PSC 20800

AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT

Course Instructor: Jeremy Fortier Course Semester: Fall 2019

Office Hours: Monday, noon-2pm (or by appt.) Course Time: MoWe 9:30am – 10:45am
Office Location: NAC 4/142 Course Location: NAC 6/214
E-Mail: jfortier@ccny.cuny.edu

Course Description
This course is an introduction to American political thought. The course is structured as an analysis of the
major ideas contained in what is arguably the single most important document of American political
thought: the Declaration of Independence. In particular, we will examine what the Declaration tells us
about the meaning of freedom and equality, and consider how the American understanding of those ideas
has evolved over time.

In order to connect the past to the present, our main text for the course will be an exceptionally detailed
and thoughtful commentary on the Declaration written by a leading contemporary political theorist,
Danielle Allen, in her recent book Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in
Defense of Equality. For most of the course, we will focus on reading Allen’s book along with the
Declaration, but a variety of supplementary readings will be provided to illustrate how different stands of
the American political tradition have interpreted the Declaration’s commitments to freedom and equality.
In the final section of the course we will consider how some of the major theoretical concepts presented
by the Declaration have been understood and applied in practice, by examining some of the major debates
over freedom and equality in American constitutional law.

Course Materials
You will need to acquire a copy of the following book:

o Danielle Allen. Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of

Equality. ISBN: 978-1631490446.

All other materials will be made available electronically, through the course website on Blackboard.

Course Evaluation
Assignments for the course are as follows:

o First Exam. Held in-class on Monday, October 7th. Worth 25% of the final course grade. The
exam will consist of multiple choice and short answer questions that test your knowledge of
major concepts presented in the first month of course material.
o Second Exam. Held in-class on Monday, November 4th. Worth 25% of the final course grade. The
exam will consist of short answer questions and an essay section. The short answer section will
test your knowledge of major concepts presented in the second month of course material. The
essay section will ask you to critically evaluate Danielle Allen’s argument in Our Declaration.
For the essay component of the exam, you will have the option of writing the essay in-class, or
writing a take-home version (the short answer section of the exam must be completed in-class,
regardless of which essay option you select). If you write the take-home version, you may use
your essay as a draft for your final paper (the final paper will be longer and cover more material,
but the topics will be related, so you can treat this assignment like “Part One” of the final).
o Final Paper. Due at the conclusion of the course on Monday, December 16th. Worth 40% of the
final course grade.
o Attendance/Participation. Worth 10% of the final course grade.

 
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 Course Policies
Make-Up Exams: Make-up exams are permitted only in the case of thoroughly documented medical
emergencies.

Regrading: Any student who wishes to contest the grade on an individual assignment must do so within
one week of the grade having been issued. You must provide a written explanation of why your paper
should be reevaluated. In re-grading, the entire assignment will be evaluated (not just a specific part), and
your grade can go either up or down.

Academic Integrity: Students should familiarize themselves with the College’s policies on academic
integrity, available here: https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/about/integrity

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 Course Schedule
There are two categories of reading listed for each class session: required readings and supplementary
materials. The required readings must be completed before each class session (your participation grade is
partly dependent on your ability to discuss those readings knowledgably in-class). For the first two
months of the course, all of the required readings are from Danielle Allen’s book. The supplementary
materials either illustrate or debate some of the concepts discussed in Allen’s book. Since these materials
can be quite dense (or presuppose familiarity with certain background information), I will introduce them
in-class (explaining why they are important, what their major concepts/claims are). When you write your
essays, you will be expected to discuss three-or-four of the supplementary materials, but you will get to
choose which three-or-four to discuss, and you do not have to worry about knowing that material until
you are preparing your essays (and of course I will discuss in-class how to incorporate the supplementary
materials into your essays successfully). That said, as the supplementary materials are being introduced
in-class, you might pick out a few that could be promising to write on, and start reading and thinking
about them (and visit my office hours to discuss them). For the last month of the course, all of the
readings listed are required, and will be made available through Blackboard (I will generally be posting
excerpts of the material, although for the court cases you can easily look up the full decisions online if
you are eager to read more).

In brief: for September and October, before each class session you should carefully read the assigned
pages from Danielle Allen’s book; worry about supplementary materials when the time comes to prepare
your essays. For November and December, read everything posted to Blackboard.

Finally, please note that relatively minor modifications to the course schedule may occasionally be
announced in-class, or through the course website on Blackboard. Exam dates will not change.

Wednesday, August 28: Introduction

General course introduction.

Monday September 2: No Class

Labor Day holiday.

Wednesday, September 4: Positive and Negative Liberty

Allen, pp. 21-23

Questions:
1. According to Allen, “Under the general influence of libertarianism, both parties have abandoned
our Declaration”. Allen does not really explain this statement, but “libertarianism” is in effect the
foil for the argument of her whole book. Can you guess what she means by “libertarianism”, and
why she has a problem with it?
2. Allen writes, “Political philosophers have generated the view that equality and liberty are
necessarily in tension with one another”. Why might someone think that equality and liberty are
in tension with one another?

Supplementary Material:
1. Isaiah Berlin, “Two Concepts of Liberty”
2. John Dewey, The Public and Its Problems, Chapter 5
3. F.A. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty, Chapters 1 and 9

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Thursday, September 5: Positive and Negative Rights
College operating on a Monday schedule. For this class we will continue working through the material
from Wednesday, September 4th (so there are no new required readings).

Supplementary Material:
1. Comparing constitutional bills of rights: U.S. Constitution, Amendments 1-10; Indian
Constitution, Articles 14-35; Irish Constitution, Articles 40-45; South African Constitution,
Chapter 2
2. Franklin Roosevelt, Remarks on a Second Bill of Rights (State of the Union, 1944)
3. Ronald Reagan, Remarks on an Economic Bill of Rights (July 3, 1987)
4. DeShaney v Winnebago County Social Services

Monday, September 9: Freedom

Allen, pp. 107-109 (focusing on what she says here about “freedom”)

Questions:
1. In this chapter Allen briefly alludes to several different understandings of “freedom”. Which
understanding of freedom sounds right to you (or why do they all sound wrong)? What does it
sound like Allen’s own ideal of freedom is?
2. In this chapter Allen distinguishes between government “interference” and government
“domination”. Is that a helpful distinction to make?

Supplementary Material:
1. W.E.B. DuBois, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”
2. Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
3. Philip Petit, “Liberty as Non-Domination”

Wednesday, September 11: Equality

Allen, pp. 107-109 (focusing on what she says here about “equality”)

Questions:
1. “Equality” may be an even trickier political principle to define than “freedom”. In this chapter
Allen discusses some of the difficulties involved, and suggests how they might be resolved. Do
her suggestions mesh well with what you think “equality” means? And just how far should
equality be taken as a political principle?

Supplementary Material
1. John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity”
2. James Madison, Federalist #10
3. James Wilson, “Of Man as a Member of Society”
4. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, “What Kind of Despotism Democratic Nations
Have to Fear”
5. John Rawls, “Justice as Fairness”

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Monday, September 16: Realizing Freedom and Equality
Allen, pp. 110-125

Questions:
1. According to Allen, the Declaration has a distinctive understanding of what constitutes a “people”
(as in “the American people”). What is that understanding? In other words, what makes someone
part of “the American people”?
2. Allen places a lot of emphasis on two apparently small linguistic distinctions (“equal in power”
versus “equal as a power”, and “separate and equal” versus “separate but equal”). Why are these
distinctions so important to Allen?

Supplementary Material:
1. Frederick Douglass, “Self-Made Men”
2. Martha Nussbaum, “Capabilities as Fundamental Entitlements”
3. William Graham Sumner, What the Social Classes Owe to Each Other, Intro, I-III, VI
4. Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas, excerpts

Wednesday, September 18: Religion and Politics

Allen, pp. 129-142

Questions:
1. In Chapter 21 Allen observes, “The colonists [thought] they had an actual right to be left alone”?
What might be the distinction between an “actual right” and a “fake right”?
2. Does belief in God matter for politics? Why or why not?
3. Near the end of Chapter 20 Allen remarks, “we can see [rights] as coming from nature and/or we
can see them as coming from God. It’s like belt and suspenders”. Can you explain this statement?
Why would God (or nature) be to rights like suspenders (or a belt) would be to pants?

Supplementary Material:
1. John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, chapters II-V, IX, XIX, and A Letter Concerning
Toleration, excerpts
2. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, excerpts
3. James Madison, “Memorial and Remonstrance”

Monday, September 23: Do Ideas Have Power?

Allen, pp. 145-159

Questions:
1. Do ideas matter in politics? Do words and theories have the power to shape people’s beliefs and
actions?
2. What does Allen think about the fact that Thomas Jefferson wrote about freedom despite being a
slaveholder? Should it matter to modern readers of the Declaration if Jefferson was a
“hypocrite”?

Supplementary Material:
1. Christopher Achen & Larry Bartels, Democracy for Realists, Chapter One
2. Deirdre McCloskey, Bourgeois Dignity, Chapters 1 – 5

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Wednesday, September 25: Who Knows What’s Best for You?
Allen, pp. 160-188

Questions:
1. In Chapter 29 Allen describes politics as “a distinctively human activity”. In what way does
politics make humans different from other animals (or are we not really so different)? Is political
participation as essential for human freedom and fulfillment as Allen argues here? (Put another
way: do you somehow become “more human” or a “better human” by voting, running for office,
or even majoring in political science?)
2. In Chapter 31 Allen contends that the Declaration takes a position on the question of who can
determine what will be most conducive to our happiness. Do you have a position on this
question? Who exactly is the best judge of your happiness (or the collective happiness of
Americans more generally)? Is this an easy question to answer? Why or why not?

Supplementary Material:
1. Jason Brennan, “Democracy and Freedom”
2. Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein, “Libertarian Paternalism is Not an Oxymoron”

Monday, September 30: No Class

No classes scheduled in the College today.

Wednesday, October 2: Review

No new readings.

Monday, October 7: FIRST EXAM

Exam held in-class.

Wednesday, October 9: No Class

No classes scheduled in the College today.

Monday, October 14: No Classes

College closed for the day.

Wednesday, October 21: Tyranny

Allen, pp. 191-221

Questions:
1. In Chapter 36, as part of her discussion of tyranny, Allen mentions the difference between
“representation” and “participation”. Can you explain this difference?
2. According to Allen’s discussion in Chapter 36, what are some of the most important features of
“the rule of law”, and how is it undermined by tyranny?

Supplementary Material:
1. Judith Shklar, “The Liberalism of Fear”

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Monday, October 21: Borders, Trade, and Migration
Allen, pp. 222-229

Questions:
1. In Chapter 29 Allen suggests that the Declaration’s principles have fairly specific implications for
questions of trade and migration. What are those implications?

Supplementary Materials:
1. Joseph Carens, “Aliens and Citizens: The Case for Open Borders”
2. Patrick Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed, Chapter 3

Wednesday, October 23: Independence and Interdependence

Allen, pp. 230-254

Questions:
1. In Chapter 44 Allen appears to be somewhat “judgmental” about other people’s fashion choices.
Can this sort of judgmentalism be justified?
2. At the end of Chapter 45 Allen in effect sums up her entire argument with this phrase: “Freedom
depends on our entangled relations with others”. Explain what she means by this as best you can.

Supplementary Material:
1. Wendell Berry, “It All Turns on Affection”
2. Sharon Krause, “Beyond Non-Domination: Agency, Inequality, and the Meaning of Freedom”

Monday, October 28: Principles and Partisanship

Allen, pp. 257-282

Questions:

1. In Chapter 47 Allen suggests that the Declaration tells us not only who our political “friends” are,
but also who our “enemies” should be. Are enemies inevitable in politics? How can one
distinguish between legitimate opposition and illegitimate opposition?
2. In Chapter 50 and her Epilogue, Allen drills into details of the Declaration (attaching significance
to signatures and punctuation). Is this detailed analysis illuminating, in your judgment? Do the
details that she focuses on support her overall argument?

Supplementary Material:

1. John Dryzek, et al, “The Crisis of Democracy and the Science of Deliberation”
2. Morris Fiorina, “The Political Parties Have Sorted”
3. Russell Muirhead, “A Defense of Party Spirit”
4. Nancy Rosenblum, “Partisanship and Independence”

Wednesday, October 30: Review

No new readings.

Monday, November 4: EXAM

Exam held in-class.

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Note: For every reading in this final section of the course, you should be asking the same question,
namely…To what extent does each reading (the constitutional amendment, judicial decision, or author’s
argument) extend the understanding of freedom and equality found in the Declaration of Independence,
and to what extent does the reading deviate from that understanding (whether for better or for worse)?
Moreover, do the arguments found in the reading fit most closely with (or directly contradict) one or
another of the various theoretical frameworks we have covered (e.g., “positive” versus “negative” rights)?

Wednesday, November 6: Extending the Ideas of the Declaration

Text of the 14th Amendment
Michael Zuckert, “Completing the Constitution: The Fourteenth Amendment and Constitutional Rights”

Monday, November 11: What Sort of Freedom Does the Constitution Protect?
Lochner v New York; Griswold v Connecticut

Wednesday, November 13: Recent Controversies Over the Meaning of Freedom

Casey v Planned Parenthood; Obergefell v Hodges

Monday, November 18: Recent Controversies Over the Meaning of Equality

San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez; Plyler v Doe

Wednesday, November 20: Slavery and the Declaration, Part I

Dred Scott v Sandford

Monday, November 25: Slavery and the Declaration, Part II

Responses to the Dred Scott decision by Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln (both commenting on
the decision’s understanding of the Declaration of Independence)

Wednesday, November 27: Segregation and the Declaration

Plessy v Ferguson; Brown v Board of Education

Monday, December 2: The Meaning of the Constitution – A Modern View from the Left
Ronald Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, excerpts

Wednesday, December 4: The Meaning of the Constitution – A Modern View from the Right
Richard Epstein, The Classical Liberal Constitution, excerpts

Monday, December 9: Review

No new reading.

Monday, December 11: How to Write a Successful Paper

No new reading.

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