Student Conference on the American Polity

Student Conference on the American Polity

A Tocqueville Forum-hosted event, in cooperation with the James Madison Program at Princeton.  This year, the Tocqueville Forum has expanded intercollegiate participation to include Boston College.  Undergraduate students from Georgetown University, Princeton University, and Boston College will present papers on political theory.  We welcome wide attendance to show the visiting students warm Georgetown hospitality.

10:00am – 10:05am Opening Remarks, Prof. Patrick Deneen, Founding Director, Tocqueville Forum
10:05am – 11:45am Panel 1: Foundational Principles

Randy Drew, Georgetown University, “Adam Smith, Publius and Alexis de Tocqueville: The Moral Psychology of Associations”
Michael Reer , Boston College, “Thomas Jefferson: The Founding Father of Strict Constructionism and Against Constitutional Supremacy” - Alex Henderson, Georgetown University “The Relevance of Aristotle's Conception of Friendship to American Political Life”
Respondents: Tocqueville Forum Graduate Fellows and Dr. Chris West, Tocqueville Forum Post-Doctoral Fellow

11:45am – 12:45pm Tour of Georgetown Campus
12:45pm – 1:45pm Lunch
2:00pm – 3:45pm Panel 2: Political Parties, Movements; The U.S. Senate

Matthew Sanyour, Princeton University, “The Philadelphia Machine and the Politics of the New Deal, 1932-1936” - Brian Lipshutz, Princeton University, “For Want of a Radical” - Zachary Markarian, Boston College, “Enduring Disparities in Constituency Size in the U.S. Senate”
Respondents: Tocqueville Forum Graduate Fellows

3:45pm – 4:00pm Break
4:00pm – 5:45pm Panel 3: Liberty and Democracy

Kees Thompson, Princeton University, “From Democracy toward Liberty” - Brendan Benedict, Boston College, “Exporting Tolerance Not Democracy” - Katelyn Jones, Georgetown University, “Freedom to the Slave: A Discussion of Various Takes on Freedom, drawing on the works of Douglass, Tocqueville, and Melville”
Respondents: Tocqueville Forum Graduate Fellows and Dr. Kenneth Kersch, Boston College
 

March 27, 2010 -- 10:00 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. Copley Formal Lounge


The Dahlgren Quadrangle has been the scene of some of Georgetown’s proudest moments including addresses given on the Old North porch to the student body by President George Washington, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, and numerous other dignitaries.