Conservatives believe that America is exceptional because of the ideas upon which it was founded.  But not everyone believes those ideas are permanent or relevant today.  In this first session, Dr. Matthew Spalding helps define Conservatism by looking at what it is not.  Arising after the Civil War and during the Industrial Revolution as a reform movement, Progressivism has its theoretical roots in relativism, historicism, and positivism.  These ideas would be antithetical to the founding principles and would begin to redefine the relationship between the government and the people.