Spring, 1997 
Dr. Schaefer

SYLLABUS

This course surveys the development of American political thought from the mid-nineteenth century through the late twentieth century, but focusing mainly on the period 1840-1940. We begin with an in-depth study of Volume II of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (1840), which offers the most comprehensive analysis ever given of the mutual relation between the American Constitutional order and the character of the American citizenry. The next major topic to be addressed is the greatest test that our Constitutional system has undergone, the slavery controversy and the Civil War. Following a consideration of Henry David Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" and of Abraham Lincoln's opposing view on the subject of law-abidingness in his nearly contemporaneous Address to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, we will engage in a lengthy study of Lincoln's political thought, emphasizing his endeavor not merely to resolve the slavery issue and restore the Union but also to "re-found" the nation on a firmer base. Other statesmen whose thought will be considered briefly in relation to the issues of the Civil War are Stephen Douglas (Lincoln's opponent in the famous debates of 1858 as well as in the Presidential election of 1860) and the African-American Abolitionist spokesman and subsequent civil rights leader Frederick Douglass. 

The next segment of the course will examine the work of two Presidents who sought in related ways and with considerable success to transform the American people's understanding of their regime in a manner that departed more radically than Lincoln's project from the original intentions of the American Founders: Woodrow Wilson (not only a "major" President but an important political scientist and one of the leading thinkers of the Progressive movement) and Franklin Roosevelt. We will critically assess the relation of these men's thought to that of Lincoln and the Founders. 

Following a brief consideration of two essays expressing more recent trends of American political thought, the Port Huron Statement (the clarion call of the "New Left" of the 1960's) and Irving Kristol's essay "About Equality" (expressive of so-called "neoconservative" thought), we will survey (if time permits) two debates raising major issues in African-American political thought. We will devote the final two weeks of the class to the consideration of critical analyses of the underlying principles of American democracy and its effects on the character of the country's citizenry by two prominent novelists: Henry James and Mark Twain. 

Written work for the course will include midterm and final examinations, plus a term paper on either James's The Bostonians or Twain's Connecticut Yankee (topic/question for the paper to be distributed). You should begin reading one novel or the other during the first week of the class, along with the weekly reading assignments, so that you can begin re--reading the novel and writing your paper no later than March 1. The papers must be submitted by the assigned due date, April11; an abstract is due March 12.

Each of the works to be assigned will require careful reading and study. It is essential that all readings be completed by the date on which they are to be discussed. 

Books Required for Purchase:

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, transl. Mayer (Anchor/Doubleday)
Henry David Thoreau, "Walden" and "Civil Disobedience" (Mentor/New American Library)
Roy Basler (ed.), Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings (Da Capo)
Henry James, The Bostonians (Modern Library)
Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Mentor/New American Library)

     SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS: 

. Week(s) Reading Assignment

1-2               Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Volume II, Parts I-II

3-4               Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. II, Parts III IV
                     Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"

5                     Basler, ed., Abraham Lincoln:
                       Springfield Lyceum Address, pp. 76-85
                       Temperance Society Address, pp. 131-41
                       Fragment on Slavery, pp. 278-9.

                   Frederick Douglass, "Fourth of July Oration," "The Destiny of 
                   Colored Americans," and "What Are the  Colored People Doing for 
                   Themselves?"   (photocopy)
                    Harry V. Jaffa, "Abraham Lincoln" (photocopy)

6                  Lincoln-Douglas Debate at Alton (photocopy; read after Lincoln's 
                    "House Divided" speech in Basler, below)

                    Basler, ed., Abraham Lincoln, pp. 283-325, 332-6, 352-66, 372-82; 427
                    ("Fragment on Slavery"); "Fragment," 513-14; Cooper Union Address, 
                    517-38; 577-88; 594-610;  616-35; 689-92; 699-708; Gettysburg 
                    Address, 734-7; Address to 166th Ohio Regiment, 756-7; Reply to New 
                    York Workingmen (photocopy); Second  Inaugural  Address and Letter to 
                    Thurlow Weed, 792-4.

 7                  Frederick Douglass, "Oration in Memory of Abraham 
                     Lincoln"  (photocopy); Cronon (ed.), The Political Thought of Woodrow 
                     Wilson,  pp. 1-11, 20-60 (photocopy)

                 MIDTERM EXAMINATION (around the end of Week 7)

 8                Wilson, Constitutional Government, chap. 3 (photocopy)
                   Cronon (ed.), Woodrow Wilson, pp. 87-94, 109-138, 
                   164-93 (photocopy) 
                   Harry Clor, "Woodrow Wilson" (photocopy)

     March 12: ABSTRACT of your TERM PAPER due (1-3 pp.)

 9                 Cronon (ed.), Woodrow Wilson, pp. 432-7, 460-67, 507-12,
                    546-51  (photocopy)
                   Franklin Roosevelt (photocopied speeches):
                  "New Deal" speech, 1932
                   Address to Commonwealth Club, 9/23/32
                   First Inaugural Address, 3/4/33
                   Address to Young Democratic Clubs, 8/24/35 
                   "Fireside Chat on Judiciary," 3/9/37 

                   John Zvesper, "The Liberal Rhetoric of Franklin Roosevelt" 
                   (photocopy) 

10                Franklin Roosevelt (photocopied speeches):
                        "Address on Constitution Day," 9/17/37
                        "Address at Jackson Day Dinner," 1/8/38 
                        "Fireside Chat on Primaries," 6/24/38 
                        "Address on Election of Liberals," 11/4/38
                        "Address at University of Pa.," 9/20/40

                  Students for a Democratic Society, "Port Huron Statement" 
                     (photocopy)
                  Irving Kristol, "About Equality" (photocopy)

  April 9: TERM PAPERS DUE IN CLASS; NO EXCEPTIONS to this due date!

11              Booker T. Washington, Atlanta Exposition Address
                  W.E.B. DuBois, "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others"
                  Debate between Malcolm X and Carl Foreman (all photocopies) 

12               James, The Bostonians 
13               Twain, A Connecticut Yankee