PSCI 0602 Midterm Study Guide

Liberalism

• individualism and equality (equal moral worth and equal opportunity) 

• emphasis on individual rights, especially property, religious freedom, and liberty

• limited government established by social contract (the role of the government is to protect individual rights)

• separation of private/public sphere (primacy of the individual against any social collectivity)

• right to rebel against unjust government

Republicanism

• pursuit of the common good

• emphasis on moral and civic virtue

• patriotism and sacrifice for the community (fight and die for the country)

• public duties over private rights

• concerned with internal corruption (no more virtue) and call for renewal

“A Model of Christian Charity” (John Winthrop)

• On the Arbella in 1630 as the Puritans flee King Charles

• It is God’s will that come men are poor and others sick, some weak and others powerful

• A Christian community addresses this divine inequality through charity (interdependence and to care for one another)

• Two primary laws governing behavior: justice and mercy

• Must follow Christian teachings to survive, authority is God

• “City upon a hill”: Massachusetts will serve as an example for the rest of the world 

“Little Speech on Liberty” (John Winthrop)

• there are two types of freedom/liberty: natural and civil

• natural liberty is the freedom to do whatever, good or evil

• civil liberty is to do what is good and just according to God’s teaching

• authority is necessary to preserving civil liberty

• by entering society, made a covenant with God to submit to authority

“The Bloudy Tenant of Persecution” (Roger Williams)

• pushes toleration, one of the cardinal causes in the development of liberalism

• exiled by Winthrop from Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded Providence, Rhode Island

• civil authority =/= religious authority (no theocracy, just peace)

• stop controlling what people are thinking, you’re being no different than the English crown

Second Treatise of Government (Locke)

• individuals have natural rights for the government to protect/enable (social contract)

• chief to these rights is the liberty to act accordingly to one’s will so long it does not infringe on other’s similar liberty 

• citizens are the judge of whether government’s authority is legit (for the public good) 

• political power is the right to make laws to protect things you have (life, liberty, property), enforce such laws, protect the commonwealth from external attack

• if the government fails to uphold its duties and becomes oppressive, the people can withdraw their consent and replace the government (cannot appeal to the government so appeal to heaven) 

• note: compatible with a monarchy

US Declaration of Independence

• a long list of complaints against King George III

• declared independence (the colonies will be free and independent states from Great Britain)

• very Lockean language (“life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness”)

“Letters of Brutus” (Robert Yates)

• Purpose: argue against the ratification of the Constitution

• worry that the Constitution will lead to a consolidated, aristocratic national government that will destroy the sovereignty of the states and people

• extremely against the Supremacy Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause (because it can allow for unlimited authority and expansion of power)

• used Montesquieu to argue that large states cannot support a republic (easy to fall to aristocracy or despotism)

• large states have various interest and climates, and climate have influence over politics (too hot/cold to gather)

Articles of Confederation

• each state keeps all its rights

• mutual aid and defense pact

• each state sets own franchise rules, and legal reciprocity

• no title (no lords, kings, etc.)

• states may not engage in diplomacy

• army and taxes in each individual states

The Constitution of the U.S.

• first constitution to be representative and have clean separation of power (horizontally across the 3 branches and vertically from federal government to states)

• inspired by the English Bill of Rights (1689), example being the 8th amendment

• about forging a common identity

• “perfect union”, no longer a confederation of states

The Bill of Rights

• Purpose: to protect individual rights and limit the power of the new federal government after Constitution’s ratification

• First 10 amendments

1) freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition

2) right to bear arm

3) no quartering of soldiers

4) no unreasonable search and seizures

5) grand jury, double jeopardy, just compensation, self-incrimination, due process

6) speedy and public trial, trial by impartial jury

7) jury trial in federal civil cases

8) no excessive bail, no cruel and unusual punishments

9) listing specific rights does not mean people do not have other rights

10) rights not listed belong to states and people (federal government only has delegated rights)

Providentialism

• America’s founding was divinely ordained 

• America has fallen into corruption and must return to original principles (savior complex)

• America acts as a model for the rest of the world "(“city upon a hill”)

“Democracy and the American Revolution”

• Gordon Wood

• American founders were motivated by republicanism, not democracy

• emphasis on virtuous leadership — but not everyone is virtuous!

• specifically, those enmeshed in market relations (merchants) could not represent the public good because they are too concerned with their own private interest

“Sources and Origins of the American Revolution”

• Bernard Bailyn, 1967

• America’s founders were obsessed with Ancient Rome, specifically the Roman republic, and identified with Roman figures (like Washington and Cincinnatus)

• they viewed their own era as deeply corrupt and sought a return to the virtuousness, patriotism, civic selflessness of the early republics

Shay’s Rebellion 

• Articles of Confederation ratified in 1781, with immediate problems 

• people owed a lot of money and were promised a lot of money (ex. poor farmers, war veterans) 

• angry farmers burned down the Massachusetts town hall (no more debt records) 

• made the founding father realize the central government did not have the power and money to get things done (Massachusetts had to borrow troops from other states to suppress their own citizens) 

Major debates of the Constitutional Convention:

• representation and the contours of cameralism 

• slavery and citizenship

• presidency or triumvirate (group of three holding power)

Federalist Paper (1787-1788)

• collection of 85 essays by John Jay, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton

• published under the name, “Publius” to promote the ratification of the Constitution

Federalist 9

• Hamilton

• critics misquoted Montesquieu 

• a Confederate Republic (where several smaller states agree to be part of a large one) would work

• union is needed to protect country against external threats and internal corruption/insurrection

• Constitution also adds improvement to the government like checks & balances, separation of power, and courts, making it better than ancient republics

Federalist 10

• Madison

• factions (group of citizens united by a common interest adverse to the rights of other citizens) 

• you cannot eliminated factions without taking away the freedom to think and have different opinions/beliefs 

• a large republic will break down and control factions (they are harder to take over due to size and diversity) 

Federalist 23

• Hamilton

• scope and power of federal government

• having strong federal power is essential

Federalist 39

• Madison

• The government is a federal, not national government (or at least a mix of both)

• national would mean the people gave it unlimited power to rule over them

• Madison argues that the government “in its foundation, it is federal” because of the senate and the fact states retain quite a number of powers

Marbury vs. Madison (1803) 

• Marbury sues Madison for not delivering his commission to be a judge

• wants the Supreme Court to issue a writ of mandamus

• Marshall said the Supreme Court could not issue one because the Judicial Act of 1789 was unconstitutional, establishing judicial review

Federalist 78 

• Hamilton’s theoretical text for judicial review

• having a court between the people and legislature would keep the latter within the bounds of its authority

• permanent tenure adds to their independent spirit

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

• constitutionality of a national bank

• Necessary and proper clause gave Congress implied power to allow it to function

• federal law has supremacy over state law

Jeffersonian Republicanism

• strict interpretation of Constitution 

• state rights, individual liberty

• well-informed populace to participate in government 

• agrarian ideal: we will be fine as long as we are virtuous, and we remain virtuous as long as agriculture is our principle objective

• pro-French foreign policy

Washington’s Farewell Address

• unity of federal government and national sense of identity is in our best interest

• for protection, peace, and reliance on each other

• there should not be political parties (they become factions)

• be neutral in international relations and trade

• pay taxes

Alien and Sedition Acts (passed by Federalist under Adams)

• Naturalization act: no birthright citizenship, free white residing for two years can become citizens

• Alien Friend act: government can deport foreigners considered dangerous (during peace)

• Alien Enemies act: arrest, imprison, deport citizens of countries U.S. is at war with

• Sedition act: no publishing things that criticizes the government, targeted anti-federalist newspapers

necessary for national security or for consolidating federal power?

Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address

• describes U.S. as an extraordinary experiment

• vision of limited government (protect rights, maintain peace, avoid unnecessary and wasteful taxes/spendings)

• majority rule is important but minority’s right should not be trampled on

Jefferson’s Second Inaugural Address

• less idealistic, justifying expenses of federal government 

• accepting more federalist takes 

• want to enlighten/assimilate the Native Americans (they have the right of man, but not taking full advantage of their land to make property) 

Debate in the Virginia Constitution

• Virginia was one of 2 states that still have property qualifications to vote in 1830

• Eastern Virginia (slave and property owners) vs. Western Virginia (poor farmer/workers)

• John Cooke, representing Western Virginia, made arguments that human (white men) are free by nature and as long as one has reasoning, should be able to vote; also arguments on majority rule (why should a small percentage of landowners decide everything?)

• Abel Upshur, representing Eastern Virginia, argue there should be a majority in interest, as the purpose of politics is self-preservation and property (property owners have more interest in the state); also Cooke is being hypocritical because his expansion of voting rights is not universal

“First Annual Message to Congress” (John Quincy Adams)

• we need good navy and army 

• we need to facilitate commerce through peace, trade, and open market 

• federal spendings on public works (roads and canals) 

• need “moral, political, and intellectual improvement” (national university, geographical/astronomical research, telescopes) 

Andrew Jackson

• president from 1829-1837

• humble, self-made, military Western frontier background

• Jacksonian democracy (democratization for the common white man)

• attacked political privilege (rich elites should not get special political treatment)

• states’ right (but was not shy to use his presidential power)

• asserted U.S. sovereignty over Indian land (forced removal)

“Letter to James Duane”

• written by Hamilton 

• outlines the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

• need for a more unified authority 

“A Defence of the Constitutions of Government…”

• by John Adams

Articles of the Constitution:

1) established the U.S. Congress, a bicameral legislature consisting of Senate and House of Representatives, and outlines powers and duties (make law, tax, commerce, etc) 

2) Establishes the President and defines the powers and responsibilities of the executive branch (enforce law, commander in chief, pardons, appointments, treaties) 

3) Establishes the Supreme Court and grants Congress the power to create lower courts 

4) Relationships between states 

5) Amending the Constitution 

6) Constitution is supreme law of the land, prior debt still valid, oath 

7) Ratification process

American Jeremiad

Sacvan Bercovitch

Democracy in America

Alexander de Tocqueville

“Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal and Hartz: The
Multiple Traditions in America”

Roger Smith

“The Office of the People in Art, Government, and Religion”

• George Bancroft

• key text from Jacksonian America

• championing the democratic power and divine potential of the common people, arguing they possess a collective wisdom superior to elites

"An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America, Upon Slave-Keeping" (1773)

• Benjamin Rush

• Early abolitionist pamphlet arguing against slavery on moral, religious, and even medical grounds

• Urged higher taxes on slave imports to discourage the practice

African Slavery in America (1775)

• Thomas Paine

• denunciation of slavery, calling it a monstrous crime against God and humanity that violates natural rights

• attacks the hypocrisy of Christians defending it

• American hypocrisy (how can you enslave others when you fought for your own freedom)

“Notes on the State of Virginia”

• Thomas Jefferson

• originally written in 1781 as a response to a French diplomat's questions about Virginia's resources, geography, and institutions

• wanted to end slavery but free Black would need to leave the states to prevent race war and retaliation

• also noted the physical difference between Black and White

“The Laboring Classes”

• Orestes Brownson

• work conditions are unjust and exploitative

• slaves are taken care of because they are property, wage laborers are never sure where their next meal is (can be fired anytime)

Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829)

• David Walker

• argued that slavery violated key tenets of Christianity and the Declaration of Independence’s promise of freedom and equality

• Black men should work and enlighten themselves in order to prove their humanity

Appeal to Christian Women of the South, 1836

• Angelina Grimke,

• persuading Southern women about the immorality of slavery and to use their wifely existence for good

“Slavery”

• William Ellery Channing

• humans have natural rights, they should be free

• diversity is to bind us for mutual aid

• the aim of your existence and being human is an end, not a mean (Kant)

“The Liberator” and “Declaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Society”

William Lloyd Garrison

Disquisition on Government

• John C. Calhoun

• distinction between numerical and concurrent constitutional majority

• government power must be divided and distributed, and each division/interest must be given a concurrent vote or veto

• would make it impossible for one interest/class to obtain exclusive control of government

“Mud Sill” Speech

• John Henry Hammond

• used to justify slavery

• in every society, there must be a lower class to provide for the support and maintenance of the upper class

Dred Scott v. Sandford

• Case dismissed by Chief Justice Roger Taney

• Dred Scot was a slave in Missouri that sued for his freedom after residing in free territory

• Court held that African Americans are not considered American citizen and therefore did not have standing to sue in federal court

“Lectures on Slavery” and “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

• Frederick Douglass

• Americans share a collective quilt towards slavery but there is a lack of action (we are ALL responsible for allowing it to continue)

• prophecy and the Jeremiad (we need to reform the country)

Reconstruction Amendments

• 13th (1865): Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime

• 14th (1868): Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and guaranteed all citizens "equal protection of the laws" and due process, applying federal rights to the states

• 15th (1870): Prohibited states from denying a citizen the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude"

“On the Equality of the Sexes”

• Judith Sargent Stevens Murray

• women's perceived inferiority is due to lack of education and societal confinement, not nature

• assert women's equal intellectual capacity for reason, memory, and imagination

“Letter to Catharine E. Beecher”

• Angeline Grimke

• defends women's right to participate in political discourse, especially on abolition

• directly challenges Beecher's view that women's influence should be confined to the domestic sphere (home and school)

“A Treatise on Domestic Economy”

• Catharine E. Beecher

• Republican motherhood (women cultivate virtue and intelligence in children)

• focused this duty through education and domesticity, not politics, viewing public life as corrupting and women's true power as residing in the private, nurturing sphere

• plays into essentialism of women’s role in the home but emphasizes the importance of it

Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton

• Modeled after the Declaration of Independence, asserting that "all men and women are created equal" and demanding equal rights, including suffrage (the right to vote), education, property rights, and equal access to professions

“Address to the New York State Legislature”

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton

• Advocated for married women's property rights and broader legal equality

• Given women’s professional and personal contributions they make to society, specifically in their roles as mother, wife, citizen, and widow, women should have a say in how the country is governed (through voting)

“The Women Question”

• Orestes Brownson

• denies natural right to vote, it’s a trust from society

• men and women have same interest

• women are better off quiet and obedient

• women claim the suffer, don’t we all!

• women suffrage won’t solve any of the social evils and will destroy families instead

On Constitutional Equality” and “The Principles of Social Freedom”

• Victoria Woodhull (ran for president in 1872)

• extremely radical, activist, and communist

• equates position of women to slaves and worse than colonist

“Speeches about her Indictment”

• Susan B. Anthony

• her closing statement at her 1873 trial for illegally voting

• denying women the vote was a denial of their fundamental rights as citizens

• her actions were an exercise of her constitutional rights, not a crime

“Women and Economics”

• Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• women's economic dependence on men is the root of social inequality, hindering both sexes and society as a whole

• advocates for women's economic independence through work, which she believed would improve marriage, motherhood, and the home by allowing for specialization and freeing women from domestic servitude, ultimately leading to better family and societal outcomes

“If Men Were Seeking the Franchise”

• Jane Addams

• flips gender roles, imagining men denied the vote and arguing against giving it to them by mimicking anti-suffrage arguments, highlighting issues like men's supposed greed, love of war, and corruption, while advocating for women's "public housekeeping" skills to run a more moral, efficient society focused on welfare, safety, and social good over profit and power

“Speeches on Chinese Immigration”

• James Harvey Slater and James Zachariah George

• debate on Chinese immigration

• Slater often reflecting nativist, anti-Chinese views (economic threat, cultural incompatibility), while George, surprisingly, advocated for the economic benefits and rights of Chinese laborers

“Our Country”

• Josiah Strong

• American culture was in danger of disappearing due to an influx of immigration and non-Christian cultures held by those of "lesser races”

• Anglo-Saxons are a superior race who must "christianize and civilize" the "savage" races

“Speech on a Literacy Test for Immigrants”

• Henry Cabot Lodge

• sought to preserve what he considered the intellectual and moral quality of American

“The March of the Flag”

• Albert Beveridge

“Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League”

• imperialism was a betrayal of American ideals, citing the Declaration of Independence and the principles of self-government

“The Conquest of the United States by Spain”

• William Graham Sumner

• The U.S. won the war but lost its moral standing by adopting Spain's imperial methods, becoming like the Old World powers it fought against and betraying founding principles of liberty and self-governance

“The War Prayer”

• Mark Twain

“Eulogy on King Philip”

• William Apess

• redefines the Wampanoag leader Metacom (King Philip) as a revolutionary martyr, not a savage, by using Christian rhetoric to expose colonial hypocrisy and violence during King Philip's War (1675-76)

• Apess argues colonists were the aggressors, challenging the historical narrative by detailing broken treaties, enslavement of Philip's family, and contrasting Philip's noble defense of his people with white America's oppressive actions, advocating for Native rights and reconciliation

“An Indian’s View of Indian Affairs”

• Chief Joseph

• Indian affairs are a matter of fundamental human rights, betrayed by a government that failed to uphold its word, leading to tragic conflict and suffering, and he advocates for a universal application of justice and freedom so they can continue living on their ancestral land

“On Work and Property”

• Chief Joseph, Crazy Horse, and Smohalla

• Natives have a fundamentally different view of land, labor, and ownership than the European-American model, emphasizing communal stewardship, spiritual connection to the earth, and resistance to forced assimilation and individualistic material gain

• These texts challenge capitalist notions of private property, portraying land as a sacred, living entity, not a commodity to be bought or sold

“Self-Reliance” and “Politics”

• Emerson

• commitment to conscience, individualism, non-conformity, and quest for meaningful life

• self-reliance so you can be authentic

• private character makes the state unnecessary

“Resistance to Civil Government”

• Thoreau

• argues for the moral duty of individuals to resist unjust laws through nonviolent means, prioritizing conscience over government authority

• aka not paying taxes for a government he does not support

“The Myth of Rugged American Individualism”

• Charles Beard

• critiques “rugged individualism”, which resist government regulation of the market and provision of public goods

• Beard argued that rugged individualism is economically unrealistic, as widespread misery proved individuals couldn't solve societal problems alone, necessitating collective action

Democratic Vistas

• Walt Whitman

• democracy is a multi-colored piece of art that unites a diverse range of people without effacing their individuality or diversity

• don’t rely on old-world ideas and embrace new democratic culture

Plessy v. Ferguson

• Henry Brown and John Marshall Harlan

• upheld "separate but equal" segregation, arguing it didn't imply inferiority

“Atlanta Exposition Address”

• Booker T. Washington

• urged African Americans to focus on vocational training and economic self-sufficiency (labor, farming, trades) rather than immediate political equality, promising that economic contribution would earn respect and rights

“The Souls of Black Folk” and “The Talented Tenth”

• W.E.B. Du Bois

• propose that the most capable 10% of African Americans should receive higher education in the humanities to become leaders and uplift the entire race

“The True Solution of the Negro Problem”

• Marcus Garvey

• solution to the problem should be the establishment of a powerful, independent Black nation in Africa to protect them and command global respect

“The Klan’s Fight for Americanism”

• Hiram Evans

• The Klan’s purpose is to protect "native, white, Protestant supremacy" and defend traditional American values against immigrants, Catholics, Jews, and moral decay

• settling in America is a form of survival of the fittest

“Let America Be America Again”

• Langston Hughes

• America failed to live up to its ideals of freedom and equality, contrasting the "dream" of opportunity with the harsh reality of oppression faced by Black people, immigrants, and the poor

• ultimately ending with a hopeful call for the marginalized to reclaim and redeem the nation into the promised land it could be (revolution and Jeremiad)

“The Gospel of Wealth”

• Andrew Carnegie

• in favor of inheritance tax and philanthropy

• voluntary charity keeps the poor from revolting

“Progress and Poverty”

• Henry George

• land tax proposal (the enemy is the landlords that don’t produce anything)

“Wealth Against Commonwealth”

• Henry Demarest Lloyd

• muckraking book that exposed the corrupt and monopolistic practices of powerful trusts, particularly Standard Oil, and their negative impact on society

“A Living Wage”

• Monsignor John Ryan

“Christianity and the Social Crisis”

• Walter Rauschenbusch

The Promise of American Life

• Herbert Croly

• argued for a strong, interventionist federal government to achieve the nation's democratic ideals of equal opportunity and liberty, synthesizing Hamiltonian means with Jeffersonian ends

The New Nationalism

• Theodore Roosevelt

• Progressive political platform demanding a strong federal government to regulate big business, protect public welfare, ensure equal opportunity, and serve the national good over private interests

The Public and Its Problems

• John Dewey

• Argued we need to historicize concepts

  • Freedom in the 20th century is different from freedom in the 18th

• democracy needs an informed, active public to solve societal issues, criticizing the idea of a passive public

• defines "the public" as those affected by indirect consequences of actions

• there are multiple public and democracy solves the problem as they arise

Three major arguments used in defense of slavery:

• force makes right, just war theory (prisoner captured may become slaves)

• natural slavery (some people should be slaves because they cannot govern themselves)

• divine authorization (God said it’s okay, commonly used in America)

Lochner Era

• “Freedom of contract” under due process

• huge monopolies (oil, railroad, steel, etc.)

• Court made it a common practice "to strike down economic regulations adopted by a State

• survival of the fittest to justify free market capitalism