PRINT THIS DOCUMENT

Somerville Consortium, Syllabus

June 24-28, July 2-3, 5-6, 2007
The United States Constitution:
Its Construction, Ratification, & Early Implementation

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


Monday, June 25th (Jeffrey Poelvoorde)

Topic I: What are the Principles of the Declaration of Independence?
    Readings:
  • * Founders' Constitution [FC hereafter]: 2:1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Locke, Gordon, Montesquieu, Hume, Otis); 3:1, 2, 3, 4 (Sidney, Locke, Blackstone, Adams)
  • Declaration of Independence (in The Federalist, 495-99)
  • Garry Wills, Inventing America
  • * Michael Zuckert, The Natural Rights Republic, 13-34, 71-72
Topic II: What is the nature of the American Union?
    Readings:
  • *FC 7:1, 2, 4 (Albany Plan, Franklin on the Albany Plan, Continental Congress's Transmittal of proposed Articles of Confederation)
  • Madison's Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention: May 14-30, June 15-19, 25-30, July 23, August 6, 31, Sept 10-11, 12-17
  • The Constitution, Preamble, Article VII (in appendix to The Federalist)
  • The Federalist, Nos. 1-3, 9-16
  • Akhil Amar, America's Constitution: A Biography, Chapter 1
  • Herbert Storing, What the Anti-Federalists Were For, Chs. 1-5

Tuesday, June 26th (Jeffrey Poelvoorde)

Topic I: How does the Constitution unite Nation and States?
    Readings:
  • *FC 8:1, 13, 25, 26, 28, 31, 34, 40 (Montesquieu, Federal Farmer, Brutus, Federal Farmer, Brutus, Brutus, Madison)
  • Madison's Notes: June 8, 11-14, 20-22, July 2-18, Sept 1-3
  • The Constitution, Articles IV, V, VI
  • The Federalist, Nos. 22, 32, 33, 39-46
  • *Michael Zuckert, "Federalism and the Founding"
  • *Herbert Storing, "The Problem of Big Government"
  • *Diamond, Martin, "What the Framers Meant by Federalism"
Topic II: What is the separation of powers?
    Readings:
  • *FC 10:2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11
  • Madison's Notes: June 2, 4, 6, 23, July 20, 21; August 15
  • The Federalist, Nos. 47-51
  • Storing, What the Anti-Federalists Were For, Chs. 6-7
Topic III: The Classical Period and the Sonata Form (Floyd Grave)
    Readings:
  • *Bonds, A History of Music in Western Culture, "The Classical Era," pp. 276-285
  • *Pestelli, The Age of Mozart and Beethoven, "Instrumental Music," pp. 1-18.
  • *Storr, Music and the Mind, pp. 81-84.
  • *Rothstein, Emblems of Mind, pp. 118-121.


Wednesday, June 27th (Jeffrey Poelvoorde)

Topic I: What is the proper construction of the legislative power?
    Readings:
  • *FC 12: 1, 2, 3, 11, 23; 13:20, 22, 23, 24, 31
  • Madison Notes: May 31, June 6, 7, 9, 19, 20, 28, 29, August 7-30
  • The Constitution, Article I
  • The Federalist, Nos. 52-66
  • Amar, America's Constitution, Chs. 2-3
Topic II: What is a "republican executive?"
    Readings:
  • Madison Notes: June 1-4, July 19-21, 24-26, September 4-8
  • The Constitution, Article II
  • The Federalist, Nos. 67-77
  • Amar, America's Constitution, Ch. 4


Thursday, June 28th (Jeffrey Poelvoorde)

Topic I: What is the constitutional function of the judiciary?
    Readings:
  • Madison's Notes: June 5, July 18,
  • The Constitution, Article III
  • The Federalist, Nos. 78-83
Topic II: How does the Constitution protect individual rights?
    Readings:
  • Madison's Notes: Sept. 12 ff.
  • The Constitution, Article I, Sections 9, 10; Article IV, Section 1; Amendments I-IX, III-XIV
  • The Federalist, No. 84
  • Storing, What the Anti-Federalists Were For, Ch. 8
Topic III: What kind of American community does the Constitution encourage?
    Readings:
  • FC 4:2, 3, 33 (Montesquieu, Hume, Jefferson)
  • Storing, What the Anti-Federalists Were For, Ch. 9
Topic IV: Individual Particularity, Literary Form, and Human Community in Eighteenth Century America (Michael McKeon)
    Readings:
  • *Michael McKeon, The Secret History of Domesticity (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 323-25, 342-87, 782, 786-95
  • *McKeon, "Generic Transformation and Social Change: Rethinking the Rise of the Novel," in Modern Essays on Eighteenth Century Literature, ed. Leopold Damrosch, Jr. (Oxford University Press, 1988): 159-180


Monday, July 2nd: Alexander Hamilton's Plan to Fund the Union (Darren Staloff)

    Reading: [Pages marked in boldface are particularly important.]
  • Darren Staloff, Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson: The Politics of Enlightenment and the Ameri-can Founding (New York, 2005), 3-131, 56-102.
  • Alexander Hamilton, Report on Public Credit, January 14, 1790, in Alexander Hamilton: Writings, Joanne B. Freeman, ed. (New York, 2001), 531-74, 531-554.
  • Alexander Hamilton, Report on a National Bank, December 14, 1790, ibid., 572-612, 575-80, 593-612.
  • Alexander Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, December 5, 1791, ibid., 647-734, 647-680, 690-99, 705-10.
  • Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist, Nos. 12, 30, 31, ibid., 209-215, 290-300.
Focus Questions:


In Federalist 30, Hamilton claims that "Money is, with propriety, considered as the vital principle of the body politic." Why does Hamilton believe this? How does it relate to his experience and understanding of the American Revolution?

What is the "reach" of Hamilton's funding plan? Are his goals purely fiscal and revenue oriented, or does he have a larger economic and social agenda?

Despite its success, Hamilton's scheme was extremely divisive and controversial. What were the sources of that controversy?

What is the relationship between the three reports Hamilton submitted to Congress? Do they stand alone, or are they part of a larger whole?

To what extent were Hamilton's policies a product of Enlightenment belief, and to what ex-tent were they the fruit of his military experience?



Tuesday, July 3rd: Trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art: Architecture and Material Culture circa 1789; Elfreth's Alley: the nation's oldest residential street

Thursday, July 5th: Material Things in Early America: Refinement, Civility, and Simplicity (Robert St. George)
    Readings:
  • *David E. Shi, The Simple Life, pp 74-124
  • *John Styles and Amanda Vickery, ed., Gender, Taste, and Material Culture in Britain and North America, "Reading Spaces in Eighteenth-Century New England," Robert Blair St. George, pp. 81-105.
  • Richard Bushman, The Refinement of America (Knopf, 1993), 3-29, 207-352.
Friday, July 6th: The Constitutional Crisis of the New Republic: 1789-1800 (Paul Moreno)
Focus Questions:
What provoked the Federalists to enact the Alien and Sedition Acts? What justification did they provide for them? What were the principal objections that the Jeffersonians made? What was the constitutional theory behind the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions? How was the conflict between the Federalists and Republicans resolved?