GVPT 170American Government and

Politics in a Global EraORIGINS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL

PRINCIPLES AND AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

January 30, 2006

AMERICA IS A CONSERVATIVE NATION WITH LIBERAL VALUES

WHY CONSERVATIVE?

FRAGMENTED NATURE OF

US POLITICAL SYSTEM

WHY LIBERAL?

HISTORY AND TRADITIONS

WHAT ARE AMERICA’S CLASSICAL LIBERAL VALUES?

• INDIVIDUALISM• FREEDOM• CAPITALISM• EQUALITY• RULE OF LAW• DEMOCRACY• DIVERSITY

‘CONSERVING LIBERALISM’

• CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN

• GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

• UNEVEN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• RACISM

• ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS DIVISIONS

• STATE REPRESSION

AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT: A MAZE OF

CONTRADICTIONSCapitalist v AnticapitalistPragmatic v Absolutist

Optimistic v PessimisticMaterialist v Idealist

Individualist v ConformistFreedom v Equality Oriented

Global v Insular

AMERICAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

• Unique Nature: American exceptionalism• A Tradition of Classical Liberalism• America was a ‘nation’ before a ‘state’• Leadership of the Founding Brothers• An evolving process• A conflictual process• A process compromised by political fragmentation???

AMERICANISM: POLITICAL PRINCIPLES AND THEMES

• SHAPED BY WESTERN TRADITIONS

• A MAZE OF CONTRADICTIONS

• AMERICAN IDEOLOGY IS INSULAR

• AMERICA IS A CONSERVATIVE NATION

• AMERICANISM IS LIBERALISM

• EXCEPTIONALISM HAS ITS PERILS

GVPT 170American Government and

Politics in a Global EraTHE UNIFINISHED REVOLUTION, NATIONBUILDING AND THE U.S.

CONSTITUTION

February 1, 2006

LECTURE THEMES

*AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM AND THE LACK OF A FEUDAL TRADITION

*THE UNFINISHED REVOLUTION

*PRE-CONSTITUTION: IMMENSE POLITICAL AUTHORITY IN STATES & LOCALITIES

*A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC: SOLUTION

TO PRESERVE FREEDOM AND

EQUALITY

*LEADERSHIP FAILURES IN PHILADELPHIA

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

• ‘CITY ON THE HILL’ AND THE ‘NEW WORLD’ AS BLESSED

• DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AS THE PROMISE OF EQUALITY

(Lincoln, Martin L.King Jr.,T.Marshall)

• AMERICAN DREAM: PEOPLE JUDGED

NOT BY ACCIDENT OF BIRTH

The Unfinished Revolution

*Change in governance

*Traditions of classical liberalism and localism intact

*Unsettled political conflicts represented by the split between Federalists and Anti-Federalists

*Conflicts escalated into Civil War (1861-1865)

*Some issues remain unresolved

THE FRAMERS AND A ‘NEW SCIENCE OF POLITICS’

• No relevant model of republican governance

• Differing views- what is a ‘good republic’

• A Big Victory for the Federalists

• Consensus was key

• Federalists controlled the agenda

• Slavery protected by 3 clauses

AMERICAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

AMERICANISM: POLITICAL PRINCIPLES AND THEMES

• SHAPED BY WESTERN TRADITIONS

• A MAZE OF CONTRADICTIONS

• AMERICAN IDEOLOGY IS INSULAR

• AMERICA IS A CONSERVATIVE NATION

• AMERICANISM IS LIBERALISM

• EXCEPTIONALISM HAS ITS PERILS

GVPT 170American Government and

Politics in a Global EraAnalyzing American Political

Beliefs

February 6, 2006

CENTRAL THEMES

HAMILTONIAN V JEFFERSONIAN MODELS OF POLITICAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

PROCEDURAL V SUBSTANTIVE DEMOCRACY

Hamiltonian Model of Political Development

• Manufacturing-based economy

• Activist government

• Elite orientation

• Expansion of the national government

Jeffersonian Model of PoliticalDevelopment

Agriculturally-based economy

Importance of the small farmer

Confidence in the ordinary citizen

State and local governmental control

AMERICAN POLITICAL LEADERSHIP FROM

FDR TO CLINTON: CONSENSUSHamiltonian:

public needs best met in contextof a healthy business climate

Jeffersonian:Ordinary citizen’s needs take precedence in a good society

PROCEDURAL V SUBSTANTIVEDEMOCRACY

• Early 20th century conflicts far from resolved• Changes in economy led to demands for expansion of procedural democracy• Growing inequalities: Abolition, Suffragist, Workers, Farmers, Early Civil Rights Movements• Without the ‘means” cannot achieve “the ends of democracy” • Major role of federal courts in the expansion of procedural rights

INDIVIDUALISM: A FUNDAMENTAL AMERICAN

BELIEF

• Very deep cultural commitment

• Individual as the starting point

• Some limits placed

• Contentious

• Contradictory

• Continuing subject of disagreement

PROPERTY: A FUNDAMENTAL POLITICAL BELIEF

• Meaning has changed over time• Jeffersonian: owning land central to citzenship• Hamiltonian: ownership broader• Conflict over forms of property• Legacy: government subsidizes home ownership• Legacy: Americans threatened by government

ownership• Legacy: no real workers movement today

CONTRACTS AND LAW: AMERICAN BELIEFS

• Contract as an embodiment of higher law

• Public and private life

• U.S. Constitution is a contract

• Contracts basis of daily transactions

• Contentious: neutrality of the law

• Individualism, Property, Contracts support

capitalism

FREEDOM AND EQUALITY AS COMPLEMENTARY AND CONTENTIOUS BELIEFS

• Freedom as the absence of restraints

• Equality as entitlements

• Conflicts

-Political equality impinges on freedom

-Freedom leads to inequalities

-Resentment over equality of opportunity

-Utopian idea of equality and safety net