This class should be taken immediately after you complete POSC 201, Analyzing Politics in your sophomore year. The 200 level "doing political science classes" are designed to focus on issues of method and writing skills expanding on what you learned about skills and methods in 201 and preparing you for upper division work in political science while also focusing on one of the major subfields of political science. An introduction to the issues, debates and problems of American political theory. This course addresses the historical legacy of Puritan, republican, liberal, radical, and conservative traditions through a study of the primary texts of people like Mather, Jefferson, Madison, Tocqueville, Douglass, Stanton, Lincoln, Sumner, DuBois, Debs, Croly, FDR, King, or Reagan. We will also judge the debates about federalism, rights, popular sovereignty, slavery, and race during the colonial era, as well as the long term legacies of both industrial capitalism, and race, gender, and religious differences in the United States. Prereq: POSC 201.