The Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage is an initiative of the University of Oklahoma to create a dynamic, inter-disciplinary center for the study of the U.S. Constitution.  The notion of a constitutional heritage reflects the Institute’s broad approach to the Constitution in all its aspects:  its philosophical underpinnings, its historical context, its legal substance, and its contemporary relevance.  The Institute is committed to teaching undergraduate courses designed to provide students with the civic knowledge and critical tools which will empower them as citizens and benefit them in their professional pursuits.  It will also promote faculty research and publication in the areas of constitutional studies and the foundations of political thought.

The Institute is housed in the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Classics and Letters.  The Letters program has been an integral part of the Humanities at OU since 1937, attracting outstanding students with interests in history, philosophy, and literature that transcend departmental boundaries.  With its diverse and inter-disciplinary faculty, emphasis on teaching, and broad curriculum, the Letters program is an ideal fit with the Institute’s approach to the U.S. Constitution.

The Institute will offer students a sequence of courses forming an area of concentration around constitutional studies.  The goal is to offer a curriculum in which Institute-affiliated courses are convergent, so that students progressively build upon their knowledge and understanding of the Constitution.  The Institute will ensure that the University of Oklahoma is a place where students can study the ancient roots of law, liberty, and self-governance, the development of liberal and republican thought in the modern world, the historical and ideological background of the American founding, and the relevance of the Constitution to contemporary debates over justice and freedom.

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