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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Religion and the constant drive for ___________ are the main barriers to the development of independent arts and science in the United States, according to de Tocqueville.

2. According to de Tocqueville, governments typically perish because they lead their country into a state of anarchy or what?

3. The democratic writer assumes that man is what?

4. In a monarchy, what is as volatile as the perceived superiority of the state?

5. According to de Tocqueville, freedom cannot be what?

Short Essay Questions

1. De Tocqueville believes that, under a monarchic regime, patriotism is expressed by the pride of the people in what?

2. Although religion remains out of the realm of politics according to de Tocqueville's observations, what political effect does religion have?

3. What is the unusual political power, based on the Constitution, that the American judicial system holds?

4. What did the government establish in order to maintain the balance of power between the Confederation and the states when the rights of the states were questioned?

5. De Tocqueville believes that political parties are what to democratic societies?

6. After the American Revolutionary war, the government defined, very precisely, the powers that belonged to whom?

7. Where does the American writer find poetry, according to de Tocqueville's observations?

8. On what single principle does democracy, as a political system, rely?

9. Before the American Revolution, what were the two great political parties in the United States and what were their aims?

10. Why, in America, would it be hard for a democratic government to exercise tyrannical authority?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does democracy promote simplification? How does democracy promote complexities? What are the consequences of each? Use the book to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

De Tocqueville believes that democracy counters individualism by ensuring that common good is understood as profiting everyone in the community. In what ways do the structures, people, and ideas de Tocqueville presents in the book affirm that idea? In what ways do they not support the idea? Which is a more convincing argument and why? Support your answers with examples from the book.

Essay Topic 3

What is liberty? What is equality? How are the two ideas interlinked, and what does that mean for democracy? Please support your answer using examples from the book.

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