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    Fundamental Alexis de Tocqueville: A Practical Guide to Democracy in America
    Fundamental Alexis de Tocqueville: A Practical Guide to Democracy in America
    Fundamental Alexis de Tocqueville: A Practical Guide to Democracy in America
    Ebook84 pages1 hour

    Fundamental Alexis de Tocqueville: A Practical Guide to Democracy in America

    By M. James Ziccardi

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    About this ebook

    This book is one of a series that have been extracted in its entirety from M. James Ziccardi's "Fundamentals of Western
    Philosophy."

    It is intended to serve as a primer for students of political philosophy and especially Tocqueville's masterpiece, "Democracy in America".

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherM. James Ziccardi
    Release dateMar 2, 2013
    ISBN9781301948376
    Fundamental Alexis de Tocqueville: A Practical Guide to Democracy in America
    Author

    M. James Ziccardi

    M. James Ziccardi lives in Southern California with his wife and daughter and has been a software analyst for over twenty-five years. Reading and writing about philosophy is his passion.

    Read more from M. James Ziccardi

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      Book preview

      Fundamental Alexis de Tocqueville - M. James Ziccardi

      Fundamental Alexis de Tocqueville: A Practical Guide to Democracy in America

      M. James Ziccardi

      Copyright 2011 by M. James Ziccardi

      Smashwords Edition

      Section 1 - Preface

      This book is one of a series that have been extracted in its entirety from M. James Ziccardi’s "Fundamentals of Western Philosophy".

      It is intended to serve as a primer for students of political philosophy and especially Tocqueville’s masterpiece, "Democracy in America".

      Section 2 - Notes on the Text

      Square brackets [] found within quotes are mine.

      Sections in bold type or that are underlined are intended by me to highlight critical points.

      Section 3 - Alexis de Tocqueville (Biography)

      (1805-1859)

      The last of the great political thinkers to be discussed is French-born Alexis de Tocqueville, and the work we will be reviewing is his famous Democracy in America: a work that is often regarded as the greatest book ever written on the subject of democracy. Born to a wealthy aristocratic family in Normandy, Tocqueville spent his formative years studying law in Paris, and it was there that he met his life-long friend and future travelling companion, Gustave de Beaumont. In 1831, Tocqueville and Beaumont received a Royal Commission from King Louis-Philippe to travel to America for the purpose of studying its prison systems. Their celebrated expedition lasted just under a year, from May, 1831 to February, 1832, and took them from New England to New Orleans, and as far west as Lake Michigan. The two also spent a brief period of time in Canada.

      During their travels, Tocqueville and Beaumont observed and wrote not only about America’s prison systems, but about virtually all aspects of American society, including its cultural, religious, economic, and political institutions. For this reason, Democracy in America is revered not only for its insights into the American form of democracy, but for its historical insights as well. Tocqueville published Democracy in America in two volumes (the first in 1835, and the second in 1840), both of which were quickly well-received and praised for their revealing look into the American experience. (Included in the list of its immediate admirers was John Stuart Mill.)

      It is important to note that Democracy in America was not written for the American reader, but rather for the members of the French government. At the time of its writing, the concept of self-governance was beginning to spread across Continental Europe, and with it came many questions and concerns about how it would eventually take root there. The self-governance that was beginning to take hold in Europe, however, was fundamentally different from that which existed in America. This is because America had been founded on a codified set of democratic principles that were written into its very constitution. Europe, on the other hand, had nothing of the kind. Consequently, Europe’s form of self-governance seemed to be moving on its own accord and without any real structural guidance; after all, the governments of Continental Europe were, for the most part, still in the hands of monarchs.

      Tocqueville, who was greatly influenced by the political writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (as well as by those of the French philosophers Montesquieu and Blaise Pascal), did not approach democracy with a blank slate, but neither did he approach it with any optimistic preconceived ideas. Instead, he approached democracy knowing it to be an absolute certainty for France, and that the only thing left to be determined was how it would manifest itself. Would it take on a milder form, such as it did in America; or would it be violent and despotic, as it was after the French Revolution?

      Tocqueville maintained that the fate of America is the fate of Europe, and quite possibly, the fate of the rest of the world as well. Nonetheless, he believed democracy to be based on the particular political, economic, and social circumstances that are unique to each country, and that therefore, there is no single, or universal, form of democracy that can be applied equally to all countries. In fact, all countries are, or have the potential to be, different in their implementations of democracy.

      Due to its great size, and because it is filled with many technical details concerning the structure and administration of the American government at all its levels, I will not be providing a complete chapter-by-chapter review of this work. Instead, I will be focusing primarily on the judgments, attitudes, and political views that Tocqueville gathered while on his journey across America. Also, in an effort to eliminate any misinterpretations of the text, I have chosen to use Tocqueville’s own words as much as possible. With that, the following is a collection of some of the more significant ideas that Tocqueville puts forth in the masterpiece that is Democracy in America.

      Section 4- Volume 1 (Democracy in America)

      In Volume 1, Tocqueville concerns himself chiefly with the implementation and administration of the institutions that go to form the basis of the American democratic government.

      Book 1 (Volume 1):

      From the Introduction

      Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience, but by the exercise of a power which they believe to be illegal and by obedience to a rule which they consider to be usurped and oppressive.

      Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.

      The Church (in Europe) espouses that all men are equal in the eyes of God, and that all are equal in the eyes of the

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