Lehrman American Studies Center

• This is an advanced course on the modern liberal, commercial republic as it is represented in the thinking of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Tocqueville. It assumes your familiarity with the general outlines of the history of political thought and with history of self-government in ancient and modern times. Those entirely unfamiliar with these matters may find it useful to peruse the three volumes of the paperback edition of my study Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution or the single-volume hardback edition. If you know nothing of the French Revolution, you might consider reading R. M. Johnston, The French Revolution: A Short History.

• The period to be studied is that which stretches from the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century to the death of Tocqueville one hundred fifty years ago. Our initial task will be to familiarize ourselves with the political implications of the thinking of Blaise Pascal and his disciple Pierre Nicole in the 1670s. Then, we will turn briefly to Bernard Mandeville’s notorious Fable of the Bees, glance at a set of crucial passages from John Locke’s An Essay concerning Human Understanding, and take note of Voltaire’s Philosophical Letters before considering Montesquieu’s Persian Letters, his Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline, and his Spirit of Laws. Only when we have thoroughly immersed ourselves in Montesquieu’s thinking will we turn to Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Alexis de Tocqueville. Our ultimate purpose will be to assess the prospects for liberal democracy in our own time.

• The following books are available at the bookstore: all should be purchased by every student enrolled in this course.

1. Colin Jones, The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon (Penguin)
2. Blaise Pascal, Pensées (Hackett)
3. Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees (Liberty Fund Voltaire, The Philosophical Letters (Hackett)
4. Montesquieu, The Persian Letters (Penguin)
5. _____, Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline (Hackett) The Spirit of the Laws (Cambridge)
6. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Discourses and Other Early Political Writings, tr. Victor Gourevitch (Cambridge)
7. _____, The Social Contract and Other Later Political Writings, tr. Victor Gourevitch (Cambridge)
8. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, tr. Harvey C. Mansfield & Delba Winthrop (University of Chicago Press)

Other materials, including some secondary works, will be placed on reserve in Mossey Library.

• There will be two preliminary examination, which will be administered in our assigned classroom at our normal class time on Wednesday, 23 January, and Wednesday, 26 March: each will cover everything assigned to be read prior to the date of the examination. In the course of the term, each student will be required to write three typed, double-spaced, 1500-word papers (due at 2 p.m. on 2 February, 15 February, and 4 April, respectively); one typed, double-spaced, 3000- word paper (due at 2 p.m. on 7 March); and one typed, double-spaced 6000-word paper (due at 2 p.m. on 5 May). Topics will be assigned at least one week in advance of the date each paper is due. Completed papers should be placed in the bin on the wall outside my door in Kendall 214. Delivery by e-mail is not acceptable.

• In addition, each student will be assigned two classes for which to prepare questions that will serve as a basis for discussion in that class. These questions should be e-mailed to the entire class by 10 p.m.on the evening before the class is held.

• No incompletes or extensions will be given; no make-up examinations will be administered. Incapacitating illness or serious family problems (such as the sudden death of a close relative) are the only grounds excusing the failure to take an examination or turn in a paper as scheduled. I will ask to see written evidence that you were under the care of a physician or the equivalent.

• To avoid difficulties that may arise if a paper is somehow misplaced, students should photocopy their papers before turning them in. Students will be penalized severely for turning papers in after the deadline. In grading the papers, I will pay careful attention to style as well as content. Students who fail to do on time the preparatory questions for the class for which they were assigned will be given a grade of 0%on the assignment.

• This will be a discussion course, not a lecture course. Classroom attendance is mandatory; late arrival for class will not be tolerated; participation in discussions is presumed. Each student is expected to have done the assigned reading for each and every class on time and to have reviewed the questions e-mailed to the class the evening before; each student should bring to class the materials (books, essays, questions) that are to form the basis for our discussion that day. Those who show up without having done the reading or without having the requisite materials in hand will be asked to leave. In computing the term grade, the instructor will give a 8% weighting to the grade given each of the two examinations and each of the three short papers; he will give a 5% weighting to the grade given each of the two sets of questions produced by each student and a 5% weighting to that given for class participation; he will give a 15% weighting to the grade assigned the 3000-word paper and a 30% weighting to the grade assigned the 6000-word paper.

SCHEDULE OF READINGS

I cite many of the works listed below by the divisions provided by the author or by subsequent editors (i.e., by part, book, chapter, section, paragraph, number, and the like).

Week I: 14-18 January 2008: Introduction (Wednesday, 16 January 2008)

• Blaise Pascal, Pensées nos. S1-253, S452-66, S485-87, S496-99, S502, S512-16, S519-27, S528-32, S534-41, S544-55, S559-90, S644, S646, S648, S653, S661, S669-71, S680-90, S743, S761, S786.

Week II: 21-25 January 2008: The Jansenist Political Vision

• Pierre Nicole, “Of Charity and Self-Love [l’amour propre],” in [Nicole], Moral Essays:Contain’d in Several Treatises on Many Important Duties (London: R. Bentley and M. Magnes, 1680), III 123-76 (PDF File).

Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees I 17-37.

• John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding II.vii.1-2, x.9, xx.6, 15, xxi.29-71 (PDF File).
• First Preliminary Examination (23 January)

Week III: 28 January - 1 February 2008: Montesquieu’s Satire I

• Jones, The Great Nation 1-81.
• Montesquieu, The Persian Letters Author’s Introduction, nos. 1-52.
• Montesquieu’s Satire II
• Montesquieu, The Persian Letters nos. 53-107.

Week IV: 4-8 February 2008

• First Paper Due (4 February)
• Montesquieu’s Satire III
• Montesquieu, The Persian Letters nos. 108-161. The French Discovery of England
• Jones, The Great Nation 82-124.
• Voltaire, The Philosophical Letters nos. 1-10, 25.

Week V: 11-15 February 2008: Montesquieu’s Rome

• Montesquieu, Considerations on the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline
• Introduction, I-XIV After Rome
• Montesquieu, Considerations on the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline XVXXIII
• _____, Reflections on Universal Monarchy in Europe, tr. David Carrithers (PDF File)
• _____, The Spirit of the Laws 2.11.6, 3.19.27.
• Second Paper Due (15 February)

Week VI: 18-22 February 2008

• Montesquieu: Introduction and Typology I
• Jones, The Great Nation 125-70.
• Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws [Author’s] Preface, 1.1-3 (with Author's Foreword)—cited by part, book, and chapter.
• Montesquieu: Typology II
• Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws 1.4-5; 1.6.1-3, 5, 8-9, 17, 21; 1.7-8.

Week VII: 25-29 February 2008: Liberty and the English Polity

• Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws 2.9-10; 2.11.1-9, 11, 13, 18 (pp. 179, 182-84), 19-20; 2.12-13.
• Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws 3.19.27. Climate, Geography, Mores, Manners, and Polity
• Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws 3.14; 3.15.1-9, 13, 18-19; 3.16.1-2, 6, 8-12, 15; 3.17; 3.18.1-9, 11, 14-18, 30; 3.19.1-9, 11-12, 14-27.

Week VIII: 3-7 March 2008: Commerce I

• Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws 4.20, 4.21.1-7, 10-15, 17-23; 4.22.

Demography, Religion, and Legislation in General

• Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws 4.23, 5.24-26, 6.29.
• Third Paper Due (7 March)

Week IX: 10-14 March 2008: The Enlightenment Indicted: The Philosopher and the Man of Letters

• Jones, The Great Nation 171-225.
• Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts
• ____, Preface to Narcissus
• Inequality: Its Origin
• Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men

Week X: 17-21 March 2008

• Spring Vacation
• Jones, The Great Nation 226-580.

Week XI: 24-28 March 2008: Beyond Inequality

• Rousseau, Discourse on Political Economy
• Second Preliminary Examination (26 March)

Week XII: 31 March - 4 April 2008: Citizenship as a Remedy I

• Rousseau, The Social Contract I-III
• Citizenship as a Remedy II
• Rousseau, The Social Contract IV
• _____, Considerations on the Government of Poland and its Projected Restoration [2] -[5]
• Fourth Paper Due (4 April)

Week XIII: 7-11 April 2008: Point of Departure, État Social, and Commune

• Tocqueville, Democracy in America Introduction, I.i.1-7
• State and Union
• Tocqueville, Democracy in America I.i.5-8.

Week XIV: 14-18 April 2008: Popular Sovereignty and Majority Tyranny

• Tocqueville, Democracy in America I.ii.1-8
• Democratic Prospects
• Tocqueville, Democracy in America I.ii.9-10

Week XV: 21-25 April 2008: The Democratic Intellect

• Tocqueville, Democracy in America II.i
• Sentiments and Mores
• Tocqueville, Democracy in America II.ii-iii

Week XVI: 28 April - 2 May 2008: Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift

• Tocqueville, Democracy in America II.iv
• Dead Period
• No Classes, No Reading, No Final Examination

Week XVII: 5-9 May 2008: Fifth and Final Paper Due (5 May)

GRADING CRITERIA FOR PAPERS

• The following are guidelines that I will follow in grading your papers.

In order to earn an A, a paper has to satisfy all of the following criteria:

• A It must demonstrate a solid understanding of the meaning and significance of the pertinent historical evidence or document(s), a mastery of the arguments advanced in the lectures and discussions and in the reading assigned, and a grasp of other pertinent elements present in the evidence or the text(s) under scrutiny.
  • It must embody a relevant, coherent, and well-argued response to the material under examination.
  • It must evidence an understanding of the subtle points in the reading and a sustained effort to think critically about them.
  • It must demonstrate sensitivity to conceptual nuances and counter-arguments introduced in the reading and discussions.
  • It must contain very, very few (if any) misspellings, grammatical errors, or other mechanical problems.
  • Grades lower than an A (90-100) signify a failure to satisfy any one (or more) of the above criteria. Lower grades will be assigned according to the following guidelines (any one of the following will be sufficient reason for assigning the corresponding letter grade or number grade within the range designated): B (80-90), C (70-80), D (60-70), F (under 60).

• B No major misunderstanding of the reading, but some minor misunderstandings: vagueness, imprecision, minor errors of interpretation, insufficiently critical treatment of the evidence, etc.
  • Some weakness in the response: dogmatic or uncritical assertion, begging the question, blurring some distinctions, irrelevancy, invalidity, inconsistency, missing the point slightly, considering only weak counter-arguments.
  • Understood the main points of the reading, but evidenced only adequate effort in thinking critically about them. Some insensitivity to issues raised in the readings.
  • More than one or two misspellings, grammatical errors, or other mechanical problems.
  • Clearly did the reading, but not with full attention and care.

• C Some major misunderstandings of the claims, arguments, or conceptual distinctions advanced in the reading or discussion.
  • A response that is in significant ways irrelevant, incoherent, or poorly argued.
  • Attributing to the authors claims they explicitly deny, or which contradict other of their views. Attributing to authors conclusions that do not follow from their views.
  • Failure to give a critical response: failing to consider counter-arguments found in the readings; mere summary or description instead of analysis; assertion instead of argument; uncritical assessment of evidence.
  • Quite a number of misspellings, grammatical errors, or other mechanical problems.
  • One or more sentences that are incomprehensible as written.
  • Unclear how much work was put into the assignment, or whether all of the reading was completed. May have just picked up arguments from class and a superficial reading.

• D Partial failure to address the requirements of the assignment.
  • Unacceptable brevity.
  • Little awareness demonstrated of the structure and significance of the major arguments contained in the reading.
  • Partial ignorance of the pertinent evidence.
  • Inadequate understanding of the pertinent evidence.
  • An unacceptable number of misspellings, grammatical errors, or other mechanical problems.
  • An unacceptable number of sentences that are incomprehensible as written.
  • Clearly an inadequate amount of effort put into the assignment.

• F More or less complete failure to address the requirements of the assignment.
  • Gross ignorance of the pertinent evidence.
  • Completely uncritical treatment of the evidence.
  • Virtually no awareness demonstrated of the structure and significance of the major arguments contained in the reading.
  • Insulting brevity.
  • An insulting number of misspellings, grammatical errors, or other mechanical problems.
  • Little or no genuine effort put into the assignment.

• A number grade of "0" will be given to papers that are not handed in at all. Anyone caught cheating on an examination or plagiarizing another's work will receive a failing grade in the course. Students are expected to be familiar with the college’s honor code and academic misconduct policy as spelled out in the pertinent documents.
• I reserve the right to give any student an oral examination on any written assignment. Anyone with a disability who needs special accommodation should inform me within the first week of the term.