Citizen Nation

Last week we explored the growth of democracy and the expansion of suffrage in antebellum America. This week, the underside of that growth. Who was excluded from the definition of citizenship? Who couldn’t enjoy the fruits of that ripening young democracy? How fair and how widely dispersed was the power to govern in early 19th century America? Whom did the “rule of law” protect and whom did it exploit?

Monday 2/6 – Exceptions to the Rule of Law. Reading is GC Ch 3 from page 110-133 + RV Ch 3

Wednesday 2/8 – Women and Citizenship. Reading is the 1848 “Declaration of Sentiments” (online at the Rutgers Stanton/Anthony Papers Project) and a PDF packet of additional readings that will be posted by Tuesday.

For Wednesday, 2/1 please read GC Ch 3, up to page 110, and RV Ch 2. The questions we’re interested in for class discussion are:

In what ways was “democracy ascendant” (to use Keyssar’s phrase) in the early republic?

Why, according to Schudson, was there a genuine revolution in 1800 (and why hadn’t it been part of the American Revolution in the 1770s and 1780s)?

Do Keyssar and Schudson agree in their interpretation of the degree of democracy in American society in the early 19th century? If not, where do they disagree?

What kinds of historical sources do these two authors draw upon to make their arguments about the growth of democratic institutions in this era?

Link to “Political Parties in the US 1820-1860” graphic PDF (8.5×14″)

On Monday 1/30 our class will focus on the Constitution, and on the “Constitutional moment,” i.e. the era and cultural milieu in which it was framed. Your reading is Chapter 2 of Schudson’s Good Citizen and also the full text of the US Constitution. You’ll want to bring both of these items to class. The Constitution can be found in the back of any US history textbook you have on hand, or you can print a copy from the web, or download it as a mobile app. I’m teaching a Constitutional History course in the night school, and we’ve discovered that Pocket Constitution is pretty good, as is Multieducator’s Constitution + Federalist Papers (ps, for more law and government-related mobile apps, see here).

Monday’s soapbox speakers are Tim Bickford, Joey Teevens and Chuck Trainer.

Also: I noticed a typo on the pretty version of the syllabus (which I hope would be obvious once you sat down to do the reading) – Wed’s reading out of Good Citizen should say Chapter 3 up to p. 110 (not p. 10).

For Wed 1/25, we move from a generic, conceptual definition of citizenship to (in Bellamy’s terms) a more empirical examination of actual citizenship in the American colonies and early republic. Who could be a citizen? Who was deemed capable of consenting? Who represented whom and how? Continue reading →

For our next class: read Richard Bellamy, Citizenship: A Very Short Introduction and write a 2-3 page response paper considering some of these critical thinking questions; bring the book and be prepared to discuss it in class. Continue reading →