POL 3225 is also offered in Fall 2024
POL 3225 is also offered in Fall 2023
POL 3225 is also offered in Fall 2022
POL 3225 is also offered in Fall 2021
Fall 2018 | POL 3225 Section 001: American Political Thought (19833)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Lecture
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- In Person Term Based
- Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
- Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
Mon,
Wed 08:15AM - 09:30AM
UMTC, West Bank
Anderson Hall 330
- Enrollment Status:
Open (80 of 83 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- Puritans, American Revolution, Constitution, pro- and anti-slavery arguments, civil war/reconstruction, industrialism, westward expansion, Native Americans, immigration, populism, socialism, social Darwinism, women's suffrage, red scares, Great Depression, free speech, pluralism, multiculturalism. prereq: Suggested prerequisite POL 1201
- Class Notes:
- http://classinfo.umn.edu/?psoper+POL3225+Fall2018
- Class Description:
- In this course we will examine classic texts in the history of American political thought in order to understand how Americans have theorized about and argued over their political system, and to consider how we can draw upon these texts to address contemporary American political problems. Some of the questions we will address: What political and moral obligations do citizens have to the state, and to each other? What is the basis of legitimate state authority? What is the social contract, and how have Americans used social contract theory to legitimate their governments? What is the right of resistance, and when is it acceptable for individuals or a people to resist or rebel against their government? Does the Declaration of Independence merely list the reasons for separating from Great Britain, or is it also a founding document establishing American principles of liberty and equality? How does the Constitution limit (or fail to limit) the power of the state, and protect (or fail to protect) individual and corporate rights? Is class conflict over the distribution of wealth in society a recent development or a long-standing feature of American political discourse? How have religious texts and ideas been used as a basis for political argument? How relevant to our century and our political problems are the ideas of 50, 100, 150, 200, or more years ago? What, if anything, can we still learn and use from these past ideas and theories? How might they help us, or lead us astray, in addressing our own problems today? Prominent theorists covered include Winthrop, Franklin, Paine, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Hamilton, the Anti-Federalist "Brutus," Thoreau, Calhoun, Douglass, Lincoln, Sumner.
- Who Should Take This Class?:
- Any student interested in political theory, philosophy, American history, American politics, textual interpretation and analysis, or the roles of ideas, race, gender, and religion in politics.
- Learning Objectives:
- To understand significant texts in history of American political thought, both in relation to their original historical context and in terms of how they still resonate with our political concerns and problems today; to understand how Americans have thought about and argued over politics from the colonial period through the present; to cultivate students' analytical reasoning.
- Exam Format:
- 80% Reports/Papers
20% Quizzes
- Class Format:
- 80% Lecture
20% Discussion
- Workload:
- 150 Pages Reading Per Week
30 Pages Writing Per Term
3 Paper(s)
2 Quiz(zes)
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/19833/1189
- Past Syllabi:
- http://classinfo.umn.edu/syllabi/psoper_POL3225_Fall2017.doc (Fall 2017)
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 23 February 2017
ClassInfo Links - Fall 2018 Political Science Classes