HIST 156
The Manifesto in U.S. Politics Fall 2023
Division II W Writing Skills
This is not the current course catalog

Is there a style or tradition of writing political manifestos in the United States? Given the nation’s origins in revolution, the answer would seem on the surface to be a definitive “yes.” But some observers are skeptical; one writer has gone so far as to say the term “manifesto” connotes “a radicalism that American writers generally lack.” This course will investigate that claim. How would we choose to define the very term, “manifesto?” Why have so many radical American writings been embraced as having the characteristics of a manifesto? We’ll look at these questions through close readings and analyses of manifestos across three different historical junctures in the U.S. — the Revolutionary era, the 1830s and 1840s, and the 1960s and early 1970s — focusing in particular on struggles over racial equality and women’s rights.