Democracy in Theory and Practice

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 08.03.03

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Rationale
  2. Objectives
  3. Strategies
  4. Resources
  5. Appendix A. District and State Standards
  6. Appendix B. Selections from The Federalist Papers
  7. Appendix C. Selections from The United States Constitution
  8. Endnotes

The Elections of 1800 and 2000. How Crisis Elections Have Shaped the Practice of Democracy in United States History

Ralph E. Russo

Published September 2008

Tools for this Unit:

Resources

Joanne Freeman's History Now article on the election of 1800 is a great source in and of itself for its concise portrayal of the issues and events surrounding the election. However, the resource is still even more valuable because of her review of the landscape of secondary materials on the subject. I have listed these in my bibliography and have begun acquiring them for incorporation into the unit reading list. The history now site also contains a link to an ERIC digest article which again outlines the fundamental issues and events surrounding the election of 1800.

The election of 2000 is well archived electronically and in print. CNN has numerous links to articles, new reports, and data. I enjoyed watching the HBO movie Recount and believe it has a place in my unit as an overview of the issues involved in the election.

As I mentioned previously, the Fried-Dworkin exchange in The New York Review of Books is also an enlightening read for discussing the role of the courts in elections and the Electoral College system itself.

Resources for the Election of 1800

Larson, Edward. A Magnificent Catastrophe The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign, Simon and Schuster, 2007.

Freeman, Joanne. "The Presidential Election of 1800: A Story of Crisis, Controversy, and Change". History Now. American History Online Issue I September 2004

http://www.historynow.org/09_2004/historian4.html

Parton, James. "The Presidential Election of 1800." The Atlantic Monthly Online (7/13/2008) Article first published July 1873.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/policamp/parton.htm

Resources for the Presidential Election of 2000

2000 Election Results

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/results/ (accessed July 2008)

NPR Site containing links to audio and written stories regarding the court decisions and election results.

http://www.npr.org/news/national/election2000/ (accessed July 2008)

The Presidential Election of 2000. How Candidate Won But Still Lost (American History, Junior Scholastic)

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0876793.html (accessed July 2008)

Posner, Richard A. Breaking the Deadlock: The 2000 Election, the Constitution, and the Courts Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001

Pomper, Gerald M., Anthony Corrado, E. J. Dionne Jr., Kathleen A. Frankovic, Paul S. Herrnson, Marjorie Randon Hershey, William G. Mayer, Monika L. McDermott, Wilson Carey McWilliams; The Election of 2000: Reports and Interpretations

Chatham House Publishers, 2001.

Resources for other Knife-edged Elections

Election of 1824

"The Election of 1824" Constitutional Rights Foundation

http://www.crf-usa.org/bria/bria8_4.htm

Contains analysis of the election and links to related webpages.

Election of 1876

Rehnquist, William H. Centennial Crisis The Disputed Election of 1876. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2004

International Elections

MacFarquhar, Neil. "U.S. pushes U.N. Sanctions on Zimbabwe and Mugabe", New York Times July 4, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/world/africa/04zimbabwe.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

This online NY Times article summarizes the developments in the Zimbabwe election of 2008.

Suarez, Ray. "Mexico Election 2006", The Online NewsHour, December 1, 2006. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/north_america/mexico_election06/index.html

This online NewsHour story summarizes the contentious presidential election in Mexico in 2006.

General Resources

Agel, Jerome, and Mort Gerberg. The U.S. Constitution for Everyone. New York: A Perigee Book published by the Berkley Publishing Group, 1987.

Dahl, Robert. On Democracy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998

Hamilton, Alexander, and James Madison, John Jay. The Federalist Papers. New York: Bantam Books, 1982

de Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America. Edited by Phillips Bradley. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976

Janda, Kenneth. Jeff Barry, Jerry Goldman The Challenge of Democracy Houghton Mifflin. 9 th edition 2008

Resources for Study of The Electoral College

"House to Consider Bill to Eliminate the Electoral College" The Boston Globe boston.com

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/09/house_to_consider_bill_to_eliminate_electoral_college?mode=PF (accessed July 2008) "Historical Election Results" NARA Electoral College website

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/historical.html (accessed July 2008)

"Historical Election Results" Electoral College Box Scores 1789-1996 NARA http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/scores.html#1800 (accessed July 2008)

Mentions elections of 1824 and 1876

Historical Election Results Electoral College Box Scores 2000-2004 NARA http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/scores2.html#2000

(accessed July 2008) Kimberling, William C. Deputy Director FEC Office of Election Administration The Electoral College Revised May 1992 http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf

(accessed July 2008)

Linder, Doug. Exploring Constitutional Conflicts http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/electoralcoll.htm (accessed July 2008)

"Debating the Merits of the Electoral College" Broadcast from NPR October 27, 2004 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4127863

(accessed July 2008)

Schorr, Daniel. "Thoughts on ways to Change the Electoral College" Broadcast from NPR. December 31, 2000. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1116298

Bonsor, Kevin. "How the Electoral College Works". Howstuffworks website http://people.howstuffworks.com/electoral-college6.htm

(accessed July 2008)

Ross, Tara. "The Electoral College: Enlightened Democracy" The Heritage Foundation Leadership for America website. http://www.heritage.org/research/legalissues/lm15.cfm

(accessed July 2008)

Fishkin, James. "Deliberative Polling, Toward a Better Democracy" The Center for Deliberative Democracy

http://cdd.stanford.edu/polls/docs/summary/

(site accessed July 2008)

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