Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

• Identify philosophical trends and political exigencies affecting U.S. constitutional design.
• Compare key principles and arguments expressed by Federalists and Antifederalists during the constitutional ratification period.
• Critique early constitutional crises and questions of the American republic, including the paradox of slavery, the role of the judiciary, and value of a national bank.
• Evaluate the impact of Judeo-Christian democratic principles on American concepts of civil rights and liberties.
• Assess the influence of biblical principles of statesmanship (e.g., justice, prudence, wisdom and virtue) on the beliefs, arguments and actions of the U.S. Founding Fathers.

 

Reading & Study

• Textbook Readings  è Kelly et al.: chs. 11–15

• 1 Presentation  è https://learn.liberty.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-44798459-dt-content-rid-525669852_1/xid-525669852_1
• 1 Video  à http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggz_gd–UO0

1 presentation: “Perspectives on American Exceptionalism” (Purvis 2018) 1 video

• 2 Primary Documents
  • https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/lib/liberty/reader.action?docID=3327359&ppg=1
  • https://history.hanover.edu/texts/winthmod.html
• 1 Article

• https://www.heritage.org/american-founders/report/how-understand-slavery-and-the-american-founding

• Helpful Resources on American Exceptionalism

Posted on Monday, March 1, 2021 8:30:00 AM EST

Class,

Below are some helpful resources for this week’s exploration of American exceptionalism. Feel free to reference them in your papers and to explore alternative views, as well. Two of these articles were published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. The third of these resources, “Assessing the 1619 Project: A Law & Liberty Symposium” offers a critical assessment of the New York Times’ recent series that seeks to reframe U.S. constitutional history solely around the slavery issue. (Note that one of the articles in this series was written by our own Dr. Jason Ross).

https://isi.org/intercollegiate-review/the-american-idea-what-it-is-why-it-matters-and-why-it-is-in-jeopardy/

https://isi.org/intercollegiate-review/james-monroe-and-the-sources-of-american-exceptionalism/

Assessing the 1619 Project: A Law & Liberty Symposium

Best,

Dr. Purvis

• Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (Chapters 1-3)

Posted on Monday, March 1, 2021 8:30:00 AM EST

Good Morning, Friends!

This week’s study of American character requires an exploration of Tocqueville’s classic work, Democracy in America. You do not have to read this entire book! Chapters 1-3 should give you enough understanding of Tocqueville’s characterization of American exceptionalism in order to complete the week’s reflection paper. Also note that contemporary works by Seymour Martin Lipset (e.g., American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword) sort of take up where Tocqueville left off, so you may be interested in using one of Lipset’s works as your additional source.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

Dr. Purvis

 

Assignments

Reflection Paper 5

Submit Reflection Paper 5 by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Sunday.

Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the SafeAssign plagiarism tool.

 

Additional Materials

• The Library of Congress: Primary Documents in American History
• Recommended Reading  à “Lipset, Seymour M. 1996. American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.”

 

AssignmentsReflection Paper 5: American Exceptionalism (See assignment instructions)

In my preparation for this week, I have come across a “semi-academic” dialogue that I found intriguing and would like to share with you, as it provides an opportunity to present a concept vital to academic research, the concept of validity.

First, the dialogue: We are all familiar with the enduring popular debate over the lawful relationship between church and state in the United States. Over the years, I have heard and read countless student reflections on this topic, with perspectives both moderate and extreme, cogent and incoherent, typically based not on historical evidence of original intent but on normative personal reasoning. In academic circles, research related to religion and American politics takes a more moderate tone and analytical nature (as we would expect); however, it is still subject to hazards of bias or logical fallacy. This is particularly true when concepts/terms are poorly defined or inconsistently employed.

I recently encountered a newly released text related to the American Founders and their personal religious beliefs and practices. The author, a respected historian, examines primary source evidence of several prominent men of the Revolutionary era (e.g., Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton) and their religious beliefs as expressed in personal writings and known behaviors, finding notable variation that ranged from deism to devout Protestantism. As I read through many Amazon reviews of this text, I was amazed by the conclusions drawn by some reviewers. While some valued the research on its face (i.e., its presentation of observable data on the selected sample), others drew broad conclusions unsupported by the data. For example, some reviewers received the text as “proof” that American government does not reflect Judeo-Christian principles, that the United States isn’t a “Christian nation”, etc. As I read these reviews, some of which were no doubt submitted to meet a high school writing requirement, I was dismayed by the level of logical inconsistency.

The logical concept missing from many of these reviews is an essential in scientific research—the standard of validity. As defined by the Association for Qualitative Research, validity is “how well a scientific test or piece of research actually measures what it sets out to, or how well it reflects the reality it claims to represent” (OQR 2018). In the case above, the researcher set out to explore the personal beliefs of a specific set of U.S. founders, and his text presents his findings (no less, and hopefully no more). While the writings and publicly recorded actions of these American statesmen serve as a valid measure of their personal perspectives (when taken as a whole), the text’s reviewers made faulty assumptions about the concepts being measured and the implications of these findings. The fact is, there are infinite concepts that the data do not measure. Hence, while the researcher’s conservative conclusions appear to be valid, the wild conclusions of many of the text’s reviewers are invalid.

Does this concept of validity sound vaguely familiar? You may have heard of the use of a straw man fallacy…the practice of misrepresenting a concept or phenomenon in order to evaluate/refute it with observational data. While ideally the deliberate use of an invalid measure is uncommon in scientific research, we do encounter it from time to time. I do not believe such is the case with the above text on the American founding, but some of the reviewers of this text seem to be offering a straw man themselves. 🙂 Whether you call this type of reasoning/analysis a straw man fallacy or “smoke and mirrors”, there certainly is a need for greater logical clarity.

For the researcher and the consumer of research, determination of validity through careful reading and critical thinking is an essential skill. The first question you must ask is “what concept are we trying to measure?”, and the second is “what can we, in due diligence, use to measure this concept?” In some cases, the best measure of a concept or phenomenon is simply not available, in which event the researcher may need to employ a closely related measure to serve as an indicator. However, transparency of research methods and any limitations of the data as a measure of a particular concept should be acknowledged.

As you explore enduring principles and unsettled questions of the American founding this week and undertake a study of American exceptionalism, you will first need to define this concept and then examine scholarly works that address it. Please keep in mind the standard of validity as you sort through a variety of perspectives. Pay careful attention to the assignment instructions before undertaking your research and analysis.

I look forward to seeing your work!

Best,

Dr. Purvis

 

OQR. 2018. “Validity.” The Association for Qualitative Research. Accessed December 3, 2018. https://www.aqr.org.uk/glossary/validity.

Reflection Paper Instructions

 

The reflection papers required for this course are brief analyses of the required readings for the given week in combination with one or more scholarly sources selected by the student (for a total of 3–5 sources). Papers must succinctly address the given prompt and demonstrate a mastery of the module/week’s learning objectives. Composition must reflect original research and writing and must be scholarly in tone, avoiding first and second person perspective and narrative style. Any and all use of source content must be properly attributed: material must be either quoted and cited or thoroughly paraphrased and cited (see Online Student Honor Code). Each paper must be 5-7 pages in length, excluding title and Reference pages, and follow Turabian Author-Date (parenthetical citation) formatting guidelines. Do not include subheadings.

 

Assignment Specifics:

• 5-7 double-spaced pages of content, not counting title page or references
• 3-5 scholarly sources (your required readings plus at least 1 additional primary or secondary scholarly source).
• Any required reading or presentations from assigned modules

 

Please see the Reflection Paper grading rubric for additional grading criteria.

 

Reflection Paper 5: American Exceptionalism

 

Descriptions of the American political tradition often includes references to exceptionalism. Originating in Tocqueville’s description of the singularity of American government and society (Democracy in America 1835), the concept of exceptionalism has been treated in scholarly works as an observable qualitative phenomenon and, in turn, a rhetorical myth employed for political purposes. Drawing from this week’s readings as well as 1-2 additional scholarly sources of your own selection, (1) identify and explain 3-4 significant aspects of the American founding that support the concept of exceptionalism as a qualitative description, and (2) identify and briefly summarize contending treatments of exceptionalism. Be careful to distinguish between observable characteristics of American history and the rhetorical use of the term. Present your findings in a 5- to 7-page paper formatted according to Turabian Author-Date (parenthetical citation) style. Do not include subheadings. Your writing must be detailed, objective and scholarly in tone, reflecting your own analysis of source content. Page count does not include title and Reference pages.