Last updated: October 20, 2017

Russell Muirhead Office Hours: Wed 1-3 (appt) Trevor Latimer Office Hours: Wed 11:15-1:15 (and appt)

Dartmouth College Fall 2016 M, W, F, 10:10-11:15 X hour: Thursday 12:15-1:05

Government 65

American Political Thought “In the beginning,” John Locke observed, “all the world was America.” For Locke, seventeenth-century America presented the world with an example of the state of nature where individuals enjoyed and suffered a condition of natural equality and freedom. Over a century later, Alexis de Tocqueville too saw the future of the world in the new republic: “I admit that I saw in America more than America; it was the shape of democracy itself which I sought, its inclinations, character, prejudices, and passions; I wanted to understand it so as at least to know what we have to fear or hope therefrom.” For Locke as for Tocqueville and many more, America is exemplary and exceptional; it has significance not only for itself but for humanity. We too turn to the political thought of America to better grasp the meaning and fate of liberal democracy in the world. Requirements Paper (5-7 pages), Fri October 6 .................................................... 25% In-class hourly exam, Wed Oct 18 ................................................. 25% Final exam (scheduled by registrar) ............................................... 45% Attendance & Participation ............................................................ 5% One must pass each requirement in order to pass the course. You may discuss your work with each other, but your written work must be your own: using other people’s work without attribution will be sufficient reason to fail the course. The Government Department grading policy requires that mid-level courses such as this one have a median grade that does not exceed B+. See http://govt.dartmouth.edu/undergraduate/courses. Readings are drawn from primary materials: they include arguments, essays, and statements from thinkers and political actors. The following anthology has been ordered at Wheelock Books for purchase.

• Hammond, Hardwick, and Lubert, eds., Classics of American Political & Constitutional Thought, Volume 1: Origins through the Civil War, Hackett Publishing Company, 2007. ISBN# 978-0-87220-883-4

Some readings are accessible by embedded links or are posted to Canvas. It can be helpful to complement the assigned readings by consulting a general history such as Brinkley, American History: A Survey (McGraw Hill, 1995). But more focused books are more fun to read, such as Ellis, Founding Brothers (2000); Wilentz, The Rise of American Democracy (2005); and especially the volumes of the Oxford History of the United States, including Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789* (1982; 2005); Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815* (2011); Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848** (2007); McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era** (1988); White, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865–1896 (2017).

*Nominated for Pulitzer Prize for History; **Won Pulitzer Prize for History

American Political Thought p. 2 Fall 2017 Reading Assignments September 11, 13, 15 The Idea of America

Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity,” Classics, 13-18. “Little Speech on Liberty,” Classics 18-19.

Wolfe, “Nobody Here But Us Liberals,” New York Times, review of Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America (1955), https://nyti.ms/2nplwlu.

Franklin, Autobiography, Classics, 694-729 (especially his project for achieving moral perfection).

Bland, “An Inquiry into the Rights,” Classics, 186-92. Paine, “Common Sense,” Classics, 267-80. Otis, “Writs of Assistance” and “Rights of British North America,” Classics, 151-159

September 18, 20, 22 Revolution & Jeffersonianism

Jefferson “Declaration of Independence,” Classics, xvii-xix. Notes on the State of Virginia, Queries 1, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19 http://avalon.law.yale.

edu/18th_century/jeffvir.asp “Report of the Commissioners,” http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/04-01-02-

0289 “A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom,” http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/

documents/amendI_religions37.html To Madison, September 6, 1789, “The Earth Belongs to the Living,” http://press-pubs.

uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch2s23.html 1776 Constitution of Pennsylvania, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/pa08.asp John Adams

“Thoughts on Government,” Classics, 291-95 “Constitution of Massachusetts,” http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/print_documents/

v1ch1s6.html

September 25, 27, 29 Making A New Nation

Articles of Confederation, Classics, 332-37. Madison

“Vices of the System,” Classics, 370-73 Virginia Plan, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/vatexta.asp The United States Constitution, Classics, xx-xxxi.

Publius The Federalist No. 1, https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/

The+Federalist+Papers The Federalist No. 10, Classics, 463-66.

American Political Thought p. 3 Fall 2017 October 2, 5 (Note this is the x hour), 6 Formal Politics and Constitutional Democracy

Continue Publius, The Federalist Nos.27, 39, 47, 48, 49, 51, 57, 62, 63, 70, 71, 72 (available online) 78, Classics, 456-521 (those numbers not included in the anthology can be found here: https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/The+Federalist+Papers)

5-7 PAGE PAPER DUE FRIDAY

October 9, 11, 13 Critics of the Constitution and Party Spirit

A. (Critics) Brutus, Essays, Classics, 534-58. Melancton Smith, Speeches, Classics, 578-84. Jefferson, “Draft of the Kentucky Resolutions,” Classics, 664-67. Madison, “Virginia Resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Acts,” Classics, 668-69.

B. (Emergence of Party Spirit)

Hamilton “Report on Public Credit,” Classics, 612-14. “Report on the National Bank,” Classics, 615. “Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank,” Classics, 618-21. “Report on the Subject of Manufactures,” Classics, 622-27. “Letter to Washington,” Classics, 628-32.

Jefferson, “On the Constitutionality of a National Bank,” Classics, 615-18. Madison, “A Candid State of Parties,” Classics, 633-34.

October 16, 18, 21 Jacksonian Democracy and the Politics of Conscience

Webster, “Second Reply to Hayne,” Classics, 1000-1010. Jackson

“A Political Testament,” http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/jackson/jack~1.htm “Veto of the Maysville Road Bill,” Classics, 894-95

Fisk, “Capital Against Labor,” Classics, 913-17. Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” http://www.rwe.org/ii-self-reliance/ Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience,” Walden, Classics, 932-47; 1024-29. Elizabeth Cady Stanton,

“Address to the Legislature of New York, 1854,” https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/address-to-the-new-york-legislature-1854.htm

“Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions,” Woman's Rights Convention, Held at Seneca Falls, July 19-20,1848, http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/docs/seneca.html

EXAM ON WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 18

American Political Thought p. 4 Fall 2017 October 23, 25, 27 Racism, Sexism, and the Politics of Inclusion

Calhoun, “Speech on the Importance of Domestic Slavery” (1838), http://founding.com/founders-library/american-political-figures/john-c-calhoun/

Hammond, “Mud-sill speech,” (1858) to be distributed in class. Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Classics, 1012-21. Washington, “Atlanta Exposition Address” http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/39/ W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, (selections) http://www.gutenberg.org/files/408/408-

h/408-h.htm “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others” “The Talented Tenth”

Marcus Garvey, “The True Solution of the Negro Problem” (1922) to be posted to Canvas.

October 30, November 1 (Monday and Wednesday) Re-founding the Union

Lincoln Address before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois (1838), Classics, 969-73 Speech at Peoria, Illinois, Oct 16, 1854, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:282.

1?rgn=div2;view=fulltext “House Divided” Speech (1858), Classics, 1048-51. Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) At Ottawa, Aug 21, Classics, 1052-55

At Charleston, Sep 18, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln3/1:20.1?rgn=div2;view=fulltext;q1=charleston, 145-46.

At Galesburg, Oct 7, Classics, 1063-72. Speech to Wisconsin Agricultural Fair (1859), at https://www.nal.usda.gov/lincolns-

milwaukee-speech Address on Colonization to a Committee of Colored Men (Aug 14, 1862), Classics, 1100-

102. Emancipation Proclamation (Jan 1, 1863), Classics, 1106-07. Gettysburg Address (1863), Classics, 1113. Second Inaugural Address (1865), Classics, 1117-18.

American Political Thought p. 5 Fall 2017 November 3, 6, 8 (Friday, Monday, and Wednesday) Race and America, America and Race

Documentary 13th (will be screened in class, available on Netflix here: https://www.netflix.com/title/80091741).

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, “Statement of Purpose” (1960), http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai3/protest/text2/snccstatementofpurpose.pdf

MLK “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (Apr 16, 1963), https://www.africa.upenn.edu/

Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html “I Have a Dream” (Aug 28, 1963), https://youtu.be/I47Y6VHc3Ms

Malcolm X “Message to the Grass Roots” (Nov 10, 1963) sound recording, https://youtu.be/Ku2JzolPt50 “The Ballot or the Bullet” (Apr 3, 1964) sound recording, https://youtu.be/7oVW3HfzXkg

Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael) “What We Want,” The New York Review of Books 7, no. 4 (1966), http://www.

nybooks.com.dartmouth.idm.oclc.org/articles/1966/09/22/what-we-want/ “Black Power” (Oct 29, 1966), sound recording and text http://www.americanrhetoric.

com/speeches/stokelycarmichaelblackpower.html The Ten Point Platform and Program of the Black Panther Party, 1966, http://www2.iath.

virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary/Manifestos/Panther_platform.html Angela Davis, “Political Prisoners, Prisoners, and Black Liberation,” http://www.

historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/davispoprprblli.html

November 10, 13 (Friday & Monday) The New Republic

Roosevelt (TR), “The New Nationalism,” August 31, 1910, http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/new-nationalism-speech/

Roosevelt (FDR) “Commonwealth Club Address” (1932), http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/

fdrcommonwealth.htm; “The Four Freedoms” (1941), http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/

fdrthefourfreedoms.htm “A Second Bill of Rights” (1944), http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/pdfs/

state_union.pdf Reagan, “First Inaugural” (1981), http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=43130

FINAL EXAM IS SCHEDULED BY THE REGISTRAR, not by us: See the Registrar’s webpage to confirm the time and location. And yo!: Please make your travel arrangements such that you can attend the final exam: we will not be able accommodate those who wish to travel home early by scheduling a second exam date. Showing up is more than half of what conduces to success in life. It is your responsibility to show up for the final exam.