De Tocqueville\'s Views on America

De Tocqueville's Views On America

In the early nineteenth century, when the United States was still a very young democracy and growing into its own ideals, a French citizen named Alexis de Tocqueville took an extended tour of the country and noted the differences and similarities between American and European society. His book Democracy in America remains a very interesting read and a highly important political and historical document, as it records the yearnings and idealism of the United States' citizens at the time in what is at once an objective yet an incredibly human manner. To read this book in the modern day is to have a glimpse back into the development of this country not simply in terms of land expansions, building projects, and other traditional modes of understanding historical progression, but also to see the progress of ideas and concepts such as individualism and self-direction.

One of the topics that de Tocqueville is especially struck by in his travels throughout America is the spirit of volunteerism that he witnesses. Without any real incentive other than the building of communities and bonds of national brotherhood, de Tocqueville notes an incredible willingness on the part of American individuals to lend a hand to their neighbors in all manner of efforts when extra hands are needed. His commentary is definitely meant to persuade Europe towards developing more democratic societies, and it is difficult to fully believe de Tocqueville's vision of a utopian America where all jobs are accomplished through cheerful common effort. Still, despite the author's over-selling of this point, there is a great deal to respect about early American togetherness.

As pleased as he is with American volunteerism, de Tocqueville is less impressed by the situation of political parties that he observes in the United States. While claiming that the country has indeed seen "great parties" -- those that maintain their values and principles rigidly in support of ideals rather than individual men -- de Tocqueville believes that these parties disappeared before his arrival on the continent. In one of his sharper criticisms, he claims that though this might have led to a greater superficial happiness for the country and its citizens, it also left American morally bankrupt. It appears as though de Tocqueville is using the issue of political party division in the country at the time of his visit to highlight the need for a unification of vision and purpose in a democratic nation; while there is some objective truth to this, it is also possible (and indeed, highly probable) that de Tocqueville was hoping his recently democratized home country of France would follow his advice and create conflicting parties based on ideals of government rather than petty functions of power.

The criticisms that de Tocqueville levels against American society, and especially against some of the particulars of its governance, continue in his discussion of the potential tyranny of the majority. Americans regard the majority much as Europeans viewed their king, according to de Tocqueville: it can do no wrong, and any wrong it does do is only due to bad advice or information. This subservience, according to de Tocqueville, creates the potential for a majority to rob a minority of its rights through legal means. While this danger certainly exists, however, de Tocqueville fails to demonstrate how it is worse than the tyranny of a monarch.