An engaging course for 11th- and 12th- grade students by Drs. Richard Ferrier and Andrew Seeley, faculty members of Thomas Aquinas College. This outstanding program is designed to "help the young citizens of America to understand how the principles of the American founding are crucial to the pursuit of happiness which is their birthright." Very thorough and enlightening!

The Student Text begins with the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States, explaining how the Declaration contains all the underlying principles and truths that our country was founded on, and continues on through the writing of the Constitution and the forming of the government, and how the founding fathers incorporated all the fundamental principles within the Constitution. This insightful program next discusses the challenges our country faced in the past and how they were eventually solved, and how those same problems apply to America today. For example:

• The fight against the institution of slavery and in defense of human rights can be applied to the present-day issues of abortion and homosexuality.
• In response to Roe v. Wade, the text compares it to the even more controversial Dred Scott decision, explaining how the Supreme Court "ruled" that blacks do not deserve human rights.
  
• When Lincoln was a young man, around 1838, he could already see the problems the U.S. would face in the coming years with the growing controversy over slavery. In his address before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln stated, "If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide." The challenge wouldn't come from outside forces, he reasoned, but from within, for he could see that the people were slowly forgetting the Declaration principles. This situation is clearly recurring in our society today.
  

159-page illustrated Student Text. The 72-page Teacher's Manual includes detailed lesson plans, answers to review questions, paper topics, quizzes, and tests. The 127-page compilation, Book of Readings, saves the purchase of additional books. Set of three books. Excellent value!