Argue for or against the following assertion: “Laissez-faire amounts to little more than a euphemism meaning ‘the status quo is good for me.’ Likewise, Americans who have sought change – meaning they bristled at the status quo – often saw the need for bigger and more active government to bring about that change. In each case, you could accurately determine any person’s views on matters of constitutional law at any given time (slaveholder, abolitionist, slave, freed slave, Jim Crow advocate, female suffragist, anti-suffragist, prohibitionist, blue-collar worker, etc.) by this same measure: their stake in the status quo. For this reason ‘Lincoln’s party’ gave way to Theodore Roosevelt’s, as the world of the Civil War became that of Lochner.
A similar flip-flop occurred with Democrats: how did the party of Dred Scott and proslavery (then pro-segregation) white supremacy eventually become the voice of the industrial working class, New Deal, and civil rights? Think about it: Roger Taney’s party became that of Franklin Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr.” You must incorporate evidence presented in class, readings, and films. You must cite times at a minimum: Kens, Lochner v. New York five (5) times “The Power and the People,” ep. 4 of New York Gunther, “The Court Threatens the New Deal” Kennedy, “What the New Deal Did” You must also cite at least once each of these Ellis, The Quartet sources: [Notes 29, 31, 34, 36] [Notes 35] [Notes 37] [Notes 40] [Notes 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 16] twice (2 times) twice (2 times) twice (2 times) 10 multiple Simon, Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney Novak, “The Myth of the ‘Weak’ American State” Kyvig, “Straight Ahead or Sharp Turn?” Abolition: Broken Promises “Failure Is Impossible,” ep. 2 of Not For Ourselves Alone “Our Plan,” ep. 1 of The Prize “A Nation of Drunkards,” ep. 1 of Prohibition The Crash of 1929 The March of the Bonus Army [Notes 18, 20, 23, 25, 27] [Notes 19] [Notes 39] [Notes 28] [Notes 30] [Notes 32] [Notes 33] [Notes 38] [Notes 41] You must also cite at least once 4 of these 7 sources: Kens Reading Guide, Part 1 [Chs. 1-4] Kens Reading Guide, Part 2 [Chs. 5-12] The Corporation (in-class film; Fourteenth Amendment) The Monkey Trial (in-class film; Social Darwinism) “The Dry Crusade,” ep. 1 of Prohibition (in-class film; Henry Ford) “Cosmopolis,” ep. 5 of New York (in-class film; Red Scare, Wall Street bombing) The Grapes of Wrath (in-class film: Dust Bowl) The Best Papers: will draw upon assigned maps, handouts, and class lectures and discussion, ideally by demonstrating connections between otherwise seemingly disparate evidence. Translation: make clear that you understand why all assigned evidence has been assigned…and how it all fits together. That’s good history – using all of the pieces of the puzzle.
