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Political Science 287
U.S. Political Thought
Beloit College
Fall 2007
Course Objectives
The aim of this course is to encourage you to think critically about the American political experience by closely studying the ideas presented by its political actors, philosophers and other writers. The critical distance necessary for this kind of inquiry requires avoiding the assumption that the U.S. automatically has the best and most complete ideas about equality, liberty, or anything else many of us may hold dear while also not falling into the cynical stance that no one means what they say anyway and that principles mean little in the real world of politics. We may need to address the latter possibility, but knee-jerk dismissals are generally not a useful departure point for political inquiry.
Critical distance also requires that we not assume that we already know everything about U.S. political thought because most of us have occupied this particular ideological landscape for most of our lives. One of the challenges of studying politics involves thinking carefully and systematically about those aspects of our lives that we take most for granted.
I hope you come away from this course with a sense of the complexities – and indeed contradictions – that our political system encompasses, a greater awareness of its possible strengths and weaknesses, and a sense of some of the challenges and opportunities it offers.
Requirements
- Class citizenship
What I seek most from you is that you complete the assigned reading, that you think about it before we’re scheduled to discuss it and that you generally seem engaged and willing to take some initiative in relation to the topics that we are exploring.
Consistency in attendance is important for your own learning, as well as for maintaining continuity in class discussions and for building trust and rapport among your peers. For this reason, I expect you to attend class unless you are ill or must deal with a personal or family emergency. If you are dealing with such a situation, you should contact me by phone or in person in a timely manner (i.e., before class whenever possible). Excessive unexcused absences (three or more) will result in a substantial grade penalty.
I try to assign a reasonable amount of reading for each day so that you can read the text carefully and re-read it if necessary. Some of these readings are likely to be difficult for you. You will need to spend time figuring out what claims the author is making, what questions you have about them, and where these particular arguments fit in relation to the themes the class is exploring.
Because we will rely on analysis of arguments made by the various authors we read, you should ALWAYS bring the assigned text to class. With readings that are on reserve or on Moodle, you should print our or make a photocopy of the material or take meticulous notes.
Along with being an active and close reader of the assigned texts, be on the lookout for other material that relates to the themes of the course. Newspaper and magazine articles, or an anecdote about campus life, can sometimes shed light on a difficult subject or help all of us think of it in a different way.
Your contributions to class discussion can take on a variety of forms: asking and answering questions; raising new topics; responding to comments made by others.
Please listen well to your classmates and engage them. Remember that you share a common mission: to understand the texts and the themes that underlie them and to evaluate them. You will learn much from others, and others will learn much from you, but only if you speak and listen well. These are not mutually exclusive activities.
If you feel that the class has somehow ignored or shortchanged an issue or question that you think is central to our understanding of constitutionalism and national security, bring it up. Your peers and I will appreciate your input, and we will attempt to address your questions in class. If that is not possible, you are more than welcome to consult with me during my office hours.
- Writing
During the course of the semester, you will be assigned three five-page essays. I will supply topics for these assignments, but you are welcome – and encouraged – to devise your own topic. If you exercise the latter option, you need to consult with me four days before the due date of the assignment.
Fourth hours for this class will be dedicated to writing workshops. In some workshops we will generate essays topics and approaches to those assignments or discuss writing processes and evaluation. Other four hours will involve writing tutorials. During the course of the semester, you will participate in one of these tutorials and revise and expand one of your essays (to 7-8 pages) based upon the feedback you receive on your first draft. The tutorial in which you participate will be determined at the beginning of the semester by random selection.
In preparation for your writing tutorial, you will be expected to post your essay on Moodle and offer comments and suggestions regarding your peers’ work. I will provide you with further guidelines about these exercises as the first tutorial approaches.
- Final Exam
Your final for the course will involve a comprehensive take-home exam consisting of a single essay question. The exam is due on Friday, December 15 at 5 p.m. Absolutely no late essays will be accepted for the final.
Academic Honesty
Submitting original work is central to your life as a student and to our collaborative work as a community of learners. If you submit the work of others as your own, you have lost sight of what it means to be a student. Rather than learning, you seem only interested in pretending to complete assignments, and you have threatened the relationship of trust and respect that should exist in a classroom.
For these reasons, I take academic honesty very seriously and expect you to understand, and to follow, Beloit’s policy on academic honesty printed in the Student Handbook.
Simply put, you must give credit where credit is due. This includes not only acknowledging direct quotes with quotation marks and proper citation but also correctly citing any sources – including online ones – from which you have drawn insight or information in each instance where you have benefited from such sources, including when you paraphrase.
Expectations regarding written work
Papers must be handed in during class on the day they are due. I also expect you to be prepared for class on the day that you hand in an assignment.
Late papers will be penalized one grade increment per day. First drafts for writing tutorials must be handed in on time. If you need to seek an extension, you can vastly enhance the likelihood of receiving one by planning ahead and requesting it at least three days prior to the due date of the assignment. You may have only one extension for the semester. No extensions will be granted for the take-home final exam, and (again) no late papers will be accepted for that final.
Without prior arrangement, essays will not be accepted later than two weeks after they are due. Papers which exceed this deadline or are not submitted will receive a zero.
Special note: Make back-ups of your work. Do not expect that you will receive automatic — or lengthy — extensions because you experience computer problems.
I expect papers to be neatly typed and double-spaced with realistic margins and fonts (e.g., 1" margins on all sides and a 10 or 12-point font, depending on the style). If you have questions about the latter, ask me. Citations should consistently follow the APSA style. Guidelines for this style can be found at http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPSA.html.
I also expect your papers to exhibit a working knowledge of grammar and spelling. You should proofread your work even if you have spelling and grammar checks on your computer.
Egregious spelling or grammatical errors will result in grade penalties.
Please remember to number the pages of your papers. It improves my mood tremendously if you complete this simple task.
Papers that are not stapled will be returned. As a college student, you should now own a stapler.
Students with Disabilities
If you have a disability and would like to speak to someone about possible accommodations, please visit the LSSC (Learning Support Services Center) located on the first floor of 635 College St. You will need to provide appropriate documentation of your disability to Diane Arnzen, Director of the LSSC. If you wish to receive accommodations in my class please provide me the LSSC Accommodation Verification Letter dated for this semester as soon as possible so your learning needs may be appropriately met.
Grading
We are all part of a system that requires grades. Yet grades tend to distort the learning process,
because they encourage you to seek my approval rather than your own satisfaction and stifle
reflection regarding your understanding of the texts at hand, your writing and how to enhance
each.
I will not simply stamp grades on your essays. If you want to know how you are doing in this
course, come to my office during office hours or make an appointment to see me. (You will be
required to do so after you turn in your first essay.) In our meeting, I will ask you to evaluate
your own work and offer my own observations about it. You might not always agree with my
perspective, nor I with yours, but we will have engaged in a discussion of your ideas and their
expression. As a result, I hope we will both learn something about writing as well as about how we evaluate it. And yes, at the end of that discussion, you will know what grade you received on the assignment.
If you do not check in with me to discuss your work in this course, don’t expect me to respond to
complaints about the grade you receive. E-mail me anytime you wish to make an appointment.
That said, you have a right to know the various weights that I place upon different
assignments. They are as follows:
| Class Citizenship |
20% |
| (Includes writing workshop contributions) |
| Essays |
50% |
| (2 five-page essays @ 15%; revised and expanded essay @ 20%) |
| Final Exam |
30% |
Books to Buy
Madison, Jay, Hamilton. The Federalist Papers. Signet Classics, 2003.
Richard C. Sinopoli (ed). From Many, One. Georgetown University Press, 1997.
Also:
Alexis de Tocqueville. Democracy in America. Trans. George Lawrence. Harper Perennial.
| Important Dates to Remember |
| September 25 |
First Essay due |
| September 26 |
Group 1 tutorial |
| October 2 |
Group 1 revisions due |
| October 30 |
Second Essay due |
| October 31 |
Group 2 tutorial |
| November 6 |
Group 2 revisions due |
| November 27 |
Third Essay due |
| November 28 |
Group 3 tutorial |
| December 4 |
Group 3 revisions due |
| December 15 |
Final Exam due |
Course Schedule
| August |
| 29 |
Introductions and Overview |
| I. Foundations |
| 30 |
Syllabus |
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Tocqueville, Vol. I, Part 1, chs. 2-4 |
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Suggested Reading: Author’s introduction |
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| September |
| 1 |
APSA Annual Meeting – No Class |
| 4 |
Sinopoli Introduction, 1-19 |
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Williams, Winthrop, Madison in Sinopoli, 329-340 |
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Happy Labor Day (yes, we do have class: but remember, you did have Friday off) |
| 6 |
Declaration of Independence in Sinopoli, 27-31 |
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cf. Jefferson’s draft |
| 8 |
Abigail and John Adams, Philadelphia Broadside and Murray in Sinopoli, 105-122 |
| 11 |
Crevecoeur in Sinopoli, 181-4; Rush in Sinopoli, 247-254 |
| 12 |
Writing Workshop (All) |
| II. Madison’s “Science of Politics” |
| 13 |
Articles of Confederation |
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Madison, “Vices of the Political System of the U.S.” |
| 15 |
U.S. Constitution in Sinopoli, 421-38 |
| 18 |
Federalist 1, 10 |
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Essay 1 assigned |
| 19 |
Writing Workshop (all) |
| 20 |
Federalist 37, 51 |
| 22 |
Federalist 35, 55 |
| 25 |
Federalist 56, 57 |
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Essay 1 due |
| 26 |
Writing Tutorial, Group 1 |
| III. Possible critiques of Madison’s “Science” |
| 27 |
The Anti-Federalists in Sinopoli, 32-44 |
| 29 |
Tocqueville, Vol. I, Part 2, chs. 4, 6-7 |
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| October |
| 2 |
Tocqueville, Vol. I, Part 2, ch. 9 |
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Revised essays due, Group 1 |
| 4 |
Tocqueville, Vol. II, Part 2, chs. 1-13 |
| 6 |
Lincoln’s Lyceum speech in Sinopoli, 77-84 |
| 9 |
Emerson, “Self-Reliance” |
| 11 |
Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” |
| IV. Federalism and Slavery |
| 13 |
Calhoun in Sinopoli, 73-6 |
| 16-20 |
FALL BREAK |
| 23 |
Jefferson Davis “Reply in the Senate to William Seward” |
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“Farewell Address” |
| 25 |
Thoreau, Fitzhugh in Sinopoli, 255-266 |
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Assign Essay 2 |
| 26 |
Davis Lecture: James Schroeder, attorney for the Hamdi case |
| 27 |
Dred Scott v. Sanford (Moodle) |
| 30 |
Lincoln-Douglas Debates (Moodle) |
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Essay 2 due |
| 31 |
Writing Tutorial, Group 2 |
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| November |
| 1 |
Lincoln-Douglas Debates (Moodle) |
| 3 |
Association for Political Theory Conference – NO CLASS |
| V. From Many, One? |
| 6 |
Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” |
| 7 |
Lincoln, Gettysburg, Second Inaugural in Sinopoli, 85, 267-8 |
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Revised essays due, Group 2 |
| 8 |
International Symposium Day – NO CLASS |
| 10 |
Stanton, Truth, Anthony in Sinopoli, 118-140 |
| 13 |
Roosevelt, Kallen in Sinopoli, 196-207 |
| 15 |
DuBois in Sinopoli, 278-287 |
| 17 |
Booker T. Washington in Sinopoli, 288-293 |
| 20 |
MLK, Jr., Malcolm X in Sinopoli, 304-318 |
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Essay 3 assigned |
| 22 |
Wisconsin v. Yoder (Moodle) |
| 24 |
R & R |
| VI. Pluralism and Identity, Contemporary Perspectives |
| 27 |
Ralph Reed in Sinopoli, 379-385 |
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Essay 3 due |
| 28 |
Writing Tutorial, Group 3 |
| 29 |
bell hooks in Sinopoli, 156-63 |
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| December |
| 1 |
Randall Kennedy, “My Race Problem—and Ours” (Moodle) |
| 4 |
Writing Workshop – Final Exam |
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Revised Essay due, Group 3 |
| 6 |
Jodi Wilgoren, “Struggling to be both Arab and American,” New York Times, November 4, 2001 (Moodle) |
| 8 |
Richard Rodriguez, Brown, chs. 1, 5 (Reserve) |
| 11 |
Wrap-up and Review |
| 13 |
Wrap-up and Review |
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