American Political Thought

Michael S. Cummings is professor of political science and President’s Teaching Scholar at the University of Colorado Denver. A graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton, he received his Ph.D. in political science from Stanford. He has published many articles and two co-edited books on communal and utopian studies, as well as a 1999 co-edited book, The Transformation of U.S. Unions: Voices, Visions, and Strategies from the Grassroots. His 2001 book, Beyond Political Correctness: Social Transformation in the United States, was named the “Outstanding Book in Transformational and Ecological Politics” by the American Political Science Association’s organized section in Ecological and Transformational Politics. Since the 1980s, he has been a non-partisan public advocate for youth rights and empowerment.

"Overall, the book is excellent. It is well organized and quite inclusive."

• Introduction: American Political Thought*Part I: A Revolutionary Experiment: 1620–1800*1. John WinthropThe Little Speech (1639)2. Roger WilliamsThe Bloody Tenet of Persecution for Cause of Conscience (1644)The Bloody Tenet of Persecution, Made Yet More Bloody (1652)3. John Wise“Democracy Is Founded in Scripture” (1717)4. Jonathan Mayhew*“A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers” (1750)*5. Benjamin Franklin0bservations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, the Peopling of Countries, etc. (1751)Excerpts from the Great Law of Peace of the Iroquois Nations (n.d.)Short Hints towards a Scheme for Uniting the Northern Colonies (1754)The Albany Plan of Union (1754)6. Samuel Adams“The Rights of the Colonists” (1772)7. Benjamin Rush“An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America, Upon Slave-Keeping” (1773)“Paradise of Negro Slaves—A Dream” (1798)8. Thomas PaineCommon Sense (1776)The American Crisis I (1777)Rights of Man—Part One (1791)9. The Declaration of IndependenceThe Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America (1776)10. The Articles of ConfederationArticles of Confederation (ratified 1781)11. John Adams“Thoughts on Government” (1776)“A Defense of the Constitutions of the United States” (1787)Correspondence with Abigail Adams (1776)12. The ConstitutionThe Constitution of the United States of America (1787)13. In Favor of Adoption of the ConstitutionJames Madison’s Federalist Essays (1787–1788)Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Essays (1787–1788)14. Against Adoption of the ConstitutionDissent of the Pennsylvania Minority (1787)Letter from Samuel Adams to Richard Henry Lee (1787)Richard Henry Lee’s Letters from the Federal Farmer (1787)15. Alexander Hamilton’s ProgramReport on Credit (1790)Opinion on the Constitutionality of the Bank (1791)Report on Manufactures (1791)16. Thomas Jefferson: Principles and ProgramNotes on Virginia (1785)Madison’s Report to the Virginia General Assembly (1800)First Inaugural Address (1801)Selected Letters (1787–1823)17. George WashingtonFarewell Address (1796)Part II: Development and Democracy: 1800–1865*18. John MarshallMarbury v. Madison (1803)McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)19. Frances Wright*“On Existing Evils, and Their Remedy” (1829)*20. William Lloyd GarrisonDeclaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Society (1833)21. Angelina Grimke Weld*Speech at Pennsylvania Hall (1838)*22. Orestes Brownson“The Laboring Classes” (1840)23. Jane McManus Storm Cazneau (“Cora Montgomery”)Annexation (1845)24. Henry David Thoreau“Civil Disobedience” (1848)25. Elizabeth Cady Stanton“Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” (1848)Address to the New York State Legislature (1860)26. Frederick Douglass*Speech at the Anti-Slavery Association (1848)“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” (1852)*“The Various Phases of Anti-Slavery” (1855)27. John C. CalhounA Disquisition on Government (1848)28. Sojourner Truth*“Ain’t I a Woman” and other speeches (1851-1881)*29. George FitzhughCannibals All! (1857)30. Abraham LincolnLyceum Address (1838)*Speech on the Dred Scott Decision (1857)Letter to Boston Republicans (1859)Cooper Union Address (1860)First Inaugural Address (1861)Second Annual Message to Congress (1862)The Gettysburg Address (1863)The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)*Second Inaugural Address (1865)Part III: Reconstruction and Industrialization: 1865–1900*31. The Civil War Constitutional Amendments and the Failure of the “Sixteenth” AmendmentThe Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments (1865–1870)Excerpts from The Revolution (1869)Debates at Meetings of the Equal Rights Association (1869)Susan B. Anthony’s Statement at the Close of Her Trial (1873)Susan B. Anthony’s Petition to Congress for Remission of Her Fine (1874)32. Henry George*Progress and Poverty (1879)*33. William Graham SumnerWhat Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1884)“The Conquest of the United States by Spain” (1899)34. Edward Bellamy*Looking Backward (1888)*35. Andrew Carnegie“Wealth” (1889)36. PopulismThe Ocala Demands (1890)The Populist Party Platform (1892)37. Robert IngersollA Christmas Sermon (1891)Superstition (1887)Has Free Thought a Constructive Side? (1890)Centennial Oration (1876)God in the Constitution (1890)The Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child (1877)On Lent (1881)Why I Am an Agnostic (1896)On Science and Reason (n.d.)On Happiness as the Only Good (1882)38. Henry Demarest Lloyd“Revolution: The Evolution of Socialism” (1894)39. Ambrose BierceThe Devil’s Dictionary (Selections) (1911)40. Mark TwainThe War Prayer (1923 [1904–1905])41. Black Elk/John G. NeihardtBlack Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux (1932)Part IV: The Rise of the Positive State: 1900–1945*42. W.E.B. Du BoisThe Souls of Black Folk (1903)43. Emma Goldman“Anarchism: What It Really Stands For” (1907)“The Tragedy of Woman’s Emancipation” (1910)44. Eugene V. Debs“Revolutionary Unionism” (1905)Speech to the Jury (1918)45. Herbert CrolyThe Promise of American Life (1909)46. Theodore Roosevelt*New Nationalism Speech (1910)*47. ProgressivismThe Progressive Party Platform (1912)Article V of the Colorado State Constitution, as Amended (1910)The Progressive Era Constitutional Amendments, Sixteen through Twenty-One (1913–1933)48. Frederick W. TaylorThe Nature of Scientific Management (1912)49. Woodrow Wilson“The Meaning of Democracy” (1912)50. Randolph Bourne*Youth and Life (1913)*51. John DeweyThe Public and Its Problems (1927)52. Zora Hurston*“What It Feels Like to Be Colored Me” (1928)*53. Franklin D. RooseveltThe Commonwealth Club Address (1932)Campaign Address (1936)An Economic Bill of Rights (1944)54. Henry A. Wallace*Radio Address “The Cotton Plow-Up” (1933)*55. Langston Hughes“A New Song” (1938)“Let America Be America Again” (1938)“Harlem, or Dream Deferred” (1951)Part V: Liberalism in the Post-War Period: 1945–1980*56. Walter Lippman*The Public Philosophy (1955)*57. Robert Dahl*A Preface to Democratic Theory (1956)*58. Dwight D. Eisenhower*Farewell Address (1961)*59. John F. KennedyInaugural Address (1961)60. Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman*Capitalism and Freedom (1962)*61. Ayn Rand*The Virtue of Selfishness (1962)*62. Martin Luther King Jr.Letter from the Birmingham City Jail (1963)63. Young Americans for Freedom*Sharon Statement (1960)*64. Students for a Democratic SocietyThe Port Huron Statement (1962)65. Lyndon B. Johnson*Great Society Speech (1964)*66. Ronald Reagan*A Time for Choosing (1964)*67. Aldo LeopoldA Sand County Almanac (1966 [1949])68. Betty FriedanOur Revolution Is Unique (1968)69. La Alianza Federal de MercedesReies Tijerina, the Alianza, and the Land-Grant Struggles in the Southwest (1972)70. John Rawls*Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical (1985 [1971])*71. Christopher LaschThe Culture of Narcissism (1979)Women and the Common Life (1997)72. Theodore Lowi*The End of Liberalism: The Second Republic of the United States (1979)*73. Summary of an Era: Amendments Ratified and Not RatifiedArticles of Amendment RatifiedArticles of Amendment Not RatifiedPart VI: The Triumph of Neoconservatism: 1980–2006*74. Irving Kristol*Two Cheers for Capitalism (1978 [1970]):“When Virtue Loses All Its Loveliness”*75. Ronald ReaganFirst Inaugural Address (1981)State of the Union Address (1984)76. George Will*Statecraft as Soulcraft (1983)*77. National Conference of Catholic BishopsEconomic Justice for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy (1986)78. Glenn C. Loury“Achieving the ‘Dream’: A Challenge to Liberals and Conservatives in the Spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.” (1990)79. Paul Wolfowitz“U.S. Strategy Plan Calls for Insuring No Rivals Develop” (1992) [New York Times article by Patrick Tyler summarizing the Wolfowitz Doctrine]80. Patrick J. BuchananWhere the Right Went Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Hijacked the Bush Presidency (2004)81. Winona LaDukeAll Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life (1999)82. Rudolfo A. AnayaElegy on the Death of César Chávez (2000)83. George W. BushThe National Security Strategy of the United States of America (2006)Part VII: Voices of the Twenty-First Century*84. bell hooks*Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics (2000)*85. Americans with Disabilities Act (1990, 2009)*Excerpts from, commentary on, and extensions of the A.D.A. by Catherine Kudlick (2003), Lloyd Burton (2013), and Claudia Folska (2013)*86. International Institute for Restorative Practices*From Restorative Justice to Restorative Practices: Expanding the Paradigm (2004)*Restorative Justice Practices in Every Classroom (2013)*87. Andrew J. Bacevich*“Appetite for Destruction: Never Have So Many Shoppers Owed So Much…” (2008)88. Presidential Candidate Barack Obama*Speech on Race: A More Perfect Union (2008)*89. Rand Paul (with Jack Hunter)*The Tea Party Goes to Washington (2011)*90. Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger*Me to We (2011)*91. U.S. Catholic Nuns vs. the Vatican*Pat Farrell, OSF: “Navigating the Shifts,” presidential address to the 2012 Leadership Conference of Women Religious” (2012) and Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious” (2012)*92. Bill Drayton*Interview with Forbes Magazine: “Ashoka Chairman Bill Drayton on the Power of Social Entrepreneurship” (2012)*93. Glenn Morris*“U.S. Indigenous Political Thought for the Twenty-First Century” (2013)*94. President Barack Obama, Al Gore, and the Heritage Foundation on Climate Change*Obama Speech on Climate Change; Gore response; Heritage response (2013)*95. National Coalition for LGBT Health*“Guiding Principles for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Inclusion in Health Care” (2013)*96. Richard Blanco*Inaugural Poem “One Today” (2013)*