HI 6520 - U.S. Constitutional and Political History

Credits: 3

Description Through an historical survey of constitutional history and debates, this course will focus on political institutions and processes in the United States, as well as on the ways in which the American people participate in the system. The course will begin with a rigorous analysis of the debates over the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution and compare their content to the Declaration of Independence and to basic tenets of liberalism. We will then discuss conflicts over federalism and governmental power particularly surrounding the Civil War, the New Deal and World War II, the Civil Rights Era, and present-day “New Federalism.” The course will also examine how the government, and the Supreme Court in particular, has responded to rights claims from various historically-excluded groups, and the ways in which the effects of those struggles have both broadened and narrowed our individual rights and liberties as granted in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.