Entries by Title

• 01.A: Greetings I'm Your Professor!
• 01.B: What the Course is About
• 01.C: How I Approach Political Science
• 01.D: My Teaching Philosophy and Method
• 01.E.: Course Rules
• 02.A: Lecture Outline
• 02.B: Class Announcements
• 02.C: Review
• 02.D(a): What is a "President?" (class discussion)
• 02.D(b): What is a "President?" (answers)
• 02.E: The Emergence of the Roman Republic
• 02.F: The Roman Consul
• 02.G: Conceptualizing Monarchical Power
• 02.H: An Introduction to Article II
• 03.A: Lecture Outline
• 03.B: Class Announcements
• 03.C: Review of Last Lecture
• 03.D: The History of Power Sharing in Governments
• 03.E: The Structure of Britain's Rule Over Her Colonies
• 03.F: Early Experiments in American Executive Design
• 03.G: Debating the Executive at the Constitutional Convention
• 03.H: "The Dog on the Chain" -- The Architectural Compromise in Executive Design
• 04.A: Lecture Outline: Washington and American Nationhood
• 04.B: Class Announcements
• 04.C: Your First Quiz!
• 04.D: Understanding the Professor's Slide Technique: How to Take Good Notes
• 04.E: Review of Previous Lecture
• 04.F: The Unresolved Questions Surrounding America's New Chief Executive
• 04.G: Why Study Washington and Historical Presidents?
• 04.H: An Introduction to Washington (the person)
• 04.I: The "Ohio Country:" France v. Great Britain
• 04.J: Washington's Early Journeys to Western Pennsylvania
• 04.K: Washington and the Braddock Campaign
• 04.L: Washington and the "Virginia Blues"
• 04.M: Washington and the Forbes Campaign
• 05.A: Lecture Outline: Washington Survives the War, Rejects the Throne and Becomes President
• 05.B: Class Announcements
• 05.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 05.D: The Pregame Show: How Could Part-Time Farmers Defeat the British Empire?
• 05.E: The First Quarter: Mistakes, Confrontation, Surprise and Retreat
• 05.F: The Second Quarter: Saratoga and the French
• 05.G: The Third Quarter: Cold Winters, Mutinies and Despair for the Revolutionary Cause
• 05.H: The Fourth Quarter: America's Accidental Victory Against Britain
• 05.I: The Newburg Conspiracy: Washington Rejects the American Throne
• 05.J: Washington's Presidency: Leading by Example
• 06.A: Jefferson: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (part I)
• 06.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 06.D: Building Nationhood: Washington and the National Tour
• 06.E: Washington and Race: Redemption and Virtue at Mount Vernon
• 06.F: History Versus Myth: An Introduction to Jefferson
• 06.G: Jefferson's Fixatious Views: Women, Crime, Race, Indians and More
• 06.H: Jefferson's Failures: Finance, Farming, Plagiarism & Protecting Virginia
• 07.A: Lecture Outline: Jefferson -- The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (Part II)
• 07.B: Class Announcements
• 07.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 07.D: Jefferson the Ideologue: A Virtuous Agrarian Slave Republic Forever?
• 07.E: Jefferson the Partisan: The Formation of Political Parties
• 07.F: Jefferson the President: Federal Power, Success & Failure
• 07.G: Summarizing Jefferson.
• 08.A: Lecture Outline: Andrew Jackson: The Person, The President & The Ideologue
• 08.B: Class Announcements
• 08.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 08.D: Andrew Jackson the Person: The Making of Old Hickery
• 08.E: Andrew Jackson the War Hero
• 08.F: Jackson Becomes President: America's Second Ascension of Agrarian Ideology
• 08.G: The Presidency of Andrew Jackson
• 09.A: Lecture Outline: A Transformed Presidency for a Transformed America: Progressives & Teddy Roosevelt
• 09.B: Class Announcements
• 09.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 09.D: Congress' Clerk? -- The Presidency in the Late 1800s
• 09.E: The Birth of American Liberalism: Progressivism Emerges in the 1900s
• 09.F: Theodore Roosevelt: The Enthused, Courageous & Ethnocentric Reformer
• 09.G: America's First Progressive: Theodore Roosevelt, the Bully Pulpit & the Square Deal
• 10.A: Lecture Outline: The Democrats Steal Progressivism While Republicans Immitate Nero
• 10.B: Class Announcements
• 10.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 10.D: Republicans Fumble Progressivism: Taft's Betrayal and the Bull Moose Party
• 10.E: Woodrow Wilson: The Accidental Progressive and "Southern Gentleman"
• 10.F: The Democrats Become Progressive: The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson
• 10.G: The Calm Before the Storm: Conservative Presidents and Laissez Faire
• 10.H: Capitalism Finally Breaks: The Great Depression
• 10.I: "A Christian and a Democrat:" An Introduction to Franklin Roosevelt
• 11.A: Lecture Outline: How Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal Forever Changed Both American Politics and the Presidency
• 11.B: Class Announcements
• 11.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 11.D: The New American Hegemony: FDR and the New Deal
• 11.E: FDR -- The Second, Third and Fourth Terms
• 11.F: Helping Britain: How FDR Cleverly Positioned America Toward Entering World War II
• 11.G: Concluding Thoughts About Franlkin Delano Roosevelt
• 11.H: How New-Deal Ideology Changed the Presidency
• 12.D: How New-Deal Ideology Changed the American Presidency
• 12.E: The President's Cabinet
• 12.F: The Executive Office of the President
• 12.G: The White House Staff.
• 13.A: John Kennedy and Presidential Decision Making
• 13.B: Class Announcements
• 13.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 13.D: John Fitzgerald Kennedy -- An Introduction.
• 13.E: Prelude to the Bay of Pigs: Communists and the Red Scare
• 13.F: The Bay of Pigs and Presidential Decision Making
• 13.G: The Cuban Missile Crisis and Presidential Decision Making
• 14.A: Lecture Outline: Controlling Congress
• 14.B: Class Announcements
• 14.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 14.D: How Presidents Can Control Congress
• 14.E: Controlling Congress: Comparing Carter and Reagan
• 15.A: Lecture Outline: Presidents and Their Poll Numbers
• 15.B: Class Announcements
• 15.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 15.D: The Poll Numbers of Harry Truman
• 15.E: The Poll Numbers of Eisenhower
• 15.F: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
• 15.G: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of Lyndon Johnson
• 15.H: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of Richard Nixon
• 15.I: The Poll Numbers of Gerald Ford
• 15.J: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of Jimmy Carter
• 15.K: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of Ronald Reagan
• 15.L: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of George I
• 15.M: The Presideny and Poll Numbers of Bill Clinton
• 15.N: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of George II
• 16.A: Lecture Outline: The History and Philosophy of the Electoral College
• 16.B: Review of Previous Lecture
• 16.D: The Electoral College as the Hall of Fame -- the Framers Invent Another Accident
• 16.E: America's First Presidential Selection: Washington, Virtue and Non-Partisanship
• 16.F: Electing a President: The Partisan Model Arrives With Jefferson in 1800
• 17.A: Lecture Outline: Nominating and Electing a President
• 17.B: Your Next Quiz and Exam!
• 17.C: Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go
• 17.D: Review of Previous Lecture
• 17.E: The Mechanics of Electoral College, and What Happens if Elections Tie (again and again)
• 17.F: The Democratization of the Nomination Process: From King Caucus to Primaries
• 17.G: Is it Fair for New Hampshire to Have All of That Power?
• 18.A: Lecture Outline: Congress and its Failed Attempt to Keep Pace With the President
• 18.B: Class Announcements
• 18.D: Congress Tries to Beef Up in Modern World, Too?
• 18.E: Congress and the Budget -- An Appaling Tale of the Failure of an Institution
• 18.F: More Congressional Failure -- The Legislative Veto
• 18.G: Can Congress Ever Be the Leader Again?
• 19.A: Lecture Outline: A Study in American Political Drama -- The Life and Presidency of Richard Milhouse Nixon
• 19.B: Class Announcements
• 19.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 19.D: Psychology, Drama, Pragmatism and Ideology -- An Introduction to Richard Milhouse Nixon
• 19.E: Nixon's Domestic Presidency -- Where Did the Ideologue Go?
• 19.F: Nixon and Foreign Policy -- His Greatest Accomplishments?
• 19.G: Nixon and Watergate -- an American Political Drama
• 19.H: What Watergate Really Was -- Subversion of Democracy and Dissent by Powerholders
• 20.A: Lecture Outlilne: Presidents, the Rule of Law & the Power to Start War
• 20.B: Class Announcements
• 20.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 20.D: The President and the Rule of Law
• 20.E: Who Has The Power to Start War In the American System of Government?
• 21.A: Lecture Outline: Presidential Power During War -- Lincoln, Milligan & the Japanese Internment
• 21.B: Class Announcements
• 21.D: Presidents, War & Power -- An Introduction
• 21.E: Emergency Power -- Lincoln and the Civil War
• 21.F: Suspending Habeas Corpus -- The Milligan Principle
• 21.G: Fred Korematzu and The Japanese Internment