Democracy in America
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Democracy in America
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) came to America in 1831 to see what a great republic was like. What struck him most was the country’s equality of conditions, its democracy. The book he wrote on his return to France, Democracy in America, is both the best ever written on democracy and the best ever written on America. It remains the most often quoted book about the United States, not only because it has something to interest and please everyone, but also because it has something to teach everyone.
When it was published in 2000, Harvey Mansfield and Delba Winthrop’s new translation of Democracy in America—only the third since the original two-volume work was published in 1835 and 1840—was lauded in all quarters as the finest and most definitive edition of Tocqueville’s classic thus far. Mansfield and Winthrop have restored the nuances of Tocqueville’s language, with the expressed goal "to convey Tocqueville’s thought as he held it rather than to restate it in comparable terms of today." The result is a translation with minimal interpretation, but with impeccable annotations of unfamiliar references and a masterful introduction placing the work and its author in the broader contexts of political philosophy and statesmanship.
Read two chapters: On the Use That the Americans Make of Association in Civil Life and Why the Americans Show Themselves So Restive in the Midst of Their Well-Being.
722 pages | 6 x 9 | © 2000
History: American History
Political Science: Political and Social Theory
Reviews
Table of Contents
Editors' Introduction
Suggested Readings
A Note on the Translation
Volume One
Introduction
Part One
1 External Configuration of North America
2 On the Point of Departure and Its Importance for the Future of the Anglo-Americans
5 Necessity of Studying What Takes Place in the Particular States before Speaking of the Government of the Union
Part Two
1 How One Can Say Strictly That in the United States the People Govern
2 On Parties in the United States
Volume Two
Notice
Part One
Influence of Democracy on Intellectual Movement in the United States
1 On the Philosophic Method of the Americans
2 On the Principal Source of Beliefs among Democratic Peoples
3 Why the Americans Show More Aptitude and Taste for General Ideas than Their English Fathers
4 Why the Americans Have Never Been as Passionate as the French for General Ideas in Political Matters
5 How, in the United States, Religion Knows How to Make Use of Democratic Instincts
6 On the Progress of Catholicism in the United States
7 What Makes the Mind of Democratic Peoples Lean toward Pantheism
8 How Equality Suggests to the Americans the Idea of the Indefinite Peifectibility of Man
9 How the Example of the Americans Does Not Prove That a Democratic People Can Have No Aptitude and Taste for the Sciences, Literature, and the Arts
10 Why the Americans Apply Themselves to the Practice of the Sciences Rather than to the Theory
11 In What Spirit the Americans Cultivate the Arts
12 Why the Americans at the Same Time Raise Such Little and Such Great Monuments
13 The Literary Face of Democratic Centuries
14 On the Literary Industry
15 Why the Study of Greek and Latin Literature Is Particularly Useful in Democratic Societies
16 How American Democracy Has Modified the English Language
17 On Some Sources of Poetry in Democratic Nations
18 Why American Writers and Orators Are Often Bombastic
19 Some Observations on the Theater of Democratic Peoples
20 On Some Tendencies Particular to Historians in Democratic Centuries
21 On Parliamentary Eloquence in the United States
Part Two
Influence of Democracy on the Sentiments of the Americans
1 Why Democratic Peoples Show a More Ardent and More Lasting Love for Equality than for Freedom
2 On Individualism in Democratic Countries
3 How Individualism Is Greater at the End of a Democratic Revolution than in Any Other Period
4 How the Americans Combat Individualism with Free Institutions
5 On the Use That the Americans Make of Association in Civil Life
6 On the Relation between Associations and Newspapers
7 Relations between Civil Associations and Political Associations
8 How the Americans Combat Individualism by the Doctrine of Self-Interest Well Understood
9 How the Americans Apply the Doctrine of Self-Interest Well Understood in the Matter of Religion
10 On the Taste for Material Well-Being in America
11 On the Particular Effects That the Love of Material Enjoyments Produces in Democratic Centuries
12 Why Certain Americans Display Such an Exalted Spiritualism
13 Why the Americans Show Themselves So Restive in the Midst of Their Well-Being
14 How the Taste for Material Enjoyments among Americans Is United with Love of Freedom and with Care for Public Affairs
15 How Religious Beliefs at Times Tum the Souls of the Americans toward Immaterial Enjoyments
16 How the Excessive Love of Well-Being Can Be Harmful to Well-Being
17 How in Times of Equality and Doubt It Is Important to Move Back the Object of Human Actions
18 Why among the Americans All Honest Professions Are Reputed Honorable
19 What Makes Almost All Americans Incline toward Industrial Professions
20 How Aristocracy Could Issue from Industry
Part Three
Influence of Democracy on Mores Properly So-Called
1 How Mores Become Milder as Conditions Are Equalized
2 How Democracy Renders the Habitual Relations of the Americans Simpler and Easier
3 Why the Americans Have So Little Oversensitivity in Their Country and Show Themselves to Be So Oversensitive in Ours
4 Consequences of the Preceding Three Chapters
5 How Democracy Modifies the Relations of Servant and Master
6 How Democratic Institutions and Mores Tend to Raise the Price and Shorten the Duration of Leases
7 Influence of Democracy on Wages
8 Influence of Democracy on the Family
9 Education of Girls in the United States
10 How the Girl Is Found beneath the Features of the Wife
11 How Equality of Conditions Contributes to Maintaining Good Mores in America
12 How the Americans Understand the Equality of Man and Woman
13 How Equality Naturally Divides the Americans into a Multitude of Particular Little Societies
14 Some Reflections on American Manners
15 On the Gravity of the Americans and Why It Does Not Prevent Their Often Doing Ill-Considered Things
16 Why the National Vanity of the Americans Is More Restive and More Quarrelsome than That of the English
17 How the Aspect of Society in the United States Is at Once Agitated and Monotonous
18 On Honor in the United States and in Democratic Societies
19 Why One Finds So Many Ambitious Men in the United States and So Few Great Ambitions
20 On the Industry in Place-Hunting in Certain Democratic Nations
21 Why Great Revolutions Will Become Rare
22 Why Democratic Peoples Naturally Desire Peace and Democratic Armies Naturally [Desire] War
23 Which Is the Most Warlike and the Most Revolutionary Class in Democratic Armies
24 What Makes Democratic Armies Weaker than Other Armies When Entering into a Campaign and More Formidable When War Is Prolonged
25 On Discipline in Democratic Armies
26 Some Considerations on War in Democratic Societies
Part Four
On the Influence That Democratic Ideas and Sentiments Exert on Political Society
1 Equality Naturally Gives Men the Taste for Free Institutions
2 That the Ideas of Democratic Peoples in the Matter of Government Are Naturally Favorable to the Concentration of Powers
3 That the Sentiments of Democratic Peoples Are in Accord with Their Ideas to Bring Them to Concentrate Power
4 On Some Particular and Accidental Causes That Serve to Bring a Democratic People to Centralize Power or Tum It Away from That
5 That among European Nations of Our Day Sovereign Power Increases Although Sovereigns Are Less Stable
6 What Kind of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear
7 Continuation of the Preceding Chapters
8 General View of the Subject
Notes
Sources Cited by Tocqueville
Index
Suggested Readings
A Note on the Translation
Volume One
Introduction
Part One
1 External Configuration of North America
2 On the Point of Departure and Its Importance for the Future of the Anglo-Americans
Reasons for Some Singularities That the Laws and Customs of the Anglo-Americans Present
3 Social State of the Anglo-Americans That the Salient Point of the Social State of the Anglo-Americans Is Its Being Essentially Democratic
Political Consequences of the Social State of the Anglo-Americans
4 On the Principle of the Sovereignty of the People in America5 Necessity of Studying What Takes Place in the Particular States before Speaking of the Government of the Union
On the Township System in America
Size of the Township
Powers of the Township in New England
On Township Existence
On the Spirit of the Township in New England
On the County in New England
On Administration in New England
General Ideas about Administration in the United States
On the State
Legislative Power of the State
On the Executive Power of the State
On the Political Effects of Administrative Decentralization in the United States
Size of the Township
Powers of the Township in New England
On Township Existence
On the Spirit of the Township in New England
On the County in New England
On Administration in New England
General Ideas about Administration in the United States
On the State
Legislative Power of the State
On the Executive Power of the State
On the Political Effects of Administrative Decentralization in the United States
6 On Judicial Power in the United States and Its Action on Political Society
Other Powers Granted to American Judges
7 On Political Judgment in the United States
8 On the Federal Constitution
8 On the Federal Constitution
History of the Federal Constitution
Summary Picture of the Federal Constitution
Prerogatives of the Federal Government
Federal Powers
Legislative Powers
Another Difference between the Senate and the House of Representatives
On the Executive Power
How the Position of the President of the United States Differs from That of a Constitutional King in France
Accidental Causes That Can Increase the Influence of the Executive Power
Why the President of the United States Does Not Need to Have a Majority in the Houses in Order to Direct Affairs
On the Election of the President
Mode of Election
Crisis of the Election
On the Reelection of the President On the Federal Courts
Manner of Settling the Competence of the Federal Courts
Different Cases of Jurisdiction
Manner of Proceeding of Federal Courts
Elevated Rank Held by the Supreme Court among the Great Powers of the State
How the Federal Constitution Is Superior to the Constitutions of the States
What Distinguishes the Federal Constitution of the United States of America from All Other Federal Constitutions
On the Advantages of the Federal System Generally, and Its Special Utility for America
What Keeps the Federal System from Being within Reach of All Peoples, and What Has Permitted the Anglo-Americans to Adopt It
Summary Picture of the Federal Constitution
Prerogatives of the Federal Government
Federal Powers
Legislative Powers
Another Difference between the Senate and the House of Representatives
On the Executive Power
How the Position of the President of the United States Differs from That of a Constitutional King in France
Accidental Causes That Can Increase the Influence of the Executive Power
Why the President of the United States Does Not Need to Have a Majority in the Houses in Order to Direct Affairs
On the Election of the President
Mode of Election
Crisis of the Election
On the Reelection of the President On the Federal Courts
Manner of Settling the Competence of the Federal Courts
Different Cases of Jurisdiction
Manner of Proceeding of Federal Courts
Elevated Rank Held by the Supreme Court among the Great Powers of the State
How the Federal Constitution Is Superior to the Constitutions of the States
What Distinguishes the Federal Constitution of the United States of America from All Other Federal Constitutions
On the Advantages of the Federal System Generally, and Its Special Utility for America
What Keeps the Federal System from Being within Reach of All Peoples, and What Has Permitted the Anglo-Americans to Adopt It
Part Two
1 How One Can Say Strictly That in the United States the People Govern
2 On Parties in the United States
On the Remains of the Aristocratic Party in the United States
3 On Freedom of the Press in the United States
4 On Political Association in the United States
5 On the Government of Democracy in America
4 On Political Association in the United States
5 On the Government of Democracy in America
On Universal Suffrage
On the Choices of the People and the Instincts of American Democracy in Its Choices
On the Causes That Can in Part Correct These Instincts of Democracy
Influence That American Democracy Exerts on Electoral Laws
On Public Officials under the Empire of American Democracy
On the Arbitrariness of Magistrates under the Empire of American Democracy
Administrative Instability in the United States8
On Public Costs under the Empire of American Democracy
On the Instincts of American Democracy in Fixing the Salaries of Officials
Difficulty of Discerning the Causes That Incline the American Government to Economy
Can the Public Expenditures of the United States Be Compared to Those of France?
On the Corruption and Vices of Those Who Govern in Democracy; On the Effects on Public Morality That Result
Of What Efforts Democracy ls Capable
On the Power That American Democracy Generally Exercises over Itself
The Manner in Which American Democracy Conducts External Affairs of State
On the Choices of the People and the Instincts of American Democracy in Its Choices
On the Causes That Can in Part Correct These Instincts of Democracy
Influence That American Democracy Exerts on Electoral Laws
On Public Officials under the Empire of American Democracy
On the Arbitrariness of Magistrates under the Empire of American Democracy
Administrative Instability in the United States8
On Public Costs under the Empire of American Democracy
On the Instincts of American Democracy in Fixing the Salaries of Officials
Difficulty of Discerning the Causes That Incline the American Government to Economy
Can the Public Expenditures of the United States Be Compared to Those of France?
On the Corruption and Vices of Those Who Govern in Democracy; On the Effects on Public Morality That Result
Of What Efforts Democracy ls Capable
On the Power That American Democracy Generally Exercises over Itself
The Manner in Which American Democracy Conducts External Affairs of State
6 What Are the Real Advantages That American Society Derives from the Government of Democracy
On the General Tendency of the Laws under the Empire of American Democracy, and on the Instinct of Those Who Apply Them
On Public Spirit in the United States
On the Idea of Rights in the United States
On Respect for the Law in the United States
Activity Reigning in All Parts of the Body Politic of the United States; Influence That It Exerts on Society
On Public Spirit in the United States
On the Idea of Rights in the United States
On Respect for the Law in the United States
Activity Reigning in All Parts of the Body Politic of the United States; Influence That It Exerts on Society
7 On the Omnipotence of the Majority in the United States and Its Effects
How the Omnipotence of the Majority in America Increases the Legislative and Administrative Instability That Is Natural to Democracies
Tyranny of the Majority
Effects of the Omnipotence of the Majority on the Arbitrariness of American Officials
On the Power That the Majority in America Exercises over Thought
Effects of the Tyranny of the Majority on the National Character of the Americans; On the Spirit of a Court in the United States
That the Greatest Danger of the American Republics Comes from the Omnipotence of the Majority
Tyranny of the Majority
Effects of the Omnipotence of the Majority on the Arbitrariness of American Officials
On the Power That the Majority in America Exercises over Thought
Effects of the Tyranny of the Majority on the National Character of the Americans; On the Spirit of a Court in the United States
That the Greatest Danger of the American Republics Comes from the Omnipotence of the Majority
8 On What Tempers the Tyranny of the Majority in the United States
Absence of Administrative Centralization
On the Spirit of the Lawyer in the United States and How It Serves as a Counterweight to Democracy
On the Jury in the United States Considered as a Political Institution
On the Spirit of the Lawyer in the United States and How It Serves as a Counterweight to Democracy
On the Jury in the United States Considered as a Political Institution
9 On the Principal Causes Tending to Maintain a Democratic Republic in the United States
On the Accidental or Providential Causes Contributing to the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic in the United States
On the Influence of the Laws on the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic in the United States
On the Influence of Mores on the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic in the United States
On Religion Considered as a Political Institution; How It Serves Powerfully the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic among the Americans
Indirect Influence That Religious Beliefs Exert on Political Society in the United States
On the Principal Causes That Make Religion Powerful in America
How the Enlightenment, the Habits, and the Practical Experience of the Americans Contribute to the Success of Democratic Institutions
That the Laws Serve to Maintain a Democratic Republic in the United States More than Physical Causes, and Mores More than Laws
Would Laws and Mores Suffice to Maintain Democratic Institutions Elsewhere than in America?
Importance of What Precedes in Relation to Europe
On the Influence of the Laws on the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic in the United States
On the Influence of Mores on the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic in the United States
On Religion Considered as a Political Institution; How It Serves Powerfully the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic among the Americans
Indirect Influence That Religious Beliefs Exert on Political Society in the United States
On the Principal Causes That Make Religion Powerful in America
How the Enlightenment, the Habits, and the Practical Experience of the Americans Contribute to the Success of Democratic Institutions
That the Laws Serve to Maintain a Democratic Republic in the United States More than Physical Causes, and Mores More than Laws
Would Laws and Mores Suffice to Maintain Democratic Institutions Elsewhere than in America?
Importance of What Precedes in Relation to Europe
10 Some Considerations on the Present State and the Probable Future of the Three Races That Inhabit the Territory of the United States
Present State and Probable Future of the Indian Tribes That Inhabit the Territory Possessed by the Union
Position That the Black Race Occupies in the United States; Dangers Incurred by whites from Its Presence
What Are the Chances That the American Union Will Last? What Dangers Threaten It?
On Republican Institutions in the United States; What Are Their Chances of Longevity?
Some Considerations on the Causes of the Commercial Greatness of the United States
Conclusion
Position That the Black Race Occupies in the United States; Dangers Incurred by whites from Its Presence
What Are the Chances That the American Union Will Last? What Dangers Threaten It?
On Republican Institutions in the United States; What Are Their Chances of Longevity?
Some Considerations on the Causes of the Commercial Greatness of the United States
Conclusion
Volume Two
Notice
Part One
Influence of Democracy on Intellectual Movement in the United States
1 On the Philosophic Method of the Americans
2 On the Principal Source of Beliefs among Democratic Peoples
3 Why the Americans Show More Aptitude and Taste for General Ideas than Their English Fathers
4 Why the Americans Have Never Been as Passionate as the French for General Ideas in Political Matters
5 How, in the United States, Religion Knows How to Make Use of Democratic Instincts
6 On the Progress of Catholicism in the United States
7 What Makes the Mind of Democratic Peoples Lean toward Pantheism
8 How Equality Suggests to the Americans the Idea of the Indefinite Peifectibility of Man
9 How the Example of the Americans Does Not Prove That a Democratic People Can Have No Aptitude and Taste for the Sciences, Literature, and the Arts
10 Why the Americans Apply Themselves to the Practice of the Sciences Rather than to the Theory
11 In What Spirit the Americans Cultivate the Arts
12 Why the Americans at the Same Time Raise Such Little and Such Great Monuments
13 The Literary Face of Democratic Centuries
14 On the Literary Industry
15 Why the Study of Greek and Latin Literature Is Particularly Useful in Democratic Societies
16 How American Democracy Has Modified the English Language
17 On Some Sources of Poetry in Democratic Nations
18 Why American Writers and Orators Are Often Bombastic
19 Some Observations on the Theater of Democratic Peoples
20 On Some Tendencies Particular to Historians in Democratic Centuries
21 On Parliamentary Eloquence in the United States
Part Two
Influence of Democracy on the Sentiments of the Americans
1 Why Democratic Peoples Show a More Ardent and More Lasting Love for Equality than for Freedom
2 On Individualism in Democratic Countries
3 How Individualism Is Greater at the End of a Democratic Revolution than in Any Other Period
4 How the Americans Combat Individualism with Free Institutions
5 On the Use That the Americans Make of Association in Civil Life
6 On the Relation between Associations and Newspapers
7 Relations between Civil Associations and Political Associations
8 How the Americans Combat Individualism by the Doctrine of Self-Interest Well Understood
9 How the Americans Apply the Doctrine of Self-Interest Well Understood in the Matter of Religion
10 On the Taste for Material Well-Being in America
11 On the Particular Effects That the Love of Material Enjoyments Produces in Democratic Centuries
12 Why Certain Americans Display Such an Exalted Spiritualism
13 Why the Americans Show Themselves So Restive in the Midst of Their Well-Being
14 How the Taste for Material Enjoyments among Americans Is United with Love of Freedom and with Care for Public Affairs
15 How Religious Beliefs at Times Tum the Souls of the Americans toward Immaterial Enjoyments
16 How the Excessive Love of Well-Being Can Be Harmful to Well-Being
17 How in Times of Equality and Doubt It Is Important to Move Back the Object of Human Actions
18 Why among the Americans All Honest Professions Are Reputed Honorable
19 What Makes Almost All Americans Incline toward Industrial Professions
20 How Aristocracy Could Issue from Industry
Part Three
Influence of Democracy on Mores Properly So-Called
1 How Mores Become Milder as Conditions Are Equalized
2 How Democracy Renders the Habitual Relations of the Americans Simpler and Easier
3 Why the Americans Have So Little Oversensitivity in Their Country and Show Themselves to Be So Oversensitive in Ours
4 Consequences of the Preceding Three Chapters
5 How Democracy Modifies the Relations of Servant and Master
6 How Democratic Institutions and Mores Tend to Raise the Price and Shorten the Duration of Leases
7 Influence of Democracy on Wages
8 Influence of Democracy on the Family
9 Education of Girls in the United States
10 How the Girl Is Found beneath the Features of the Wife
11 How Equality of Conditions Contributes to Maintaining Good Mores in America
12 How the Americans Understand the Equality of Man and Woman
13 How Equality Naturally Divides the Americans into a Multitude of Particular Little Societies
14 Some Reflections on American Manners
15 On the Gravity of the Americans and Why It Does Not Prevent Their Often Doing Ill-Considered Things
16 Why the National Vanity of the Americans Is More Restive and More Quarrelsome than That of the English
17 How the Aspect of Society in the United States Is at Once Agitated and Monotonous
18 On Honor in the United States and in Democratic Societies
19 Why One Finds So Many Ambitious Men in the United States and So Few Great Ambitions
20 On the Industry in Place-Hunting in Certain Democratic Nations
21 Why Great Revolutions Will Become Rare
22 Why Democratic Peoples Naturally Desire Peace and Democratic Armies Naturally [Desire] War
23 Which Is the Most Warlike and the Most Revolutionary Class in Democratic Armies
24 What Makes Democratic Armies Weaker than Other Armies When Entering into a Campaign and More Formidable When War Is Prolonged
25 On Discipline in Democratic Armies
26 Some Considerations on War in Democratic Societies
Part Four
On the Influence That Democratic Ideas and Sentiments Exert on Political Society
1 Equality Naturally Gives Men the Taste for Free Institutions
2 That the Ideas of Democratic Peoples in the Matter of Government Are Naturally Favorable to the Concentration of Powers
3 That the Sentiments of Democratic Peoples Are in Accord with Their Ideas to Bring Them to Concentrate Power
4 On Some Particular and Accidental Causes That Serve to Bring a Democratic People to Centralize Power or Tum It Away from That
5 That among European Nations of Our Day Sovereign Power Increases Although Sovereigns Are Less Stable
6 What Kind of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear
7 Continuation of the Preceding Chapters
8 General View of the Subject
Notes
Sources Cited by Tocqueville
Index