The People, The Founders, and the American Political System

Jason Frank, the government department's Gary S. Davis Assistant Professor of the History of Political Thought, explores intriguing questions about the way we--as individuals, voters, and citizens--talk about, think about, and theorize about, the nature, origins, and operation of our government and political system. What does the phrase "the people" actually mean? Why do we (and our politicians) talk so often about Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, and the other "Founders," and what is the relationship between the system they created and "the people"? Frank received his MA and Ph.D. in political science from the Johns Hopkins University, and a BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Before coming to Cornell, Jason taught at Johns Hopkins, Goucher College, University of California, Santa Cruz, Duke and Northwestern. He has also held research fellowships at UCLA's Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies, Duke's Franklin Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His primary field is political theory and his research and teaching interests include democratic theory, American political thought, politics and literature, political culture, and the philosophy of political inquiry.