Worth 20 points! will mark !
in what way do the people “direct” the american democracy, according to tocqueville?
what impressed tocqueville during his time in america? cite examples to support your answer.
in what way could tocqueville’s book be relevant today?
here is the source:
introduction
alexis de tocqueville, a young french writer, visited the united states in 1831. during his travels, he observed firsthand the impact of jacksonian democracy. after returning to france, tocqueville began writing democracy in america, a detailed look at american politics, society, economics, religion, and law. the first volume was published in 1835. the book is still studied and quoted by historians and politicians today. in these excerpts from democracy in america, tocqueville discusses the role of the american people in their government and gives his view of the american character.
primary source
the general principles which are the groundwork of modern constitutions–principles which were imperfectly known in europe, and not completely triumphant even in great britain, in the seventeenth century–were all recognized and determined by the laws of new england: the intervention of the people in public affairs, the free voting of taxes, the responsibility of authorities, personal liberty, and trial by jury, were all positively established without discussion. from these fruitful principles consequences have been derived and applications have been made such as no nation in europe has yet ventured to attempt.
. . it is at least true that in the united states the county and the township are always based upon the same principle, namely, that everyone is the best judge of what concerns himself alone, and the most proper person to supply his private wants.
in america the people name those who make the law and those who execute it; they themselves form the jury that punishes infractions [violations] of the law. not only are the institutions democratic in their principle, but also in all their developments; thus the people name their representatives directly and generally choose them every year in order to keep them more completely under their dependence. it is therefore really the people who direct. . this majority is composed principally of peaceful citizens who, either by taste or by interest, sincerely desire the good of the country. around them parties constantly agitate. .
the american taken randomly [chosen without a plan] will therefore be a man ardent [intense] in his desires, enterprising [full of energy; willing to take on new projects], adventurous—above all, an innovator [a person who creates a new way of doing something]. this spirit is in fact found in all his works; he introduces it into his political laws, his religious doctrines, his theories of social economy, his private industry; he brings it with him everywhere, into the depths of the woods as into the heart of towns.
to evade the bondage of system and habit, of family maxims, class-opinions, and in some degree, of national prejudices; to accept tradition only as a means of information, and existing facts only as a lesson used in doing otherwise and doing better; to seek the reason of things for oneself, and in oneself alone; to tend to results without being bound to means, and to aim at the substance through the form; —such are the principle characteristics of what i shall call the philosophical method of the americans. but if i go further, and if i seek among those characteristics the principle one which includes almost all the rest, i discover that, in most operations of the mind, each american appeals only to the individual effort of his own understanding.