AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT
V53.0170
M,W: 3:30- 4:45 pm
Instructor: Loretta Sorensen
Office: 726 Broadway, 7th Floor, Rm. 725
Office Hours: M, W: 2-3 and by appointment
E-mail: loretta.sorensen@nyu.edu
The purpose of this course is to discuss major theoretical debates in American political thought, focusing on the challenge of structuring self-government by a free people.
REQUIREMENTS
Participation: 10%
Critical essay: 20%
Midterm examination: 35%
Final examination: 35%
READINGS
Available in Bookstore: Course Packet
Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward. Dover Thrift
Editions, 1996.
Publius. The Federalist Papers. Clinton, Rossiter ed.
(Mentor, revised edition).
Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. Trans. by
George Lawrence. (New York: HarperPerennial, 1988).
COURSE SCHEDULE
September 3: Introduction: Government by the People.
September 8: Rights and Revolution
Thomas Paine, excerpts from Common Sense and other writings.
Declaration of Independence [in The Federalist].
September 10: Constitution
Constitution of the United States [in The Federalist].
September 15: What is a Federal Republic?
Federalist 23, 39.
Address of the Pennsylvania Minority (excerpt).
September 17: Republic, cont.: Size and Faction
Federalist 10.
Brutus I.
September 22: Polyarchal Democracy: A Critique of Madison
Robert Dahl, A Preface to Democratic Theory, Chapters 1,
3 (appendix only).
September 24: Representation
Federalist 35, 52, 53, 57, 63.
Brutus IV.
September 29: Judicial Review; Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights [constitutional amendments I-X].
Federalist 78, 84.
Brutus XI, XV.
Federal Farmer XVI.
October 1: Separation of Powers
Federalist 47-51.
Centinel I.
October 6: John Adams
Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions... (excerpt).
October 8: Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson, “A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge,” Notes on Virginia (“Freedom of Religion”), Selected Letters [skip Kentucky Resolution for now].
October 13: Review and Discussion
October 15: Mid-Term Examination
October 20: Democracy in America
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. 1 Part I Chapters 3-4; Vol 2. Part I Chapters 1-2. Vol. 2 Part III Chapter 1.
October 22: Tocqueville, cont.: Tyranny of the Majority
Democracy in America, Vol. 1 Part II Chapters 6-8; Vol. 1 Part II
Chapter 4.
October 27: Individualism and Equality
Democracy in America, Vol. 2 Part II Chapters 1-8; Vol. 2 Part IV
Chapters 1-4, 6-8.
October 29: Union vs. States’ Rights
John C. Calhoun, A Disquisition on Government (excerpt).
Kentucky Resolution (in Jefferson reading).
November 3: The Right of Conscience
Emerson: “Politics.” (excerpt)
Henry David Thoreau, “Resistance to Civil Government.”
William Lloyd Garrison, “Declaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Society.”
Hand out essay topic. Due Monday, December 1, in class.
November 5: Social Darwinism
William Graham Sumner, What Social Classes Owe to Each Other
(excerpt).
November 10: Utopian Thought
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward, Chapters 1, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12,
17, 19, 22.
November 12: Anarchism
Emma Goldman, “Anarchism and What It Really Stands For.”
November 17: Progressivism
Herbert Croly, The Promise of American Life (excerpt).
November 19: Pragmatism and the Public
John Dewey, The Public and its Problems (excerpt).
November 24: Strategies of Resistance: Racial Justice
Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from City Jail.”(excerpt)
Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet.” (excerpt)
November 26: Laissez-Faire Capitalism
Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (excerpt).
December 1: Conservatism
Russell Kirk, “Prescription, Authority, and Ordered Freedom.”
Essays due in class.
December 3: Liberalism
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Chapter 1, Sections 1-4.
December 8: Review and Discussion.
December 17: Final Exam: 4:00 - 5 :50 pm