Note: Before attempting the assignment, please read Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville, edited and abridged by Heffner.
Also the answers should be brief and not too long
Assignment 1
Chapter 5; Decentralization in America-Its Effects
This is a meaty chapter for its own sake, full of good counsel about governance and leadership in a democratic society. Its subject is decentralization of government-the vesting of power in local authorities. This was the opposite of the situation in France, where unitary, centralized government prevailed. We're reading this chapter in conjunction with a lecture that tells the story of decentralized democracy run riot under the name of "popular sovereignty."
- In what things does centralized administration excel? In what things does decentralized administration excel?
- What is the effect of decentralization on the American attitude? (This is what Tocqueville calls "the political effect of decentralization.")
- How is it that in such a disorganized country as the United States, the laws are well enforced? And given what Tocqueville says on this subject, how would you go about lowering the high crime rate in America today?
- Are you management material? If so, comment on what this chapter teaches you about organization and leadership in America.
Assignment 2
Chapter 20: Why the Americans Are More Addicted to Practical than to Theoretical Science
It happens that in the middle of the Civil War, in 1862, Congress passed the Morrill Act, creating land-grant colleges across the United States. That's why we're reading this chapter of Tocqueville now.
- In higher learning we speak of "pure research," done simply to expand knowledge, without regard to practical use; of "applied research," done to address some problem in society (say, wheat scab in North Dakota); and "technology," meaning taking the knowledge into practice. Can you find the origins of these categories in Tocqueville?
- What sort of science flourishes in a democracy? How can you explain the eventual scientific supremacy of the United States?
- Land-grant universities such as NDSU have been called "democracy's colleges." How does the type of research and learning done here match up with Tocqueville's sense of science in a democracy?
Assignment 3
Chapter 25: Characteristics of Historians in Democratic Times
We read this chapter at the close of the course as a means of reflecting back and thinking about how History is done.
- The main concept in this chapter has to do with what historians call "causation," that is, how to explain why things happened as they did. What sort of explanations does aristocratic historians offer? What sort of explanations do democratic historians offer?
- Based on what you have heard in class, and on the ideas in this chapter of Tocqueville, is the instructor of this course an aristocratic historian or a democratic historian?