Chapter 36 Summary and Analysis

"Attack and Counterattack" opens with a brief description of Alexis de Tocqueville's travels in America, before concentrating on the fight to renew the Bank of the United States. Tocqueville studies whether the same influences that subvert popular government in France will act here or be offset by other factors. He hears that the essence of democracy is that "The majority is always right" and that while democratic politics can be rough, the losing party is always assured that there is hope next year. The worst feature of the system is that ignorant paupers with no interest in stability can determine elections. In Philadelphia, Tocqueville meets Nicholas Biddle, president of the Bank of the United States. Biddle tells him that Americans are as confused as Europeans by the blurring of distinctions between the parties; voters define themselves by being for or against...