This discussion group, now in its 19th year, is Clemson OLLI’s longest running offering. Participants spend the first portion of class watching a video lecture, which leads to the lively discussion that follows. Videos are available to registrants anytime; each discussion is freestanding. Owing to the wide interests within the group, digressions are frequent. The ancient Greek and Roman worlds deeply shaped the thinking of America’s founders In this course, you’ll explore the ethos of classicism that permeated the founders’ era and how the revolutionaries were influenced by ancient Greek and Roman political systems. You’ll dig deeply into the classical thought of five of the iconic founders, and you’ll learn how the Founding Fathers created a radically new political model based in the conception of equality.

Video lectures feature Caroline Winterer, the William Robertson Coe Professor History and American Studies at Stanford University. A discussion group member leads the conversation.