This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

Lecture Notes

Below is a set of notes taken by a student enrolled in the course.

LEC # TOPICS
1 Introduction (PDF)
2 Interpreting American Political Thought (PDF)
3 The Protestant Background
4 Revolutionary America (PDF)
5 Debating the Constitution (PDF)
6 Jeffersonian Republicans v. Hamiltonian Federalists, with Madison in the Pivot (PDF)
7 Individualism (PDF)
8 Racism, Nativism, and Sexism in Antebellum America (PDF)
9 A New Birth of Freedom? (PDF)
10 The New Inegalitarians, or The Descent of Man (PDF)
11 The Death of Freedom? (PDF)
12 The Politics of Inclusion and the Politics of Difference (PDF)
13 Markets, Morals, and America Abroad