COL 200LEC - “We the People”: On Democracy and Justice in America

This course explores issues central to democracy. First, it examines the relation between democracy’s claim to protect and promote both universal freedom and universal equality. Second, it considers the unresolvable tension between popular sovereignty (“we”) and individual rights (“I”). Third, it considers the limitation of democracy in its necessary calculus of citizenship, the dual question of both how to count and who counts. Fourth the course takes up the role of narrative (recounting and accounting, telling) in establishing citizenship and the tradition or legacy of democracy. The course focuses on detailed readings and discussions of founding and foundational documents of the United States’ democratic experiment: declaration of independence, articles of confederation, constitution of the United States, debates on the constitution; writings of Jefferson, Douglass, Lincoln, Stanton and Anthony, Larsen, MLK, Morrison; and major supreme court decisions concerning citizenship, racial equality, reproductive rights, rights to privacy, same sex marriage. In sum, “We the people” asks what it means to be a citizen and why democracy is at once the worst and the best form of government. In sum, in its consideration of the language of democracy–of citizenship and rights–“We the People” asks what it means when African-American novelist Toni Morrison remarks, in Beloved, that the story of slavery and of a mother’s desire to “free” her daughter is “not” one “to pass on.” What does it mean not “to pass on” the haunted narrative of our cultural and legal inheritance? This course involves an experiential learning assignment for which, should it take place off campus, students will be responsible for their providing own transportation.

Credits: 3

Grading
Graded (GRD)

Typically Offered:
Spring