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Democracy in America by
Alexis de Tocqueville, is known the world over, studied by scholars and
statesmen, and read in schools. At one time it even achieved the distinction of
being made into a special edition for use in schools. For generations, both
parents and children studied the government of the United States from this
book. Today this book is largely forgotten.
The book was written by a foreign
visitor from France who came to America to discover her secret to success to
share with the rest of the world. Sometimes, an outsider can take look at the
American experience with a different perspective and contrast it with
situations at home where freedom is less prevalent. This contrast can sometimes
give foreigners a deeper appreciation than native born citizens.[1]
Such was the case with Alexis de Tocqueville. With no formal degree in
sociology or political science he toured America with his companion, Gustave de
Beaumont, and discovered more insight into the heart of America than any
scholarly work. Perhaps their observations can help us learn more about our
true identity as Americans established in our national birth certificate, the
Declaration of Independence. This section is a summary of his observations.
BACKGROUND
Alexis de Tocqueville was the son
of a noble statesmen and born on the tenth day of Thermidor in the year XIII.[2]
He was deeply religious by nature having been taught in the aristocratic
fashion by a family priest named Abbe Lesuer. At age 20, Tocqueville met a
young magistrate, Gustave de Beaumont,
and found that he was a man after his own heart. Soon they were
confiding in each other all their own idealist ambitions, and their hopes for
France. The friendship between them lasted throughout the rest of their lives.
Like boyhood pals they plunged together into a project of an intense course of
studies using the classical learning techniques they had acquired at high
school in Metz. They had learned to write down their own reflections and
observations while reading[3]
(the reflect and record method). They began by reading John Lingard’s History
of England and inwardly digested the principles of liberty the British had
struggled to achieve over the centuries. They studied the works of the
celebrated French economist J. B. Say so they could understand free market
principles that purportedly worked in America. They took courses together on
the History of France by the controversial Professor Guizot. Guizot had been dismissed a few years
earlier from the University of Sorbonne because of his progressive views on
republican ideals that ran contrary to the monarchial regime of that day.
Guizot taught that history was governed by a set of exorable laws and was a
chain of related events. He taught that society was making an evitable march
toward greater freedom for all classes of men. These ideas inspired the pair
and instilled within them a yearning to help bring greater liberty to their
beloved France.
In 1830, the French monarch
Charles X fell from power and was deposed by Louis Philippe. This change caused
the Tocqueville family to fall out of favor with the administration and they
retired from court. This gave Tocqueville and Beaumont even more motivation to
achieve their life-long dream of visiting
America. They justified the trip to the new administration by
establishing it as a research project on prison reform in America. At that time
prison systems were being reformed in America with the object of changing them
from places of punishment to places of penance and reclamation. The new ideas
of prison reform achieved successful results. Examining the prison system and
reporting on it would be the perfect excuse to visit America. This was their
chance to discover how a republic works and to become missionaries of freedom
to the rest of the world. Here are some of Tocqueville’s own feelings on the
matter:
“I have long had the greatest desire to visit North America: I shall go
see there what a great republic is like; my only fear is lest , during that
time, they establish one in France…..We are leaving with the intention of
examining, in detail and as scientifically as possible, all the mechanism of
that vast American society which every one talks of no one knows. And if events
leave us the time, we are counting on bringing back the elements of a fine work
or , at the very least, of a new work; for there is nothing on this subject.”
HIS MISSION
Tocqueville and Beaumont spent
the year 1831 touring a broad cross section of America. Many communities,
having received letters of introduction introducing them as visiting French
dignitaries, warmly welcomed them.
Tocqueville and Beaumont refined their English while on board ship on
their way to America. They desired to communicate fluently in order to
thoroughly understand America. Wherever they went Tocqueville would interrogate
and take notes of conversations with anybody regardless of race, creed or
wealth --
“Knowing exactly what we want to ask, the smallest
conversations are instructive, and we can say that there is not a man, on
whatever rung of society he finds himself, who cannot teach us something…”
(Tocqueville in America p.113)
He viewed his visit to
America as a sacred missionary endeavor that would help spread the word of
liberty that was providentially sweeping the earth --
“Besides, you know that the great object in this life is to forget, so
far as it is possible, that it exists. Now I defy any one to imagine an
existence (except that of a minister, however) which draws a man more
completely out of himself…” (Ibid p.390)
“ It is
evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is going on amongst
us;… Whithersoever we turn our eyes we shall witness the same continual
revolution throughout the whole of Christendom. The various occurrences of
national existence have everywhere turned to the advantage of democracy; all
men have aided it by their exertions: 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 equality of conditions is therefore a providential
fact, and it possesses all the characteristics of a divine decree: it is
universal, it is durable, it constantly eludes all human interference, and all
events as well as all men contribute to its progress.”
“The first duty which is at this time imposed upon
those who direct our affairs is to educate the democracy; to warm its faith, if
that be possible; to purify its morals; to direct its energies; to substitute a
knowledge of business for its inexperience, and an acquaintance with its true
interests for its blind propensities; to adapt its government to time and
place, and to modify it in compliance with the occurrences and the actors of
the age. A new science of politics is indispensable to a new world.” (Democracy
in America p7)
Discovery of America’s Roots
Like a scientist on a quest for a
scientific breakthrough, Tocqueville
engaged in an exhaustive pursuit to find the
fundamental root of liberty in America. He wanted to trace his findings
all the way back to the origin of the republic. It is no surprise that he
discovered the origin to be the Mayflower Compact: a strong religious root
based on the laws of Nature’s God. In the following excerpt, Tocqueville quotes
from pilgrim Nathaniel Morton’s journal:
“The emigrants, or, as they deservedly styled
themselves, the Pilgrims, belonged to that English sect the austerity of whose
principles had acquired for them the name of Puritans. Puritanism was not
merely a religious doctrine, but it corresponded in many points with the most
absolute democratic and republican theories. It was this tendency which had
aroused its most dangerous adversaries. Persecuted by the Government of the
mother-country, and disgusted by the habits of a society opposed to the rigor
of their own principles, the Puritans went forth to seek some rude and
unfrequented part of the world, where they could live according to their Own
opinions, and worship God in freedom.”
“It is impossible to read this opening paragraph (diary of Nathaniel
Morton) without an involuntary feeling of religious awe; it breathes the very
savor of Gospel antiquity. The sincerity of the author heightens his power of
language. The band which to his eyes was a mere party of adventurers gone forth
to seek their fortune beyond seas appears to the reader as the germ of a great
nation wafted by Providence to a predestined shore.”
“The author thus continues his narrative of
the departure of the first pilgrim:—
‘So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden,
which had been their resting-place for above eleven years; but they knew that
they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these
things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God
hath prepared for them a city (Heb. xi. 16), and therein quieted their
spirits…………’
“The readers of this book will find the germ of all
that is to follow in the present chapter, and the key to almost the whole
work….The tie of language is perhaps the strongest and the most durable that
can unite mankind. All the emigrants spoke the same tongue; they were all
children of the same people…At the
period of their first emigrations the township system, that fruitful germ of
free institutions, was deeply rooted in the habits of the English; and with it
the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people had been introduced into the
bosom of the monarchy of the House of Tudor….Whilst religion was the topic of
discussion, the morals of the people became more pure.” (Democracy p.28)
Independence Day Celebration in Albany, New York
On July 4th , 1831, Tocqueville witnessed an
Independence Day celebration in Albany, New York. Independence Day used to be
celebrated differently than it is today:
At daybreak next
morning Tocqueville and Beaumont were awakened by an artillery explosion, which
was followed by the further firing of guns (in a ‘federal salute’) and the
ringing of all the church bells. Looking out, the commissioners discovered all
the houses decorated with flags: the people of Albany were preparing to
celebrate the Fourth of July.
At nine the parade
began to assemble, and suddenly the two interested onlookers (Tocqueville and
Beaumont) found themselves included. Lieutenant Governor Edward Livingston
insisted that they march with the dignitaries near the head of the procession.
Following came the
deputations of all the trades or associations of the city, each manned by local
citizens, triumphantly turned out, and bearing aloft the emblems of their
professions. In the procession there was a float with a gilt bust of Benjamin
Franklin and a printing press. At this press there were printers busily turning
out copies of the Declaration of Independence, which a boy distributed to the
crowd along the way.
The Declaration of
Independence was read in the Methodist church by a magistrate who put much
warmth and dignity into his reading. Tocqueville noted:
“This reading had
been preceded by a religious prayer made by a Protestant minister. I recall
this fact because it is characteristic of this country, where they never do
anything without the assistance of religion. I don’t believe things go any the
worse for it.” (Tocqueville in America, p.181)
About 50 years later we find the
same type of fervent spirit in a Fourth of July celebration in a prairie town
somewhere in South Dakota. This story is recorded in the journal of Laura
Ingalls Wilder in the Little House on the Prairie series.[4] Laura, Carrie and Pa where at the
festivities which included cannon, picnics, parades, firecrackers and races. In
the midst of all the fanfare there was a moment of solemnity as Pa said:
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FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION IN LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE
“…It’s
the Fourth of July, and on this day somebody’s got to read the Declaration
of Independence. It looks like I’m elected, so hold your hats, boys; I’m
going to read it.”
Laura
and Carrie knew the Declaration by heart, of course, but it gave them a
solemn, glorious feeling to hear the words. They took hold of hands and
stood and listening in the solemnly listening crowd. The Stars and Stripes
were fluttering bright against the thin, clear blue overhead, and their
minds were saying the words before their ears heard them.
After
the reading no one cheered. It was more like a moment to say, “Amen.” But no one knew quite what to
do. Then Pa began to sing. All at once everyone was singing,
My Country ‘Tis of Thee,
Sweet
Land of Liberty,
Of
thee I sing…
Long
may our land be bright
With
Freedom’s holy light.
Protect
us by Thy might,
Great
God, our King!
The
crowd was scattering away then, but Laura stood stock still. Suddenly she
had a completely new thought. The Declaration and the song came together in
her mind, and she thought: God is America’s king.
She
thought: Americans won’t obey any king on earth. Americans are free. That
means they have to obey their own consciences. No king bosses Pa; he has to
boss himself. Why (she thought),
when I am a little older, Pa and Ma will stop telling me what to do,
and there isn’t anyone else who has the right to give me orders. I will
have to make myself be good.
Her
whole mind seemed to be lighted up by that thought. That is what it means
to be free. It means, have to be good. “Our father’s God, author of
liberty—“ The Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God endow you with a right to
life and liberty. Then you have to keep the laws of God, for God’s law is
the only thing that gives you a right to be free.
Laura
had no time to think any further. Carrie was wondering why she stood so
still, and Pa was saying, “This way, girls! There’s the free lemonade!” (Little
House on the Prairie, pp 73-77)
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Futile Search for Centralized National Government in America
When Tocqueville and Beaumont first arrived in America they
sought out the seat of government. Finding no castle or monarch familiar to
most Europeans they discovered the key ingredients to a republic --
“With us the government concerns
itself with everything; here there is, or appears to be, no government”.
(Tocqueville p115)
“What strikes every traveler in this country the most,
whether he tries to reflect or not, is the spectacle of a society proceeding
all alone, without guide or support, by the single fact of the concourse of
individual wills. It’s useless to torment the spirit seeking for the
government; it is nowhere to be perceived, and the truth is that it does not,
so to speak exist.” (Tocqueville p403)
Pursuit of Perfection
Autocratic
type governments tend to have a dampening effect on the ambitions of its
citizens. People that are under tyrannical control have little hope of
elevating themselves in society so they often give up. They lose their sense of
self-government because they are habituated to being governed externally. This
was not the case in America. The spirit of liberty had a positive effect on the
ambitious desires of the Americans in pursuing lofty dreams --
“Born often under another sky, placed in the middle of
an always moving scene, himself driven by the irresistible torrent which draws
all about him, the American has no time to tie himself to anything, he grows
accustomed only to change, and ends by regarding it as the natural state of
man. He feels the need of it, more, he loves it; for the instability, instead
of meaning disaster to him, seems to give birth only to miracles all about a
him. (The idea of perfection, of a continuous and endless amelioration of
social conditions, this idea is presented to him unceasingly, in all its
aspects).” (Tocqueville p119)
“The greatest care of a good government should be to habituate people,
little by little, to doing without it.” (Ibid
p382)
Religion is Essential
“Religion. I
don’t believe that a Republic can exist without morals and I do not believe
that a people can have morals when it isn’t religious. I therefore judge the
maintenance of the religious spirit one of our greatest political interests.”
(Tocqueville p214)
“I believe that the foundation of our political
institutions rests upon the virtue of the people. This virtue cannot be
maintained without religion.” (Ibid p416)
“…in America religion is the road to knowledge, and
the observance of the divine laws leads man to civil freedom.” (Democracy p41)
“Liberty regards religion as its companion in all its battles and its
triumphs, as the cradle of its infancy and the divine source of its claims. It
considers religion as the safeguard of morality, and morality as the best
security of law and the surest pledge of the duration of freedom.” (Democracy
p44)
“Religion is no less the companion of liberty in all its battles and
its triumphs; the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims.
The safeguard of morality is religion, and morality is the best security of law
and the surest pledge of freedom.” (unknown version of Democracy)
“There has never been under the sun a people as
enlightened as the population of the north of the United States. Because of
their education they are more strong, more skillful, more capable of governing
themselves and standing their liberty: that much is undeniable.” (Tocqueville
p452)
“Religion in America takes no direct part in the government of society,
but it must nevertheless be regarded as the foremost of the political
institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it
facilitates the use of free institutions. Indeed, it is in this same point of
view that the inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious
belief. I do not know whether all the Americans have a sincere faith in their
religion, for who can search the human heart? but I am certain that they hold
it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This
opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or to a party, but it belongs to
the whole nation, and to every rank of society.” (Democracy p305)
The U.S. Constitution
While in America Tocqueville was
tutored in Constitutional principles by the famous editor and historian, Reverend
Jared Sparks. At the time, Mr. Sparks was working on a book about the life of
George Washington. Tocqueville was excited to see several volumes full of
accounts or of copies of letters coming from the hand of Washington. He also had a personal interview
with Charles Carroll of Carrolton[5],
the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence.[6]
Here are some of Tocqueville’s impressions of the U.S. Constitution --
“What one can affirm is that only a very enlightened people could have
invented the Federal Constitution of the United States; and only a very
enlightened people, singularly habituated to representative forms, could make
so complicated a machine work and know how to retain within their different
spheres the various powers which, but for this continuous care, would not fail
to collide violently.”
“The Constitution of the United States is an admirable
work, and yet is to be believed that its founders would not have succeeded had
not a past of 150 years given the different States of the Union the taste and
the habit of provincial governments, and had not a high civilization at the
same time prepared them to support a central government that was strong though
limited.” (Tocqueville p605)
“But it is a novelty in the history of society to see a great people
turn a calm and scrutinizing eye upon itself, when apprised by the legislature
that the wheels of government are stopped; to see it carefully examine the
extent of the evil, and patiently wait for two whole years until a remedy was
discovered, which it voluntarily adopted without having wrung a tear or a drop
of blood from mankind. ….The assembly which accepted the task of composing the
second constitution was small; but George Washington was its President, and it
contained the choicest talents and the noblest hearts which had ever appeared
in the New World. This national commission, after long and mature deliberation,
offered to the acceptance of the people the body of general laws which still
rules the Union. All the States adopted it successively. The new Federal
Government commenced its functions in 1789, after an interregnum of two years.
The Revolution of America terminated when that of France began.” (Democracy
p113)
“No; we have had in France every variety of anarchy
and despotism, but nothing resembling a Republic.” (Tocqueville p662)
Discovery of the Township or Principle of
Federalism
He discovered a key ingredient to
our Constitutional Republic: Federalism[7]. Federalism is the concept that most
political control occurs at a local level with a smooth transition of powers
gradually tapering at the federal level.
In his description of federalism in America, Tocqueville uses the
word “tithing”. A “tithing” was a term used to describe the
first type of free township emerging from medieval England centuries earlier.
“The political existence of the majority of the
nations of Europe commenced in the Superior ranks of society, and was gradually
and imperfectly communicated to the different members of the social body. In
America, on the other hand, it may be said that the township was organized
before the county, the county before the State, the State before the Union. In
New England townships were completely and definitively constituted as early as
1650. The independence of the township was the nucleus round which the local
interests, passions, rights, and duties collected and clung.” (Democracy p40)
“The town or tithing, then, exists in all nations,
whatever their laws and customs may be: it is man who makes monarchies and
establishes republics, but the township seems to come directly from the hand of
God… Town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they
bring it within the people’s reach, they teach men how to use and how to enjoy
it. A nation may establish a free government, but without municipal
institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty.” (Democracy p61)
“Municipal independence in the United States is
therefore a natural consequence of this very principle of the sovereignty of
the people…Thus, taxes are voted by the state, but they are levied and
collected by the township; the establishment of a school is obligatory, but the
township builds, pays for, and superintends it. In France the state collector
receives the local imposts; in America the town collector receives the taxes of
the state. Thus the French government lends its agents to the commune; in
America the township lends its agents to the government. This fact alone shows
how widely the two nations differ.” (Democracy p66)
“Certain interests are common to all parts of a
nation, such as the enactment of its general laws and the maintenance of its
foreign relations. Other interests are peculiar to certain parts of free
nation; such, for instance, as the business of different townships. When the
power which directs the general interests is centered in one place, or vested
in the same persons, it constitutes a central government. In like manner
the power of directing partial or local interests, when brought together into
one place, constitutes what may be termed a central administration.”
(Democracy p86)
“There is no country in which everything can be
provided for by the laws, or in which political institutions can prove a
substitute for the common sense and public morality.” (Democracy p122)
The Spirit of Associations
It must have been a shock for
Tocqueville to visit a society where men took upon themselves tasks normally
delegated to government in Europe. In a republic the people are responsible for
caring for the poor and improving society, not the government. It is especially
interesting to notice his surprise concerning the temperance movement coming
from the people, not the government. In Europe the people looked to the
government, not themselves to solve their problems --
“Nothing, in my opinion, is more deserving of our attention than the
intellectual and moral associations of America. The political and industrial
associations of that country strike us forcibly; but the others elude our
observation, or if we discover them, we understand them imperfectly, because we
have hardly ever seen anything of the kind. It must, however, be acknowledged
that they are as necessary to the American people as the former, and perhaps
more so. In democratic countries the science of association is the mother of
science; the progress of all the rest depends upon the progress it has made.
Amongst the laws which rule human societies there is one which seems to be more
precise and clear than all others. If men are to remain civilized, or to become
so, the art of associating together must grow and improve in the same ratio in
which the equality of conditions is increased.” (Democracy p 110)
“As soon as several of the inhabitants of the United
States have taken up an opinion or a feeling which they wish to promote in the
world, they look out for mutual assistance; and as soon as they have found each
other out, they combine. From that moment they are no longer isolated men, but
a power seen from afar, whose actions serve for an example, and whose language
is listened to. The first time I heard in the United States that 100,000 men
had bound themselves publicly to abstain from spirituous liquors, it appeared
to me more like a joke than a serious engagement; and I did not at once
perceive why these temperate citizens could not content themselves with
drinking water by their own firesides. I at last understood that 300,000
Americans, alarmed by the progress of drunkenness around them, had made up
their minds to patronize temperance. They acted just in the same way as a man
of high rank who should dress very plainly, in order to inspire the humbler
orders with a contempt of luxury. It is probable that if these 100,000 men had
lived in France, each of them would singly have memorialized the government to
watch the public-houses all over the kingdom.”
Power Corrupts
Having witnessed first hand the turbulent power struggles of
four monarchs in France including Napoleon, Tocqueville was very familiar with
the addictive influence of power on the hearts of men --
“Unlimited power is in itself a bad and dangerous
thing; human beings are not competent to exercise it with discretion, and God
alone can be omnipotent, because His wisdom and His justice are always equal to
His power. But no power upon earth is so worthy of honor for itself, or of
reverential obedience to the rights which it represents, that I would consent
to admit its uncontrolled and all-predominant authority. When I see that the
right and the means of absolute command are conferred on a people or upon a
king, upon an aristocracy or a democracy, a monarchy or a republic, I recognize
the germ of tyranny, and I journey onward to a land of more hopeful
institutions.” (Tocqueville p260)
Beware of False Republics
“What is understood by a republican government in the United States is
the slow and quiet action of society upon itself. It is a regular state of
things really founded upon the enlightened will of the people. It is a
conciliatory government under which resolutions are allowed time to ripen; and
in which they are deliberately discussed, and executed with mature judgment.
The republicans in the United States set a high value upon morality, respect
religious belief, and acknowledge the existence of rights. They profess to
think that a people ought to be moral, religious, and temperate, in proportion
as it is free. What is called the republic in the United States, is the
tranquil rule of the majority, which, after having had time to examine itself,
and to give proof of its existence, is the common source of all the powers of
the State. But the power of the majority is not of itself unlimited. In the
moral world humanity, justice, and reason enjoy an undisputed supremacy; in the
political world vested rights are treated with no less deference. The majority
recognizes these two barriers; and if it now and then overstep them, it is
because, like individuals, it has passions, and, like them, it is prone to do
what is wrong, whilst it discerns what is right.”
“But the demagogues of Europe have made strange discoveries.
A republic is not, according to them, the rule of the majority, as has hitherto
been thought, but the rule of those who are strenuous partisans of the
majority. It is not the people who preponderate in this kind of government, but
those who know what is best for the people.
A happy distinction, which allows men to act in the name of nations
without consulting them, and to claim their gratitude whilst their rights are
spurned.” (Democracy p417)
Power of Divine Conscience: The Core of Our
Republic
“…In the United States, even the religion of most of
the citizens is republican, since it submits the truths of the other world to private
judgment: as in politics the care of its temporal interests is abandoned to the
good sense of the people. Thus every man is allowed freely to take that road
which he thinks will lead him to heaven; just as the law permits every citizen
to have the right of choosing his government.” (Democracy p418)
Fate of Nations Who Lose the Light
All nations have been endowed with light at sometime in
their history. When they lose it, they fall --
Importance of Charity
Tocqueville
observed charity exhibited in America as opposed to its counterfeit: the
government dole. Charity is sacrificing one’s own means to help the needy; government
hand-outs are using other people’s money to help the needy. The classic example
of charity in the Bible is the story of the Good Samaritan.[8] In this story the Samaritan assists the
wounded traveler entirely with his own means. Even when he takes him to the inn
to convalesce he unselfishly offers to recompense the inn keeper. Charity is
clearly based on personal sacrifice not convenience.
The
founders understood and practiced the principle of charity. George Washington used to visit the hot springs
in Virginia which was a health resort. There was a bakery there that was
frequented by both the rich and the poor. Washington secretly instructed the
baker to freely give bread to anyone who seemed needy and he would pick up the
tab at the end of the season. Sometimes the bill added up to $80 to $100, a
significant sum in those days. Washington gave strict instructions to the baker
to keep him anonymous. The baker was so careful not to divulge the secret that
other customers who observed the
generosity thought the baker was just very loose in giving credit to the
indigents.
“When an American asks for the co-operation of his fellow-citizens it
is seldom refused, and I have often seen it afforded spontaneously and with
great goodwill. If an accident happens on the highway, everybody hastens to
help the sufferer; if some great and sudden calamity be falls a family, the
purses of a thousand strangers are at once willingly opened, and small but
numerous donations pour in to relieve their distress. It often happens amongst
the most civilized nations of the globe, that a poor wretch is as friendless in
the midst of a crowd as the savage in his wilds: this is hardly ever the case
in the United States. The Americans, who are always cold and often coarse in their
manners, seldom show insensibility; and if they do not proffer services
eagerly, yet they do not refuse to render them.” (Democracy p175)
Dangers of Prosperity
If they be required to elect
representatives, to support the Government by personal service, to meet on
public business, they have no time—they cannot waste their precious time in
useless engagements: such idle amusements are unsuited to serious men who are
engaged with the more important interests of life. These people think they are
following the principle of self-interest, but the idea they entertain of that
principle is a very rude one; and the better to look after what they call their
business, they neglect their chief business, which is to remain their own
masters.” (Democracy p141)
“As the citizens who work do not care to attend to public business, and
as the class which might devote its leisure to these duties has ceased to
exist, the place of the Government is, as it were, unfilled. If at that
critical moment some able and ambitious man grasps the supreme power, he will
find the road to every kind of usurpation open before him. If he does but
attend for some time to the material prosperity of the country, no more will be
demanded of him. Above all he must insure public tranquility: men who are
possessed by the passion of physical gratification generally find out that the
turmoil of freedom disturbs their welfare, before they discover how freedom
itself serves to promote it. If the slightest rumor of public commotion
intrudes into the petty pleasures of private life, they are aroused and alarmed
by it. The fear of anarchy perpetually haunts them, and they are always ready
to fling away their freedom at the first disturbance.”
“I readily admit that public tranquility is a great good; but at the
same time I cannot forget that all nations have been enslaved by being kept in
good order. Certainly it is not to be inferred that nations ought to despise
public tranquility; but that state ought not to content them. A nation which
asks nothing of its government but the maintenance of order is already a slave
at heart—the slave of its own well-being, awaiting but the hand that will bind
it. By such a nation the despotism of faction is not less to be dreaded than
the despotism of an individual. When the bulk of the community is engrossed by
private concerns, the smallest parties need not despair of getting the upper
hand in public affairs. At such times it is not rare to see upon the great
stage of the world, as we see at our theatres, a multitude represented by a few
players, who alone speak in the name of an absent or inattentive crowd: they
alone are in action whilst all are stationary; they regulate everything by
their own caprice; they change the laws, and tyrannize at will over the manners
of the country; and then men wonder to see into how small a number of weak and
worthless hands a great people may fall. “ (Democracy p.141)
The Eternal Perspective is Imperative
Tocqueville refers to the
“Supreme Judge of the World” referenced in the Declaration of Independence.
When men realize that they will someday be reconciled to their Maker, it sobers
them into developing better character in this life –
“This explains why religious nations have so often
achieved such lasting results; for while they were thinking only of the other
world, they had found out the great secret of success in this. Religions give
men a general habit of conducting themselves with a view to eternity; in this
respect they are not less useful to happiness in this life than to felicity
hereafter, and this is one of their chief political characteristics.” (Democracy
p149)
“But whilst man takes delight in this honest and lawful pursuit of his
well-being, it is to be apprehended that he may in the end lose the use of his
sublimest faculties; and that whilst he is busied in improving all around him,
he may at length degrade himself. Here, and here only, does the peril lie. It
should therefore be the unceasing object of the legislators of democracies, and
of all the virtuous and enlightened men who live there, to raise the souls of
their fellow-citizens, and keep them lifted up towards heaven. It is necessary
that all who feel an interest in the future destinies of democratic society
should unite, and that all should make joint and continual efforts to diffuse
the love of the infinite, a sense of greatness, and a love of pleasures not of
earth. If amongst the opinions of a democratic people any of those pernicious
theories exist which tend to inculcate that all perishes with the body, let men
by whom such theories are professed be marked as the natural foes of such a people.”
(Democracy p145)
Women’s Role Vital in a Republic
The
women Tocqueville met were generally enchanted by his European refinement. He
made some observations about women in America.
He understood the principle of unequal roles of equal importance[9]
between men and women and that woman has a vital role in the perpetuation of a
republic --
“Thus the Americans do not think that man and woman
have either the duty or the right to perform the same offices, but they show
an equal regard for both their
respective parts; and though their lot is different, they consider both of them
as being of equal value.” (Democracy p214)
“No free communities ever existed without morals; and,
as I observed in the former part of this work, morals are the work of woman.
Consequently, whatever affects the condition of women, their habits and their
opinions, has great political importance in my eyes.” (Democracy p198)
Tocqueville’s Conclusion
In almost prophetic language, here are Tocqueville’s
concluding words at the end of his second volume--
“But as yet these things are imperfectly understood. I
find that a great number of my contemporaries undertake to make a certain
selection from amongst the institutions, the opinions, and the ideas which
originated in the aristocratic constitution of society as it was: a portion of
these elements they would willingly relinquish, but they would keep the
remainder and transplant them into their new world. I apprehend that such men
are wasting their time and their strength in virtuous but unprofitable efforts.
The object is not to retain the peculiar advantages which the inequality of
conditions bestows upon mankind, but to secure the new benefits which equality
may supply. We have not to seek to make ourselves like our progenitors, but to
strive to work out that species of greatness and happiness which is our own.
For myself, who now look back from this extreme limit of my task, and discover
from afar, but at once, the various objects which have attracted my more
attentive investigation upon my way, I am full of apprehensions and of hopes. I
perceive mighty dangers which it is possible to ward off—mighty evils which may
be avoided or alleviated; and I cling with a firmer hold to the belief, that
for democratic nations to be virtuous and prosperous they require but to will
it. I am aware that many of my contemporaries maintain that nations are never
their own masters here below, and that they necessarily obey some
insurmountable and unintelligent power, arising from anterior events, from
their race, or from the soil and climate of their country. Such principles are
false and cowardly; such principles can never produce aught but feeble men and
pusillanimous nations. Providence has not created mankind entirely independent
or entirely free. It is true that around every man a fatal circle is traced,
beyond which he cannot pass; but within the wide verge of that circle he is
powerful and free: as it is with man, so with communities. The nations of our
time cannot prevent the conditions of men from becoming equal; but it depends
upon themselves whether the principle of equality is to lead them to servitude
or freedom, to knowledge or barbarism, to prosperity or to wretchedness.”
(Democracy p334)
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