Introduction to Assignments
This two-week seminar will cover basic themes in U.S. Constitutional history through a series of lectures, presentations, discussions, and other classroom activities. The class will meet twice a day, 9:30-11:30 a.m. and 1:30-2:30 p.m. Typically in the morning session, a lecture and a film or activity will be planned, based on the day’s theme. To be prepared for that session, read the listed assignments in the text. In the afternoon session, assigned documents from the reader will be analyzed and discussed.
In the assignments listed below, all chapter numbers and titles, subhead titles, and page numbers listed under the main topic headings refer to the TEXT, March of Liberty, vols. I and II. All titles and page numbers listed under Documents refer to the READER, Documents, vols. I and II. In the reading assignments below, there is considerable reading suggested. In the text, skim the chapters so that you have a sense of the material. Selected sections within the chapters are noted for emphasis. A closer reading is more important for the documents for our planned discussions.
The major assignment for the seminar will be the preparation of a unit plan on a topic from U.S. Constitutional history, teaching that plan, and reporting on the teaching experience at a subsequent fall 2002 or spring 2003 meeting. Throughout the workshop, we will discuss this assignment and offer any help or suggestions for consideration.
The following six themes will be considered in the seminar:
- Origins of the Constitution
- The Constitution during the Antebellum Era
- Constitutional Crisis: Civil War and Reconstruction
- The Progressive Era and Constitutional Reform
- The New Deal and the Constitution
- A Modern Constitutional Test: Nixon/Ford/Watergate.
Schedule and Assignments - Week 1
I. The Origins of the Constitution
MONDAY: Read Chapters 1-3 in the TEXT. Pay particular attention to the following sections:
in Chapter l, Magna Carta and the Rule of Law (1-4), Common Law Enthroned (4-6)
in Chapter 2, Settler and Indian Views of Land (18-19), Personal Status: Women, Laborers, Slaves (21-26)
in Chapter 3, Colonial Governments (41-43), Colonial Constitutional Thought (45-47), Republican Ideology (47-48), and Declaration of Independence (57-58).
Documents: in the READER - Be sure to read: Magna Carta (1-2); Mayflower Compact (8-10); Virginia Statutes on Slavery (14-15); Indian and White Views on Property (27-29); Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress (36-38), and Declaration of Independence (54-58).
If you have a chance, check out: Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (11-12); Frame of Government by William Penn (16-20); Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions (35-36); and Thoughts on Government by John Adams (50-54).
TUESDAY: Read Chapters 4-7, especially Chapter 6, in the TEXT. Pay particular attention to the following sections:
in Chapter 4, The Articles of Confederation (63-65), Conservatives and Radicals (68-69), and Blackstone’s Influence (75-77)
in Chapter 5, Defects of the Articles (81-82) and Toward the Philadelphia Convention (91)
all of Chapter 6 (This chapter represents the basic primer on the Constitution); and in Chapter 7, The Bill of Rights (123-28).
Documents: in the READER - Be sure to read Articles of Confederation (61-67); Virginia Plan (80-82); New Jersey Plan (82-84); Constitution of the United States (85-103); and The Federalist Papers (106-112).
If you have a chance, check out: Hamilton’s Plan (84-85) and Objections to the Proposed Constitution by James Mason (103-105).
II. The Constitution during the Antebellum Era
WEDNESDAY: Read Chapters 7-8 and 10-11 in the TEXT. Pay particular attention to the following sections:
in Chapter 7, The Bank of the United States (132-33) and Hamilton-Jefferson Debate (133-34)
in Chapter 8, The Judiciary Act of 1789 (148-50) and Separation of Powers (152-55)
in Chapter 10, The Alien and Sedition Acts (181-84), The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (184-85), John Marshall and the Midnight Judges (187-88) and Marbury v. Madison (191-96)
in Chapter 11, The Court and National Sentiment (213-14), The Second Bank of the United States in Court (218-22), and The Marshall Court’s Legacy (226-27).
Documents: in the READER - Be sure to read Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank by Thomas Jefferson (115-19) and by Alexander Hamilton (119-122); Alien and Sedition Acts (137-38); Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (142-49); Marbury v. Madison (156-62); McCulloch v. Maryland (201-209); and Defense of States’ Rights by John Taylor (210-13).
If you have a chance, check out: The Naturalization Act of 1798 (138-39); The Alien Friends Act (139-40); The Alien Enemies Act (140-41); and The Sedition Act of 1798 (141-42).
THURSDAY: Read Chapters 14-17 in the TEXT. Pay particular attention to the following sections:
in Chapter 14, Calhoun Responds to the Tariff (276-78) and The Nullification Crisis (279-82)
in Chapter 15, Women’s Rights (304-305) and Race Relations and Antislavery Argument (316-18)
in Chapter 16, The Police Power (326-27) and Defining State and Federal Powers (330-31)
in Chapter 17, The Missouri Compromise (340-43), Abolitionist Theories and the Constitution (344-46), Federal Fugitive Slave Laws (351-52), and Free Blacks (362-63).
Documents: in the READER - Be sure to read South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification (248-50); Declaration of the Seneca Falls Convention (326-28); Declaration of the American Anti-Slavery Society (275-78); Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge (288-91); Cooley v. Board of Wardens (351-53); and Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (343-46).
If you have a chance, check out: South Carolina Exposition (238-41) and 1860 Slave Code of Virginia (387-94).
III. Constitutional Crisis: Civil War and Reconstruction
FRIDAY: Read Chapters 18-19 in the TEXT. Pay particular attention to the following sections:
in Chapter 18, The Wilmot Proviso (376), The Compromise of 1850 (379-81); The Kansas-Nebraska Act (384-85), and the Dred Scott Decision (393-94)
all of Chapter 19 (This chapter covers the Civil War and its relationship to the Constitution).
Documents: in the READER - Be sure to read Prigg v. Pennsylvania (303-305); Lincoln-Douglas Debates (378-82); Dred Scott v. Sandford (366-78); South Carolina Ordinance of Secession (399-400), Ex Parte Merryman (421-26), The Emancipation Proclamation (428-29), and Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln (439-440). If you have a chance, check out Roberts v. City of Boston (339-43); Massachusetts Personal Liberty Act (363-66); Constitution of the Confederate States of America (406-414); and First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln (414-20).
Schedule and Assignments - Week 2
MONDAY: Read Chapters 20-21 in the TEXT. Pay particular attention to the following sections:
in Chapter 20, Loyalty Oaths (431-32), Presidential Reconstruction (437-39), Southern Intransigence (440-41), The Civil Rights Act (442-43), and The Fourteenth Amendment (444-47)
in Chapter 21, The Military Reconstruction Acts (453-54), The New State Governments (454-55), Restricting the Executive (457-58), Reconstruction in the Courts (465), Texas v. White (470-71), The End of Reconstruction (474-75) and Conclusion: The Legacy of Reconstruction (476-77).
Documents: in the READER - Be sure to read Ten Percent Plan (442-43); Wade-Davis Bill (444-45); Black Codes of Alabama and Mississippi (456-63); Civil Rights Act of 1866 (463-66); Ex Parte Milligan (472-73); and Texas v. White (488-94).
If you have a chance, check out Veto of Civil Rights Act by Andrew Johnson (467-72).
IV. The Progressive Era and Constitutional Reform
TUESDAY: Read Chapters 25-26. Pay particular attention to the following sections:
in Chapter 25, Child Labor and State Courts (548-49), Child Labor in the Supreme Court (549-51), Hours of Women Workers (551-53), The Lechner Decision (558-60), The Debs Case (566-67), and The Courts and Labor Unions (567-70)
in Chapter 26, Democracy and Efficiency (572-73), The Roosevelt Presidency (573-75), The Federal Police Power (575-79), Race and the Progressive Era (592-93), and Conclusion (595-96).
Documents: in the READER - Be sure to read Hammer v. Dagenhart (586-90); Muller v. Oregon (561-63); Lochner v. New York (558-61); In re Debs (561-63); and The Living Law by Louis D. Brandeis (572-75).
V. The New Deal and the Constitution
WEDNESDAY: Read Chapters 30-31. Pay particular attention to the following sections:
in Chapter 30, The Depression and the Need for Action (663-64), The Hughes Court (664-66), The New Deal in Court (676-78), Black Monday (678-81), The Court and the Agricultural Adjustment Act (681-83), and Conclusion: The Court Versus the New Deal (684-85)
in Chapter 31, The Roosevelt Court Plan (689-93), The “Switch in Time” (693-95), Roosevelt Reshapes the Court (698-700), The Court and State Power (708-709), and Conclusion: The Crisis Survived (709-11).
Documents: in the READER - Be sure to read Schecter Poultry Corp. v. United States (653-57); United States v. Butler (657-61); The Court Packing Plan (669-78), and West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (680-82).
If you have a chance, check out Perry v. United States (650-53).
VI. A Modern Constitutional Test: Nixon/Ford/Watergate
THURSDAY: Field Trip to and tour of the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center/Birthsite and Gardens in Omaha. Lecture by Professor Lloyd E. Ambrosius on the Ford Presidency and the Supreme Court.
FRIDAY: Read Chapter 39. Pay particular attention to the following sections:
in Chapter 39: Expansion of Domestic Powers (876-77), The Pocket Veto (877-78), Budgets and Impoundments (878-81), Watergate (882-885), Executive Privilege (885-86), United States v. Nixon (887-88), Resignation (888-90), The Lessons of Watergate (890-92).
Documents: in the READER - Be sure to read Articles of Impeachment Against Richard M. Nixon (839-843), handouts on New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) and United States v. Nixon (1974).