I'll want to continue our discussion of Thoreau and his ideas on Civil Disobedience. Thoreau raises important issues regarding the relationship between private conscience and public responsibility. You will remember that Kant suggests each of us can play two roles... one of which is "Scholar". The Scholar in us is free to argue, debate, and raise issues to its heart's content. But in our social roles it is our duty to comply with authority. Thoreau won't settle for this. He demands a society in which the private conscience is supreme. In this he is similar to John Stuart Mill, whom we'll read a bit later in this course.
Thoreau at 39. (1856) The Thoreau Reader is a wonderful website. Thorough and well organized. It is worth a visit. It is worth several visits. Visit it by clicking on the image at the left. Thoreau wrote of himself, "The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?"
Read, in Greer & Lewis, The Spread of Liberal Democracy and Nationalism, pp. 484-500.
Read, in Idea of Democracy
The picture of "Liberty" to the left catches some of the turmoil associated with France in the 19th century. Succeeding periods swung between revolution and reaction about once per generation. The picture is by the great romantic painter, Eugene Delacroix, and dates to the middle of the 1830s. I've chosen to link it to a marvelous French Revolution site.
Napoleon as Emperor by Ingres
Most of Europe experienced a wave of revolution in 1848 - 1849, The Icon for Germay, Germania (left) represents romantic German ideals of that period. The revolution in Germany was a conspicuous failure, but it wasn't influence in the United States. Many liberals fled in the face of Conservative reaction and settled here, marking a second wave of German immigration to the United States. (The first took place in Colonial times).
Louis-Philippe, (above) Constitutional Monarch of France, on the model of the English Monarchy
Emperor Napoleon III of the Second Empire. Short lived (this Napoleon was captured in battle in 1870), this Second Empire gave its name to a popular American Architectural style. The "Mansard Roof" (remember the Addams Family Mansion?) was named after the Architect Mansart, whom Napoleon III employed to redesign Paris into a more Imperial city.
Clicking on each image will bring you to a related website.
#s 16 and 17. "Legal Disabilities of Women, " and Letters on the Equality of Sexes. (Sarah Grimke) pp. 64-71
Aside from the question o abolition of Slavery, perhaps the most controversial issues raised concerned the status of women. Angelina and Sarah Grimke were central figures in the period of the birth of feminism. Thoreau made his pronouncements concerning the conflict between conscience and civic responsibility in the context of "insider". As a white male, he had the suffrage and could participate in the political process to the degree he wished to participate (which was not very much).
Do his ideas apply to those who are outsiders as well? We'll begin to explore this.
ALSO read, Democracy and Equality, by Alexis De Docqueville, pp. 57-64
While it looked as if Europe and the United States would follow parallel courses of development at the beginning of the 19th century, by the middle of the century it became clear that they would develop quite differently from each other, and it is this difference which intrigued the Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville.
De Tocqueville sought to understand the different course "progress" took in America. A look at the chart on the top of p. 485 will suggest something of the difference which was of concern to him. France passed through five forms of government in a matter of less than 70 years. This section of the book will highlight some of the forces at work in the 19th century.America may not have experienced the kind of revolution which shook Europe, but that doesn't mean it escaped the fervor for reform.
C-Span supported a website devoted to de Tocqueville and his relevancy in our days. Click on the picture to the left to visit it.
