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Omphfullas Zamboni
12-20-2010, 12:18 AM
Hi,

I am listening to a lecture series called The Great Debate: Advocates and Opponents of the American Constitution (http://www.teach12.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=4878). Though it normally sells for around $100 it is being discounted for a brief time to $20.


Course Lecture Titles

12 Lectures
30 minutes / lecture

1. Significance and Historical Context
We introduce the major players in the debate over the Constitution's ratification. Most important are those who took part in the struggle in New York—where some of the most thoughtful Anti-Federalist writings were produced and later responded to with the influential Federalist papers organized, and in substantial part written, by Alexander Hamilton.

2. Classical Republicanism
The Anti-Federalists attack the proposed constitutional order, saying it departs too much from the traditionally revered Greco-Roman ideal of virtuous participatory republicanism. We clarify the Anti-Federalist objections and explore their own reservations about classical republicanism.

3. The Anti-Federalists' Republican Vision
The participatory and virtue-centered vision of the Anti-Federalists dictates a more decentralized arrangement than the more consolidated national government proposed by the Federalists. We introduce the Federalists' response, highlighting their focus on the demands of national security and foreign policy.

4. The Argument over National Security
Articulating a need for sound defense and foreign policy, The Federalist critiques the existing constitution, the Articles of Confederation, and then moves to a general critique of the inadequacy of confederacies. Anti-Federalists counter by suggesting that Federalists may be falling prey to visions of an empire.

5. The Deep Difficulties in Each Position
Anti-Federalists accuse Federalists of giving national security pre-eminence over republican freedom. Federalists reply by claiming that Anti-Federalists fail to face up to what union and national security truly require.

6. Debating the Meaning of "Federalism"
The Federalists' defense of "Federalism" reveals that the state governments are to be strictly subordinate to the central government—thereby intensifying the Anti-Federalist critique.

7. The Madisonian Republic
How do the Federalists propose to prevent despotism in the central government? Their answer, articulated by James Madison, rejects the classical republican ideal of a confederacy of small, fraternal democracies in favor of a vast, representative republic, animated by competition among mutually hostile "factions."

8. The Argument over Representation
Madison identifies majority faction as the overriding danger in republics and calls for a new conception of representative government removed from the populace—a call that echoes, although in a more aristocratic way, the emphasis upon virtue found in the classical tradition.

9. Disputing Separation of Powers, Part 1
For Anti-Federalists, the proposed House of Representatives is too weak and will be overpowered by more powerful branches of government. For Federalists, the House is the most dangerous part of government and therefore most in need of being checked and balanced.

10. Disputing Separation of Powers, Part 2
Anti-Federalists argue that a federal-level "separation of powers" would be merely artificial, with no reliable basis in social reality; they argue instead for state governments to check the federal government. They also argue for a small executive council instead of the proposed presidency.

11. The Supreme Court and Judicial Review
Hamilton's expectation of a virtuous national leadership is most evident in his defense of the unelected, life-tenured Supreme Court and its historically unprecedented power of "judicial review." The Anti-Federalists predict abuse of this power and insist on a court that includes elected officials.

12. The Bill of Rights
The addition, by the first Congress, of the 10 amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights, is the one great victory of the Anti-Federalists—but it is won at the ironic cost of giving much more power to a Supreme Court that they fear.

I thought some of you would be interested in the lecture series in light of TNforPaul45's thread (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?273374-Salon.com-quot-How-the-South-rationalizes-Secession) about the uninformed Salon.com article.

Regards,
Omphfullas Zamboni

BuddyRey
12-20-2010, 07:35 PM
Awesome! Thanks for the heads-up!

Omphfullas Zamboni
12-22-2010, 02:09 AM
Awesome! Thanks for the heads-up!

You're welcome, good sir.