POLI 100                                                        N. Miller                                                      Spring 2010

                                    SECOND TAKE-HOME WRITING ASSIGNMENT

The instructions and guidelines are exactly the same as for the first assignment. Get another copy from me or from the course website in the event you have mislaid the original instructions and guidelines. This assignment is due on Monday, May 2 (two class days later than indicated on the syllabus).

Questions (select and write on one of the following questions):

1.         Your boss or supervisor puts this assignment to you: “I should think that most Americans today regard the Bill of Rights to be the crown jewel of the U.S. Constitution. But I recently learned that the framers of the Constitution did not even include a Bill of Rights in the original document. Not only that but I’ve heard that Alexander Hamilton in [the first half of] Federalist #84 [Topic #8] not only did not apologize for this omission but actually defended and argued that a Bill of Rights was not necessary or even desirable. Explain to me what arguments Hamilton could possibly have made to justify the omission of a Bill of Rights in the Constitution.”

2.         Your boss or supervisor puts this assignment to you: “I own some U.S. Savings Bonds and one nice thing about them is that they are exempt from state taxes. I’ve heard that this goes back to an early Supreme Court decision called McCulloch v. Maryland [Topic #17], according to which states cannot impose taxes on federal entities (including savings bonds). But I’ve read through the Constitution and can’t find any words in it that say this. Explain to me how the Supreme Court (or Chief Justice John Marshall, who I understand wrote the opinion) reasoned its (or his) way to this conclusion.”

3.         Your boss or supervisor puts this assignment to you: “I heard that in a little book called On Liberty written almost 150 years ago, John Stuart Mill put forth a quite elaborate argument in favor of the liberty of thought and discussion [Topic #18]. But I don’t see why you need an elaborate argument for this. Don’t people just have an inalienable and natural right to freedom of speech, free expression of opinion, and other forms of liberty? Explain to me what Mill’s argument was and how it went beyond simply asserting that individuals have such natural rights.”

Note. If your first assignment was graded at the lower end of the scale with respect to writing mechanics, you are particularly invited to seek help from the Writing Center of the Learning Resources Center in completing this assignment. The Writing Center is accessed from the Main Entrance area of the AOK Library and is open on a walk-in basis during these hours: 10:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. Monday through Wednesday, from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. on Thursday, and from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. on Fridays. I suggest that you take the marked copy of your first writing assignment, together with this page and a copy of the instructions and guidelines, with you if you seek help.

Remember. If your grade on the second writing assignment is higher than the grade on the first, the first grade will not count. Otherwise, the two count equally. In either event, the writing assignments account for 25% of your course grade.