NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF
POLITICAL SCIENCE
POLS 150, Section 1
Fall 2004
Instructor:
Megan Kerr
Course Title: Democracy in America
Office: ZU 420
Course Meeting Place: DU 252
Office hours: M/W 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Course Meeting Time: MWF 10-10:50
and by appointment
Phone: 753-7057 (office)
E-mail: mkerr1@niu.edu
What This Course
Is.
POLS
150 Democracy in America studies
American political and social institutions primarily through the political
thought, writings, and speeches of three categories of people: 1.) the
nation’s founders and the framers of the Declaration of Independence
and the US Constitution whose work structures the political
controversies reappearing through subsequent generations; 2.) office holders
who bore responsibility for dealing with these controversies and who both
changed and preserved constitutional institutions and democratic thought and
practice; and 3.) the influential non-office holders whose thought helped shape
public opinion, social change, and law, and whose thought provided insight into
both the goodness and badness of American democracy. Among the latter,
Tocqueville’s commentary, is still (160 years after its publication)
commonly regarded as the best ever written in this regard and is also what
gives this course its name and its spirit.
Why a
Constitutional and Democratic Focus?
Emphasis
is placed on the US Constitution because, as the central legitimating
symbol of American political life, citizens need to understand how it frames
political controversy and how it influences political and social change. To
that end, we will study important debates concerning both democratic
institutions and the meaning of liberty and equality from the
Founding until now. Such debates include whether we needed a national
government and how the framers thought it could be kept from being oppressive;
disputes about what political/economic conditions make American democracy
possible; successive waves of controversies about whether the suffrage
(voting rights) should be expanded; whether the Founders’ Constitution
was democratic; whether it was a slave or a free Constitution; whether it
recognized the humanity of the Negro, as African-Americans were then called;
whether the national government should regulate the economy and provide
welfare; disputes about what democratic representation is; whether separation
of powers prevents democracy or makes it possible; whether religion is an
indispensable political institution or a persistent political problem; what
makes one a citizen; what law-abidingness means and whether it is or is not a
duty; and the relation of women to democratic government and society.
The
persistent and over-arching theme of this class will be the disputed
question “What is democracy?” In keeping with its disputed
nature, we will study a range of opposing answers. Considerable attention will
be given to the perennial dispute on whether democracy, in the most
humanly and ennobling sense, is possible primarily through local institutions
(as maintained in the American political tradition by the anti-Federalists and
Tocqueville); or whether it is possible primarily through national institutions
(as maintained by the Progressives, the New Deal, and the Great Society). This
dispute turns on whether democracy is understood to involve (or be) primarily
“self-government” in that oneself and one’s neighbors are
primarily responsible for solving the day-to-day problems of living together
(as the Jeffersonian tradition down to the Republican contract with America
maintains); or whether democracy is understood to involve (or be) a greater degree
of national-level government to regulate the nation’s economy in order to
promote “economic democracy” and secure rights (as the Hamiltonian
tradition down to modern “civil liberties” and “civil
rights” maintains).
Both
these over-arching themes and the nature of the readings present a distinctive
approach to American democracy and government. The approach is historical,
cultural, and philosophic, particularly emphasizing the mutual interdependence
of governmental and social institutions. It is further distinguished by its
purpose that (unlike POLS 100) is not necessarily to introduce students to the
sub-field of American politics, or even to the political science major/minor
(although it does that). It is aimed at all students whether or not they enter
the course intending further study of political science. Its aim is deepening citizen’s
understanding and awareness of persistent issues, arguments, and themes
of American democracy’s development.