A history of the development of the idea of democracy and the development of democratic institutions, principally in Europe and the United States, from the ancient Greeks to the present.  Most of the reading will be documents which bear on the principles of democracy, either favoring them or in opposition.  Students are encouraged to explore the strengths and weakness of the democratic process and of democracy itself.

Course Goals:

* Introduce students to the major historical events and conflicts which have influenced the development of democratic ideas and democratic institutions.

* Introduce students to the key concepts and components of modern democracy including limited government, participation, representation, human rights, self-determination, and the rule of law.

* Promote appreciation for the study of history and its relevance to understanding contemporary issues and controversies.

*Enhance students' ability to make logical, coherent and persuasive arguments in written and oral presentations.

COMMON READINGS ARE FROM:

The Democratic Idea

Swanson, Greco, Moskowitz, Speakman, Stein

Dubuque, IA:  Kendall-Hunt Publishing Co., 2001.

THEY INCLUDE:

#1, Euripides, Democracy and Despotism

#2,  Pericles, Funeral Oration

#3,   Thucydides, The Melian Dialogue

#4,    Aristotle, Democratic Judgment and the "Middling" Constitution

#5,   Polybius, The Republican Constitution at Its Height

#6,   Cicero, On The Laws

#7,    "Magna Carta"

#8,   John Milton, Areopagitica

#9,  Thomas Hobbes, "The Social Contract"  from Leviathan

#10,   John Locke, Toleration and Government

#11,  John Locke, Second Treatise of Government

#12,   Immanuel Kant,  What is Englishtenment?

#13,   Thomas Jefferson,  The Declaration of Independence

#14,   Edmund Burke On Election to Parliament

#15,  John Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity (1630)

#16,  John Winthrop, On Liberty (1645)

#17,    Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens

#18,    The Constitution of the United States including the Bill of Rights

#19,  {James Madison} The Federalist #10

#20,  {James Madison}  The Federalist #51

#21,    Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

#22,   Sarah Grimke, Legal Disabilities of Women (1838)

#23,   Sarah Grimke,  Letters on the Equality of the Sexes

#24 The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

#25,   John Stuart Mill, The Subjugation of Women

#26,   Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience

#27,    Abraham Lincoln,  Speech at Peoria

#28,    Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address

#29,   Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto

#30  John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

#31,  Plessy v. Fergusson, AND

J. Harlan,  "Dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson"

#32,    "Brown vs. Board of Education"

#33,    Benito Mussolini, Doctrine of Fascism

#34,    Winston Churchill,  The Iron Curtain

#35,   V. I. Lenin,  State and Revolution

#36,  Emma Goldman, Patriotism, a Menace to Liberty

#37,  Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr,  Buck v. Bell (1927)

#38,  Robert D.  Kaplan,  Was Democracy Just a Moment?

The underlined titles or authors in blue are linked to related websites.  New links will be added as they are discovered.

Faculty teaching Core 102 will make selections from the above, and add other materials of their own choice.  Consult individual syllabi for requirements, including other books to purchase. 

NOT ALL SECTIONS REQURE THE SAME PURCHASES!

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Fall Semester, 2002

History    and the Modern World

Core 102, Roger Williams University