Graduate Certificate - American History

The graduate certificate in American history emphasizes the origins, content, and judicial interpretations of the U.S. Constitution as well as the history of our popular culture from the Revolutionary War to the modern era. The curriculum goes beyond just facts and dates by investigating the cultural norms, socioeconomics, religious paradigms, and the foreign and domestic political upheaval that incited the American Revolution. For history buffs or professional historians and educators, this 6-course certificate offers you the opportunity to earn academic credit while studying American history entirely online.

Many university faculty members teaching these courses are published historians or military leaders who bring unique perspectives and relevant research into the classroom. You’ll also connect and interact online with other students who share your enthusiasm for history.

Certificate Objectives

Upon successful completion of this certificate, the student will be able to:

• Compare and contrast historical context of 18th century British and colonial American political and constitutional philosophies, social norms and societal structure, economics, religious concepts, and foreign and diplomatic policy.
• Discern and assess the political, economic, cultural, and social aspects of the Civil War, including the causes and the conflict's aftermath.
• Explain changes in American society such as industrialization, immigration, and urbanization; isolationism and collective security; World War I; changing values; stock market crash; the Great Depression, and the cultural, social, political, military, and economic growth to the present.
• Critique the history of expressive and material culture; historical contexts of various artistic movements; cultural imperialism; cultural appropriation, creativity, and identity; and expressions of social difference and deviance in the United States.
• Discern the origins, content, and judicial interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and the Supreme Court’s evolving decisions on issues as States’ rights, civil rights, the Commerce Clause, Due Process in criminal and other proceedings, and protected freedoms.