Lehrman American Studies Center

Overview

“A new political science is needed for a world altogether new.”

—Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

The American Constitution is said to be the oldest constitution continually functioning since its inception. Yet it has undergone significant change over the course of our history. Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to name just a few, sought to rethink and reorder our Constitution in important ways. Indeed, American politics has often been an attempt to reconcile competing values and concepts—such as popular sovereignty and individual rights, liberty and equality—that are said to be central to our Constitution.

As an introduction to American politics, this course will focus on the foundations and development of American thought and institutions over the last 200 years. What is the political thought behind the Constitution? Who is included in the Constitution’s preamble, “We the people”? What was the logic and purpose of the processes and institutions the Constitution called forth? How and why have these processes and institutions changed? How does the Constitution foster “a people” and protect their rights? How is the Constitution relevant to American politics in the twenty-first century?

In raising such questions, this course does not seek to come to easy answers about them (although it does insist that you give your fellow students a fair and respectful hearing). Rather, the purpose of this course is to introduce students to themes and questions you should wrestle with not just as students of government, but as American citizens.

Books

• Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, & John Jay, The Federalist Papers

• Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

• James Ceaser, Presidential Selection: Theory and Development

• Course Packet

Requirements

• A 5-7-page paper (20%)

• An in-class midterm examination Nov. 7 (20%)

• An in-class comprehensive final examination to be scheduled (40%)

• Class participation/Attendance (20%)

All components of the course must be completed to pass the course. As you must be in class to participate, excessive absences may result in failure.

Readings

I. America as a Constitutional Regime

Week 1: Who are We? Constituting the Polity

• Samuel Huntington, Who are We? Ch. 1, 3-4
• Tocqueville, Democracy in America, pgs. 26-75

Week 2: Culture and Creed

• Declaration of Independence

• Fredrick Douglas, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"

• Lincoln-Douglas Debates, First and Seventh

• Abraham Lincoln, “Gettysburg Address”

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Declaration of the Rights of Women”

• Tocqueville, Democracy in America, pgs. 302-396

Week 3: The Form of American Politics

• Articles of Confederation

• The Constitution and Amendments

• The Federalist Papers, No. 1, 9, 10, 51

• Tocqueville, Democracy in America, pgs. 93-161

Week 4: The Form of American Politics II

• The Federalist Papers, 15-26, 37-48 (15, 23, 38-41, 45-48)
• Brutus, I, VII
• The Federal Farmer, I-II

II. Sustaining the Republic: Political Process and Development

Week 5: Creating Citizens and Fostering Character

• The Federalist Papers, 49-50

• Noah Webster, “On the Education of Youth in America”

• George Washington, “Farwell Address”

• Abraham Lincoln, “Lyceum Address”

• Tocqueville, Democracy in America, pgs. 166- 186, 264-298

Week 6: October 4 & 6: Political Parties and Public Opinion

• Tocqueville, Democracy in America, pgs. 235-264

• Woodrow Wilson, Constitutional Government in the US, Ch. 8

Week 7: Campaigns and Elections

• James Ceaser, Presidential Selection, Ch. 1 & 4

• Tocqueville, Democracy in America, pgs. 463-464, 472-476

Week 8: Administration and the Welfare State

• Woodrow Wilson, “The Study of Administration” & “The Meaning of Liberty”

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “Commonwealth Club Address”

• Tocqueville, Democracy in America, pgs. 479-492, 496-509, 511-517

Midterm Exam

III. Institutional Forms: Theory and Development

Week 9: Congress and the President

• The Federalist Papers, No. 52-66 (especially 52, 55, 57, 62, 63, 65)

• Joseph Bessette, The Mild Voice of Reason, Ch. 1-2

• The Federalist Papers, No. 67-77 (especially 70, 71, 73)

Week 10: An Invitation to Struggle?

• Abraham Lincoln, “July 4 Message to Congress in Special Session”

• War Powers Act (1973)

• Use of Force Act (2001)

• Iraq I and II (1991 & 2002)

Week 11: The Supreme Court

• The Federalist Papers, No. 78-83 (especially 78, 80)

• Brutus, XI-XII

• Marbury v. Madison (1803)

IV. Liberty, Community, and Democracy

Week 12: Civil Liberties and Constitutional Foundations

• The Federalist Papers, No. 84

• The Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)

• Carolene Products, footnote 4 (1938)

• Cohen v. California (1971)

• Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

• Tocqueville, Democracy in America, pgs. 225-231

Week 13: The Future of American Politics

• Tocqueville, Democracy in America, pgs. 639-676

• Martha Nussbuam, “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism”

• Samuel Huntington, “Dead Souls: The Denationalization of the American Elite”

• Charles Kesler, “Creed vs. Culture”