PSCI 230(F) American Political Thought (Offered 1998-99; not offered 1999-2000)

Americans lack both a national religion and a single national ethnic identity, factors which have bound people together since the rise of the modern nation-state. What this country does have is a national political creed, forged in its founding documents, reborn from the blood of civil war and continually contested, modified and renewed by succeeding generations. While many of the social institutions of 200 years ago have long been abandoned, many of the political principles espoused by the founders have endured. Indeed, the history of America's political thought can be seen as the struggle among political actors and practitioners over whether and how these promises extend to this nation's citizens, across race, class, gender and ethnicity. This course will proceed chronologically, focusing in turn on issues of community and order, states' rights and nation building, the rights of man (and woman), the challenge of industrialization and the postwar struggles for equality and justice in a global economy. We will focus primarily on the works of leading actors on the American political stage, including Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Antifederalists, Suffragists, Abolitionists, Anarchists, liberals, conservatives and civil rights activists including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Requirements: class participation, two papers and a take-home final. No prerequisites. Open to first-year students with advanced placement credit in American politics. Political Theory and American Politics Subfields

Hour: G. RICHARDSON