A word about the standards of academic integrity at Ashland University.

Session 1: June 20 to June 25 | Session 2: June 27 to July 2 |
Session 3: July 4 to July 9 | Session 4: July 11 to July 16 |
Session 5: July 18 to July 23 | Session 6: July 25 to July 30

Session One: Sunday, June 20, 2010 to Friday, June 25, 2010

AHG 502A: The American Founding — Core

This course is an intensive study of the Constitutional Convention, the struggle over ratification of the Constitution, and the creation of the Bill of Rights. It will include a close examination of The Federalist and the anti-federalist papers.

Instructors:
  Gordon Lloyd (Pepperdine University)
  Christopher Burkett (Ashland University)

AHG 503A: Sectionalism and Civil War — Core

A study of the sectional conflict beginning with the nullification crisis. This course will not only examine the political, social and economic developments in the period leading to the Civil War, but will emphasize the political thought of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, and John C. Calhoun.

Instructors:
  Mackubin T. Owens (U.S. Naval War College)
  Dan Monroe (Millikin University)

AHG 510A: Great American Texts: The Federalist — Core

The Federalist is a complex political work comprised of arguments about war, economics, national unity, and liberty (among other things) based on appeals to human nature, history, reason, and prudence. In this course we will examine and discuss The Federalist as fully and as deeply we can, aiming to understand how (or whether) its parts fit together in a coherent whole and its enduring contribution to our understanding of politics.

Instructor:
  David Foster (Ashland University)

AHG 510B: Great American Texts: Abraham Lincoln — Core

Abraham Lincoln wove his words into the fabric of American history. In the twenty-first century, Lincoln's political language remains more contemporary than all but the most timeless of the political language of the American Founding. This course is a study of selected Lincoln speeches aiming to illuminate Lincoln's understanding of the relation of the principles of the American Founding to the most pressing issues of his day.

Instructor:
  Peter W. Schramm (Ashland University)

AHG 621: Race and Equality in America — Elective

This course will explore the history of black Americans as they strove to secure their dignity as human beings, and rights as American citizens, in the face of racial prejudice. It will examine the diverse viewpoints of leading black intellectuals and activists on human equality, slavery, self-government, the rule of law, emancipation, colonization, and citizenship. Contemporary issues to be considered may include affirmative action, black reparations, racial profiling, and the "achievement gap" in education.

Instructors:
  Lucas E. Morel (Washington and Lee University)
  Peter C. Myers (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire)

Session Two: Sunday, June 27, 2010 to Friday, July 2, 2010

AHG 501A: The American Revolution — Core

This course focuses on three topics: political developments in North America and the British empire and the arguments for and against independence, culminating in the Declaration of Independence; the Revolutionary War as a military, social and cultural event in the development of the American nation and state; and the United States under the Articles of Confederation.

Instructors:
  Mickey Craig (Hillsdale College)
  Robert M.S. McDonald (U.S. Military Academy)

AHG 504A: Civil War and Reconstruction — Core

This course will examine military aspects of the war, as well as political developments during it, including the political history of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural. The course also examines the post-war amendments and the Reconstruction era.

Instructors:
  Mackubin T. Owens (U.S. Naval War College)
  Lucas Morel (Washington and Lee University)

AHG 505A: The Progressive Era — Core

The transition to an industrial economy posed many problems for the United States. This course examines those problems and the responses to them that came to be known as progressivism. The course includes the study of World War I as a manifestation of progressive principles. The course emphasizes the political thought of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and their political expression of progressive principles.

Instructors:
  John Moser (Ashland University)
  J. David Alvis (Wofford College)

AHG 510C: Great American Texts: Frederick Douglass — Core

To reflect on the life of Frederick Douglass is to be reminded of the famous self-description attributed to his great contemporary, Mark Twain: "I am not an American; I am the American." A classic self-made man, Douglass, like his country, rose from a low beginning to a great height; he gained freedom by his own virtue and against great odds in a revolutionary struggle; and he matured into an internationally renowned apostle of universal liberty. In this course, we consider Douglass' telling of his own story, taking as primary texts his three autobiographies: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881; 1892). We will find in these texts not only the annals of an unforgettable life but also Douglass' reflections on enduring issues in American political thought such as the nature and specific evil of slavery, the nature and grounds of human rights and freedom, and the meaning and mission of the American Republic.

Instructor:
  Peter C. Myers (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire)

AHG 630A: American Statesmen: LBJ and Reagan — Elective

This course examines the lives, character, political thought, and political practice of two of the twentieth century's most notable presidents: Lyndon Baines Johnson and Ronald Reagan. The course will address both the domestic reform agenda each proposed, as well as the foreign policy challenges each faced. The sources and circumstances of the political and economic philosophies of each will be surveyed, along with an assessment of where each succeeded and failed to attain his objectives and areas where a full verdict is more difficult to reach.

Instructors:
  Steven Hayward (American Enterprise Institute)
  Gregory L. Schneider (Emporia State University)

AHG 631: American Political Rhetoric — Elective

This course examines American political rhetoric in its broadest sense as the art of political persuasion and civic education. Surveying the field from the Founders through Barack Obama, we will engage in a careful reading of the speeches and writings of leading statesmen and literati, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, FDR, JFK, Robert Frost, and Ronald Reagan.

Instructors:
  Ken Masugi (Johns Hopkins University)
  Colleen Sheehan (Villanova University)

Session Three: Sunday, July 4, 2010 to Friday, July 9, 2010

AHG 510D: Great American Texts: Mark Twain — Core

One way citizens of large republics are educated in the principles of government is through novels. With this in mind, this course examines selections from the work of Mark Twain. Not only is Twain America's most enduringly popular author, but his novels depict important aspects of the American character and have much to say about such themes as equality, slavery, freedom, modern science, Christianity, and democratic leadership, all of which are crucial for understanding American history and politics.

Instructor:
  David Foster (Ashland University)

AHG 603: Colonial America — Elective

This course focuses on the development of an indigenous political culture in the British colonies. It pays special attention to the development of representative political institutions and how these emerged through the confrontation between colonists and King and proprietors. The course also considers imperial politics through a study of the Albany Plan of Union.

Instructors:
  Todd Estes (Oakland University)
  Michael Schwarz (Ashland University)

AHG 610: American Foreign Policy – The Twentieth Century — Elective

This course examines the international relations of the United States from the Spanish-American War to 9/11. The twentieth century marked the rise of the nation to a superpower with a myriad of global interests and commitments. Accordingly, students will examine foreign policy's part in this rise, with special attention to the ways in which the principles and practices of democracy and capitalism have shaped American foreign policy. Topics will include the nation's acquisition of overseas territory and colonies, the influence of Wilsonianism and America's entry into the world wars, and the Cold War.

Instructors:
  David Krugler (University of Wisconsin-Platteville)
  Stephen Tootle (College of the Sequoias)

AHG 632: American Presidency I: Washington to Lincoln — Elective

This course is an examination of the political and constitutional development of the office of president from the Founding era through the Civil War. It focuses on how the presidency shaped American political life as the country grew and struggled with rising sectional tensions.

Instructors:
  Stephen Knott (U.S. Naval War College)
  Jeremy D. Bailey (University of Houston)

AHG 660A: Topics in American History and Government – Postwar America, 1945-1968 — Elective

Americans emerged from World War II more convinced than ever of the superiority of their society, their economic system, and their form of government. Most believed in a new consensus that accepted both a market economy and an expansive role for the federal government, upheld the traditional family, embraced a role for the nation as leader of the free world, and practically worshipped science and technology. The consensus would come under repeated attack from the left and the right, but ultimately held firm until the mid- to late-1960s. This course, examining the period from 1945 to 1968, will investigate both the "vital center" and its critics, and trace the rise and fall of the postwar consensus, as well as its implications for today's politics and society.

Instructors:
  John Moser (Ashland University)
  Alan Petigny (University of Florida)

Session Four: Sunday, July 11, 2010 to Friday, July 16, 2010

AHG 501B: The American Revolution — Core

This course focuses on three topics: political developments in North America and the British empire and the arguments for and against independence, culminating in the Declaration of Independence; the Revolutionary War as a military, social and cultural event in the development of the American nation and state; and the United States under the Articles of Confederation.

Instructors:
  Robert M.S. McDonald (U.S. Military Academy)
  Richard A. Samuelson (California State University, San Bernardino)

AHG 502B: The American Founding — Core

This course is an intensive study of the Constitutional Convention, the struggle over ratification of the Constitution, and the creation of the Bill of Rights. It will include a close examination of The Federalist and the anti-federalist papers.

Instructors:
  Mickey Craig (Hillsdale College)
  Melanie Marlowe (Miami University)

AHG 504B: Civil War and Reconstruction — Core

This course will examine military aspects of the war, as well as political developments during it, including the political history of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural. The course also examines the post-war amendments and the Reconstruction era.

Instructors:
  Matthew Norman (Gettysburg College)
  David A. Raney (Hillsdale College)

AHG 604: Early Republic — Elective

Having adopted a form of government, the Americans had to make it work. This course examines their efforts to do so, as the Republic took shape amidst foreign dangers, political conflict, westward expansion and religious revivals.

Instructors:
  David Tucker (U.S. Naval Postgraduate School)
  Stephen Knott (U.S. Naval War College)

AHG 630B: American Statesmen: Woodrow Wilson & Franklin Roosevelt — Elective

This course examines the lives, character, political thought and political practice of two of the most influential American thinkers and statesmen in the twentieth century, viz., Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt. We will pay close attention to their views of the Constitution, especially in light of their understandings of liberty and rights, democratic self-government, enlightened administration, and the character and responsibilities of the presidential office.

Instructors:
  Ronald J. Pestritto (Hillsdale College)
  Christopher Burkett (Ashland University)

AHG 641: The Supreme Court — Elective

This course is an intensive study of the highest court in the federal judiciary, focusing on the place of the Supreme Court in the American constitutional order. Areas of study may include the relationship between the Court and the other branches of the federal government as well as the states; the Court's power of judicial review; and judicial politics and statesmanship. We will examine these kinds of issues by investigating how the Court has interpreted the Constitution in some of its most historic decisions.

Instructors:
  Jeffrey Sikkenga (Ashland University)
  James R. Stoner (Louisiana State University)

Session Five: Sunday, July 18, 2010 to Friday, July 23, 2010

AHG 505B: The Progressive Era — Core

The transition to an industrial economy posed many problems for the United States. This course examines those problems and the responses to them that came to be known as progressivism. The course includes the study of World War I as a manifestation of progressive principles. The course emphasizes the political thought of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and their political expression of progressive principles.

Instructors:
  Ronald J. Pestritto (Hillsdale College)
  William Atto (University of Dallas)

AHG 510E: Great American Texts: Democracy in America — Core

Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America is the best study of America to be written by a foreigner. It examines government, religion, the races, private associations, literature, the family, and much else, all the while contrasting democratic America with old aristocratic Europe. This course will examine as much of the book as we can, focusing especially on Tocqueville's account of the love of equality (and its dangers) and his prescriptions for the preservation of liberty.

Instructor:
  Christopher Flannery (Azusa Pacific University)

AHG 510F: Great American Texts: Uncle Tom's Cabin — Core

This course illuminates one area of American political thought. The topic will be Harriet Stowe's moral account of freedom and the reasoning associated with it. The focus will be on Uncle Tom's Cabin, albeit referencing several of Stowe's writings. We will establish a context for the discussion by reviewing Frederick Douglass's powerful question, "What country have I?", and the political, religious, and cultural contexts in which Uncle Tom's Cabin was written. The goal is to understand just how Stowe came to formulate her ideas and why she had the impact on American society that she did. Also to be considered is whether the philosophical ideas that informed her work bear any direct responsibility for the political events that unfolded as a result of her work.

Instructor:
  William B. Allen (Michigan State University)

AHG 611: The American Way of War – The Twentieth Century — Elective

The course examines how the United States has waged war and engaged in armed conflict in the twentieth century. It examines how American principles and institutions have affected America's use of force and how security problems and the use of force have shaped our institutions and challenged our principles. The course covers both major and small wars, as well as terrorism, insurgency, and covert action.

Instructors:
  David Tucker (U.S. Naval Postgraduate School)
  Christopher J. Lamb (National Defense University)

AHG 620: The Reform Tradition in America — Elective

The United States has experienced three periods of sustained interest in reforming its political and social life: the first in the decades preceding the Civil War, the second in the decades preceding the First World War, and the third in the two decades following World War II. The course examines aspects of these reform movements, particularly their connection to religion and Protestant theology.

Instructors:
  Robert Norrell (University of Tennessee)
  Natalie F. Taylor (Skidmore College)

AHG 642: Political Parties — Elective

This course examines the development of American political parties, focusing on the meaning of parties and historic moments in the rise and fall of political parties from the Founding Era to the present. Topics may include re-aligning elections, changing coalitions within American parties, and the contemporary Democratic and Republican parties.

Instructors:
  Marc Landy (Boston College)
  Stephen R. Thomas (Ohio Dominican University)

Session Six: Sunday, July 25, 2010 to Friday, July 30, 2010

AHG 503B: Sectionalism and Civil War — Core

A study of the sectional conflict beginning with the nullification crisis. The course will not only examine the political, social and economic developments in the period leading to the Civil War, but will emphasize the political thought of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, and John C. Calhoun.

Instructors:
  Dan Monroe (Millikin University)
  Kevin Portteus (Hillsdale College)

AHG 510G: Great American Texts: Abraham Lincoln — Core

Abraham Lincoln wove his words into the fabric of American history. In the twenty-first century, Lincoln's political language remains more contemporary than all but the most timeless of the political language of the American Founding. This course is a study of selected Lincoln speeches aiming to illuminate Lincoln's understanding of the relation of the principles of the American Founding to the most pressing issues of his day.

Instructor:
  Christopher Flannery (Azusa Pacific University)

AHG 605: The Age of Enterprise — Elective

In the last decades of the 19th Century, the United States took decisive steps away from its rural, agrarian past toward its industrial future, assuming its place among world powers. This course examines that movement, covering such topics as business-labor relations, political corruption, immigration, imperialism, the New South, and segregation and racism.

Instructors:
  David Beito (University of Alabama)
  Burton Folsom (Hillsdale College)

AHG 633: The American Presidency II: Johnson to Present — Elective

This course is an examination of the political and constitutional development of the office of president from Reconstruction to the present. It focuses on how changing conceptions of the presidency have shaped American political life in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially as America has become a global power.

Instructors:
  Marc Landy (Boston College)
  Jeremy D. Bailey (University of Houston)

Schedule for Summer 2011
Session 1: Sunday, June 19 to Friday, June 24, 2011
Session 2: Sunday, June 26 to Friday, July 1, 2011
Session 3: Sunday, July 3 to Friday, July 8, 2011
Session 4: Sunday, July 10 to Friday, July 15, 2011
Session 5: Sunday, July 17 to Friday, July 22, 2011
Session 6: Sunday, July 24 to Friday, July 29, 2011

Ashland University and the Master of American History and Government program take matters of academic integrity seriously. Students, whether enrolled in the MAHG program or taking individual courses for credit, are expected to abide by the Academic Integrity Policy found in the Ashland University Graduate School Catalog. The full text of the Academic Integrity Policy may be found on pages 10 through 12 of the 2008-2009 Catalog and on the MAHG Academic Policies page.

The following links provide helpful information on how to properly use and cite sources in academic research:

The Ashland University Graduate Writing Center
Purdue University OWL – Avoiding Plagiarism
WPA – Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism

For a primer on collegiate writing style, the Ashland University Writing Guide for Students in Graduate Programs and Purdue University's Online Writing Lab offer comprehensive guides covering the entire writing process, including research, citations, formatting, and presentation. Please consult your course professors for their preferred citation format.