History 3551
Constitutional
History of the United States to 1877
Fall
Semester, 2001
M,W,F—Third
Period
FAC
213
Professor: Elizabeth
Dale
234
Keene-Flint
352-392-0271
Required reading:
Rakove, Original
Meanings
Benedict, Impeachment
and Trial of Andrew Jackson
Curtis, Free
Speech, the People’s Darling Privilege
Jaffa, Crisis of the House
Divided
On-line readings from
http://plaza.ufl.edu/edale
Assignments:
2 short papers (5-7 page typed), topic to be assigned, due on
date indicated below, each is worth 25% of grade
1 book analysis (5-7 pages typed), topic to be assigned, due
on date indicated below, worth 25% of grade
Take home final (one 5-7 page essay), due on date indicated
below, worth 25% of grade
Note that there are three
short assignment dates in the schedule. You must do
two of those three assignments, you may not do all three.
All papers are due
on the date set, at the start of class. Any paper turned in the
day of the assignment after class will be marked down half a grade. Any paper
turned in the day after it is due will be marked down a full grade; any paper
turned in two days late will be marked down two full grades. Any paper turned
in three days late will automatically receive an F. For purposes of this rule,
weekends will be counted.
Students are expected to attend
regularly, come to class on time, and to have read the material for the day
prior to class. Lectures,
discussions, and assignments are intended to teach you the materials and skills
you will need to do the assignments, and there is a close correlation between
attendance, participation, and grades.
Schedule:
Week 1:
Wed:
introduction to course
Fri: introduction
to constitutional law
Week 2:
Mon: Magna Carta
Wed: Charter of
Massachusetts Bay, 1629
***First short assignment handed out***
Week 3:
Mon:
Labor Day, no class
Wed: Winthrop, Speech
on Liberty
Fri: Laws and
Liberties
***Short
assignment due***
Week 4
Mon: Charter
of Massachusetts Bay, 1691
Wed: Articles of
Association, Declaration
of Independence
Fri: Articles of Confederation
Week 5
Mon:
United States
Constitution and Amendments
Wed: Rakove, Original
Meanings
Fri: Ratification
by New York and
South Carolina
Week 6
Mon: Alien and Sedition Acts,
Virginia Resolution,
Kentucky Resolution
Wed: Rhode
Island Reaction to the Virginia Resolutions, New
Hampshire Resolution on the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
Fri: Curtis, Free
Speech
***Second short assignment handed
out***
Week 7:
Mon: Marbury v. Madison
Wed: Report
and Resolutions of the Hartford Convention
Fri: South Carolina
Ordinance of Nullification, President
Jackson’s Proclamation on Nullification
***Short
assignment due***
Week 8:
Mon:South
Carolina’s Reply to Jackson’s Proclamation on Nullification, South Carolina’s
Nullification of the Force Bill
Wed: Amistad Case
Fri: Ableman
v. Booth
***hand out book analysis
assignment***
Week 9:
Mon: Fugitive Slave Law, State
of Georgia’s Platform on the Compromise of 1850
Wed: Kansas-Nebraska Act
Fri: Scott v. Sandford (Dred Scott case) (Taney
opinion)
Week 10:
Mon: Scott v. Sandford (Dred Scott case)
(Curtis dissent)
Wed: Scott v. Sandford (Dred Scott case)
(McLean dissent)
Fri: Jaffa, Crisis
of the House Divided
Week 11:
Mon:
Statement of
Secession, South Carolina, Statement of Secession,
Georgia,
Recommendation
for the Secession of New York City
Wed:Charles Sumner’s Resolution on the
Theory of Secession and Reconstruction,
Resolutions on the Objects of the War
***book
analysis due***
Fri: no class, homecoming
Week 12:
Mon:
Constitution of the
Confederate States of America
Wed: Emancipation Proclamation,
Illinois
Reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation,
Popular
response to the Emancipation Proclamation
Fri: Thirteenth,
Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments (United States Constitution
and Amendments)
***third short assignment handed out***
Week 13:
Mon:
no class, Veterans Day Holiday
Wed:Civil Rights
Act of 1866, Popular
reaction to the veto
Fri:
Benedict, Impeachment
***third short assignment due***
Week 14:
Mon: Reaction to Presidential
Reconstruction, Reaction to
Congressional Reconstruction
Fri: no class –
Thanksgiving break
Week 15:
Mon: Slaughterhouse Cases
Wed: Minor v. Happersett
Fri: Munn v. Illinois
Week 16:
Mon: Civil Rights Cases
***final
handed out***
Wed: course
wrap up
Finals week:
Wed, Dec
12: final due in my office (234 Keene-Flint) by 2:30pm