Hillsdale’s newest online course, “The Real American Founding: A Conversation,” features a conversational approach to American founding principles as they were understood at the Founding, according to Kyle Murnen, director of online learning.  

Released on Oct. 11, the eight-part course includes conversations between Professor of Politics Thomas West and Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship David Azerrad.

West and Azerrad said they aim to discuss how the Founders would view current events.

Murnen said the conversational style of the course is unprecedented in Hillsdale’s online courses, but early feedback has been positive and could lead to similar courses in the future.

“It was especially helpful to have the conversational aspect, where Dr. Azerrad was able to draw out certain points that Dr. West explained,” Murnen said. 

West said his book, “The Political Theory of the American Founding,” published in 2017, inspired the new course. 

“In this book, I tried to show how the founders had a coherent political theory grounded in the natural law and natural rights tradition, and that their policies were all connected with their theories of what government is for and what the principles of government are,” West said.

According to West, the course is a way to make these ideas accessible to a wider audience.

“In the course, we talk about the relationship between the Founders’ ideas and what people today think about such matters,” West said.

Murnen said the course discusses the American Founders’ ideas of a good nation and illuminates how they might see modern issues.

“I think it’s a very different presentation of the Founding than what many people are used to,” Murnen said.

According to Azerrad, it is crucial to understand and to be bound by the principles of the Founders. He said this does not mean Americans must always be bound by the exact policies of the Founding. Instead, they should have a healthy recognition of the profound thought and purpose behind American government.

“Through this course, we try to recover how they thought about certain issues,” Azerrad said. “People think that the founding was just a bunch of guys in wigs who talked about the separation of powers, but there is much more.”