Alyssa Skowronski
History 100- 8am
3/9/12
Democracy in America de Tocqueville
Throughout Alexis de Tocqueville visit in America in 1831, he noticed the difference
between the democracies in the United States compared to France. Also during the trip, De
Tocqueville noticed the different views that the American’s and French had between mores,
religion, and language. While he was in America, he was shocked about how the Americans
took control in democracy and had many questions figuring out why they do this. When looking
at the perception that de Tocqueville had, he seemed to have a one sided view on democracy,
which doesn’t really seem right. De Tocqueville described democracy as “elusive and
problematic, and that its meaning was less political than social” (17). The views that de
Tocqueville had on language, religion and morals, equality of conditions, tyranny of the
majority, and how the democracy was good and bad, had its differences between American and
France. Tocqueville would explain why he enjoyed his travel to American, but in his journaling
he would bash America and say how we ran our democracy horribly.
While viewing the outlook that de Tocqueville had on the language that he used, it was
much different than how the French would understand it. While de Tocqueville was in the
United States, he wrote in his journal “I have frequently written harsh words about the
democratic societies created by this revolution. I would reply that it is because I was not in any
way an enemy of democracy that I have tried to be honest about it” (19). De Tocqueville always
stated that American’s always say they love America and they always said good things about
how their government was ran, but they were never brutally honest and that is why de
Tocqueville was harsh about his comments. Everything that Tocqueville said or thought was
perceived as second nature for him whereas to us it seemed oddly strange. For example when de
Tocqueville says, “race, he did not mean what we normally do, but would casually refer to the
French race, or the English” (20). If Tocqueville used the words he did in American language
then the different population in American would not understand what he is trying to get across.
Another word that Tocqueville used was moeurs. When Tocqueville said moeurs he means
“habits of the heart, and ideas that constitute their character of mind” (17). Tocqueville uses
moeurs as a way to define customs, beliefs, and different values of religion. Also de Tocqueville
said that “in America moeurs created free institutions; and in France, free institutions must create
free moeurs” (15). He uses different words so that the American population does not understand
some of them and he can “bash” the American democracy. In any case, de Tocqueville
represented himself greatly by using the same language us American’s use but in a way that us
American’s do not understand.
De Tocqueville realized that there was a major difference between the religion in France
and America. He also noticed that religion and morals were viewed as the same thing. With the
French, de Tocqueville said that it was basically hand in hand, that religion and democracy were
viewed as the same. In America it was viewed that liberty, freedom and democracy came first
and then religion was viewed as second. In America, “American’s are very religious people” (de
Tocqueville 143). The role of religion that develops the girls’ character is that the American
girls didn’t only depend on religion. The girls make individual responsibilities for their own
freedom and when the human strength is no longer sufficient then that is when they will turn to
religion. One nice thing that de Tocqueville expressed in his journal was that “women create
morality. Anything that contributes to the condition of women, their habits and opinions, seems
to me to have a great political significance” (140). So in other words, de Tocqueville is saying
that if it wasn’t for the women and their morals there would be a different take on the
democracy. In England (the protestant country) girls have been able to hold the right to selfgovernment which helps control the government system. De Tocqueville also mentioned in his
journal that religion influences morals which then make democracy easier. In regards to morals
de Tocqueville noticed that the single and married women differ in some ways. The single
women in America were the ones who enjoyed their freedom and pleasure. While the married
women had to live their lives through their husbands, since back then the married women were
known to cook and clean. Tocqueville mentioned “women’s independence is permanently lost in
marriage.” While viewing the married women, he noticed that they had a lot of work but it
wasn’t a trap or a burden. She learned what was expected of her earlier in life, once she became
married, and she made that choice of taking on this new chapter in her life. Tocqueville noticed
that “the girl she was can be seen in the wife she has become, her role has changed, her ways are
different, but her spirit is the same” (144). After de Tocqueville noticed this he realized that
American girls are more moral than the European girls. “European girls are publicly maligned
for their weakness” (de Tocqueville 145). Politicians often hear that the European girls lack their
morality. De Tocqueville believes that American morality is due to the country and part of the
religion that we have gained.
During the de Tocqueville trip to America he stated many statements about the equality
of conditions and tyranny of majority. When Tocqueville was traveling and looking at our
democracy, he noticed the equality of conditions. His thought on it was that it made men more
independent of one another. De Tocqueville said that “he knew perfectly well that there were
rich and poor, but he believed that, unlike in Europe, these were not permanent conditions” (24).
So Tocqueville knows that in American there are the rich and the poor, but it doesn’t always
mean that they are going to live in those conditions for the rest of their life, it might turn around
on them. Equality in America meant two things “one leads men directly to independence and
can lead abruptly to anarchy; the other leads them by a longer, hidden, and more certain route to
servitude” (de Tocqueville 162).
Another thing that de Tocqueville noticed about equality was
that it was less elevated and more about justice. De Tocqueville believes that equality can lead
into a mess in the government system but how the people approach it is what he likes the most.
Two conflicting passions that occur in a tyranny is that they feel the need to be lead and desire to
remain free. Also, Tocqueville believes that American people need to be more organized in our
government system in order to gain the majority votes.
“I am not saying that at present acts of tyranny occur frequently in America, but I am
saying that there is no guarantee against it there, and that the basis for goodness in
government is not found in laws but in mores and circumstances” (de Tocqueville 75).
Tocqueville also noticed that in America, tyranny sometimes resorts to arbitrary power.
Tocqueville definitely noticed difference between the equality of conditions and the tyranny of
the majority. Americans behaved so well because of the government system we have gained.
The American people are the ones who are in charge so they don’t really have anyone to tell
them something different and they can’t get mad at themselves because they are taking control.
Since the reason de Tocqueville came to America was to view what the democracy was
like in America he found some things that he liked and some things he disliked. De Tocqueville
described democracy in America as a “struggle against God himself and nations can do nothing
other than accept the social order imposed on them by providence” (45). In the beginning of his
trip, he thought that America had no idea how to run our government system and that France did
a better job controlling everything. Throughout his visit in America, around 1834-1835,
Tocqueville had some sympathy towards our democracy, and he stated that when leaving France
he would have never of thought that. De Tocqueville also saw democracy as an equation that
balanced equality and liberty. “Tocqueville affirmation of democracy then, however hesitant or
critical it might be at times, was firmly rooted in his fear of tyranny and especially the unlimited
authority of a single man” (20). What he is basically saying is that in the United States, there
really was no main authority person in the government. Government in France, “was
exceedingly centralized, perhaps overly so. United States, by contrast, government seemed to
Tocqueville so decentralized as to be barely visible and minimally intrusive in domestic life” (de
Tocqueville 21). He noticed that in France the government was ran smoothly and there seemed
to be no problems and when he entered America, it was just a bunch of nonsense put together
and made it seem like everyone had no idea what they were really doing. Towards the end of his
trip in America, he claimed that he is scared but yet has hope for us that we will gain the power
that we need. Tocqueville says he can see danger happening eventually but there are risks of
avoiding them. He thinks that eventually people will listen to their government and they will
obey the laws. So he doesn’t hate how the Americans control our democracy but he think that
there are different ways they can work with to make it better.
Language, religion and morals, equality of conditions, tyranny of the majority, and the
different views on democracy played a big part in de Tocqueville’s life while being on his trip
here in America. With the language it’s not that he used different words but it’s the way he
portrayed and phrased it that the Americans had no idea. Tocqueville noticed that religion and
morals played a big role in this journey and he also noticed that they were basically hand in
hand. That is when he figured out that American girls are more moral than European girls and
he gives us girl’s credit for what we do. The equality of conditions is that the government now is
equal and everyone has the same amount of rights. Tyranny of the majority is basically where
the government has majority of the votes and that’s where everything takes place. With
democracy we take a different approach than the French do. Not that it is a bad thing, but
Tocqueville was stunned about how we go along with things. Overall there was a bunch things
that de Tocqueville didn’t expect but he was glad he has made his journey to America.