Government 94ha
The Political Science of American Democracy:
The Federalist and Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
Books required for purchase:
THE FEDERALIST, Gideon edition, G. Carey ed., Liberty Fund.
Alexis de Tocqueville, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, H. Mansfield & D. Winthrop trans.,
Univ. of Chicago Press pb.
Thomas Paine, COMMON SENSE, Dover Thrift edition.
Thomas Jefferson, SELECTED WRITINGS, H. Mansfield, ed., Croft’s Classics, Wiley
Blackwell
THE ANTI-FEDERALIST PAPERS AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
DEBATES, Ralph Ketcham, ed., Penguin pb.
Abraham Lincoln, THE WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Steven B. Smith, ed., Yale
Univ. Press pb.
Meetings:
1. September 9, 2015: The Federalist and Democracy in America as books. What is a
constitution? The modern liberal concept vs. the Aristotelian. What is democracy?
Its two meanings.
Readings: Aristotle on the regime, Politics, Book 3, chs. 3, 6, 7 (Carnes Lord
translation); Locke, Two Treatises on Government, II 51, 76, 132, 153, 157, 230.
2. September 16, 2015: The American experiment; the Anti-Federalists and Tom
Paine; the republican tradition; choice and necessity.
Readings: Federalist, 1-9; Abraham Lincoln, Message to Congress, July 4, 1861 (pp.
345-347 in Smith edition), Gettysburg Address (p. 417); Paine, Common Sense; The
Anti-Federalist Papers, pp. 199-208, 228-237, 257-269, 331-335.
3. September 23, 2015: How to interpret Federalist 10; the political science of The
Federalist and its innovations.
Readings: Federalist 10-39. Robert A. Dahl, A Preface to Democratic Theory, ch. 1;
Douglas Adair, Fame and the Founding Fathers, pp. 93-106; David Epstein, The
Political Theory of The Federalist, ch. 3.
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4. September 30, 2015: Separation of Powers, how attained and maintained.
Readings: Federalist 40-51.
5. October 7, 2015: The Three Branches of Government; the separate powers
defined.
Readings: Federalist 52-85.
6. October 14, 2015: Democracy’s legitimacy problem; the “point of departure”; the
forms of American government.
Readings: Democracy in America, Introduction, vol. 1, part 1, chs. 1-8 (pp. 3-161).
7. October 21, 2015: Sovereignty of the people; the fragility of the forms of
government; associations; tyranny of the majority.
Readings: Democracy in America, 1. 2. 1-7 (pp. 165-249).
8. October 28, 2015: Tyranny of the majority and the three races.
Readings: Democracy in America, 1. 2. 8-10 (pp. 250-396); Federalist 54;Thomas
Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, Query 14, letter to John Holmes, April 22, 1820
(Selected Writings, pp. 36-43, 91-92); Lincoln, Speech on the Dred Scott Decision (pp.
114-119, Smith edition), First Lincoln-Douglas Debate (pp. 163-178); Frederick
Douglass, Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln, April 14, 1876 (online).
9. November 4, 2015: The democratic intellect, its merits, faults, and foibles.
Readings: Democracy in America, 2. 1. 1-21 (pp. 399-476).
10. November 11, 2015: Democratic sentiments and the danger of individualism.
Readings: Democracy in America, 2. 2. 1-20 (pp. 479-532); Lincoln, Address to the
Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, 1859 (pp. 268-278).
11. November 18, 2015: Democratic mores—servants, women, honor, the military.
Readings: Democracy in America, 2. 3. 1-26 (pp. 535-635).
12. December 2, 2015: The danger of mild despotism.
Readings: Democracy in America, 2. 4. 1-8 (pp. 639-676).
Requirements: Two papers, the first on The Federalist of seven pages, due on email
at midnight October 13; the second paper on Democracy in America of ten pages,
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due at end of course, time TBD; plus a short verbal class report. No final
examination.
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