Q1. Given what he writes on page 4, how do you think Landy would define the word "politics"? Is this way of using the word different from what you're used to? Does it seem helpful? Why or why not?
Q2. How does Martin Luther King Jr. make use of political memory in his "I Have a Dream" speech?
Q3. Landy writes that there may be "tensions" between the principles of communitarianism, classical liberalism, and democratic egalitarianism (p. 28). In particular, what do you see as the most important tensions or contradictions between communitarianism and classical liberalism?
Q4. The Declaration of Independence says: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." What does this mean? (You may write about what this sentence meant to its writers, or what it could mean to us today, or both.)
Q5. The Declaration of Independence says that "the right of Representation in the Legislature" is "inestimable" (priceless) to the people. What did the authors of the Declaration mean by this? Why was this right so important to the people of the thirteen states at that time?
Q6. The U.S. Constitution begins with the words "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union..." How does the system of government detailed by the Constitution promote the goal of "union" or unity among Americans?
Q7. The Anti-Federalists were against the proposed Constitution of 1787. What were they for? What kind of political communities and government institutions did they want?
Q8. In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln speaks of a "new birth of freedom." In what ways did the Civil War and its political consequences-especially Constitutional Amendments 13, 14, and 15-bring about a refunding or "new birth" for the United States?
Q9. In Chapter 4, Landy uses the term "conservative revolution" to describe a number of important turning-points in American political development: the revolution of 1800, the promotion of mass democracy, ending slavery, the rise of Progressive democracy, and the New Deal. What does Landy mean by a "conservative revolution"? Why do the episodes on this list count as conservative revolutions?
Q10. How did the U.S. Constitution make possible the increased scale, population, and pace of life that the U.S. experienced in the 1800s and 1900s?