the public had taken so hearty an interest, and which
the exertions of the citizens had irresistibly accelerated,
could not be completed in a moment. Whilst the
new penitentiaries were being erected (and it was the
pleasure of the majority that they should be terminated
with all possible celerity), the old prisons existed,
which still contained a great number of offenders.
These jails became more unwholesome and more corrupt
in proportion as the new establishments were beautified
and improved, forming a contrast which may readily
be understood. The majority was so eagerly employed
in founding the new prisons that those which already
existed were forgotten; and as the general attention
was diverted to a novel object, the care which had
hitherto been bestowed upon the others ceased.
The salutary regulations of discipline were first
relaxed, and afterwards broken; so that in the immediate
neighborhood of a prison which bore witness to the
mild and enlightened spirit of our time, dungeons might
be met with which reminded the visitor of the barbarity
of the Middle Ages.
Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences—Part II
Tyranny Of The Majority
How the principle of the sovereignty of the people
is to be understood—Impossibility of conceiving
a mixed government—The sovereign power
must centre somewhere—Precautions to be
taken to control its action—These precautions
have not been taken in the United States—Consequences.
I hold it to be an impious and an execrable maxim
that, politically speaking, a people has a right to
do whatsoever it pleases, and yet I have asserted
that all authority originates in the will of the majority.
Am I then, in contradiction with myself?
A general law—which bears the name of Justice—has
been made and sanctioned, not only by a majority of
this or that people, but by a majority of mankind.
The rights of every people are consequently confined
within the limits of what is just. A nation may
be considered in the light of a jury which is empowered
to represent society at large, and to apply the great
and general law of justice. Ought such a jury,
which represents society, to have more power than the
society in which the laws it applies originate?
When I refuse to obey an unjust law, I do not contest
the right which the majority has of commanding, but
I simply appeal from the sovereignty of the people
to the sovereignty of mankind. It has been asserted
that a people can never entirely outstep the boundaries
of justice and of reason in those affairs which are
more peculiarly its own, and that consequently, full
power may fearlessly be given to the majority by which
it is represented. But this language is that of
a slave.
Copyrights
Democracy in America — Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
