Item 2. Alexis de Tocqueville, “Principle of the Sovereignty of the People of North America.” Informed by your reading of Tocqueville’s thought, evaluate in a 4-5 sentence paragraph the following claim: No system of government can be both, at the same time, democratic and tyrannical.
Item 3. Theodore Roosevelt and American Progressivism. In his essay, “Two Noteworthy Books on Democracy,” Theodore Roosevelt discusses the ideas of Herbert Croly and Walter Lippmann. In his remarks about Lipmann, Roosevelt explains that the former believed “There can be no real political democracy, unless there is something approaching an economic democracy.” What might the term economic democracy mean? What do progressives see as the relationship between the health of a society’s economy and the health of its democracy? Explain in a 4-5 sentence paragraph.
Item 4. (10 pts) American Civil Liberties. Recall (perhaps you’ll need to re-read this item) our discussion of (a very small portion of) Justice Jackson’s opinion for the Supreme Court in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943). Further recall that in this opinion Justice Jackson defends the Court’s decision to strike down a West Virginia state law. That law, you’ll remember, required school children to, at the beginning of each school day, salute the American flag. Now, then, how might we reconcile Justice Jackson’s position in the case with the principle that in America “the people are sovereign,” i.e., that law and policy should be determined by the collective voice of the people expressed through the mechanism of their elected representatives (in the state legislature or Congress)? Limit your response to two well-developed paragraphs.
