American Political Thought (790:375:01)
Monday and Thursday 9:15 – 10:35
Location – BIO-205 (DC Campus)
Instructor – Steven Pludwin
Office Hours – I’m available Monday and Thursday after class. Just shoot me an email to
make an appointment. If those times do not work for you let me know and we will find
another time to meet.
Email – steven.pludwin@rutgers.edu
Course Description
The history of political thought in America is beset by a diverse array of conflicts that
continue to persist in American politics today. At its best, American political thought is
addressed in dialogue with its historical moment, shaped by and in turn shaping the
political imagination of its time. To meet this challenge, this course focuses on American
political thought from the Colonial period through the Civil War. Conflicts to be explored
include the relationship between religion and politics, the proper scope of state power,
federalism, the relationship between the individual and society, tensions between liberty
and equality, as well as slavery, race, class and gender in the early republic. Students will
read historical texts with an eye toward not only understanding their historical
significance but to the ways in which they continue to resonate and in some cases inform
contemporary American politics as well.
Objectives
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Reading, comprehending, and using complex texts in political theory
Analyzing political concepts and comparing political thinkers
Seeing the interrelationship among concepts in political theory
Applying political concepts to political events and situations
Thinking more systematically about political beliefs and ideals
Learning to write concise and focused political critiques
Course Requirements
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Class Participation 15%
Response Papers 20%
Midterm exam 30%
Final exam 35%
Class Participation - Students are required to attend all class meetings and arrive for
class on time having completed the required reading assignments and prepared for
discussion. With regard to absences, students are expected to attend all classes; if you
expect to miss one or two classes, please use the University absence reporting website
https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra to indicate the date and reason for your absence. An email is
automatically sent to me.
Response Papers – Students are required to write eight 2-page typed, double-spaced
responses to the readings as listed on the syllabus. No response paper should exceed two
double-spaced, typed pages. Paper copies of response papers must be submitted at the
start of the class period in which the reading is assigned and only one response paper may
be submitted per class. Response papers may not be transmitted via fax or e-mail. No
late papers will be accepted for any reason.
In Class Midterm Exam – There will be an in-class midterm exam on Monday, October
24th. The exam will be essay based and I will distribute questions ahead of time and select
exam question from that list.
Take Home Final Exam – There will be an essay based take home final exam that will
allow you to work through the broader themes of the course and reflect upon the work
you have done throughout the semester.
Policy on Violations of Academic Integrity and Plagiarism – Violations of academic
integrity and plagiarism are serious offenses and will not be tolerated. Students caught
violating academic integrity will be subject to disciplinary action and will fail both the
assignment and the course. If you are still unclear as to what constitutes plagiarism please
see me to double check before you hand you work in. For context and specific details
regarding possible violations – see the Rutgers University Code of Student Conduct as
well at the Office of Student Conduct Website.
Required Texts and Materials – The following books are required for the course. They
are available for purchase at the Rutgers University Bookstore. I did my best to order the
cheapest editions of each book in order to keep costs down. Of course, you are welcome
to buy books used and online if you wish to do so. In addition to the books I have set up a
wiki space for this course that will contain pdfs for all other material marked as a wiki
handout on the syllabus. The wikispace address is - rutgersapt.wikispaces.com
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Benjamin Franklin – The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Paine – Common Sense
Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison – The Federalist Papers
Alexis De Tocqueville – Democracy in America
Henry David Thoreau – Civil Disobedience: And Other Political Writings
Frederick Douglass – Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Course Schedule and Readings
Approximate dates for lectures and exams are listed below, along with reading
assignments for the lecture/discussion sections. As this schedule is subject to revision,
you are responsible for keeping up with any announced changes.
Thursday - 9/1/11 – What am I doing here?
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Introduction
Monday – 9/5/11
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No Class
Thursday – 9/8/11 – Conceptualizing American Political Culture - Liberalism and
American Exceptionalism…
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Alan Wolfe – “Nobody Here but us Liberals” (wiki handout)
Louis Hartz – excerpt from – The Liberal Tradition in America (wiki handout)
Response Paper Option - Do you think Hartz’s argument can explain the recent debates
over health care reform, the debt-ceiling or Obama’s economic policies, etc? (Make
specific references to Hartz’s text.)
Monday – 9/12/11 – Conceptualizing American Political Culture – CommunityInclusions, Exclusions, Silences and Omissions…
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Gordon Wood – excerpt from – The Creation of the American Republic 1776 1787 (wiki handout)
Rogers M. Smith - “Multiple Traditions in America” (wiki handout)
Michael Rogin – “American Political Demonology: A Retrospective” (wiki
handout)
Response Paper Option - Who is more persuasive, Hartz, Wood, Smith or Rogin?
Thursday - 9/15/11 – Puritan Beginnings: Democracy and Community
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John Winthrop – “A Model of Christian Charity” (wiki handout)
Anne Hutchison – “The Examination of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson at the Court at
Newton” (wiki handout)
Joshua Miller – “Direct Democracy and the Puritan Theory of Membership” (wiki
handout)
Monday – 9/19/11 – Franklin and the “American Self” – Part One
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Benjamin Franklin - The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin – parts one and
two
Response Paper Option - Is there anything bizarre about the way Franklin presents the
past, and his family, when he tells this part of his story? (Provide evidence from the text).
Thursday - 9/22/11 – Franklin and the “American Self” – Part Two
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Benjamin Franklin – The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin – parts three and
four
Response Paper Option - What does the role of work/labor play in Franklin’s
autobiography? (Provide evidence from the text).
Monday – 9/26/11 – Revolutionary Moments – Part One
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Thomas Paine – Common Sense – (selections TBD)
Response Paper Option - What are the relative values of simplicity and complexity for
Paine?
Thursday – 9/29/11- Revolutionary Moments – Part Two
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Thomas Paine – Common Sense – (selections TBD)
The Declaration of Independence (wiki handout)
Abigail Adams – “Letter to John Adams” (wiki handout)
Mark Kahn – excerpt from - A Republic of Men: The American Founders,
Gendered Language and Patriarchal Politics (wiki handout)
Response Paper Option - The revolutionary period in America is simultaneously full of
promise and contradiction. Discuss.
Revolution or Counter-revolution?
Please skim the following sections of The Constitution of the United States (in Federalist
Papers, pp. 542-60) over the next 3 class sessions:
Preamble
Article I, Sec. 1,2,7,8,9,10
Article II (all)
Article III (all)
Article IV, Sec. 2
Article VI (all)
The Bill of Rights (= the 1st 10 Amendments to the Constitution, in Federalist Papers, pp.
558-60)
Monday – 10/3/11 – The Federalists and the Constitution – Part One
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The Federalist Papers - #’s 1, 15, 46
Jason Frank – “Publius and Political Imagination” (wiki handout)
Response Paper Option - Do Madison and Hamilton sound different to you when they
make the case for why Americans should ratify the Constitution? (Provide specific
evidence from both authors).
Thursday – 10/6/11 – The Federalists and the Constitution – Part Two
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The Federalist Papers - #’s 35 and 54
Richard Hofstadter – “The Founding Fathers in an Age of Realism”
handout)
(wiki
Response Paper Option - Do you buy the argument Hamilton makes in Federalist #35
regarding representation?
Monday – 10/10/11 – The Federalists and the Constitution – Part Three
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The Federalist Papers - #’s 55, 70, 78
Response Paper Option - Compare/contrast the character/powers envisioned, for each of
the 3 institutions (Congress, Presidency, Courts)
Thursday – 10/13/11 – The Anti-Federalist Response
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Robert Yates – Essays of Brutus (wiki handout)
Herbert J. Storing – excerpts from – What the Anti-Federalists Were For: The
Political Thought of the Opponents of the Constitution (wiki handout)
Monday - 10/17/11 – Credit and Debt – Economic Conflict and Partisanship in the
Early Republic
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Alexander Hamilton – “First Report on Public Credit” (wiki handout) and
“Opinion on Constitutionality of the Bank” (wiki handout)
Thomas Jefferson – Opinion on Constitutionality of the Bank (wiki handout)
Response Paper Option – Compare and contrast the debate between Hamilton and
Jefferson to contemporary debates over economic policy in the United States.
Thursday - 10/20/11 – Scope, Size and the Responsibility of Government and Its
Citizens
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George Washington – “Farewell Address” (wiki handout)
Thomas Jefferson – “First Inaugural Address” and “Second Inaugural Address”
(wiki handout)
Monday – 10/24/11 – Midterm Exam
Thursday – 10/27/11 – Jacksonian America – Part One
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Andrew Jackson – “First Annual Message to Congress,” “Bank Veto,” and
“Farewell Address” (wiki handout)
Michael Rogin – “Liberal Society and the Indian Question” (wiki handout)
Monday – 10/31/11 – Jacksonian America – Part Two
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Alexis De Tocqueville – Democracy in America (selections TBD)
Response Paper Option - Discuss several of the reasons Tocqueville is hopeful that
democracy will succeed in America (make specific references to the text).
Thursday – 11/3/11 – Jacksonian America – Part Three
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Alexis De Tocqueville – Democracy in America (selections TBD)
Response Paper Option - Discuss the consequences Tocqueville believes are the result of
the unlimited power of the majority, and whether America has adequate provisions to
mitigate them.
Monday – 11/ 7/11 – Jacksonian America – Part Four
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Alexis De Tocqueville – Democracy in America (selections TBD)
Response Paper Option - What does Tocqueville mean by “despotism” here, and why
should democratic nations fear it?
Thursday – 11/10/11 – Women, Gender and American Politics – Part One
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Mark Kann – excerpts from - The Gendering of American Politics: Founding
Mothers, Founding Fathers and Political Patriarchy (wiki handout)
Sarah Grimke – “Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and Condition of Woman”
(wiki handout)
Catherine Beecher – “A Treatise on Domestic Economy” (wiki handout)
Response Paper Option – What role did gender play in shaping the early American
Republic?
Monday – 11/14/11 – Women, Gender and American Politics – Part Two
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton – “Address at the Seneca Falls Convention” and “Seneca
Falls Declaration” (wiki handout)
Sojourner Truth – “Aint I a Woman?” (wiki handout)
Thursday – 11/17/11 – Transcendentalism – Part One
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Ralph Waldo Emerson – “Self Reliance” (wiki handout)
Response Paper Option - What are the possible implications for politics of Emerson’s
views -- if any?
Monday – 11/21/11 – No Class
Tuesday – 11/22/11 – Transcendentalism – Part Two
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Henry David Thoreau – “On Civil Disobedience” and “A Plea for Captain John
Brown”
Response Paper Option – What lessons, if any, can we take from Thoreau in order to
think about power and the possibilities of resistance?
Thursday – 11/24/11 – No Class
Monday – 11/28/11 – Race, Slavery and the “Ancein Regime”
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Frederick Douglass – Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass
Response Paper Option(s) - What is Douglass’ attitude toward his own family history?
(or) - What does work/labor mean for Douglass – and how is labor as a slave different
from labor as a free man? Does he view work differently than Franklin does?
Thursday – 12/1/11 – The Abolitionists
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Frederick Douglass – “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” (wiki handout)
William Lloyd Garrison – “No Compromise with Slavery” (wiki handout)
Wendell Phillips – Selections (wiki handout)
Response Paper Option - What are the main themes that seem to permeate the
Abolitionists’ ideas? (Refer to several of the readings).
Monday – 12/5/11 – Defenders of Slavery
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John C. Calhoun – Selections (wiki handout)
George Fitzhugh – Selections (wiki handout)
Response Paper Option - Discuss some similarities and differences between Calhoun and
Fitzhugh’s grounds for why American slavery is justified.
Thursday – 12/8/11 – Lincoln – Part One
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Excerpts from – The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (wiki handout)
“Lyceum Speech” (wiki handout)
“House Divided Speech” (wiki handout)
Response Paper Option - Why is obeying the law at all costs so essential, in Lincoln’s
view?
Monday – 12/12/11 – Lincoln – Part Two
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“First Inaugural Address” (wiki handout)
“Gettysburg Address” (wiki handout)
“Second Inaugural Address” (wiki handout)
Frederick Douglass – “Ovation in Memory of Lincoln” (wiki handout)
Response Paper Option - Does Lincoln sound different once he’s elected President
(elected in 1860, takes office in 1861)? Or are his arguments consistent throughout his
career?
Take Home Final Exam Due During Finals Week.