School of
Arts and
Sciences
COURSE SYLLABUS
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Course Number POL/HI 333 |
Course
Title |
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Fall Semester X |
Spring
Semester |
Summer
Semester |
Year 2014-2015 |
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Name
of Instructor William Miller |
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Meeting
Day, Time, and Room Number Tuesday-Friday, 2:00pm, Butler
Room G132 |
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Final
Exam Day, Time, and Room Number Tuesday,
December 9th, 3:00pm, Butler Room G132 |
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Office
Hours, Location, Phone Tuesdays and Fridays, 1:00 to 2:00
and 3:30 to 4:00; Wednesday afternoon and other times by appointment. Ireton
G107, 703-284-1687. Always email ahead of time! |
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E-mail & Website wmiller@marymount.edu (Email is the
best way to reach me!) www.millerpolitics.info
(All assignments and course announcements will be posted here, not on
Blackboard) |
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UNIVERSITY
STATEMENTS
Academic Integrity
By accepting this
syllabus, you pledge to uphold the principles of Academic Integrity expressed by
the Marymount University Community. You agree to observe these principles
yourself and to defend them against abuse by others.
Special Needs and
Accommodations
Please advise the instructor
of any special problems or needs at the beginning of the semester. If you seek accommodation based on
disabilities, you should provide a Faculty Contact Sheet obtained through the
Office of Student Access Services.
Access
to Student Work
Copies of your work
in this course including copies of any submitted papers and your portfolios may
be kept on file for institutional research, assessment and accreditation
purposes. All work used for these purposes will be submitted anonymously.
Student
Copyright Authorization
For the benefit of
current and future students, work in this course may be used for educational
critique, demonstrations, samples, presentations, and verification. Outside of these uses, work shall not be
sold, copied, broadcast, or distributed for profit without student
consent.
University
Policy on Snow Closings
Snow closings are
generally announced on area radio stations. For bulletins concerning Marymount
snow or weather closings, call (703) 526-6888. Unless otherwise advised by radio
announcement or by official bulletins on the number listed above, students are
expected to report for class as near normal time as possible on days when
weather conditions are adverse. Decisions as to snow closing or delayed opening
are not generally made before
1. BROAD PURPOSE OF COURSE (Include the catalog description)
The purpose of this course is to study the evolution
of several constitutional issues from the inception of the Constitution in 1787
in Philadelphia to the present day. In particular, the course will focus on
several key Supreme Court decisions of the Marshall Court, their historical
settings, and their legal and historical consequences.
2. COURSE OBJECTIVES (For core courses, include
writing, critical reasoning, and information literacy as appropriate)
Upon successful completion of this course
students will be expected to:
A. to demonstrate familiarity in oral and
written work with the principal doctrines and themes reflected in the United
States Constitution;
B. to demonstrate familiarity with the
development of several constitutional issues or themes as they developed in
United States history;
C. to recognize the leading cases decided by
the Supreme Court that reflected these constitutional issues and crises, the
historical background that gave rise to these cases, the Court's decisions and
rationales in these cases, and the immediate and long term effects of those
decisions on American history;
D. to be familiar with the sufficient source
material to conduct research in the historical and legal issues
surrounding selected Supreme Court decisions that reflect the constitutional
issues studied in this course.
3. TEACHING METHOD (lecture, laboratory, audio-visual, clinical
experience, discussion, seminar, tutorial)
Lecture, seminar, and class
discussion.
4. GRADING POLICY (i.e., number of graded
assignments, weight given to each)
The final grade will be composed of the
following parts:
Class Presentations, Assignments, and Quizzes
30%
Mid-term Exam 25%
Final Exam 25%
Review-Essay 20%
The usual scale of 90-100%=A, 80-89%=B,
70-79%=C, 60-69%=D, and 59% and below=F will be used for all graded work.
The class presentations will be short (two to
three pages) written accounts of Supreme Court cases, their historical
background, the legal issues that they presented, the Court's resolution of
those issues, and the rationale for the resolution. The number of presentations
will depend on the size of the class; I expect a minimum of two presentations
from each student in the course of the semester.
The review essay will be an 8 to 12 page paper
that reviews an approved book from a list of books to be made available by the
instructor and also provides additional research material to explain how a
particular Supreme Court case (1) reflected a critical response to existing
historical, political, and legal factors and (2) how the decision affected
subsequent historical, political, economic, and legal conditions in the
country.
ATTENDANCE POLICY AND MAKE-UP
POLICIES
Attendance: Beginning with the second week of classes, students
are allowed a total of nine absences, excused and/or unexcused. Students who
miss ten or more classes for any reason whatever will receive an “F” in the
course.
Each unexcused absence
beyond three—up to the absolute limit of nine—will result in a lowering of the final
grade by one percentage point. To be excused, an absence must be explained to
and approved by me, preferably before it occurs. Excused absences are typically
those that are documented, such as medical-, legal-, or job-related excuses.
Note: Occasionally coming to class late—even real late once or twice—is not
considered an absence. Coming to class without hard copies of the text for the
day or leaving class after taking an announced quiz without the prior
permission of the instructor, however, is considered an absence.
Merely informing me ahead of time that you will be
absent from class does not mean I excuse the absence, though I appreciate your
courtesy. I will not excuse your absence because you are simply not feeling
well or because you choose to do something worthwhile other than come to class
even if you inform me ahead of time. If you are coughing and sneezing and
coming down with a cold or the flu, and you don't want to spread your virus to
your classmates, your fellow students and I salute you! Staying home may be the
right thing to do, but it is not an excused absence. You all get three
unexcused absences to use as you see fit, and it is your decision to use them
to stay home when you don't feel well or want to attend some other event or need
to prepare for another class instead of going to my class. Use them for good
reasons: that's what they are for.
The limit of nine total absences recognizes that
excessive excused absences may also
be a problem. You should discuss such situations with me well before the last
month of the semester. This is not a distance learning class. Any absence
prevents you from participating in the class, but if your job or an illness
keeps you away from class, it will significantly affect the class participation
component of your grade and may be a good reason to drop the course and take it
another time. All of us find ourselves in these situations from time to time
and have to deal with them appropriately. You also have an obligation to report
this to a University office (see the section titled “Attendance” in the
University Catalogue).
When in doubt about any of these policies, please come
and talk to me. They have been formulated with our substantial commuter and
working student population in mind and are intended to be fair to everyone. You
should also review the University's policies on absenteeism in the section
titled “Attendance” in the University Catalogue.
Make-up Exams: The same basic rules about excused absences apply to taking mid-terms. My policy of giving makeup exams on the same day as the final does NOT mean that you may choose to take the mid-term exam on that day rather than on the regularly scheduled day: it is not an alternative test date. To be eligible for a makeup, you must qualify for an excused absence, and this you should do a reasonable time before the day of the mid-term, if that is at all possible. You may be excused from taking a mid-term if you are certifiably sick or your job prevents you from attending class or you have a serious family or personal or employment emergency on the day of the test. If one of these applies and I am informed in a reasonable time before the exam and you have written documentation to support your request, you may take the exam on the same day as the final exam. If none of these reasons apply, you may not take the exam at another time, and you will get a zero for the exam. If you are late for the exam because of events outside of your control, let me know immediately or as soon as possible that day, and I will let you take the exam later that same day if possible.
5. CLASS SCHEDULE (List topics to be covered with approximate
dates of presentation) In
this initial offering of the course, the schedule of dates for the various
topics is tentative and subject to much revision. I shall try very hard not to
change the date given for the mid-term. Refer to the link entitled
“Constitutional History: John Marshall and American Nationalism (Fall 2014)”
for the particular assignments for each topic.
(8/26-29) Week I: Introduction to the course. Identification of
primary sources. Articles of Confederation and
purposes of the 1787 convention.
(9/2-5) Week II: The Constitutional Convention
(9/9-12) Week III: Topic One: The Early Supreme
Court.
(9/16-19) Week IV: Topic One.
(9/23-26) Week V: Topic Two: Establishing the
National Judicial Power.
Friday,
September 26, 2014, is the last day to withdraw from a class without academic
record.
(9/30-10/3) Week VI: Topic Two.
(10/7-10) Week VII: FRIDAY:MID-TERM
EXAM
(10/17) Week VIII: Topic Three: The Implied Powers of
Government.
(10/21-24) Week IX: Topic Three.
(10/28-31) Week X: Topic Four: Federal Power
under the Commerce Clause.
Friday,
October 31, 2014, is the last day to withdraw from a class with a grade of “W”.
(11/4-7) Week XI: Topic four
(11/11-14) Week XII: Topic Five: State Power under
the Commerce Clause.
(11/18-21) Week XIII: Topic Five
(11/25) Week XIV: Topic Six: The Contracts Clause.
(12/2-5) Week XV: Topic Six.
The Final Exam will be given only at the time scheduled
on the University Final Exam Schedule: Tuesday, December 9th, at
3:00pm.
6. REQUIRED TEXTS
Max Farrand. The
Records of the Federal Convention of 1787.
Online edition. Thomas website.
Max Farrand. The
Framing of the Constitution of the United States. Online edition. Internet Archive.
________. The Framing of the Constitution of the United States. Online edition. Open Library.
John Garraty. Quarrels that have Shaped
the Constitution. Rev. ed. New York: Perennial,
1989. ISBN 0-06-132084-6
Andrew C McLaughlin. A
Constitutional History of the United States.
Online edition.
Constitutional History: John
Marshall and American Nationalism (Fall 2014)
7. REQUIRED OR SUGGESTED READINGS OR
AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS
Benedict, Michael Lee. Sources
in American Constitutional History.
Currie, David P. The Constitution in the
Supreme Court: The First Hundred Years, 1789-1888.
Dorf, Michael C. Constitutional Law
Stories. 2d ed.
Farber, Daniel A., and
Suzanna Sherry. A History of the American Constitution.
St. Paul: West Publishing Company, 1990.
McDonald, Forrest. E Pluribus Unam: The Formation of the
American Republic, 1776-1790. 2d ed. Indianapolis: Liberty Press, 1979.
Peltason, J.W. and Sue Davis. Corwin and Peltason's
Understanding the Constitution. 18th ed.
Winton Solberg. The
Constitutional Convention and the Formation of the Union. 2d ed.
Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1990. ISBN 0-252-06124-1
University Press of Kansas series on
“Landmark Law Cases and American Society.” Currently (2010) about fifty books
on famous American cases. http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/printbyseries.html
Urofsky,
Melvin, and Paul Finkelman. A March of Liberty. 2d ed. Vol. 1. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-19-512635-8
Wood, Gordon S. The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787. New York, W.W.
Norton, 1969.
Property Rights Old and New. Michael Ariens's account and Robertson, Lindsay G. 2000. "'A Mere Feigned
Case': Rethinking the Fletcher v. Peck Conspiracy and Early Republican Legal
Culture." Utah Law Review 2000 (spring): 249–65. Read more: Fletcher
v. Peck - Land, Legislature, Law, Marshall, Court, and Contract
Web sites (additional relevant sites are
linked on my web page):
Elliot's
Debates.
(Website is the Library of Congress “Thomas” website.) Elliot, Jonathan.
Debates in the Several State Conventions
on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: as Recommended by the General
Convention at
Farrand's Records. (Website is the Library of Congress “Thomas” website.)
Farrand, Max. The
Records of the Federal Convention of 1787.
LexisNexis Academic
database in the Aladin system.
Avalon
Project at Yale University Law School
A
FEW FURTHER RULES
For
the benefit of the class and your classmates, the following rules regarding
electronic devices also apply to this course:
1.
Turn your cell phones off during the class.
If you are expecting an important call, put your phone on “Vibrate,” sit near
the door, and, when the call comes, answer it outside the classroom.
2.
It follows from the foregoing rule, but
it must be separately stated: no talking and no texting on cell phones during
class. If you do not follow this rule, I will publicly ask you to leave the
room for the remainder of the class and will do my best to have you removed
from the course for the rest of the semester.
3.
No open lap-top or other computers are
allowed in class without my prior permission. Devices such as tablets, Ipads, Kindles, Kobos, and Nooks that lie flat on the desk and on to which
the readings can be loaded are permitted if approved by me, but hard copies of
the readings are better. You can mark them up and take notes on them in class.
4. Be
sure to check your Marymount email address regularly! This is
Marymount’s and my principal way of contacting you with important information.
Perhaps you rely mostly on Yahoo, gmail, or some
other provider, but check your @marymount.edu mail daily to make sure you do
not miss school information.
These
rules are necessary to foster a suitable learning environment in the classroom
during class. There are enough distractions with lawnmowers, air conditioners,
and other outside forces to combat during lectures and discussions without
these controllable distractions within the room.