Course Description
The authors of the Constitution opposed political parties, yet parties have been critical to American government since its inception. This course explores how that happened and how parties shaped both the Constitution itself and core constitutional doctrines like judicial review, freedom of speech, and others from the founding to today.
Athena Title
Constitution and Pol Parties
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
• Describe how political parties emerged as a central institution in American Democracy and the role the Constitution played in that emergence. • Evaluate the extent to which the current party system is a necessary product of our constitutional system or one shaped in important ways by chance and choice. • Describe and evaluate the impact political parties have had on core constitutional institutions, including judicial review, freedom of speech, and constitutional prohibition on racial discrimination. • Describe and evaluate the role political parties have had on constitutional interpretation and how that relationship has changed through the twentieth century.
Topical Outline
I. Political Parties from the Founding to the Progressive Era a. Parties at the Founding: Proto-Parties and Foundational American Institutions b. The Constitution and the Second Party System c. Political Parties and Secession d. Parties, Progressives, and the Constitution II. Political Parties and the Constitution after the New Deal a. Parties and Constitutions at Home and Abroad b. FDR and the Supreme Court c. The Warren Court and the Democratic Party d. The Reagan Revolution, Abortion Rights, and Federalism e. Republican Originalism and Living Democratic Constitutionalism