George Thomas, Ph.D.
Department
Areas of Expertise
Teaching Interests
American Constitutionalism, Comparative Constitutionalism, American Political Thought and Development
Research Interests
American Constitutionalism, Constitutional Theory, American Political Thought and Development
Education
B.A., University of Utah; Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Assistant Professor, Williams College.
Awards and Affiliations
Huntington Library grant (2013)
National Endowment for the Humanities grant (2010)
American Political Science Association’s Alexander L. George Award (2006)
Research and Publications
The Founders and the Idea of a National University: Constituting the American Mind (Cambridge University Press, 2015, paperback 2017).
The Madisonian Constitution (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008).
“The Roberts Court’s Reconstruction of Church and State” Journal of American Constitutional History Vol. 4 (Winter 2026): 132-151.
“Christianity, Enlightenment, and the American Experiment” Political Science Quarterly Vol. 140, No. 1 (Spring 2025): 175-192.
Religious Liberty, Same-Sex Marriage and Public Accommodations,” Perspectives on Politics Vol. 16, No. 1 (March 2018): 58-72.
"Rethinking the Dartmouth College Case in American Political Development: Constituting Public and Private Educational Institutions" Studies in American Political Development, 29 (April 2015), 23-39
“An ‘Originalist’ Court Overturns an Originalist Decision” The Atlantic, June 30, 2026
“The Other Fear of the Founders” The Atlantic, February 12, 2025
“‘America is a Republic, Not a Democracy,’ is a Dangerous—and Wrong—Argument,” The Atlantic, November 2, 2020.