Spring 2026 Class: Government and Natural Law

Basis for Rating: Amazing course! I loved all the reading and the discussions were extremely formative. I definitely wish that we had more time, and/or were able to discuss more of Rice's work, 50 Questions on the Natural Law; I enjoyed his work immenselyGovernment and Natural Law truly felt like a culmination of everything I have learned in high school. The assignments required all my tools in writing and all my skills in comprehension. The difficulty of the course was matched with intriguing readings in which I delighted. Throughout the course we read Declaration Statesmanship by Richard Ferrier and Andrew Seeley, which taught me about civic duties, and how, from the beginning of our Nation, the Founding Fathers intended for every citizen to be a statesman, that is, a member of the political body. We are called to echo the founders' ideals of peace and unity for the U.S., an aspect which Ferrier and Seeley outline in their book, "Statesmen act in the real world, and their deeds are conditioned by what is actually possible. The founders faced the momentous task of establishing the first human government devoted to the propositions of natural right...They became the generals, congressmen, secretaries, and officers of that...government" (210).