School of Design, Arts, and Humanities 2018-19
COURSE SYLLABUS
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Course Number POL
333-A |
Course Title American
Constitutional History |
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Fall Semester X |
Spring
Semester |
Summer Semester |
Credit Hours 3 |
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Name of Instructor William Miller |
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Meeting Day, Time, and Room Number |
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Final Exam Day, Time, and Room Number Monday,
December 10th, 3:00-5:30pm, St. Joseph’s Hall, G102
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Office Hours, Location, Phone Mondays and Thursdays, 12:45-1:45pm,
3:15-4:00pm; Wednesdays by appointment. Rowley 1018. 703-284-1687. Emailing
ahead of time is always good! |
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E-mail and Web Site wmiller@marymount.edu Email
is always the best way to reach me! www.millerpolitics.com All announcements
and assignments are posted on this web site, never on Canvas. |
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Course Description The purpose of this course is to study the evolution
of several constitutional issues from the inception of the Constitution in
1787 in Philadelphia to the present day. The course will focus on key Supreme
Court decisions and their historical settings. Prerequisite. One of the following: POL-104, POL-305, HI-110,
or HI-111. (3) |
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UNIVERSITY STATEMENTS
ACADEMIC
INTEGRITY
By accepting this syllabus, you pledge to uphold the
principles of Academic Integrity expressed by the Marymount University
Community. You agree to observe these principles yourself and to defend them
against abuse by others. Items submitted for this course may be submitted to
TurnItIn.com for analysis.
STUDENT
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
For the benefit of current and future
students, work in this course may be used for educational critique,
demonstrations, samples, presentations, and verification. Outside of these uses, work shall not be
sold, copied, broadcast, or distributed for profit without student
consent.
ACCOMMODATIONS AND ACCESSIBILITY
CONCERNS
Please address any special challenges or needs with the instructor at
the beginning of the semester.
Students with Disabilities
If
you are seeking accommodations (class/course adjustments) for a long-term or
short-term (less than 6 months) disability, you must do the following:
1) Register as a student with a disability with Student
Access Services (SAS) in the Center for Teaching and Learning. This process takes time, so you should engage
it as early as possible.
2) Once registered with SAS, you may be approved for
accommodations by SAS. Approved
accommodations will be listed on a “Faculty Contact Sheet” (FCS). This is important because not all
accommodation requests are approved.
3) After receiving the FCS, meet with each of your
instructors as soon as possible to review your accommodations, and have them
sign the FCS. This document will help you and your instructors develop a plan
for providing the approved accommodations.
4) Let SAS know if there are any concerns about the way
your accommodations are being implemented by your instructors.
Please remember that:
1)
Accommodations
for disabling conditions cannot be granted if you do not follow the above
steps.
2)
Accommodations
are not retroactive. That is,
accommodations can only be applied to a course after they have been approved by SAS and put into motion by you through working with your
instructors.
3)
Appointments with
the SAS staff are scheduled through the Starfish "Success Network"
tab in Canvas. For more information,
check the SAS website, e-mail access@marymount.edu, or call 703-284-1538.
Students with Temporary Challenges
Temporary challenges due to accident,
illness, etc. that may result in missing class or navigating general campus
access do not fall under the purview of SAS. If you experience something of
this nature, please start by alerting your instructors. The Dean of Student Success may be involved
in alerting instructors in extreme cases.
EMERGENCY
NOTIFICATION POLICY
When students are absent due to a crisis situation or unexpected, serious illness and unable
to contact their individual instructors directly, the Division of Student
Affairs can send out an Emergency Notification. To initiate an Emergency
Notification, students should contact the Division
of Student Affairs 703-284-1615 or student.affairs@marymount.edu. Emergency Notifications are NOT appropriate for
non-emergency situations (e.g. car problems, planned absences, minor illnesses,
or a past absence); are NOT a request or mandate to excuse an absence,
which is at the sole discretion of the instructor; and are NOT a
requirement for student absences. If a student contacts
instructors about an emergency situation directly, it is not necessary
to involve the Division of Student Affairs as arrangements are made to resolve
the absence.
For non-emergency absences, students
should inform their instructors
directly.
ACCESS
TO STUDENT WORK
Copies of your work in this course including copies of any
submitted papers and your portfolios may be kept on file for institutional
research, assessment and accreditation purposes. All work used for these
purposes will be submitted confidentially.
UNIVERSITY
POLICY ON WEATHER AND EMERGENCY CLOSINGS
Weather and Emergency closings are
announced on Marymount’s web site: www.marymount.edu,
through MUAlerts, area radio
stations, and TV stations. You may also call the Weather and Emergency Hotline at (703) 526-6888 for current status. Unless otherwise advised by local media or
by official bulletins listed above, students are expected to report for class
as near normal time as possible on days when weather conditions are adverse.
Decisions as to inclement closing or delayed opening are not generally made
before 6:00 AM and by 3:00 PM for evening classes of the working day. Emergency closing
could occur at any time making MUAlerts
the most timely announcement mechanism. Students are expected to attend class if
the University is not officially closed. If the University is closed, course content and assignments will still be
covered as directed by the course instructor. Please look for communication
from course instructor (e.g., Canvas) for information on course work during
periods in which the University is closed.
1.
BROAD PURPOSE OF COURSE Multiple sections of the same course must have the same purpose.
The purpose of this course is to study the
evolution of several constitutional issues from the inception of the
Constitution in 1787 in Philadelphia to the present day. The course will focus
on key Supreme Court decisions and their historical settings. The course begins
with an examination of some legal precedents antedating the independence of the
United States. It focuses particularly on the Supreme Court under Chief Justice
John Marshall, and follows some of the consequences of
several watershed opinions from that Court.
2. COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon successful
completion of this course students will be expected to:
A. demonstrate familiarity in oral and
written work with selected doctrines and themes reflected in the United States
Constitution;
B. demonstrate familiarity with the development
of several constitutional issues or themes as they developed in United States
history;
C. recognize the leading cases decided by the
Supreme Court that reflected these constitutional issues and crises, the
historical background that gave rise to these cases, the Court's decisions and
rationales in these cases, and the immediate and long term
effects of those decisions on American history;
D. be familiar with sufficient
source material in order to conduct research into the historical and legal
issues surrounding selected Supreme Court decisions that reflect the
constitutional issues studied in this course;
E. demonstrate an ability to identify the
main thesis or theses of a book on a constitutional law issue and to evaluate
that thesis in light of the materials studied in the
course.
3. TEACHING METHOD
Lecture, class discussion, and short class
presentations. I do not
want to lecture all the time! Students must be prepared to discuss, to ask
questions, and to answer questions. Ten percent of your grade—a full grade!—is based on class participation!
4. GRADING POLICY
Tuesday, September 4, 2018, is the last day to withdraw from a class without
academic record
Friday, November 2, 2018 is the last
day to withdraw from a class with a grade of W
The final grade will be composed of the
following parts:
Class Presentations 20%, Mid-term Exam 25%,
Final Exam 25%, Review-Essay 20%, Class Participation and Quizzes 10%. The
usual scale of 90-100%=A, 80-89%=B, 70-79%=C, 60-69%=D, and 59% and below=F
will be used for all graded work.
The class presentations will be short (two to
three pages) written accounts of Supreme Court cases, their historical
background, the legal issues that they presented, the Court's resolution of
those issues, and the rationale for the resolution. The number of presentations
will depend on the size of the class; I expect a minimum of two presentations
from each student in the course of the semester.
The review-essay will be an 8 to 12 page
paper that reviews an approved book from a list of books to be made available
by the instructor and also provides additional research material to explain how
a particular Supreme Court case (1) reflected a critical response to existing
historical, political, and legal factors and (2) how the decision affected
subsequent historical, political, economic, and legal conditions in the
country.
The exams and the
written assignments are all based on the primary readings of the course:
not on the class lectures, which are intended to help you understand the
readings and not to substitute for the readings. No grade of "I" or
"Incomplete" will be given. If possible, assignments and exams
will be graded and returned within two weeks. Assignments handed in late will
receive an F.
ATTENDANCE AND
MAKE-UP EXAM POLICY
Attendance: Beginning with the second week of
classes, students are allowed a total of nine absences, excused and/or
unexcused. Students who miss ten or more classes for any reason whatever will
receive an “F” in the course.
Each unexcused absence
beyond three—up to the absolute limit of nine—will result in a lowering of the
final grade by one percentage point. To be excused, an absence must
be documented, unless I indicate otherwise. Excused absences are typically
medical-, legal-, or job-related excuses. Acceptable documentation typically
consists of a statement or form on official stationery (1) signed by a
third party (doctor, police, judge, supervisor—not a parent or family member!)
that (2) refers specifically to the day of absence from class and (3) the
reason for the absence.
Occasionally
coming to class late—even really late once or twice—is
not considered an absence. Coming to class without hard copies of the text
for the day, leaving the classroom for most of the class-time, or leaving class
early without the prior permission of the instructor, however, is always
considered an unexcused absence.
Merely informing
me ahead of time that you will be absent from class does not mean I excuse the
absence, though I appreciate your courtesy. I will not excuse your absence
because you are simply not feeling well or because you choose to do something
worthwhile other than come to class even if you inform me ahead of time. If you
are coughing and sneezing and coming down with a cold or the flu, and you don't
want to spread your virus to your classmates, your fellow students and I salute
you! Staying home may be the right thing to do, but it is not an excused
absence. You all get three unexcused absences to use as you see fit, and it is
your decision to use them to stay home when you don't feel well or want to
attend some other event or need to prepare for another class instead of going
to my class. Use them for good reasons: that's what they are for.
The limit of nine
total absences recognizes that excessive excused absences may
also be a problem. You should discuss such situations with me well before the
last month of the semester. This is not a distance learning class. Any absence
prevents you from participating in the class, but if your job or an illness
keeps you away from class, it will significantly affect the class participation
component of your grade and may be a good reason to drop the course and take it
another time. All of us find ourselves in these situations from time to time
and have to deal with them appropriately. You also
have an obligation to report this to a University office (see the section
titled “Attendance” in the University Catalogue).
When in doubt
about any of these policies, please come and talk to me. They have been formulated
with our substantial commuter and working student population in mind and are
intended to be fair to everyone. You should also review the University's
policies on absenteeism in the section titled “Attendance” in the University
Catalogue.
Make-up Exams: The same basic rules about excused
absences apply to taking mid-terms. My policy of giving makeup exams on the
same day as the final does NOT mean that you may choose to take the mid-term
exam on that day rather than on the regularly scheduled day: it is not an
alternative test date. To be eligible for a makeup, you must qualify for an
excused absence, and this you should do a reasonable time before the day of the
mid-term, if that is at all possible. You may be excused from taking a mid-term
if you are certifiably sick or your job prevents you from attending class or
you have a legal or employment emergency on the day of the test. If one of
these applies, and I am informed in a reasonable time before the exam,
and you have written documentation to support your request, you may
take the exam on the same day as the final exam. If none of these
reasons apply, you may not take the exam at another time, and you will get a
zero for the exam. Travel plans will never excuse an absence. Parental
or family notes do not constitute proper documentation. If you are
late for the exam because of events outside of your control, let me know
immediately or as soon as possible that day, and I will let
you take the exam later that same day if possible.
This schedule is approximate and subject to
revisions, though I shall try to keep the dates for exams the same as listed
herein. Always check the Weekly Assignments link, “United States Constitutional
History (Fall 2018),” for revised assignment deadlines.
(8/27-30)
Week I: Introduction to the course. Identification of primary
sources. Background to the Philadelphia Convention. Political Thought in the
Late 18th Century. Urofsky and Finkelman, A March of Liberty (hereinafter “Urofsky”), chapter 3.
(9/6) Week
II: State Constitutions.
Articles of Confederation. Urofsky, chapters 4
& 5.
Tuesday, September 4, 2018, is the last day
to withdraw from a class without academic record
(9/10-13)
Week III: The Philadelphia Convention. Convention Notes: James
Madison’s Notes; Farrand’s
Records. Fundamental Constitutional
Doctrines. Madison's Notes: The proceedings of the convention through late June, 1787. Readings from Urofsky,
chapter 6, and Madison’s Notes.
(9/17-20)
Week IV: Madison's Notes: The July proceedings leading to the
Report of the Committee of Detail (July through August 6th). Readings from Urofsky and Madison’s Notes.
(9/24-27)
Week V: Madison's Notes: The Report of the Committee of
Detail; the formation of the presidency; the completion of the Constitution
(August 6th to September 17th). The marking-up of the first draft of the
constitution; the development of the institution of the presidency in
counterpoint to the development of Congress. Readings from Urofsky
and Madison’s Notes.
(10/1-4) Week VI: The
Ratification Debates; the Bill of Rights; Federalists v. Anti-federalists; the
nationalism project. The Supreme Court in the 1790s. Elliot's Debates, selections. Readings from Urofsky and Elliott’s Debates.
(10/9—A TUESDAY!—and 10/11) Week VII: The Early
court, Urofsky chapter 8. And selected cases..
(10/15-18)
Week VIII: Tuesday—Mid-Term Exam.
The Early Court:
Urofsky, chapter 8, and selected cases.
(10/22-25)
Week IX: The Marshall Court: The Independent Judiciary. Urofsky, chapter 10, Marbury
and related cases.
(10/29-1/1)
Week X: The Marshall Court: Promoting Nationalism. Urofsky, chapter 11, McCulloch,
and related cases.
Friday, November 2, 2018 is the last day to
withdraw from a class with a grade of W
(11/5-8)
Week XI: The Marshall Court: Promoting Nationalism. Urofsky, chapter 11, Gibbons,
and related cases.
(11/12-15)
Week XII: Later developments of the Commerce Clause.
(11/19)
Week XIII: The Marshall
Court and the Bill of Rights. Urofsky, chapter 14, Barron, and related cases.
(11/26-29)
Week XIV: The Taney Court. Urofsky,
chapters 14 & 16.
(12/3-6)
Week XV: The Taney
Court. Urofsky, chapter 17, and Dred Scott.
The Final Exam will be given only at the time scheduled
on the University Final Exam Schedule: Wednesday, December 10th, at
3:00pm.
6. REQUIRED
TEXTS
William Miller. A
Primer on American Courts. New York: Routledge, 2005. ISBN 978-0-32-110615-5
Melvin Urofsky and Paul Finkelman. A March of Liberty. 3d ed. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
ISBN 978-0-19-538273-0
The Library of Congress. A Century of
Lawmaking for a New Nation, which includes the following:
Elliot's Debates. (Website is the Library of Congress “Thomas”
website.) Jonathan Elliot. Debates in the
Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: as
Recommended by the General Convention at
Farrand's
Records. (Website is the Library of Congress “Thomas” website.) Max Farrand. The Records
of the Federal Convention of 1787.
John A Garraty. Ed.
Quarrels that have Shaped the
Constitution. Rev. ed. New York: Harper, 2009. ISBN 978-0061320842 On
Reserve.
RECOMMENDED
James Madison. Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787. 2d ed. Ohio
University Press, 1987. ISBN 978-0821407653 A paperback edition of material
that is also included in Max Farrand’s Records of the Federal Convention of 1787.
Winton Solberg. The Constitutional Convention and the Formation of the Union.
Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1990. ISBN 978-0252061240 This includes an abridged version of
Madison’s notes as well as other related material.
7. REQUIRED
OR SUGGESTED
Benedict, Michael Lee. Sources in American
Constitutional History.
Cogan, Neil H. Contexts of the Constitution.
Dorf, Michael C. Constitutional Law
Stories. 2d ed.
Farber, Daniel A., and Suzanna Sherry. A History of the American Constitution.
St. Paul: West Publishing Company, 1990.
Farrand, Max. The
Framing of the Constitution of the United States. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1913, 1962.
Jensen, Merrill. The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the
Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution, 1774-1781. Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press, 1959. ISBN 978-0299002046
McLaughlin, Andrew C. A Constitutional History of the United States. Simon Publications,
1936, 2001.
Peltason, J.W. and Sue Davis. Corwin and
Peltason's Understanding the Constitution. 17th ed.
University Press of Kansas series on
“Landmark Law Cases and American Society.” Currently (2018) about fifty books
on famous American cases. http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/printbyseries.html
The books for the review essay will be taken from the University of Kansas
catalogue.
Web sites (additional relevant sites are
linked on my web page):
Avalon
Project at Yale University Law School
The Founders' Constitution
(University of Chicago/Liberty Fund)
A FEW FURTHER
RULES
For the benefit of the class and your classmates, the following
rules regarding electronic devices also apply to this course:
1. Turn your
cell phones off during the class. If you are expecting an important call, put
your phone on “Vibrate,” sit near the door, and, when the call comes, answer it
outside the classroom.
2. It follows
from the foregoing rule, but it must be separately stated: no talking and no
texting on cell phones during class. If you do not follow this rule, I will
publicly ask you to leave the room for the remainder of the class, reduce your
class participation grade, and do my best to have you removed from the course
for the rest of the semester.
3. No open
lap-top or other computers are allowed in class without my prior
permission. Devices such as tablets, Ipads,
Kindles, and Nooks that lie flat on the desk and on to which the readings can
be loaded are permitted if approved by me, but hard copies of the readings are
better. You can mark them up and take notes on them in class. Most assignments
will be handed out in hard copies.
4.
Be sure to check your Marymount email address
regularly! This is Marymount’s and my principal way of
contacting you with important information. Perhaps you rely mostly on Yahoo, gmail, or some other provider, but check your
@marymount.edu mail daily to make sure you do not miss school information.
These rules are necessary to foster a suitable learning
environment in the classroom during class. There are enough distractions with
lawnmowers, air conditioners, and other outside forces to combat during
lectures and discussions.