Thursdays, 10 AM – Noon | April 7- May 12

        Leaders:  Dick Hesse and Mary Lee Sargent

America’s Founding Fathers is the second part of a three-semester Great Courses series exploring the founding of our government. The 12 lectures take us from the final days of the Constitutional Convention through the contentious days of President Washington’s first term. The focus is on individuals and competing ideas providing both context and content. We meet important players that popular histories have ignored.

April 7   

• Roger Sherman’s Compromise
• Elbridge Gerry’s Committee

April 14      

• James Wilson’s Executive
• John Rutledge’s Committee

April 21      

• Rufus King’s Slaves
• David Brearley’s Postponed Parts

April 28    

• John Dunlap and David Claypoole’s Broadside
• Alexander Hamilton’s Papers

May 5       

• Patrick Henry’s Convention
• George Washington’s Inaugural

May 12    

• Alexander Hamilton’s Reports
• Thomas Jefferson’s Party    

Dick Hesse is a retired lawyer and law professor who specialized in constitutional law and was involved in several cases before the Supreme Court. He has presented history courses for LINEC and other adult education programs over a number of years.

Mary Lee Sargent is a retired professor of History and Women’s Studies. She taught at Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois for 35 years and was Director of the Women and Gender Studies Department. After moving to New Hampshire in 2003, Mary Lee was an adjunct instructor at Southern New Hampshire and Plymouth State Universities and Lakes Region and NHTI Community Colleges.