The eighteenth century saw the rise of many exciting new political, religious, and scientific theories about human happiness, perfectibility, and progress that today we call “the Enlightenment.”
Lead Scholar: Caroline Winterer, Stanford University
Master Teacher: Lindsey Charron
Image: Engraving of Thomas Jefferson after a painting by R. Peale engraved by C. Tidout, 1801. (The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC05669)
Up to 24 PD Hours
The eighteenth century saw the rise of many exciting new political, religious, and scientific theories about human happiness, perfectibility, and progress that today we call “the Enlightenment.” Most people associate the Enlightenment with Europe, but in this course we will explore the many ways in which the specific conditions of North America—such as slavery, the presence of large numbers of Indigenous peoples, a colonial political context, and even local animals, rocks, and plants—also shaped the major questions and conversations of the Enlightenment.
Optional Book Talk: If you are interested in Professor Winterer’s scholarship but want to take a different course at the Teacher Symposium, you may attend her book talk on How the New World Became Old: The Deep Time Revolution in America. Symposium participants attending the optional book talks can earn additional PD credit.
"Monticello - The Home of Thomas Jefferson" engraved by Pierson, ca. 1847. (The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC08878.1190)
Caroline Winterer is William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies and chair of the Department of History at Stanford University. She specializes in American history before 1900, especially the history of ideas and the history of science. She received an American Ingenuity Award from the Smithsonian Institution for mapping the social network of Benjamin Franklin, and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Humanities Center, the Spencer Foundation, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation.
She is the author of five books and more than forty articles. Most recently, How the New World Became Old: The Deep Time Revolution in America (Princeton, 2024) shows how the idea of deep time transformed how Americans see their country and themselves. Other recent books include Time in Maps: From the Age of Discovery to Our Digital Era (Chicago, 2020), edited with her Stanford colleague Karen Wigen, and American Enlightenments: Pursuing Happiness in the Age of Reason (Yale, 2016). Earlier books and articles have explored America’s long tradition of looking at the ancient classical world for political, artistic, and cultural inspiration.
Lindsey Charron has taught for eighteen years. She currently teaches eighth grade US History at Ensign Intermediate School in Newport Beach, California. She was selected as a James Madison Fellow in 2013 and has master’s degrees in history and educational technology. Lindsey is passionate about teaching with primary sources and utilizing technology in the classroom. She is both a George Washington Teacher Fellow and a Monticello Barringer Fellow, and she has attended many Gilder Lehrman Institute and NEH seminars. Lindsey serves as a National Oratory Fellow with Ford’s Theatre and as a master teacher with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. She was selected as the California Council for Social Studies Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2020 and as the California History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in 2021.