About the lecture

In this module, we consider the US at the end of the War of Independence, focusing in particular on: (i) the internal and external problems facing the country as a post-colonial state; (ii) the Declaration of Independence and its implications as the ‘mission statement’ of the new United States; (iii) the questions remained over how much authority "the people" could exercise in practice; (iv) the distinction between populist and elitist attitudes to the nature of political authority; (v) the US in historical context as a fragile power with a newly vast area of territory to govern.

About the lecturer

Professor Frank Cogliano's research is mainly concerned with the political, cultural and diplomatic history of revolutionary and early national America. In 2008 he edited a collection on The Atlantic Enlightenment with Professor Susan Manning of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. His 2006 book, 'Thomas Jefferson: Reputation and Legacy', offered the first study of Jefferson’s reputation in fifty years. He also recently edited the Blackwell Companion to Thomas Jefferson. His latest book, 'Emperor of Liberty: Thomas Jefferson's Foreign Policy​' was published by Yale University Press in 2014. He runs a week-long seminar on the Age of Jefferson for schoolteachers from across the United States at Monticello sponsored by the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History and has been president of the Scottish Association for the Study of America. He is currently a member of the advisory board of the International Center for Jefferson Studies.