Tinct · Library · Democracy in America
Free online book

Democracy in America

by Alexis de Tocqueville

A young French aristocrat travels the United States in 1831 and returns with the first, and still the most penetrating, analysis of democratic life — its equality, its restlessness, its softness, and the strange new tyranny of the majority.

Start reading in Tinct →
Chapters
  1. Chapter 1Introductory Chapter
  2. Chapter 2Chapter 1 — Exterior Form Of North America
  3. Chapter 3Chapter 2 — Origin Of The Anglo-Americans
  4. Chapter 4Chapter 3 — Social Conditions Of The Anglo-Americans
  5. Chapter 5Chapter 4 — The Principle Of The Sovereignty Of The People In America
  6. Chapter 6Chapter 5 — Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States Before That Of The Union At Large
  7. Chapter 7Chapter 6 — Judicial Power In The United States
  8. Chapter 8Chapter 7 — Political Jurisdiction In The United States
  9. Chapter 9Chapter 8 — The Federal Constitution
  10. Chapter 10Chapter 9 — Why The People May Strictly Be Said To Govern In The United States
  11. Chapter 11Chapter 10 — Parties In The United States
  12. Chapter 12Chapter 11 — Liberty Of The Press In The United States
  13. Chapter 13Chapter 12 — Political Associations In The United States
  14. Chapter 14Chapter 13 — Government Of The Democracy In America
  15. Chapter 15Chapter 14 — Advantages American Society Derive From Democracy
  16. Chapter 16Chapter 15 — Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences
  17. Chapter 17Chapter 16 — Causes Mitigating Tyranny In The United States
  18. Chapter 18Chapter 17 — Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic Republic In The United States
  19. Chapter 19Chapter 18 — Future Condition Of Three Races In The United States
  20. Chapter 20Conclusion
  21. Chapter 21Author's Preface to the Second Volume
  22. Chapter 22Chapter 1 — Philosophical Method Among the Americans
  23. Chapter 23Chapter 2 — Of The Principal Source Of Belief Among Democratic Nations
  24. Chapter 24Chapter 3 — Why The Americans Display More Readiness And More Taste For General Ideas Than Their Forefathers, The English.
  25. Chapter 25Chapter 4 — Why The Americans Have Never Been So Eager As The French For General Ideas In Political Matters
  26. Chapter 26Chapter 5 — Of The Manner In Which Religion In The United States Avails Itself Of Democratic Tendencies
  27. Chapter 27Chapter 6 — Of The Progress Of Roman Catholicism In The United States
  28. Chapter 28Chapter 7 — Of The Cause Of A Leaning To Pantheism Amongst Democratic Nations
  29. Chapter 29Chapter 8 — The Principle Of Equality Suggests To The Americans The Idea Of The Indefinite Perfectibility Of Man
  30. Chapter 30Chapter 9 — The Example Of The Americans Does Not Prove That A Democratic People Can Have No Aptitude And No Taste For Science, Literature, Or Art
  31. Chapter 31Chapter 10 — Why The Americans Are More Addicted To Practical Than To Theoretical Science
  32. Chapter 32Chapter 11 — Of The Spirit In Which The Americans Cultivate The Arts
  33. Chapter 33Chapter 12 — Why The Americans Raise Some Monuments So Insignificant, And Others So Important
  34. Chapter 34Chapter 13 — Literary Characteristics Of Democratic Ages
  35. Chapter 35Chapter 14 — The Trade Of Literature
  36. Chapter 36Chapter 15 — The Study Of Greek And Latin Literature Peculiarly Useful In Democratic Communities
  37. Chapter 37Chapter 16 — The Effect Of Democracy On Language
  38. Chapter 38Chapter 17 — Of Some Of The Sources Of Poetry Amongst Democratic Nations
  39. Chapter 39Chapter 18 — Of The Inflated Style Of American Writers And Orators
  40. Chapter 40Chapter 19 — Some Observations On The Drama Amongst Democratic Nations
  41. Chapter 41Chapter 20 — Characteristics Of Historians In Democratic Ages
  42. Chapter 42Chapter 21 — Of Parliamentary Eloquence In The United States
  43. Chapter 43Chapter 1 — Why Democratic Nations Show A More Ardent And Enduring Love Of Equality Than Of Liberty
  44. Chapter 44Chapter 2 — Of Individualism In Democratic Countries
  45. Chapter 45Chapter 3 — Individualism Stronger At The Close Of A Democratic Revolution Than At Other Periods
  46. Chapter 46Chapter 4 — That The Americans Combat The Effects Of Individualism By Free Institutions
  47. Chapter 47Chapter 5 — Of The Use Which The Americans Make Of Public Associations In Civil Life
  48. Chapter 48Chapter 6 — Of The Relation Between Public Associations And Newspapers
  49. Chapter 49Chapter 7 — Connection Of Civil And Political Associations
  50. Chapter 50Chapter 8 — The Americans Combat Individualism By The Principle Of Interest Rightly Understood
  51. Chapter 51Chapter 9 — That The Americans Apply The Principle Of Interest Rightly Understood To Religious Matters
  52. Chapter 52Chapter 10 — Of The Taste For Physical Well-Being In America
  53. Chapter 53Chapter 11 — Peculiar Effects Of The Love Of Physical Gratifications In Democratic Ages
  54. Chapter 54Chapter 12 — Causes Of Fanatical Enthusiasm In Some Americans
  55. Chapter 55Chapter 13 — Causes Of The Restless Spirit Of Americans In The Midst Of Their Prosperity
  56. Chapter 56Chapter 14 — Taste For Physical Gratifications United In America To Love Of Freedom And Attention To Public Affairs
  57. Chapter 57Chapter 15 — That Religious Belief Sometimes Turns The Thoughts Of The Americans To Immaterial Pleasures
  58. Chapter 58Chapter 16 — That Excessive Care Of Worldly Welfare May Impair That Welfare
  59. Chapter 59Chapter 17 — That In Times Marked By Equality Of Conditions And Sceptical Opinions, It Is Important To Remove To A Distance The Objects Of Human Actions
  60. Chapter 60Chapter 18 — That Amongst The Americans All Honest Callings Are Honorable
  61. Chapter 61Chapter 19 — That Almost All The Americans Follow Industrial Callings
  62. Chapter 62Chapter 20 — That Aristocracy May Be Engendered By Manufactures
  63. Chapter 63Chapter 1 — That Manners Are Softened As Social Conditions Become More Equal
  64. Chapter 64Chapter 2 — That Democracy Renders The Habitual Intercourse Of The Americans Simple And Easy
  65. Chapter 65Chapter 3 — Why The Americans Show So Little Sensitiveness In Their Own Country, And Are So Sensitive In Europe
  66. Chapter 66Chapter 4 — Consequences Of The Three Preceding Chapters
  67. Chapter 67Chapter 5 — How Democracy Affects the Relation Of Masters And Servants
  68. Chapter 68Chapter 6 — That Democratic Institutions And Manners Tend To Raise Rents And Shorten The Terms Of Leases
  69. Chapter 69Chapter 7 — Influence Of Democracy On Wages
  70. Chapter 70Chapter 8 — Influence Of Democracy On Kindred
  71. Chapter 71Chapter 9 — Education Of Young Women In The United States
  72. Chapter 72Chapter 10 — The Young Woman In The Character Of A Wife
  73. Chapter 73Chapter 11 — That The Equality Of Conditions Contributes To The Maintenance Of Good Morals In America
  74. Chapter 74Chapter 12 — How The Americans Understand The Equality Of The Sexes
  75. Chapter 75Chapter 13 — That The Principle Of Equality Naturally Divides The Americans Into A Number Of Small Private Circles
  76. Chapter 76Chapter 14 — Some Reflections On American Manners
  77. Chapter 77Chapter 15 — Of The Gravity Of The Americans, And Why It Does Not Prevent Them From Often Committing Inconsiderate Actions
  78. Chapter 78Chapter 16 — Why The National Vanity Of The Americans Is More Restless And Captious Than That Of The English
  79. Chapter 79Chapter 17 — That The Aspect Of Society In The United States Is At Once Excited And Monotonous
  80. Chapter 80Chapter 18 — Of Honor In The United States And In Democratic Communities
  81. Chapter 81Chapter 19 — Why So Many Ambitious Men And So Little Lofty Ambition Are To Be Found In The United States
  82. Chapter 82Chapter 20 — The Trade Of Place-Hunting In Certain Democratic Countries
  83. Chapter 83Chapter 21 — Why Great Revolutions Will Become More Rare
  84. Chapter 84Chapter 22 — Why Democratic Nations Are Naturally Desirous Of Peace, And Democratic Armies Of War
  85. Chapter 85Chapter 23 — Which Is The Most Warlike And Most Revolutionary Class In Democratic Armies?
  86. Chapter 86Chapter 24 — Causes Which Render Democratic Armies Weaker Than Other Armies At The Outset Of A Campaign, And More Formidable In Protracted Warfare
  87. Chapter 87Chapter 25 — Of Discipline In Democratic Armies
  88. Chapter 88Chapter 26 — Some Considerations On War In Democratic Communities
  89. Chapter 89Chapter 1 — That Equality Naturally Gives Men A Taste For Free Institutions
  90. Chapter 90Chapter 2 — That The Notions Of Democratic Nations On Government Are Naturally Favorable To The Concentration Of Power
  91. Chapter 91Chapter 3 — That The Sentiments Of Democratic Nations Accord With Their Opinions In Leading Them To Concentrate Political Power
  92. Chapter 92Chapter 4 — Of Certain Peculiar And Accidental Causes Which Either Lead A People To Complete Centralization Of Government, Or Which Divert Them From It
  93. Chapter 93Chapter 5 — That Amongst The European Nations Of Our Time The Power Of Governments Is Increasing, Although The Persons Who Govern Are Less Stable
  94. Chapter 94Chapter 6 — What Sort Of Despotism Democratic Nations Have To Fear
  95. Chapter 95Chapter 7 — Continuation Of The Preceding Chapters
  96. Chapter 96Chapter 8 — General Survey Of The Subject

Introductory Chapter

Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions. I readily discovered the prodigious influence which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed. I speedily perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, suggests the ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that the equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.

I then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, where I imagined that I discerned something analogous to the spectacle which the New World presented to me. I observed that the equality of conditions is daily progressing towards those extreme limits which it seems to have reached in the United States, and that the democracy which governs the American communities appears to be rapidly rising into power in Europe. I hence conceived the idea of the book which is now before the reader.

It is evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is going on amongst us; but there are two opinions as to its nature and consequences. To some it appears to be a novel accident, which as such may still be checked; to others it seems irresistible, because it is the most uniform, the most ancient, and the most permanent tendency which is to be found in history. Let us recollect the situation of France seven hundred years ago, when the territory was divided amongst a small number of families, who were the owners of the soil and the rulers of the inhabitants; the right of governing descended with the family inheritance from generation to generation; force was the only means by which man could act on man, and landed property was the sole source of power. Soon, however, the political power of the clergy was founded, and began to exert itself: the clergy opened its ranks to all classes, to the poor and the rich, the villein and the lord; equality penetrated into the Government through the Church, and the being who as a serf must have vegetated in perpetual bondage took his place as a priest in the midst of nobles, and not infrequently above the heads of kings.

The different relations of men became more complicated and more numerous as society gradually became more stable and more civilized. Thence the want of civil laws was felt; and the order of legal functionaries soon rose from the obscurity of the tribunals and their dusty chambers, to appear at the court of the monarch, by the side of the feudal barons in their ermine and their mail. Whilst the kings were ruining themselves by their great enterprises, and the nobles exhausting their resources by private wars, the lower orders were enriching themselves by commerce. The influence of money began to be perceptible in State affairs. The transactions of business opened a new road to power, and the financier rose to a station of political influence in which he was at once flattered and despised. Gradually the spread of mental acquirements, and the increasing taste for literature and art, opened chances of success to talent; science became a means of government, intelligence led to social power, and the man of letters took a part in the affairs of the State. The value attached to the privileges of birth decreased...