Books for Purchase

We will read most of the chapters of the following books and, because the class is large, each seminar member should have a copy. Paperback editions should be available at the University Book Center and the Book Exchange. Suggested Readings have been placed on Reserve; most of the articles are available on JSOR. Books listed under "Other Important Studies" are not on reserve for this course.

Cooper, William. Liberty and Slavery.
Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition.
Milkis, Sidney M. The President and the Parties
Muncy, Robyn. Creating a Female Dominion in American Reform, 1890-1935
Daniel Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age
Skowronek, Stephen. The Politics Presidents Make.
Watson, Harry. Liberty and Power.
Wiebe, Robert. The Search for Order, 1877-1920
Wood, Gordon. The Radicalism of the American Revolution.

Course Structure and Requirements

Each week there is common reading assigned by the instructor that should be read prior to the class meeting. Please come to class prepared to discuss this material. In addition, a week in advance two seminar members will assign about 30 pages in the book from the On Reserve list that they have selected to review. The selected pages should be ones that identify the main arguments of the book and present of the evidence upon which it is based. These books are on Reserve and this reading should also be completed before the class meeting. Your contribution to class discussions will account for 40 percent of your course grade.

During the semester each seminar member will prepare 2 short reviews (4 double-spacedtypewritten pages) of books selected from the On Reserve list reading list. These reviews should discuss the main findings of the book and--equally important--relate its arguments and interpretations to the historiography on that specific topic or the general topic for the week. In writing your review, feel free to consult the reviews that appeared in scholarly journals; also feel free to utilize historiographical essays that place the book (or similar books) in a broad context.

Each seminar member will prepare one 10-page paper during the term. The papers will cover a given chronological period--either 1790-1860 or 1860-1930 or 1930-1990; there will be four or five papers for each period. These papers should identify and discuss the most important problems or themes in the political history of that period and undertake an analytic synthesis of the course reading for that period. The papers will be due a few weeks after the completion of the chronological period; seminar members should write their papers on the period with which they are LEAST familiar. Please provide all seminar members with a copy of this paper, which will count for 30 percent of your course grade.

From Republicanism to Classical Liberalism

Week 2 The Politics of the Early Republic, 1790-1830 (February 4)
Assigned Reading:
Richard Hofstadter, American Political Tradition, chaps. 1-2
Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make, chap.4
Gordon Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, chap. 10-19
Ronald Formisano, "Deferential-Participant Politics: The Early Republic's Political Culture,
                1789-1840," American Political Science Review, 68 (June, 1974), 473-487.
William Cooper, Liberty and Slavery, chaps. 4-6

Week 3 Jacksonian Democracy and the Second Party System (February 11)
Assigned Reading: (first week for reviews)
Hofstadter, American Political Tradition, chap. 3
Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make, chap. 5
Kelley, Transatlantic Persuasion, pp. 145-168, 180-210, 238-266 JN216 .K47
Harry Watson, Liberty and Power
William Cooper, Liberty and Slavery, chaps. 7-8

On Reserve:
Robert Kelley, Transatlantic Persuasion JN216 .K47
Richard Carwarden. Evangelicals and Politics. BR1642.U5C378
Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin, Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in
                the Nineteenth Century       E337.5.A48 2000
Amy Bridges, A City in the Republic: Antebellum New York and the Origins of Machine
                Politics       JS1227.B74
Rodgers Smith, Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S.History KF4700.S63

Other Important Readings
Lee Benson, The Concept of Jacksonian Democracy: New York as a Test Case
Richard L. McCormick, The Second Party System
Leonard Richards, Gentlemen of Property and Standing.
Jean H. Baker, Affairs of Party: The Political Culture of Northern Democrats in the Mid-
               Nineteenth Century.

Week 4 Economics, Law, and Politics (February 18)
Assigned Reading:
Kelley, Transatlantic Persuasion, chap. 2
Oakes, James. "From Republicanism to Liberalism: Ideological Change and the Crisis
               of the Old South." American Quarterly 37, no. Fall, 1985 (1985): 551-571.
Horwitz, Morton. The Transformation of American Law, chap. 3 and pages 160-188.
Scheiber, Harry N. "Property Law, Expropriation, and Resource Allocation by Government:
               The United States, 1789-1910." Journal of Economic History 33, (March 1973): 232-251.
Corwin, Edward S. "The Doctrine of Due Process of Law before the Civil War (1912),"
               In Corwin on the Constitution, edited by Richard Loss, 149-79.

On Reserve:
R. Kent Newmyer, The Supreme Court under Marshall and Taney KF8748.N4
William J. Novak, The People's Welfare: Law and Regulation in Nineteenth-Century America
               KF366.N68 1996
Daniel Howe, The Political Culture of the American Whigs JK2331.H68

Other Important Readings:
William Freehling, Prelude to Nullification.
Sean Wilentz, Chants Democratic.
Sally McCurry, Masters of Small Worlds
Carter Goodrich, Government Promotion of American Canals and Railroads, 1800-1920

Week 5 The Coming of the Civil War (February 25)
Assigned Reading:
Hofstadter, American Political Tradition, chap. 4-5
William Cooper, Liberty and Slavery, chaps. 9-11
Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men, pages to be assigned.

On Reserve:
David Potter, The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861 (1976) E459.P67 1976
Drew G. Faust, James Hammond and the Old South F273.H25F38 1982

Other Important Readings:
William Freehling, Road to Disunion.
Michael Johnson, Patriarchal Republic.
Holt, Thomas. The Political Crisis of the 1850s.
J. Mills Thornton, Politics and Power in Alabama JK4525.1978.T48

Part II. Nationalism and Regulatory Liberalism

Week 6 War and Reconstruction (March 3)
Assigned Reading:
Hofstadter, American Political Tradition, chap. 6
Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make, pp. 197-227
Morton Keller, Affairs of State: Public Life in Late Nineteenth Century America, chap. 1-2

On Reserve:
Michael Les Benedict, A Compromise of Principle: Congressional Republicans and
               Reconstruction, 1863-1869 E668.B46
Robert Benzel, Yankee Leviathan.
Alex Keyssar, The Right to Vote JK1846.K48 2000

Other Important Readings:
Michael Perman, Road to Redemption: Southern Politics, 1867-1879
Eric Foner, A Short History of Reconstruction.
Steven Hahn, The Roots of Southern Populism: Georgia, 1840-1890.
Michael Kent Curtis, No State Shall Abridge: the 14th Amendment and the Bill
               of Rights UB343.C483 1987
Herman Belz, Emancipation and Equal Rights: Politics and Constitutionalism in the
               Civil War Era E668.B45 1978
Rodgers Smith, Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S.History

Week 7 The Gilded Age (March 10)
Assigned Reading:
Keller, Affairs of State, chaps. 3, 5, and 7
Kelley, Transatlantic Persuasion, pp. 266-350
Hofstadter, American Political Tradition, chap. 7-8

On Reserve:
Clifton K Yearley,. The Money Machines: The Breakdown and Reform of Governmental
               and Party Finance in the North, 1860-1920 HJ241.Y4
Richard Franklin Bensel, The Political Economy of American Industrialization,
               1877-1900 HC105.B45 2000
Paul Kleppner, The Third Electoral System, 1853-1892 JK1965.K53
Lawrence Goodwyn, The Populist moment : a short history of the agrarian revolt
               in America E661.G672 1978

Other Important Readings:
Richard McCormick, The Party Period in American History.
Lee Benson, Merchants, Farmers, & Railroads, 1850-1887.
Jon C. Teaford, The Unheralded Triumph: City Government in America,1870-1900
               JS323.T427 1984
Robert F. Durden, The climax of populism: the election of 1896 JK2372.D8

Week 8 Women and Politics: 1790-1920 (March 17)
Assigned Reading:
Paula Baker. "The Domestication of Politics: Women and American Political Society,
               1780- 1920." American Historical Review 89, no. June 1984: 620-647.
Robyn Muncy, Creating a Female Dominion in American Reform, 1890-1935
Melanie Gustafson, et al. We Are Here To Stay, chaps. HQ1236.5.U6W4 1999

On Reserve:
Linda Kerber, No Constitutional Right To Be Ladies HQ1236.5.U6K47 1998
Laura F. Edwards, Gendered Strife and Confusion: The Political Culture of Reconstruction
               HQ1438.S63E35 1997
Glenda Gilmore, Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in
               North Carolina, 1880-1920 E185.93.N6G55 1996
Theda Skocpol, Protecting Mothers And Soldiers HV91.S56 1992
Kathryn Kish Sklar, Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work: The Rise of Women's
               Poltical Culture, 1830-1900 HQ1413.K45S58 1995

Other Important Readings:
Nancy Isenberg, Sex and Citizenship in Antebellum America HQ1236.5.U6I83 1998
Mary Ryan, Women In Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 HQ1391.U5R9 1990
Bordin, Ruth. Women and Temperance: The Quest for Power and Liberty HV5229.B67
Rebecca Edwards, Angels In The Machinery HQ1236.5.U6E39 1997

Spring Break

Week 9 The Progressive Era (March 31)
Assigned Reading:
Hofstadter, American Political Tradition, chap. 9-10
Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make, pp. 228-259
Wiebe, Search for Order, chaps. to be assigned
Rodgers, Daniel. Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age, chaps. to be assigned

On Reserve:
McGeer, Michael. The Decline of Popular Politics: The American North, 1860-1925. E661.M4
Linda Gordon, Pitied But not Entitled: single mothers and the history of welfare, 1890-1935
               HV699.G67 1994

Other Important Readings:
Kloppenberg, James. Uncertain Victory:Social Democracy and Progressivism in European
               and American Thought, 1870-1920.
Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform E743.H63 1960
Buenker, John. Urban Liberalism and Progressive Reform
John Chambers, The Draft Comes to America UB343.C483 1987

Week 10 A Corporate Society and Polity, 1900-1930 (April 7)
Assigned Reading:
Hofstadter, American Political Tradition, chap. 11
Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make, pp. 260-285
Robert Wiebe, The Search For Order, 1877-1920, chaps. to be assigned

On Reserve:
Ellis W. Hawley, The Great War And The Search For A Modern Order: A History
               of The American People And Their Institutions, 1917-1933 E766.H3
John W. Allswang, A House for All Peoples: Ethnic Politics in Chicago, 1890-1940
               JS708.A8
Stephen Skowronek, Building a New American State JK231.S55 1982

Other Important Readings:
Morton Keller, Regulating a New Economy:Public Policy and Economic
               Change in America, 1900-1933 E661.K27
Nancy Cott, The Grounding of Modern Feminism
Thomas R. Pegram, Partisans and Progressives: Private Interest and Public
               Policy in Illinois, 1870-1922 JK5774.5.P44 1992

Part III. Big Government: War and Social Welfare Liberalism

Week 11 The New Deal and the Fair Deal (April 14)
Assigned Reading:
Hofstadter, American Political Tradition, chap. 12
Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make, 287-324
Frazer, Steven, and Gary Gerstle. Rethinking the New Deal, chaps. E806.R57 1989
Milkis, Sidney M. The President and the Parties, pp. 3-184

On Reserve:
Robert Higgs, Crisis and Leviathan
Colin Gordon, New Deals: Business, Labor, and Politics in America,
               1920-1935 HC106.3.G625
Alonzo L. Hamby, Beyond The New Deal: Harry S. Truman And American
               Liberalism (1973) E813.H26
Alan Brinkley, The End Of Reform: New Deal Liberalism In Recession And
               War (1995) E806.B747 1995

Other Important Readings:
Patrick J. Maney, The Roosevelt Presence: A Biography Of Franklin Delano
               Roosevelt (1992) E807.M27 1992
Otis Graham, An Encore for Reform: The Old Progressives and the New Deal
Robert P. Ingalls, Herbert H. Lehman and New York's Little New Deal
John Braeman, et. al., The New Deal: The National Level
Susan Ware, Partner and I: Molly Dewson, Feminism, and New Deal Politics
Nancy Joan Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln: Black Politics in
               the Age of F.D.R E807.W44 1983

Week 12 Politics and Foreign Policy, 1916-1990 (April 21)
Assigned Reading:
Higgs, Crisis and Leviathan, chaps 1, 2, and 9
Alan Brinkley, Liberalism And Its Discontents (1998), chap. 5 and 6. E743.B755 1998
John Gaddis, We Now Know: rethinking Cold War history (1997), chap. D843.G23 1997
Michael Fry, ed., History, the White House, and the Kremlin : statesmen as historians (1991),
               chaps by Lake, Freiden, and Snyder. E744.H59 1991

On Reserve:
Michael J. Hogan, A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National
               Security State, 1945-1954 E813.H58 1998
Geir Lunderstad, The American "Empire (1990) E744.L96 1990

Other Important Readings:
Byron Farwell, Over There: The United States in the Great War, 1917-1918 D570.F37 1999
Robert O. Keohane, Ideas and Foreign Policy (1993) JX1391.I33 1993
Michael Hunt, Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy (1987) E183.7.H86 1987
Akira Iriye, Cultural Internationalism and World Order (1997) D842.I75 1997
Gabriel Kolko, Confronting the Third World (1988) E744.K63 1988
Richard Neustadt and Ernest May, Thinking in Time (1986) E743.N378 1986
Marc Trachtenberg, History and Strategy (1991) U163.T73 1991

Week 13 The 1960s: Social Movements and the Political System (April 28)
Assigned Reading:
Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make, pp. 325-360
Milkis, Sidney M. The President and the Parties, chap. 8
Howard Sitkoff, The Struggle for Black Equality, 1954-1980, chaps. E185.615.S572 1993

On Reserve:
Allen J. Matusow, The Unraveling America: A History Of Liberalism In The 1960s
               E841.M33 1984
Martin P. Wattenberg, The Decline of American Political Parties, 1952-1992
               JK2261.W37 1994

Other Important Readings:
McQuaid, Kim. Uneasy Partners: Big Business in American Politics, 1945-1990
John M. Blum, Years of Discord: American Politics and Society, 1961-1974
               E841.B59 1991
Charles V. Hamilton, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.: The Political Biography Of An
               American Dilemma E748.P86H35 1991
Louis Galambos, ed., The New American State: Bureaucracies and Policies since World War II.
Godfrey Hodgson, America in Our Time HN59.H59

Week 14 The Courts, Rights, and Politics, 1890-1990 (May 5)
Assigned Reading:
McCurdy, Charles W. "Justice Field and the Jurisprudence of Government-Business Relations:
               Some Parameters of Laissez-Faire Constitutionalism, 1863-1897." Journal of American
               History 61, no. March 1975: 970-1005
Martin J. Sklar, The Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism HC110.C3S58 1988
William Wiecek, Liberty under Law: The Supreme Court in American Life, chaps. 5-8
               KF8742.W52 1988
William Forbath, “Law and the Shaping of Labor Politics in the U.S. and England,” in
               Labor Law in America, ed. Christopher L. Tomlins and Andrew J. King, pp. 201-230
               KF3319.L274 1992

On Reserve:
Christopher Tomlins, The State and the Unions: Labor Relations, Law, and the Organized
               Labor Movement in America, 1880-1960
Alex Keyssar, The Right to Vote JK1846.K48 2000

Other Important Readings:
Daniel Ernst, Lawyers against Labor KF3431.E76 1995
Steven Lawson, Running For Freedom: Civil Rights And Black Politics In America Since 1941
               2nd ed. E185.61.L38 1997
Thomas Byrne Edsall with Mary D. Edsall, Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and
               Taxes on American Politics JK524.E28 1991

Week 15 The Limits of Liberalism, 1970-1990 (May 12)
Assigned Reading:
Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make, pp. 361-446
Milkis, Sidney M. The President and the Parties, chaps. 9-11
Godfrey Hodgson, The World Turned Right Side Up: A History Of The Conservative Ascendancy
               In America (1996), chaps. JC573.2.U6H63 1996

On Reserve:
Lisa McGirr, Suburban Warriors: the origins of the new American Right E839.5.M32 2000
Dan T. Carter, From George Wallace To Newt Gingrich: Race In The Conservative
               Counterrevolution, 1963-1994 (1996) E185.625.C37 1996

Other Important Readings:
Lowi, Theodore. The End of Liberalism
Katherine Tate, From Protest To Politics: The New Black Voters In American
               Elections E185.615.T38 1993
Carol M. Swain, Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation Of African
Americans In Congress JK1323 1993

James A. Henretta henretta@umd.edu
Taliaferro 3108 (301) 405-4269
Office Hours: Monday, 2-3 p.m.
Wednesday, 2-3 p.m. and by Apt.