In the wake of a precedent-setting presidential election and in the midst of a deepening economic recession, Dolbeare and Cummings challenge students to examine and understand their own political beliefs in historical context. Just as the 2008 elections brought race, gender, and age to the fore, the U.S. government’s response to the Wall Street collapse highlights class issues and suddenly makes socialism relevant again.

Dolbeare and Cummings ask students to examine how the world today fits with the basic ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as well as with the accepted tenets of private and free enterprise, the rule of law, institutional checks and balances, and the people’s right to revolt against oppression. Rooted firmly in the economic conditions of each era, the editors’ commentary highlights issues of class and the clash of economic interests, while utilizing three organizing themes to help students understand the readings: 

• the social and historical foundations of American political thought,
• the key transformations in American political thought and practice, and 
• the individual and collective political identity of Americans.

Each reading helps students to examine and understand their own political beliefs in historical context. In addition to adding a few key contributions from earlier times, the editors look purposefully toward contemporary thought, selecting readings that reflect on renewed citizen engagement, political change, and the impact of economic crisis on our notions of globalization. Are we seeing the disintegration of the conservative alliance? Can progressive change happen in a bipartisan or non-partisan fashion? Linking the transformations we are now witnessing to the ideas of the founders in a completely new Part 7, students can see the relevance that words written more than 200 years ago have for today’s political world.

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Part I. A Revolutionary Experiment: 1620–1800

1. John Winthrop: The Little Speech

2. Roger Williams: The Bloody Tenet of Persecution for Cause of Conscience | The Bloody Tenet of Persecution, Made Yet More Bloody

3. John Wise: “Democracy Is Founded in Scripture”

4. Benjamin Franklin: Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, the Peopling of Countries, etc. | Excerpts from the Great Law of Peace of the Iroquois Nations | Short Hints towards a Scheme for Uniting the Northern Colonies | The Albany Plan of Union

5. Samuel Adams: “The Rights of the Colonists”

6. Benjamin Rush: "An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America, Upon Slave-Keeping" | "Paradise of Negro Slaves--A Dream"

7. Thomas Paine: Common Sense | The American Crisis I | Rights of Man—Part One

8. The Declaration of Independence: The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

9. The Articles of Confederation: The Articles of Confederation

10. John Adams: “Thoughts on Government” | “A Defense of the Constitutions of the United States” | Correspondence with Abigail Adams

11. The Constitution: The Constitution of the United States of America

12. In Favor of Adoption of the Constitution: James Madison’s Federalist Essays | Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Essays

13. Against Adoption of the Constitution: Dissent of the Pennsylvania Minority | Letter from Samuel Adams to Richard Henry Lee | Richard Henry Lee’s Letters from the Federal Farmer

14. Alexander Hamilton’s Program: Report on Credit | Opinion on the Constitutionality of the Bank | Report on Manufactures

15. Thomas Jefferson: Principles and Program: Notes on Virginia | Madison’s Report to the Virginia General Assembly | First Inaugural Address | Selected Letters

16. George Washington: Farewell Address

Part II. Development and Democracy: 1800–1865

17. John Marshall: Marbury v. Madison | McCulloch v. Maryland

18. William Lloyd Garrison: Declaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Society

19. Orestes Brownson: “The Laboring Classes”

20. Jane McManus Storm Cazneau (“Cora Montgomery”): Annexation

21. Henry David Thoreau: “Civil Disobedience”

22. Elizabeth Cady Stanton: “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” | Address to the New York State Legislature

23. Frederick Douglass: Speech at the Anti-Slavery Association | “The Various Phases of Anti-Slavery”

24. John C. Calhoun: A Disquisition on Government

25. George Fitzhugh: Cannibals All!

26. Abraham Lincoln: Speech on the Dred Scott Decision | Letter to Boston Republicans | Cooper Union Address | First Inaugural Address | Second Annual Message to Congress | The Gettysburg Address | Second Inaugural Address

Part III. Reconstruction and Industrialization: 1865–1900

27. The Civil War Constitutional Amendments and the Failure of the “Sixteenth” Amendment: The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments | Excerpts from The Revolution | Debates at Meetings of the Equal Rights Association | Susan B. Anthony’s Statement at the Close of Her Trial | Susan B. Anthony’s Petition to Congress for Remission of Her Fine

28. William Graham Sumner: What Social Classes Owe to Each Other | “The Conquest of the United States by Spain”

29. Edward Bellamy: Looking Backward

30. Andrew Carnegie: “Wealth”

31. Populism: The Ocala Demands | The Populist Party Platform

32. Robert Ingersoll: A Christmas Sermon | Superstition | Has Free Thought a Constructive Side? | Centennial Oration | God in the Constitution | The Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child | On Lent | Why I Am an Agnostic | On Science and Reason | On Happiness as the Only Good  

33. Henry Demarest Lloyd: “Revolution: The Evolution of Socialism”

34. Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary (Selections)

35. Mark Twain: The War Prayer

36. Black Elk/John G. Neihardt: Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux

Part IV. The Rise of the Positive State: 1900–1945

37. W.E.B. Du Bois: The Souls of Black Folk

38. Emma Goldman: “Anarchism: What It Really Stands For” | “The Tragedy of Woman’s Emancipation”

39. Eugene V. Debs: “Revolutionary Unionism” | Speech to the Jury

40. Herbert Croly: The Promise of American Life

41. Progressivism: The Progressive Party Platform | Article V of the Colorado State Constitution, as Amended | The Progressive Era Constitutional Amendments, Sixteen through Twenty-One

42. Frederick W. Taylor: The Nature of Scientific Management

43. Woodrow Wilson: “The Meaning of Democracy”

44. John Dewey: The Public and Its Problems

45. Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Commonwealth Club Address | Campaign Address | An Economic Bill of Rights

46. Langston Hughes: "A New Song" | “Let America Be America Again” | "Harlem, or Dream Deferred"

Part V. Liberalism in the Post-War Period: 1945–1980

47. John F. Kennedy: Inaugural Address

48. Martin Luther King Jr.: Letter from the Birmingham City Jail

49. Students for a Democratic Society: The Port Huron Statement

50. La Alianza Federal de Mercedes: Reies Tijerina, the Alianza, and the Land-Grant Struggles in the Southwest

51. Betty Friedan: Our Revolution Is Unique

52. Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac

53. Christopher Lasch: The Culture of Narcissism | Women and the Common Life

54. Summary of an Era: Articles of Amendment Ratified | Articles of Amendment Not Ratified

Part VI. The Triumph of Neoconservatism: 1980–2006

55. Ronald Reagan: First Inaugural Address | State of the Union Address

56. National Conference of Catholic Bishops: Economic Justice for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy

57. Glenn C. Loury: “Achieving the ‘Dream’: A Challenge to Liberals and Conservatives in the Spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.”

58. Paul Wolfowitz: "U.S. Strategy Plan Calls for Insuring No Rivals Develop" [New York Times article by Patrick Tyler summarizing the Wolfowitz Doctrine]

59. Patrick Buchanan: Where the Right Went Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Captured the Bush Presidency 

60. Winona LaDuke: All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life

61. Rudolfo A. Anaya: Elegy on the Death of César Chávez

62. Craig and Marc Kielburger: Take Action! A Guide to Active Citizenship

63. George W. Bush: The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, 2006

Part VII. A New Era in American Politics? 2006 and Beyond

64. Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer: “Patriotic Values and Policies: A Ten-Principle Plan,” from The True Patriot

65. The Third Way: The Third Way Culture Program| Come Let Us Reason Together: A Governing Agenda to End the Culture Wars| Letter to President Barack Obama and Congressional Leaders of Both Parties

66. Hillary Clinton: Address to the Democratic National Convention in Denver

67. Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Bill Moyers: Democracy, the Web, and Politics of Patriarchy: Bill Moyers Interviews Kathleen Hall Jamieson

68. Al Gore: “The Climate for Change”

69. Andrew Bacevich: "Appetite for Destruction: Never Have So Many Shoppers Owed So Much . . ." | "The Right Choice? The Conservative Case for Barack Obama"

70. Maureen Dowd: "Spock at the Bridge"| "Stage of Fools"

71. Barack Obama: Keynote Speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention | Speech on Race: A More Perfect Union | Father's Day Speech | Victory Speech| Inaugural Address

“American Political Thought gathers together the very important short readings that exemplify our most essential national debates. Students love the accessibility of the readings and the text is beautifully organized. The anthology helps to facilitate analytical discussions by allowing students to compare different writings and evaluate their authors’ arguments. I highly recommend this book!”

“Dolbeare and Cummings distill four centuries of diverse political thought into this one anthology, which manages to be both comprehensive and accessible. The several dozen individual readings are all of manageable length and are arranged chronologically with informative and helpful introductions. This one volume offers an excellent text for a variety of students, including those with little background in American politics.”

"Dolbeare and Cummings' anthology includes some of the most important writings in American political history. It offers a comprehensive overview of the principal traditions of thought that have influenced and continue to influence American politics. The 6th edition usefully extends the reach into the Obama era. Highly recommended for undergraduate seminars in American Political Thought."

KENNETH M. DOLBEARE is a retired professor of political science who taught for many satisfying years at the universities of Wisconsin, Washington, Massachusetts, and Colorado-Denver. His most rewarding teaching, however, occurred in his last fifteen years at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, where students routinely chart their own educational directions and demand that their faculty serve their needs. In addition to a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University, he holds an LL.B. and is a member of the New York Bar.  He is the author of several research monographs and other books in American politics, none of which have the political "edge" of this one. He lives in Albuquerque, NM.

MICHAEL S. CUMMINGS is professor of political science and President's Teaching Scholar at the University of Colorado Denver. A graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton, he received a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University. His articles and books have focused on issues of community, citizen activism, and alternative futures. His 2001 book, Beyond Political Correctness: Social Transformation in the United States, was named the Outstanding Book in Transformational and Ecological Politics by the American Political Science Association's organized section in Ecological and Transformational Politics.  He tells his students that they—and he—are lucky to be studying politics in such unprecedented times. He lives in Denver.