From the colonial period to the late 20th century, American culture has embraced a handful of dominant moral outlooks, each with profound consequences for the nation's history. This course demonstrates how understanding large segments of American history is possible through the identification of a given era's dominant philosophic ideas. Mr. Daniels focuses on five moral systems in American history, and examines the social and political consequences of these ideas by identifying their philosophic roots. The course concludes with a discussion of the Objectivist ethics and a few observations about how it is already helping to transform today's culture.