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Tocqueville's America (P01701)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : HCA-P-TocqUSA

In 1831 a French aristocrat and civil servant, Alexis de Tocqueville, made a nine-month journey through the eastern United States. After his return to France Tocqueville produced a two-volume study of American society, culture and politics, Democracy in America (1835-1840). Democracy in America is generally regarded as the most insightful and valuable interpretation of the United States and its culture by a foreign observer. For the better part of two centuries politicians, social commentators, and historians around the world have drawn on Tocqueville to help them understand and explain America. This course seeks to examine the history of the United States during the 1830s' a period of rapid political, economic and social transformation - through a close reading of Democracy in America.

This course will:

- consider Democracy in America in the context of the Enlightenment efforts to explain America to European audiences
- consider Tocqueville's account of the social and political organisation of Jacksonian America
- consider the role of religion in American society and politics during the 1830s
- examine the regional differences in American culture identified by Tocqueville
- place Democracy in America in the context of the historiography of Jacksonian America

Entry Requirements

? This course is not available to visting students.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Postgraduate (School of History and Classics), (School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Schedule E)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 1 hour(s) 50 minutes per week for 11 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully complete the course should:

- acquire a detailed understanding of American society during the 1830s
- acquire a detailed understanding of the context in which Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America
- have an advanced understanding of the secondary literature on Tocqueville and Jacksonian America

Further they should also be able to:

- engage in historical and historiographical debates, both orally and in writing
- set their own research ag.enda for postgraduate research in the history of the United States during the 1830s
- prepare and present their own work to seminars
- actively participate in group discussion
- be able to efficiently access library and IT resources