Faculty

GOVT-2305 United States Government

Theodore Hadzi-Antich

Credit Spring 2026

Section(s)

GOVT-2305-700 (16950)
LEC MW 12:00pm - 1:20pm HLC HLC1 2103

Course Requirements

Please see Blackboad for full syllabus

Course Description:

People frequently argue about the intentions of the framers, but what kind of government did they really intend to create with The United States Constitution, and is it still working for us in 2025? In this honors course, we will cover the information in the basic survey course while trying to gain a special understanding of the thinking behind the constitution by reading the authors who inspired its framers. After this course, students will not only be able to understand how the American political system works through a study of the constitutional basis, institutions, politics, and processes of the United States government, but they will also become acquainted with the political theory that underlies American government. Students will survey the works of the great political philosophers, historians, jurists, and essayists who will help them see clearly the core principles of American constitutional government.

Honors Requirements:

This is an honors class. Therefore, this class is more demanding than a traditional classroom course, but also more rewarding. You should expect to devote a significant amount of time to this course. Students will be required to read source texts in American government and political thought, write critical essays and participate in seminar discussions. This is a discussion-based class. Unlike a lecture-based class where students listen to the professor talk, take notes, and have an opportunity to ask questions, this discussion-based class centers on the contributions you have to the conversation, and requires you to attend consistently and well prepared.

Readings

Reading may include the following :

Classical Context

Apology, Plato (entire)

Politics, Books III and IV. Aristotle

Antigone, Sophocles (entire)

Lives of Lycurgus and Solon, Plutarch (entire)

Enlightenment Political Thought

Leviathan, Introduction and Chapters 13 and 14. Thomas Hobbes

Second Treatise, Chapters 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12 and 18. John Locke

Spirit of the Laws, Books III, IV, XI, Chapter 2, XX.1-2. Montesquieu

Vindication of The Rights of Woman, Chapters 1 and 2. Mary Wollstonecraft

The Founding and Ratification of The Constitution

The Declaration of Independence and We Hold These Truths quotes and discussion prompts

The Farmer Refuted, Alexander Hamilton

Common Sense, Thomas Paine

Selected correspondence of Abigail and John Adams

Selected Poems of Philis Wheatley

Articles of Confederation

The US Constitution

The Federalist Papers 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 51, 55, 70, 78 and 84. Publius

Anti-Federalist Essays, Mercy Otis Warren, Brutus I and Centinel 1

“Letter to Roger Weightman” (1826), Thomas Jefferson,

Observations on A New Nation, A New World and New Challenges

Democracy in America, selections (1830 and 1835). Alexis de Tocqueville

Religion and The Pure Principles of Morality and On Education (1831), Maria W. Stewart

On Liberty, Chapter 1 and 2 (1859). J.S. Mill

The Privilege of the Grave, (1905). Mark Twain

Letter to John Holmes (1820), Thomas Jefferson

The Promise of Liberty

Lincoln-Douglas, Debate 7

Lincoln’s 1st and 2nd Inaugural Address

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Chapters 6, 7, 10 and the appendix, and What to The Slave is The 4th of July?, Frederick Douglass

Seneca Falls Declaration, Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Ain’t I A Woman, and selections from The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, Sojourner Truth

The Ethics of The Negro Question (1903) and Educational Programs (1910), Anna Julia Cooper

The Souls of Black Folk, selections. W.E.B. Du Bois

Letter from a Birmingham Jail and Loving Your Enemies.. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Course Subjects

1. Explain the origin and development of constitutional democracy in the United States.

2. Demonstrate knowledge of the federal system.

3. Describe separation of powers and checks and balances in both theory and practice.

4. Demonstrate knowledge of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal

government.

5. Evaluate the role of public opinion, interest groups, and political parties in the political system.

6. Analyze the election process.

7. Describe the rights and responsibilities of citizens

8. Analyze issues and policies in U.S. politics.

Student Learning Outcomes/Learning Objectives

Course Objectives:

Upon completing this course, students will be able to:

1. Critically evaluate source texts in Classical, Modern, American and Contemporary political thought.

2. Develop and support arguments based upon textual evidence.

3. Work with a group to craft positions on modern policy issues informed by the wisdom of the past.

4. Understand the philosophical foundations of American Government as well as the constitutional framework thereof.

5. Engage others in reasoned debate about political issues.

6. Perform original research and construct well-crafted, written and oral arguments.

7. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of our political system vis-a-vis classical political thought and contemporary criticism.

8. Evaluate and understand the debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalist over the meaning and ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

9. Discuss the ways civil liberties and civil rights protect both the individual and categories of people and evaluate the modem philosophical arguments from which the very concept of inalienable, individual rights originates.

10. Describe the structure, functions, and operations of the U.S. Congress, and understand the arguments of the federalists and the anti-federalists.

11. Describe the structure, functions, and operations of the U.S. judiciary, and understand how to read and interpret key Supreme Court decisions and appreciate their significance in developing our government and society.

12. Discuss the powers and functions of the U.S. president.

13. Discuss the role of political parties and elections in politics and government, and understand both the dangers and benefits of partisanship, as seen from a classical and modern perspective.

14. Discuss the benefits and problems associated with U.S. federalism and understand how the practice of slavery relates to classical and modern political systems.

Topical Focus

This honors course in US Government will cover the basic information in the introductory survey course, but will place great emphasis on the political and philosophical thought on which our nation’s government, constitution, institutions, processes, and policies are based. We will complement readings in the textbook with source texts, as we seek to understand what kind of thinking motivated the framers to create a government unlike any the world has seen? For instance, we will seek not only to understand that our nation is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy and the self-guided pursuit of happiness, but how the founders came to those ideas and what they mean. Further, we will try to gain an understanding of and appreciation for the unique nature of American Government by setting it in the context of the classical political thought which preceded it, the modern political thought which spawned it and the contemporary political thought which challenges it.