Brennan McDavid | Adam Smith's Strategy for Freedom in a Stupefying Economy?

The theme for the Annapolis Graduate Institute summer lecture series is “Thinking about America at St. John’s College.” When Stringfellow Barr and Scott Buchanan began the “New Program” at St. John’s in 1937, they described the College as “deeply rooted in the American tradition.” So deeply rooted, in fact, that they claimed “the ‘fundamental and inviolable principles’ of the College charter are recognizably principles also of the Declaration of Independence.” It is this striking and surprising claim that inspires this summer’s lecture series, “Thinking about America at St. John’s College.” In what sense is the college not only rooted in the American tradition but something like the embodiment of the American tradition? How does the pursuit of liberal learning support the vision of political liberty articulated in the Declaration, a document whose 250th anniversary we celebrate this summer. In the course of taking up these large and difficult questions, the lecture series will also investigate which distinctively American texts have established themselves as indispensable components of a liberal education and which might do so in the future. And, in a moment when any number of prominent advocates of liberal education have shown a resurgence of interest in the American tradition, the series will ask whether the study of a single national tradition is in fact compatible with the aims of liberal education.