Democracy in America:

The Federalist Papers and DeTocqueville Winter Term 2004 Christopher Colvin St. Stephen's Episcopal School

DESCRIPTION

In the 20th century, democracy had three separate flourishings: after the First World War and the end of autocratic monarchies in Europe, again after the Second World War and the fall of Fascism, and a third time after the Cold War and the disappearance of Communism. Each time, democracies or attempted democracies were greeted with enthusiasm, yet subsequently a number withered into autocratic regimes or worse. Now, at the outset of the 21st century, we see an attempt to "establish democracy" in the Middle East and in Central Asia. Democracy itself has not been a political ideal for most of history, even for most of western history. Why then the recurrent enthusiasm in the past 100 years? And why is it more difficult for democracy to establish itself in some circumstances rather than in others?

This course takes a close look at the classic statements of the ideals and real practice of American democracy in order to appreciate the value and fragility of this sort of political regime. We will raise questions such as: what sort of political values and political practices are part of the ideal of American Democracy? Why does it work? What are its weaknesses and dangers? How is it different from other, more persistent and long-lasting political ideals such as aristocracy and autocracy? What effects does democracy have on persons, morals, and culture? What does American Democracy tell us about politics? About human beings?

Our starting point is The Federalist Papers and its articulation of this new type of political regime. Our primary focus will be on the remarkable and fascinating work of a French aristocrat, Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote Democracy in America after visiting the U.S. in the 1830's. In addition we will look at two icons of the American attitude of freedom and opportunity: Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. In a phrase, this course will sample some of the great classics of American Democracy, and discuss them as works of political philosophy.

II. Requirements and Grading

Attendance: Attendance is, of course, mandatory, especially as the soul of this class will be the ongoing and developing discussion. The SSS handbook policy on absences will be followed.

Assignments: Assignments are given on the accompanying calendar and should be prepared for the due date. It is essential to the course that each student read each assignment in full before the day it is due, since class discussion will rely on the student's knowledge of the assignment. Frequent quizzes will check for this.

Classroom: Given the importance of class discussion (see above) participation counts.

Papers, Quizzes, & Tests: There will be frequent quizzes to check whether students are keeping up with the reading and with reading and class notes. In addition there will be one class presentation, two papers and two tests. I will follow departmental policies about due dates, lateness, grading, etc. Specific expectations for each of these will be handed out in class.

Grades: Your grade will be computed as follows:
Quizzes and class participation - 30%
Tests - 30%
Papers and reports- 40%

III. Calendar of Assignments

The syllabus may be modified during the semester. "DA" refers to Democracy in America; "Fed" refers to The Federalist Papers. Page assignments are from our two textbooks:

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America. (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 2000). This is an abridged edition translated by Stephan Grant and edited by Sanford Kessler.

David Wooten, editor, The Essential Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers. (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 2003).

Dates ­ Topic ­ Pages

December
Week #1

30/11 Introduction ­ US Constitution
1/12 Democracy ­ Republic
2/12 American Politics ­ DA, 42-44. Anti-Federalist: "Letter #1 of Centinel" ­ Fed., 65-74.
3/12 off day

Week #2

6/12 Participatory Democracy ­ DA, 44-62.
7/12 The Constitution ­ DA, 68-73.
8/12 The Federalist Papers ­ Federalist #1, Fed., 140-143.
9/12 The People: United & Divided ­ DA, 73-79.
10/12 Factions ­ Federalist #10, Fed., 167-174.

Week #3

13/12 Civil War ­ Federalist #6, Fed., 147-152.
14/12 off day.
15/12 Civil War ­ Federalist #8, Fed., 158-162.
16/12 United We Stand ­ Federalist #23, Fed., 195-199.
17/12 Review

January
Week #4

4/1 A Republic ­ Federalist #39, Fed., 225-231.
5/1 Federal Despotism ­ Federalist #31, Fed., 207-211.
6/1 Few & Many, Federalist #57, Fed., 258-263.
7/1 off day

Week #5

10/1 Senate, Federalist #62, Fed., 263-268 and Judiciary, Federalist #78, Fed. 283-289.
11/1 Review of Federalist Papers.
12/1 Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"
13/1 Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"
14/1 Paper #1 Due.

Week #6

17/1 MLK Day
18/1 Emerson, "Self-Reliance"
19/1 off day
20/1 American beliefs, DA, 169-178.
21/1 Popular vs. Excellence, DA, 80-84.

Week #7

24/1 Law and public opinion, DA 87-93.
25/1 Law and public opinion cont'd., DA, 97-102.
26/1 Review.
27/1 Test #1.
28/1 off day

February
Week #8

31/1 Tyranny of the majority, DA, 102-110.
1/2 Religion in America, DA, 178-186.
2/2 Religion & democracy, DA, 136-142.

Winter Weekend

Week #9

7/2 Law & democracy, DA, 142-146.
8/2 Liberty and individualism, DA, 201-206.
9/2 Individualism, DA, 206-210.
10/2 off day
11/2 Civil Society, DA, 210-214.

Week #10

14/2 Aristocracy, DA, 244-248.
15/2 Energetic mediocrity, DA, 268-270.
16/2 Energetic mediocrity cont'd., DA, 281-286.
17/2 Review.
18/2 Test #2.

Week #11

21/2 off day
22/2 Equality, DA, 297-301.
23/2 Temptation of tyranny, DA, 301-309.
24/2 Temptation of tyranny cont'd., DA, 309-316.
25/2 Conclusion, DA, 316-319.

March
Week #12

28/2 Presentations.
1/3 Presentations.
2/3 Off day.
3/3 Presentations.
4/3 5/3 Final Paper.

Texts:

De Tocqueville - text of Democracy in America.

Federalist Papers - from the Yale University Avalon Project, a collection of online documents in law and politics.

Civil Disobedience - from a site devoted to the writings of Thoreau.

Self Reliance - from a site devoted to the writings of Emerson.

More documents (websites used for the above):

Oregon - philosophical texts from 17th and 18th centuries at Oregon State.

Adelaide - "more than 500 classic works of Literature, Philosophy, Science, and History" online from the University of Adelaide.

Columbia - a digital text library with links to other etext libraries.

Yale - the Avalon Project with texts in history, diplomacy, and law.

Virginia - an odd collection of items related to America.

Ideologues seem to be enthusiastic about collecting documents for their views. Two groups at opposite ends of the spectrum can supply you with the above texts and much, much more!

Miniature Library - a Marxist site with an extensive collection of links to a wide variety of political, economic, philosophical, and scientific texts.

Liberty Library - another extensive collection of documents and texts focused on political and legal history. In addition there are numerous links to a variety of right-wing sites that shade off to the bizarre.

Christopher Colvin
St. Stephen's Episcopal School
ccolvin@sstx.org