IDS 101

Fall 2007

Professor Richard Ellis (rellis@willamette.edu)

Office Hours: W 3:00-4:30; F 11:30-12:30; and by appointment. Smullin 324

COLLEGE COLLOQUIUM: TOCQUEVILLE'S DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA

In 1831 Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville and his friend Gustave Beaumont visited the United States of America. For over nine months they traveled through the new nation, observing and interviewing its citizens. The result of that journey is the most famous book ever written on American politics and culture: Democracy in America. In this seminar we will read this celebrated book, as well as retrace Tocqueville's footsteps with the help of George Wilson Pierson's classic narrative, Tocqueville in America. Through these texts we will engage with Tocqueville's efforts to understand the meaning of America as well the significance of democratic equality in the modern world. Along the way we will have the occasion to ponder the role of slavery and race, the extermination of native Americans, the relationship between religion and democracy, the importance of citizenship, the dangers of individualism, the power of the comparative method, and the continuing significance of American exceptionalism.

At the heart of each of the many sections of the college colloquium are writing, reading, and discussion. This is emphatically not a course in which the instructor lectures and the student passively if attentively listens. Rather it is a course that requires the active involvement of each class member, as we come together around a shared set of texts and work through their meaning and significance. The chief objectives of the course are to help you become: (1) a clearer and more self-conscious writer, (2) a more careful and critical reader, and (3) a more confident and reflective participant in discussion.

Because the course is discussion based, it is critically important that you do the reading for each class session. Students who miss a class, whether excused or unexcused, must write a 600 word paper analyzing the reading that was assigned for the day they miss. Your participation grade in the course will be lowered by 1/3 for every short paper you do not turn in within a week of your return to class. More than two unexcused absences will result in a full grade deduction from your final course grade; each additional unexcused absence will result in an additional deduction of one full grade from your final grade. Persistent lateness or failure to prepare adequately for class discussions can also result in deductions from the final grade.

You should familiarize yourself with Willamette University=s plagiarism policy, which you can find at http://www.willamette.edu/cla/catalog/Sect3/aca.html#plag. Plagiarism can take different forms, but its essence is presenting the words or work of another as your own. When you are quoting from a source you must place that material in quotation marks and correctly cite the source of the quotation. If you are paraphrasing the words of another you must provide the source from which you are paraphrasing. A plagiarized paper will receive an AF@ and cannot be rewritten. Depending on the severity of the plagiarism, the penalty may very well also extend to failing the course. In accordance with university policy, any instance of plagiarism will be promptly reported to the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

Your grade will be based on three papers (50%) and class participation (50%). The participation grade includes a written component (25%) and an oral component (25%). The written component of the participation grade will be based on short response papers, in-class writing, and written peer responses. The oral component consists of participation in class discussion and small group work. The first paper will be worth 10% of your grade, and the second and third papers will be worth 20% each.

Required texts for this course are: (1) Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, translated by Arthur Goldhammer (Library of America, 2004); (2) George Wilson Pierson, Tocqueville in America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996; originally published in 1938); and (3) Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual (Bedford, 2004; 4th edition). Tocqueville's Democracy in America will be given to you on the first day of class. The other two books are available for purchase at the Willamette Bookstore.

The following is a tentative schedule of class sessions, readings, and paper assignments. It is unlikely we will follow it in every particular detail.

8/23 (Thurs) Introduction: What a Traveler Sees

VOLUME ONE

8/24 (Fri) The Thesis in Capsule Form

Democracy in America, 3-17

8/25 (Sat) The Point of Departure

Democracy in America, 31-51

8/27 (Mon) The Journey to America

Pierson, Tocqueville in America, 3-83

8/29 (Wed) Social State of the Anglo-Americans

Democracy in America, 52-65

8/31 (Fri) Local and State Government

Democracy in America, 66-110

9/3 (Mon) Labor Day, No Class

9/5 (Wed) Tocqueville Sees New York

Pierson, Tocqueville in America, 84-167

Paper #1 assignment distributed

9/7 (Fri) Executive Power

Democracy in America, 136-155

9/10 (Mon) Peer Response

9/12 (Wed) The Federal Constitution

Democracy in America, 171-193

9/14 (Fri) Parties, Associations, and the Press

Democracy in America, 197-223

9/17 (Mon) From New York City to Buffalo

Pierson, Tocqueville in America, 171-225

Paper #1 due

9/19 (Wed) The Government of Democracy

Democracy in America, 224-63

9/21 (Fri) Advantages of Democratic Government

Democracy in America, 264-82

9/24 (Mon) Tocqueville visits New England

Pierson, Tocqueville in America, 349-416

9/26 (Wed) Omnipotence of the Majority in the U.S.

Democracy in America, 283-319

9/28 (Fri) The Causes That Tend to Maintain a Democratic Republic in the U.S.

Democracy in America, 319-64

10/1 (Mon) Fortnight in the Wilderness

Pierson, Tocqueville in America, 229-89

10/3 (Wed) The Great Lakes and Canada

Pierson, Tocqueville in America, 290-345

Paper #2 assignment distributed

10/5 (Fri) The Current State and Probable Future of the Indian Tribes

Democracy in America, 365-391

10/8 (Mon) A Nation in Black and White

Democracy in America, 392-455

10/10 (Wed) The Destiny of the United States

Democracy in America, 455-76

10/12 (Fri) Peer Response

10/15 (Mon) Tocqueville Visits Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Philadelphia

Pierson, Tocqueville in America, 417-488

10/17 (Wed) A Taste of the South in Baltimore, and the Genesis of Marie

Pierson, Tocqueville in America, 489-540

10/19 (Fri) Midsemester Day

VOLUME II

10/22 (Mon) Democracy and the Intellect

Democracy in America, 479-500

Paper #2 due

10/24 (Wed) Democracy, Science, and the Arts

Democracy in America, 516-537

10/26 (Fri) Individualism, Liberty, and Equality

Democracy in America, 581-594

10/29 (Mon) Ohio and Mississippi

Pierson, Tocqueville in America, 543-616

10/31 (Wed) Civil Associations

Democracy in America, 595-609

11/2 (Fri) The Doctrine of Self-Interest Properly Understood

Democracy in America, 610-641

Paper assignment #3 distributed

11/5 (Mon) New Orleans to Washington

Pierson, Tocqueville in America, 619-678

11/7 (Wed) Industry and Aristocracy

Democracy in America, 642-52

11/9 (Fri) How Mores Become Milder

Democracy in America, 655-78

11/12 (Mon) Peer Response

11/14 (Wed) Gender and the Family

Democracy in America, 685-708

11/16 (Fri) Patriotism and War

Democracy in America, 719-721, 779-784

11/19 (Mon) The Argument Recapped

Democracy in America, 787-834

11/21 (Wed) Last Day of Class

Paper #3 due