Democracy in America / Alexis de Tocqueville ; translated, edited, and with an introduction by Harvey C. Mansfield and Delba Winthrop.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tocqueville, Alexis de, 1805-1859.

Contributor:

Mansfield, Harvey C., Jr., 1932-

Winthrop, Delba.

Standardized Title:

De la démocratie en Amérique. English

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

United States--Politics and government.

United States.

Politics and government.

United States--Social conditions.

Social conditions.

Democracy--United States.

Democracy.

Physical Description:

xciii, 722 pages : maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Summary:

Alexis de Tocqueville's book he wrote on his return to France from America in 1831 remains the most often quoted book about the United States. Harvey Mansfield and Delba Winthrop's new translation is the first to appear in three decades, and the only one to provide notes identifying events and allusions no longer familiar to today's readers.

Contents:

1 External Configuration of North America 19

2 On the Point of Departure and Its Importance for the Future of the Anglo-Americans 27

Reasons for Some Singularities That the Laws and Customs of the Anglo-Americans Present 44

3 Social State of the Anglo-Americans 45

That the Salient Point of the Social State of the Anglo-Americans Is Its Being Essentially Democratic 46

Political Consequences of the Social State of the Anglo-Americans 52

4 On the Principle of the Sovereignty of the People in America 53

5 Necessity of Studying What Takes Place in the Particular States before Speaking of the Government of the Union 56

On the Township System in America 57

Size of the Township 58

Powers of the Township in New England 58

On Township Existence 61

On the Spirit of the Township in New England 63

On the County in New England 65

On Administration in New England 66

General Ideas about Administration in the United States 75

On the State 79

Legislative Power of the State 80

On the Executive Power of the State 81

On the Political Effects of Administrative Decentralization in the United States 82

6 On Judicial Power in the United States and Its Action on Political Society 93

Other Powers Granted to American Judges 98

7 On Political Judgment in the United States 100

8 On the Federal Constitution 105

History of the Federal Constitution 105

Summary Picture of the Federal Constitution 107

Prerogatives of the Federal Government 108

Federal Powers 110

Legislative Powers 110

Another Difference between the Senate and the House of Representatives 113

On the Executive Power 113

How the Position of the President of the United States Differs from That of a Constitutional King in France 115

Accidental Causes That Can Increase the Influence of the Executive Power 118

Why the President of the United States Does Not Need to Have a Majority in the Houses in Order to Direct Affairs 119

On the Election of the President 120

Mode of Election 124

Crisis of the Election 126

On the Reelection of the President 128

On the Federal Courts 130

Manner of Settling the Competence of the Federal Courts 133

Different Cases of Jurisdiction 135

Manner of Proceeding of Federal Courts 139

Elevated Rank Held by the Supreme Court among the Great Powers of the State 141

How the Federal Constitution Is Superior to the Constitutions of the States 143

What Distinguishes the Federal Constitution of the United States of America from All Other Federal Constitutions 146

On the Advantages of the Federal System Generally, and Its Special Utility for America 149

What Keeps the Federal System from Being within Reach of All Peoples, and What Has Permitted the Anglo-Americans to Adopt It 154

1 How One Can Say Strictly That in the United States the People Govern 165

2 On Parties in the United States 166

On the Remains of the Aristocratic Party in the United States 170

3 On Freedom of the Press in the United States 172

4 On Political Association in the United States 180

5 On the Government of Democracy in America 187

On Universal Suffrage 187

On the Choices of the People and the Instincts of American Democracy in Its Choices 187

On the Causes That Can in Part Correct These Instincts of Democracy 190

Influence That American Democracy Exerts on Electoral Laws 192

On Public Officials under the Empire of American Democracy 194

On the Arbitrariness of Magistrates under the Empire of American Democracy 196

Administrative Instability in the United States 198

On Public Costs under the Empire of American Democracy 199

On the Instincts of American Democracy in Fixing the Salaries of Officials 203

Difficulty of Discerning the Causes That Incline the American Government to Economy 205

Can the Public Expenditures of the United States Be Compared to Those of France? 206

On the Corruption and Vices of Those Who Govern in Democracy; On the Effects on Public Morality That Result 210

Of What Efforts Democracy Is Capable 212

On the Power That American Democracy Generally Exercises over Itself 215

The Manner in Which American Democracy Conducts External Affairs of State 217

6 What Are the Real Advantages That American Society Derives from the Government of Democracy 220

On the General Tendency of the Laws under the Empire of American Democracy, and on the Instinct of Those Who Apply Them 221

On Public Spirit in the United States 225

On the Idea of Rights in the United States 227

On Respect for the Law in the United States 229

Activity Reigning in All Parts of the Body Politic of the United States; Influence That It Exerts on Society 231

7 On the Omnipotence of the Majority in the United States and Its E ects 235

How the Omnipotence of the Majority in America Increases the Legislative and Administrative Instability That Is Natural to Democracies 238

Tyranny of the Majority 239

Effects of the Omnipotence of the Majority on the Arbitrariness of American Officials 242

On the Power That the Majority in America Exercises over Thought 243

Effects of the Tyranny of the Majority on the National Character of the Americans; On the Spirit of a Court in the United States 246

That the Greatest Danger of the American Republics Comes from the Omnipotence of the Majority 248

8 On What Tempers the Tyranny of the Majority in the United States 250

Absence of Administrative Centralization 250

On the Spirit of the Lawyer in the United States and How It Serves as a Counterweight to Democracy 251

On the Jury in the United States Considered as a Political Institution 258

9 On the Principal Causes Tending to Maintain a Democratic Republic in the United States 264

On the Accidental or Providential Causes Contributing to the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic in the United States 265

On the Influence of the Laws on the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic in the United States 274

On the Influence of Mores on the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic in the United States 274

On Religion Considered as a Political Institution; How It Serves Powerfully the Maintenance of a Democratic Republic among the Americans 275

Indirect Influence That Religious Beliefs Exert on Political Society in the United States 278

On the Principal Causes That Make Religion Powerful in America 282

How the Enlightenment, the Habits, and the Practical Experience of the Americans Contribute to the Success of Democratic Institutions 288

That the Laws Serve to Maintain a Democratic Republic in the United States More than Physical Causes, and Mores More than Laws 292

Would Laws and Mores Suffice to Maintain Democratic Institutions Elsewhere than in America? 296

Importance of What Precedes in Relation to Europe 298

10 Some Considerations on the Present State and the Probable Future of the Three Races That Inhabit the Territory of the United States 302

Present State and Probable Future of the Indian Tribes That Inhabit the Territory Possessed by the Union 307

Position That the Black Race Occupies in the United States; Dangers Incurred by Whites from Its Presence 326

What Are the Chances That the American Union Will Last? What Dangers Threaten It? 348

On Republican Institutions in the United States; What Are Their Chances of Longevity? 379

Some Considerations on the Causes of the Commercial Greatness of the United States 384

Volume 2 Notice 399

Part 1 Influence of Democracy on Intellectual Movement in the United States

1 On the Philosophic Method of the Americans 403

2 On the Principal Source of Beliefs among Democratic Peoples 407

3 Why the Americans Show More Aptitude and Taste for General Ideas than Their English Fathers 411

4 Why the Americans Have Never Been as Passionate as the French for General Ideas in Political Matters 415

5 How, in the United States, Religion Knows How to Make Use of Democratic Instincts 417

6 On the Progress of Catholicism in the United States 424

7 What Makes the Mind of Democratic Peoples Lean toward Pantheism 425

8 How Equality Suggests to the Americans the Idea of the Indefinite

Perfectibility of Man 426

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 428

10 Why the Americans Apply Themselves to the Practice of the Sciences Rather than to the Theory 433

11 In What Spirit the Americans Cultivate the Arts 439

12 Why the Americans at the Same Time Raise Such Little and Such Great Monuments 443

13 The Literary Face of Democratic Centuries 445

14 On the Literary Industry 450

15 Why the Study of Greek and Latin Literature Is Particularly Useful in Democratic Societies 450

16 How American Democracy Has Modified the English Language 452

17 On Some Sources of Poetry in Democratic Nations 458

18 Why American Writers and Orators Are Often Bombastic 463

19 Some Observations on the Theater of Democratic Peoples 465

20 On Some Tendencies Particular to Historians in Democratic Centuries 469

21 On Parliamentary Eloquence in the United States 472

Part 2 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 479

2 On Individualism in Democratic Countries 482

3 How Individualism Is Greater at the End of a Democratic Revolution than in Any Other Period 484

4 How the Americans Combat Individualism with Free Institutions 485

5 On the Use That the Americans Make of Association in Civil Life 489

6 On the Relation between Associations and Newspapers 493

7 Relations between Civil Associations and Political Associations 496

8 How the Americans Combat Individualism by the Doctrine of Self-Interest Well Understood 500

9 How the Americans Apply the Doctrine of Self-Interest Well Understood in the Matter of Religion 504

10 On the Taste for Material Well-Being in America 506

11 On the Particular E ects That the Love of Material Enjoyments Produces in Democratic Centuries 508

12 Why Certain Americans Display Such an Exalted Spiritualism 510

13 Why the Americans Show Themselves So Restive in the Midst of Their Well-Being 511

14 How the Taste for Material Enjoyments among Americans Is United with Love of Freedom and with Care for Public A airs 514

15 How Religious Beliefs at Times Turn the Souls of the Americans toward Immaterial Enjoyments 517

16 How the Excessive Love of Well-Being Can Be Harmful to Well-Being 521

17 How in Times of Equality and Doubt It Is Important to Move Back the Object of Human Actions 522

18 Why among the Americans All Honest Professions Are Reputed Honorable 525

19 What Makes Almost All Americans Incline toward Industrial Professions 526

20 How Aristocracy Could Issue from Industry 530

Part 3 Influence of Democracy on Mores Properly So-Called

1 How Mores Become Milder as Conditions Are Equalized 535

2 How Democracy Renders the Habitual Relations of the Americans Simpler and Easier 539

3 Why the Americans Have So Little Oversensitivity in Their Country and Show Themselves to Be So Oversensitive in Ours 541

4 Consequences of the Preceding Three Chapters 544

5 How Democracy Modifies the Relations of Servant and Master 546

6 How Democratic Institutions and Mores Tend to Raise the Price and Shorten the Duration of Leases 553

7 Influence of Democracy on Wages 555

8 Influence of Democracy on the Family 558

9 Education of Girls in the United States 563

10 How the Girl Is Found beneath the Features of the Wife 565

11 How Equality of Conditions Contributes to Maintaining Good Mores in America 567

12 How the Americans Understand the Equality of Man and Woman 573

13 How Equality Naturally Divides the Americans into a Multitude of Particular Little Societies 577

14 Some Reflections on American Manners 578

15 On the Gravity of the Americans and Why It Does Not Prevent Their Often Doing Ill-Considered Things 582

16 Why the National Vanity of the Americans Is More Restive and More Quarrelsome than That of the English 585

17 How the Aspect of Society in the United States Is at Once Agitated and Monotonous 587

18 On Honor in the United States and in Democratic Societies 589

19 Why One Finds So Many Ambitious Men in the United States and So Few Great Ambitions 599

20 On the Industry in Place-Hunting in Certain Democratic Nations 604

21 Why Great Revolutions Will Become Rare 606

22 Why Democratic Peoples Naturally Desire Peace and Democratic Armies Naturally [Desire] War 617

23 Which Is the Most Warlike and the Most Revolutionary Class in Democratic Armies 623

24 What Makes Democratic Armies Weaker than Other Armies When Entering into a Campaign and More Formidable When War Is Prolonged 626

25 On Discipline in Democratic Armies 629

26 Some Considerations on War in Democratic Societies 631

Part 4 On the Influence That Democratic Ideas and Sentiments Exert on Political Society

1 Equality Naturally Gives Men the Taste for Free Institutions 639

2 That the Ideas of Democratic Peoples in the Matter of Government Are Naturally Favorable to the Concentration of Powers 640

3 That the Sentiments of Democratic Peoples Are in Accord with Their Ideas to Bring Them to Concentrate Power 643

4 On Some Particular and Accidental Causes That Serve to Bring a Democratic People to Centralize Power or Turn It Away from That 646

5 That among European Nations of Our Day Sovereign Power Increases Although Sovereigns Are Less Stable 651

6 What Kind of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear 661.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 705-709) and index.

ISBN:

0226805328

OCLC:

43481685