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Note:  We strongly recommend that participants arrive for the Summer Seminar having completed all assigned readings.  Readings marked with an asterisk (*) are in your packet.

Monday, June 29 (Darren Staloff)
I – Republicanism and Liberalism in the Ideology of the Revolution

• Readings:
  Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, ch. 2-4.
  Joyce Appleby, Liberalism and Republicanism in the Historical Imagination, ch. 2-6.
  Darren Staloff, Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson: The Politics of Enlightenment and the American Founding, introduction
  *John Adams, The Earl of Clarendon to William Pym, 1-3
  *Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America

Focus Questions:
How does the relation of individual to community and citizen to state differ in liberal and republican thought?
What is the end of government in liberalism and republicanism?  What are its limits?
What does “virtue” mean in the ideology of the revolution?  What is its political role?
How is “liberty” understood in republican and liberal ideologies?

Tuesday June 30 (Darren Staloff)
II – A First Founding: Independence and the Problem of Self-Government

• Readings:      
  Gary Wills, Inventing America, parts 2-4
  Staloff, HAJ, 132-194
  Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence (in Federalist Papers)
  *John Adams, Thoughts on Government and The Report of a Constitution, or Form of Government, for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
  The Articles of Confederation (in Federalist Papers)

Focus Questions:
What role do the “self-evident truths” of the Declaration play in the foundation of American republican government?
What are the functions of mixed government and the separation of powers in Adamsian constitutional design?
In the aftermath of independence, how was sovereignty allocated between the state and central governments?
Was the United States a nation, confederacy, or military and diplomatic alliance?

Wednesday, July 1 (Darren Staloff)

III – A Second Founding and a More Perfect Union: The Debate over the Federal Constitution

• Readings:
  Forrest McDonald, Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution, ch. 4-8
  Herbert J. Storing, What the Anti-Federalists Were For: The Political Thought of the Opponents of the Constitution
  *James Madison, The Vices of the Political System of the United States
  The Constitution and The Bill of Rights (in Federalist Papers)
  *Letters from a Federal Farmer, 1-4
  The Federalist Papers, 6, 8, 10, 51, 55

Focus Questions:
What was the nature of the “crisis” that led to the drafting of the Federal Constitution?
Is the Constitution a liberal or republican frame of government?
What is the role of the Bill or Rights in the Constitution?  How does it relate to the Federalist vision?
What were the fears that underlay anti-federalism?
What relation does the Federalist movement bear to the American Revolution?

Thursday, July 2 (Darren Staloff)

IV – Building the Nation: Alexander Hamilton and Federalist Governance

• Readings:
  Staloff, HAJ, ch. 1
  Federalist Papers, 12, 30, 31
  Alexander Hamilton, Report on Public Credit, January 14, 1790 in Alexander Hamilton: Writings, Joanne B. Freeman ed., pp. 531-74
  Alexander Hamilton, Report on a National Bank, December 14, 1790, ibid., pp. 575-580, 593-612.
  Alexander Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, December 5, 1791, ibid., pp. 647-680, 690-699, 705-710.

Focus Questions:
Federalist 30, Hamilton claims, “Money is, with propriety, considered as the vital principle of the body politic.”  Why does he believe this?  How does it relate to his experience and understanding of the American Revolution?
What is the “reach” of Hamilton’s funding plan?  What are his goals?
Why were Hamilton’s financial schemes so controversial?
How did foreign policy relate to financial policy in Washington’s administration?
What was the significance of the Whiskey Rebellion and its suppression for Federalist governance?

Friday, July 3 (Darren Staloff)

V – Ideology and Politics: The First Party System and the Revolution of 1800

• Readings:
  Staloff, HAJ, pp. 194-350
  Richard K. Matthews, The Radical Politics of Thomas Jefferson: A Revisionist View
  *The Kentucky Resolutions
  *Timothy Dwight, The Duty of Americans, at the Present Crisis (1798)
  *John Mitchell Mason, The Voice of Warning to Christians (1800)

Focus Questions:
What was the relationship between the Republican Party and Anti-Federalism?
Was Thomas Jefferson’s political thought radical?  Why or why not?
What role did ideology play in the first party system?  What role did sectionalism play?
How does religion figure into the revolution of 1800?
What significance did the French Revolution play in the political fissures of the 1790s?
Note: Richard Bushman’s The Refinement of America corresponds to the afternoon activities, specifically, chapters 3-5, 8 & 10.