Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Since 1776, the interpretation and application of the Declaration of Independence has evolved, but the core of the document remains the same.

Celebrating the founding document’s 250th anniversary, Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs is teaching a new class this semester to focus on the document’s impact, history and changing influence.

The course, titled USA@250, is a one-credit course designed to take students through the history of the United States, including political and social issues such as Indigenous liberation, women’s rights and political polarization.

Meeting Monday afternoons, the course brings together 12 Maxwell professors to share their own expert insights with students.

Carol Faulkner, Maxwell’s senior associate dean for academic affairs, said she came up with the idea for the class after being inspired by a similar course at Yale University taught by three historians.

She said she wanted to create a similar class at Maxwell, expanding it to not just include history, but also politics and public policy.

“In the past, the Declaration of Independence was a much more tangible document to Americans, they really were familiar with it, and it inspired many Americans,” Faulkner said. “I want to sort of maintain that level of engagement with America’s past and present.”

Lily Sweeney, a sophomore studying political science, said the class has already taught her about the history of the Declaration of Independence and how it contributes to the U.S.’s political climate today.

“We’re doing only single lectures on these (topics), but we’re going so in depth on them as well,” Sweeney said. “On the first day we spent time just on the Declaration of Independence and I felt like I learned a lot about how people reacted to the Declaration of Independence, more than I had learned from really any history or American government class I had taken before.”

Sophomore Ian Lever said he took the class to learn more about the U.S.’s founding principles in a format different from traditional history courses.

“It has opened my eyes to a perspective of the U.S. I had not previously seen and I believe classes like this can do the same for the wider community,” Lever said.

In addition to being offered to all Syracuse students, each course lecture is also live-streamed and recorded for the public. As someone who does a lot of talks in the community, SU political science professor Thomas Keck said he wanted to be a lecturer for the course.

“If there’s something in the news that is relevant to my expertise and people are eager for help in understanding what’s going on, it’s a valuable kind of contribution that faculty can make,” Keck said.

Keck’s lecture on Jan. 26 focused on the history and implications of the constitution.

“It’s important for everybody to be able to understand that original Constitution and also its subsequent development over time so that they can make informed judgments about whether they think their current government officials are acting consistently with it or not,” Keck said.

While the course was created to help students and the community make sense of the U.S. at its 250th anniversary, it was also designed to pay homage to the objectives of the Maxwell School.

Students in the classroom also said they are gaining new information and insight to a topic they hadn’t previously experienced in other courses.The lectures taught by several professors is something Faulkner said allows the course to cover a wider range of material than a typical Maxwell course.

“It’s really inspired by the mission of the Maxwell School, that the Maxwell School was founded to teach citizenship to Syracuse University undergrads,” Faulkner said. “And I think this is a way of keeping that mission going.”

The full list of lectures for the remainder of the course can be found on the Maxwell School website.

Published on February 5, 2026 at 12:49 am