Free Summer Institutes for Social Studies Teachers: American Democracy, Being Human, and the American Character (July 6, 2003 to July 11, 2003)

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American Democracy, Being Human, and the American Character
Sunday, July 6, 2003 to Friday, July 11, 2003
Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio

Instructors: Christopher Flannery and David Tucker

Readings

Philip B. Kurkland and Ralph Lerner, eds. The Founders' Constitution. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987. Also avaliable on-line at:

Alexander Hamilton, et al. The Federalist. Clinton Rossiter, ed. New York, New York: New American Library, 1999.

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, C.B. Macpherson, ed. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1980.

Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States of America. Ashland, Ohio: Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs, 2001.

Thomas Jefferson, Writings, Library of America

Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography. W.W. Norton & Company, 1986.

Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, Ira B. Nadel, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Also available on-line at: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HADAMS/ha_home.html

Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. California, The University of California Press, 2001.

Photocopied Reading Packet

Websites: http://www.ashbrook.org/constitution/

Schedule

Sunday, July 6

Introduction
(82:49 minutes)

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7:15 pm - 9:00 pm: Introduction to this Institute with Chris Flannery and David Tucker (Ashbrook Center, 8th Floor, Ashland University Library)

Monday, July 7

Session One
(90:00 minutes)

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9:00 am -10:30 am: Session 1 with Professor Flannery (Ashbrook Center, 8th Floor, Ashland University Library)

Topic: Being Human, Being American, Being Equal
Focus: What is the meaning of the American idea of equaltity? What does it tell us about American democracy, the American character, and being human?
Readings:

Declaration of Independence (Declaration/Constitution booklet, p. 3)

Selection from Thomas Jefferson letter to Henry Lee (Declaration/Constitution booklet, p. 51)

Selection from Thomas Jefferson letter to Roger Weightman (Declaration/Constitution booklet, p. 52)

Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (Declaration/Constitution booklet, p.54)

Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on the Constitution and Union (Declaration/Constitution booklet, p. 58)

Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Debates in Congress (The Founders' Constitution, Chapter 15, Document 18) also found in The Essential Bill of Rights, pp. 175-180.

Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, 23 Feb. 1775 (The Founders' Constitution, Chapter 3, Document 5)

Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream": speech delivered at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963 (to be handed out)

Virginia Declaration of Rights, June 12, 1776 (The Founders' Constitution, Chapter 1, Document 3)

Massachusetts Constitution (Preamble and Part the First. A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.), March 2, 1780 (The Founders' Constitution, Chapter 1, Document 6)

Session Two
(86:25 minutes)

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10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 2 with Professor Flannery (Ashbrook Center, 8th Floor, Ashland University Library)

Topic: The Federalist and Human Nature
Focus: What is Publius' understanding of "the ordinary course of human events"? How does he propose to "honor human nature"? What does he mean by human nature, and how does this affect his purposes? Is there any place, any need, or any provision for civic virtue in the Federalist plan of government? What is the role of self-interest and passion as opposed to civic virtue, statesmanship, and reason in the Federalist frame of government? To what extent is the new constitution founded on "reflection and choice," to what extent on "accident and force"? What is the place of "moderation" in Publius's argument? What "inducements to candor" and to the "spirit of moderation" does Publius present in Federalist 37-38?
Readings:

The Federalist, especially 1, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 37-38, 51, 63

Session Three
(88:26 minutes)

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4:30 pm - 6:00 pm: Session 3 with Professor Flannery (Ashbrook Center, 8th Floor, Library)

Topic: The Federalist and American Character
Focus: What qualities did Publius expect or take for granted in the American people who would be living under the proposed new constitution? In what ways was the constitution a response to these qualities? What qualities did Publius expect in the people who would serve respectively in the House of Representatives, the Senate, the office of President, and the Supreme Court? How did the functioning of each of these branches and of the constitution as a whole involve the operation of these qualities?
Readings:

The Federalist, especially 1, 9, 10, 14, 15, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 55, 57, 63, 68, 69, 78

Tuesday, July 8

Session Four
(86:30 minutes)

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9:00 am -10:30 am: Session 4 with Professor Tucker (Asbrook Center, 8th Floor, Library)

Topic: How Should Americans Live?
Focus: A recent biography of Franklin is titled The First American. In what ways is Franklin the prototypical American? What episodes in the Autobiography reveal the American character, at least as Franklin embodied it? Does Franklin care more about equality or freedom? Are the human excellences that Franklin's life portrays the same as those that Jefferson and Hamilton praise or want to encourage in the United States? Does democracy promote these virtues or require them or both? If the ways of life promoted by Hamilton, Franklin and Jefferson are different, does one seem more in keeping with the principles of the Declaration of Independence? Does each require or encourage a different set of social and economic circumstances? Do Hamilton and Franklin place equal importance on equality and freedom?
Readings:

Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography

Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Queries 14, 17, 18, 19

Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816
Alexander Hamilton, Report on Manufactures (excerpts, photocopied reading packet)

Session Five
(89:56 minutes)

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10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 5 with Professor Tucker (Ashrook Center, 8th Floor, Library)

Topic: The Power of Government and the Character of the People
Focus: Do Adams and Jackson have the same view of how Americans should live? Do they have the same view of the role of government in our lives? Does either see a connection between the role of government and the kind of people Americans are or should become? Both appeal to the Constitution: Does either care about the Declaration of Independence or the idea that all men are created equal? Do they understand liberty or freedom in the same way?
Readings:

John Quincy Adams, Inaugural Address (excerpts, photocopied reading packet)
John Quincy Adams, First Annual Message (excerpts, photocopied reading packet)
Andrew Jackson, First Inaugural Address (excerpts, photocopied reading packet)
Andrew Jackson, First Annual Message (excerpts, photocopied reading packet)

Session Six
(59:42 minutes)

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4:30 pm - 6:00 pm: Session 6 with Professor Tucker (Ashbrook Center, 8th Floor, Library)

Topic: Religion and American Character
Focus: The temperance movement was a political manifestation of deeply held religious beliefs. Was the movement compatible with Washington's understanding of religious liberty? Is Lincoln a supporter of the temperance movement? Is the movement based on the idea that all men are equal or does it undermine this idea? What do you think Franklin would have made of the temperance movement? What are its virtues and vices in Lincoln's eyes? Can you speculate about any connections between Lincoln's views of the temperance movement and the views on labor that he expresses in his Address to the Agricultural Society? Do Lincoln's views on labor seem most compatible with Hamilton's or Jefferson's?
Readings:

Abraham Lincoln, "Temperance Address" (1842) (photocopied reading packet)
Abraham Lincoln, "Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society" (1859) (photocopied reading packet)
Edwin S. Gaustad, A Documentary History of Religion in America (excerpts) (photocopied reading packet)

Wednesday, July 9

Session Seven
(89:44 minutes)

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9:00 am -10:30 am Session 7 with Professor Foster (Ashbrook Center, 8th Floor, Library)

Topic: Mark Twain and the American Character
Focus: William Dean Howells once described Mark Twain as "our literary Lincoln." Whatever that suggestive remark may mean, that Twain was a man of literature rather than of political action leads to our first question: what can his stories teach us about the American character? Or, to put it another way, how can social studies and history teachers use a work of fiction like Huckleberry Finn? We'll try to answer this question by considering several broad themes. (1) The first concerns how the main characters in the story are related to one another and to the society in which they live. What, for starters, are Huck and Jim and the people among whom they live like? More specifically, what are the main character traits, passions, and religious beliefs of Tom, Pap, the Widow, and Miss Watson? What do these people desire to get out of life and how do they see Huck and Jim fitting into their plans? Think also about the characters of Huck and Jim. How are they similar and different, and why do they get along so well? Why are they so dissatisfied with life in St. Petersburg and what does each expect to gain from running away? (2) Our second set of questions arises once Huck and Jim take to the raft: What is revealed about the two fugitives by the different ways in which they deal with criminals and the need to steal food? How is the moral dilemma of slavery raised in Huck's mind and how does he understand that dilemma? How is the relation between Huck and Jim changed by their adventures? Finally, how is life on the raft different from life in the communities along the shores of the river? (See also the beginning of the next session.)
Readings:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, chapters 1-23

Session Eight
(89:55 minutes)

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10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 8 with Professor Foster (Asbhrook Center, 8th Center, Library)

Topic: Mark Twain and the American Character
Focus: Our second session will also focus on two sets of questions. (1) The first continues the previous session's examination of life on the raft. What do we learn about Huck's political opinions and passions from his debate with Jim over King Solomon? What is the right balance between nature and convention? What is Twain trying to convey by his presentation of the "aristocrats" who join the raft? Is political equality better or more natural than aristocracy? What do characters like Boggs, Colonel Sherburn, the Shepherdson and Grangerford families, and the Wilks girls teach us about the American character and the communities along the river? What can we learn about Huck's approach to justice, lying, violence, law, love, and equality from the way he deals with these people? (2) Our second set of questions focuses on the ending of the novel. What are Huck's reasons for wanting to save Jim? Why does Tom Sawyer reappear and take the lead in freeing Jim and why do Huck and Jim play along with Tom's crazy schemes? Indeed, why does Twain spend so much time on the "evasion" of Jim? Finally, is the novel an anti-slavery tract? If so, what arguments does it suggest for equality or against slavery? According to the novel, what would it take for black and white to get along with one another?
Readings:

Huckleberry Finn, chapters 24-end

Session Nine
(91:43 minutes)

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4:30 am - 6:00 pm: Discussion: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Ashbrook Center, 8th Floor, Library)

Thursday, July 10

Session Ten
(88:53 minutes)

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9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 10 with Professor Flannery (Ashbrook Center, 8th Floor, Library)

Topic: Henry Adams and Our Ancient Faith
Focus: How do "Motion" and "Change," the "dynamo and the virgin," "unity and multiplicity," help Adams "account to himself for himself" and account for the "new American"?
Readings

The Education of Henry Adams, especially Editor's Preface, Preface, chs. 15, 25, 29, 31-35; Prayer to the Virgin of Chartres.