A College Course for Alumni
American Government and Politics
Department Political Science
I SHALL endeavor in this article to accomplish two things: to explain the introductory course offered by the Political Science department and to satisfy a well-known and justly honored alumnus whose letter, before me, I hope, voices the interest of many Dartmouth men. He asks for "some properly directed reading that will help us fellows who are now in the business world but are not so wholly engrossed by it but that we are trying to practice intelligent citizenship as well." The personal form of presentation is chosen as typifying the informal, direct, simple method that we use in teaching this course in the principles and practices of American government.
Every member of our Department has had some practical experience in political life, including membership in the state legislature and two state constitutional conventions, the practice of law, jury service, local town offices and special committee work, military service, and high commissions in the Intelligence Division of the U. S. Army. These activities and the native interests of the men of the staff lead us to make the course a practical one, with considerable emphasis upon the responsibility of the college man as an active member of his community, state, and nation. Throughout, an effort is made to interest the students in practical politics to the end that when they become alumni they will not assume the all too common attitude that politics cannot be touched without soiling one's hands, an attitude upon the part of the college-bred man that Justice Roberts recently characterized as destructive of American political institutions. Despite this aim, we do not proceed on the assumption that everything that exists in American government is therefore right and above criticism. We apply the critical method wherever it has a place and have no hesitation in pointing out changes that should be made to bring contemporary practices in line with sound, well-reasoned principles of good government. In accord with the Dartmouth tradition there is no attempt to make this and the other courses of the Department a training school for public professional life, but we are not unmindful of the fact that some of our students are looking forward to a career in the nation's foreign service, where Dartmouth men are already serving with distinction, and that many of them are preparing themselves for the Webster succession in the practice of law.
At the outset two facts are recognized: first, the individual in organized society lives under government and has his personal rights, privileges, and liberty established and safeguarded for him by the reign of law, and, second, all governments function in accord with well-defined fundamental principles that must be understood preliminary to a proper appreciation of the American system of government. A month's study of political theory stamps the course in the mind of the student as being different from preparatory school civics (a good antidote for the sophomoric belief that he already knows all that is necessary about his government !) and opens up new fields of thought having to do with state sovereignty, the origin of organized government, source of personal rights, nature and source of law, theories (socialist, communist, individualist, collectivist) of the proper functions of the state, suffrage and the electorate, parliamentary governments, and the basic problems involved in the organization of executive, legislative, and judicial departments. We use Leacock's Elements of Political Science for this part of the course; Willoughby's Government of Modern States and Garner's Political Science and Government are better presentations for more mature minds and more deliberate reading.
NATIONAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT
The study of the National Government follows a natural sequence: the historical beginnings under the Articles of Confederation, the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the distinguishing characteristics of the new government founded in 1789, the various methods of the constitutional amending process (Judge Clarke to the contrary notwithstanding!), the bill of rights, the Presidency and administrative departments, control of foreign relations, organization and powers of Congress, the law-making process, and the federal courts. Very considerable attention is given both to the internal mechanism of the Senate and House of Representatives (with the frequent aid of lectures by members of these bodies) and to the powers of Congress. In this latter connection several historic and notable decisions of the Supreme Court are studied.
In considering State governments the following subjects are covered: relation of the states to the national government and to one another, contrasts between the original and recent state constitutions, offices of governor and other state administrators, the legislature, the important place of state law and state courts in ordinary personal and social relationships, the modern instruments of the initiative and referendum, and recent movements for reorganization and reform in the administrative and judicial spheres. Municipal governments are briefly surveyed as to charters; relations with the state government and state and county authorities; mayor-council, commission, and commission-manager types of local government; and the intricate problems of municipal administration.
Our basic texts are Munro's Government of the UnitedStates and Mathews and Berdahl's Documents and Readings in American Government. More satisfactory books for the alumnus would be: Beard's The American Leviathan (19S0); Anderson's American City Government; Munro's Municipal Government and Administration, 2 vols.
The final six weeks are devoted to American political parties and practical politics, including the characteristics and functions of the American parties, party history 1776-1931, party organization and committees, campaign methods and funds, conduct of elections, ballot forms, political machines and bosses, and the citizen's part in government. The text used is Bruce's American Parties and Politics. Other satisfactory treatments of the subject are: Merriam, The American PartySystem and Sait, American Parties and Elections.
We believe that the course as outlined has two objectives: it affords a systematic, comprehensive, thorough understanding of the organization and functioning of the American system of government in the local, state, and national phases, and it affords the student an opportunity to understand his relation to the governing authorities and to the political parties of the present day. A good number of those that elect the course naturally develop a desire to investigate other realms of political science. The courses in European Governments and Current Governmental Problems offer a year's work in comparative government and in appreciation of contemporary problems and policies of the leading nations of the world. (Read: Bryce's ModernDemocracies, 2 vols., Ogg's Governments of Europe and his English Government and Politics, Graham's NewGovernments of Central Europe.) The international field furnishes material for three courses: International Law (Fenwick's International Law), American Foreign Relations (Latane's American Foreign Policy or Buell's International Relations), and International Organization or the League of Nations (Mower's InternationalGovernment). The pre-legal student commonly desires to elect the course on the United States Constitution, using Farrand's Framing the Constitution and decisions, of the Supreme Court as his basic material, and the course in Elements of Law to secure the background of the American legal system and practice in law school methods of instruction. The theoretical aspect of government does not command as much popular interest at Dartmouth as the more practical aspects, but it attracts a few men of a philosophical turn of mind who take the historical course in the Theory of the State, using Dunning's Political Theories, 3 vols., or Gettell's History ofPolitical Thought.
By these offerings, our Department endeavors to concentrate on important fundamentals in a well-ordered understanding of American and world governments, with special treatment of those phases of government that have obvious interest and value for young American citizens.
