Alexis De Tocqueville: Democracy in America

by de Tocqueville, Alexis

• ISBN13: 9781931082549
• ISBN10: 1931082545
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781598531817
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-02-01
• Publisher: Random House
• More Book Details

Summary

Alexis de Tocqueville, a young aristocratic French lawyer, came to the United States in 1831 to study its penitentiary systems. His nine-month visit and subsequent reading and reflection resulted in Democracy in America(1835–40), a landmark masterpiece of political observation and analysis. Tocqueville vividly describes the unprecedented social equality he found in America and explores its implications for European society in the emerging modern era. His book provides enduring insight into the political consequences of widespread property ownership, the potential dangers to liberty inherent in majority rule, the importance of civil institutions in an individualistic culture dominated by the pursuit of material self-interest, and the vital role of religion in American life, while prophetically probing the deep differences between the free and slave states. The clear, fluid, and vigorous translation by Arthur Goldhammer is the first to fully capture Tocqueville’s achievements both as an accomplished literary stylist and as a profound political thinker.

Author Biography

Arthur Goldhammer is the award-winning translator of more than eighty French works in history, literature, art history, classical studies, philosophy, psychology, and social science. Olivier Zunz is Commonwealth Professor of History at the University of Virginia, and the author of numerous books including Why the American Century? He has also co-edited The Tocqueville Reader (Blackwell) and is president of the Tocqueville Society.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 3
The Outward Configuration of North America	p. 21
On the Point of Departure and Its Importance for the Future of the Anglo-Americans	p. 31
Social State of the Anglo-Americans	p. 52
On the Principle of Popular Sovereignty in America	p. 62
Necessity of Studying What Happens in Particular States Before Speaking of the Government of the Union	p. 66
On Judicial Power in the United States and Its Effect on Political Society	p. 111
On Political Judgment in the United States	p. 120
On the Federal Constitution	p. 126
Why It Is Strictly Accurate to Say That in the United States It Is the People Who Govern	p. 197
Parties in the United States	p. 198
On Freedom of the Press in the United States	p. 205
On Political Association in the United States	p. 215
On the Government of Democracy in America	p. 224
What Are the Real Advantages to American Society of Democratic Government?	p. 264
On the Omnipotence of the Majority in the United States and Its Effects	p. 283
On That Which Tempers the Tyranny of the Majority in the United States	p. 301
On the Principal Causes That Tend to Maintain the Democratic Republic in the United States	p. 319
Some Considerations Concerning the Present State and Probable Future of the Three Races That Inhabit the Territory of the United States	p. 365
Preface	p. 479
Influence of Democracy on the Evolution of the American Intellect
On the Philosophical Method of the Americans	p. 483
On the Principal Source of Beliefs Among Democratic Peoples	p. 489
Why the Americans Show More Aptitude and Taste for General Ideas Than Their English Forefathers	p. 494
Why the Americans Have Never Been as Passionate as the French About General Ideas in Politics	p. 499
How Religion Uses Democratic Instincts in the United States	p. 501
On the Progress of Catholicism in the United States	p. 510
What Makes the Mind of Democratic Peoples Receptive to Pantheism	p. 512
How Democracy Suggests to the Americans the Idea of Man's Infinite Perfectibility	p. 514
How the Example of the Americans Does Not Prove That a Democratic People Can Have No Aptitude for Science, Literature, or the Arts	p. 516
Why Americans Devote Themselves More to the Practical Applications of Science Than to the Theory	p. 522
In What Spirit Americans Cultivate the Arts	p. 530
Why Americans Build Such Insignificant and Such Great Monuments at the Same Time	p. 536
The Literary Aspect of Democratic Centuries	p. 538
On the Literary Industry	p. 544
Why the Study of Greek and Latin Is Particularly Useful in Democratic Societies	p. 545
How American Democracy Has Changed the English Language	p. 547
On Some Sources of Poetry in Democratic Nations	p. 554
Why American Writers and Orators Are Often Bombastic	p. 561
Some Observations on the Theater of Democratic Peoples	p. 563
On Certain Tendencies Peculiar to Historians in Democratic Centuries	p. 569
On Parliamentary Eloquence in the United States	p. 574
Influence of Democracy on the Sentiments of the Americans
Why Democratic Peoples Show a More Ardent and Enduring Love of Equality Than of Liberty	p. 581
On Individualism in Democratic Countries	p. 585
How Individualism Is More Pronounced at the End of a Democratic Revolution Than at Any Other Time	p. 588
How Americans Combat Individualism with Free Institutions	p. 590
On the Use That Americans Make of Association in Civil Life	p. 595
On the Relation Between Associations and Newspapers	p. 600
Relations Between Civil Associations and Political Associations	p. 604
How Americans Combat Individualism with the Doctrine of Self-Interest Properly Understood	p. 610
How Americans Apply the Doctrine of Self-Interest Properly Understood in the Matter of Religion	p. 614
On the Taste for Material Well-Being in America	p. 617
On the Particular Effects of the Love of Material Gratifications in Democratic Centuries	p. 620
Why Certain Americans Exhibit Such Impassioned Spiritualism	p. 623
Why Americans Seem So Restless in the Midst of Their Well-Being	p. 625
How the Taste for Material Gratifications Is Combined in America with Love of Liberty and Concern About Public Affairs	p. 629
How Religious Beliefs Sometimes Divert the American Soul Toward Immaterial Gratifications	p. 633
How Excessive Love of Well-Being Can Impair It	p. 638
How, in Times of Equality and Doubt, It Is Important to Set Distant Goals for Human Actions	p. 639
Why All Respectable Occupations Are Reputed Honorable Among Americans	p. 642
Why Nearly All Americans Are Inclined to Enter Industrial Occupations	p. 644
How Industry Could Give Rise to an Aristocracy	p. 649
Influence of Democracy on Mores Properly So-Called
How Mores Become Milder as Conditions Become More Equal	p. 655
How Democracy Simplifies and Eases Habitual Relations Among Americans	p. 660
Why Americans Are So Slow to Take Offense in Their Country and So Quick to Take Offense in Ours	p. 663
Consequences of the Three Previous Chapters	p. 667
How Democracy Modifies Relations Between Servant and Master	p. 669
How Democratic Institutions and Mores Tend to Raise Prices and Shorten the Terms of Leases	p. 679
Influence of Democracy on Wages	p. 682
Influence of Democracy on the Family	p. 685
Raising Girls in the United States	p. 692
How the Traits of the Girl Can Be Divined in the Wife	p. 695
How Equality of Conditions Helps to Maintain Good Morals in America	p. 698
How the Americans Understand the Equality of Man and Woman	p. 705
How Equality Naturally Divides the Americans into a Multitude of Small Private Societies	p. 709
Some Reflections on American Manners	p. 711
On the Gravity of Americans and Why It Does Not Prevent Them from Acting Rashly	p. 715
Why the National Vanity of the Americans Is More Restless and Argumentative Than That of the English	p. 719
How Society in the United States Seems Both Agitated and Monotonous	p. 722
On Honor in the United States and in Democratic Societies	p. 725
Why There Are So Many Ambitious Men and So Few Great Ambitions in the United States	p. 738
On Place-Hunting in Certain Democratic Nations	p. 745
Why Great Revolutions Will Become Rare	p. 747
Why Democratic Peoples Naturally Desire Peace and Democratic Armies Naturally Desire War	p. 761
Which Class in Democratic Armies Is the Most Warlike and Revolutionary	p. 768
What Makes Democratic Armies Weaker Than Other Armies at the Start of a Campaign but More Formidable in Protracted Warfare	p. 772
On Discipline in Democratic Armies	p. 777
Some Remarks on War in Democratic Societies	p. 779
On the Influence that Democratic Ideas and Sentiments Exert on Political Society
Equality Naturally Gives Men a Taste for Free Institutions	p. 787
Why the Ideas of Democratic Peoples About Government Naturally Favor the Concentration of Power	p. 789
How the Sentiments of Democratic Peoples Accord with Their Ideas to Bring About a Concentration of Power	p. 793
Concerning Certain Particular and Accidental Causes That Either Lead a Democratic People to Centralize Power or Divert Them From It	p. 797
How Sovereign Power in Today's European Nations Is Increasing, Although Sovereigns Are Less Stable	p. 803
What Kind of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear	p. 816
Continuation of the Preceding Chapters	p. 822
General View of the Subject	p. 831
Tocqueville's Notes	p. 835
Translator's Note	p. 873
Chronology	p. 878
Note on the Texts	p. 907
Notes	p. 909
Index	p. 925
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