Democracy in America

In this volume Tocqueville concentrates particularly on the cultural and social consequences of democratic politics rather than the details and operation of the American political system. While Americans are not especially interested in formal philosophy, Tocqueville argues that all Americans believe in “the individual effort of his reason” (403), which he identifies closely with French Enlightenment philosopher Rene Descartes. Lacking a class identity to form their opinions from, Americans trust their own opinions. This leads to a kind of optimism and confidence, as “they easily conclude that everything in the world is explicable and that nothing exceeds the bounds of intelligence” (404). Looking at Europe’s intellectual history, Tocqueville finds it curious that Descartes and his followers did not immediately apply his conclusions to politics. Tocqueville argues that they eventually did, and this is why the first revolution to overthrow a monarchy occurred in France. Americans, in contrast, arrived at equality by bringing it from England.

Tocqueville argues that all societies function with some acceptance of fixed ideas that are largely unquestioned; he calls these “dogmatic beliefs” (407). As citizens become more democratic, they become more attached to the idea that their opinions should come from those like them. Tocqueville writes, “Not only is common opinion the sole guide that remains for individual reason among democratic peoples; but it has an infinitely greater power among these peoples than among any other” (409). He comes close to portraying democratic peoples as brainwashed and only slightly capable of independent thought, as he declares that the majority view “does not persuade [one] of its beliefs, it imposes them and makes them penetrate souls by a sort of immense pressure of the minds of all on the intellect of each” (409). He also expresses concern that this will “induce it [the population] to give up thinking” (410) in favor of merely espousing majority views, which would effectively squash the intellectual freedoms established in the law. This aspect of democracy fills Tocqueville with dread, and he considers it “a new face for servitude” (410). Where Tocqueville’s examination of the American political system in Volume 1 led him to fear legislative power, he now extends this fear to the social and cultural effects of democracy as a whole.