Reference no: EM13986978

Length: 5-7 double-spacedpages (Times New Roman, 1 inch margins)

I have tried to argue in this first part of the class that American freedom is a project and that its current crisislies in the disjoining of the movements that created it. I now want you to explain and evaluate my argument in the following steps.
Introduction(1 paragraph-1/2 page). Offer me a clear introduction of the theme, in which you explain what it is to call American freedom a project (rather than, say, a single idea or fact that we just enjoy) and then outline your paper. The introduction should contain a thesis statement-your shorthand answer to the question, ‘what is American freedom'?

Section 1: Theories and Movements of Freedom.(1-2+ pages)Next, discuss two basic theories of freedom (positive and negative) and then the three movements which contribute the main ideas to the American understanding of freedom (republicanism, Christianity and modern political liberalism, though you may also want to mention socialism). What are the two basic theories, and how do they help us to see the tensions (or complementarity) between the movements? Which do you prefer, and why? Next, what are the basic features of these movements? What are their internal tensions? What are the tensions between them? State briefly how you see these movements struggling to stay together right now.

Section 2: Historical/Social Pressures.(1-2+ pages).There is, of course, more to history and social change than ideas. There are also what we have called conditions or pressures that are (relatively) constant. In this section, I would like you first to explain the basic human needs for energy, meaning and order. Second, discuss the ways we meet those needs, or what I have called different kinds of ‘capital' (economic, political, social and symbolic). Third, describe the four kinds of freedom(economic, political, personal, religious) that Americans have established for meeting those needs and keeping those forms of capital as accessible as possible (pp.xvi-xviii). Fourth, describe brieflysome ways you see these freedoms changing. Which need and/or form of freedom concerns you the most and why?

Part III: Interpreting American Freedom. (2-4 pages) All of the questions above are designed to help you interpret the present crisis of American freedom. By distinguishing two theories of freedom, we can see some basic tensions between the original movements that contributed to our sense of freedom. By distinguishing different pressures/needs, forms of capital, and how they show up in American freedoms (religious, political, etc.), we can better track the forces that drive those ideas together and then apart. In this section, I want you to focus on what seems to me the most important change of conditions: wage labor replacing the ownership of productive property as the basis of freedom. This core economic change allows liberalism to pull away from republicanism and forces it to undergo many internal changes, not all of which may be coherent. Try to get at these changes in the following steps:

1) First, discuss how land, slavery and the market revolution helped give shape to the basic understanding of American freedom before the Civil War (Foner, Ch. 1-5).

o Why does the liberalidea of a politics organized around the universal rights of humanity take root here for the first time (land!) (pp. 8-21ff)? What sorts of obstacles (limited property) and contradictions (slavery, pp. 32-37) does that universal idea face from the start?

o Next, describe briefly how the idea of wage labor changes in the antebellum period. Why is it initially considered a virtual form of slavery? And how does the contrast with slavery, the market revolution, and the pressure of the Civil War change that idea?

o How do these changes allow the liberal ideal of a universal right to political participation to begin pulling away from the republican ideal of a politics limited by property and virtue?

2) From the end of the Civil War to the World Warera(1865-1945),liberalism undergoes a second decisive change, this time internal. So, second, discuss how industrialization and "liberty of contract" eventually force liberalism to shift away from ‘negative liberty' (laissez-faire capitalism) in the economic sphere (Foner Ch. 6-10).

o Describe how industrialization created massive inequality in ‘the Gilded Age' (p.117ff), the conditions for workers, and the ways they responded (unions).

o As a result, how did the idea of a "standard of living" become part of the American definition of freedom (146ff)? How does being a consumer replace the idea of being a producer in this new definition (147ff)? What effect does this have on public participation?

o Describe how liberalism comes to see an expansive (rather than limited) government as the key to securing the "social conditions" of freedom (152-158). How does the New Deal's definition of large government differ from that of the earlier Progressive Era?

o For decades the U.S. had an active, moderately influential Socialist movement. In what ways did liberalism (as we now know it) learn from socialism? In what ways is it inappropriate to call contemporary liberalism ‘socialist'?

o Many of these changes can be summed up in the idea of ‘positive (vs. negative) rights' (note: this is NOT the same as +/- freedom). Look at Rockwell's Four Freedoms(p.226). Is it meaningful to say, as FDR suggested, that we have a right to freedom from want and fear, that is, to a certain standard of living? How is this different from a right to freedom of speech or religion?

3) Liberalism initially demanded the same (negative) liberties for all persons (in theory!) based on the idea that all persons share a common nature, rational and moral. A third crucial change occurs when liberalism turns towards multiculturalism, the belief that reasoning and values are relative to one's culture and therefore multiple rather than universal.

o First, describe how the 1960s represents a renewed awareness of the contradictions that haunt the early American republic. How does the denial of rights to slaves, women and workers without property finally reappear in the culture of protest?

o Affluent white students formed another central wing of protest. What drove the "New Left" to react against the war in Vietnam, but also against the whole structure of American life-the institutions of government, business, religion and family as they then existed (287ff)?

o How do you see this reaction in the new language of "civil rights" (299ff)?

o How do conservatives react to this liberal-left criticism of American government, traditional family structures and morals, and institutional religion (Ch. 13)?

Part IV: Evaluating American Freedom. (1-2 pp.) The last step is to evaluate American freedom. Begin by telling me briefly what you have learned. What surprised you? How have you changed your mind? Then explain your broad political affiliations.

Are you more liberal or conservative, and why?If you are an American citizen (or intend to be), which areas of freedom (political, economic, personal, religious) seem most in danger to you, and why? Given what Foner and I have said about the nature of American freedom (its sources and history), what do you think is the best way forward? If you are not an American citizen, describe the key differences between the way your country thinks about freedom and the ways we think about it here in America. What lesson in freedom does America have for your country, and what lessons does your country have for us?
Conclusion. Wrap up the essay by restating your main ideas and adding a few final thoughts.