Reference no: EM133702342

Assignment:

Go In depth on the following questions. Also include material from the listed sources in addition to 6 citations to support. How does Tocqueville define the principle of popular sovereignty? What is new about that principle in Tocqueville's view? In what ways is this principle evident in or protected by colonial constitutions? Relate classical republican themes (be sure you know what "republican" means) in American political development as well as those emphasizing classical liberal themes.

As Carey (2003/2004) notes, these have emerged as two major paradigms within literature on the American founding, with republican-oriented works explaining American colonial life and government (and ultimately, the U.S. Constitution) as being shaped by republican ideals and liberal-progressive works explaining this same era of political development as a product of political and economic self-interests/individualism. A third paradigm, closely aligned with the republican school, is one emphasizing the role of Protestantism in political development. These three competing schools of thought serve as a baseline for scholarship on this topic-i.e. not perfectly categorizing scholarship but organizing general trends.

Sources to use:

• Chapters of Democracy in America : In Two Volumes by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume 1. Part 1
• Pages 89-111, and 167-170 of Liberty, Order, and Justice An Introduction to the Constitutional Principles of American Government, third edition by James McClellan
• From Covenant to Constitution in American Political Thought by Donald S. Lutz
• Penn's Charter of Libertie - April 25, 1682
• The Third Charter of Virginia; March 12, 1611