John P. Diggins
History 75900 - American Intellectual History and Political Philosophy
Wednesday, 4:15-6:15 p.m., 3 credits
Assigned Texts
Hannah Arendt, On Revolution
Jonathan Edwards, Selections
Hamilton, Jay, Madison, The Federalist
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Selections
Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Other Essays
Margaret Fuller, Women in the Nineteenth Century
Abraham Lincoln, Selections
Frederick Douglass, Autobiography
John P. Diggins, The Lost Soul of American Politics
Sean Wilentz, The Rise of American Democracy
John P. Diggins, ed. The Portable John Adams
Alexis deTocqueville, Democracy in America
Herman Melville, Billy Budd
The Meaning of the "City Upon the Hill" Natural Liberty and Civil Authority Predestination and the Illusion of Free Will The Nature of True Virtue |
Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity,” Speech to the General Court Edwards, “Free Will,” “Virtue” Wise, “Vindication”; Mayhew, “Unlimited Submission” |
II The Enlightenment
Tom Paine and Benjamin Franklin The American Revolution and the Declaration Of Independence “The Lost Treasure” The Federalist John Adams Fisher Ames |
Paine, “Common Sense”; Franklin, “Morals and Religion,” “Luxury” Arendt, On Revolution The Federalist Diggins, Lost Soul Portable Adams Ames, Whiskey Rebellion; Alien & Sedition Acts |
III Jacksonian Democracy, Slavery, the Mind of Tocqueville, Democracy
The South |
Tocqueville, Democracy Jackson, Bank Veto Message; Wilentz, Rise of Democracy Calhoun, “Disquisition on Government”; Fitzhugh, “Sociology of the South Douglass, Autobiography |
IV The Romantic Revolution
German Philosophy, Eastern Mysticism, and New England Transcendentalism The Revolt Against Calvinism Margaret Fuller and Women’s Emancipation Emerson and the Molestations of Society Thoreau and Redemption by Nature and Civil Disobedience |
Emerson, Selections Fuller, Women Thoreau, “Walden,” “Life Without Principle,” “Civil Disobedience” Diggins, Lost Soul |
V Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War Crisis
The Lyceum Address The Lincoln-Douglas Debates Reasoning by Definition and the Illegitimacy of Secession The Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Lincoln and Melville |
Lincoln, Selections Wilentz, Rise of Democracy Diggins, Lost Soul Melville, Billy Budd |