Brigham Young University
Political Science 366: American Political Thought II
Winter 2017
Prof. Brandon Dabling
Office Location: SWKT 781
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: MW 3-4:30
Course Information
Description
This course examines the transformation of the American idea of natural right under the
influence of Social Darwinism, Progressivism, liberalism, conservatism, and other currents of
modern American political thought. The effort throughout will be to understand the significance
of these developments for the philosophy, and conduct, of republican government in America.
Required Readings
Isaac Kramnick and Theodore Lowi, eds., American Political Thought: A Norton Anthology.
RJ Pestritto, and William J. Atto, eds., American Progressivism: a Reader
Grading Policy
Your grade will be based on your performance on your short assignments, quizzes and exams. The points
will be weighted as follows:
Midterm (20 Percent)
The exam will consist of multiple choice, short response, and essay questions. It will be administered in
the testing center.
Final Exam (30 Percent)
The final exam will follow the same format as your midterm.
Paper 1 (10 Percent)
The first paper will ask you to draw from the ideas and principles of the American Founding to respond to
a modern phenomenon or event in American politics. This paper will be no more than three pages. I will
provide the prompt at least three weeks before the due date.
Paper 2 (15 Percent)
The second paper will follow a format similar to that of the first paper. I will provide the topic at least
three weeks before the paper’s due date. It will be no more than three pages in length.
Final Paper (25 Percent)
I will provide you with a list of potential prompts at a later date. This paper should be professional and
polished. It should be no more than five pages in length.
Grading Scale
93 — A
90 — A87 — B+
83 — B
80 — B77 — C+
73 — C
70 — C67 — D+
63 — D
60 — D0—E
University Policies
Honor Code
In keeping with the principles of the BYU Honor Code, students are expected to be honest in all of their
academic work. Academic honesty means, most fundamentally, that any work you present as your own
must in fact be your own work and not that of another. Violations of this principle may result in a failing
grade in the course and additional disciplinary action by the university. Students are also expected to
adhere to the Dress and Grooming Standards. Adherence demonstrates respect for yourself and others and
ensures an effective learning and working environment. It is the university's expectation, and my own
expectation in class, that each student will abide by all Honor Code standards. Please call the Honor Code
Office at 422-2847 if you have questions about those standards.
Preventing Sexual Misconduct
As required by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the university prohibits sex
discrimination against any participant in its education programs or activities. Title IX also
prohibits sexual harassment—including sexual violence—committed by or against students,
university employees, and visitors to campus. As outlined in university policy, sexual
harassment, dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking are considered forms
of “Sexual Misconduct” prohibited by the university.
University policy requires any university employee in a teaching, managerial, or supervisory role
to report incidents of Sexual Misconduct that come to their attention through various forms
including face-to-face conversation, a written class assignment or paper, class discussion, email,
text, or social media post. If you encounter Sexual Misconduct, please contact the Title IX
Coordinator at [email protected] or 801-422-2130 or Ethics Point at
https://titleix.byu.edu/report-concern or 1-888-238-1062 (24-hours). Additional information
about Title IX and resources available to you can be found at titleix.byu.edu.
Student Disability
Brigham Young University is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere that reasonably
accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. If you have any disability which may impair your
ability to complete this course successfully, please contact the University Accessibility Center (UAC),
2170 WSC or 422-2767. Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have
qualified, documented disabilities. The UAC can also assess students for learning, attention, and
emotional concerns. Services are coordinated with the student and instructor by the UAC. If you need
assistance or if you feel you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of disability, you
may seek resolution through established grievance policy and procedures by contacting the Equal
Employment Office at 422-5895, D-285 ASB.
Academic Honesty
The first injunction of the Honor Code is the call to "be honest." Students come to the university not only
to improve their minds, gain knowledge, and develop skills that will assist them in their life's work, but
also to build character. "President David O. McKay taught that character is the highest aim of education"
(The Aims of a BYU Education, p.6). It is the purpose of the BYU Academic Honesty Policy to assist in
fulfilling that aim. BYU students should seek to be totally honest in their dealings with others. They
should complete their own work and be evaluated based upon that work. They should avoid academic
dishonesty and misconduct in all its forms, including but not limited to plagiarism, fabrication or
falsification, cheating, and other academic misconduct.
Plagiarism
Intentional plagiarism is a form of intellectual theft that violates widely recognized principles of academic
integrity as well as the Honor Code. Such plagiarism may subject the student to appropriate disciplinary
action administered through the university Honor Code Office, in addition to academic sanctions that may
be applied by an instructor. Inadvertent plagiarism, which may not be a violation of the Honor Code, is
nevertheless a form of intellectual carelessness that is unacceptable in the academic community.
Plagiarism of any kind is completely contrary to the established practices of higher education where all
members of the university are expected to acknowledge the original intellectual work of others that is
included in their own work. In some cases, plagiarism may also involve violations of copyright law.
Intentional plagiarism is the deliberate act of representing the words, ideas, or data of another as one's
own without providing proper attribution to the author through quotation, reference, or footnote.
Inadvertent plagiarism involves the inappropriate, but non-deliberate, use of another's words, ideas, or
data without proper attribution. Inadvertent plagiarism usually results from an ignorant failure to follow
established rules for documenting sources or from simply not being sufficiently careful in research and
writing.
Although not a violation of the Honor Code, inadvertent plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct for
which an instructor can impose appropriate academic sanctions. Students who are in doubt as to whether
they are providing proper attribution have the responsibility to consult with their instructor and obtain
guidance. Examples of plagiarism include: Direct Plagiarism-The verbatim copying of an original source
without acknowledging the source.
Paraphrased Plagiarism is the paraphrasing, without acknowledgement, of ideas from another that the
reader might mistake for the author's own. Plagiarism Mosaic is the borrowing of words, ideas, or data
from an original source and blending this original material with one's own without acknowledging the
source. Insufficient acknowledgement is the partial or incomplete attribution of words, ideas, or data from
an original source. Plagiarism may occur with respect to unpublished as well as published material.
Copying another student's work and submitting it as one's own individual work without proper attribution
is a serious form of plagiarism.
Schedule
Jan. 9 Introduction: Is there an American Mind? (No Reading)
One Nation Under Law?
Jan. 11
Kramnick and Lowi, eds., American Political Thought: A Norton Anthology, pp. 151-154
(Declaration of Independence), pp. 484-491 (“Resistance to Civil Government” by Henry David
Thoreau), pp. 601-607 (“Speeches on Slavery” by John C. Calhoun)
Jan. 16 Martin Luther King Jr. Day (No Reading; No Class)
Jan. 18
Kramnick and Lowi, pp. 624-643
Alexander Stephens, “Cornerstone Speech”
Liberty and Union
Jan. 23
Abraham Lincoln, “Selections pt. 1,” including the “Lyceum Address,” “Temperance Address,”
“Fragments on Government and Slavery,” and “Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act.”
Jan. 25
Abraham Lincoln, “Selections pt. 2,” including “Speech at Chicago Republican Banquet,”
“Speech on the Dred Scott Decision,” “House Divided Speech,” and selections from the LincolnDouglas Debates
Jan. 30
Abraham Lincoln, “Selections pt. 3,” including a continuation of the Lincoln-Douglas debates,
the Cooper Union Address, tour to Washington speeches, “First Inaugural,” and “Message to
special session of Congress”
Feb. 1
Abraham Lincoln, “Selections pt. 4,” including message to special session of Congress, annual
message to Congress, appeal for compensated emancipation, slave colonization, suspending
Habeas corpus, 1862 annual message, emancipation proclamation, Gettysburg Address, Second
Inaugural, Speech on Reconstruction
Social Darwinism
Feb. 6
K&L, pp. 703-730
Feb. 8
K&L, pp. 773-785, 901-909, 1030-1035
Paper 1 Due February 10 on LS before midnight
Populism, Imperialism, and Social Reform
Feb. 13
K&L, pp. 730-736, 740-784
Feb. 15
K&L, pp. 801-815, 834-839, 854-871, 915-926
Exam 1 Testing Center: Feb. 15-18
Feb. 20 Presidents’ Day No Classes; No Readings
The New Political Science and Social Science
Feb. 21
Pestritto, pp. 31-54, 175-187; K&L, pp. 1024-1030, 1054-1057, 1095-1098
Feb. 22
Pestritto, pp. 191-203, 211-248
Progressivism
Feb. 27
K&L, pp. 872-882, 988-992, 1002-1012
Theordore Roosevelt, “A Confession of Faith”
March 1
K&L, pp. 1058-1095
Woodrow Wilson and Modern Liberalism
March 6
Pestritto, pp. 77-106
March 8
Pestritto, pp. 107-123, 251-264
Paper 2 Due on LS Before Midnight
Liberalism’s Second Wave: the Welfare State
March 13
K&L, pp. 1133-1169
March 15
K&L, pp. 1170-1210
Up From Slavery
March 20
K&L, pp. 588-598, 942-980
March 22
K&L, pp. 985-987, 1305-1321, 1322-1343
The Rise of Cultural Liberalism
March 27
K&L, pp. 1290-1305, 1344-1369
March 29
Lyndon B. Johnson, Selected speeches
Searching for a Theory
April 3
K&L, pp. 1370-1381, 1477-1503
April 5
Richard Rorty, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, pp. xiii-xvi, 3-9, 44-69
Souls Without Longing
April 10
Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (tbd)
April 12
Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (tbd)
Natural Right and American Conservatism
April 17
Leo Strauss, “What is Political Philosophy?”
April 19
Harry Jaffa, “Equality as a Conservative Principle”
Harry Jaffa, “The American Founding as the Best Regime: The Bond of Civil and Religious
Liberty”
Optional:
Gregory L. Schneider, ed., Conservatism in America Since 1930, chs. 1, 3, 7-13, 15-19, 21, 23,
27, 31
James Burnham, Suicide of the West, ch. 7
Kramnick and Lowi, pp. 1381-1404, 1411-1426
Final Exam
Saturday, April 22
122 MARB
2:30-5:30pm