DO NOT USE OUTSIDE SOURCES. USE THE READINGS PROVIDED from “American Political Thought: A Norton Anthology. New York: W. W. Norton. by Isaac Kramnick and Theodore j. Lowi (2009)
Topic 1:
Be sure to respond to your chosen topic thoroughly, discussing each sub-question in suitable depth and with explicit reference to the texts for the course.
John C. Calhoun famously wrote:
These great and dangerous errors have their origin in the prevalent opinion that all men are born free and equal—than which nothing can be more unfounded and false (APT, 621).
while William Lloyd Garrison countered:
- Assenting to the “self-evident truth” maintained in the American Declaration of Independence, “that all men are created equal…,” I shall strenuously contend for the immediate enfranchisement of our slave population (APT, 555).
In what ways are the arguments made by Southern political thinkers like Calhoun and Fitzhugh and the abolitionist arguments made by Garrison and Douglass both consistent with the ideals of equality and/or liberty that have characterized American political thought since before the founding? How do the arguments of both sides betray key features of this legacy? In what ways is Lincoln successful in negotiating between the competing claims of these thinkers? In what ways does Lincoln fall short in your estimation?
0 comments