POS 6933: American Legislative Development Professor Larry Dodd Overview of Class Structure Spring, 2015

January 6 Week One: Will Discuss Class Structure/Students’ Interests

January 13 Week Two: Studying American Legislative Development: An Overview

January 20 Week Three: The Origins of Congress: The Colonial Legacy

January 27 Week Four: The Origins of Congress: The Revolutionary Era and Constitution-Making

February 3 Week Five: NO CLASS/ write paper assignments

February 10 Week Six: The Early Evolution of Congress

February 17 Week Seven: Congress, Territorial Expansion and the Slavery Issue

February 24 Week Eight: Civil War, Reconstruction and the Compromise of 1876

March 3 SPRING BREAK: NO CLASS/write paper assignments

March 10 Week Nine: Studying the Post Civil War Congress: An Overview

March 17 Week Ten: Industrialization, the Progressive Era and the Demise of Party Government: Cycle I: Swing One

March 24 Week Eleven: Post-Progressive ‘Normalcy,’ Depression, and the Rise of Committee Government: Cycle I: Swing Two

March 31 Week Twelve: NO CLASS/write paper assignments

April 7 Week Thirteen: Congress, the Cold War and Early Post-Industrialism : Cycle II: Stage 1

April 14 Week Fourteen: Congress, the Republican Revolution, and Stalemate: Cycle II: Stage 2

April 21 Week Fifteen CLASS POTLUCK at Anderson/Dodd Farm

Final Research Design Due at the End of Finals Week

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The goal of American Legislative Development is to ground students in a solid grasp of the historical development of Congress. In doing so, it is organized into four general parts. The first portion of the course begins in Weeks Two, Three and Four with a discussion of the general characteristics of contemporary legislatures, their vital contributions to governance, and the distinctive character of the Congress. This discussion will particularly highlight the ways which the American Congress grew out of the colonial legislatures and the American Revolutionary Era. Week Five will be devoted to the preparation of class essays focused on the topics discussed in this first section. The second portion of the class will focus, during Weeks Six, Seven and Eight on the early evolution of the Congress, starting with the first Congress and proceeding through the Civil War and Reconstruction. It will be followed, during Spring Break, by student preparation of essays covering this period. The third portion of the class will focus, in weeks Nine, Ten and Eleven, on the emergence of a careerist and activist legislative Congress during the transition to industrialization in the eighty years following the Civil War/Reconstruction. Week Twelve will be devoted to preparation of essays on this period. Finally, the fourth section of the course will focus briefly, in weeks Thirteen and Fourteen, on the Post-World War II Congress.

“American Legislative Development” is a ‘sister course’ to Dodd’s seminar on “Congressional Politics.” In contrast to the historical focus of “ALD,” “Congressional Politics” focuses largely on the electoral politics, career behavior, organizational structuring, policy processes and behavioral patterns that characterize the modern postwar Congress – with particular focus on contrasting politics across the Textbook, Reform and Post-Reform Congresses.

American Legislative Development helps students understand the historical roots and continuing institutional struggles of the contemporary Congress; Congressional Politics explores the multiple outcomes – across elections, rules, organizational structure, policy process, etc. – of those historic institutional struggles and developmental processes. Both courses draw for their theoretical foundations on Dodd’s seminar on “Empirical Theories of Politics. As ALD covers a broad topic, Dodd strongly encourages critical feedback designed to improve the course, including suggested topics and readings that should be included or excluded.

With respect to class requirements, students will be expected to complete class reading assignments, to prepare weekly email assignments, prepare the assigned essays, to participate fully in class discussion, and to prepare a term research design paper (in consultation with Professor Dodd). These requirements will be discussed more fully in the first class meeting. During some weeks I will ‘star’ some or all of the reading. The stars should be interpreted as follows:

***read closely

**read for major point

*recommended; read as time/interests dictate

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The course involves extensive reading. A number of books have been ordered at local bookstores, to make them available for your purchase. These books and a large number of additional books have all been placed on Reserve in Library West for your use in the class.

Books Ordered for Class Use and Placed On Reserve:

Gerhard Loewenberg, On Legislatures*Eric Schickler, Disjointed Pluralism, Princeton*Julian Zelizer, The American Congress, Houghton Mifflin**Sarah Binder, Minority Rights/Majority Rule, Cambridge*T. H. Anderson, Creating the Constitution, Penn State PressCalvin Jillson, Constitution Making: Conflict and Consensus in the Federal Convention of 1787, Agathon PressDaniel Wirls and Stephen Wirls, The Invention of the U. S. Senate, Johns Hopkins*James Sterling Young, The Washington Community, Columbia*Elaine Swift, The Making of an American Senate, MichiganLaura Jensen, Patriots, Settlers, and the Origins of American Social Policy, CambridgeMichael Holt, The Political Crisis of the 1850s, NortonRichard Bensel, Yankee Leviathan*Robert Harrison, Congress, Progressive Reform and the New American State, CambridgeJulian Zelizer, On Capitol Hill, Cambridge*Sundquist, The Decline and Resurgence of CongressGordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic*Karen Orren and Stephen Skowronek, The Search for American Political Development*James Sundquist, The Decline and Resurgence of CongressPeverill Squire, The Evolution of American LegislaturesJames Patterson,Congressional Conservatism and the New DealFergus Bordewick, America’s Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas and the

Compromise that Preserved the Unioin

Additional Books Placed on Reserve:

Lawrence Dodd, Thinking about Congress, Lawrence Dodd and Bruce Oppenheimer, Congress Reconsidered, 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th 10th editions James MacGregor Burns, Congress on Trial, first (1949) edition James MacGregor Burns, The Deadlock of Democracy Charles Stewart III, Analyzing Congress Scott James, Presidents, Parties and the State Roger Davidson, et. al., Masters of the House David Mayhew, America’s Congress David Brady, Critical Elections and Congressional Policy Making, Stanford David Brady and Craig Volden, Revolving Gridlock, Westview

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Ronald Peters, The American Speakership, Johns Hopkins James L. Sundquist, The Dynamics of the Party System Kenneth Finegold and Theda Skocpol, State and Party in America’s New Deal, 1-5, 9 Paul Pierson, Politics in Time Joseph Cooper, The Origins of the Standing Committees and the Development of the Modern Congress (if available) Sarah Binder and Steven S. Smith, Politics or Principle? James T. Patterson, Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal David Rothman, Politics and Power Woodrow Wilson, Congressional Government Allen Guelzo, Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President Calvin Jillson and Rick Wilson, Congressional Dynamics William Lee Miller, Arguing About Slavery Poole and Rosenthal, Congress:A Political-Economic History of Roll Call Voting McCarty, Poole and Rosenthal, Polarized America Brady and McCubbins, Party, Process and Political Change in Congress, 2002 (Vol 1) Brady and McCubbins, Party, Process and Political Change In Congress, Vol 2 Richard Bensel, Sectionalism and American Political Development Nelson Polsby, How Congress Evolves Jami Carson and Jason Roberts, Ambition, Competition and Electoral Reform Michael Berkman, The State Roots of National Politics Edward Carmines and James Stimson, Issue Evolution Bruce Ackerman, We the People: Foundations George Galloway, Congress at the Crossroads Paul Pierson, Politics in Time Nancy Young’s book, Why We Fight: Congress and the Politics of World War II. Acemoulue and Robinson, Why Nations Fail Archibald Foord, His Majesty’s Opposition 1714-1830

All books required for this course should be available for short-term check out through at the Reserve Desk in Library West. Many of the assigned essays/artciles also are available in books on Library Reserve; just check the book out at library reserve and read the essay from it. Some essays can also be accessed by ‘googling’ them. Additionally, articles should be available through J-STOR. In most cases they can also be accessed through electronic reserve. The process for accessing assigned articles that are available through electronic reserve is as follows:

To use Electronic Library Reserve:

1. Log into ARes using your Gatorlink username and password. You can access ARes at http://ares.uflib.ufl.edu, or by clicking Course Reserves on the UF Libraries homepage.2. Under the Student Tools menu on the left side of the page, select Search Courses. 3. Use the third search option: Search by Course. Search for Course Number POS 6993.4. The results page should list only this course, POS 6993 Section 8865, US Legislativ Develolpment. The first column should offer the option to "Add" the course for immediate access in the future.5. All readings should be available here, unless Professor Dodd has indicated otherwise. To sort by author (or book editor), simply click the header in the Author column. Clicking on book titles

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will direct you to the call number information needed to obtain the book from the main desk on the 2nd floor of Library West.6. Clicking on article titles will link you directly to articles available via electronic databases. If you are on campus, these links will allow you immediate full access to the articles. If you are off campus, you must first either connect to the UF network via the VPN client (http://net-services.ufl.edu/provided_services/vpn/anyconnect/) or log in to the library site using the Off-Campus Access link at http://www.uflib.ufl.edu and search for the journals and articles yourself.

Seminar Policies:

1. Do not use a cell phone, Blackberry or any other electronic device during class. Turn them off and put them away. You can use laptops to take notes provided that you follow the no-cell phone rule.

2. Assignments. The dates for all weekly assignments are provided in the syllabus. Please advise me in advance if you need to discuss an extension for a paper.

3. Incompletes will not be given for this class. The only exceptions will be for dire and unavoidable emergencies or special conditions that are discussed with Professor Dodd in advance. Should a student fail to complete the course, any effort to complete the course thereafter will be subject to a grade reduction to be determined by Professor Dodd in consultation with the student.

4. Honor Code and Plagiarism: In enrolling as a UF student you have agreed to follow the UF Honor Code, which includes neither giving nor receiving authorized aid in doing your graded assignments and final papers. Any student who violates UF’s Honor Code will be referred immediately to appropriate departmental and University authorities for disciplinary action.

5. Matters of accommodation: I will make every effort to provide for accommodations for students with disabilities. Please see me at the start of the semester to alert me to issues of accommodation and we will address them in a discrete manner according to university guidelines.

6. Office Hours: I welcome students coming by office hours to discuss issues with the course or with their graduate training and career preparation. I make every effort to keep office hours, and will stay in my office beyond the scheduled hours as long as students are waiting to see me, insofar as I can given other scheduled commitments. In addition, I will arrange meetings by appointment at other times, when necessary. I enjoy talking with students immensely, and value meeting with you. But do note: I will be traveling to various conferences this semester, and also will be involved in department and university affairs at times that I cannot easily control, so that students with pressing issues should take care to arrange with me a time-certain, during office hours or at other times when I am available, so that I can guarantee attention to their issues. I am also available by email: ldodd@ufl.edu, and can be reached in emergencies at my home phone: 352 485 1971.

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The Course Syllabus:

The weekly reading assignments for the class will be handed out in the week prior to the class, and will contain detailed email assignments for specific students. The course builds on the Class Syllabus for the 2012 version of the course, but will be distinct from that course. The current course provides more in-depth assessment of the colonial period, draws on additional reading not used in 2012, and is organized in four parts that are somewhat different in make-up and assignments from the 2012 syllabus. I can nevertheless make that syllabus available to students who wish to have access to it, as background for this course.

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Week Two: Studying American Legislative Development: An Overview

I. General Perspectives on Legislatures

Gerhard Loewenberg, On Legislatures: all***

Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, Why Nations Fail: Required: Chs 3, 4, 7, 10, 11; strongly recommended: Chs 5, 6, 8, 9; the remainder of the book is helpful in grasping comparative and third world applications of their argument.

II. The Emergence and Evolution of Legislatures in America: General Patterns

Peverill Squire, The Evolution of American Legislatures, Chap 1. ***

Nelson Polsby, “The Institutionalization of the U. S. House of Representatives,” APSR, Vol 62 (1968): 144-168. ***

David Mayhew, America’s Congress, “Introduction” and Chapters 1, 2***

III. Studying American Legislative Development: Snapshots Across Time

Zelizer, The American Congress, Chs 1, 11, 13, 18, 19, 26, 30, 35, 40 ***

IV. Why Congress? A General Introduction to the Pre-Reconstruction Period

Dodd: Thinking about Congress (TAC): Chapter 1, “Congress as Public Mirror,” pp. 3-15 (through the first two full paragraphs).***

Also Recommended (if you have not read previously):

Karen Orren and Stephen Skowronek, The Search for American Political Development, Chapters Four and Five

Paul Pierson, Politics in Time, Chapter 1

Joseph Cooper and David Brady, “Toward a Diachronic Analysis of Congress,APSR, Vol 75 (1981): 988-1006

Charles Stewart III, Analyzing Congress, Chs 1-3

David Mayhew, Congress: The Electoral Connection

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Email Assignments: After completing the reading for this week, each student will answer both of the following questions and email them to Professor Dodd and all class members. These are ‘thought questions’ designed to focus class discussion of the week’s reading. Write no more than one to two single-space pages on each question.

1. What varied contributions do legislatures make to governance and societal well-being that makes them attractive features of political life, so that they have been foundation institutions in America for roughly 400 years now, and what would we lose should American legislatures experience a drastic and sustained decline in potency?

2. How do legislatures differ, externally across nations and internally across time, and in what ways might these differences matter for the capacity of legislatures to contribute to governance in positive ways?

Looking Forward: If you wish to read ahead:

1. Week Three will include Daniel and Stephen Wirls, Inventing the U.S. Senate, Chapters 1-5; Jillson, Constitution Making, all; Squire, The Evolution of American Legislatures, Chapters 2, 3 and portions of chapters four and five.

2. Week Four will include T. H. Anderson, Creating the Constitution, all; and portions of Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic.

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Week Three: The Origins of the Congress: Seeing the Broad Contours

Recommended:

Archibald S. Foord, His Majesty’s Opposition 1714-1830: Chapter One: Introduction, and Epilogue

Charles Tilly, “Parliamentarization of Popular Contention in Great Britain, 1758-1834,” in Tilly, Roads from the Past to the Future.

Required: (I recommend that you read the assignments in the order listed below).

Peverell Squire, The Evolution of American Legislatures: Colonies, Territories, and States, 1619-2009: Chs 2, 3, and pages 102-146; 157-159; 213-215. All of chapters 4 and 5 arr

recommended.

Daniel and Stephen Wirls, Inventing the United States Senate, Chs 1-6

Jillson and Wilson, 1987, “A Social Choice Model of Politics: Insights into the Demise of the U.S. Continental Congress,” LSQ 12: 5-32; and Wilson and Jillson, 1989, “Leadership

Patterns in the Continental Congress: 1774-1789,” LSQ 14: 5-37.

Madison, Federalist #10, 48, 51, 53, 63

Calvin Jillson, Constitution Making: Conflict and Consensus in the Federal Convention of 1787, Agathon Press

ACommon Email Assignment: Briefly identify the three aspects of the colonial, revolutionary and constitution-making period of American history that most surprise you and briefly highlight the potential relevance of these to our study and understanding of the Congress.

Individual Email Assignments:

1. In what ways was a logic of oppositional politics (Foord: read most or all of the book) emerging in Britain in the era leading up to and surrounding the American revolutionary era? And what implications would such a logic have for the Americans as they contemplated their own circumstances?__Stephen___

2. In what ways was a logic of popular contestation (Tilly) emerging in Britain in the era leading up to and surrounding the American revolutionary era? And what implications would such a logic have for the Americans as they contemplated their own circumstances?__Brandon____

3. What role did legislative assemblies play in the colonial period and how did that role and the governing processes of the assemblies evolve (Squire), leading up to and informing the revolutionary period?__Alex___

4. What do Jillson and Wilson see as the difficulties attending leadership and decision-making in the Continental Congress and what implications did such difficulties have for the power and structuring of a legislature as the founders considered a new constitutional order?___Shane__

5. In what ways did classical ideas about republicanism, constitutionalism and liberalism shape the ideas available to the founders about legislatures as they moved to create the Senate; and how did the House of Representative manage to arise, and with what distinctive characteristics, amid

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the extensive debate over the Senate , particularly the role of a lower and upper house within a legislative branch (Wirls and Wirls, Chs 1-5).___Bobby__

6. What is the Madisonian argument in Federalist #10 about how and why Congress plays the role it does, and how and why other constitutional arrangements were created beyond the central existence of a Congress?________

7. What is Jillson’s central argument in Constitution Making and how (and in what ways) does he support this argument through empirical research?___Keith Lee___

8. As seen in Jillson, how did the debates of the founders reconceptualize the role of the Executive in the emerging constitutional order and what were the implications of this emerging role for the role and power of Congress?___Justin___.

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Week Four: The Origins of the Congress: Elaborating the Historical Story

1. The purpose of this week’s reading is to probe behind the broad contours of constitution-making and understand (a) the ideas and experiences that gave rise to the new constitutional order, (2) the ways in which experiences with legislatures and their operation were at the heart of the creation of the new order, and (3) what was lost as well as what was gained in the effort to create the new order and establish the role of Congress within it through the Constitution’s implementation.

The reading will demonstrate that the political/intellectual life of the nation was much more vibrant prior to the Founding than most political scientists realize, especially with respect to legislatures. It will also help clarify how it is that the American Revolution was in fact a revolution, and the ways in which it helps inform our understanding of the role of ideas in politics and political change.

2. Course Reading for Week Five

In the reading for this week, all students are expected to read the Preface and Chapters 1 and 15 of Wood, The Creation of the American Republic. A copy is on reserve in the Library, though some students may wish to order it through Amazon.com. Aside from the required joint reading, each students is being asked to read closely a specific part of the book and to report the central arguments of their assigned part, so that these email assignments will inform the entire class about the overall argument of Wood’s book. Eventually, prior to prelims, each of you is strongly advised to read Wood’s entire book.

Additionally, all students are expect to read: (a) T. H. Anderson, Creating the Constitution, Penn State Press: all; and (b) Aldrich, Jillson and Wilson, “Why Congress? What the Failure of the Confederation Congress and the Survival of the Federal Congress Tell Us about the New Institutionalism.” in Brady and McCubbins, Party, Process, and Political Change in Congress, Vol 1.

Students are strongly recommended to read: The Encyclopedia of the U. S. Congress, in Reserve Room: Read sections on “The Articles of Confederation,” “The Constitutional Convention of 1787,” “The Anti-Federalists,” and “The Federalists”

3. Email Assignment 1:

Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787,

Selected Email Assignments:

Wood: Preface and Chapters 1, 15: Keith

Wood, Creation, Part I: The Ideology of the Revolution: Bobby

Wood, Creation, Part II: The Constitution of the States: Alex

Wood, Creation, Part III: The People Against the Legislatures: Brandon

Wood, Creation, Part IV, The Critical Period: Stephen

Wood, Creation, Part V, The Federal Constitution: Justin

Wood, Creation, Part VI, The Revolutionary Achievement: Shane

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4. Email Assignment 2:

4a. T. H. Anderson, Creating the Constitution, Penn State Press: all

i T.H. Anderson argues, in Creating the Constitution, that aside from the nationalists and states-rights factions, the Constitutional Convention included an emergent state-Federalist faction that helped greatly to shape the Constitution and move it towards a compound republic. Such a design was intended to foster cooperative and constrained decision-making among government actors that pointed towards collective interests and near-consensual outcomes rather than polarized interests and zero-sum politics.

ii.He concludes that this design, while flawed, held out the opportunity for a mutually-respectful and civil politics. That opportunity was squandered when the Federalists, under the influence of a Court Whig ideology, used their dominant control of the First Congress to impose interpretations of the constitutional order that distorted and up-ended the logic of a compound republic. The Federalists thereby set in motion a high-stakes and highly competitive game of American politics centered around a polarization of perceived policy interests and a zero-sum politics characterized by narrow majoritarian dominance, popular disenchantment and deep-structured policy stalemates.

iii.The deliberative, near-consensual and broadly cooperative decision-making experienced at the Constitutional Convention, and that the Founders hoped to pass on to future generations by their constitutional design, was thereby deprived to future generations, according to Anderson. Instead, their progeny came to be governed by a perversion of the constitutional order that the Founders thought they had put in place.

Question 4a: As delineated by Anderson, (a) how and why was the new constitutional order supposed to generate a deliberative, collective and near-consensual politics, (b) how/why did the Federalists in the First Congress derail such politics, and how/why has the nation been unable to get such a politics back on track? What is your overall assessment of Anderson’s argument? Do you believe that our politics might have been less polarized and divisive had Congress implement the new constitution in a way more attentive to the logic of a compound republic? Are arguments in behalf of a compound republic relevant today? Could Congress undo the damage Anderson believes was done by the First (Convention) Congress, and would that effort be advisable?__Brandon, Bobby, Alex___

4b. Aldrich, Jillson and Wilson

What was “The Articles of Confederation” and its role in the American Founding; how are the “Articles” linked to the Constitutional Convention of 1787: and what is the significance of this how compelling to you find it, in reasoning and in empirical evidence?___Keith, Justin__

4c. Aldrich, Jillson and Wilson

What is the Aldrich/Jillson/Wilson thesis, around which the “Why Congress”” question revolves, and how compelling do you find it, in reasoning and in empirical evidence? ___Stephen, Shane___

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Week Five: Assessing the Colonial, Revolutionary and Constitution-Making Era as a Prelude to Congress

Address these two questions:

I. In what ways, and with what significance, did the colonial, revolutionary and constitution-making period (including in this the early years of Congress) serve to create conditions that would shape the evolution of Congress thereafter? 7 to 8 pages

II. What topic or topics might you be interested in researching that touch on Congress, American legislatures more generally, or legislatures in other settings; discuss ideas for pursuing one or more of these topics; and discuss the implications that the reading and discussion of the past several weeks could have for a research design on the topic(s). 2 to 3 pages.

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Week Six: The Early Evolution of Congress

I. Required Reading:

Gordon Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution: read Part III: Democracy

Garry Wills, Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power, Prologue, Introduction and

Chapters 1-8

James Sterling Young, The Washington Community, 1800-1828: read all

Sarah Binder, Minority Rights/Majority Rule, Chs. One through Four

Wirls and Wirls, The Invention of the U. S. Senate, Chs 7-8

Zelizer, The American Congress: Chs 1-7. Read ones you haven’t read; review others.

II. Strongly Recommended Reading

Ronald Peters, The American Speakership, Chs. Pages 1-44.

Elaine Swift, The Making of an American Senate, 1789-1841

Laura Jensen, Patriots, Settlers, and the Origins of American Social Policy, Chs1-4.

Jeffery Jenkins and Charles Stewart, Jr., “Order from Chaos: The Transformation of the Committee System in the House, 1816-22, in Brady and McCubbins, Party Process and Political Change in Congress, Chapter 8.

II. Recommended:

Elaine Swift, “The Electoral Connection Meets the Past: Lessons from Congressional History, 1789-1899.” Political Science Quarterly, 1988, 102, p. 625+.

Joseph Cooper, “The Origins of the Standing Committees and the Development of the Modern House, Rice University Studies, Vol 56 (Summer, 1970).

Elaine Swift, “The Start of Something New: Clay, Stevenson, Polk, and the Development of the Speakership, 1789-1869,” in Roger Davidson, et.al., Masters of the House.

John F. Hoadly, “The Emergence of Political Parties in Congress: 1789-1803.” American Political Science Review, 74 (1980): 757+

Allan G. Bogue and Mark P. Marlaire, “Of Mess and Men: The Boardinghouse and Congressional Voting, 1821-1842,” AJPS 19 (1975): 207+.

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Gerald Gamm and Kenneth Shepsle, “The Emergence of Legislative Institutions: Standing Committees in the House and Senate, 1810-1825.” LSQ: 14 (1989): 39+

Email Questions:

1. According to Gordon Wood, in The Radicalism of the American Revolution, the aftermath of Revolution and Constitution-making was a radical transformation beyond the imagination and expectations (and desires) of the revolutionary and founding generations. What was the nature of this radical transformation and what were its implications for the social ethos, politics and policy concerns that would come to dominate Congress?___Justin_____

2. As seen in Chapters Two through Five of The American Congress, and in Hoadly’s APSR article, what were the broad concerns, characteristics, political cleavages and policy orientations of Congress in its first decade of existence, prior to the move to the District of Columbia__Shane__

3. As seen in The Washington Community, what were the broad concerns, characteristics, political cleavages and policy orientations of Congress in its first decades in the District of Columbia, and in what ways do the arguments in “Of Mess and Men,” by Bogue and Marlaire, quality and amplify Young’s arguments?_____Alex____

4. As seen in The Washington Community, what was the connection between national legislators and their local constituents, how did this shape the early development of Congress, and how does Swift’s essay on ‘the electoral connection meets the past’ qualify and amplify Young’s arguments about the legislator/constituency connection?____Bobby______

5. Based on your reading of the Cooper volume, in what ways did Jeffersonian ideas shape the emergence of a committee system in Congress, what other factors may have influenced its emergence, and what are the implications of contemporary challenges to committee government (i.e., conditional party government) to the historic role of Congress in our political system?_____

6. Based on the research reported by Gamm/Shepsle and Jenkins/Stewart, how are we to understand the development and role of committees in the early decades of the Congress?_____

7. Why do majorities tend to rule the House while minorities often call the shots in the Senate, according to Binder, Minority Rights/Majority Rule, and how did events during the early Congresses illustrate, qualify, and foster this contrast in governing patterns in the two houses?___Brandon____

8. Based on the work of Ronald Peters and the essay by Swift in Masters of the House, what were the early expectations of the Speakership and how did it evolve in the early decades of Congressional experience? What foundations did this lay for subsequent development of the Speakership and the operation of the House?_________

9. What does Elaine Swift mean by reconstitutive change, how did Senate engage in reconstitutive change in the early decades of congressional experience, and with what long-terms consequences and implications? How does she complete/amplify/qualify Wirls and Wirls (and they her)?_________

10. Most of us think of entitlements as something that ‘liberal Democrats’ created in the New Deal, perhaps to initiate ‘creeping socialism’ on American shores; a few of us – having read Skocpol – even might acknowledge some late 19th century experience with entitlements; but who thinks of the Founders as entitlement-junkies, foreshadowing such corruption of American society a good eighty years or so earlier, during the Early Republic? And despite the fact that we all know that

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policies make politics, who among us is truly prepared to understand that the evolution of our politics and institutions, from the beginning, was shaped by entitlement policies? The answer is Laura Jensen.

Detail Jensen’s argument about the presence of entitlements in the first century of our national experience, the critical and unique role Congress and legislatures played in American-style state-building (as seen through entitlements), and the broad implications her story has for our understanding of the evolution of Congress and the American state. Can you think of other policy areas that we consider distinct to contemporary politics that might have unseen roots in the early years of national history?____Stephen______

11. What is Garry Wills argument in the first eight chapters of Negro President and how compelling do you find it?___Keith___

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Week Seven: Congress, Territorial Expansion, and the Slavery Issue

I. Required Reading

I. Required:

Adam Hochschild, Bury the Chains.: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves,

Required: Introduction and Chs. 22, 23, Epilogue.

Strongly recommended: At least 7, 8, 9; 12, 13, 15, 16

William Lee Miller, Arguing About Slavery: Everyone should read Part I

and Part XIII. The remainder of the book is highly recommended.

Amy Greenberg, A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexcio.

Required: Introduction and Chapter 13.

Strongly recommended: At least Chs. 1,2,3, 11,12, 13

Fergus Bordewich, America’s Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the

Compromise that Preserved the Union.

Required: Preface, Prologue, Chs. 11 thru 23, 24, 25, 27, 28 and Epilogue: “The

Reckoning.”

Strongly Recommended: Remainder of the book

Michael E. Holt, The Political Crisis of the 1850s: All

Zelizer, The American Congress, Chs 8-11: Read and/or Review

II. Strongly Recommended:

Roger G. Kennedy. Mr. Jefferson’s Lost Cause: Land, Farms, Slavery, and the Louisiana Purchase. Pages 1-117; 235-244

Elaine K. Swift. “TheStart of Something New: Clay,Stevenson, Polk, and the Development of the Speakership, 1789-1869. In Davidson, Hammond and Smock, Masters of the House.

Nolan McCarty, Keith Poole, and Howard Rosenthal, “Congress and the Territorial Expansion of the United States,” in Brady and McCubbins, eds. Party, Process, and Political Change in Congress

Brian Humes, Elaine Swift, Richard Valelly, Kenneth Finegold, and Evelyn

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Fink, “Representation of the Antebellum South in the House of

Representatives: Measuring the Impact of the Three-Fifths Clause.” In

Brady/McCubbins, Party, Process, and Political Change in Congress.

Sean Theriault and Barry Weingast, “Agenda Manipulation, Strategic Voting,

And Legislative Details in the Compromise of 1850,” in Brady and

McCubbins, eds. Party, Process, and Political Change in Congress.

Timothy Nikkon, et. al., “The Institutional Origins of the Republican Party:

Spatial Voting and the House Speakership Election of 1855-56.” Legislative Studies Quarterly. 25: 101-130.

Jensen, Patriots, Settlers, and the Origins of American Social Policy, Chs 5, 6

Peters, The American Speakership, pp. 44-51

In The Encyclopedia of the U. S. Congress, in reference section of Library West, read the following sections, in this order of priority:

1. Henry Clay

2. Slavery: pp. 1819-1830

3. Missouri Compromise

4. Compromise of 1850

5. Kansas-Nebraska Act

6. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

7. Stephen A. Douglas

Collective Email Assignment : Discuss the three things that most surprise you from this week’s reading, preferably on a work other than the one you discuss in your email, and discuss their significance for the study of Congress and early political development in the United States.

Individual Email Assignments:

a. Based on the required and recommended portions of Bury the Chains, and any additional portions of Hochschild’s book you wish to read, summarize the historical processes, timing

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and arguments that led Britain to free the empire’s slaves and discuss the various linkages and ramifications this had for the slavery issue in the United States.__Brandon___

b. Based on your selective reading of various chapters in Miller’s book, Arguing about Slavery, how would you characterize the debate oveCr slavery in the early to mid-19 th century in the United States, what role did the citizens, Congress, and elite-actors such as JQ Adams play in this debate, and what are we to learn from it about the era involved and, more generally, about American and Congressional Politics?__Stephen____

c. Based on the Encyclopedia entry on Henry Clay, the discussion by Swift in “The Start of Something New,” and the various readings from this week, who was Henry Clay, what were his contributions to Congress and American politics, and how are we to assess him as a historical figure and a master of legislative poiitics?__Shane____

d. Based on the required and recommended portions of A Wicked War, and any additional portions of Greenberg’s book you wish to read, and also on the McCarty, Poole and Rosenthal chapter on “Congress and the Territorial Expansion of the U.S.” in the Brady-McCubbins volume, discuss the role that the Mexican/American War played in the politics of the 1840s, the ramifications it had for the struggle over slavery in the United States in the mid-19th century, and the long-term precedents and implications it had for U.S. domestic politics and foreign policy. Additionally, what assessment would you provide us of Henry Clay?__Justin____

e. Based on your reading of the required and recommended portions of America’s Great Debate, and any additional portion you wish to read, summarize the historical processes, timing, arguments and strategems that characterized the efforts to craft and enact the Compromise of 1850; assess the immediate significance and longer term consequences of the Compromise; and, finally, what assessments would you provide us of Henry Clay?-Alex_

f. What is Therault and Weingast’s argument about how and why the Compromise of 1850 failed and then passed through the Congress. What do you think they get right and what do they miss, overlook or get wronjg? Overall, how convincing and useful do you find this argument, how sound is the statistical proof, and are there ways in which you might build on, challenge, move beyond their work in explaining the failure/enactment of the Compromise and supporting this through rigorous empirical inquiry?__Keith___

g. Please summarize the argument in Holt, The Political Crisis of the 1850s; assess the implications it has for our understanding of the politics surrounding and the emergence of the American Civil War; discuss how his argument might be more rigorously tested; and, finally, consider the implications this book has for a Downsian perspective on Pre-Civil War politics in the United States.__Bobby__

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Week Eight: The Civil War, Reconstruction and the Compromise of 1876

I. Required Reading

“The History of Congress: Sectionalism and Nationalism, 1840-1872,” in The Encyclopedia of the U. S. Congress.

James Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System, Chapters 4,5

Richard Bensel, Yankee Leviathan: The Origins of Central State AuthorityIn America, 1859-1877: everyone read all

Allen Guelzo, Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, Chs. 7, 8, 9, 10, Epilogue

David Brady, Critical Elections and Congressional Policy Making, Chs 1,2

“The Electoral Commission of 1877,” “The Electoral Count Act,” and “The Electoral College,” pages 728-733 in The Encyclopedia of the U. S. Congress

Zelizer, The American Congress, Chapters 12-14

II. Highly Recommended Reading

Ronald Peters, The American Speakership, Chapter Two

C. Vann Woodward, Reunion and Reaction: The Compromise of 1877 and the

End of Reconstruction

Collective Email Assignment : Discuss the three things that most surprise you from this week’s reading, preferably on a work other than the one you discuss in your email, and discuss their significance for the study of Congress during the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the long and continuing struggle with their legacies.

Individual Email Assignments:

a. Summarize the arguments made by Sundquist with respect to the ways slavery polarized the nation, the ways a new party alignment emerged, the implications of the new alignment for the Congress, and the consequences thereof____Brandon___

b. Summarize the major arguments made by Bensel in your assigned chapter(s) and discuss their relevance to understanding both congressional development and the role Congress played in American political development during the Civil War/Reconstruction period.

Chapters Two-Three: Bobby

Chapters Four-Five: Alex

Chapters Six-Seven: Justin

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c. Summarize the arguments made by Guelzo in Chapters 7,8 and 9, with respect to how Congress influenced the conduct of the Civil War, the 13th Amendment, and the restructuring of the national policy agenda, and discuss their relevance to understanding both congressional development and the role Congress played in American political development in this era.__Stephen____

d. Summarize the argument of Brady in Chapter One of Critical Elections and Congressional PolicyMaking and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the argument as it relates to the “Civil War Realignment”, as seen in Chapter Two (particularly as relates to theory, method, and empirical patterns). Finally, discuss the contribution of the argument in Chapter Two to our understanding of Congressional and American Political Development____Keith___

e. Summarize the major arguments made by Woodward with respect to the Compromise of 1877 and discuss their relevance to understanding both congressional development and the role Congress played in American political development during the Reconstruction period.__Shane___

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Spring Break Email Assignments: Due by Saturday, March 7th by 5 pm.

I. In what ways, and with what significance, did the period of the Jefferson Presidency through the Civil War Era serve to create conditions that would shape the evolution of Congress thereafter? 7 to 8 pages

II. Discuss the ways in which your topics for a research design for this course are narrowing and coming more clearly into focus. What puzzles are you now considering, what theories or arguments are appealing to you, what kinds of analysis might you bring forward to address the puzzles and test the theories, and what kinds of evidence, methods, etc., might you point towards in examining the topic? 2 to 3 pages.

Week Nine: Studying the Post Civil War Congress: Introduction and Overview

Some readings below are repeated from early in the semester. You may find that you see them differently now that you are deeper into the course.

1. A Foundation Work:

Mandatory Reading: Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy: Chs 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8

2. Historical Patterns:

Polsby, “The Institutionalization of the U. S. House of Representatives,” APSR, 62 (1968): 144-168.

Dodd, “Woodrow Wilson’s Congressional Government and the Modern Congress: The ‘Universal Principle’ of Change,” Congress and the Presidency 14 (1) : 33-49; and “Congress as Public Mirror,” TAC: 15-38.

Huntington, “Congressional Responses to the Twentieth Century,” In Congress and America’s Future. Edited by David Truman, 1965 version.

James MacGregor Burns, The Deadlock of Democracy. Chs 1-4.

Cooper and Brady, “Institutional Context and Leadership Style: The House From Cannon to Rayburn, APSR 1981; 75: 411 – 425.

David Canon and Charles Stewart III, “The Evolution of the Committee System in Congress,” Congress Reconsidered, 7th edition (2001).

Smith and Gamm,”The Dynamics of Party Government in Congress,” Congress Reconsidered, 10th edition (2013).

Poole and Rosenthal, Congress: A Political-Economic History of Roll Call Voting, Read: Chapter 11. Strongly recommended: Chapters 1 through 4. The remainder is recommended.

Mayhew, America’s Congress, at least the first two chapters.

3. Two Theoretical Perspectives:

Dodd, “Congress in a Downsian World,” JOP, forthcoming.

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Schickler, Disjointed Pluralism, Chapter 1

Email Assignments for all students: (no more than 12 double spaced pages in all)

1. Address the three or four things that most surprise you and/or engage you in this reading and their implications for understanding and studying congressional or legislative change -- aside from Downs and my take-off on him.

2. What is Downs’ argument about Two Party Politics; why does he make this argument; what is my challenge to his argument; why do I challenge him; how might I improve my argument, if this article were to become a book; what implications does it have for understanding the Post-Civil War Congress; what are its implications for assessing the future of Congress (in decades). Finally, if you have the time and energy left, how might my argument benefit from Schickler’s theoretical perspective?

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Week Ten: Industrialization, the Progressive Era and the Demise of Party Government: Cycle 1/Swing 1

I. Required Reading

Richard Bensel, Sectionalism and American Political Development, 1880-1980, Chs. 1, 2, 3 andpages 317-335.

“The Age of the Machine (1872-1900)”, in The Encyclopedia of the U. S. Congress

Robert Harrison, Congress, Progressive Reform, and the New American State: all.

Eric Schickler, Disjointed Pluralism, Review Ch 1; Read Ch 2

Zelizer, The American Congress, Chapters 15-21

Sarah Binder, Minority Rights/Majority Rule, Read Chs 6-10; Review Earlier Chapters

Sundquist, Dynamics, Ch 6, 7, 8

II. Highly Recommended Reading

David J. Rothman, Politics and Power: The United States Senate, 1868-1901: all

Randall Strahan, “Leadership and Institutional Change in the Nineteenth-CenturyHouse,” in Brady and McCubbins, Party, Process and Political Change in Congress.

The essays by Randall Strahan (#2), “Thomas Brackett Reed and the Rise of Party Government;” Scott Rager (#3), “Uncle Joe Cannon: The Brakeman of the House of Representatives, 1903-1911;” and James S. Fleming (#4), “Oscar W. Underwood: The First Modern House Leader, 1911-191, in Roger Davidson, Susan Webb Hammond and Raymond Smock, Masters of the House.

Scott C. James and Brian L. Lawson, “The Political Economy of Voting Rights Enforcement in America’s Gilded Age: Electoral College Competition, Partisan Commitment, and the Federal Election Law.” APSR 93 (1) March 1999): 115-31.

Charles H. Stewart III and Barry R. Weingast, 1992. “Stacking the Senate, Changing the Nation: Republican Rotten Boroughs, Statehood Politics, and American Political Development.” Studies in American Political Development 6: 223-71.

Jeff Jenkins, “The First ‘Southern Strategy”: The Republican Party and Contested-Election CasesIn the Late 19th-Century House.” In Brady and McCubbins, Party, Process, and Political Change in Congress, Volume 2.

Polsby, “Institutionalization of the U. S. House of Representatives,” APSR 62 (1968): 144-168: Read or Review.

Nelson Polsby, Miriam Gallaher, and Barry Spencer Rundquist, “The Growth of the Seniority System in the U.S. House of Representatives,” APSR 63 (September 1969):787-807.

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III. Also Recommended:

Sarah Binder and Steven Smith, Politics or Principle?

Ron Peters, The American Speakership, pp. 75-91 and Chapter 3

Scott James, Presidents, Parties and the State, Chs 1, 2, 5.

Kenneth Hechler, Insurgency,Chs 1-5, 13

Valeria Heitshusen and Garry Young, “Macropolitics and Changes in the U.S. Code: Testing Competing Theories of Policy Production,1874-1946,” in Adler and Lapinski, The Macropolitics of Congress, Ch. 5.

Charles H. Stewart, Budget Reform Politics: The Design of the Appropriations Process in the House of Representatives, 1865-1921

Email Assignments: Each student will prepare two assignments

Assignment 1: Partisan Dynamics, Sectionalism, and Congressional Power

1. Detail Sundquist’s argument in Chapters 6, 7 and 8,; summarize as well the general perspectives added by James and Lawson, Stewart and Weingast, and Jenkins; and then discuss the implications these works have for how we understand the evolution of the party system and of Congress in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. What lingering effects and insights do the partisan conflicts and strategies of this period have that can help us understand contemporary politics?____Bobby_______

2. As seen in the assigned readings by Strahan (both essays), Rager, and Fleming, together with the assigned chapters by Binder, Minority Rights/Majority Rule, how did the nature and role of party leadership change in the House of Representatives across the late 19 th and early 20th centuries, and with what significance for policy making and power in the House of that era? What implications do your answers have for studying leadership, policymaking, and problem-solving in other historical eras?___Alex___

3. What are Bensel’s central arguments in Sectionalism and American Political Development, as presented in the first two chapters, how does the late 19th and early 20th century experience in Congress illustrate the power of this argument, as seen in Chapter Three, and how do these developments help account for the fall of Party Government in 1910, as addressed on pages 317-335, and the subsequent rise of committee government? ___Stephen____

4. Based on Polsby’s “Institutionalization” article and his article with Gallaher and Rundquist on the “Growth of Seniority” in the House, how had Congress changed from the mid to the late 19 th century and what were the implications of these changes for the politics of the Progressive Era?__Shane__

5. How and why did party leadership and party power change in the Senate across the nineteenth century in Congress, and what were its characteristics by the turn of the century, as seen in the assigned reading by Binder and Smith (Chapters 1 to 3), and Rothman (Politics and Power. All)__Brandon___

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6. Informed by this week’s reading, (particularly the articles in The Encyclopedia of the U.S. Congress and Chapters 19-21 in Zelizer): summarize the broad character of the Progressive Era, the ways in which it transformed the U. S. Congress, and the character of its aftermath in the late 1910s and 1920s; finally, discuss the implications of this broad period for our understanding of the evolution of Congress and its policy agenda.___Justin____

7. After briefly reviewing the theoretical discussion in Chapter One, summarize the arguments presented by Eric Schickler in Chapter Two of Disjointed Pluralism and discuss their implications for how we study Congress, how we explain institutional changes in the Progressive Era, and how we understand the evolution of Congress.__Keith___.

Assignment Two: Congress, Progressivism and Public Policy

8. With the ending of the Civil War/Reconstruction, in what ways did the shift in national attention to such concerns as the American West, Railroad policy, and Industrialization (Zelizer, America’s Congress, Chs. 16. 17.18) highlight new policy responsibilities for Congress in the 1870s and beyond, creating new demands on it? In answering this question, take care to provide illustrative details. Then, with this answer as backdrop, in what ways did these new policy issues nudge the nation toward a classical left/right politics? What factors pushed away from left/right politics? With what significance for national and congressional politics?__Alex__

9. Based on Chapters One, Two and Nine of Congress, Progressive Reform, and the New American State, what does Harrison mean by progressivism, how does he see it shaping the creation of an American state at the turn of the twentieth century, what role does he see the political actors in Congress and the White House playing in giving a progressive imprint to the American State, WHY, and with what longer-term implications?___Justin____

10. How do Harrison’s case studies of Progressive policy on railroads and the labor issue (in Chapters Three and Four) illustrate the broad arguments that he presents with respect to progressivism? What are the implications of your answer for our understanding of progressive-style reform and the statist potential of American national politics?_____Stephen, Bobby_____

11. Compare and contrast the nature of the progressive insurgency in the Senate and the House of Representatives (Harrison, Chapters Six and Seven) and assess the significance of the insurgencies for each institution, for the nation’s policy agenda, and for the character of the American state that emerged from the period.__Brandon, Shane___

12. Based on Harrison, Chapters Five and Eight, to what extent were Southern Democrats dyed in the wool progressives, committed to a progressive national state apparatus, and to what extent were they focused on forging a role in national politics designed to enhance their ability to protect their regional power and their perception of regional interests? What were the consequences of their goals and actions for public policy, the direction of statist development in the nation, and for the longer-term development of American politics? Why? To what extent is your answer to this informed by, or in contrast to, Jane Dailey analysis in Chapter 15 of Zelizer, The American Congress.__Keith__

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Week Eleven: Post-Progressive ‘Normalcy,’ Depression, and the Rise of Committee Government: Cycle I: Swing Two

I. Required Reading

Bensel, Sectionalism, Chapters 4 (1910-1940); 5 (1940-1970)

Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System, Ch 7-12, 15

Huder, Dissertation, Chapters 3, 4, 5.

Schickler, Disjointed Pluralism, Ch 1, 3, 4

Brady, Critical Elections and Congressional Policymaking, Chapter 4

Elizer, The American Congress, Chs. 26, 27, 28, 29

Patterson, Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal: Chs 1, 9, 10

II. Recommended:

Dodd, “The Rise of the Modern State (1933-1964),” Encyclopedia of the U.S. Congress. Vol 2; p. 1023-1032 (under the History of Congress section)

Theda Skocpol, “The Origins of Social Politics in the United States,” in Dodd and Jillson, The Dynamics of American Politics, Ch 8.

Eileen McDonagh, “Forging a New Grammar of Equality and Difference: Progressive Era Suffrage and Reform.” In Stephen Skowronek and Matthew Glassman, Formative Acts: AmericanPolitics in the Making. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.

Kenneth Finegold and Theda Skocpol, State and Party in America’s New Deal, 1-5, 9

James MacGregor Burns, Congress on Trial, 1st edition: 1949: all

Email Assignment 1:

1. What does Bensel see as the dominant sectional structure of the Progressive Period, how does he see it adapting in the 1920s, what does he see as the dominant sectional structure of the post-New Deal era, and how does he see it adapting in the 1940s and 1950s. Reflecting on these patterns and shifts, what are the implications for partisan and political change across this era and, stepping back a bit further, for the application of Dodd’s cyclical theory to this period?__Justin___

2. What does Sundquist see as the dominant party system alignment that had emerged by the turn of the twentieth century, how was it challenged, modified and eventually replaced by the mid-1930, and then how was that new party system sustained and modified/moderated in mid-century? How do these developments support and/or challenge the application of Dodd’s cycle theory, particularly the patterns and politics of stages three and four, to this period?___Alex__

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3. How does understanding state-structure and state-capacity, as seen in Feingold and Skocpol, help us understand why policy agendas evolve as they do, particularly once one takes into account the existence and character of congressional parties and the importance of political learning (Ch 9) for policy evolution? How does this argument explain labor and agricultural policy outcomes in the New Deal? And then how do war-time shifts in demands on state capacity/the character of congressional parties help generate reversals in existing policy commitments and/or give ‘cover’ for new domestic commitments, with World War II (Ch 27 in Elizer) illustrating the former and the Civil War (Guelzo, Ch 7), illustrating the later __Bobby___

4. Describe the growing role of women’s activism in the late 19th and early 20th century, particularly as it relates to policy, as discussed in Chapter 22 of Zelizer and in the recommended essays by Skocpol and McDonagh. How and why were women successful in asserting roles in the public sphere and what are the implications of this process of assertion for our understanding of congressional politics?__ Rolda____

5. Summarize the arguments presented by Eric Schickler in Chapters Three and Four of Disjointed Pluralism and discuss their implications for how we explain institutional changes in the New Deal and Conservative-Coalition periods of mid-Twentieth Century. How well does Schickler’s analysis fit with the theoretical predictions for stages 3 and 4 in Dodd’s cyclical theory, and how might the theory be changed/improved in light of Schickler’s arguments? How might Schickler be changed and improved in light of Dodd’s theory?___Brandon

6. What role does David Brady see realignments playing in congressional policy-making, how does the New Deal illustrate this, and what mechanisms allow this influence to operate in somewhat similar ways across distinctly difference historical eras? __Shane__

7. Most Americans see President Franklin Roosevelt as the architect of the New Deal, during his first term, and certainly his election and eloquence were important to its creation and implementation. But Patrick Maney provides a very different and more complex perspective on the construction of the New Deal, and the relative roles that Congress and the President played in it (see Maney, Chapter 26 in Zelizer, The American Congress). Present Maney’s argument, detail the broad support he points to in making it, and discuss the implications his argument has for assessing the role that Congress plays in American politics – even or particularly in times of crisis. Is Congress just a bit-player in American national politics, so that the less serious scholarship devoted to Congress, the better? Or would the nation benefit from more serious scholarship and deeper understanding of the role of Congress? With what implications? __Keith___

8. Based on reading (preferably all of) historian James T. Patterson’s classic book, Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal, and also reading essays 27, 28 and 29 in the Zelizer volume, how and why did Congress and the nation move from New Deal activism to conservative retrenchment during the late 1930s into the forties and fifties, and with what significance and consequence – both in political terms and in terms of scholarly interpretation and understanding of Congress and change?___Stephen___

Email Assignment 2

1. What are the core arguments Huder makes in Chapter 3 of his dissertation, how could he improve the arguments, how compelling do you find his initial ‘quantitative’ data and

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analysis, and how might this be improved. What surprises you, or provides ‘value added’, from his discussion and analysis? How might he imprve the presentation of his analysis in this chapter? Alex, Justin

2. What are the core arguments Huder makes in Chapter 4 of his dissertation, how do these arguments broaden and enhance your understanding of the Party Era and its demise, as garnered from the existing literature. How does his ‘newspaper data’ aid the arguments, or fall short? How might Josh improve the presentation or credibility of this chapter? Bobby, Brandon, Rolda

3. What are the core arguments Huder makes in Chapter 5 of his dissertation, how do these arguments broaden and enhance your understanding of the Committee Era and its demise, as garnered from the existing literature? How does his ‘newspaper data’ aid the arguments, or fall short? How might Josh improve the presentation or credibility of this chapter? Stephen, Keith, Shane’Week Twelve/Thirteen…

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Week Twelve: NO CLASS/write paper assignments

I. In what ways did the Congress from the Post—Reconstruction period to the mid-20 th century build on and reinforce institutional developments of the first seventy years of national existence, to what extent did it disregard, reject or reverse previous developments, and in what ways did it contribute distinctive new features and conditions to congressional life and national politics? At mid 20th century, how would you characterize the Congress, as contrasted with previous eras, in terms of its advantages, challenges, and conundrums as a powerful contributor to national politics and policymaking? 7 to 8 pages

II. Discuss the ways in which your research design for this course is now coming into focus. What puzzle are you now considering, what theories or arguments are appealing to you, what kinds of analysis might you bring forward to address the puzzle and test the theories, and what kinds of evidence, methods, etc., might you point towards in examining the topic? Might there be some accessible empirical data you could gather, now or in the next six months or so, to gauge the plausibility of your emerging ideas in this area of interest? 2 to 3 pages.

Week Thirteen: Congress, the Cold War and Early Post-Industrialism : Cycle II: Stage 1

I. Required Reading

Bensel, Sectionalism and American Political Development, Chs 5, 6, 7, and pages 368-388 of Ch 8

Sundquist, Party Dynamics, Chs. 15-17

Mayhew, The Electoral Connection: if you have never read this it is mandatory reading

Fenno, Congressmen in Committees, Prologue, Chapter 1

Dodd, TAC, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11

Manley, “The Conservative Coalition in Congress,” CR I.

Dodd and Schott, Congress and the Administrative State, Chapter 4, 5 (3 recommended)

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Zelizer, On Capitol Hill, Chs 1-10

Sundquist, The Decline and Resurgence of Congress: all

Elizer, The American Congress, Chs 30-39

Schickler, Disjointed Pluralism, Ch 1, 5

Squire, American Legislative Development: Colonies, Territories and States: Chs 6, 7, 8

Brady and Bullock, “Coalition Politics in the House of Representatives,” in CR II.

II. Recommended Reading:

Dodd and Schott, Congress and the Administrative State, Chs 4,5,6,7

Wright, “The Caucus Reelection Requirement and the Transformation of House

Committee Chairs, 1959-94.” LSQ 25 (August 2000): 469-94.

Alford and Brady, “Personal and Partisan Advantage in U.S. Congressional

Elections, 1846-1986,” in CR IV.

Email Questions: PLEASE HAVE ALL ASSIGNMENTS TO ME BY 7AM TUESDAY MORNING AS I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT AT 11 AM THAT MORNING AND SO HAVE LIMITED TIME TO READ THEM BEFORE CLASEE

1. Detail Bensel’s perspective on the changing character and role of sectionalism during the postwar era, discuss how these changes shaped the reform era of the 1970s, and assess the sufficiency of his argument. How does Sundquist’s analysis in Dynamics of the Party System reinforced or challenge Bensel’s arguments?___Keith___

2. Detail Zelizer’s argument in On Capitol Hill (2004) about the character of the early post-World War II era, the factors propelling the rise of a Liberal Democratic Congress, and the dynamics leading to a ‘reformed Congress.’ To what extent and in what ways do Chapters 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37 and 39 in the Elizer edited volume reinforce and flesh out his argument in On Capitol Hill? With what implications___ Stephen___

3. How and why does Sundquist argue that Congress was experiencing a “Decline” prior to the reforms of the 1970s, as seen in chapters 1 through Seven, and how compelling do you find his argument, as informed by chapters Fourteen through Sixteen? __Justin____

4. How and why does Sundquist argue that Congress experienced a “Resurgence” with the reforms of the 1970s, as seen in chapters Eight through Thirteen, and how compelling do you find his argument, as informed by chapters Fourteen through Sixteen?___Bobby____

5. What did Dodd, writing in the mid to late 1970s/early 1980s, see as the explanation and significance of the reforms of the 1970s (Chs 2 and 3 in TAC), how did his understanding of the

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cyclical nature of Congress change and mature in the 1980s and early 90s (Chs 5) and what expectations did he hold for the reformed Democratic Congress in 1993 (Chapter 8), prior to the Republican Revolution. From Dodd’s perspective, was that Revolution a break with and rejection of the politics of the previous several decades, or a natural outgrowth of that politics? How so, and with what implications for studying Congress?___Alex_____

6. How does Schickler explain the reforms and their aftermath, writing 30 years later, and how does this mesh with, amplify, and move beyond previous perspectives?__Shane___

7. In what ways did state legislatures experience change and reform in the 19 th and 20th centuries, as seen in the readings from Squire, and how did these changes position state legislatures to influence national policymaking, and to be influenced by it? ___Brandon_____

8. In Chapter 7 of Thinking about Congress – one of Professor Dodd’s most controversial theoretical essays -- he lays out an alternative perspective on theory-building from the dominant rational choice perspective that is built around an objective and recurring substantive political reality. Present Dodd’s ‘transformational perspective’ on American politics, assess it, consider its implications for the empirical character of politics in the United States, and discuss whether and how it might speak to issues of social and political change dear to you own heart. In doing so you might consult Dodd’s more extensive essay on the subject, “Political Learning and Political Change: Understanding Development Across Time,” in The Dynamics of American Politics, edited by Dodd and Jillson.___Rolda__

Week Fourteen: Congress, the Republican Revolution, and Stalemate: Cycle II: Stage 2

1. Required Reading:

Rohde, Parties and Leaders in the PostReform Congress, Chs. 1, 4, 6

Sundquist, Party System Dynamics, Chapter 18

Bensel, Sectonialism, Chapters 8, 9

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Cox and McCubbins, Legislative Leviathan, Chapters 4, 5, 6

Polsby, How Congress Evolves: all

Elizer, On Capitol Hill, Chs 11-13

Elizer, The American Congress, Ch 40

Dodd, TAC, Chapters 6, 9, 10, 11

Theriault, Party Polarization in Congress

Theriault, The Gingrich Senators, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 7, 10; remainder highly

recommended

Schickler, Disjointed Pluralism, Ch 1, Epilogue

Huder, Dissertation, Chs 6, 7, 8

Kathryn Pearson, “Congresswomen’s Pursuit of Power in a Partisan Environment,”

Chapter Three in Congress Reconsidered, Tenth Edition.

Squire, The Evolution of American Legislatures: Chapter 7, pages 301-316, and Chapter 8.

2. Recommended:

Rodney Hero and Robert Preuhs, Black/Latino Relations in U. S. National Politics

Berkman, The State Roots of National Policymaking

1st (Joint) Email Question: everyone must answer:

As seen in chapters 2-8 in Thinking about Congress, Professor Dodd argues that Congress changes in broadly cyclical ways. The cycles, while having some

common characteristics, are shaped and constrained by the historical social conditions and challenges of their time and by emerging ideational and regime conflicts about how best to address these challenges. These essays were published prior to the Republican Revolution.

In chapter 10 he integrates his previous arguments into a ‘multi-dimensional perspective on change’ and uses this perspective to explain the occurrence and assess the first decade of the Republican Revolution. What do you see as Dodd’s core arguments in his ‘multi-dimensional perspective’ on congressional change; what do you see as its strengths and weaknesses in explaining the Revolution and its aftermath; what do you see as its implications for the current period (twenty years following the Revolution); and what are the more general implications of this multidimensional

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perspective for the study of American legislative development within and/or across historical periods (with special reference to the period/s you are most interested in)?

NOTE: Chapter 10 in TAC is drawn from the 8th edition of Congress Reconsidered, which allows it to reflect on developments during Bush-43’s first term. The original version was published in the 7th edition and focuses in its concluding parts a bit more directly on the Revolution itself. The multiple dimension arguments are essentially the same in both versions but the concluding sections are different.

2 nd Email Assignment: Individual Question

a. Detail Rohde’s argument in Parties and Leaders, focusing particularly on what he means by conditional party government and how and why it appeared to emerge in the 1980s; discuss what CPD’s longer-term prospects looked like in the early in the early 1990s, from Rohde’s perspective, and whether he foresaw CPD as providing an opening for the Republican party in the House; and, finally, assess how compelling and sufficient you find Rohde’s arguments and analysis to be.__Alex___

b. To what extent and in what ways were changes in the sectional politics and the national party system providing an opening for the rise of the Republican Revolution, based on the arguments of Sundquist and Bensel?__Shane_

c. How does Polsby explain the shift from committee to party government in the Post World War II era, why did the Republican Revolution emerge as a product of this shift, from his perspective, and what do you see as Polsby’s major contributions and limits in explaining the politics of this era?___Stephen___

d. What do you see as the special contributions to our understanding of the past quarter century made by ); Zelizer, On Capitol Hill (Chs. 11-13); Zelizer, The American Congress (Ch 40); Schickler, Epilogue; and Huder, Chs 6, 7, 8? Taking these works together, along with any others at hand (leaving aside Dodd’s work), how would you best explain and assess the Republican Revolution and its aftermath?___Justin__

e. What is Theriault’s central puzzle in Party Polarization in Congress, what arguments does he develop to address this puzzle, and what kinds of evidence does he present in supporting this arguments? How compelling do you find Sean’s analysis and how might you build on or challenge it?___Brandon___

f. What is Theriault’s central puzzle in The Gingrich Senators, what arguments does he develop to address this puzzle, and what kinds of evidence does the present in supporting his arguments? How compelling do you find Sean’s analysis and how might you build on or challenge it?___Keith

g. Relying on Chapter 4, 5 and 6, but looking beyond them as time permits: What is Cox and McCubbin’s argument in behalf of the dominance of party government in Congress, how does this argument account for the apparent increase in party polarization and strong party government in the PostWar Era (as assumed by much of the extant literature), how compelling do you find the nature of the evidence and illustrations they use in supporting the argument, and how satisfying and sufficient do you find their overall theory? What is missing that might confound it or undermine its utility as a reliable perspective on Congress, institutional change,

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and legislative development? What lasting contributions does it make, sustaining its long-term influence?__Mermer______

h. Based on the essay by Kathryn Pearson in Congress Reconsidered, Tenth Edition, and on the book, Black/Latino Relations in U. S. National Politics, by Rodney Hero and Robert Preuhs, how are women and ethnic/racial minorities – specifically African Americans and Latinos – proceeding in the exercise of power and influence in Congress, and what broader implications might their contemporary experiences have for American Legislative Development, the politics of Madisonian Democracy, and the long-term direction of national policymaking?___Rolda___

Week Fifteen: Class Potluck at Professor Dodd’s Farm. Students will present their Research Project Papers.

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