Introduction

One might say that America has always been democratic:  the cabin boy on the Mayflower joined in signing the Compact.  However, those who founded the United States as a representative democracy did so with souls furnished by the culture of aristocratic Europe.  This old culture was illiberal and pre-modern.  As such, even as Europe remained in one sense the model for all American attempts at expressions of self-knowledge or beauty, that model quickly began to feel like a poor fit for this young, rude, and vigorous country.  At issue was not just a matter of taste, but of completing the project begun with the founding.  How could a democratic nation express itself in the borrowed elegance of an aristocratic past?  Beginning in the first half of the nineteenth century in particular, Americans have self-consciously addressed themselves to making sense of their new situation, one largely without precedent in human history.  What does it mean to have a democratic culture?  In this lecture and seminar series, we wish to take a look at how leading American statesmen, poets, novelists, film-makers and philosophers thought to build a democratic ethos in this country.             Our series this year will have a variety of formats (see attached schedule).  Robert Dawidoff of the History Department of Claremont University will begin this year’s series on Wednesday, October 17 with a lecture on two essays from George Santayana’s collection The Genteel Tradition.  Robert Dawidoff will also lead a discussion of the film “Top Hat” after its showing on the evening of Thursday, October 18.  On Wednesday, October 31 Joel Schwartz of the Hudson Institute will give a lecture on the subject of his recent book, Fighting Poverty with Virtue: Moral Reform and America’s Urban Poor, 1825-2000.  On Tuesday, November 6 and Wednesday November 7 David Bromwich of the English Department at Yale will lead two seminars on the theme of “American Possibility and American Necessity.”  Readings discussed will include the essays Emerson’s “Self Reliance”and Ralph Ellison’s “An Extravagance of Laugher,” short stories by Hawthorne, James, Hemingway, and O’Connor, and poems by Emily Dickinson.  As the third part of this series of seminars, he will also lead a discussion of the film “His Girl Friday” after its showing on Thursday night, November 8.  In winter quarter on Wednesday, February 6 Steven Kautz of the Department of Political Science of Michigan State University will give a lecture on “Lincoln’s America.” On Wednesday, February 20, Catherine Zuckert of the Department of Government and International Relations of the University of Notre Dame will give a lecture on “Tom Sawyer: Potential President.”  In spring quarter on Wednesday, April 3 Robert Ferguson of the Law School of Columbia University will give a lecture “Menace, Massacre, Memory: James Fenimore Cooper Writes the Last Early Republican Text,” and will conduct a seminar on the subject of his lecture the following afternoon.  On Wednesday, May 15 Louis Menand, Professor of English of the Graduate Faculty of the City University of New York, will give a lecture on the subject of the decade of the 1950s in America, and will the next day conduct a seminar on the same subject.   In addition to the lectures in this series, there will be a lecture Wednesday, January 16 by Stanley Fish of the University of Illinois at Chicago sponsored by the Olin Center on the thought of Jűrgen Habermas entitled “There is no Such Thing as an Orientation to Understanding.”   Inquiries should be directed to Stephen Gregory (773-702-3423; stephen-gregory@uchicago.edu).  Visit the Olin Center web site (http://olincenter.uchicago.edu/) for possible updates.

Wednesday, February 6 4:30pm Social Science 122	Steven Kautz, Department of Political Science, Michigan State University On Lincoln's America
Wednesday, February 20 4:30pm Social Science 122	Catherine Zuckert, Department of Government and International Studies, University of Notre Dame Tom Sawyer: Potential President

Wednesday, April 3 4:30pm Social Science 122	Robert Ferguson, Law School, Columbia University  Menace, Massacre, Memory: James Fenimore Cooper Writes the Last Early Republican Text
Thursday, April 4 (to be determined)	Robert Ferguson, Law School, Columbia University  Seminar
Wednesday, May 15 4:30pm Social Science 122	Louis Menand, English Department, Graduate Center, City University of New York Democratic Culture for Export: The Case of the Movies
Thursday, May 16 4:30pm (to be determined)	Louis Menand, English Department, Graduate Center, City University of New York Seminar