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Psc 4V94 Slavery in American Political Development Baylor University Spring 2012

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Psc 4V94 Slavery in American Political Development Baylor University Spring 2012 PSC 4V94 SLAVERY IN AMERICAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY SPRING 2012 Dr. Matthew S. Brogdon Department of Political Science Office Location: Burleson Hall 302B Office Hours: TR 2:00-3:15, W 9:00-11:00, or by appt. Phone: 254.710.2249 Email: [email protected] COURSE DESCRIPTION This course is devoted to an examination of our national experience with African slavery and its tremendous influence on American political development from the colonial era through Reconstruction. We will begin by considering the role of evangelical Christianity, particularly as it emerged from the Great Awakening, on the growth of abolitionism. In the period surrounding the American Revolution, evangelical claims regarding the equality of men by virtue of their common creation and their brotherhood in Christ combined with the distinctive claims of modern liberalism to furnish a powerful argument in favor of freedom. But slavery persisted and the slaveholding interest in the United States won important concessions in the Constitution of 1787. The extent of these concessions and the resulting complicity of the Constitution in the national sin of slaveholding has remained a matter of contention throughout American political history. No assault on the Founding fails to mention it and no defense of the Constitution can afford to ignore it. The relationship between the Constitution and slavery will therefore be a recurring theme in the course. In addition, we will consider to varying extents the reciprocal impact of slavery on the development of political parties, constitutional law, American political thought, and American foreign policy. Slavery in the United States is not a mere matter of historical curiosity, but continues to influence our political order. Beyond its obvious implications for race relations and civil rights, the legacy of slavery continues to find its way into broader debates about the sanctity of human life, the ethics of gay marriage, the demands of gender equality, and the proper role of religious arguments in political discourse. Perhaps most importantly, our study of African slavery and its abolition may serve to awaken our consciences to the continuing injustice and cruelty of human bondage. The slave trade still thrives both here and abroad and it still demands conscientious and effective action if its victims are to find freedom. Studying American political development from the perspective of a single issue lends coherence to our investigation, but it also threatens to distort the subject matter, particularly when the issue is race-based slavery. As Ralph Ellison once warned, we must avoid “the deadly and hypnotic temptation to interpret the world and all its devices in terms of race.” REQUIRED TEXTS C. Peter Ripley, ed., Witness for Freedom: African American Voices on Race, Slavery, and Emancipation (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993) ISBN 0807844047 Don Fehrenbacher, The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United States Government’s Relations to Slavery (New York: Oxford, 2001) ISBN 9780195158052 Don Fehrenbacher, ed., Abraham Lincoln: A Documentary Portrait through His Speeches and Writings (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1964) ISBN 0804709467 Herman Melville, Billy Budd and the Piazza Tales (New York: Barnes and Noble, 2006) ISBN 1593082533 Paul Finkelman, ed., Dred Scott v. Sandford: A Brief History with Supporting Documents (New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1997) ISBN 0312115946 Paul Finkelman, ed., Defending Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Old South: A Brief History with Documents (New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003) ISBN 0312133278 COURSE REQUIREMENTS 15% Participation 30% Review Essay 25% Midterm Exam 30% Final Exam Participation: Students are expected to have read all assigned materials carefully and be prepared to discuss them in class. Regular input from students is expected. Unexcused absences, disrespectful conduct, and displays of unpreparedness will be detrimental to your participation grade. Review Essay: By February 2, you will choose a topic related to the course on which you will write a 12 to 15-page review essay. The essay will take the form of an extended book review in which you will evaluate, critique, or extend the authors work. I have included a list of recommended books that would work well for this purpose, though you are by no means limited to the books on the list. There will be considerable variation in the types of questions you address and the material you use to do so, but the one hard a fast rule is that the essay must deal extensively with primary sources. The essay should be double spaced in an 11 or 12-point serif font and it must follow a consistent style of citation (either in-text or footnote style is acceptable). The essay is due by April 2. Each student must meet with me no later than one week prior to the due date. To this meeting, you will bring all of the written material thus far produced (notes, outlines, etc.) including at least one typed page of your essay, which we will go over together. This initial page must be finished prose, written in complete sentences and coherent paragraphs, and should include a clear thesis statement. Late essays will be penalized half a letter grade for each day delinquent (including weekends). Essays that are rhetorically or substantively inadequate will be returned for revision and penalized half a letter grade. Exams: In-class midterm and final exams will be administered. The final exam is cumulative insofar as it draws connections between the first and second halves of the course. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY Students will be held to the highest possible standard of honesty and integrity in the completion of course assignments. Cheating, plagiarism, or deception in any form will be addressed by the maximum penalty allowed under university policy. SUGGESTED BOOKS FOR REVIEW ESSAY Mark Graber, Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil George William Van Cleve, A Slaveholder’s Union: Slavery, Politics, and the Constitution in the Early American Republic Eric Foner, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery Mark Noll, The Civil War as a Theological Crisis Harry V. Jaffa, The Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates Robert M. Cover, Justice Accused: Antislavery and the Judicial Process Justin Buckley Dyer, Natural Law and the Antislavery Constitutional Tradition (Cambridge, forthcoming) Paul Finkelman, Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson William M. Wiecek, The Sources of Antislavery Constitutionalism in America, 1760-1848 Herbert Croly, The Promise of American Life Michael F. Holt, The Political Crisis of the 1850s (New York: Norton, 1983) Eugene Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll! Eugene Genovese, The Slaveholder’s Dilemma SCHEDULE OF READINGS F-AL = Fehrenbacher, ed., Abraham Lincoln F-PS = Finkelman, Defending Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Old South F-DS = Finkelman, Dred Scott v. Sandford Ripley = Witness for Freedom TAH = TeachingAmericanHistory.org/library BB = Blackboard T 1/10: Intoduction: Slavery and the American Founding Thurgood Marshall, “Reflections on the Bicentennial of the Constitution,” 1987 (BB) Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” 1852 (TAH, recommended) R 1/12: No Class, Moot Court National Championship T 1/17: Christianity and Slavery Thomas Kidd, God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution, chap. 7, pp. 131-46; chap. 8, pp. 147-66 (BB) George Whitefield’s letter to Southern slaveholders, 1740 (BB) John Wesley, Thoughts on Slavery, 1774 (BB) Richard Furman, Exposition of the Views of Baptists Relative to the Colored Population, 1822 (BB, recommended) R 1/19: Slavery in the Revolutionary Era Fehrenbacher, Slaveholding Republic, chap. 2, pp. 15-28 Jefferson’s “rough draft” of the Declaration of Independence, 1776 (TAH) Lemuel Haynes, Liberty Further Extended, 1776 (BB, recommended) Hamilton to John Jay, March 4, 1779 (TAH) Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1787 (F-PS, 47-54) T 1/24: Slavery and the Constitution Fehrenbacher, Slaveholding Republic, chap. 2, pp. 28-47 Michael Chan, “Alexander Hamilton on Slavery,” Review of Politics 66 (2004): 207-31 (recommended) Herbert J. Storing, “Slavery and the Moral Foundations of the American Republic,” 1975 (BB) Make-up Session TBA: Implementing the Constitution: Abolition of the Slave Trade Fehrenbacher, Slaveholding Republic, chap. 4, pp. 89-111; chap. 5, pp. 135-72 U.S. Congress, An Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves, 1807 (TAH) The Antelope, 10 Wheaton 66 (1825) (BB) Justin B. Dyer, “After the Revolution: Somerset and the Antislavery Tradition in Anglo-American Constitutional Development,” Journal of Politics 71, no. 4 (October 2009): 1422-34 The Amistad, 40 U.S. 518 (1841) (BB) R 1/26: Implementing the Constitution: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 Fehrenbacher, Slaveholding Republic, chap. 7, pp. 205-30 Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. 539 (1842) T 1/31: Slavery in the Territories: The Missouri Compromise of 1820 Fehrenbacher, Slaveholding Republic, chap. 9, pp. 253-66 R 2/2: Garrisonian Abolition Fehrenbacher, The Dred Scott Case (Oxford, 1978), chap. 5, pp. 114-24 (BB) William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator “To the Public,” January 1, 1831 (TAH) Editorial concerning Walker’s Appeal, January 8, 1831 (TAH) “On the Constitution and the Union,” December 29, 1832 (TAH) “The American Union,” January 10, 1845 (TAH) Garrison, The National Anti-Slavery Society’s Declaration of Sentiments, December 14, 1833 (TAH) T 2/7: The Rise of Black Abolition Ripley, ed., Witness for Freedom, Introduction, pp. 1-28 Colonization, Immediatism, and Moral Suasion (Ripley, docs. 1-7 and 10-13) African Americans in the Antislavery Movement (Ripley, docs. 14-23, 28, 30-31) Douglass, “What Are the Colored People Doing for Themselves?” 1848 (TAH) Independence of Black abolitionists (Ripley, docs. 33-38) The African American Press (Ripley, docs. 39-41) Black Antislavery Tactics (Ripley, docs 49-55) R 2/9: The Southern Response and the Gag Rule Robert Y.
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