Syllabus for AHG 630B: American Statesmen: James Madison and Woodrow Wilson

Master of American History and Government

Ashland University

AHG 630B:

American Statesmen: James Madison and Woodrow Wilson

Sunday, July 20 to Friday, July 25, 2008

Instructors: John Marini and Colleen Sheehan

Course Focus:

This course examines the lives, character, political thought and political practice of two of America's leading thinkers and statesmen, viz., James Madison and Woodrow Wilson. Close attention will be given to the relationship between ideas and actions in their political careers.

Learning Objectives:

Students will understand the central ideas that informed the political thought of James Madison and Woodrow Wilson.
Students will understand the major political events and practical challenges that faced Madison and Wilson over the course of their political careers.
Students will understand how Madison's and Wilson's ideas shaped their practical political stances during the eras in which they lived.
Students will understand the problem that factions pose in republican government; they will understand how the size of the territory, representation, separation of powers, and federalism contribute to Publius's remedy for the problem of faction and his defense of popular government.
Students will understand the meaning of "popular sovereignty" and it central importance in the Founding of the American republic.
Students will understand how popular sovereignty provides the basis for the Founders' idea of "constitutionalism." They will understand how Wilson's conception of the rational, administrative state altered the meaning of the Founders' view of constitutionalism.
Students will understand how "the new science of politics" which animated the Founders political thought differs from the modern discipline of Political Science which provided the foundations of Woodrow Wilson's thought.
Students will understand the difference between the political thought derived from the doctrine of natural right, which gave rise to Constitutionalism; and that animated by a philosophy of History, which gave rise to the doctrine of the administrative State.

Course Requirements:

A. Class Preparation and Contribution
As you know, this course will proceed at a very quick pace. To the extent possible, you should do a fair amount of the reading in advance of the week at Ashland. The course will consist of both lectures and in-class discussions.

B. Examination
There will be a final, comprehensive examination in this course. This exam will consist of essay and short answer questions.

Note: Grading in this course is based on a combination of your contribution to class discussions and the final examination.

Students auditing the course as a part of a Teaching American History Grant program must complete the readings and fully participate in the seminars during the week.

Required Texts:

Marvin Meyers, The Mind of the Founders: Sources of the Political Thought of James Madison (Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press, 1981). ISBN-10: 874512018 or ISBN-13: 978-0874512014
Ronald J. Pestritto, Woodrow Wilson: The Essential Political Writings (Lexington Books, 2005). ISBN-10: 0739109510 or ISBN-13: 978-0739109519
John Dewey, Liberalism and Social Action (Prometheus Books, 2000). ISBN-1573927538
Course Packet (CP) of additional reading materials. These materials are required texts for your course.

Schedule

Sunday, July 20

4:30 - 6:00pm:
Introduction & Session 1 – "Constitutionalism and the Rational State" (Professor Marini)
Focus:
What is the difference between a Constitution, dependent upon a theory of natural right, and a rational, or administrative, State, which is product of the discovery of rational character of History. Why did the progressives reject the founding?
Readings:
Declaration of Independence (CP p. 5)
Wilson, "The Author and Signers of the Declaration of Independence," Pestritto, 97-105
Federalist 1, 6, 49 (CP p. 19)
Locke, 2nd Treatise, chs. 2, 5 (CP p. 31)
Hegel, Philosophy of History, Preface (CP p. 43)

7:30 - 9:00pm:
Session 2 – Ashbrook Lecture (Attendance Required)

Monday, July 21

9:00 - 10:30am:
Session 3 – Social Compact Theory; Power, Right, and Majority Rule (Professor Sheehan)
Focus:
What is a social compact? What gives it authority? Are there any conditions upon which the social compact is based?
Readings:
"Memorial and Remonstrance," Meyers, pp. 5-13
"Vices of the Political System of the United States," Meyers, pp. 57-65

10:50am - 12:20pm:
Session 4 – The Progressive Embrace of State Theory (Professor Marini)
Focus:
Why did Wilson and the progressives reject social compact theory and the doctrine of natural right upon which it rested?
Readings:
Pestritto, Introduction. Wilson, The State, (Pestritto, pp. 31-74)
Hegel, Philosophy of Right, "The State", paragraphs, 257-58 (CP p. 47)
Charles Merriam, A History of American Political Theories, (1903), Recent Tendencies, pp. 305-333 (CP p. 49)

4:30 - 6:00pm:
Session 5 – "The Problem of Faction in Republics" (Professor Sheehan)
Focus:
What is a faction? What is Madison's proposed remedy for the problem of majority faction? What are the characteristics of republican government? Is republican government genuinely popular government?
Readings:
Speech of June 6, 1787 at Federal Convention, Meyers, pp. 69-72
Federalist 10, Meyers, pp. 86-95

Tuesday, July 22

9:00 - 10:30am:
Session 6 – Legitimizing Will and Establishing the Organic Unity of the State (Professor Marini)
Focus:
Why did the progressives reject limited government? Why was factionalism, which Madison thought to be sown into the nature of man, no longer a fundamental problem for politics?
Readings:
Wilson, "The New Freedom", ( Pestritto, pp. 107-123)
Wilson, "Socialism and Democracy", (Pestritto, pp. 77-79)
Dewey, John, "The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy"
Dewey, Liberalism, ch.1; Charles Beard, "Politics", 1908

10:50am - 12:20pm:
Session 7 – Governmental Structure: The Practicable Sphere (Professor Sheehan)
Focus:
What is the nature of the American "union"? Where does sovereignty reside in the United States? What is the proper size of a republic, according to Madison—and why?
Readings:
Letter to Washington, April 16, 1787, Meyers, pp. 65-69
Federalist 14, 37, 39, Meyers, 95-113
Letter to Jefferson of 24 October 1787 (CP p. 67)

4:30 - 6:00pm: Session 8 – National Political Unity and the Development of the Modern State: Rejecting the Separation of Powers (Professor Marini)
Focus:
Where does sovereignty lie in the administrative State? What is the role of Congress, the Presidency, the judiciary, and political parties in the Administrative State?
Readings:
Wilson, "Cabinet Government in the United States", (Pestritto, pp 127-140)

Wilson, "Congressional Government", (Pestritto, pp. 141-173)

Wednesday, July 23

9:00 - 10:30am:
Session 9 – "Representation and Responsibility" (Professor Sheehan)
Focus:
What is the role of the representative in the American political system? Is the system designed to depend heavily on placing the "better sorts" of men in office and depending on their virtue and judgment? Is Madison's conception of representation more like the mirror theory of the Anti-federalists (e.g., Brutus and Federal Farmer) or the trustee theory of some of the Federalists (e.g., Caesar and Fisher Ames)?
Readings:
Federalist 51, 62, 63, Meyers, pp. 129-152
Federalist 57 (CP p. 77)
Antifederalist and "other" Federalist Views of Representation (CP p. 81)

10:50am - 12:20pm:
Session 10 – The Unified Party and the President as Leader: The Quest for National Political Unity (Professor Marini)
Focus:
What is the role of the party and public opinion in establishing the legitimacy of government?
Readings:
"Constitutional Government",(Pestritto, pp. 175-203)
Wilson, "Wanted—A Party", (Pestritto, pp. 205-208)
Dewey, Liberalism, ch. 2

4:30 - 6:00pm:
Session 11 – "Republicans v. Federalists" (Professor Sheehan)
Focus:
Madison was the philosophic leader of the "republican cause" that became the Republican Party in the United States. In 1791-92 he published a string of articles in Freneau's National Gazette, setting forth his understanding of republicanism and his criticism of "anti-republicanism." What were the essential elements of Madison's political thought? What was the disagreement between Republicans and Federalists in the early 1790s about?
Readings:
"Consolidation,"
"Spirit of Governments,"
"Republican Distribution of Citizens,"
"Property"
"Charters,"
"A Candid State of Parties,"
Meyers, pp. 179-190
"Parties," (CP p. 97)
"Public Opinion," (CP p. 99)
"Fashion," (CP p. 101)
"Who are the Best Keepers of the People's Liberties?" (CP p. 103)

Thursday, July 24

9:00 - 10:30am:
Session 12 – The Separation of Politics and Administration: The Development of a New Science of Administration (Professor Marini)
Focus:
Why does Wilson think that the politics-administration dichotomy should replace the separation of powers? What is the role of bureaucracy in providing unity in the modern administrative State?
Readings:
Wilson, "The Study of Administration", (Pestritto, pp. 231-248)
Dewey, Liberalism, ch. 3
Federalist #17, # 37 (CP p. 107)

10:50am - 12:20pm:
Session 13 – "Republicans v. Federalists," continued (Professor Sheehan)
Focus:
Same as Session 11
Readings:
"Virginia Report of 1800," Meyers, pp. 229-273
Opinion on the Bank, 1817, Meyers, pp. 389-393
Defense of Majority Rule, Meyers, pp. 408-417

4:30 - 6:00pm:
Session 14 – The President as Leader: Foreign and Domestic Affairs (Professor Marini)
Focus:
What is the role of the leader in domestic and foreign affairs once the modern administrative State is established? What is the relationship of the national state and the supra-national state? Does progressivism lead to the inevitability of the universal state?
Readings:
Wilson, "Leaders of Men", (Pestritto, pp. 211-229)
Wilson, "War Message to Congress"
Wilson, "Fourteen Points", (Pestritto, pp. 251-264)

Friday, July 25

9:00 - 10:30am:
Session 15 – Madison and the Dream of Republican Self-Government (Professor Sheehan)
Focus:
Compare Madison's discussion of property in Federalist 10 with his discussion in the Party Press Essay, "Property." What, if anything is the relationship between rights and responsibilities in social compact theory, according to Madison? What is self-government? Discuss and analyze the significance of the experiment in self-government to Madison's thought, to the American Founding, and to the American polity today.
Readings:
"Property," Meyers, 186-188
Thoughts on Education, Meyers, 343-350
Robert Frost, "The Gift Outright" (CP p. 119)
Robert Frost, Commencement Address to Sarah Lawrence College, 1956 (CP p. 121)
Diamond, "Ethics and Politics" (CP p. 127)
Sheehan, "Commerce of Ideas" (CP p. 145)

10:50am - 12:20pm:
Session 16 – Review and Questions (Professors Marini and Sheehan)
1:30 - 3:00pm:
Session 17 – Final Comprehensive Examination