American Civic Literacy

The Advance Ohio Higher Education Act (Section 3345.382) requires state institutions of higher education to develop an American Civic Literacy course of at least three credit hours, and it also stipulates that any student who graduates Spring Semester of the 2029-2030 academic year or after must complete the course in order to receive a bachelor’s degree from any state institution. To complete the course, a student must earn a passing grade and pass a cumulative final examination that assesses student proficiency about certain required documents (described below). Each course requires each student to read all of the following:

• the entire Constitution of the United States;
• the entire Declaration of Independence;
• a minimum of five essays in their entirety from the Federalist Papers;
• the entire Emancipation Proclamation;
• the entire Gettysburg Address;
• the entire Letter from Birmingham Jail written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.;
• the writings of Adam Smith, including a study of the principles written in The Wealth of Nations.

Ohio University has designed our curriculum to provide several options to students, and each ACL course is also designated as course in OHIO’s BRICKS general education. The following courses will satisfy this ACL requirement: 

• CARS 2800Z - Religion and American Civics- American Civic Literacy (3 hours)  

• ENG 1776Z - Reading the American Republic- American Civic Literacy (3 hours)  

• HIST 1776Z - The American Civic Tradition- American Civic Literacy (3 hours)  

• HIST 2000Z - Survey of United States History, 1600-1877- American Civic Literacy (3 hours)  

• PHIL 2400Z - Social and Political Philosophy- American Civic Literacy (3 hours)  

• PHIL 2120Z - History of Western Philosophy: Modern–American Civic Literacy (3 hours)  

• POLS 1010Z - Introduction to US Politics- American Civic Literacy (3 hours)  

• POLS 2000Z - American Politics, Policy, and Administration: American Civic Literacy (3 hours)  

• WGSS 2400Z - Women and the American Civic Tradition - American Civic Literacy (3 hours)