Democracy in America

Majority rule is legally enshrined in the American system, as the legislative branches of government have a great deal of power and face frequent elections to be held accountable to the public. This is the result of the American belief that “there is more enlightenment and wisdom in many men united than in one alone, in the number of legislators than in their choice. It is the theory of equality applied to intellects” (236). This idea was deeply entrenched in America from the first days of European settlement. Americans closely identify themselves with majority rule out of a sense of common interest.

The results of majority rule are, for Tocqueville, full of drawbacks. He calls frequent changes in legislative composition “an evil inherent in democratic government” (238). Tocqueville notes that laws change frequently and constitutions are readily amended. Tocqueville argues that his opposition is not to democracy’s particular faults but to any system that grants too much power to one authority, whether popular or aristocratic. He argues, “There is therefore no authority on earth so respectable in itself or vested with a right so sacred that I should wish to allow to act without control and to dominate without obstacles” (241).

Tocqueville argues that all current checks on majoritarian tyranny are a result of “mores” rather than formal power structures (242). This results in a social state where free debate is circumscribed:

In America the majority draws a formidable circle around thought. Inside those limits, the writer is free; but unhappiness awaits him if he dares to leave them. It is not that he has to fear an auto-da-fé, but he is the butt of mortifications of all kinds and of persecutions every day (244).

Here Tocqueville invokes the burning of heretics during the Spanish Inquisition, arguing that those who hold minority opinions are ostracized though they retain their lives. Tocqueville argues that this even has cultural effects, as the lack of American literature is due to lack of “freedom of mind” (245).

Again, Tocqueville compares America to a European monarchy and finds the former wanting. Americans prostrate themselves before majority rule more than aristocrats did before their patrons. He argues that citizens “prostitute themselves” to the majority (247). Tocqueville argues that the American system is stable but will be endangered if minorities find themselves so repressed they resort to “material force” (249). Tocqueville points out that the Founding Fathers also addressed this issue in the Federalist Papers, as they considered the Constitution’s strengths and weaknesses.