Though not originally written for Americans, “Democracy
in America” must always remain a work of engrossing
and constantly increasing interest to citizens of
the United States as the first philosophic and comprehensive
view of our society, institutions, and destiny.
No one can rise even from the most cursory perusal
without clearer insight and more patriotic appreciation
of the blessings of liberty protected by law, nor without
encouragement for the stability and perpetuity of the
Republic. The causes which appeared to M. de
Tocqueville to menace both, have gone. The despotism
of public opinion, the tyranny of majorities, the absence
of intellectual freedom which seemed to him to degrade
administration and bring statesmanship, learning,
and literature to the level of the lowest, are no
longer considered. The violence of party spirit
has been mitigated, and the judgment of the wise is
not subordinated to the prejudices of the ignorant.
Other dangers have come. Equality of conditions
no longer exists. Prophets of evil predict the
downfall of democracy, but the student of M. de Tocqueville
will find consolation and encouragement in the reflection
that the same spirit which has vanquished the perils
of the past, which he foresaw, will be equally prepared
for the responsibilities of the present and the future.
The last of the four volumes of M. de Tocqueville’s
work upon American institutions appeared in 1840.
In 1838 he was chosen member of the Academy of Moral
and Political Sciences. In 1839 he was elected
to the Chamber of Deputies. He became a member
of the French Academy in 1841. In 1848 he was
in the Assembly, and from June 2nd to October 31st
he was Minister of Foreign Affairs. The coup
d’etat of December 2, 1851 drove him from the
public service. In 1856 he published “The
Old Regime and the Revolution.” He died
at Cannes, April 15, 1859, at the age of fifty-four.
Hon. John J. Ingalls
Introductory Chapter
Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention
during my stay in the United States, nothing struck
me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions.
I readily discovered the prodigious influence which
this primary fact exercises on the whole course of
society, by giving a certain direction to public opinion,
and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new
maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar habits
to the governed. I speedily perceived that the
influence of this fact extends far beyond the political
character and the laws of the country, and that it
has no less empire over civil society than over the
Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments,
suggests the ordinary practices of life, and modifies
whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced
in the study of American society, the more I perceived
that the equality of conditions is the fundamental
fact from which all others seem to be derived, and
the central point at which all my observations constantly
terminated.
Copyrights
Democracy in America — Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
