American Political Thought

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American Political Thought

Spring 2004

Vote to Impeach Andrew Johnson. (Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

Course Highlights

This course features a full set of student notes and assignments.

Course Description

This course surveys American political thought from the colonial era to the present. Required readings are drawn mainly from primary sources, including writings of politicians, activists, and theorists. Topics include the relationship between religion and politics, rights, federalism, national identity, republicanism versus liberalism, the relationship of subordinated groups to mainstream political discourse, and the role of ideas in politics. We will analyze the simultaneous radicalism and weakness of American liberalism, how the revolutionary ideas of freedom and equality run up against persistent patterns of inequality. Graduate students are expected to pursue the subject in greater depth through suggested reading and individual research.

Syllabus

Course Requirements

ACTIVITIES	PERCENTAGES
Class Participation	20%
Mid-term Paper Due by Session #8.	30%
Take-home Final (or Final Paper) Due by the last day of term.	50%

You may write a paper on a topic of your own choosing in lieu of taking the final. If you choose to write a paper, you must submit a one-page proposal by Session #10.

Calendar

LEC #	TOPICS
1	Introduction
2	Interpreting American Political Thought
3	The Protestant Background
4	Revolutionary America
5	Debating the Constitution
6	Jeffersonian Republicans v. Hamiltonian Federalists, with Madison in the Pivot
7	Individualism
8	Racism, Nativism, and Sexism in Antebellum America
9	A New Birth of Freedom?
10	The New Inegalitarians, or The Descent of Man
11	The Death of Freedom?
12	The Politics of Inclusion and the Politics of Difference
13	Markets, Morals, and America Abroad

Readings

Required Texts

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Dover. (Download a version from Project Gutenberg.)

Paine, Thomas. Common Sense. Dover. (Download a version from Project Gutenberg.)

Jefferson, Thomas. The Portable Thomas Jefferson. Edited by Merrill D. Peterson. New York, NY: Penguin, 1977. ISBN: 9780140150803.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Portable Emerson. Edited by Malcolm Cowley. New York, NY: Penguin, 1981. ISBN: 9780140150940.

Sumner, W. G. What Social Classes Owe to Each Other? Caldwell, ID: Caxton, 2003. ISBN: 9780870041662.

DuBois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk. New York, NY: Dover, 1994. ISBN: 9780486280417.

Friedman, Milton. Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780226264219.

Reading Assignments by Lecture Session

LEC #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction
2	Interpreting American Political Thought	Required Readings Hartz, Louis. The Liberal Tradition in America. New York, NY: Harvest Books, 1991, pp. 3-32. ISBN: 9780156512695. Sandel, Michael. Democracy's Discontent. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1996, pp. 3-54 and 274-315. ISBN: 9780674197442. Smith, Rogers. "Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions in America." American Political Science Review 87, 3 (1993): 549-566. Suggested Readings Smith, Rogers. Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780300069891. Hofstader, Richard. The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It. New York, NY: Vintage, 1989. ISBN: 9780679723158.
3	The Protestant Background	Required Readings Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. (Written 1771-1790, First Pub. 1868.) Lawrence, D. H. "Benjamin Franklin." In Studies in Classic American Literature. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 20-31. ISBN: 9780521550161. Suggested Readings Puritans in America. Edited by Alan Heimert and Andreq Delbanco. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985. ISBN: 9780674740655. Wood, Gordon. The Radicalism of the American Revolution. New York, NY: Vintage, 1993, pp. 3-94. ISBN: 9780679736882. Morgan, Edmund. Benjamin Franklin. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780300095326.
4	Revolutionary America	Required Readings Paine, Thomas. "Common Sense." 1776. Jefferson, Thomas. "Declaration of Independence." In Portable Thomas Jefferson, 1776, pp. 235-41. Abigail, and John Adams. "Remember the Ladies." 1776. (View the text and original manuscript of the letter from the Massachusetts Historical Society.) Douglass, Frederick. "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" 1852. Suggested Readings Bailyn, Bernard. Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Belknam Press of Harvard University Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780674443020. (original published in 1967) Wood, Gordon. The Creation of the American Republic 1776-1787. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. pp. 1-118. (originally published by Norton in 1969) Pocock, J. G. A. The Machiavellian Moment. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003. pp. 462-552. (originally published in 1975) Rodgers, Daniel. "Republicanism: The Career of a Concept." Journal of American History 79 (June 1992).
5	Debating the Constitution	Required Readings Publius. The Federalist. Pp. 1, 2, 6, 8-11, 14, 35, 37-39, 46-52, 54, 62, 63, 70, 71, 78 and 81 (1787-88). (Download from Project Gutenberg.) Dissent of the Minority of the Pennsylvania Convention. (Dec 18, 1787) (available online at Anti-Federalist Papers). Diamond, Martin. "Democracy and the Federalist: A Reconsideration of the Framers' Intent." American Political Science Review 53, 1 (March 1959): 52-68. Suggested Readings Wood, Gordon. The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1972. ISBN: 9780393006445. pp. 391-615. Storing, Herbert. What the Anti-Federalists Were For. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1981. ISBN: 9780226775746. Rakove, Jack. Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution. New York, NY: A.A. Knopf, 1996. ISBN: 9780394578583.
6	Jeffersonian Republicans v. Hamiltonian Federalists, with Madison in the Pivot	Required Readings Hamilton, Alexander. "Opinion on the Constitutionality of the Bank," and "Report on Manufactures." In Alexander Hamilton: Writings (Library of America, 2001). 1791, pp. 613-646 and 647-696. Jefferson, Thomas. Notes on the State of Virginia. 1787, pp. 92-103, 122-128, 153-199, 208-217 and 224-229. ———. "Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank." In Portable Thomas Jefferson. 1791, pp. 261-67. ———. "First Inaugural Address." In Portable Thomas Jefferson. March 4, 1801, pp. 290-95. ———. "Letter to Francis Hopkinson." In Portable Thomas Jefferson. 1789, pp. 435-37. ———. "Letter to Benjamin Austin." In Portable Thomas Jefferson. 1816, pp. 547-550. Alexander Hamilton on the Web (see this site for links to many of the writings noted above.) Madison, James. "Property." pp. 243-46. (View text at The Founders' Constitution.) Suggested Readings McCoy, Drew. The Elusive Republic: Political Economy in Jeffersonian America. Chapel Hill, NY: University of North Carolina, 1996. ISBN: 9780807846162. Dawson, Matthew. Partisanship and the Birth of America's Second Party 1796-1800: "Stop the Wheels of Government." Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780313310461. Appleby, Joyce. Capitalism and a New Social Order. New York, NY: New York University Press, 1984. ISBN: 9780814705810.
7	Individualism	Required Readings Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Chapter 1 in Nature. 1836. (Download from Project Gutenberg.) ———. "The American Scholar." In Portable Emerson. 1837. (View text on The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson.) ———. "Self-Reliance." In Portable Emerson. 1841. (Download from Project Gutenberg.) ———. "Politics." In Portable Emerson. 1844. (Download from Project Gutenberg.) ———. "Napoleon; Or, the Man of the World." In Portable Emerson. 1850. (View text on The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson.) ———. "The Fugitive Slave Law." In Portable Emerson. 1854. Thoreau, Henry David. "Civil Disobedience," "Economy," "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For," "Solitude," and "Higher Laws." In Walden. 1845. (View text and additional writings of Thoreau on The Thoreau Reader.) "Conclusion." In Walden. 1845. Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. "The Solitude of Self." 1892. (View text on PBS site: see Historic Documents section.) Suggested Readings Kateb, George. The Inner Ocean: Individualism and Democratic Culture. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780801480140.
8	Racism, Nativism, and Sexism in Antebellum America Mid-Term Paper Due in Class	Required Readings Calhoun, John C. Disquisition on Government. Excerpts, 1853. (Download from The Constitution Society.) Fitzhugh, George. Sociology for the South. 1854, pp. 268-76. Nott, Josiah C., and George R. Gliddon. eds. Types of Mankind. 1855, pp. 49-87. (View text on the Library of Congress.) Morse, Samuel F. B. "Imminent Dangers to Free Institutions." pp. ii-29. Grimke, Angelina E. Letters to Catherine E. Beecher. 1838, pp. 103-121. (View text on Sunshine for Women.) Beecher, Catherine B. True Remedy for the Wrongs of Women. 1851, pp. 24-60 and 224-32. Suggested Readings Faust, Drew. The Ideology of Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Antebellum South 1830-1860. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1981. ISBN: 9780807108925. Tise, Larry. Proslavery: A History of the Defense of Slavery in America 1701-1840. Athens, NY: University of Georgia Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780820309279.
9	A New Birth of Freedom?	Required Readings Lincoln, Abraham. Young Men's Lyceum Address. 1838. ———. "First Inaugural Address." In Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings. 1861. ———. "Address on Colonization." In Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings. ———. "Second Inaugural Address." In Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings. 1865 ———. "Speech on Reconstruction." 1865. In Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings. Download the complete writings of Abraham Lincoln from Project Gutenberg. Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877. New York, NY: Perennial, 2002, pp. 18-34, 142-75, and 228-80. ISBN: 9780060937164. Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. "Gerritt Smith on Petitions." 1869. Myra Bradwell v. State of Illinois, 83 U.S. 130 (1872): Excerpt. (View full text of decision on FindLaw.) U.S. v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 (1876). (View full text of decision on FindLaw.) Suggested Readings Hofstadter. The American Political Tradition. pp. 118-74. McPherson, James. Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780195055429. Smith, Rogers. Civic Ideals. pp. 197-346. Donald, David Herbert. Lincoln. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1996. ISBN: 9780684825359.
10	The New Inegalitarians, or The Descent of Man	Required Readings Sumner, William Graham. What Social Classes Owe to Each Other. 1883, pp. 1-24, 51-62, 107-131. Strong, Josiah. Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis. 1885, pp. 30-59, 84-112 and 159-80. Miller, John. "Chinese Exclusion." In Congressional Record : Senate. Feb 28, 1882, pp. 1483-1487; Jan 25, 1887: pp. 980-984; March 16, 1896: pp. 2817-2820; and Jan 9, 1900: pp. 704-712. Grady, Henry W. "The Race Problem." 1889, pp. 138-55. Suggested Reading Hofstadter, Richard. Social Darwinism in American Thought. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780807055038. (original published in 1944)
11	The Death of Freedom?	Required Reading DuBois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk. Suggested Readings Reed, Adolph. W. E. B. DuBois and American Political Thought: Fabianism and the Color Line. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780195051742. Lewis, David Levering. W. E. B. DuBois: Biography of a Race 1848-1919. New York, NY: H. Holt, 1994. ASIN: B000OKPKJM.
12	The Politics of Inclusion and the Politics of Difference	Required Readings Kennedy, John F. "Inaugural Address." 1961. (Inaugural Address President John F. Kennedy) King, Martin Luther Jr. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." 1963. X, Malcolm. "The Ballot or the Bullet." 1965. Goldwater, Barry. "Acceptance Speech." 1964. (Goldwater's 1964 Acceptance Speech) Johnson, Lyndon. "Commencement Address at Howard University: 'To Fulfill These Rights'." 1965. (Commencement Address at Howard University:"To Fulfill These Rights") and "State of the Union Address." (Aka 'War on Poverty' speech.) 1964. (Annual Message to the Congress on the state of the Union.) N.O.W. "Bill of Rights." 1967. Williams, Patricia. The Alchemy of Race and Rights. Cambridge, MA: Havard University Press, 1992, pp. 44-79. ISBN: 9780674014718. Pollitt, Katha. "Are Women Morally Superior to Men?" The Nation. Sept/Oct (1992): 101-109.
13	Markets, Morals, and America Abroad	Required Readings Friedman, Milton. Capitalism and Freedom. 1962, Introduction, chapters 1, 2, 7, 10, and Conclusion. Fukuyama, Francis. "The End of History?" In The National Interest. Summer (1989): 3-18. ———. "Statement of Principles." In Project for the New American Century. June 3, 1997. (Project for the New American Century) Gholz, Eugene, Daryl G. Press, and Harvey M. Sapolsky. "Come Home, America: A Strategy of Restraint in the Face of Temptation." In International Security 21, 4 (Spring 1997): 5-17. "War with Iraq is Not in America's National Interest." Advertisement in the NY Times. September 26, 2002. Pollack, Kenneth M. "Why Iraq Can't Be Deterred?" New York Times. September 26, 2002. Dalder, Ivo, and James Lindsay. "It's Hawk vs. Hawk in the Bush Administration." Washington Post, October 27, 2002. Ikenberry, G. John. "America's Imperial Ambition." Foreign Affairs 81, 5 (Sep-Oct 2002). Suggested Readings Kristol, Irving. Two Cheers for Capitalism. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1978. ISBN: 9780465088034. Steinfels, Peter. The Neoconservatives: The Men Who Are Changing America's Politics. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1979. ISBN: 9780671226657. Will, George. Statecraft as Soulcraft. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1983. ISBN: 9780671427337. Hayek, Friedrich. The Road to Serfdom. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780226320618. Robin, Corey. "The Ex-Cons: Right-Wing Thinkers Go Left." Lingua Franca. January 2001: 24-33.