MS 113 Great Works - Times of Revolution I Fall 2006

Great Works - Times of Revolution

Matthew N. Vosmeier

Fall 2006

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Course description and required texts:

This course is part one of a two-course LADR sequence that links GW 113A in the Fall and Prof. Margot Tomsen's GW 114J in the Winter. This LADR allows students to examine "great works" (in such areas as political thought, literature, and the arts) in three different revolutionary periods: Democratic Revolution and Romanticism (1763-1848), Marxist Revolution and Modernism (1890-1949), and Anti-Colonial/ Human Rights Revolution and Post-Modernism (1950-2005). Together, the courses provide both historical and literary perspectives on "revolutionary" great works.

The Fall Term history course provides historical context and introduces students to significant ideas, themes, and events of these revolutionary periods. We will study changing meanings of revolution, the social and political contexts that gave rise to revolution, and the expression of revolutionary ideas in political writing, literature, and art. In the process, we will hone our ability to analyze texts critically, to identify characteristics that indicate "greatness," to construct sound historical arguments, and to develop effective writing and speaking.

The Writing and Speaking Center, Science Hall 120, provides resources for and assistance with writing, speaking, and studying.
The Duggan Library provides an online tutorial on library resources and research skills.

Required Texts:

1. Diana Hacker, Rules for Writers, 5th edition.
2. Thomas F. X. Noble, et al., Western Civilization: The Continuing Experiment (Dolphin Edition)
3. Online and Reserve Reading Assignments.

Study Guide for Primary Sources

The final course grade will be calculated from the following:

1. Two exams: A midterm (15%), and a final exam (20%). Exams will consist of identification terms and essays. Students are expected to take the exams on the days scheduled. In cases of necessity, requests for make-ups should be made before the day of the exam.

2. Three Papers: The first paper is a two to three-page essay (10%). The second is a four to five-page paper that involves analysis of primary sources (15%). The third is a seven to eight-page research paper (20%). Late Papers will be assessed a penalty.

3. Two Presentations (5% each). The first is a recitation of a short speech or poem. The second is a ten-minute presentation based on the student's research paper..

4. Class participation (10%). Class participation includes collegial involvement in class discussions, completion of brief assignments, and required office appointments. For students enrolled in a Great Works lab, participation includes regular meeting with Writing and Speaking Center tutors.

Topics and Assignments:

On Revolution

Aug. 31: Introduction to the Course

Sept. 1: Renaissance Politics
Niccolò Machiavelli, from The Prince (1513).

Sept. 4: The Meaning of Revolution
Hannah Arendt, On Revolution, 13-52 (1962), on reserve

Sept. 5: Like Glistering Phaeton: Shakespeare and Royal History
Richard II, Act III, sc. iii; Act V, sc. vi
Richard III, Act V, sc. iv and Act V, sc. v.

Sept. 6: The Ancien Regime
Noble, 508-515
Jacques Bossuet, Politics Derived From Holy Writ (1678).

Sept. 8: Writing Workshop; Short Essay due
Hacker, chs. 1-4

From the English Civil War to the Glorious Revolution

Sept. 11: Connecting Revolutions in the Seventeenth Century: Science, Politics, and Society.
Noble, 517-522, 546-547, 549-551, 557-558, 562-568
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, (1651).

Sept. 12: The Glorious Revolution, 1688; Liberalism
John Locke, Second Treatise on Government (1690).

Sept. 13: Review

Sept. 15: Writing Workshop
Hacker, chs. 47, 8-13

The Enlightenment

Sept. 18: The Enlightenment
Noble, 570-579
John Locke, "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (1690)
Alexander Pope, "Essay on Man" (1733-1734)

Sept. 19: The Enlightenment
Voltaire, Candide (1759).
Voltaire, The Philosophical Dictionary (1764)

Sept. 20: Writing as a Historian; second paper assigned

Sept. 22: The Enlightenment
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762)

The American Revolution

Sept. 25: British North America in 1750
Gordon S. Wood, from The Radicalism of the American Revolution, on reserve

Sept. 26: Consultation as needed

Sept. 27: American Independence
Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)
John Adams and Abigail Adams, selected correspondence (1776)
Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence (1776)

Sept. 29: Recitation

Oct. 2: Recitation

Oct. 3: Recitation

Oct. 4: The Federal Convention of 1787
Susan Dunn, Sister Revolutions, 55-58, on reserve
James Madison, Federalist No. 10 (1788)
The Bill of Rights

Oct. 6: Writing Workshop; draft of second paper due
Hacker, chs. 17, 19-24

Oct. 9: Revolutionary America Expressed in Art and Drama
Mercy Otis Warren, "The Motley Assembly" (1779)
Second paper due

Oct. 10: Writing Workshop
Hacker, chs. 25, 32-33, 36-37, 39

Oct. 11: Review for Midterm Exam

Oct. 13: Midterm Exam

The French Revolution

Oct. 16: The French Revolution, Origins to 1791
Noble, 606-619
Susan Dunn, Sister Revolutions, 151-159, on reserve
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789).
Edmund Burke, "Reflections on the Revolution in France" (1791).

Oct. 17: Bibliographic Instruction (Meet at Duggan Library)

Oct. 18: Consultation as needed
Research Question due

Oct. 20: No class

(Fall Break begins at the close of class day, Friday, Oct. 20. Class resumes Wednesday, Oct. 25)

Oct. 25: Bibliographic Instruction and Research Consultation

Oct. 27: Bibliographic Instruction and Research Consultation

Oct. 30: The French Revolution, 1791-1799
Noble, 619-624
Susan Dunn, Sister Revolutions, 111-121, on reserve Maximilien de Robespierre, "Speech of February 5, 1794 " (1794).

Oct. 31: Art and Music in a Revolutionary Age
Noble, 579-581, 670-673

Nov. 1: Writing and Research Workshop
Hacker, chs. 47-53

The Nineteenth Century

Nov. 3: Romanticism; An American Literary Revolution
Noble, 670-673
Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The American Scholar" (1837)

Nov. 6: American Individualism
Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience," (1849)

Nov. 7: Book Review Analysis

Nov. 8: American Civil War? Southern Revolution?
Jefferson Davis, Inaugural Address (1861)
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (1863) and Second Inaugural (1865)

Nov. 10: European Liberalism, Nationalism, and Revolution
Noble, 666-669, 673-677
Joseph Mazzini, An Essay on the Duties of Man (1844)

Nov. 13: Socialism and Revolutionary History
Noble, 677-681
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Communist Manifesto (1848).

Nov. 14: Consultation as needed

Nov. 15: Fin-de-siecle Europe; Research paper due

Nov. 17: Presentations

Nov. 20: Presentations

Nov. 21: Presentations

Thanksgiving Break begins at close of class day, Tuesday Nov. 21. Class resumes Monday, Nov. 27)

The Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union

Nov. 27: The Russian Revolution
Noble, 806-811
V.I. Lenin, "State and Revolution," (1918)

Nov. 28: The Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s
Noble, 835-839, 865-869
Socialist Poetry and Art
Discussion of Sergei Eisenstein, Battleship Potemkin

Revolution from the Mid-Twentieth Century to the Present

Nov. 29: Dissent Behind the Iron Curtain
Vaclac Havel, "The Power of the Powerless" (1979), on reserve

Dec. 1: Decolonization; Vietnam
Noble, 948-963
Susan Dunn, Sister Revolutions, 175-184
Ho Chi Minh, Program for Communists of Indochina (1930)
Vietnamese Declaration of Independence (1945)

Dec. 4: Late Twentieth-Century Social Movements
The Port Huron Statement (1962)
Black Panther Party Platform (1966)

Dec. 5: Late-Twentieth Century Social Movements; South Africa and Apartheid
Desmond Tutu, The Words of Desmond Tutu, excerpts, on reserve

Dec. 6: The Meaning of Revolution Today?
John Holloway, Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today, excerpts, on reserve

Dec. 8: Conclusion and Final Review