SPRING 2007, GOVERNMENT 392: AMERICAN POLITICAL THEORY
Section 01: MWF 10-10:50, Morton 1
Section 02: MWF 1-1:50, Morton 1
Prof. Simon Stow,
32 Morton Hall,
221-3048
sastow@wm.edu
OFFICE HOURS: Monday and Wednesday, 11am-12pm.
The aims of this class will be twofold: first, to consider the theoretical foundations of America;
and second, to develop a theoretical perspective upon key issues in American politics. We will be
concerned to understand the founding of the nation, the tensions implicit in the constitution, and
the struggle to expand the rights and freedoms enshrined in it to groups not initially incorporated
in either.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: There will be a mid-term and a final exam. The mid-term will be
worth 30% of the final grade, the final exam 50%. An attendance and participation requirement
will constitute the remaining 20 % of the final grade.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Students are reminded of the Honor Code regulations concerning
academic honesty and plagiarism. Students found to have plagiarized or otherwise engaged in
acts of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Honor Council and receive a grade of F for the
class.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Available in the bookstore. A course reader with additional readings will be
available in the library copy center.
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird.
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government.
Thomas Paine, Common Sense.
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1855 edition).
WEEK 1
WED. 24 JAN: First class meeting.
FRI. 26 JAN: Lecture: An American Trilogy.
WEEK 2
MON. 29 JAN: John Winthrop, “A Modell of Christian Charity.”
WED. 31 JAN: Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
FRI. 2 FEB: John Locke, Second Treatise of Government.
WEEK 3
MON 5 FEB: John Locke, Second Treatise of Government.
WED 7 FEB: Michael Rogin, “Liberal Society and the Indian Question.”
FRI 9 FEB: Michael Sandel, Democracy’s Discontent, Chp.1.
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WEEK 4
MON. 12 FEB: NO CLASS.
WED. 14 FEB: Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird.
FRI. 16 FEB: Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird.
WEEK 5
MON. 19 FEB: Thomas Jefferson, “A Summary View of the Rights of British America.”
WED. 21 FEB: Thomas Paine, Common Sense.
FRI. 23 FEB: Thomas Paine, Common Sense
The Declaration of Independence.
WEEK 6
MON. 26 FEB: The Declaration of Independence.
WED. 28 FEB: Michael Rogin, “Two Declarations of Independence.”
FRI. 2 MAR: The Federalist Papers (extracts).
WEEK 7
MON. 5 MAR: The Federalist Papers (extracts).
Stanley Crouch, “Blues to Be Constitutional.”
WED. 7 MAR: IN-CLASS MIDTERM EXMINATION.
FRI. 9 MAR: NO CLASS.
WEEK 8
NO CLASSES – SPRING BREAK.
WEEK 9
MON. 19 MAR: Stanley Fish, “What Makes an Interpretation Acceptable?”
James McPherson, “How Lincoln Won the War with Metaphors”
Sylvia Plath, “Stillborn”
WED. 21 MAR: Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar.”
FRI. 23 MAR: Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Poet.”
WEEK 10
MON. 26 MAR: Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass.
WED. 28 MAR: Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass.
FRI. 30 MAR: Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
WEEK 11
MON. 2 APR: Abraham Lincoln, “Cooper Union Address.”
WED. 4 APR: Jefferson Davis, “Farewell Address to the Senate.”
Alexander Stephens “‘Corner Stone’ Speech”
FRI. 6 APR: Abraham Lincoln, “First Inaugural Address”
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WEEK 12
MON. 9. APR: Abraham Lincoln, “The Gettysburg Address.”
WED. 11 APR: Abraham Lincoln, “The Second Inaugural.”
FRI. 13 APR: Frederick Douglass, “Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln”
WEEK 13
MON. 16 APR: Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience”
WED. 18 APR: Susan B. Anthony, “Is it a Crime for a Citizen of the United States to Vote?”
FRI. 20 APR: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “The Solitude of Self.”
WEEK 14
MON. 23 APR: Ida B. Wells, “Lynch Law in All Its Phases”
WED. 25 APR: Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit.
Angela Davis, “Strange Fruit.”
FRI. 27 APR: Martin Luther King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
WEEK 15
MON.30 APR: Martin Luther King, “Address to the March on Washington.”
WED. 2 MAY: Martin Luther King, “Address to the March on Washington.”
FRI. 4 MAY: Richard Rorty, “American National Pride.”
The instructor reserves the right to alter the course syllabus.
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