ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY
CORE 102 (HONORS SECTIONS)
THE IDEA OF DEMOCRACY
FALL, 2000
JOSHUA B. STEIN
Office: Feinstein Hall CL 106B
Phone: 254-3223 (from on campus you need merely dial the last four numbers)
E-mail: jbs@alpha.rwu.edu
Hours: Monday, Wednesday Friday 2:00-3:00; Tuesday, Thursday, 10:00-11:00. In addition I will be in the office many other hours during any given day, but call before you come over. There may also be times when I am not in during posted office hours. This will be because something has taken me away—a meeting, usually. It’s best if you know you want to see me to stop me after class to make an appointment.
Required Reading will be from the following:
Gaustad, Edwin. Liberty of Conscience: Roger Williams in America
Greco, Ernie et al. Ideas on Democracy
Ketcham, Ralph. The
Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates
Stein, Joshua.
Shout Across Time: The Joy of
History
Our focus this semester will be on the United States Constitution as a vehicle for the promotion of democracy. The questions we will ask include: Is the Constitution a democratic document now? Was it originally? What were the sources that went into its creation? What were the arguments associated with its writing, its ratification, its interpretation (these latter continue). We will begin with a detailed look at the document and then work our way slowly backwards to see what went into it. First political and intellectual developments of the seventeenth and eighteenth century will be discussed, then some aspects of the renaissance and medieval period and finally antiquity, both Greek and Roman will be perused as they relate to ideas that the founders had when writing and arguing over the document. When we have completed our look at the elements that went into the creation of the document we will explore some of the ways it has not worked well. I have in mind the role of women and African-Americans.
I would like the class to operate as a series of discussions and debates rather than as a collection of formal lectures. I can lecture extensively on many subjects under review this semester and you can develop writer’s cramp and memorize what I have to say, but I don’t think we’ll be doing a lot of that (though there will be lectures). Some of our debates will be planned. Student X and Student Y will be asked to prepare arguments in favor and in opposition to elements under discussion, then later in the semester, X and Y may be surprised to find that fate has chosen them to argue with no more advanced notice than being told on the spot that they will be arguing something from the previous night’s reading. Sometimes we will not have formal discussion/debate, they will just happen. I will feel free to express opinions, some of which I believe, others, which I don’t, but always they will be based on fact. You will express opinion, some of which you believe, some of which you don’t but you too will always base your statements on facts. Remember, in these debates/discussions stand up to me; remember: I am not always arguing a position I truly believe; remember: sometimes I am making someone else’s case, someone long dead, whose opinion I may be expressing, but with whom I do not (or do) agree. I see my role as the person against whom you will sharpen your thought processes, or force you to re-evaluate your beliefs. What you believe is your business, not mine. I’d like you to know why you believe what you do and to learn how to stand up to authority. It will come in handy some day.
Grades will be based on 4 elements, all roughly of equal importance:
class (though if I wanted to do this right I’d make both of them surprises).
Registrar in its Infinite Wisdom
A note on the term paper: Papers will cover one of four alliterative topics: People (who made the Constitution); Places (where prior constitutions had existed as models); Policies (debated in the Constitutional Convention); Progenitors (those who had political philosophies that the founders accepted or rejected in whole or in part). Some examples follow; they are only examples:
People Places Policies
Progenitors
G. Washington Athens States v National govt. Plato
G. Mason Sparta 1 executive or many Aristotle
B. Franklin Republican Rome Role of executive Cicero
A. Hamilton Imperial Rome 1 legislative house or 2 Aquinas
J. Madison 18th century Britain Role of the house(s) Machiavelli
R. Sherman Role of the judiciary Hobbes
J. Adams Slavery Locke
T. Jefferson Rights of the people Rousseau
The Virginia Plan Montesquieu
The New Jersey Plan British Common Law
Students are asked to pick one of these topics and discuss its/their role in shaping the constitution as it emerged in 1787. Texts should include materials read in class, of course, but also found through research. I am available for consultation. The usual rules apply—10 to 12 pages typed double spaced, proper grammar, accurate spelling, and fascinating use of the language. Unless otherwise stated due dates are as follows:
September 15 topics due
October 6 outline and bibliography due
November 20 OR November 27 papers due
(depending on whose Thanksgiving break you want to spoil, mine—submit by the 20th, or yours—submit on the 27th.
Unit 1
What is history, its methods and purposes? (Specific readings will be given in class)
Unit 2
What does the 1787 Constitution say and what are the arguments used in favor and in opposition to specific elements of it? (Specific readings will be given in class)
Unit 3
What were the arguments in favor and in opposition to its ratification? (Specific readings will be given in class)
Unit 4
The Bill of Rights. (Specific readings will be given in class)
Unit 5
Seventeenth and Eighteenth century background to the thinking of proponents and opponents of the Constitution. (Specific readings will be given in class)
Unit 6
Medieval and Renaissance ideas on government. (Specific readings will be given in class)
Unit 7
Ancient ideas on government. (Specific readings will be given in class)
Unit 8
Women in the American system (Specific readings will be given in class)
Unit 9
African-Americans in the American system (Specific readings will be given in class)