The Making the American State, 1789-1945

When did a modern state emerge in the United States? Has the American state historically been strong or weak – and how well do such descriptions capture its many complexities? Who has benefited from the growth of state power, and who has suffered? This MSt option will encourage students to form their own answers to these questions by investigating the development of the U.S. state across the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The distribution of power through an eighteenth-century codified constitution between multiple levels and branches of government created a seemingly unique environment for the growth of a national state and gave rise to an historical interpretation emphasizing its anti-statist tradition. Prior to the New Deal, scholars once argued, the United States was a land of laissez-faire, limited government, and rugged individualism. During the past three decades, however, historians have established a new interpretation. The American state, they now argue, was ambitious, assertive, and energetic from its earliest decades, and laid the groundwork for the global hegemon of the late twentieth century. Looking to histories of government across levels, regions, and periods, students will reassess traditional ‘high’ political narratives that focus on the changing coercive capabilities of the American state and its role in nurturing and sustaining the growth of capitalism. Yet at the same time, students will engage with scholarship that asks how the American state engaged in matters both personal and private by defining categories such as race, gender, and sexuality. During this course, we will approach the subject of the state from a variety of angles, from the practical to the theoretical. We will consider the ways that the U.S. state has historically operated, explore its relationship to American society, and evaluate the extent to which it has corresponded to the ideal types traditionally used by historians. By introducing students to this vibrant field of scholarly debate, this course will provide a new perspective on the history of the United States while also providing students with conceptual tools and theoretical perspectives. By encouraging students to think about the deeply rooted historical forces that have shaped the U.S. state, this course will also encourage them to consider, with a critical historical eye, the political prospects and problems of the present-day United States.