This chapter provides a rough summary of how the United States came to be a federation of states rather than a unitary nation. To that end, it offers a thumbnail sketch of the timeline from the British colonial period to adoption of the US Constitution. The debates at the constitutional convention and the advocacy in both the Federalist and Antifederalist Papers are highlighted, with particular emphasis on the role of state sovereignty and the menu of choices that were open to the framers.

This chapter explores the efforts of the Founders to harness the power of education to create a citizenry capable of self-government. It emphasizes that while the Founders built a Constitution premised upon a cautious view of human nature, they saw education in a more optimistic light. Specifically, they viewed its role as helping to create a body of citizens capable of forming and maintaining meaningful relationships. In fact, they saw this as an indispensible task. Additionally, the chapter recounts the efforts of individuals such as Benjamin Rush and Horace Mann to expand educational access The chapter concludes with a critical analysis of Reconstruction, highlighting the missed opportunities and faulty historiography that continue to deny many citizens an equal chance to obtain an education. Though intended as a “re-founding” of the nation, Reconstruction in practice failed to live up to the Founders’ vision. The early promise of the “Civil War Amendments” and similar legislation went largely unfulfilled due to an adverse Supreme Court ruling and lack of political will.

What impact did the Scottish Enlightenment have on the American founding? Given the variegated, feisty composition of the Scottish Enlightenment, this chapter resists the idea that that movement had any single, unequivocal effect on America. It instead surveys the rich array of ways in which Scottish thought found its way into America and then examines a series of interactions between particular Scottish thinkers and particular American activists. What was Frances Hutcheson’s influence on Thomas Jefferson? Did David Hume or Adam Smith have a greater influence on Madison? What lessons did various American educational leaders take away from Thomas Reid’s response to David Hume? By looking in detail at these three cases, the chapter attempts to convey the flavour, as well as the content, of the reception of Scottish philosophy in America.