He wrote that he did not know of any country where there was "less independence of mind, and true freedom of discussion, than in America". https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexis-de-Tocqueville, African American Registry - Biography of Alexis de Tocqueville, Alexis de Tocqueville - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). 30 For a concise description of the psychology of this transformation, see Democracy, pp.

In both, he analysed the improved living standards and social conditions of individuals as well as their relationship to the market and state in Western societies. [18] Overall, hereditary fortunes in the new democracies became exceedingly difficult to secure and more people were forced to struggle for their own living. Tocqueville tried to understand why the United States was so different from Europe in the last throes of aristocracy. 35–36). 6 (pp. While flatly denying that one can learn lessons from history in any simple sense, he did nonetheless hold that from an examination of historical particulars one can grasp the universal principles of social existence. It can only be found in the head of a coarse and brutal soldier. Above all, the work was infused with his message that a society, properly organized, could hope to retain liberty in a democratic social order.

As none of them is strong enough to fight alone with advantage, the only guarantee of liberty is for everyone to combine forces. Herr, , Tocqueville, pp. What is “political history”? (1835–40), a perceptive analysis of the political and social system of the United States in the early 19th century. Thus, quite independently of what the jury contributed to dispute resolution, participation on the jury had salutary effects on the jurors themselves".[41]. In local politics his quest for preeminence was completely fulfilled, but his need for uncompromised dignity and independence deprived him of influence in the Chamber of Deputies for a much longer time. [51] Tocqueville considered Bugeaud's plan to invade Kabylie despite the opposition of the Assembly as a seditious act in the face of which the government was opting for cowardice.[52][53]. He observed the curtailment of liberties by the Liberals, who had come to power in 1830, as well as the growth of state intervention in economic development. [6] Beaumont also wrote an account of their travels in Jacksonian America: Marie or Slavery in the United States (1835). His work was carried on by Descartes, Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this journal to your organisation's collection.

[18], According to political scientist Joshua Kaplan, one purpose of writing Democracy in America was to help the people of France get a better understanding of their position between a fading aristocratic order and an emerging democratic order and to help them sort out the confusion. 62–88 on decentralized administration, pp. Mayer, J. P. (Paris: Gallimard, 1952). [18], In Democracy in America, published in 1835, Tocqueville wrote of the New World and its burgeoning democratic order. [33] Tocqueville worried that if despotism were to take root in a modern democracy, it would be a much more dangerous version than the oppression under the Roman emperors or tyrants of the past who could only exert a pernicious influence on a small group of people at a time. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Democracy, pp. 36 For an elaboration on the means of this salutary habituation, see especially Democracy, pp. A few days after the February insurrection, he believed that a violent clash between the Parisian workers' population led by socialists agitating in favour of a "Democratic and Social Republic" and the conservatives, which included the aristocracy and the rural population, was inescapable. [40], Tocqueville believed that the American jury system was particularly important in educating citizens in self-government and rule of law. He, like Montesquieu, would not merely recount facts, but make known their causes and consequences and judge them. In his 1847 "Report on Algeria", Tocqueville declared that Europe should avoid making the same mistake they made with the European colonization of the Americas in order to avoid the bloody consequences. [citation needed], Tocqueville's main purpose was to analyze the functioning of political society and various forms of political associations, although he brought some reflections on civil society too (and relations between political and civil society). Still, as the persevering enemy of despotism everywhere, and under all its forms, I am pained and astonished by the fact that the freest people in the world is, at the present time, almost the only one among civilized and Christian nations which yet maintains personal servitude; and this while serfdom itself is about disappearing, where it has not already disappeared, from the most degraded nations of Europe.An old and sincere friend of America, I am uneasy at seeing Slavery retard her progress, tarnish her glory, furnish arms to her detractors, compromise the future career of the Union which is the guaranty of her safety and greatness, and point out beforehand to her, to all her enemies, the spot where they are to strike. Author of. Tocqueville is the inspiration for Australian novelist Peter Carey in his 2009 novel Parrot and Olivier in America. [39], In his Democracy in America, Tocqueville also forecast the preeminence of the United States and Russia as the two main global powers. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. 270–76 on the jury system, pp. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1097b22–1098a18. pp.

1 Baker, Russell, “Off the Top of De Tocq,” in The New York Times, 23 11 1976, p. 33. He was strongly influenced by the lectures of the historian and statesman François Guizot (1787–1874), who asserted that the decline of aristocratic privilege was historically inevitable. 15 Voltaire, the prototype of the makers of the Revolution, both failed to appreciate the dependence of British intellectual freedom on political freedom (p. 158) and underestimated the desire of the French immediately before the Revolution for political freedom as well as economic reform (p. 166). [18] He returned within nine months and published a report, but the real result of his tour was De la démocratie en Amérique, which appeared in 1835. As indicated above, however, part 1 of the book reveals that Tocqueville appreciated the significance of such defenses. Both occupy an equally inferior position in the country that they inhabit; both experience the effects of tyranny; and if their miseries are different, they can accuse the same author for them.[36]. Revolutionaries of a hitherto unknown breed came on the scene: men who carried audacity to the point of sheer insanity; who balked at no innovation and, unchecked by any scruples, acted with an unprecedented ruthlessness” (p. 157). [12], Under the Bourbon Restoration, Tocqueville's father became a noble peer and prefect. The Old Regime is neglected today because it is a political history, and today political history is not appreciated. 301–305 on how the Americans' practical experience helps to maintain republicanism, and pp. 25 Ultimately, from both the religious and philosophic points of view, one would also have to take into account the nature of God or of nature and the way in which He or it does or does not impinge on political life.

38 It was, in Tocqueville's opinion, especially the simultaneous rejections of religious and political and social traditions that had such disastrous consequences. [56], In 1856, Tocqueville published The Old Regime and the Revolution. According to one account, Tocqueville's political position became untenable during this time in the sense that he was mistrusted by both the left and right and was looking for an excuse to leave France. In 1841 and 1846, he traveled to Algeria. 5 of part 3 is on “How the spirit of revolt was promoted by well-intentioned efforts to improve the people's lot”; chap. [22] Between May and September, Tocqueville participated in the Constitutional Commission which wrote the new Constitution.

Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Democracy, vol. Gilbert, Stuart (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1955), pp. de Beaumont, Gustave (Paris, 1861), 2:406. He entered public life in the company of a close friend who was to become his alter ego—Gustave de Beaumont. The first part of Democracy in America won an immediate reputation for its author as a political scientist. 8 Although for the convenience of my readers I have used the readily available Gilbert translation wherever possible, I have corrected it as necessary. [24], This active support in favor of laws restricting political freedoms stands in contrast of his defense of freedoms in Democracy in America. 32 Cf. [citation needed], Tocqueville writes: "Among a democratic people, where there is no hereditary wealth, every man works to earn a living. Despite a frail voice in a fragile body, distaste for the daily demands of parliamentary existence, and long periods of illness and nervous exhaustion, Tocqueville chose politics as his vocation and adhered to this choice until he was driven from office. [18], Tocqueville blamed the omnipotence of majority rule as a chief factor in stifling thinking: "The majority has enclosed thought within a formidable fence.

"I have a passionate love for liberty, law, and respect for rights", he wrote. It is a taste which, it is true, all men have in some way or another; but its primacy exists only in the hearts of very few.

Scherer, , Le Temps, 7 05 1861; Villemain, A., Journal des Debats, 1 07 1856; Lefebvre, G., “A propos de Tocqueville,” in Annales historiques de la Revolution Française, no. 5 Tocqueville, to Presion, , 11 09 1857, in Oeuvres et correspondance inédites, ed. As the countryside was thought to be more conservative than the labouring population of Paris, universal suffrage was conceived as a means to counteract the revolutionary spirit of Paris. Lively contends that “the defence of liberty was the whole purpose of [Tocqueville's] writings” (Lively, Jack, The Social and Political Thought of Alexis de Tocqueville [Oxford, 1962], p. 37). Although it was sometimes viewed as having been derived from politically biased sources, it was soon accorded the status of a classic in the United States. Ôter son masque au parangon de la vertu démocratique", "Alexis, Charles, Henri Clérel de Tocqueville (1805–1859)", "Charles Alexis Henri Clérel de Tocqueville", Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Duke of Villars, Honoré Armand de Villars, Duke of Villars, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexis_de_Tocqueville&oldid=986568358, Members of the 5th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy, Members of the 6th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy, Members of the 7th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy, Members of the National Legislative Assembly of the French Second Republic, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Articles with French-language sources (fr), Pages using infobox philosopher with embed equal yes, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2017, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Léonore identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Allen, James Sloan. 89–90. [19] During this trip, he made a side trip to Montreal and Quebec City in Lower Canada from mid-August to early September 1831.[20].