows:
City Upon A Hill
James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Packet reading
Labs begin this week. Check Route Y for your scheduled lab (Thursday or Friday).
Must attend the lab you are registered for!
Citizenship Project: Clear project with TA in lab next week.
See American Heritage Website for service ideas
www.americanheritage.byu.edu
International Sections Available: Sections 64, 65, 66
Must rain check first
Once cleared, an e-mail will be sent to you to add the class
i-clickers will be required for class. Make sure you get your i-clickers registered.
Myths about American Heritage
“It is impossible to get a good grade out of that
class.”
“The tests are ambiguous.”
“The teachers are a bunch of right wing Republicans
who will just brainwash you about America.”
“The class is boring, except for the film clips.”
Myths about American Heritage
“It is
impossible
to get a
good
grade out
of that
class.”
• Expected Grade Distribution
• A 25%
• B 30%
• C 30%
• D 10%
•E
5%
Comments from Previous Students
“If he understands this stuff, anyone can.”
“I like a teacher who makes you grateful you
are not like him.”
“He has the kind of charisma and physical
presence that doesn’t disturb your rest in class.”
Course Organization
Study the syllabus! You will be quizzed on it this week.
TAs and Labs.
Readings: text and packet readings.
Quizzes.
Exams: two tests and comprehensive final.
Persuasive Essays: choose three out of five options.
Service Learning Project—10 hours.
Films.
Grading.
•
•
•
•
Exams:
Opinion Essays:
Quizzes:
Service Learning Project:
320 points.
90 points.
55 points.
35 points.
Class Conduct
There are no correct opinions about politics or public policy.
We should treat everyone and everyone’s opinions with
respect and civility.
We should treat the US and its people, including government
officials, with respect but not with unexamined acceptance.
We should treat other nations and all peoples with the same
respect accorded the U.S. and its people.
This is a serious course dealing with serious issues, but that
doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.
Class Rules
Only one person in each seat
If you are going to eat in class, bring enough food for all
of us. For example, 800 sandwiches or 200 pizzas.
If you are going to leave class early, pretend to be sick.
Texting is fine if the text is taken from the Constitution,
the Declaration of Independence, or the Gettysburg
address; otherwise, no.
Cell phones may be used in class for the following
purposes:
• Earthquakes 7.0 or greater on the Richter scale.
• Serious fires.
• One call per semester to tell your mother you are going to have a
Wizard of Oz
This clip
sheds light
on the
following
themes
that we will
discuss in
this course:
• The Human
Predicament.
• Tyranny.
• Virtue.
• The Good Society.
Above all, this class focuses on
ideas—the ideas that form the
basis for the American Founding
“Ideas… both when they are right and when they are
wrong are more powerful than is commonly understood.
Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men
[and women] who believe themselves quite exempt from
any intellectual influences are usually the slaves of some
defunct [scholar].…I am sure that the power of vested
interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual
encroachment of ideas....[I]t is ideas, not vested interests,
which are dangerous for good or evil.”
--John Maynard Keynes
General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
p. 383-4