Overview
Do 3 out of 4 questions.
All your answers should be typed, double-spaced, 12 point font and 1 inch margins. Use the course readings extensively in your answers. Here is the website to the book you should reference from: Free government in the making : readings in American political thought : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Cite and/or quote often, but always explain and interpret the evidence you present.
1. Explain the central arguments in the debate between the Federalists and Anti-federalists. How do Federalists and Anti-Federalists have different understandings of republicanism and liberalism? What different ethical theories underlie these two positions? Critique both and defend your own. In your answer make sure you explain how all the theories apply to a moral issue you identify, and both provide reasons for accepting or rejecting alternative positions.
2. Compare and contrast Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian visions of nationhood and national policy. Explain their relative influence on contemporary political thought and explain which you agree with more and why. What different ethical theories underlie these two positions? Critique both and defend your own. In your answer make sure you explain how all the theories apply to a moral issue you identify, and both provide reasons for accepting or rejecting alternative positions.
3. Explain Transcendentalism or the romantic individualism in Emerson, Fuller, Thoreau, and Whitman. Explain the influence of transcendental thought on the emergence of the women’s rights and abolitionist movements, contemporary popular political thought and evaluate the contribution it has made. What ethical theory or theories underlie transcendentalism? Critique transcendentalist moral theory and defend your own. In your answer make sure you explain how all the theories apply to a moral issue you identify, and both provide reasons for accepting or rejecting alternative positions.
4. Explain the political philosophy of Andrew Jackson. Is Jackson a liberal, a republican or some combination of the two? Finally, compare and contrast Jackson with Whig nationalism (Webster, Lincoln), and the slavery apologists (Calhoun, Fitzhugh, and Harper). What different ethical theories underlie these two positions? Critique both and defend your own. In your answer make sure you explain how all the theories apply to a moral issue you identify, and both provide reasons for accepting or rejecting alternative positions.