This 8-week short-course is designed to give students historical context and understanding of the U.S. Presidential elections, and especially to contextualize elections whose results have been contested. Students will critically reflect on the specific context of contested elections in U.S. history as a way to understand the political system and to question various outcomes of constitutional and political procedures and disagreements. How often have the results of U.S. presidential elections been uncertain or challenged by the candidates, states, or political parties? What caused the contestation in different eras of political contest? How were contests resolved? Were contested elections the product of constitutional or electoral processes, or did they spring from “norms” and ideological clashes relating to the issues of the day? What do contested presidential elections reveal about American society, and how does this history help us understand the context for the upcoming 2024 presidential election?
Students will read and discuss primary and secondary sources that will help them form historical interpretations of past contested presidential elections in U.S. history, and they will work together to create a website offering historical commentary on contested elections that will offer the public context for the 2024 election. Do contested elections represent a threat to American democracy across time, or do they show the system in action? How can historians help the public understand elections and enhance civic participation?
