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Summary
Summary
Democracy in America has had the singular honor of being even to this day the work that political commentators of every stripe refer to when they seek to draw large conclusions about the society of the United States. Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat, came to the young nation to investigate the functioning of American democracy and the social, political, and economic life of its citizens, publishing his observations in 1835 and 1840. Brilliantly written and vividly illustrated with vignettes and portraits, Democracy in America is far more than a trenchant analysis of one society at a particular point in time. What will most intrigue modern readers is how many of Tocqueville's observations still hold true: on the mixed advantages of a free press, the strained relations among the races, and the threats posed to democracies by consumerism and corruption.
So uncanny is Tocqueville's insight and so accurate are his predictions, that it seems as though he were not merely describing the American identity but actually helping to create it.
Author Notes
Alexis de Tocqueville was born in 1805 to a noble French family that had survived the French Revolution. His father gained some political power under the reign of the Bourbons, and after the July Revolution of 1830, the family was exiled along with the king. Tocqueville, then twenty-five years old, stayed in France, swearing allegiance to the new government. Shortly thereafter he and a friend, Gustave de Beaumont, sought and received a government assignment to study the prison system of the United States. They arrived in America in 1831. After extensive travels across the young nation, Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America (published in two volumes in 1835 and 1840). The publication of the first volume made Tocqueville a well-known figure, but he led a quiet life, accepting modest governmental posts, traveling around Europe, and marrying an Englishwoman. In 1848, Tocqueville once again rose to political prominence after a prescient speech that foretold of revolution. After serving through the massive upheavals and overthrows of government, Tocqueville retired from political life in 1849. Always weak in health, his lung disease grew progressively worse from that period on. Moving south several times on doctor's recommendations, Tocqueville succumbed to death in 1859, in Cannes.
Table of Contents
| Introduction Author's |
| Introduction |
| Part 1 |
| 1 Origin of the Anglo-Americans (II) |
| 2 Democratic Social Condition (III) |
| 3 The Sovereignty of the People in America (IV) |
| 4 Local Government (V) |
| 5 Decentralization in America--Its Effects (V) |
| 6 Judicial Power in the United States, and Its Influence on Political Society (VI) |
| 7 Aspects of the Federal Constitution (VIII) |
| 8 Political Parties (IX, X) |
| 9 Liberty of the Press in the United States (XI) |
| 10 Political Associations in the United States (XII) |
| 11 Advantages of Democracy in the United States (XIV) |
| 12 Unlimited Power of the Majority in the United States and Its Consequences (XV) |
| 13 Causes Which Mitigate the Tyranny of the Majority in the United States (XVI) |
| 14 Causes Which Tend to Maintain Democracy (XVII) |
| 15 Future Prospects of the United States (XVIII) |
| Part 2 Book I- Influence of Democracy Upon the Action of Intellect in the United States |
| 16 Philosophical Method of the Americans (I, II) |
| 17 Influence of Democracy on Religion (V, VI) |
| 18 Equality Suggests to the Americans the Idea of the Indefinite Perfectibility of Man (VIII) |
| 19 The Example of the Americans Does Not Prove That a Democratic People Can Have No Aptitude and No Taste for Science, Literature, or Art (IX) |
| 20 Why the Americans Are More Addicted to Practical than to Theoretical Science (X) |
| 21 In What Spirit the Americans Cultivate the Arts (XI) |
| 22 Literary Characteristics of Democratic Times (XIII) |
| 23 Of Some Sources of Poetry Amongst Democratic Nations (XVII) |
| 24 Why American Writers and Orators Often Use an Inflated Style (XVIII) |
| 25 Some Characteristics of Historians in Democratic Times (XX) Book II - Influence of Democracy on the Feelings of the Americans |
| 26 Why Democratic Nations Show a More Ardent and Enduring Love of Equality than of Liberty (I) |
| 27 Of Individualism in Democratic Countries (II) |
| 28 That the Americans Combat the Effects of Individualism by Free Institutions (IV) |
| 29 Of the Use Which the Americans Make of Public Associations in Civil Life (V) |
| 30 Of the Relation Between Public Associations and the Newspapers (VI) |
| 31 Relation of Civil to Political Associations (VII) |
| 32 Of the Taste for Physical Well-Being in America (XI) |
| 33 What Causes Almost All Americans to Follow Industrial Callings (XIX) |
| 34 How an Aristocracy May Be Created by Manufactures (XX) Book III - Influence of Democracy on Manners Properly So Called |
| 35 How Democracy Renders the Habitual Intercourse of the Americans Simple and Easy (II) |
| 36 Why the Americans Show So Little Sensitiveness in Their Own Country, and Are So Sensitive in Europe (III) |
| 37 Influence of Democracy on Wages (VII) |
| 38 Influence of Democracy on the Family (VIII) |
| 39 Young Women in a Democracy (IX, X) |
| 40 How Equality of Condition Contributes to Maintain Good Morals in America (XI) |
| 41 How the Americans Understand the Equality of the Sexes (XII) |
| 42 How the Principle of Equality Naturally Divides the Americans into a Multitude of Small Private Circles (XIII) |
| 43 Some Reflections on American Manners (XIV) |
| 44 Why the National Vanity of the Americans Is More Restless and Captious than that of the English (XVI) |
| 45 How the Aspect of Society in the United States Is at Once Excited and Monotonous (XVII) |
| 46 Why So Many Ambitious Men and So Little Lofty Ambition Are to Be Found in the United States (XIX) |
| 47 The Trade of Place-Hunting in Certain Democratic Countries (XX) |
| 48 Why Great Revolutions Will Become More Rare (XXI) |
| 49 Why Democratic Nations Are Naturally Desirous of Peace, and Democratic Armies of War (XXII) |
| 50 Causes Which Render Democratic Armies Weaker than Other A |
