AHG 604: The Early Republic

Sunday, July 12, 2009 to Friday, July 17, 2009

Instructors: Jeremy Bailey and Todd Estes

Course Focus:

This course focuses on the political development of the Early American Republic. It will concentrate on the development of rival visions for the nation's future offered by the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, will survey the rise of political parties and the nature of political culture in the new nation. It will place particular emphasis on the analysis of key documents from the early national era and will explore the meaning of these texts individually even as we place them in their broader historical context.

Learning Objectives

1. To understand the origins and development of the first party system.
2. To be familiar with the seminal texts of the early republic.
3. To investigate whether the early republic should be considered as part of the American "founding."
4. To understand the development of democratization during the early republic.
5. To understand the interplay between domestic and foreign policy.

Requirements: Final examination (short essays) to be administered in blue books during last class session

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

Required Text:

• Lance Banning (ed.), Liberty and Order: The First American Party Struggle. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, Inc., 2004. ISBN: 978-0-86597-418-0

Schedule

Sunday, July 12

4:30 - 6:00 pm: Introduction & Session 1: Professor Estes

Topic: 1789: The Problems, the Leaders, the People

Focus:

1. How united were the people and the regions of the United States?
2. What were the major difficulties the United States faced in 1789?
3. How well prepared were the nation's leaders to deal with those challenges?

Reading: Banning, pp. 34-42

7:00 - 8:30 pm Session 2: Institute Lecture

Monday, July 13

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 3 Professor Bailey

Topic: The Bill of Rights

Focus:

1. What are the most important changes from the proposed amendments to the Constitution and the final product we call the Bill of Rights?
2. Madison was initially opposed to the Bill of Rights, but is now considered to be its "father." What was the basis for his change of heart?
3. One scholar has characterized the Bill of Right as "the people's article." Did the Bill of Rights change or complete the Constitution?

Reading: Banning, pp. 10-18, 21-41

10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 4 Professor Estes

Topic: The Hamiltonian Program, Part I

Focus:

1. What were Hamilton's goals with the assumption of state debts?
2. How did Hamilton envision the national bank working, and what benefits would it contribute?
3. How would Hamilton's financial program affect the different regions of the nation?

Readings: Banning, pp. 44-69

4:00 - 5:30 pm: Session 5 Professor Bailey

Topic: The Constitutionality of the Bank

Focus:

1. What are the fundamental differences between the arguments for and against the constitutionality of the bank?
2. Which is more persuasive?

Readings: Banning, pp. 77-87

Tuesday, July 14

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 6 Professor Estes

Topic: The Hamiltonian Program, Part II

Focus:

1. What were the overarching goals of the Hamiltonian program?
2. How did the component parts of Hamilton's program (e.g. the bank, assumption of state debts) contribute to the whole?
3. In what ways did Hamilton's program encompass both domestic and foreign policy?
4. What vision for the nation did Hamilton's program reveal?

Readings: Banning, pp. 70-101

10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 7 Professor Bailey

Topic: The Origins of Jeffersonian Opposition

Focus:

1. What elements of the Hamiltonian program did Jefferson find objectionable? Why?
2. What kind of people did Jefferson think was necessary for free government?
3. How important is Jefferson's views on commerce to our understanding the early divide between Federalists and Republicans?

Readings: Banning, pp. 88-94, 120-136

4:00 - 5:30 pm: Session 8 Professor Bailey

Topic: Madison's Opposition

Focus:

1. Hamilton claimed that Madison's turn against him was unprincipled. Is this an accurate assessment, or does Madison's critique of the Federalists point to an argument from principle?
2. In what ways is Madison's argument different from that of Jefferson?

Readings: Banning, 102-120,136-8

Wednesday, July 15

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 9 Professor Estes

Topic: Neutrality and Citizen Genet/Whiskey Rebellion/Democratic Societies

Focus:

1. What were the desirable and undesirable elements of the U.S. position of neutrality?
2. What were the domestic political consequences of neutrality and how did the two emerging political parties stake out their differences?
3. How did the actions of Citizen Genet complicate the Republican response to the Washington administration's position and aid the Federalists?
4. What were the Whiskey rebels protesting? Why?
5. What were the purposes behind the creation of the Democratic Societies?
6. Why did the Democratic Societies become so controversial politically and how did George Washington respond to their activities?

Readings: Banning, pp. 141-142 and pp. 153-187

10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 10 Professor Bailey

Topic: Pacificus v. Helvidius

Focus:

1. According to Hamilton, where in the constitution is the president's authority to issue the proclamation?
2. Does Madison deny Hamilton's claim with regard to #1? What, exactly, does Madison find so troubling in Hamilton's argument?
3. What does Hamilton say about "gratitude" in international relations? Does this argument illuminate Hamilton's understanding of politics?

Readings: Banning, pp. 142-152; and Pacificus Number IV (CP pg 3) Pacificus Number V (CP pg 6)

4:00 - 5:30 pm: Session 11 Professor Estes

Topic: The Jay Treaty and American Foreign Policy

Focus:

1. What foreign policy problems was the Jay mission designed to address and how well did the Jay Treaty resolve those issues?
2. Why did Federalists support the Treaty? Why did Republicans oppose it?
3. In what ways was the debate over the Treaty a microcosm of the larger debates taking place over not only foreign policy but also over deferential vs. democratic politics?

Readings: Banning, pp. 188-221

Thursday, July 16

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 12 Professor Bailey

Topic: Suppression, Reaction, and Jefferson's Election

Focus:

1. What were the Federalists' goals in enacting the Alien and Sedition laws? Did they succeed?
2. What did the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions say? Are there any similarities to the arguments against the bank and the neutrality proclamation? Are the any differences between the Kentucky and Virginia versions?
3. How was the reaction against the Acts a key part of the Jeffersonian Republican triumph in 1800?
4. What is the argument of Jefferson's First Inaugural?

Readings: Banning, pp. 231-260, 262-265

10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 13 Professor Estes

Topic: Political Culture in the Early Republic

Focus:

1. How did political parties emerge in an anti-party culture?
2. How did Americans display and act out their political affiliations in the 1790s?
3. In what ways did the early republic's political battles have both symbolic and cultural connotations? Why was nearly everything politicized?

Readings: Banning, pp. 224-230

4:00 - 5:30 pm: Session 14 Professor Bailey

Topic: The Jeffersonians in Power

Focus:

1. What did Jefferson's victory in 1800 mean?
2. How differently did Jefferson and the Republicans govern compared to the Federalists? What were the biggest differences in terms of policy and style?
3. Were the Jeffersonians true to their principles once in power? Did they amalgamate parts of the Federalist program into their own? Did they produce a new governing synthesis?
4. How does Jefferson's treatment of the Lousiana Purchase differ from Hamilton's arguments for the bank and the proclamation of 1793? That is, how might Hamilton have handled LA?

Readings: Banning, pp. 262-276; pp. 300-312

Friday, July 17

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 15 Professor Estes

Topic: Embargo, War, and the End of an Era

Focus:

1. What was Jefferson's foreign policy vision and how did it relate to his domestic vision?
2. How did the Embargo emerge as an instrument of foreign policy? How effective was it?
3. Did the U.S. drift into the War of 1812 or consciously set out to make war?
4. How and why did 1815 mark the end of the era of the early republic?

Readings: Banning, pp. 307-355

10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 16

Session Review and Questions

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm: Session 17

Final Comprehensive Examination