Lehrman American Studies Center

“Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.” - Margaret Thatcher

Synopsis:

The American political system is made up of certain rules, habits, and institutions. But those apparent political forms do not tell the whole story of American political life. To understand the nature and character of American politics, it is necessary to go below and beyond that surface level of things: to the realm of intellectual contemplation and moral conversation.

This is a course on the interior life of American politics. We ask: What are the ideas and commitments that have guided – and continue to guide – American political experience? To what extent have those ideas and commitments been contested, and how have they been contested? To what extent have they changed over time? And what is at stake, historically and intellectually and morally speaking, in present-day political debates?

Requirements:

I expect you to be on time (and awake) for every session. Even though I do a fair amount of lecturing, you should come to class prepared to ask questions and participate in discussions, having read all the day’s material. No laptops or other fancy technologies are permitted in class.

To fulfill the course requirement, you must write a minimum of two papers. (On four occasions, more-or-less evenly spaced throughout the semester, I will distribute an extensive set of paper topics. You may write a maximum of one essay, three to five pages long, from each of the four sets of paper topics.) These paper topics will require you to write about texts that we have not yet covered in class. This is intentional, designed to provoke critical thinking about particular issues before we discuss them, and to let you engage authors and books on your own terms. Since you have a great deal of flexibility in choosing which papers to write (and therefore when to write them), I will not grant extensions or accept late work.

I prefer to read papers that are double-spaced, in Times New Roman 12-point font, with 1-inch margins.

You will also complete an in-class final exam.

Evaluation:

The average of your two best papers will make up 50 percent of your final grade; the final will make up another 25 percent. Class participation will comprise the remaining 25 percent of your final grade. If you fail to complete any of the course components, you will fail the course.

Texts:

The following texts are required and available for purchase at the Huntley Bookstore:

1. Christopher Lasch, The Revolt of the Elites (W.W. Norton) ISBN 0393313719
2. Paul Lauter, ed., Heath Anthology of American Literature (Houghton Mifflin)ISBN 0618256636
3. Abraham Lincoln, The Portable Abraham Lincoln (Penguin)ISBN 0140170316
4. William Graham Sumner, What Social Classes Owe To Each Other (BiblioBazaar)ISBN 1434694836
5. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (University of Chicago Press) ISBN 0226805360
6. David Wooton, ed., The Essential Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers (Hackett) ISBN 0872206556

Other readings for the course (marked with an asterisk on the syllabus) are available on Sakai. During the relevant class sessions, you should print these out and bring them to class.

Syllabus:

I. INTRODUCTION

Day 1

• Introduction

Day 2

• Dan Barry, “In the Middle of Nowhere, a Nation’s Center,” The New York Times (June 2, 2008)
• Peggy Noonan, “The End of Placeness,” The Wall Street Journal (August 15, 2008)
• Barack Obama, Speech to the Democratic National Convention (August 28, 2008)
• John McCain, Speech to the Republican National Convention (September 4, 2008)

II. THE SOURCES OF REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT

Day 3

• John Smith, selection from “A Description of New England” (Lauter, pp. 132-135)
• J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, “On the Situation, Feelings, and Pleasures of an American Farmer” and “What Is an American?” from Letters from an American Farmer (Lauter, pp. 439-446)

Day 4

• Thomas Herriot, selection from A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (Lauter, pp. 120-125)
• Thomas Morton, selection from New English Canaan, Book 1 (Lauter, pp. 141-144)
• Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America: volume one, part one, chapter 1 (pp. 19-27)
• Day 5
• John Winthrop, selection from “A Model of Christian Charity” (Lauter, pp. 149-157)
• Nathaniel Niles, “First Discourse on Liberty”

Day 5

• Thomas Paine, “Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs,” from Common Sense (Lauter, pp. 455-461)
• Thomas Paine, “Number 1,” from The American Crisis (Lauter, pp. 461-466)
• The Declaration of Independence

III. THE DEBATE OVER THE CONSTITUTION

Day 6

• The Constitution of the United States (Wooton, pp. 326-337)
• James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, The Federalist 1-2, 6-10, 14-15, 23, 35, 39, 47-49, 51, 55, 57, 62-63, 70, and 78 (Wooton, pp. 140-174; 179-183; 195-199; 214-219; 225-250; 254-289)

Day 7

• George Mason, Objections to the Constitution of Government Formed by the Convention (Wooton, pp. 1-3)
• Address of the Minority of the Pennsylvania Convention (Wooton, pp. 3-25)
• Patrick Henry, Speech before the Virginia Ratifying Convention (Wooton, pp. 25-42)
• Melancton Smith, Speech before the New York Ratifying Convention (Wooton, pp. 42-58)
• Cato, Letters 4 and 5 (Wooton, pp. 58-65)
• Centinel, Letter 1 (Wooton, pp. 65-74)
• Brutus, Essays 6, 11, 12, and 15 (Wooton, pp. 74-96)

IV. THE PARADOX OF THE REPUBLIC

Day 8

• Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America: introduction and volume 1, part 2, chapter 6 – volume 1, part 2, chapter 9 (pp. 3-15 and 220-295)

Day 9

• Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America: volume 2, part 2, chapters 1-19 (pp. 479-529); volume 2, part 3, chapters 8-10 (pp. 558-567)

V. THE PROBLEM OF INHERITANCE

Day 10

• Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle” (Lauter, pp. 940-953)
• Abraham Lincoln, “Address to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield” (Lincoln, pp. 17-27)
• Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”

Day 11

• Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance” (Lauter, pp. 707-723)
• Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Over-soul”

Day 12

• Henry David Thoreau, “Resistance to Civil Government” (Lauter, pp. 751-764)

VI. THE CRISIS OF THE UNION

Day 13

• Henry David Thoreau, “A Plea for Captain John Brown”
• William Lloyd Garrison, Editorial from the First Issue of the Liberator (Lauter, pp. 832-834)
• Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, selections (Lauter, pp. 1035-1055)

Day 14

• John C. Calhoun, selection from “Slavery a Positive Good”
• Stephen A. Douglas, “The Dividing Line Between Federal and Local Authority,” Harper’s Magazine
• Alexander Stephens, selection from “The Cornerstone Speech”
• George Fitzhugh, selection from Cannibals All!
• Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, selection from the Lincoln-Douglas debates

Day 15

• Herman Melville, Benito Cereno (Lauter, pp. 1084-1141)

Day 16

• Abraham Lincoln, selections from secession-era and wartime writings (Lincoln, pp. 189-321)

VII. THE PERIL AND PROMISE OF POST-WAR AMERICA

Day 17

• William Graham Sumner, What Social Classes Owe To Each Other
• Monday, November 10
• Henry Adams, “The Dynamo and the Virgin,” from The Education of Henry Adams (Lauter, pp. 1611-1618)
• Mark Twain, “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” (Lauter, pp. 1369-1399)
• Mark Twain, “The Turning Point of My Life”

Day 18

• Theodore Roosevelt, “The Strenuous Life”
• Randolph Bourne, “Trans-National America” (Lauter, pp. 2053-2065)

Day 19

• James Baldwin, “The Discovery of What It Means To Be an American”
• Malcolm X, selection from The Autobiography of Malcolm X (Lauter, pp. 2254-2259)
• Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
• Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream” (Lauter, pp. 2265-2269)
• Martin Luther King, Jr., “I’ve Been To the Mountaintop” (video)

VIII. MASS SOCIETY AND THE CRISIS OF CULTURE

Day 20

• Bernard Iddings Bell, selections from Crowd Culture: An Examination of the American Way of Life

Day 21

• Young Americans for Freedom, The Sharon Statement
• Students for a Democratic Society, The Port Huron Statement
• National Organization for Women, Statement of Purpose
• Young Lords Party, 13-Point Program and Platform

IX. THE NEW ELITES AND THE CRISIS OF CITIZENSHIP

Day 22

• Christopher Lasch, The Revolt of the Elites: chapters 1-2 (pp. 3-49)
• Reich, “The Secession of the Successful,” The New York Times Magazine (January 20, 1991)

Day 23

• Christopher Lasch, The Revolt of the Elites: chapters 6 and 10 (pp. 117-128; 176-193)
• Wendell Berry, 2007 Commencement Address at Bellarmine University

X. CONCLUSION

Day 24

• Wilfred McClay, “Is America an Experiment?”
• John Schaar, “The Case for Patriotism”