English Politics and Political Traditions. Americans often imagine that their political institutions and principles are unique and unheralded; yet, many of them might be traced back to the heritage of England at the time the colonies were first formed, and over the course of the colonial period as English political institutions evolved. Identify the ways that English politics and political traditions influenced the political and legal institutions of colonial America.
What aspects of the English political heritage did the colonists claim for themselves? How did English institutions and principles evolve in the colonies? How and why had English and American conceptions of their shared political heritage diverged so sharply by the middle of the 1700s? What constitutional disagreements brought about the American Revolution?
In responding to the above questions, draw from the material in one of the following videos:
1. In the beginning
2. Larry Kramer: American legal history: Colonial era to 1800
3. Liberty! Episode 1 – The reluctant revolutionaries (1763-1774)
DQ 2 The Constitutional Convention of 1787. Americans today generally revere the Constitution and appeal to it as an impeccable authority on current events (even when the Americans in question have never closely read the Constitution). However, when the Constitution was first presented to the American people, many of them opposed it and the nation almost did not ratify it. Even among the original framers of the Constitution (Framers) themselves, some, like Benjamin Franklin, thought it was imperfect and a few, like George Mason, refused to sign it. Identify the events and developments which led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and explain the opposition to the new Constitution.
What weaknesses did the earlier Articles of Confederation seem to contain and how specifically did the Constitution address those apparent weaknesses? What major differences divided the Framers at the Constitutional Convention and how were those differences resolved? What objections did the anti-federalists raise with regard to the Constitution? How valid were their objections?
When responding to these questions, draw from the documents in any one chapter of John J. Patrick’s Founding the Republic: A Documentary History (except for Part I: “The Decision for Independence”), available from the Ebrary database.
Week 2
DQ 1 Powers of the Federal Government. Many Americans today believe the federal government has acquired too much power, size, and influence in the nation’s domestic affairs. Throughout U.S. history, a tension has existed regarding what powers the federal government can assume and what powers should be left to the states. Review the text of the Constitution for evidence about the relationship the document establishes between national and state governments. Then review the history of the United States through the Civil War for evidence of how that relationship worked in progress, and changed over time.
What major controversies during this time period raised questions about the proper relationship between the state and federal governments? How did proponents and opponents of state sovereignty defend their respective positions? How did the question of slavery intermix with the question of states’ rights?
When responding to the above questions, draw from three of the following documents:
South Carolina exposition and protest
President Jackson's proclamation regarding nullification, December 10, 1832
The Kentucky resolution – Alien and sedition acts
Abraham Lincoln: Inaugural address, March 4, 1861
Declaration of the immediate causes which induce and justify the secession of South Carolina from thefederal union
DQ 2 A Symbolic Figurehead. Americans tend to pay more attention to the president than to any other government official, blaming him when things go wrong, even in areas over which the president has little control, and crediting him with successes which stem from the legislature instead of the executive. In many ways, the president serves as a symbolic figurehead of both the government and the nation, with the consequence that the executive often overshadows the other branches of government. Review the powers and responsibilities which the Constitution grants to the president. Then explain how presidents from, George Washington through Abraham Lincoln, have wielded and expanded those powers.
How did the role of the president change from 1789 to 1865? Which presidents were most responsible for those changes? How did the judiciary and the legislature encourage or seek to curtail the expansion of executive power?
Early Constitutional Controversies. In 1788, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, who had both played active roles at the Constitutional Convention, worked together to write The Federalist Papers, a series of articles originally published in New York newspapers to convince readers to back the ratification of the Constitution. Constitutional scholars often refer to these papers to gain an appreciation of the “original intention” of the Framers, how those men expected the federal government to operate under the Constitution, and the powers they sought to grant or deny the federal government. By the early 1790s, however, Hamilton and Madison had divided over basic constitutional questions, such as whether or not the federal government could charter a national bank. The American electorate, which had ratified the Constitution, had split on the issue as well, dividing into rival Federalist and Republican parties.
For this assignment, explore one significant constitutional controversy, from the first two decades of the United States under the Constitution (1789 to 1821). Topics to consider include:
4. The incorporation of the Bank of the United States
5. Debt assumption
6. The Jay Treaty
7. The Alien and Sedition Acts
8. The Election of 1800
9. John Marshall’s use of judicial review
10. The Louisiana Purchase
11. The trial of Aaron Burr
Describe opposing views of the topic under consideration, and explain how each side used the Constitution to support its position. Assess the validity of the two sides according to your own interpretation of the Constitution as well as according to how the Constitution and constitutional principles were understood at the time the controversy occurred.
The paper should draw from at least one primary source and two scholarly, secondary sources for a total of three sources (not including the Constitution itself). For assistance on the use of primary and secondary sources, please see sections 8.1 and 8.2 of the Ashford Writing Center. The secondary sources should be accessed through any of the academic databases available through the Ashford University library.
Week 3
The Constitution and Reconstruction. A common misconception about the end of the Civil War is that, after ending slavery, the federal government did nothing to assist former slaves. In fact, the Constitution itself was substantially altered to define the rights of Americans and to allow the federal government to protect those rights. Review the contents of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments, along with the history of the period from 1865 to 1933. What measures did the federal government implement during Reconstruction to aid freed people? Why and how would those measures prove largely ineffective in the long-term? What did women’s rights activists gain between 1865 and 1933? Who gained more during this time period, women or Blacks? What unique disadvantages did black women face? What rights did workers gain during this period, and what rights did they demand, but fail to gain? What role did the federal government play during this period in expanding and ensuring the rights of citizens? When responding to the above questions, draw from material from one of the following videos:
The story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: Failure is impossible
The second American revolution, Part 1
Stories from the mines: How immigrant miners changed America
DQ 2 Populists and Progressives. According to much populist rhetoric since the 1980s, the federal government is too active in domestic affairs, particularly the economy. Yet, a century earlier, the Populists and Progressives a agitated to have the federal government intervene more actively in domestic affairs. Explain why many Americans during this period from 1880 to 1930 favored a more activist federal government. Summarize the constitutional views of the Populists and Progressives, and explain how they differed from the conservative views held by the Supreme Court and others of the time. What developments led the Populists and Progressives to call for a more activist federal government? How did they hope to change the nature of state and federal government as they expanded its power? On what grounds did conservatives, especially in the courts, oppose the policies proposed by Populists and Progressives? What was the impact on American Society of the growing power of the national government, particularly in economic issues?
When responding to the above questions, reference material from three of the following documents:
The subjective necessity of social settlements
An economic interpretation of the Constitution of the United States
The Bible
Theodore Roosevelt: New nationalism speech, 1910
The Omaha platform: Launching the Populist Party
A governor bitterly opposes Negro education
Supreme Court Decision. The judiciary is one of the three branches involved in the “checks and balances” associated with the U.S. government under the Constitution. It is also the branch over which the American people have the least direct control, making it particularly controversial, especially when it seems to controvert the popular will as expressed through the legislature. For this assignment, review the powers the Constitution grants to the Supreme Court in Article III. Then summarize the history of, reasoning behind, and the public reaction to a momentous U.S. Supreme Court decision. Also, explain the decision’s impact on relevant concerns, such as the economy, politics, religious freedom, civil liberties, human rights, and so forth. In your opinion, was the decision valid in terms of its constitutional interpretation and its impact on the nation? When do you believe the Supreme Court should get involved in national controversies, and what rubric should it use to make its decisions?
You are free to write about any Supreme Court case, though you are advised to use a case related to the topic of your final paper. Note, though, that you may not recycle substantial passages from this assignment in the Final Paper. The paper should include an analysis of the text of the decision, and should also draw from two scholarly secondary sources obtained through the Ashford University library.
Week 4
The New Deal. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal greatly expanded the federal government’s role in the country’s domestic and economic affairs, which led to a long-running constitutional crisis in the 1930s that remains controversial to this day. Although the Supreme Court threw out several New Deal programs, others survived and laid the foundation for later developments over the next three decades.
Assess the New Deal as a revolution in constitutionalism. How did the New Deal’s supporters justify the constitutionality of its programs? What objections did opponents of the New Deal raise? How and why did the Supreme Court’s stance on the New Deal change over time? How did Roosevelt’s successors expand on the New Deal and what might explain why these later measures generally encountered less resistance than the New Deal itself?
Summarizing your responses to the questions above, did the New Deal represent a revolution in understandings of and practices under the Constitution? If so, was this development beneficial or detrimental to the American people?
The Bill of Rights. After the Preamble, The Bill of Rights is probably the most famous section of the Constitution, but is often imperfectly understood. For instance, the Bill of Rights initially served only to limit the actions of the federal government, and did not protect citizens from the actions of state governments (as affirmed in the 1833 Supreme Court case of Barron v. Baltimore). Moreover, many rights that Americans take for granted—such as voting—do not appear in the Bill of Rights, and many other rights were not fully articulated or protected until the mid-twentieth century.
Review the Constitution generally, and the Bill of Rights specifically, and explain how and why understandings of citizens’ rights changed in the mid-twentieth century.
What rights did the Constitution, as originally written (i.e., before the addition of the Bill of Rights), protect? What rights did the Bill of Rights add? How did the Fourteenth Amendment and the process of incorporation change the nature of the Bill of Rights? What new rights would be added from the 1950s through the 1970s?
Week 5
Conservative Constitutionalism. Historians sometimes speak of the “Reagan Revolution” that occurred after Ronald Reagan became president in 1981. This revolution represented a conservative backlash against the liberalism of the first half of the twentieth century, and arguably continues to set the tone of political debate in the country today. Identify the key ideological components of the conservative constitutionalism associated with the Reagan Era and the Rehnquist Court. In practice, how did conservative constitutionalism affect American politics and the American government? Has the influence of conservative constitutionalism increased or declined in the decades since Reagan left office?
When completing this assignment, draw from two of the following documents:
George H. W. Bush: Address before a joint session of the Congress on the state of the Union, January 28, 1992
George W. Bush: Address before a joint session of the Congress on the state of the Union, January 23, 2007
William J. Clinton: Inaugural address, January 20, 1997
Barack Obama: Inaugural address, January 20, 2009
Ronald Reagan: Inaugural address, January 20, 1981
Contract with America: 1994
Expansion of Executive Power. Classical republican philosophy warned against the expansion of executive power, and throughout U.S. history, critics have assailed presidents—from Washington, to Jackson, to Lincoln, and beyond—for allegedly abusing their power in tyrannical ways. These fears arguably peaked during the Cold War, when foreign policy, a matter often delegated to the executive, expanded exponentially in importance. By the 1970s, some Americans feared that their country was being run by, in the words of historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., an “imperial presidency” (i.e., a presidency which held itself above the rule of law). Review the Constitution’s provisions regarding executive powers, particularly with regard to foreign affairs, along with the checks which the Constitution places on those powers.
How did the power of the executive expand during the second half of the twentieth century? How did Congress and the judiciary respond to this expansion of executive power? In what ways did they resist, and in what instances did they acquiesce to it? Has a new “imperial presidency” emerged in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001?
When responding to these questions, refer to material from one of the following videos:
Constant combatants: The president and congress - A Fred Friendly seminar
Expanding power
Contemporary life v. the Constitution
Final Paper
From the time the Constitution was ratified, Americans have disagreed over its meaning and the extent of the powers it gave to different branches and reserved to the states and the people. Since the Constitution took effect, it has been amended several times and, just as importantly, interpretations of the Constitution have changed over time. For this assignment, examine the history of one constitutional issue in depth and explain how, and why, understandings of, and approaches to, the issue have changed over from colonial times through the present. Develop an argument about how, in your informed opinion, the constitutional issue should be interpreted. Justify your position with reference to the Constitution itself, the history of the issue under consideration, and the stance adopted on the issue by significant
constitutional interpretations, past and present. In the paper, you should identify key events and documents related to the event, including momentous historical controversies, major Supreme Court cases, and significant political developments. Conclude the paper by generating an argument for how the issue should be interpreted.
For this assignment, chose from one of the following issues:
Executive power
Definitions of citizenship and citizen’s rights
Relationship between state and federal governments
Role of the judiciary
