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Democracy in America
Democracy in America
Democracy in America
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Democracy in America

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In the early 19th century, a French sociologist and political scientist undertook a seven-month journey throughout the newly formed United States. Alexis de Tocqueville surveyed the young nation's religious, political, and economic character and reported his findings in two volumes, published in 1835 and 1840. Two centuries later, Democracy in America remains among the most astute and influential surveys of American politics and society.
de Tocqueville focuses on why republican representative democracy prevailed in the United States, tracing its success from the state of equality established by the early Puritan settlers through the American Revolution and adoption of the Constitution. His speculations on the future of democracy offer prescient, thought-provoking reading, and his classic work remains a touchstone for modern thinkers on government. This edition is based on the earliest approved translation, which has served as the standard version for over a century and comes closest to reflecting the author's insights as perceived by his contemporaries.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 1, 2017
ISBN9780486820644
Author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) was born in Verneuil, France. A historian and political scientist, he came to the United States in 1831 to report on the prison system. His experiences would later become the basis for his classic study Democracy in America.

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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Genius. Sheer genius. It seems like any book about American politics or history that I've read has at least one quote from this book, so I finally figured I should read it. Man, is this ever great. It's fascinating on so many levels. As history, it's primary source observations of a Frenchman who studied the United States in the 1830's. As a book on politics, it describes our government in depth, giving not just the facts of how it operates but also the rationale and history behind it. As a sociological tome, it mirrors the attitudes and behavior of the American people as well as contrasting those to the English and French. As a booster seat, it's nice and thick. It took me weeks to read (over a number of meals), and every day or so I found some tidbit to make me stop and think about the people around me--neighbors, co-workers, fellow church members. It's not a simple read, since Tocqueville, like other 19th century writers, is very lengthy and doesn't limit himself to one field of study. But it is definitely worth making an effort to read. Why I wasn't given this to read in high school, I don't know. Well, it's twenty years late, but I'm gonna put a copy on my shelf.--J.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There are so many ways to consider this book, I almost don't know where to start. First, one can think of it as a rich portrait of the United States in the 1830s, with a focus on political life but with social, cultural, and economic life examined as well. One can also appreciate this book as a view of the US from the perspective of a foreigner. Tocqueville flatters Americans quite often in this book, but he also makes numerous comparisons to European nations and points out what he sees as the fundamental differences in systems of government. One can also judge how well this work has stood the test of time and to what extent it still describes America today. I would argue that while many would like to say the country Tocqueville depicts is still in existence, he would also find the US much changed. The observances made about wealth, shared power with the people, and vast ambitions are starting to show their age - to the extent that Tocqueville might recognize different forces at work than those he focused on in this work.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Dated, but interesting
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    One of the most important political works of its time, Democracy In America is still referred to today.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The book's basis was a nine month visit to America by De Tocqueville in 1831, ostensibly to study America's prison system. It was an interesting time to visit America, half-way between the establishment of the constitution and the Civil War. In the course of the visit he met former president John Quincy Adams, then incumbent Andrew Jackson, Senator Daniel Webster and Sam Houston among others. He traveled the length and breath of a country much smaller than what we see on the map now. Before the Mexican-American War and Western expansion and he visited both North and South: New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans.The book is labelled as both American History and Political Science. De Tocqueville said the first volume was more about America, the second about democracy. The introduction by Mansfield and Winthrop, the translators and editors of the edition I read, called it both the best book on America and the best on democracy. That despite it being written by a French aristocrat--at least by birth although the introduction describes him as a democrat and liberal by conviction.De Tocqueville says in his own introduction he did not mean to write a "panegyric" to America. He's critical, at times presciently so, of America and democracy both, and doesn't pull his punches about how slavery and racism might pull apart the country. He doesn't hesitate to call slavery "evil" and his depiction of the plight of Native Americans is both insightful and heartbreaking. Surprisingly so, not what I expected from a Westerner writing in the 19th Century. Yet despite some sharp criticisms--and it being written by an outsider, a foreigner, the book has been embraced and quoted by Americans both from the Left and Right. It's said to be commonly assigned in political science courses and I wish some excerpts had been assigned in mine, instead of the execrable People's History by Zinn. De Tocqueville in the end strikes me as much more credible, still relevant and much more thought-provoking about democracy and its faultlines--especially the "tyranny of the majority."That's not to say this makes for easy reading. At times I considered giving up on it, slapping a two star rating as too tedious to read. Parts are a slog. I suggest anyone tackling this buy a paperback copy they don't feel hesitant to mark up and highlight and that they take it in short doses. This isn't one of those light, entertaining books. This isn't dessert or junk food. It's a meaty dish; one you chew on and parts can be hard to digest. But the man is brilliant. And it's surprising to me how 200 years later so much resonates in this book and is relevant to contemporary America and its politics. Well worth the effort to anyone interested in democracy or America. At least the first volume is, which definitely deserves five stars for amazing. That first volume was a popular bestseller in its day, the second volume less so, and I can understand that. As De Tocqueville noted, the first book is more on America, and is grounded in a lot of telling observations. Not that it's absent in this second book, but the second volume is a lot more theoretical, and I think a lot of its points are better made in the first part. I also admit I'm not inclined to accept one of his major themes in this second volume, that religion is essential to democracy. And he seems very much off the mark in his contention that American democracy doesn't produce great literature or advances in the sciences. Admittedly, in 1835 when this second volume was published, about the only well-known American writers of fiction were James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving. I can't say I much agree with his criticisms of individualism either. That's not to say reading both parts wasn't worthwhile, but less essential I feel than the amazing first volume.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is not for the faint of heart. But it is amazing that something written so long ago (and by one so young!) could still have the ring of truth to it. I'll admit, our book club voted to read it then mostly complained about its length, so we divided it up and each person was responsible for about 100 pages. Several of us got so interested that we read more than our assignment, but none of us (myself included) actually read the entire book. I'm thinking, now (writing this on Nov 5, 2008) that I should persevere and read it all.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    need I say Tocquville is a real genius comparable to Karl Marx and E H Carr? Quite good at drawing a grand design and making delicate distinctions. He can be funnier than Carr sometimes.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Offers an insightful analysis of our political system in the abstract. Many of the social particulars he writes about have obviously changed with time.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In a course I took the professor took about this book and it sounded very interesting. But when I finally read the book, it was hard to follow and I realized I liked the professor's explanation of the book better.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Alexis de Tocqueville last updated this work in 1848, 15 years after the original publication. He wrote it as a comparative sociological treatise, giving his forecast for the evolution of modern government as a lesson for post-monarchy France. The first book takes us through the political and governmental structure of US law. the detail is sufficient to allow a close look at such things as the local governing units (it is the township in Mass. and the county in Ohio). The second book contains the more philosophical commentary on the cultural and sociological factors -- and where they might lead. The trend toward equality and the natural tendency in turn toward centralization of power is a major theme throughout his work. He does point out a number of mitigating factors against each that should be encouraged. Another central theme is the importance of "mores" in the classical sense defined as the "whole moral and intellectual state of a people." His writing style is wonderful and very organized, with each section summarized with an abstract and each sub-section summarized by a single paragraph or sentence. The entire book is concluded with: "The nations of our day cannot prevent conditions of equality from spreading in their midst. But it depends upon themselves whether equality is to lead to servitude or freedom, knowledge or barbarism, prosperity or wretchedness."In laying the foundation, he mentions a number of great "leveling" factors that led to the trend toward equality. The development of trade and technology is shown to have taken the last remnants of nobility by surprise. Inheritance laws drove equality by weakening the preservation of estates. At the same time, the colonial laws in the US were both very democratic and yet often completely intolerant of religious or moral behaviors. The example of adulterous couples being sentenced to being whipped and then married is a sufficient example. He also discusses the relation between democracy and religion, at one point calling Catholicism the ultimate democracy and frequently showing the tolerance and commonality that results from the varied and varying religious sects. "Classical historians taught how to command; those of our own time teach next to nothing but how to obey." (p. 496). He observes that manufacturing leads to an equivalent of aristocracy with craftsmen slipping into the level of nothing, but workers and industrialists becoming a separate class.Regarding American government, he says that as an elected official, the President is a follower of the common will rather than a leader "The two main weapons used by the parties to assure success are newspapers and associations." (p. 179). He describes a constant lawmaking without lasting focus, resulting in a series of ideas half-completed (his example is the prison reform that created new prisons and a whole system more like medieval dungeons than before). Lawyers are America's aristocracy: "So hidden at the bottom of a lawyer's soul, one finds some of the tastes and habits of an aristocracy. They share its instinctive preference for order and its natural love of formalities; like it, they conceive a great distaste for the behavior of the multitude and secretly scorn the government of the people." (p. 264) "A French lawyer is just a man of learning, but an English or an American one is somewhat like the Egyptian priests, being, as they were, the only interpreter of an occult science." (p. 267). Three key factors to the stability of the US democracy are: the federal form giving the power of a great republic and the security of a small one, communal institutions to moderate the despotism of the majority, and the organization of judicial power. Congressman give speeches and muddle on in order to have text and quotes to send home to consituents, often saying things they don't understand themselves, so that "the debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, seeming to be dragged, rather than march, to the intended goal." Because of the necessity of individualism, democracy tends to make people forget their ancestry and remove themselves from their contemporaries; two methods by which Americans combat the effect of individualism are newspapers and associations (p.508)."As equality spreads and men individually become less strong, they ever increasingly let themselves glide with the stream of the crowd and find it hard to maintain alone an opinion abandoned by the rest." (p. 520). Comparing America to Europe, de Tocqueville observes few truly uneducated and few truly learned. When education is ending in America, it is just beginning for a European. Punishment is less severe but more likely. Impeachment is an administrative matter rather than a judicial one. It is lesser men who pursue politics as the more ambitious turn to industry. The marriage tie is more voluntary and fidelity adhered to, resulting in a more stable social infrastructure. Religion more powerful by being separate from the political. He observes a literary and artistic void due to concentration on industry, lack of leisure class, and lack of education. People learn government through participation and exercise of their rights; are more independent, more inward, but deny anything they cannot understand because they are more likely to have solved everything to get where they are. Democracy came about without an internal revolution, which meant no drastic change and subsequent stabilization. He sees less theoretical research but better application, "These same American who have never discovered a general law of mechanics have changed the face of the world by introducing a new machine for navigation." (p. 463). Women have more time to become individuals before marriage. Americans move around too much to allow manners to be established (because no chance for convention to solidify and no permanent relationship about which to worry). War, including duels, battle, and feuds, are considered worse than bankruptcy. People do not reach for ambitious goals. "... life is spent in coveting small prizes within reach." (p. 629).Regarding democracy itself, "It really is difficult to imagine how people who have entirely given up managing their own affairs could make a wise choice of those who are to do that for them. One should never expect a liberal, energetic, and wise government to originate in the votes of a people of servants." (p. 694). Among his final observations: "In democracies ignorance as much as equality will increase the concentration of power and the subjection of the individual." (p. 676)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a must have/must read for anyone who is interested in American history. Tocqueville gives a great explanation of America and its government. It is sometimes difficult to read because it was written by a Frenchman many, many years ago but that can be overlooked. Of note, many of Tocqueville's predictions about the state of world affairs turned out to be accurate. Overall, it's a must read for anyone.

Book preview

Democracy in America - Alexis de Tocqueville

DEMOCRACY IN

AMERICA

Alexis de Tocqueville

Translated by

Henry Reeve

Edited, with notes, by

Francis Bowen

TWO VOLUMES BOUND AS ONE

DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.

MINEOLA, NEW YORK

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2017, is an unabridged republication of two volumes originally published by Sever and Francis, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1863 [Third edition]. The works appear here for the first time as a bound volume.

Sensitive readers should be forewarned that the text in places contains racial and cultural references that may be deemed offensive by modern standards.

International Standard Book Number

ISBN-13: 978-0-486-81559-6

ISBN-10: 0-486-81559-5

Manufactured in the United States by LSC Communications

815595012017

www.doverpublications.com

DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA

VOLUME I

PREFACE

OF THE AMERICAN EDITOR.

THE present publication has been made to conform as nearly as possible to the twelfth edition of the original work, the latest which appeared at Paris under the direct supervision of the author. De Tocqueville appended to this edition, published in 1850, his essay, written three years before, for the Academy of the Moral and Political Sciences, on Democracy in Switzerland; a full report of his remarkable Speech in the Chamber of Deputies predicting the Revolution of 1848 just a month before its occurrence; and a feeling and eloquent Advertisement, addressed to his countrymen, pointing them to the example of the United States, and urging the study of American institutions as affording the most instructive lessons for the organization and conduct of the new French republic. These three additions are here for the first time translated, both because they have an intimate connection with the body of the work, and because they reflect much light upon the character and opinions of the writer towards the close of his life. The first of them is specially interesting to American readers, as it contains an able analysis and criticism of the republican institutions of Switzerland, illustrated by frequent comparison with the constitutions and laws of the American republics.

The writer’s confidence in the ultimate success and peaceful establishment of democracy, as the controlling principle in the government of all nations, seems to have been not only not impaired, but strengthened, in the latter part of his life, by the observations which he continued to make of the trial that it was undergoing in the United States, and of the progress and prosperity of this country in the years subsequent to the first publication of his great work. And if his life had been spared to witness the terrible ordeal to which the providence of God is now subjecting us, it may confidently be believed that this trust on his part would not have been shaken, even if he should have been compelled to admit, that the Federal tie which once bound our large family of democratic States together would probably never be reunited. He would clearly have seen, what most of the politicians of Europe seem at present incapable of perceiving, that it is not representative democracy, but the Federal principle, which is now on trial, and that the only question is, whether any bond is strong enough to hold together a confederacy so populous and extensive as to form in the aggregate the largest and most powerful empire that the world has ever known. He who would attempt to make up his own opinion on this great question can find no better guide than in the present work. De Tocqueville is the friend, but by no means the indiscriminate eulogist, of American institutions; and his criticisms, which are shrewd and searching, ought to be even more welcome than his commendations, for they are more instructive. He foresaw, if not the immmence, at least the probability, of the great convulsion which the country is now undergoing; and there can be no clearer indication of the causes which have at last induced it, than that which was made by this wise and impartial foreigner nearly thirty years ago.

The notes which I have made, though somewhat numerous, are generally very brief. They are notes, and not disquisitions, my object being only to elucidate or correct the text, and not to controvert or supplement it by foisting my own opinions upon the reader’s notice. Most of them are only corrections of slight errors on points of detail, such as a stranger who made but a short stay in the country could not be expected to avoid, or notices that some statements now require to be limited or modified, in consequence of the changes that have taken place during the last quarter of a century. An outline sketch of De Tocqueville’s life is designed only to satisfy curiosity as to the chief points in his career, without entering into any analysis of his character and labors. Those who seek further information can obtain it from the Memoirs and Correspondence that have recently been published by his life-long friend, M. de Beaumont.

In accepting an invitation to become the editor of this work, I supposed that it would only be necessary for me to translate the new matter that had been appended to the recent editions of the original, and to supply such brief annotations as a careful revision of the text might show to be necessary. It was intended to furnish an exact reprint of the English translation, which passed to a second edition in London, a year ago, under the respectable name of Mr. Henry Reeve. But a comparison of it with the original was hardly begun, before I found to my dismay that this translation was utterly inadequate and untrustworthy. As a pretty thorough exposure of its demerits has recently been made in an English periodical, where there can be no suspicion of an unfavorable bias, I can have no scruple in speaking of it as it deserves. It is generally feeble, inelegant, and verbose, and too often obscure and incorrect. On comparing every line of it with the original, the alterations which were found to be necessary were so numerous and sweeping, that perhaps the present edition, of the first volume at least, might more fitly be called a new translation than an amended one. The second volume, I ought to say, is somewhat better done; as it was published several years after the appearance of the first, forming in fact a distinct work, the translator had found time to increase his familiarity with the French language, and even to make some progress in his knowledge of English.

This is plain speaking, and I feel bound to vindicate it, by offering some specimens of the translation, both in its primitive and its amended state. The following extracts are taken almost at random from the body of the book, and the original is prefixed to facilitate the labor of comparison. The citations are all from the first volume, and the references for Mr. Reeve’s translation are to the second London edition, Longmans, 1862.

Des hommes sacrifient à une opinion religieuse leurs amis, leur famille et leur patrie; on peut les croire absorbés dans la poursuite de ce bien intellectuel qu’ils sont venus acheter à si haut prix. On les voit cependant rechercher d’une ardeur presque égale les richesses matérielles et les jouissances morales, le ciel dans l’autre monde, le bien-être et la liberté dans celui ci. Sous leur main les principes politiques, les lois et les institutions humaines semblent choses malléables, qui peuvent se tourner et se combiner à volonté Devant eux s’abaissent les barrières qui emprisonnaient la société au sein de laquelle ils sont nés; les vieilles opinions, qui depuis des siècles dirigeaient le monde, s’évanouissent; une carrière presque sans bornes, un champ sans horizon se découvre: l’esprit humain s’y précipite; il les parcourt en tous sens; mais, arrivé aux limites du monde politique, il s’arrête de lui-même; il dépose en tremblant l’usage de ses plus redoutables facultés; il abjure le doute; il renonce au besoin d’innover; il s’abstient même de soulever le voile du sanctuaire; il s’incline avec respect devant des vérités qu’il admet sans les discuter. — p. 52.

Chez les petites nations, l’œil de la société pénètre partout; l’esprit d’amélioration descend jusque dans les moindres détails: l’ambition du peuple étant fort tempérée par sa faiblesse, ses efforts et ses ressources se tournent presque entièrement vers son bien-être intérieur, et ne sont point sujets à se dissiper en vaine fumée de gloire. De plus, les facultés de chacun y étant généralement bornées, les désirs le sont également. La médiocrité des fortunes y rend les conditions à peu près égales; les mœurs y ont une allure simple et paisible. Ainsi, à tout prendre et en faisant état des divers degrés de moralité et de lumière, on rencontre ordinairement chez les petites nations plus d’aisance, de population et de tranquillité que chez les grandes.— p. 190.

On ne rencontrera jamais, quoi qu’on fasse, de véritable puissance parmi les hommes, que dans le concours libre des volontés. Or, il n’y a au monde que le patriotisme, ou la religion, qui puisse faire marcher pendant longtemps vers un même but l’universalité des citoyens.

Il ne dépend pas des lois de ranimer des croyances qui s’éteignent; mais il dépend des lois d’intéresser les hommes aux destinées de leur pays. Il dépend des lois de réveiller et de diriger cet instinct vague de la patrie qui n’abandonne jamais le cœur de l’homme, et, en le liant aux pensées, aux passions, aux habitudes de chaque jour, d’en faire un sentiment réfléchi et durable. Et qu’on ne dise point qu’il est trop tard pour le tenter; les nations ne vieillissent point de la même manière que les hommes. Chaque génération qui naît dans leur sein est comme un peuple nouveau qui vient s’offrir à la main du législateur. — pp. 113, 114.

La commune, prise en masse et par rapport au gouvernement central, n’est qu’un individu comme un autre, auquel s’applique la théorie que je viens d’indiquer.

La liberté communale découle done, aux États-Unis, du dogme même de la souveraineté du peuple; toutes les républiques américaines ont plus ou moins reconnu cette indépendance; mais chez les peuples de la Nouvelle-Angleterre, les circonstances en ont particulièrement favorisé le développe ment.

Dans cette partie de l’Union, la vie politique a pris naissance au sein même des communes; on pourrait presque dire qu’à son origine chacune d’elles était une nation indépendante. Lorsque ensuite les rois d’Angleterre réclamèrent leur part de la souveraineté, ils se bornèrent à prendre la puissance centrale. Ils laissèrent la commune dans l’état où ils la trouvèrent; maintenant les communes de la Nouvelle-Angleterre sont sujettes; mais dans le principe elles ne l’étaient point ou l’étaient à peine. Elles n’ont done pas reçu leurs pouvoirs; ce sont elles au contraire qui semblent s’être des-saissies, en faveur de l’État, d’une portion de leur indépendance: distinction importante, et qui doit rester présente à l’esprit du lecteur.

Les communes ne sont en général soumises à l’État que quand il s’agit d’un intérêt que j’appellerai social, c’est-à-dire qu’elles partagent avec d’autres. Pour tout ce qui n’a rapport qu’à elles seules, les communes sont restées des corps indépendants; et parmi les habitants de la Nouvelle-Angleterre, il ne s’en rencontre aucun, je pense, qui reconnaisse au gouvernement de l’État le droit d’intervenir dans la direction des intérêts purement communaux.

On voit done les communes de la Nouvelle-Angleterre vendre et acheter, attaquer et se défendre devant les tribunaux, charger leur budget ou le dégrever, sans qu’aucune autorité administrative quelconque songe à s’y opposer.

Quant aux devoirs sociaux, elles sont tenues d’y satisfaire. Ainsi, l’État a-t-il besoin d’argent, la commune n’est pas libre de lui accorder ou de lui refuser son concours. L’Etat veut-il ouvrir une route, la commune n’est pas maîtresse de lui fermer son territoire. Fait-il un réglement de police, la commune doit l’exécuter. Veut-il organiser l’instruction sur un plan uniforme dans toute l’étendue du pays, la commune est tenue de créer les écoles voulues par la loi. — pp. 77, 78.

D’une autre part, je doute fort qu’un vêtement particulier porte les hommes publics à se respecter eux-mêmes, quand ils ne sont pas naturellement disposés à le faire; car je ne saurais croire qu’ils aient plus d’égard pour leur habit que pour leur personne.

Quand je vois, parmi nous, certains magistrats brusquer les parties ou leur adresser des bons mots, lever les épaules aux moyens de la défense et sourire avec complaisance à l’énumération des charges, je voudrais qu’on essayât de leur ôter leur robe, afin de découvrir si, se trouvant vêtus comme les simples citoyens, cela ne les rappellerait pas à la dignité naturelle de l’espèce humaine.

Aucun des fonctionnaires publics des États-Unis n’a de costume, mais tous reçoivent un salaire.

Ceci découle, plus naturellement encore que ce qui précède, des principes démocratiques. Une démocratie peut environner de pompe ses magistrats et les couvrir de soie et d’or sans attaquer directement le principe de son existence. De pareils priviléges sont passagers; ils tiennent à la place, et non à l’homme. Mais établir des fonctions gratuites, c’est créer une classe de fonctionnaires riches et indépendants, c’est former le noyau d’une aristocratie. Si le peuple conserve encore le droit du choix, l’exercice de ce droit a done des bornes nécessaires.

Quand on voit une république démocratique rendre gratuites les fonctions rétribuées, je crois qu’on peut en conclure qu’elle marche vers la monarchie. Et quand une monarchie commence à rétribuer les fonctions gratuites, c’est la marque assurée qu’on s’avance vers un état despotique ou vers un état républicain. — pp. 245, 246.

Ce qu’ils apercevaient d’abord, c’est que le conseil d’Etat, en France, étant un grand tribunal fixé au centre du royaume, il y avait une sorte de tyrannie à renvoyer préliminairement devant lui tous les plaignants. — p. 126.

Les peuples entre eux ne sont que des individus. C’est surtout pour paraître avec avantage vis-à-vis des étrangers qu’une nation a besoin d’un gouvernement unique. — pp. 137, 138.

Il y a des gens en France qui considèrent les institutions républicaines comme l’instrument passager de leur grandeur. Ils mesurent des yeux l’espace immense qui sépare leurs vices et leurs misères de la puissance et des richesses, et ils voudraient entasser des ruines dans cet abîme pour essayer de le combler. Ceux-là sont à la liberté ce que les compagnies franches du moyen âge étaient aux rois; ils font la guerre pour leur propre compte, alors même qu’ils portent ses couleurs: la république vivra toujours assez longtemps pour les tirer de leur bassesse présente. Ce n’est pas à eux que je parle. — p. 356.

Perhaps it is not too much to say of a work which has hitherto been before the English and American public only in such a translation as this, that it still remains to be perused by them for the first time in a form in which it can be understood and appreciated. I have bestowed a good deal of labor upon it, in the hope of aiding the circulation of a book of which it has been justly said by the highest living authority on the science of general politics, Mr. John Stuart Mill, that it is such as Montesquieu might have written, if to his genius he had superadded good sense, and the lights which mankind have since gained from the experiences of a period in which they may be said to have lived centuries in fifty years. Especially ought it to be generally studied here in the United States, where no thinking man who exercises the privileges of a voter can fail to derive from it profitable information respecting the nature of the institutions under which he lives, together with friendly warnings and wise counsels to aid him in the proper discharge of his political duties.

CAMBRIDGE, August 5, 1862.

AUTHOR’S ADVERTISEMENT

TO THE TWELFTH EDITION*

HOWEVER sudden and momentous the events which we have just beheld so swiftly accomplished, the author of this book has a right to say that they have not taken him by surprise. † His work was written fifteen years ago, with a mind constantly occupied by a single thought, — that the advent of democracy as a governing power in the world’s affairs, universal and irresistible, was at hand. Let it be read over again, and there will be found on every page a solemn warning, that society changes its forms, humanity its condition, and that new destinies are impending. It was stated in the very Introduction of the work, that the gradual development of the principle of Equality is a providential fact. It has all the chief characteristics of such a fact; it is universal, it is durable, it constantly eludes all human interference, and all events as well as all men contribute to its progress. Would it be wise to imagine that a social movement, the causes of which lie so far back, can be checked by the efforts of one generation? Can it be believed that the democracy, which has overthrown the feudal system and vanquished kings, will retreat before tradesmen and capitalists? Will it stop now that it is grown so strong and its adversaries so weak?

He who wrote these lines in the presence of a monarchy which had been rather confirmed than shaken by the Revolution of 1830, may now fearlessly ask again the attention of the public to his work. And he may be permitted to add, that the present state of affairs gives to his book an immediate interest and a practical utility which it had not when it was first published. Royalty was then in power; it has now been overthrown. The institutions of America, which were a subject only of curiosity to monarchical France, ought to be a subject of study for republican France. It is not force alone, but good laws, which give stability to a new government. After the combatant, comes the legislator; the one has pulled down, the other builds up; each has his office. Though it is no longer a question whether we shall have a monarchy or a republic in France, we are yet to learn whether we shall have a convulsed or a tranquil republic, — whether it shall be regular or irregular, pacific or warlike, liberal or oppressive, — a republic which menaces the sacred rights of property and family, or one which honors and protects them both. It is a fearful problem, the solution of which concerns not France alone, but the whole civilized world. If we save ourselves, we save at the same time all the nations which surround us. If we perish, we shall cause all of them to perish with us. According as democratic liberty or democratic tyranny is established here, the destiny of the world will be different; and it may be said that this day it depends upon us, whether the republic shall be everywhere finally established, or everywhere finally overthrown.

Now this problem, which among us has but just been proposed for solution, was solved by America more than sixty years ago. The principle of the sovereignty of the people, which we enthroned in France but yesterday, has there held undivided sway for over sixty years. It is there reduced to practice in the most direct, the most unlimited, and the most absolute manner. For sixty years, the people who have made it the common source of all their laws have increased continually in population, in territory, and in opulence; and — consider it well — it is found to have been, during that period, not only the most prosperous, but the most stable, of all the nations of the earth. Whilst all the nations of Europe have been devastated by war or torn by civil discord, the American people alone in the civilized world have remained at peace. Almost all Europe was convulsed by revolutions; America has not had even a revolt.* The republic there has not been the assailant, but the guardian, of all vested rights; the property of individuals has had better guaranties there than in any other country of the world; anarchy has there been as unknown as despotism. Where else could we find greater causes of hope, or more instructive lessons? Let us look to America, not in order to make a servile copy of the institutions which she has established, but to gain a clearer view of the polity which will be the best for us; let us look there less to find examples than instruction; let us borrow from her the principles, rather than the details, of her laws. The laws of the French republic may be, and ought to be, in many cases, different from those which govern the United States; but the principles on which the American constitutions rest, — those principles of order, of the balance of powers, of true liberty, of deep and sincere respect for right, — are indispensable to all republics; they ought to be common to all; and it may be said beforehand, that wherever they shall not be found, the republic will soon have ceased to exist.

1848.


* The twelfth edition of this work appeared at Paris in 1850, and this Advertisement was prefixed to it by De Tocqueville in reference to the French Revolution of 1848. —AM. ED.

† The writer here alludes to a speech which he made in the Chamber of Deputies, on the 27th of January, 1848, just one month before the Revolution was accomplished. He annexed a report of this speech to the twelfth edition of his work, and a translation of it will be found at the end of the second volume. — AM. ED.

* Thank God that this is history, though it is not the present fact. The record of what our country has been, and of what she accomplished during three quarters of a century, is beyond the power even of a gigantic rebellion to blot out. Let only the faint-hearted, on looking into the past, exclaim, with the great Italian,

"Nessun maggior dolore

Che ricordarsi del tempo felice

Nella miseria."

Nobler spirits will say, though the memory of what has been be the only star which shines in the thick darkness that now surrounds us, it shall light us on to mightier efforts, and kindle in our hearts a surer hope of the reappearance of the day, — of a day whose sunshine shall not be broken even by the one dark cloud that dimmed our former prosperity. — AM. ED.

CONTENTS OF VOL. 1.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I.

EXTERIOR FORM OF NORTH AMERICA

CHAPTER II.

ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS, AND IMPORTANCE OF THIS ORIGIN IN RELATION TO THEIR FUTURE CONDITION

Reasons of certain Anomalies which the Laws and Customs of the Anglo-Americans present

CHAPTER III.

SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS

The striking Characteristic of the Social Condition of the Anglo- Americans is its essential Democracy

Political Consequences of the Social Condition of the Anglo-Americans

CHAPTER IV.

THE PRINCIPLE OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE IN AMERICA

CHAPTER V.

NECESSITY OF EXAMINING THE CONDITION OF THE STATES BE FORE THAT OF THE UNION AT LARGE

The American System of Townships

Limits of the Township

Powers of the Township in New England

Life in the Township

Spirit of the Townships of New England

The Counties of New England

The Administration of Government in New England

General Remarks on the Administration in the United States

OF THE STATE

Legislative Power of the State

The Executive Power of the State

Political Effects of decentralized Administration in the United States

CHAPTER VI.

JUDICIAL POWER IN THE UNITED STATES, AND ITS INFLUENCE ON POLITICAL SOCIETY

Other Powers granted to American Judges

CHAPTER VII.

POLITICAL JURISDICTION IN THE UNITED STATES

CHAPTER VIII.

THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION

History of the Federal Constitution

Summary of the Federal Constitution

Powers of the Federal Government

Legislative Powers of the Federal Government

A further Difference between the Senate and the House of Representatives

The Executive Power

In what the Position of a President of the United States differs from that of a Constitutional King of France

Accidental Causes which may increase the Influence of the Executive Government

Why the President of the United States does not need a Majority in the two Houses in Order to carry on the Government

Election of the President

Mode of Election

Crisis of the Election

Re-election of the President

Federal Courts of Justice

Means of determining the Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts

Different Cases of Jurisdiction

Procedure of the Federal Courts

High Rank of the Supreme Court amongst the great Powers of State

In what respects the Federal Constitution is superior to that of the States

Characteristics of the Federal Constitution of the United States of America as compared with all other Federal Constitutions

Advantages of the Federal System in general, and its special Utility in America

Why the Federal System is not practicable for all Nations, and how the Anglo-Americans were enabled to adopt it

CHAPTER IX.

HOW IT CAN BE STRICTLY SAID THAT THE PEOPLE GOVERN IN THE UNITED STATES

CHAPTER X.

PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES

Remains of the Aristocratic Party in the United States

CHAPTER XI.

LIBERTY OF THE PRESS IN THE UNITED STATES

CHAPTER XII.

POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

CHAPTER XIII.

GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA

Universal Suffrage

The Choice of the People, and the Instinctive Preferences of the American Democracy

Causes which may partly correct these Tendencies of the Democracy

Influence which the American Democracy has exercised on the Laws relating to Elections

Public Officers under the Control of the American Democracy

Arbitrary Power of Magistrates under the Rule of the American Democracy

Instability of the Administration in the United States

Charges levied by the State under the Rule of the American Democracy

Tendencies of the American Democracy as regards the Salaries of public Officers

Difficulty of distinguishing the Causes which incline the American Government to Economy

Whether the Expenditure of the United States can be compared with that of France

Corruption and the Vices of the Rulers in a Democracy, and consequent Effects upon Public Morality

Efforts of which a Democracy is capable

Self-Control of the American Democracy

Conduct of Foreign Affairs by the American Democracy

CHAPTER XIV.

WHAT ARE THE REAL ADVANTAGES WHICH AMERICAN SOCIETY DERIVES FROM A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT

General Tendency of the Laws under the American Democracy, and Instincts of those who apply them

Public Spirit in the United States

Notion of Rights in the United States

Respect for the Law in the United States

Activity which pervades all Parts of the Body Politic in the United States; Influence which it exercises upon Society

CHAPTER XV.

UNLIMITED POWER OF THE MAJORITY IN THE UNITED STATES, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

How the Omnipotence of the Majority increases, in America, the Instability of Legislation and Administration inherent in Democracy

Tyranny of the Majority

Effects of the Omnipotence of the Majority upon the arbitrary Authority of American Public Officers

Power exercised by the Majority in America upon Opinion

Effects of the Tyranny of the Majority upon the National Character of the Americans. — The Courtier-spirit in the United States

The greatest Dangers of the American Republics proceed from the Omnipotence of the Majority

CHAPTER XVI.

CAUSES WHICH MITIGATE THE TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY IN THE UNITED STATES

Absence of Centralized Administration

The Profession of the Law in the United States serves to counterpoise the Democracy

Trial by Jury in the United States considered as a Political Institution

CHAPTER XVII.

PRINCIPAL CAUSES WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC IN THE UNITED STATES

Accidental or Providential Causes which contribute to maintain the Democratic Republic in the United States

Influence of the Laws upon the Maintenance of the Democratic Republic in the United States

Influence of Manners upon the Maintenance of the Democratic Republic in the United States

Religion considered as a Political Institution, which powerfully contributes to the Maintenance of the Democratic Republic amongst the Americans

Indirect Influence of Religious Opinions upon Political Society in the United States

Principal Causes which render Religion powerful in America

How the Education, the Habits, and the practical Experience of the Americans promote the Success of their Democratic Institutions

The Laws contribute more to the Maintenance of the Democratic Republic in the United States than the Physical Circumstances of the Country, and the Manners more than the Laws

Whether Laws and Manners are sufficient to maintain Democratic Institutions in other Countries besides America

Importance of what precedes with Respect to the State of Europe

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION OF THE THREE RACES WHICH INHABIT THE TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES

The Present and probable Future Condition of the Indian Tribes which inhabit the Territory possessed by the Union

Situation of the Black Population in the United States, and Dangers with which its Presence threatens the Whites

What are the Chances of Duration of the American Union, and what Dangers threaten it

Of the Republican Institutions of the United States, and what their Chances of Duration are

Some Considerations on the Causes of the Commercial Prosperity of the United States

CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION.

AMONGST the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of condition among the people. I readily discovered the prodigious influence which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society; it gives a peculiar direction to public opinion, and a peculiar tenor to the laws; it imparts new maxims to the governing authorities, and peculiar habits to the governed.

I soon perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the government; it creates opinions, gives birth to new sentiments, founds novel customs, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that this equality of condition is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.

I then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, and thought that I discerned there something analogous to the spectacle which the New World presented to me. I observed that equality of condition, though it has not there reached the extreme limit which it seems to have attained in the United States, is constantly approaching it; and that the democracy which governs the American communities appears to be rapidly rising into power in Europe.

Hence I conceived the idea of the book which is now before the reader.

It is evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is going on amongst us; but all do not look at it in the same light. To some it appears to be novel but accidental, and, as such, they hope it may still be checked; to others it seems irresistible, because it is the most uniform, the most ancient, and the most permanent tendency which is to be found in history.

I look back for a moment on the situation of France seven hundred years ago, when the territory was divided amongst a small number of families, who were the owners of the soil and the rulers of the inhabitants; the right of governing descended with the family inheritance from generation to generation; force was the only means by which man could act on man; and landed property was the sole source of power.

Soon, however, the political power of the clergy was founded, and began to increase: the clergy opened their ranks to all classes, to the poor and the rich, the vassal and the lord; through the Church, equality penetrated into the Government, and he who as a serf must have vegetated in perpetual bondage took his place as a priest in the midst of nobles, and not unfrequently above the heads of kings.

The different relations of men with each other became more complicated and numerous as society gradually became more stable and civilized. Hence the want of civil laws was felt; and the ministers of law soon rose from the obscurity of the tribunals and their dusty chambers, to appear at the court of the monarch, by the side of the feudal barons clothed in their ermine and their mail.

Whilst the kings were ruining themselves by their great enterprises, and the nobles exhausting their resources by private wars, the lower orders were enriching themselves by commerce. The influence of money began to be perceptible in state affairs. The transactions of business opened a new road to power, and the financier rose to a station of political influence in which he was at once flattered and despised.

Gradually the diffusion of intelligence, and the increasing taste for literature and art, caused learning and talent to become a means of government; mental ability led to social power, and the man of letters took a part in the affairs of the state.

The value attached to high birth declined just as fast as new avenues to power were discovered. In the eleventh century, nobility was beyond all price; in the thirteenth, it might be purchased. Nobility was first conferred by gift in 1270; and equality was thus introduced into the government by the aristocracy itself.

In the course of these seven hundred years, it sometimes happened that the nobles, in order to resist the authority of the crown, or to diminish the power of their rivals, granted some political influence to the common people. Or, more frequently, the king permitted the lower orders to have a share in the government, with the intention of depressing the aristocracy.

In France, the kings have always been the most active and the most constant of levellers. When they were strong and ambitious, they spared no pains to raise the people to the level of the nobles; when they were temperate and feeble, they allowed the people to rise above themselves. Some assisted the democracy by their talents, others by their vices. Louis XI. and Louis XIV. reduced all ranks beneath the throne to the same degree of subjection; and, finally, Louis XV. descended, himself and all his court, into the dust.

As soon as land began to be held on any other than a feudal tenure, and personal property in its turn became able to confer influence and power, every discovery in the arts, every improvement in commerce or manufactures, created so many new elements of equality among men. Henceforward every new invention, every new want which it occasioned, and every new desire which craved satisfaction, was a step towards a general levelling. The taste for luxury, the love of war, the empire of fashion, and the most superficial as well as the deepest passions of the human heart, seemed to co-operate to enrich the poor and to impoverish the rich.

From the time when the exercise of the intellect became a source of strength and of wealth, we see that every addition to science, every fresh truth, and every new idea became a germ of power placed within the reach of the people. Poetry, eloquence, and memory, the graces of the mind, the glow of imagination, depth of thought, and all the gifts which Heaven scatters at a venture, turned to the advantage of the democracy; and even when they were in the possession of its adversaries, they still served its cause by throwing into bold relief the natural greatness of man. Its conquests spread, therefore, with those of civilization and knowledge; and literature became an arsenal open to all, where the poor and the weak daily resorted for arms.

In running over the pages of our history for seven hundred years, we shall scarcely find a single great event which has not promoted equality of condition.

The Crusades and the English wars decimated the nobles and divided their possessions: the municipal corporations introduced democratic liberty into the bosom of feudal monarchy; the invention of fire-arms equalized the vassal and the noble on the field of battle; the art of printing opened the same resources to the minds of all classes; the post-office brought knowledge alike to the door of the cottage and to the gate of the palace; and Protestantism proclaimed that all men are alike able to find the road to heaven. The discovery of America opened a thousand new paths to fortune, and led obscure adventurers to wealth and power.

If, beginning with the eleventh century, we examine what has happened in France from one half-century to another, we shall not fail to perceive, at the end of each of these periods, that a twofold revolution has taken place in the state of society. The noble has gone down on the social ladder, and the commoner has gone up; the one descends as the other rises. Every half-century brings them nearer to each other, and they will soon meet.

Nor is this peculiar to France. Whithersoever we turn our eyes, we perceive the same revolution going on throughout the Christian world. The various occurrences of national existence have everywhere turned to the advantage of democracy: all men have aided it by their exertions, both those who have intentionally labored in its cause, and those who have served it unwittingly; those who have fought for it, and those who have declared themselves its opponents, have all been driven along in the same track, have all labored to one end; some ignorantly and some unwillingly, all have been blind instruments in the hands of God.

The gradual development of the principle of equality is, therefore, a Providential fact. It has all the chief characteristics of such a fact: it is universal, it is durable, it constantly eludes all human interference, and all events as well as all men contribute to its progress.

Would it, then, be wise to imagine that a social movement, the causes of which lie so far back, can be checked by the efforts of one generation? Can it be believed that the democracy which has overthrown the feudal system, and vanquished kings, will retreat before tradesmen ana capitalists? Will it stop now that it has grown so strong, and its adversaries so weak?

Whither, then, are we tending? No one can say, for terms of comparison already fail us. The conditions of men are more equal in Christian countries at the present day than they have been at any previous time, or in any part of the world; so that the magnitude of what already has been done prevents us from foreseeing what is yet to be accomplished.

The whole book which is here offered to the public has been written under the impression of a kind of religious terror produced in the author’s mind by the view of that irresistible revolution which has advanced for centuries in spite of every obstacle, and which is still advancing in the midst of the ruins it has caused.

It is not necessary that God himself should speak in order that we may discover the unquestionable signs of his will. It is enough to ascertain what is the habitual course of nature and the constant tendency of events. I know, without a special revelation, that the planets move in the orbits traced by the Creator’s hand.

If the men of our time should be convinced, by attentive observation and sincere reflection, that the gradual and progressive development of social equality is at once the past and the future of their history, this discovery alone would confer the sacred character of a Divine decree upon the change. To attempt to check democracy would be in that case to resist the will of God; and the nations would then be constrained to make the best of the social lot awarded to them by Providence.

The Christian nations of our day seem to me to present a most alarming spectacle; the movement which impels them is already so strong that it cannot be stopped, but it is not yet so rapid that it cannot be guided. Their fate is still in their own hands; yet a little while, and it may be so no longer.

The first of the duties which are at this time imposed upon those who direct our affairs, is to educate the democracy; to renovate, if possible, its religious belief; to purify its morals; to regulate its movements; to substitute by degrees a knowledge of business for its inexperience, and an acquaintance with its true interests for its blind instincts; to adapt its government to time and place, and to make it conform to the occurrences and the men of the times. A new science of politics is needed for a new world.

This, however, is what we think of least; placed in the middle of a rapid stream, we obstinately fix our eyes on the ruins which may still be descried upon the shore we have left, whilst the current hurries us away, and drags us backward toward the gulf.

In no country in Europe has the great social revolution which I have just described made such rapid progress as in France; but it has always advanced without guidance. The heads of the state have made no preparation for it, and it has advanced without their consent or without their knowledge. The most powerful, the most intelligent, and the most moral classes of the nation have never attempted to take hold of it in order to guide it. The democracy has consequently been abandoned to its wild instincts, and it has grown up like those children who have no parental guidance, who receive their education in the public streets, and who are acquainted only with the vices and wretchedness of society. Its existence was seemingly unknown, when suddenly it acquired supreme power. Every one then submitted to its caprices; it was worshipped as the idol of strength; and when afterwards it was enfeebled by its own excesses, the legislator conceived the rash project of destroying it, instead of instructing it and correcting its vices. No attempt was made to fit it to govern, but all were bent on excluding it from the government.

The consequence has been, that the democratic revolution has taken place in the body of society, without that concomitant change in the laws, ideas, customs, and manners, which was necessary to render such a revolution beneficial. Thus we have a democracy, without anything to lessen its vices and bring out its natural advantages; and although we already perceive the evils it brings, we are ignorant of the benefits it may confer.

While the power of the crown, supported by the aristocracy, peaceably governed the nations of Europe, society, in the midst of its wretchedness, had several sources of happiness which can now scarcely be conceived or appreciated. The power of a part of his subjects was an insurmountable barrier to the tyranny of the prince; and the monarch, who felt the almost divine character which he enjoyed in the eyes of the multitude, derived a motive for the just use of his power from the respect which he inspired. The nobles, high as they were placed above the people, could not but take that calm and benevolent interest in their fate which the shepherd feels towards his flock; and without acknowledging the poor as their equals, they watched over the destiny of those whose welfare Providence had intrusted to their care. The people, never having conceived the idea of a social condition different from their own, and never expecting to become equal to their leaders, received benefits from them without discussing their rights. They became attached to them when they were clement and just, and submitted to their exactions without resistance or servility, as to the inevitable visitations of the Deity. Custom and the manners of the time, moreover, had established certain limits to oppression, and put a sort of legal restraint upon violence.

As the noble never suspected that any one would attempt to deprive him of the privileges which he believed to be legitimate, and as the serf looked upon his own inferiority as a consequence of the immutable order of nature, it is easy to imagine that some mutual exchange of good-will took place between two classes so differently gifted by fate. Inequality and wretchedness were then to be found in society; but the souls of neither rank of men were degraded.

Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power, or debased by the habit of obedience; but by the exercise of a power which they believe to be illegitimate, and by obedience to a

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