Lehrman American Studies Center

 

Course Overview

Congress and the Presidency examines two of the three federal institutions created by the American Constitution. While the course aims to teach you something about these institutions themselves, we will also attempt to use our examination of these specific institutions to understand something more fundamental about the nature of constitutional democracies. In the course of our examination of these institutions, we will use many articles from contemporary political science giving you some exposure to this field of study. Although some of the readings will be more typical political theory, the focus of this course is entirely contemporary. We use such readings only to deepen your understanding of the persistent issues arising within the constitutional relations between the legislative and executive branches—an understanding of which is critical to making sense of contemporary American politics. Finally, an underlying aim of this course is to impress upon you a deeper understanding of our constitutional system of separated powers.

 

 

Purposes

• To convey a historical, institutional, and contemporary understanding of the American Congress and the presidency
• To expose students to contemporary political science, insofar as it relates to Congress and the presidency
• To understand better the nature of constitutional democracies by appreciating the persistent issues that arise in the relations between the legislative and executive branches
• To appreciate the unique features (strengths and weaknesses) of a constitutional system of separated powers

 

 

Required Readings

• David Mayhew, Congress: The Electoral Connection
• Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing American and How to Get it Back on Track
• Mary P. Nichols and David Nichols, Readings in American Government (7th Edition)
• John Locke, Second Treatise of Government
• Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay, The Federalist Papers
• Jeffrey K. Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency
• Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates of 1793-1794: Toward the Completion of the American Founding
• Mark Neely, The Fate of Liberty

 

 

Plan of the Course

As you will see from the syllabus, I designed this course to exhibit, through practice, the continual dialogue between theory and practice. I initially designed the course by beginning with theory and then turning to practice. I began with Locke, proceeded through the founders, explained separation of powers, and only then turned to the specific institutions, Congress and the Presidency. I decided such a design is not only artificial but it also conveys the wrong message. It implicitly indicates that theory has nothing to do with practice and vice versa. Thus, I decided to structure the course in a way that indicates the continuous dialogue that should exist between theory and practice. Each informs the other. One cannot understand theory without practice and one cannot understand practice without theory. So, we start with Congress, examining in a very practical, “political sciencey” way, the motivations of members of Congress and the organization of the institution. We do not avoid both the theoretical and normative questions about the way Congress should be structured or the functions Congress should perform. But, we examine them through an empirical lens that asks first how do members of Congress behave. From here, we turn in a more theoretical direction, exploring more explicitly many of the background questions that arose from the first section of the course. The explicit aim of this course is to examine the principle that caused us to have two different institutions to study in the first place: separation of powers. After examining the separation of powers, we turn to the institution of the presidency. Our study of the presidency will be informed by both its place in the constitutional order and by the problem of its place, looking especially at the ways in which the modern presidency departs from the founders’ intentions. Our goal in doing so is not so much to lament the departure from the intentions of the founders as to reveal the difficulties that arise from the dissonance between our current expectations of the presidency and its constitutional place. Finally, we will conclude the course by examining the “prerogative” power, so contested in the present, in the context of Lincoln’s actions during the Civil War.

 

 

Class Schedule

 

Introduction

Class 1

 

 

Section I: Congress

 

The Electoral Connection

Class 1

Readings

• David Mayhew, Congress: The Electoral Connection
  • Foreward, Preface, Introduction, Chapter 1

Class 2

Readings

• Mayhew, Chapter 2;
• Morris P. Fiorina, "The Rise of the Washington Establishment"
• Nichols 34

 

A Defense of Congress

Class 1

Readings

• William F. Connelly, "In Defense of Congress,"
• Nichols 31
• Joseph M. Bessette, “Deliberation Defended,”
• Nichols 35

RR paper: Is Connolly justified in his defense of Congress?

 

Deliberation?

Class 1

Readings

• Paul J. Quirk, "Deliberation and Decision-Making,"
• Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track
  • Introduction, Chapter 2

 

Conditional Party Government: Congress game

Class 1

Readings

• Mann and Ornstein, Chapters 3-4
• Aldrich and Rohde, "Conditional Party Government"

 

The Contemporary Congress and Impeachment?

Class 1

Readings

• Mann and Ornstein, Chapter 5-6
• Jeffrey Tulis, "Impeachment in the Constitutional Order,"

RR paper: Should the impeachment power be understood politically as Tulis advocates?

 

Issues in the Contemporary Congress

Class 1

Readings

• Mann and Ornstein
  • Conclusion

 

Presentations and papers on congressional issues

 

Continuing presentations and papers on congressional issues

 

Section II: Modern Constitutionalism and the Separation of Powers

 

Modern Constitutionalism

Class 1

Readings

• John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government
  • Chapter I, 1-3; Chapter II, 4, 7-13; Chapter III, 17-21; Chapter IV, 22-23; Chapter V, 42 (second paragraph); Chapter VI, 53, 57, 59, 65, 70-71, 75-7; Chapter VII, 77, 87; Chapter VII, 88-94; Chapter VIII, 99, 105-107, 110-112; Chapter IX, 124-127, 131

 

Separation of Powers

Class 1

Readings

• John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government
  • Chapter XI, 134-138, 141-142; Chapter XII, 143-148; Chapter XIII, 149-150, 153-158

 

The Problem of Prerogative

Class 1

Reading

• John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government
  • Chapter XIV, 159-168;
• Benjamin A. Kleinerman, “Can the Prince Really Be Tamed: Executive Prerogative, Popular Apathy, and the Constitutional Frame in Locke’s Second Treatise”

 

Separation of Powers in the United States Constitution

Class 1

Readings

• The Federalist #51;
• Martin Diamond, “Separation of Powers and the Mixed Regime,”
• James W. Ceaser, “In Defense of Separation of Powers.”

RR: Is the separation of powers in the American Constitution good?

 

Separation of Powers—Should We Have It?

Class 1

Readings

• M.J.C. Vile, “The Doctrine of the Separation of Powers and Institutional Theory,”
• Walter Bagehot, “The Cabinet” from The English Constitution

Class 2

Readings

• Woodrow Wilson, “The Need for Cabinet Government in the United States,”
• Nichols 30
• Lloyd N. Cutler, “To Form a Government,”
• Mansfield, “Separation of Powers,” from America’s Constitutional Soul

 

 

Section III: The Presidency

 

The Constitution’s President

Class 1

Readings

• Federalist #’s 68, 70-72
• Jeffrey Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency
  • Chapters 1-2

Mid-Term Paper Due

Class 2

Readings

• Federalist #’s 74-76
• Anti-Federalist Critiques of Strength of Presidency in Founding the American Presidency

RR: Were the Anti-Federalists correct in their critique of the Constitution’s Presidency?

 

The Rhetorical Presidency

Class 1

Readings

• Tulis, Chapters 3-4
• “Resolve, the Framers of the Constitution would approve of the modern presidency,”

 

Woodrow Wilson’s New Type of Presidential Power

Class 1

Readings

• Tulis, Chapter 5
• Woodrow Wilson, “The President of the United States,” in Constitutional Government in the United States

 

The Promise and the Problem of the Modern Presidency

Class 1

Readings

• Richard E. Neustadt, “The Power to Persuade,”
• Nichols 39
• Tulis, Chapter 6

 

The Dilemmas of Governance

Class 1

Readings

• Tulis, Chapter 7; “The Rove Presidency,”

RR: Is Tulis correct in his critique of the “rhetorical” presidency?

 

 

Section IV: Presidential Prerogative?

 

Presidential War Power?

Class 1

Readings

• Pacificus, Number 1 in The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates of 1793-94
• John Yoo, “War Powers for a New World,” in The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11

Class 2

Readings

• Helvidius, Numbers I-V in The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates of 1793-94
• Alexander Bickel, “The Constitution and the War,”

RR: Who is right, Hamilton or Madison?

 

Lincoln's Actions

Class 1

Readings

• Mark E. Neely, The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties
  • Introduction, Chapters 1-2
• Abraham Lincoln, Message to Congress in Special Session

Class 2

Readings

• Neely, The Fate of Liberty, Chapters 3-5
• Abraham Lincoln, “To Orville H. Browning”
• Abraham Lincoln, “To Erastus Corning and Others,”

Class 3

Readings

• Neely, The Fate of Liberty
  • Chapter 10, Epilogue
• Benjamin A. Kleinerman, “Lincoln’s Example: Executive Power and the Survival of Constitutionalism,”
• Abraham Lincoln, “To Albert G. Hodges,”

 

Bush readings and Conclusion