AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION

No NOVELTY in the United States struck me more vividly during my

stay there than the equality of conditions. It was easy to see the imm
rnense influence of this basic fact on the whole course of society. It
gives a particular turn to public opinion and a particular twist to
the laws, new maxims to those who govern and particular habits to
the governed.
I soon realized that the influence of this fact extends far beyond
political mores and laws, exercising dominion over civil society as
much as over the government; it creates opinions, gives birth to feel-
ings, suggests customs, and modifies whatever it does not create.
So the more I studied American society, the more clearly I saw
equality of conditions as the creative element from which each
particular fact derived, and all my observations constantly returned
to this nodal point.
Later, when I came to consider our own side of the Atlantic, I
thought I could detect something analogous to what I had noticed
in the New World. I saw an equality of conditions which, though it
had not reached the extreme limits found in the United States, was
daily drawing closer thereto; and that same democracy which pre-
vailed over the societies of America seemed to me to be advancing
rapidly toward power in Europe.
It was at that moment that I conceived the idea of this book.
A great democratic revolution is taking place in our midst; every~
body sees it, but by no means everybody judges it in the same way.
Some think it a new thing and, supposing it an accident, hope that
they can still check it; others think it irresistible, because it seems
to them the most continuous, ancient, and permanent tendency
known to history.
I should like for a moment to consider the state of France seven
, ·hundred years ago j at that time it was divided up between a few
,•fJUnilies who owned the land and ruled the inhabitants. At that
'itime the right to give orders descended, like real property, from
-:::generation to generation; the only means by which men controlled
:-each other was force; there was only one source of power, namely,
.landed property.
IO Authors Introduction Authors Introduction
But then the political power of the clergy began to take shape and vention every II
soon to extend. The ranks of the clergy were open to all, poor or rich, . ' new need occasioned th b
cravmg satisfaction were ste ere Y, and every new desire
commoner or noble; through the church, equality began to insinuate for luxury, the love of warps~o:iard~ ~ general leveling. The taste
itself into the heart of government, and a man who would have superficial and profound ' . e omm1on of fashion all the t
vegetated as a serf in eternal servitude could, as a priest, take his k passions of th h ' mos
wor together to impoverish th , h e um.an heart, seemed to
place among the nobles and often take precedence over kings. Onoe the work of the . d eh nc and enrich the poor.
As society became more stable and civilized, men's relations with wealth d .. mm ad become a f
one another became more numerous and complicatecl, Hence the need ' every a dit10n to kno I d source o power and
every new idea became a genn ; e ge, ev~ry. fresh discovery, and
for civil laws was vividly felt, and the lawyers soon left their obscure
tribunals and dusty chambers to appear at the king's court side by
side with feudal barons dressed in chain mail and ermine.
While kings were ruining themselves in great enterprises and nobles
;oetry, eloquenoe, memory th
::tnation and profundit; 0 [ ::~;~t power within reach of the people

y ~eaven, were a profit to democr

~fe ~nd, the fires of th~
things scattered broad-
wearing eaCh other out in private wars, the commoners were growing ~dversanes of democracy who acy, and even when it was the
rich by trade. The power of money began to be felt in affairs of state. '.ts cause by throwing into reli?ro::ssed these things, they still served
Trade became a new way of gaining power and financiers became its conquests spread along with th~s:atfa! ?:eatness of man. Thus
a political force, despised but flattered. ment, and literature was an arsenal f o c1vili_zation and enlighten-
Gradually enlightenment spread, and a taste for literature and the weRak "':d poor, daily chose their w rom which all, including the
arts awoke. The mind became an element in success; knowledge be- unrung through th eapons.
e pages of ou hi
came a tool of government and intellect a social force; educated men portant event in the last s h r story, there is hardly an un·
t even undred . a

played a part in affai'rs of state. ou to be advantageous for equali years which has not turned
In proportion as new roads to power were found, the va~ue of birth The Crusades and the En 1· h ty.
di "d d g is wars d ·
decreased. In the eleventh century, nobility was something of ines.. libVl e . up their lands. Municipal institutioecm:1ated the nobles and
timable worth; in the thirteenth it could be bought; the first ennoble- erty mto the heart of the feudal ns introduced democratic
ment took place in 1270, and equality was finally introduced into the arms made villein and noble e ual monarchy; the invention of fire-
government through the aristocracy itself. offered equal resources to theirqmin;; the field of battle; printing
During the last seven hundred years it has sometimes happened ment to hovel and palace alike. ' the . p9st brought enlighten-
that, to combat the royal authority or dislodge rivals from pawer, men are equally able to find th ' P;;:testantism maintained that all
nobles have given the people some political weight. covered, opened a tho d e pa to heaven. America once d"
b usan new road f , 1s-
Even more often we find kings giving the lower classes in the state o scure adventurer the ch f s to ortune and gave any
a share in government in order to humble the aristocracy. If, beginning at the ele an: o wealth and power.
In France the kings proved the most active and consistent of happening in France at fifven "';ntury, one takes stock of what was
levelers. When they were strong and ambitious they tried to raise the double revolution has takt·y~ar m.tervals, one finds each time that a
peaple to the level of the nobles, and when they were weak and has gone down in the socia~,J'alace ~ the state of society. The noble
diffident they allowed the people to push past them. The former one falls, the other rises. Each ';;.';; cet;:" coznn:ioner gone up; as the
monarchs helped democracy by their talents, the latter by their vices. '' "°''" they will touch. tury bnngs them closer, and
Louis XI and Louis XIV were at pains to level everyone below the •·· And that is not somethin .
throne, and finally Louis XV with all his court descended into thil '.·.~~_': finds the sanie revolu~o~ect~t~r to irance. Wherever one looks
dust.
As soon as citizens began to hold land otherwise than by feudalf
·· E wor Id. mg P a~e throughout the Chris-
verywhere the diverse ha enin .
tenure, and the new~y discovered possibilities of personal propert ' med to democracy's profit _P~ll gs' m the lives of peoples have
could also lead to influence and power, every invention in the a se who intended this and ;h mehn s efforts have aided it, both
and every improvement in trade and industry crel:l,ted fresh elemeri fo ht f ose w o had no , h . .
ug or democracy and th ~uc mtention, those
tending toward equality among men. Henceforward every new i <>'_ereof; all have been driven pell~ose
;-:
17hr were the declared enemies
me a ong the same road, and all
 Author's Introduction Author's Introduction
l2 th .
• ill and some uncon- But it is just that to which we give least attention. Carried away
th some agamst err w by a rapid current, we obstinately keep our eyes fixed on the ruins
have worked toge er, . the hands of God. still in sight on the bank, while the stream whirls us backward-
·ously blind instruments m f ality is something fated. The
sci , d al progress o equ . I d facing toward the abyss.
Therefore the gra. u the following: it is umversa an
This great social revolution has made more rapid progress with us
main features of t~1s pro~ressb are d human control, and every event
than with any other nation of Europe, but the progress has always
ermanent, it is daily ?assmg ey~n wise to suppose that a moven_ient
been haphazard.
~d every man helps it along. !s it Id be halted by one generauon?
has been so long in tram cou hi h has destroyed the feudal The leaders of the state have never thought of making any
which
Does anyone im~ne
system and vanquished mgs,
t!
. th democracy w c
will fall . I I
back before the nudd e c ~s_es
h ·1 has grown so strong an its
preparation by anticipation for it. The progress has been against their
will or without their knowledge. The most powerful, intelligent, and
d the rich? Will it stop now, w en i moral classes of the nation have never sought to gain control of it in
an f order to direct it. Hence democracy has been left to its wild instincts;
adversaries so weak?. . ? N can tell for already terms o
Whither, then, are we go~g.Chro. ot;1e lands' now conditions are it has grown up like those children deprived of parental care who
I king· m IS ian . ·n any school themselves in our town streets and know nothing of society
comparison are ac ' been before at any ume or i. •
but its vices and wretchedness. Men would seem still unaware of its
nearer equality than the~!~:e :;e;resent achievement makes it im-
existence, when suddenly it has seized power. Then all submit like
place; hence the magnl till be done. . slaves to its least desires; it is worshiped as the idol of strength; there-
ssible to forecast what may s. der the impulse of a kmd of
poThis whole book has been wntten Iu1; of this irresistible revolu- after, when it has been weakened by its own excesses, the lawgivers
religious dread inspired by contemp :~o:very obstacle and even now conceive the imprudent project of abolishing it instead of trying to
. century by century ov d educate and correct it, and without any wish to teach it how to rule,
tion advancmg . . it has itself create · . . they only strive to drive it out of the government.
oing forward anud the rum5 ak for us to find sure signs of His
g God does not Himself need to spe progress of nature and the As a result the democratic revolution has taken place in the body
will· it is enough to observe thel ckustomaryth out special revelation, that of society without those changes in laws, ideas, customs, and mores
' d f events· now, w1 which were needed to make that revolution profitable. Hence we
continuous ten ency. o . ' ced b His finger.
the stars follow orbit~ m spa"': tra meXitation have led men of ~e have our democracy without those elements which might have miti-
If patient observau~n and smc;~e the ast and the future of th_eir gated its vices and brought out its natural good points. While we can
present day to recogruze that bo d me~ured advance of equality, already see the ills it entails, we are as yet unaware of the benefits
history consist in the ~adu~an gre s the sacred character of the it might bring. i
that discovery in i:self gives t I p:at ~se effort to halt democracy
will of the Sovereign _Mas~~ :. self and nations have no altema•
When royal power supported by aristocracies governed the nations
of Europe in peace, society, despite all its wretchedness, enjoyed I
',
several types of happiness which are difficult to appreciate or conceive
appears as a figh~ ag""':nstthe soci:sta;e imposed by Providence. •
today.
tive but to acqwesce m . f our day present an alarnung
The power of some subjects raised insuperable obstacles to the
I
To me the Christian natl;m• o . th along is already too.
t which carnes em d ' ;tyranny of the prince. The kings, feeling that in the eyes of the crowd
spectacle; the movemen . . t t so swift that we must espar -; I

strong to be halted, but_ i~ is no h:ds but soon it may pass beyon , ey were clothed in almost divine majesty, derived, from the very
of directing it; our fate lS m our ' ent of the respect they inspired, a motive for not abusing their i
wer.
control. ho now direct society is to educa~
The nobles, placed so high above the people, could take the calm I,1
The first duty imJl?sed 0 1; thosee: life into its beliefs; to purify
democracy; to put, if pos.S1ble, n dually to substitute understandi d benevolent interest in their welfare which a shepherd takes in his
cl.'· Without regarding the poor as equals, they took thought for I
mores; to control its act1o~s; gra. nee and knowledge of its t
r fate as a trust confided to them by Providence.
I'
of statecraft f~r p~ese~t 1:1expe~:a t overnment to the needs•' I
interests for bhnd mstmcts,. to. aspm!n and circumstances req _; aving never conceived the possibility of a social state other than
time and place; and .to mo_dify i~ d f a world itself quite new, one they knew, and never expecting to become equal to their
A new political science ts nee e or
 Author's Introduction
Author's Introduction
be Iatappreciate that m
all imm b" . a democrac 15
. be. orderly ando p:gre;bu~ the mov.,;;e~~s c:~tditutthed society would
leaders, the people accepted benefits from their hands and did not anstocrac b ssJVe; one . h l e e bod . not
. be less y, ut there would rmg t find less lo y social could

~1:'; ;;:!':.'::,'.:::= ':~d''.:,;:,':ii'.e;:;"..:.::::

question their rights. They loved them when they were just and
merciful and felt neither repugnance nor degradation in sub· mi h extreme, but well-be be less wretched!e 'l'.
there than in an
mitting to their severities, which seemed inevitable ills sent by God.
Furthermore, custom and mores had set some limits to tyranny and "th ewer crimes manners gentler· th mmon; feelings
established a sort of \aw in the very midst of force. 1 out enth . · , ere would b
Because it never entered the noble' s head that anyone wanted to W sometim~"m:1-'dm or the zeal of belief d
would . e more
snatch away privileges which he regarded as legitimate, and since the man be~g equally wea uce th e c1tizens
.. ' e ucati on and experience
to make
serf considered his inferiority as an effect of the ;mmutable order . comparuons, and kn _k would feel a lik great sacrifices. ch
of nature, one can see that a sort of goodwill could be established out suppl . h. owmg that he e need for the h ' ea
between these two classes so differently favored by fortune. At that
time one found inequality and wretchedness in society, but men's
interest J:'~:d he would easilt:!~ n?t get their sup~ of -~is
ha1:p~.,.::ation as a b~~y ':~ul~ubblicl inter::::.ate that for him p;,'.al~
souls were
It is not not degraded
exercise thereby.
of power or habits of obedience which deprave .
• prosperousstrong, but th
lot and . e of
the maJority essthe
brilli
c·:t, less0 glorious and
men, but the exercise of a power which they consider illegitimate and
obedience to a power which they think usurped and oppressive.
On the one side were wealth, strength, and leisure combined with •. ::rgh;sog;:'_galf:~~~u!:~:rtgon:d;;~: j~fi!1fi~ ;~ell;:ffl: ~e:;~

.:~~-;;':.::~·l't;;"'.:..~·;,;,';,,"£;,":; ~
far!etched luxuries, refinements of taste, the pleasures of the mind, ' Ciety
the good d wou id at least hao and useful in such -o .
and the cultivation of the arts; on the other, work, coarseness, and

But among this coarse and ignorant crowd lively passions, generous But in ab gsd ~at it can provid have taken from demesoaal ad-
ignorance. • . an omng e. ocracy all
feelings, deep beliefs, and untamed virtues were found.
The body social thus ordered could lay claim to stability, strength, lllStrtutions, ideas' an dour
put •e
·Thm their
.. place>
. moancestors' social state and th
res pell-mell behl nd u s hrowing th err
.
and Butabove
distinctions
all, glory.
of rank began to get confused, and the barrie presuge of th ' w at have
separating men to get lower. Great estates were broken up, powe replaced by the rn . e royal power has • we
~rity but fear i::•:d o~ the_ law; no:.":;::d but has not been
shared, education spread, and intellectual capacities became mo
equal. The social state became democratic, and the sway of demo / I t~:;"'e%. granted throug~re " dragged fro;'.,, : : p:ple despise
racy was 6nallY peacefully established in ;nstitutions and in mores. :'·J1!!1e • ~e t we have dest respect and love m y fear than
At that stage one can imagine a society in which all men, regardi }.< ,; . smg ehanded to co .royed those individ ·
the law as their common work, would love it and and submit to . . il'l"'ll.t • alone which h P.e w,t~ tryanny, but I ual po':ers which w
es, corporau·onsas and
mhented
· d" . all the prerogati
see that It is the govern-
ere
without difficulty; the authority of the government would be
spected as necessary, not as sacred; the love felt toward the head <\- o ten conservau· ' m 1v1duals. s th ves snatched f
en su ve strength ' o e som · rom
the state would be not a passion but a calm and rational feeli • ''Th f cceeded by the w of a small numb etimes . oppressive
Each man having some rights and being sure of the enjoyment: ..,,. e breakup of fortune:~ness _of_ ~I. er of citizens has
those rights, there would be established between all classes a ma , . ,. poor, but while b . . as dillUmshed th d"
confidence and a sort of reciprocal courtesy, as far removed _jth new reason';"fo;gh!~:m closer, it :ee.::~~oceb between rich
nce~tivy they _rebuff each ~;h er'ach o~er, so that av~thprovided
Understanding
pride its own interests, the people would appreciate
as from servility. on of nghts and e s claims to WI mutual
nt or guarante~ f for both force is power. Neither has
in order to enjoy the benefits of society one must shoulder its o poor have kept or the future the only argument .
tions. Free assaciation of the citizens could then take the place most of the pre1uclices
. · m
individual authority of the nobles, and the state would be prot of th eir
. fathers without

both from tyranny and from license.

 Author's Introduction
Author's Introduction
democracy overthrows, and so it is often brought to rebuff the
virtues; they accept :he equality which it loves and to abuse freedom as its adversary, whereas
16 . i norance without their without understandm~ by taking it by the hand it could sanctify its striving.
their beliefs, the~r g t as motive for action nlightened as their
. of self~mteres . . now as une Alongside these religious men I find others whose eyes are turned
doctrme their egot1sm is • more to the earth than to heaven; partisans of freedom, not only
that doctrine; and . that it knows its
devotion was fonn~rlybut the reaSon for that !s ;':,ks
itself weak and
because they see in it the origin of the most noble virtues, but even
more because they think it the source of the greatest benefits, they
Society is tranquil, ne but rather that 1.t • • each man feels
1/
strength and its good fo'.tu effort rnay cost its life' needed to seek sincerely wish to assure its sway and allow men to taste its blessings.
I think these latter should hasten to call religion to their aid, for they
eble- it feats that a smghas the courage or energy and joys which
Ie ' but none ts sorrows, d' g must know that one cannot establish the reign of liberty without that
what is wrong, . en have desires, rere 'ld men's passions en lil of mores, and mores cannot be firmly formded without beliefs. But
something bet~~r 1ro r durable result, like o they have seen religion in the ranks of their adversaries, and that is
produce no visib e o thin s the old order of
in impotence. d ed whatever good g hat our present enough for them; some of them openly attack it, and the others do
not dare to defend it.
society cou~e;;::1teaveu~esttoYed ~
state can o l among the rums
~st::a~~d
Thus we have ~han bon have not profited ir?rn "'. ty and settling
si~~c\ing, we seem
In past ages we have seen low, venal minds advocating slavery,
while independent, generous hearts struggled hopelessly to defend
human freedom. But now one often meets naturally proud and noble
d own complacent y like that forever. d is just as
want to stay there l in the world of the rnin men whose opinions are in direct opposition to their tastes and who
to taking p ace h vaunt that servility and baseness which they themselves have never
What is now and at ot ers
d . . ts progress . known. Others, on the contrary, speak of freedom as if they could feel
deplorable. eurnes hindere m , rthrown everything
French democracy! sorod' derly passions, has oved troy It has not its great and sacred quality and noisily claim for humanity rights
d to ,ts ISor . did not es . .h . . which they themselves have always scorned.
left uncontrolle th h king all that rt f lly to estabhs its.
. its pa s a . d r peace u d' -"em I also see gentle and virtuous men whose pure mores, quiet habits,
it found m '\ f society m or e mid the 1so1-u -.-_
. d contro o h ver been a . n opulence, and talents fit them to be leaders of those who dwell
slowly gar: ontrar)', its progress as ; the struggle each p~rusa around them. Full of sincere patriotism, they would make great
sway; on e c flict In the heat o . by the views an
and agitations of con
d the natura
· 1 limits of his own views
. h f the very ar
·ro he was pu sacrifices for their country; nonetheless they are often adversaries of
"civilization; they confound its abuses with its benefits; and in their
driven beyon f h' dversaries, loses Sig t o ds to his real feelings
the excesses o is a which ill correspan ':minds the idea of evil is indissolubly linked with that of novelty.
suing, and use~ la~~ge . are forced to witn Besides these, there are others whose object is to make men maw
· · ts, to find out what is useful without concern for justice, to
to his secre~ m:-; s~range confusiondw~1c~ ;;thing sadder or :ro
Hence anses in vain, an n . , t would seem ve scieoce quite mthout belief and prosperity without virtue. Such
h rny memory b f our eyes ' i • • are called champions of modern civilization, and they insolently
I searc which happens e ore . between opm1ons
pitiable than th~t broken the natural lin~- h has been obs t themselves at its head, usurping a place which has been abandoned
we have nowa day~eliefs; that ha~ony wd '~e ideas of rnen . them, though they are utterly unworthy of it.
tastes, acts ~n between the feelings an e that all the la here are we, then?
throughout hrstor)' d d one might suppos , en of religion fight against freedom, and lovers of liberty attack
been destroye ' an . ed ' ions; noble and generous spirits praise slavery, while low, servile
to have
moral analogy
There are
ilr
h d been abohsh ·

::Oro
zealous Christians among Ii~: who draw sp
and who no
the truths of the oth;\erty as the ,ource ;
preach independence; honest and enlightened citizens are the
'es of all progress, while men without patriotism or morals make
nourishment the cause of human '1 d all men equal elves the apostles of civilization and enlightenment!
.
w111 re
adily espouse
Christianity, w ic
h' h has dee are l
all citizens equ.a,
ave all ages been like ours? And have men always dwelt in a
moral great~ess. not hesitate to acknowle_dge f events, rel1g1 ,in which nothing is connected? Where virtue is without genius,
sight of GoB 'tca;y a strange concatena't:1; t~ose institutions :::genius without honor? Where love of order is confused with a
the law. u b oroe entangled w1
the moment bas ec
 Author's Introduction
Author's Introduction
?rder to see
II to tbe its natural
profit of c?nsequences clear! . rg
than Am · . . mankind. I admi y, and if possible t
tyrant's tastes, and the sacred cult of freedom is taken as scorn of . . . enca, ,t was tbe t that I saw . ! o tum
its mclmations ch shape of democrac . m Amenca more
law? Where conscience sheds but doubtful light on human actions? understand it ;o as arac:er, prejudices, and y I~lf which I sought
Where nothing any longer seems either forbidden or permitted, honest therefrom. at east to know what w pa:mns; I wanted ii
Therefore in th firs e ave to fear or hope
or Amdishonorable, trUethat
I· to believe or the
false?
Creator made man in order to let him
strUggle endlessly through the intellectual squalor now surrounding the
to itsnatural {um .e to
own inclinall'.~en t part of this
_the laws by book
dernocI h ave endeavored to sbow
us? I cannot believe that; God intends a calmer and more stable
future for the peoples of Europe; 1 do not know His designs but shall
t sb . ~ons w,th h dl
o ow ,ts stllmp on the
racy when le! .
ar y any restraint on . .t ~
America
general. I wanted to k government and its inf! ,ts mstincts, and
not give up believing therein because 1 cannot fathom them, and
should prefer to doubt my own understanding rather than His justice.
I have inquired into ;:ow what blessings and h u:mct; on affairs in
it! and noticed thos e Jrecaut!ons taken by ;, a~s 1_1 brings forth.
There is one country in the world in which this great social revolu- aimed to point e ot ers whicb the h e encans to direc
tion seems almost to have reached its natural limits; it took place in I had intend;~t .the factors whicb ~na~r: _neglected, and I hav!
a simple, easy fashion, or rather one might say that that country sees America of equal1'ty mf a second part to de ,t.bto govern society
the results of the democratic revolution taking place arnong us, with- ·vii o concli · sen e th · ·
c1. society, customs ide tions and government b e mfluence in
outThe
experiencing this plan has cooled as, and mores but m y democracy upon
emigrants the
whorevolution
colonizeditself.
America at the beginning of the task, it would h beoff. :Before I c~uld fi 'yhurge to carry out
seventeenth century in some way separated the principle of democ- t ave com aim ms this If •
~
o portray the main cb e ost useless. An th se -rmposed
racy from all those other principles against which they contended casting a thin ve'l aracteristics of the ~r author is soon
when Jiving in the heart of the old European societies, and trans- charms I could I ov';" the seriousness of hi encan people and
planted that principle only on the shores of the New World. It could not nval , s purpose . '
do not know if I . ' give to truth
there grow in freedom and, progressing in conformity with mores,
icaI intelligible b have succeeded in mak'
develop peacefully
It seems to me within
beyond the \aw,that sooner or later we, like the
doubt that I never, ~nl~s~ I am s'"'.re that I sincer::t ;!"'t I saw in Amer-
Americans, will attain almost complete equality of conditions. :But I of subjecting op' . unconsc10usly, fitted the fy isbed to do so and
rmons to th f acts to op· ·
erever the e acts. rmons instead
certainly do not draw from that the conclusion that we are neces-
sarily destined one day to derive the sarne political consequences as •
Wh re
ams to refer to the were doc . '?"ents to establish facts
the Americans from the similar social state. I arn very far from reputable
P works.2 I h on_gmal texts or the , I have been at
1 At the tim ave cited my authorities inm:t authentic and
believing that they have found the only form possible for democratic
Gustave de Be: when the first edition f th. e notes, so those
government; it is enough that the creative source of laws and mores
is the sarne in the twO countries, for each of us to have a profound his b k M umont, my traveli
lishetM ;'ie, or Slavery in t~: o IS work was b .
~~panion in America ;':,g !'ublished, M.
condi;ion ·of eti:3e;mont's main objected States, which' has s:: borking on
interest in knowing what the other is doing,
So I did not study America just to satisfy curiosity, howev
•. . r~m.·da Iigbht on :Iie :::::!nofAnlglo-Ame::ntoso~:tyw emH_Phboatic atte:tioe:~/te-
legitimate; I sought there lessons from which we might profit. An _ ..vivid Yinte m·" t aken, but l think s avery' a vital
, · for1s thok thr
one who supposes that I intend to write a panegyric is strange!
mistaken; any who read this book will see that that was not my i
;~ve a i::;:t
'"'i;~
.~uh:~~ question . ew new and
w;o sough1;\~~ti!::u:,~nt's bo?k,_ ~;:,:":;o~:rnub~s.
!"'e appreciations !n:'an~nt success with tho~escnp;10ns therein, ,foul:
tention at all; nor have I aimed to advocate such a form of gove . " ne, or S/ave,y in th U pro ound truths. [Of e rea ers who seek ab
ment in general, for I arn one of those who think that there is har ord,
shall1958.J
al e nited States with
' an introduction
now Gustave de Be~ ove
by A L umont,
ever absolute right in any laws; I have not even claimed to ju hed . hays. remember with . . . Tinnin,
whether the progress of the social revolution, which 1 consider wlt aided
legislative
' ai• who m and administrative
gratitude dthec k.mdness with which I
resistible, is profitable or prejudicial for mankind, I accept that revo gnon, at that ti me y researches I would o u~ents. mention
Among the Amencan.was
tion as an accomplished fact, or a {act that soon will be accomplish Secretary of State and
especially
subsequently MiM_r. Edward
nister Pleni-
and I selected of all the peoples experiencing it that nation
which it has come to the fullest and most peaceful completion,';
 '
I
20 Author's Introduction

I
who wish can check them. Where opmmns, political customs, and
mores were concerned, I have tried to consult the best-informed
people. In important or doubtful cases I was not content with the
testimony of one witness, but based my opinions on that of several.
The reader must necessarily take my word for that. I could often
have supported my views with the authority of names he knows, or
which at least are worth knowing, but I have abstained from doing PART I
so. A stranger often hears important truths at his host's fireside,
truths which he might not divulge to his friends; it is a relief to break
a constrained silence with a stranger whose short stay guarantees
his discretion. I noted down all such confidences as soon as I heard
them, but they will never leave my notebooks; I would rather let my
comments suffer than add my name to the list of those travelers who
repay generous hospitality with worries and embarrassments.
I realize that despite the trouble taken, nothing will be easier than
to criticize this book, if anyone thinks of doing so.
Those who look closely into the whole work will, I think, find one
pregnant thought which binds all its parts together. But the diversity
of subjects treated is very great, and whoever chooses can easily cite
an isolated fact to contradict the facts I have assembled, or an
isolated opinion against my opinions. I would therefore ask for my
book to be read in the spirit in which it was written and would
wish it to be judged by the general impression it leaves, just as I
have formed my own judgments not for any one particular reason
but in conformity with a mass of evidence.
It must not be forgotten that an author who wishes to be under•
stood is bound to derive all the theoretical consequences from each
of his ideas and must go to the verge of the false and impracticable,
for while it is sometimes necessary to brush rules of logic aside in
action, one cannot do so in the same way in conversation, and a
man finds it almost as difficult to be inconsequent in speech as he
generally finds it to be consistent in action.
To conclude, .J will myself point out what many readers will con•
sider the worst defect of this work. This book is not precisely suited to
anybody's taste; in writing it I did not intend to serve or to combat
any party; I have tried to see not differently but further than an
party; while they are busy with tomorrow, I have wished to consid~-
the whole future.
potentiary in Paris. During my stay in Washington he kindly provided
with most of the documents I possess concerning the federal government.
Livingston is one of those rare men whose writings inspire affection, so that
admire and respect them even before we know them, and we are glad to o
them a debt of gratitude.
30 Democracy in America
plain, man-made tumuli are continually coming to light. It is said
that if one excavates to the center of these tumuli, one ahnost always
finds human bones, strange instruments, weapons, and utensils of all Chapter 2
kinds either made of some metal or destined for some use unknown
to the present inhabitants.
Present-day Indians can supply no information about this unknown
CONCERNING THEIR
people. Those who lived three hundred years ago, when America AND ITS IMPORTANifIFNT OF DEPARTURE
was first discovered, have said nothing from which even a hypothesis OR THE FUTURE
could be inferred. Traditions, those frail but constantly renewed OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS
monuments of the primitive world, provide no light. There, however,
thousands of our fellow men did live; we cannot doubt that. When
The need to understand the point
did they come there and what was their origin, history, and fate?
order to appreciate its social cond't ?f dep:rture of a nation in
No man can answer.
only country where we can clear! t ion an k:,ws-Amerfra is the
It is a strange thing that peoples should have so completely_ vanished
from the earth, that even the memory of their name is lost; their
great nation. Respects in whicf sze
t_he P_oznt of departure of a
parts of America were alik R t e tm7:1igrants to the English
languages are forgotten and their glory has vanished like a sound Remarks applicable to all ; · espects in which they differed
without an echo; but I doubt that there is any which has not left on the shores of the New ,;r~~ean~ who established themselve;
some tomb as a memorial of its passage. So, of all man's work, the of New England O . . l or . o/onzzatzon of Virginia and
most durable is that which best records his nothingness and his misery. N · rzgzna character f h fi .
of ew England. Their arrival Th . o t e rst inhabitants
Although the huge territories just described were inhabited by tract. Penal code b df . etr first laws. Social con
many native tribes, one can fairly say that at the time of discovery . orrowe rom M · l . . •
Republican spirit Int. t o_sazc aw, Religious ardor
they were no more than a wilderness. The Indians occupied but did
not possess the land. It is by agriculture that man wins the soil, and ;
religion and the ;pirit ~i~r:e:::ectzon between the spiri"t oi
the first inhabitants of North America lived by hunting. Their WHEN A CHILD IS BORN hi firs
unconquerable prejudices, their indomitable passions, their vices, and_ · -._--._-_activities of infancy As 'h s t yelars pass unnoticed in the i"oys and
perhaps still more their savage virtues delivered them to inevitable-, : e grows oder and b ,
:_:th- en tb e doors of the world egms to become a man
destruction. The ruin of these peoples began as soon as the Europe fellows. For the first tun" o!'en. and he comes into touch with h,·s'
-tb e notice 1s take
landed on their shores; it has continued ever since and is coming - - -ey can see the germs of th . n ?f h un,
·
and people think
completion in our own day. Providence, when it placed them e. . e Virtues and vices of his maturity taking
the riches of the New World, seems to have granted them a short 1 at, if I am not mistak .
only; they were there, in some sense,. only waiting. Those coasts back ; look at the baby en, is a great erro
·10 his r.
well suited for trade and industry, those deep rivers, that in rId IS · fi rst reflected in tb till hmother's. a rms; see h ow the outside
haustible valley of the Mississippi-in short, the whole continen Ii e s
. rst examples that strike h..u; tt .
azy m1rro ~ of his mmd;
.
consider
seemed the yet empty cradle of a great nation. ch awaken his dormant po a f e~uon; listen to the first words
It was there that civilized man was destined to build society on n e _fi';'t struggles he has to ::~u~e t ;;:ight~ and _finally take notice
foundations, and for tbe first time applying theories till then _ongm of the prejudices h b"t. ~ t en _will you understand
known or deemed unworkable, to present the world with a spec ate his life. The whole ~n ~s ~' an. passions which are to
for which past history had not prepared it. k ~d=m~~itoointh
hi ' e
et ng analogous happens w· h .
:tllarks of their origin c· It nations. Peoples always bear
e rest of their caree~. trcumstances of birth and growth affect
e could · h
go rig t back to the elements of societies and examine
 Democracy in America
the very first records of their histories, I have no doubt that we
should there find the first cause of their prejudices, habits, dominat•
ing passions, and all that comes to be called the national charact.er.
We should there be able to discover the explanation of customs which
now seem contrary to the prevailing mores, of laws which seem
opposed to recognized principles, and of incoherent opinio~s still
found here and there in society that hang like the broken chams sull
occasionally dangling from the ceiling of an old building but carrying
nothing. This would explain the fate of certain peoples who seem
borne by an unknown force toward a goal of which they themselves
are unaware. But up till now evidence is lacking for such a study.
The taste for analysis comes to nations only when they are growing
old, and when at last they do turn their thoughts to :heir cradle, the
mists of time have closed round it, ignorance and pnde have woven
fables round it, and behind all that the truth is hidden.
America is the only country in which we can watch the natural
quiet growth of society and where it is possible to be exact about the
influence of the point of departure on the future of a state.
At the time when Europeans first landed on the shores of the New
World, features of national character were already clearly shaped;
each nation had a distinct physiognomy; and since they had by then
reached the stage of civilization inducing men to study themselves,
they have left us a faithful record of their opinions, mores, and laws.
We know the men of the fifteenth century almost as well as our own
contemporaries. So America shows in broad daylight things elsewhere
hidden from our gaze by the ignorance or barbarism of the earliest
times.
We seem now destined to see further into human history than
could the generations before us; we are close enough to the time
when the American societies were founded to know in detail the
elements of which they were compounded, and far enough off to
judge what these seeds have produced. Providence has given. us a
light denied to our fathers and allowed us to see the first causes m the
fate of nations, causes formerly concealed in the darkness of the past.J
When, after careful study of the history of America, we turn witlt;
equal care to the political and social state there, we find ourselv
deeply convinced of this truth, that there is not an opinion, custo
or law, nor, one might add, an event, which the point of departu
will not easily explain. So this chapter provides the germ of all that
to follow and the key to almost the whole work.
The immigrants who came at different times to occupy_ wh~t is no_
the United States were not alike in many respects; their aims we
Point of Departure of the Anglo-Americans
33
n.ot the same, and they ruled themselves according to different prin-
ciples.
But these men did have features in common and they all found
themselves. in analogous circumstances. '
~anguage is perhaps the strongest and most enduring link which
unites
hil men. All the immigrants spoke the same Ianguage an d were
c dren of the same pe~ple. Born in a country shaken for centuries
by the struggles of partJ.es, a country in which each faction in turn
had been forced to put itself under the protection of the laws the
had learned_ their pol!tical l~ssons in. that rough school, and the~ haJ
more acquamtance with notions of nghts and principles of true liberty
than most of the European nations at that time. At the time f th
fi · · · o e
_rst 1mnugrat1ons, local government, that fertile germ of free institu-
t1ons, had already taken deep root in English ways and therewith th
dogma of the sovereignty of the people had slipped' into the very he~
of the Tudor monarchy.
That was the time of religious quarrels shaking Christendom.
Engl~nd plunged vehemently forward in this new career. The
Enghsh, who h~d always been staid and deliberate, became austere
a_nd argumentative. These intellectual battles greatly advanced educa-
tion and a more profound culture. Absorption in talk about religion
led to chaster mores. All these general characteristics of the nation
were more or less the same among those of its sons who sought a
new future on the far side of the ocean.
M_oreover, one obsexvation, to which we shall come back later
\fapplies not to the English only, but also to the French, Spaniards'.
c-and all Europeans who came in waves to plant themselves on the
res of t~e New World; all these new European colonies contained
germ, if not the full_ growth, of a complete democracy. There
re two .reas?ns for thIS; one may say, speaking generally, that
en. ll:e nnrrugrants left their motherlands they had no idea of any
enon~y of so~oe over others. It is not the happy and the powerful
O go mto exile, and poverty with misfortune is the best~known
arantee of equality among men. Nonetheless, it did happen several
es that as. a result of political or religious quarrels great lords
t to-~er1ca. Laws were made there to establish the hierarchy of
s,_bu: It w~ soon seen that the soil of America absolutely rejected
rnton~l anstocracy. It was obvious that to clear this untamed
nothmg but the constant and committed labor of the landlord
elf would serve. The ground, once cleared was by no means
e enough to make both a landlord and a ten~nt rich. So the land
naturally broken up into little lots which the owner himself
34 Democracy in America
Point of D
cultivated. But it is land that is the basis of an aristocracy, giving it eparture of th A
both roots and support; privileges by themselves are not enough, nor
of the English l e nglo-Americans
•
0
wer clas a N
is birth, but only land handed down from generation to generation. gam presided over ses. o noble thou 35
There may be huge fortunes and grinding poverty in a nation; but if had hardly b the foundation of the ght or conception ab
een establish d new settlem ove
that wealth is not landed, one may find rich and poor, but not, was the basic fact . e When slave . ents. The colon
using words strictly, an aristocracy. acter, laws, and fu dest1ned to exert irmner;:_ ';as Introduced. 4 Thar
Hence there was a strong family likeness between all the English . Slavery, as we :;:~el of the whole Southse mJluence on the char-
colonies as they came to birth. All, from the beginning, seemed idleness j t . show late d" ·
Jux n o society and ther . ~' 1shonors labor- . .
destined to let freedom grow, not the aristocratic freedom of their -~· It enervates the eYVJ.th ignorance and ·dIt Introduces
motherland, but a middle-class and democratic freedom of which actJV1ty. Slavery comb" powers of the -: d pn e, poverty and
the world's history had not previously provided a complete example. ' med ·th «un and b
mores and social cond't' w1 the English ch nu:m s human
But within this general picture there were some very pronounced In the North the EI Io~ of the South. aracter, e"Plains the
nuances which need to be mentioned. nuance led the • ngl,sJ, background
O
There were two main branches of the great Anglo-American family required pposite way. Of thi was the same but
. s so.rue detail d ' every
which have, so far, grown up together without completely mingling I t was in the En r e explanation is
----one in the South, and the other in the North. states of New E Jg ,sh colonies of the N h
Virginia was the first of English colonies, the immigrants arriving
in 1607. At that time Europe was still peculiarly preoccupied with
forming the basi~~=~j 5 th~at the two or
New England P . . ory of the United S
t~::
!::r k?o~ as the
pnnc1ples now
the notion that mines of gold and silver were the basis of the then in due coursrmc1ples spread first to th t~tes were combined
wealth of nations. That was a fatal notion that did more to impover• h e to th e ne1ghb · ·
' w ere throughout th ose more distant fin ll onng states and
ish the European nations deluded by it and cost more lives in '...·.·.beyond its lmut e confederation Th' . .a y penetrating every-
America than were caused by war and all bad laws combined. It wa ·.·.·.·_f_;/_:\c:ivilization has bs ovle.r the Whole Amen·ce1ar mfluence now extends
therefore gold-seekers who were sent to Virginia,1 men witho
, .. • 6. een ike b n world N
\,;\i-•IS _rst felt close by but h eac~ns on mountain pe,h ew England
wealth or standards whose restless, turbulent temper endangere ":'t,~nzon. w ose hgh t shines to th f whose warmth
the infant colony2 and made its progress vacillating. Craftsmen a ;,} The foundation of N E e arthest lmuts of the
farm laborers crone later; they were quieter folk with better mor the attendant c· ew ngland was someth"
but there was hardly any respect in which they rose above the le n almost all oth:~~ta~ces being both pe~l new in the world,
1 The charter granted by the English Crown in 1609 contained, among o out wealth or d °'; omes the first inhab"tan ar and original.
clauses, a provision that the colonists should pay a fifth of the output tnisconduct O e rcation, driven from the" I .ts have been DJen
gold and silver mines to the Crown. See Marshall's Life of Washington, VoL:- rs. Some di1omr.ees se greedy speculators :ndna?vde lan_d by poverty
pp. 18-66. (Tocqueville refers here to the French edition of Marshall's Lift: · cannot cl · m ustna]
Washington, 5 vols., Paris, 1807.)
tngo was founded b . aun even such an o . . entrepre~
2 According to Stith's History of Virginia, a large proportion of the
stice are bus - y ~irates, and in our da ngin as this; San
colonists were unruly children of good family whose parents sent them o t all the lm Y. populatmg Australia y the English courts
escape from ignominy at home; for the rest there were dismissed serv
. d. migrants wh .
an belonged to th o came to settle on th
fraudulent bankrupts, debauchees, and others of that sort, people more they came togeth: well-Amto-do_ classes at home \.shores of New
pillage and destroy than to consolidate the settlement. Seditious leaders r on encan soil h . rom the start
enticed this band into every kind of extravagance and excess. For the was only later that som . h , t ey presented the u ,
of Virginia see the following works:
~ was first introduce; ::,c landowners came to . n~
History of Virginia from the First Settlements in the Year 1624, by ill nty Negroes on the ha k ou} the year 1620 by s~tle In the Colony
(John Smith? See Appendix I, F.] 1 e refers here to G n so the James Ri Sa utch ship whi h
History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia, by William.'
[See Appendix I, F.]
History of Virginia from the Earliest
from .American Ind eorge Chalmers, Opinio;er. ee Chalmer. rPerh/
_oductton to the H' tPendence, London 78 s on Interesting Subj
states oi New En;~a:dy of the Revolt ~f Ith/'c or/ ~ the same aut~o?
ts
French in 1807. (See Appendix I, F.] are n . are those t o onies L d ,
N ow s1x of them. C s ates which Ii , on on, I 782.J
ew Hampshire, and M. onnecticut, Rhode
ame.
:sl
ea: of the Hudson
an ' Massachusetts'
'
 Democracy in America Point of Departure of the A ngl 0 - A mencans
.
servant, and the children of J cOb h' 37
usual phenomenon of a society in which there were no great lords, marve lous works ( p alm
of the planting of ~ a 1s chosen m
105. 5,6) in the be~in ~y remember his
no common people, and, one may almost say, no rich or poor. In of his mouth; how th:;"G!Igland, his "'.enders, ,,';,';?th:n~u progress
proportion to their numbers, these men had a greater share of ac- he cast out the heath d brought a vme into the ild J dgments
complishments than could be found in any European nation now.
All, perhaps without a single exception, had received a fairly ad-
and he caused it ten an planted it; and he mad 7
emess; that
( Psalm 80. 8 9 ) A od take deep root, and it filleeda tsho rolom for it,
vanced education, and several had made a European reputation ' · n not onl b e and
people by his stren th t . y so, ut also that he has . . ....
by their talents and their knowledge. The other colonies had been ·i°
e~~
mountain of his i l his holy habitation, and plant d r1d~d his
founded by unattached adventurers, whereas the immigrants to New God may have the ance (Exodus 15. 13) . , . th:t : em m. the
England brought with them wonderful elements of order and moral- some rays of l g ry of all, unto whom it . s especially
ity; they came with their wives and children to the wilds. But what were the mai; ;;;;:::n:each the names of tho:: ;:;::efue ;_ so also
most distinguished them from all others was the very airn of their Any reader of this ope~nof the beginning of this happy e:~;ts _th~~
enterprise, No necessity forced them to leave their country; they gave the solemn religious feel' g :aragraph must in spite of h' rinse.
up a desirable social position and assured means of livelihood; nor phere of antiquity and Itng. t healreof; one seems to breatheunthse sense
was their object in going to the New World to better their position or Th o rn e a t f B" . e atmos.
accumulate wealth; they tore themselves away from home comforts in . . e _author's conviction hei hte so'. o iblical fragrance
his, It JS not just a little g ns his language. In our e ." .
obedience to a purely intellectual craving; in facing the inevitable fortunes overseas. it is th party o_f adventurers going to y sk, as 1?
sufferings of exile they hoped for the triumph of an idea. which God with 'H. e scattermg of the seed f see their
The immigrants, or as they so well named themselves, the Pilgrims, Th JS own hands is l . o a great people
belonged to that English sect whose austere principles had Jed them e thaut~~r goes on to describe t:n!mg on a predestined1 shore.
"n s us . eparture of the fir s mum-
· ,
to be called Puritans. Puritanism was not just a religious doctrine; gra t
in many respects it shared the most absolute democratic and republi• .. which.' ' had
, so been
they their
left that
can theories. That was the element which had aroused its most restingoodl
- l y and pleasant city (Delft Hav )
/;!hat they were pilgrims a:f/ ~ce above eleven years; but they ken '
dangerous adversaries. Persecuted by the home government, and
with their strict principles offended by the everyday ways of the society \:;~~uo~ these things, but lift:dr:~~:ei~ere below, and looked
uietedn ti•. whe:e. God has prepared for th?':
n:;
to _heaven, their dear-
in which they lived, the Puritans sought a land so barbarous and
neglected by the world that there at last they might be able to live: . and eir sp~ts. When they came to a crty . . . and therein
in their own way and pray to God in freedom. Pe with"! thinf'llready; and such of t!:p:a.ce,dthey found the
I e~, o owed after them r'.en s as could not
A few quotations will make the spirit of these pious
clearer than anything I could say.
':,J eepd' with the most, but wiili
an iscourse, and other r
f ·. o;le rught was spent with
~en y entertainment and
Nathaniel Morton, historian of the early years of New Englan next day the w,'nd b . eal. express10ns of true Chn'st'ian, Iove
6 d , ' emg fair th
thus opens the subject : s with them, where trul dole{ ey went on board, and the;;
"I have for some length of time looked upon it as a duty inc
bent, especially on the inunediate successors of those that have ngs:~Jart'.'1gh, to hear wh!t sighs":.~a:ot.e si~ht of that .sad and
ed em, w at tears did gush fr an prayers did sound
so large experience of those many memorable and signal dem
strations of (',ad's goodness, viz. the first beginners of this planta '..refr:ac\ other's heart, that sun~; :try eye, and pithy speeches
th . n rom tears. . . . But the t' ... strangers . . . could
in New England, to commit to writing his gracious dispensations
that behalf; having so many inducements thereunto, not only ot
hieir re_verend pastor falling dow:de . hi , calling them away
wise, but so plentifully in the sacred Scriptures, that so, what .•· s ~;"It~ watery cheeks commende~n th s kne_es, and they all
have seen, and what our fathers have told us, we may not hide
our children, shewing to the generations to come the praises of
.tt a o t e Lord and His blessin .

o e the last leave to ma nyo

em with most fervent
many tears, they took thei;, land then with mutual em-
f !heave one of another which
em" '
Lord. ( Psalm 78. 3,4,) That especially the seed of Abraham
;, p. 23 [!.], •
6New England'.\ Memorial (Boston, 1826), p. 13 [f.].
History, Vol. II, p, 440 [page ref. dubiousJ.
 Point of Departure of th
Democracy in America "We whose nam e Anglo-Americans
the glory of God '\"e underwritten h . 39
38The i,nmlg,ants, ;,,eluding women and ,h;\dren, numbe<ed ,bout
honor of our Id~ : d advancement of tl,~ .Cl,';:;~g undertaken for
the northern part, of ;"'!t'! a voyage to plan:': faith, and the
one hund,ed and fifty. Tb<U object was to found a c0lony on the mutually, in th 1rgmia, do by th e first colon ·
bank< of the Hudson; but alter long wandering over the ocean, they combU> • presence of God e,e pment, I Ym
were !wally fo,ced to )and on the arid '°""
of NeW England, on
the ,pct where the town of Plymouth now8 ,,ands. The ,ock on whlch
. e ounelve, to th . and one a h so erouly and
ordenng and pre ge. er mto a civil b d not .e;, convenant a d
and by v,rtue
. seivation
hereof d , and furtherance th , i or our better
o y ofpolitic n
e~ual laws, onlinan , o enact, corutltute e ends afore,aid.
the"But
Pilgrims we P'" on,"is our
befo,edisembarked stillchronicler
shown, continues, "let the reader,
wne, a, shall be thce\acts, comtltutlon,, a"".id ;;.ame rueh just and
with me, ,nake a pause, and seriously consider this poor people',
good pf the colon oug t most meet anl con o. cen, from time to
present condition, the more to be r,tlsed up to ad,nlration of God's obedience." [Cf· MY,orto
~to which we promise . nvement
goodness towa<d them U> thett p,eservatlon,• for bcing now past the N all d for the general
vast oc- . . . they had now no friends to wekome them, no Inns P· 37 f.J n, ,w England's M ~e ,ubnilision and
That happened ill 6 ,monal, Boston, 1826
to entert,.;n or refresh them, no h""""• much less towns. to repair
unto to ,eek for ,,ccor. ... lt was winter, and they kneW the winte" ceased.
E . The religious
. !20. From
Iand or . that time onward immi '
of the country, knew them to be ,ha,P and violen~ subject to cruel
and he«e stonns, danger<>"' to travel to known places, much more
~ptte throughout th
dissenters across to ~ P. ,oral passion, wbi h g,atlon never
~eign of Charles I dc ravaged the British
the Puritan movement enc~ every year. In E;ve fresh swarms of
to ,ea,eh unknown co""· BeMes, what could they ,ee but , was from those cl continued to be in th gland the nucleus of
hldeou> and desolate wi\det=', full of wild beasts and wild roenl lation of New E aslses that most
. ng and f of. the emigrant,
. e middle classes, and It
.
And what multltude of them there were, they then kneW not....
summer being ended, all things ,tand U> appearance with a weather· wen, ,till de,potleally
more and more to
l'!,td a,t, and while ill .;l?"ng. The popu-
iVI e by class hierar hi err homeland men
beaten face, and the whole country, full of wood• and thlckets, rep- homogeneous in all . present the novel ph c es, the colony cam
resented a wild and savage hue; il they looked behind them, there wh'ch . its parts D enomenon f e
1 antiquity had d d . emocracy more rf o a society
w" the ,nighty ocean whlch ... was now as a n:,a;n bar and gulf armed from the . are to dream pe ect than an f
to separate them from all the civil parts of the wodd.•. . Whkh The English ~ o f the oltl feud;f':.:;/;,tylull-grown and j.JIY
way soever they ,urned thett eyes (,ave upward to heaven) , they
~any emigrants, glad toent watched untroubled .th
dl,pened afar I d'"'c the ,eeds of discord e departure of so
10
tiom
could have little solace or content."
lt roust not be pnagmed that the piety of the l'uritan' w" merell ,eemed to have no ;..;: eed it did everythill and of fre,h rewlu-
,peculative, ,aking no notice of the course of worldly all,.;<", Puritan- from its harsh laws ety about the fate of tf to encourage it and
;,.., "already remarked, was almost a, much a pclitical theory a, a ~and as a land o.n Ameriean soil. It ,;;e who sought refuge
relig;ous doctrine- No ,ooner bad the i,n,nlgrants \anded on thd innovators should be gi~len over to the fantasy edf tdo consider New
;.hospitable coast described by Nathaniel l,(orton than they ,node
1h.The Eng1·" ·h colonieo-and
a owed to try
th o
out experiment, reamers
ill f , where
It their fint care to organi,e thero,elves" a society- They ~ediate~ '?". pro~erity--have at. was on, of the . reedoro.
politiul mdependence always enjoyed more int.,:'"" reasons for
~
1
passed an act which stated: 1
•Thi•rock hu l,<rome ,n obje<t ol ,enentlon in "" Uni"d Sta"'· 1 h"' principle of liberty :pha~ dthose of other nation:~ freedom and
"' England. p e more complete! th '. nowhm wo,
,~n fr.,...ents ,...efully P'"'""d in """' Ameri~n ,hies. Does not tbd
deady pro" that man'• pow<' and g,eatnen ....,., enti«IY in hi• wul1 A ""' wh· h y an m the states of
kw•""' ,ouh t,0d lo• ,n in,t,nt on tbi, rock, and it bas - ,..,..;
it i• p,u<d by a geeat nation; fr""''°" at< venmted, and ""' pie«••• Hillory :p was submitted for appro 1
uibutoi ,., and wide. Wbat ba• become ol the doO"'°"' ol a th,..... U11i1,l
... ,/ St~
P, '~ 42 and 47. [Timoth S .va to every person
•I Am..ka /•= ~ f'b, A PoUtfu,J ond c~;-•d. !';>kin',
of IA, Pol',.st~ elnt Washington 1ineMearh1763 to the Close ivf1 thHistory of the
palaces? Who cares about thCIIl? T'-· c·"''. Stau
' ,f arc 7 °O S e Adm,out,~
9 New England's Memorial, p, 35 (f.1, - '""''1ca, voand th• N, orth
s., New Haven, 18 2 a')
97' Induding
American C o l onies
· ·
Prior
u"!mary to
View
10 ('fhe last sentence seems to para.phrase Morton's text.1
u Th< bn"'i",n" who foundoi tbe ,tat< of }lhodo 1,1,nd in ,638, th"" ,I, 1
~ttloi at New H,ven in ,637, tbe Sn• inbahi'""" of ConM<ti<Ut i> '"'
and th< found= ol Pwvidenre in , 640 all b<P" by publlibing a ,ocid ""
 Democracy in America
Point of Departure of the Anglo A .
It was at that time generally recognized that the lands of the New th - merzc ans
World belonged to that nation who first discovered them.
e source of their powers and . 4 :r
In that way almost the whole of the North American coast became ward, under Charles II that a r it ~as only thirty or forty years afte
an English possession toward the end of the sixteenth century. The . Fo~ this reason it 1 often o~a charter legalized their existence ~;
means used by the British government to people these new domains histonca] and legislative records d~~cNult, wEhenl studying the earli~st
connectmg the · . ew ng and t d
were of various sorts; in some cases the king chose a governor to rule . unm1grants with th I d , o etect the link
some part of the New World 1 administering the land in his name and continually fi d 5 th e an of thei f f
. n em exercisin · h r ore athers. One
under his direct orders ;12 that was the colonial system adopted in the magistrates, made pe d g rig ts of sovereignty. the .
d ace an war I , Y appomted
rest of Europe. In others he granted ownership of some portion of the an enacted laws as if th ' promu gated police regula .
land to an individual or to a company. 13 In those cases all civil and Nothing is more p li ey were dependent on God al hons,
f ecu ar or more . one.
political powers were concentrated in the hands of one man or a few o thi s time . there "f instructive than th I . 1 .
' , 1 anyv,rher · h e eg1s ation
individuals, who, subject to the supervision and regulation of the presented to the world by the ~, .LS dt e key to the social enigma
Crown, sold the land and ruled the inhabitants. Under the third Among these record n1te States now,
th d f s one may choose ·
system a number of immigrants were given the right to form a political e co e o laws enacted by the littl as particularly characteristic
society under the patronage of the motherland and allowed to The Connecticutl9 Iawgi e state of Connecticut in r6 o 18
govern themselves in any way not contrary to her laws. This mode of criminal code and in com ve~ t~ed their attention first to
borrowing their pr~vis. fposmg It, conceived the strang 'd ef
\h
colonization, so favorable to liberty, was put into practice only in
ions romthetext fH e 1 ea 0
New England. 14 after I egal conviction h II h o oly Writ: "If
In 162815 a charter of that sort was granted by Charles I to the Lord God h s a ave or worship h any man
, e shall be put to death ,, any ot er God but the
emigrants who were going to found the colony of Massachusetts. There follow ten or twelve ...
But generally charters were only granted to the New England fo~lword from Deuteronomy, 1;~:~~ons of th~ ~a.me sort taken word
colonies long after their existence had become an established fact._ asphemy, sorcery, adulte 20 s, or Leviticus.
Plymouth) Providence, New Haven) and the states of Connecticut-, ry, and rape are .h d
and Rhode lsland16 were founded without the help and, in a sense,,, ·~-- 1~ In shaping their crimina . . pums e by death;
:UStice, the inhabitan I and civil laws and their
without the knowledge of the motherland. The new settlers, without e king's name no 1~ of ~assachusetts diverged from p~oc~d~res and courts of
denying the supremacy of the homeland, did not derive from thence. !t. nger eaded judicial orders S Hng s usages; in I 650
C . ee utchinson V 1 I
12 This was the case in the state of New York. ode of 1650, p. 28 [f ' o . ' p,
la Maryland, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey were in this cat gue gives the foUowin .] (H~ord, 1830). [The Libr
le refers. g entry which describes th k ary of Congress
gory. See Pitkin's History, Vol. I, pp. 11-31 [13-30, Tocqueville is not alw . e wor to which Tocque-
exact in his page references]. Ponnecticut (Colon ) L
1 4 See the work entitled Historical Collections, Consisting of State Papers The code of 1650 Yb·. aws, statutes, etc.
, eing a com ·1 •
Other Authentic Documents Intended as Materials for an History of the U J'!neral Court of Conn . p1 at1on of the earliest law
States of America, by Ebenezar Hazard, Printed at Philadelphia MDCCX , ed into and adopted bct~ut: also, the constitution or s .a~ld orders of the
which contains a great many valuable authentic documents concerning 1638-9. To which . y e towns of Windsor H~f c1vi compact, en-
early history of the colonies, including the various charters granted to thetlf ings of New H is added some extracts from' th lord, and Wethersfield
the English Crown and the first acts of their governments. ,,, drus, rs 30 . - aven co1 any, commonly called Blu e aws and JU
· di c1al
·
pro-
See also the analysis of all these charters by Mr. Story, judge of the Supr )'19 p incl f e 1aws. Hartford S
· . rant. 1 5 cm.
Court of the United States, in the introduction to his Commentary on ave used a copy 0 f hi
i •

Constitution of the United States. [Cf. the abridged edition, Boston, 1833, w rk ·ust d . t s work that a
Tocqueville has used: pp. 8-83.] P. JJameses(~:ed~teret~ :hat it bearspih:a:;~:i~ ~:ar~y id:ntical with
It emerges from all these documents that the principles of represe
also in Hutchin:o~' ~; and pagination are th~ s=m]natii Published
government and the external forms of political liberty were introduced • ode adopted b s zstory, Vol. I pp e.
the colonies almost as soon as they came into being. These principl us to those o/C~e col?ny of Massachuse;tf~~-;J5;/~e an~lysfs of the
developed further in the North than in the South, but they existed eve e Jaws of M nnect1cut. 4 , 1ts prmciples are
15 See Pitlcin's History, Vol. I, p. 35. And see The History of the Co assachusetts I •
son (Vol. I, ) a so Im.posed the death en
Massachusetts, by Hutchinson, Vol. I, p. g. e· in thi p. 441. says that several p I p alty for adultery and
16 See ibid., pp. 42, 47. ·• i s context h eop e were actu 11 '
,_in 1663. A ma . d e quotes a strange sto f a. Y executed for
rrie woman had a l aff ry o something which h
ave air with ap-
a young man; her
 Democracy in America Point of D
eparture of the A
a son who outrages his parents is subject to the same penalty. Thus penalty on Chris . nglo-Americans
the legislation of a rough, half-civilized people was transported into than th'eu
· own 21 tians who ch 43
p· ose to worship G d .
the midst of an educated society with gentle mores; as a result the
possessed them .led :;:ally, so_metunes the passio: fo';Jth a ri!ual other
death penalty has never been more frequently prescribed by the laws of such attention H em to Interfere in matt regulation which
or more seldom carried out. the use of tobac~o 2~n~ there is a clause in ~:s scompletely unworthy
The framers of these penal codes were especially concerned with
tyl'annicaJ laws We;e n e. must not forget that =e co.d~ forbidding
the maintenance of good behavior and sound mores in society, so they
the. free agreement of ot unp~sed from outside--th se nd1culou., and
constantly invaded the sphere of conscience, and there WM hardly their mores were ev all the Interested rarties th ey Were voted by
a sin not subject to the magistrate's censure. The reader will have In 1649 m, asso . .en. more austere and P""'t . emselves-and that
noticed the severity of the penalties for adultery and rape. Simple c1at1on was s l -, anical than th .
worJdl y luxury of l o emnJy formed . B eir laws
intercourse between unmarried persons was likewise harshly repressed.
The judge had discretion to impose a fine or a whipping or to order
Such deviations : : h:r.2• (See Appendix "'r i')on to check th;
they attest the inferiori ou tedly bring shame on' th~ ..
the offenders to marry. 21 If the records of the old courts of New to what is true and . ty o'. our nature, which bl spmt of man;
Haven are to be trusted, prosecutions of this sort were not uncom.. two excesses Just, IS generally redu d' una e to hold finnly
mon; under the date May l, 1660, we find a sentence imposing a · ce to choo ·
Along,ide this c . . smg between
fine and reprimand on a girl accused of uttering some indiscreet spirit and all the~~ code so strongly marked b
words and letting herself be kissed. 22 The code of 1650 is full of still seething in th ;g,ous passions, stunulat d b y narrow sectarian
preventive regulations. Idleness and drunkenness are severely pun- laws, closely bound e ep.ths of men's souls we y Persecution and
ished." Innkeepers may give each customer only a certain quantity of \: _hundred years up. Wlth the penal law .:Vh. as a body of political
wine; simple lying, if it could do harm," is subject to a fine or a\ . freedom of ago, still seems very far : ich, though drafted tw
whipping. In other places the lawgivers, completely forgetting the ---<_ - All our own age 1.0 advance of the s . . o
·. the general . : pmt of
great principle of religious liberty which they themselves claimed in rlnciples which mot";,;c1ples on . which modern co . .
Europe, enforced attendance at divine service by threat of fines25 an
derstood and whose d ur~peans m the seventeenth nst1tut1ons rest,
went so far as to impose severe penalties,•• and often the deam, mplete, are recognjz.,;mmanc~ in Great Britain w ce~tury scarcely
husband died and she married him; several years passed; at length the pub~" ~lmid; the Participatio mid g,ven authority by th"; : en far from
came to suspect the intimacy which had earlier existed between the spous ting of tID<es, the r n .o~ .the people in public ~ws of New
and criminal proceedings were brought against them; they were thrown ht om, and trial ':5POns1bility of gove "'!fairs, the free
prison, and both were very near being condemned to death. tion and with by Jury-all these tlring':""ent oflic,als, individual
21 Code oi 1650, p. 48. It would seem that sometimes the judges would
pose more than one of these penalties, as is seen in a judicial sentenc ese pregnant ppractical
. . l
effect
,
were established with
out
1643 (New Haven Antiquities, p. r 14) [We have been unable to trace this that no Europ:c,p e~ Were there applied and d
Several American libraries assisted us with this problem, but although we t n Connecticut th I nation has yet dared to eveloped in a
one or more worb of similar title, none corresponded with what TOC(lu all th . . e e ectoral bod . attempt.
quotes.] which directs that Margaret Bedford, convicted of looSe conduit e c1t12ens and th . Y consISted from th b •
whipped and afterward compelled to marry her accomplice, Nicholas J ' ' at IS readily underst~d so e eginning,
2 of the Colony and p . . In that nascent
2 New Haven Antiquities, p. 104. See also Hutchinson's History, Vol. follow provisions . rov,~ce of Massachusetts B
436, for several other equally extraordinary sentences.
23Code of 1650, pp. 50, 57.
24 Ibid., p. 64.
,
:: Quakers to the
a?d shut up in
i:~~;ngQ~~xz heavy fines ~~ ~ton, 1~14,
. . =ers who succeed .
p.123.J
c~ptazns of ships
ns Mil. first be fined Prison . to ~ork there. Th in cornmg in are to be
25 Jbid., p. 44.
2 6 This was not peculiar to Connecticut. See, inter alia, the Massac e, (Hutorical Collec~i::en 1mpnsoned, and fina~:e w~o defend their
der the penaJ la f M of State Papers V. 1 I Y dnven out of th
law of September 13, 1644, which condemned the Anabaptists to banis ter he has beenwd o. assachusetts a Cath lio . .' p. 630). e
(Historical Collection of State Papers, Vol. I, p. 538). Set· also the law de of 1650 p 96 nven out therefrom is o { Pnest who sets foot in th
on October 14, 1656, against the Quakers: "Whereas there is a pernicio w Eng/anis item. , l su Ject to the death penait/
commonly called Quakers, lately arisen ..." [Cf. The Charters and Onstitution of 1638 o[~a, p. 316. .
ode of z650J, p. r 7.
44 Democracy in America Point of D
eparture of the An l 0 .
community there prevailed an almost perfect equality of wealth and the bemn · . g -Americans
even greater intellectual equality. 81 ,,-,nmg m the t
regulations for the m . s ates of New England·" 45
At that time in Connecticut all executive officials were elected, supervise them ,86 th aintenance of roads with ' ffi. ~ere were strict
including the governor3. 2 of the state. conclusions of pubr e d to_wnships had pu'blic o. c1als appointed to
Citizens over sixteen years of age were obliged to bear arms; they rlages of the citizen:\1 eliberations and the b;:sters recording the
formed a national militia which appointed its officers and was bound these records .as occ .' ls there were clerks who d' de~ths, and .tnar-
to be ready to march at any time to the country's defense. 33 p ' u.1c1a were ap . se uty It w to k
In the laws of Connecticut and of ail the other states of New roperty, others to determine pomted, '?me to look af as. eep
many more whose chief f ~e boundanes of inheri ter mtestate
England we see the birth and growth of that local independence
The law antici at Uncti?n was to maintai le~ lands, and
which is still the mainspring and lifeblood of American freedom. social needs of !hi ~ ~nd prov,des in great d t il ~ public order.••
In most European nations political existence started in the higher scious. c m France We are still e a or a multitude of
ranks of society and has been gradually, but always incompletely, But It. IS
• the pro,~ . now but vag uely con.
communicated to the various members of the body social. fi t th . «Slons for pubj"
Contrariwise, in America one may say that the local community was rib roe wd mto clearest relief the ~c. e_dualc.ation which, from the
organized before the county, the county before the state, and the state e o e states. "I b . ngm ity of Am . very
Satan, to keep m~n / emg one chief project of e;can civilization,
before the Union. former times, keeping thom .the knowledge of the a.t old deluder,
In New England, local communities had taken complete and times, by persuacfin th em m an unknown ton e sc~ptures, as in
definite shape as early as 1650. Interests, passions, duties, and rights the true sense and g "':' from the use of ton gu ' so m these latter
took shape around each individual locality and were firmly attached
thereto. Inside the locality there was a real, active political life which_
false glosses of saint~ean,?g of the original
.be buried in the eemmg deceivers. and
rn.i1;;,:\' 0
that at least,
e '.'1ouded with
was completely democratic and republican. The colonies still recog, t.•.•.·.)vealth, the Lord grasa~e. of our fo:refath~rs, in tchhat leharnmg may not
nized the mother country's supremacy; legally the state was a mon~' ' ::':ta
••t bliSu..i.ug
.,_
schools in
s1stmo- our
° d urc and c0
e~ eavors .. ."40 p , . mm.on..
archy, but each locality was already a lively republic. \';';!!!Ider penalty of h all townships, and obi' . rov1s.10ns follow
The towns appointed their own magistrates of all sorts, assesse- i}.lg.h schools are fouenadvyd ~nes, to maintain them1gmlg ththe mhabitants,
themselves, and imposed their own taxes.5 4 The New England to ,~--- · · e m the 2n · n e sam
:. ,unic1pa1 officials are bound ore densely populated d' . e way,
adopted no representative institutions. As at Athens, matters of co e schools, and can . to see that parents send I~tncts, The
mon concern were dealt with in the marketplace and in the gen e parents rem . m,pose fines on thos h their children
assembly of the citizens. children from a:;: r;cal7itrant, society can~; o refuse to do so;
When one studies in detail the laws promulgated in this
period of the American republics, one is struck by their understan
of problems of government and by the advanced theories of the
givers.
ts.bk~~ 1!:: r:~£~;Y,:";ept:r ::
ghtenment d th ns' m America it .
~:~::~?~
I' .
:~,~h:tr~
noticed the
"""' an e observance of di . !SJ re ig10n which leads
Clearly they had a higher and more comprehensive concepti -·1·
ue tun,g from thi .
v,ue aws hi h
w c leads men
the duties of society toward its members than had the !awgiv
Europe at that time, and they imposed obligations upon it
were still shirked elsewhere. There was provision for the poor
°' Europe
fane, one
.
Continent
fl:5
' _rapid sun,ey of the Am ·
ethspec1al!y Continental Europ enca of 1650 and
e contrast p r
at th b . . ro,oundly astoni L,
ean, society at th
E at
. e eg,nnma- f h sumg. verywh
ai In 1641 the general assembly of Rhode Island declared unanimousl archies stood t . o o t e seventee th ere
the government of the state was a democracy and that power resided numphan tly on th . n century abso.
body of free men, who alone had the right to make the laws and ·• p, 78, e rums of the feudal
for their enforcement. Code of 1650, p. 70. [Should refer to p. 12.) a• ~
32 Pitkin's History, p. 47. tchinson 's H,
33 Constitution of 1638 [Code of 1650], p. 12. (The reference shou Of I65oj p, a;story, Vol. I, p. 455,
p. 70.J
p. 40[!.J, .
34 Code of 1650, p, 80. .,a goff.J.
'? p. 83 [pp, 39(?) and 9t).
 Point of Departure of the Anglo-Americans
Democracy in America 47
46 Amid the brilliance and the forming a marvelous combination. I mean the spirit of religion and
. eedom of the Middle Ages. conception of rights the spirit of freedom.
oligarchic fhr. men ts of Europe, then, thdeth n at any other time; The founders of New England were both ardent sectarians and
lit rary ac ieve 1 . nderstoo a f t fanatical innovators. While held within the narrowest bounds by
e h more complete y m1su . rt' cal life; notions o _rue <
was per ~ps had never taken less part m .P~l l And just at that trme fixed religious beliefs, they were free from all political prejudices.
t~e peoh e~ never been less in men's rrund sby
the nations of Europe, Hence two distinct but not contradictory tendencies plainly show
their traces everywhere, in mores and in laws.
liberty a . . 1 s unknown to or scorne N World where they
I
t h ese v
were procla1me t~:
ery pnnc1p e ,
. d . the wildernesses o
f the ew ,
l I this apparent y
watchwords of a great peop e .. t n were put into
were to b<:comeh boldest speculations of humda~l yd to take notice
For the sake of a religious conviction men sacrifice their friends,
their families, and their fatherland; one might suppose them entirely
absorbed in pursuit of that intellectual prize for which they had
1 ly sac1ety t e ay be sure, e1gne . just paid so high a price. Yet it is with almost equal eagerness that
ow . h"le no statesman, we m . inality human unag-
pract1ce, w '1h f rein given to its natural ?rl1g. 1'n that uncon- , they seek either material wealth or moral delights, either heaven in
f h Wit ree d d \egis ation. the next world or prosperity and freedom in this.
? t. em.there improvised unprece ente duced neither generals, nor "
mauon h" h had as yet pro d . front of a Under their manipulation political principles, laws, and human
sid~red temoc~:~y
philosop ers,
g:t writers, a man cou1d st;~s :!e l~efinition of'>
ain universal applause or '
, :, institutions seem ma1leable things which can at will be adapted
}/>arid combined. The barriers which hemmed in the society in which
free people and g
~
l "b t
. t of your own i er y._
o/they were brought up fall before them; old views which have ruled
, ',\fhe world for centuries vanish; almost limitless opportunities lie open
fre::t: ~mild I have you to mistake inwt~::~: affected by men a:1 '.~, a world without horizon; the spirit of man rushes forward to explore
. a liberty of corrupt nature, h" l'b rty is inconsistent W1 ,
T h ere lS th r t. and t lS t e Omn :ij<in every direction; but when that spirit reaches the limits of the
beasts to do w~at
·t impatient o
fe\11" ,.;,straint; by this liberty~
h and peace, a
Sum:~ all <· rld of politics, it stops of its own accord; in trepidation it re-

aut hori y, . d enemy of trut . . il a mo ces the use of its most formidable faculties; it forswears
t and renounces innovation; it will not even lift the veil of the
Dedt~riores, :~si: a~a.;:ent against it. Budt tanhe;e o:j:ctc1:f 'author·
or ,nances h . th proper en thi l"b ctuary; and it bows respectfully before truths which it accepts
a federal liberty, whic isl :hich is just and good; for s • e out discussion.
it is a liberty for tha_t on y hazard of your very live:· ·. . . <hUs, in the moral world everything is classified, coordinated,
ou are to stand wit:1- the f sub1· ection to authority' andd en, and decided in advance. 1n the world of politics everything
Y .
liberty is tnamtame
authority set over you
q uietly submitted unto,
:1 ;;
· · d m a way o

y .a
,
. . all administrations or ~ .
f
but such as have a dispos1UO? to
l"berty by their murmunng a
our goo
s;
turmoil, contested, and uncertain. In the one case obedience is
_e, though voluntary; in the other there is independence,
mpt of experience, and jealousy of all authority.
off the yoke, and 1ose their true . "42
i '
, '
·· from banning each other, these two apparently opposed tend-
wer of authority. A I American civihzati: , work in harmony and seem to lend mutual support.
honour and Po h t ut ng O· b "gion regards civil liberty as a noble exercise of men's faculties,
I have already said enoug o( p d ne should continually e
its true light. It is the product) ru;
; o perfectly distinct ele rid of politics being a sphere intended by the Creator for the
_lay of intelligence. Religion, being free and powerful within
. d this point of departure o with one another but
mm h ften been at war . ch sphere and content with the position reserved for it, realizes
which elsewhere ave o 'ble to incorporate into ea
. somehow possl ' '/ sway is all the better established because it relies only on
in America it was l II p to. [Tocqueville". -powers and rules men's hearts without external support.
th ' Magnalia Christi A menc · ana Vo , · "' d't' n
d,_ th.e 1820 Hartford e 110 J
M a er s
42 is to be foun 1n , he had been a sees religion as the companion of its struggles and
ence is f~ulty. ~h;prss;g;. t i6 f.) Winthrop is speaki~~~ of which the the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its
Tocqueville use ' . 0 • ' agistrate; when t~e spe nd there eligion is considered as the guardian of mores, and mores
1
of arbitrary behafiv1?~ a~ ~emwas acquitted am1dMapp ::1;e,~l. I, P· I
f nus part was ms e , f the state See ars ' w· th p ed as the guarantee of the laws and pledge for the main-
;u:
o 1 reelected as governor o
aofd:orge Washington, Vol. I, Lon on
d . 1804 • Governor
,
in ro Jyf freedom itself. (See Appendix I, F.)

tioned on p. 173-1
 Democracy in America Point of D
eparture of the An lo- .
worse th g Americans
an a line'" Wh
legislation? · at could be mo ~ 49
Reasons for Some Peculiarities in the Laws and Customs Yet . .A . re anstocratic than such
of the Anglo-Americans ' in menca it is th
they reserve the ~eatest e poor who make the la
One must look to En 1 b~nefits of society for the w,;i and usually
Some relics of aristocratic institutions amid the most complete
democracy. Why? Need to make a careful distinction between for these laws are En
at all, although th
1ft~4
for the explanation of ::: ves.
g . The American h phenomenon
that which is Puritan in origin. and that which iJ English. bulk of their id•·:Y are repugnant to their
=· th hin
Aiter 1·ts customs
1: a:'e not changed th.,,;
ws m general d
The reader should not draw exaggeratedly general and e.xclusive ' an to the
civil law, OnJ l ' e t g which a peo l
conclusions from what has been said before. The social condition, terest in keep;;;g athwyers-that is to say th.;.ee chhanges the least is its
religion, and mores of the first settlers certrunly exercised an im. know them-are fa emT as the Y are, gaod ' or badw o. have a d'1rect ina
mense influence on the fate of their new country. Nevertheless, it . know,; about them '.m ,..,. with civil law,;. The ' ,_imply because they
was not open to them to found a society with no other point of ' cases, have diincult' _people s~e. them in acti!ation at_ large hardly
departure besides themselves; no man can entirely detach himself them unthinking) y 10 apprec,atJng their irnpli . only m particular
from the past; perhaps unintentionally, perhaps unconsciously, they I have quoted y. cattons, and submit to
did mingle with their own ideas and habits others which derived. one exampl b
more. e, ut I could ha .
from their education and the national tradition of the homeland One might put it th" ve men!loned many
So, if we are to understand the Anglo-Americans of our own da
covered with a la er of lS way. The surface of Am .
we must make a careful distinction between elements of Puritan an can see the old ; . t d~mocratic Paint but f ~ncan society is
elements of English origin. " 01 JS ocranc colors breaking thrromhti.me to time one
One often finds laws and customs in the United States whic course there ,,..., . oug .
.... ,. en.mes for Wh" h b . ,
contrast with the rest of their surroundings. Such laws seem to ha !C ad ls not allowed b
been drafted in a spirit opposed to the prevailing genius of Americ .Blackstone and D l lm , ut they are very
to refe.r t D L e O e, Book J h
legislation, and such mores seem to run counter to the whole tone o e olrne's work.] , c apter HJ. [The I
ast reference
society. If the English colonies had been founded in an age of da
ness and their origins had been lost in the night of time, the prob!
would have been insoluble.
I will quote just one example to make my meaning clear.
The civil and criminal procedure of the Americans relies on
modes of action only, committal or bail. The first step in any la
is to get bail from the defendant or, if he refuses that, to put •
prison; only after that is the validity of the title or the gravity o
charge discussed.
Clearly such a procedure is hard on the poor and favors the
only.
A poor man cannot always raise bail even in a civil case, and
has to wait in prison for the hearing of the matter, his e
idleness soon reduces him to destitution~
But if it is a civil suit, the rich man never has to go to
and, more important, if he has committed a crime, he can
escape the proper punishment, for having given brul, he disa
So~ as far as he is concerned, the law actually imposes no
 Social State of the Anglo-Americans
southwest of the Hudson. They brought with them aristocratic
principles, including the English Jaw of inheritance. I have explained
the reasons that made it impossible ever to establish a powerful
aristocracy in America. Those reasons applied southwest of the Hud-
son too, but with less force than to the east thereof. In the Soath one
Chapter 3 man and his slaves could cultivate a wide extent of land. So there ·
were rich landowners in that part of the country. But their influence
OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS was not exactly aristocratic, in the sense in which that word is used in
SOCIAL STATE Europe, for they had no privileges, and the use of slaves meant
that they had no tenants and consequently no patronage. However,
result of circumstances, sometim~ the great landowners south of the Hudson did fonn an upper class,
THE socIAL STATE is co=only the b" tion of the two. But once ,t with its own ideas and tastes, and in general it did concentrate
..~ but most often of a com bma "dered as the prime cause political activity in its hands. It was a sort of aristocracy not very
0 f 1an.-., . . 't ell e cons1 a t
has come into bemg, it may ' s d ideas which control the nations different from the bulk of the people whose passions and interests it
of most of the la~, customs, an
behavior; it modifies evfie~
Therefore one must rs s d
~J; ::r . which it does not cause.
social state if one wants to
easily embraced, arousing neither love nor hate. It was, to conclude,
weak and unlikely to last. That was the class which, in the South,
put itself at the head of the rebellion; it provided the best leaders
understand a peop
le's laws an mores. of the American Revolution.
At that time society was shaken to the core. The people, in whose
• th Social Condition of the name the war had been fought, became a power and wanted to act
The Striki";g Fea;:rn: Ite ls Essentially Democratic \(:on their own; democratic instincts awoke; the English yoke had been
1
Anglo-Amencans . · ' l,roken, and a taste for every form of independence grew; little by little
land, Equal am_ong themselves. A?"tS- the influence of individuals ceased to carry weight; customs and laws
First immigrants to New ~ng S h Period of the Revolution. ;!"'gan to march in step toward the same goal.
tocratic laws introduc~d in. the ou~~sults of that change. Equ~- · But it was the law of inheritance which caused the final advance
Change in the laws of ,~h~i:anc:· states of the West. Equality · equality.
l;r:e':::z
ity carried to extreme ::;:wments. I a,n surprised that ancient and modern writers have not attributed
ter importance to the laws of inheritance' and their effect on the
gress of human affairs. They are, it is true, civil laws, but they
, thin s to be sa,"d abou t the social con uld head the list of all political institutions, for they have an un-
There are many unportant g feature dominates all the oth
tion of the Anglo-Americans, bu~ one . eminently democratic. It ·!'Vable influence on the social state of peoples, and political
The social state ": the ~~n:: ;,e colonies but is even mor are no more than the expression of that state. Moreover, their
been like that ever smce the irt of influencing society is both sure and uniform; in some sense
lay hands on each generation before it is born. By their means
now. that a high degree of equality Prev is armed with almost supernatural power over the future of
I said in. the Jast chap~er first settled on the coast of New En ows. When the lawgiver has once fixed the law of inheritance,
a,nong the ummgrants w o the seeds of aristocracy were
I that part of the states even uld co=and influence, laws of inheritance I mean all those laws whose principal object is to
p~anted. There only intellectual pow:,.: as symbols of enlight the fate of property after its owner's death.
law of entail is among these; it does, of course, also have the effect
the people caine t~ respect cert:7t:ns. carried such weight ~at ting a landowner disposing of his property before his death, but its
and virtue. The v,ews of son;eth to son their influence nught ject in making him keep it is to see that it passes on intact to his
h ad invariably passed 11from a er .
d aristocrattc.
'
th
erefore the main aim of the law of entail is to control the fate
rty after its owner's death; its other provisions are merely means to
sonably have been ca e t of the Hudson. To the sou d.
That was the .case to the eash Floridas things were diffe .·
that river and nght down tot!.de me to settle in most of the
Great English landowners co
 Social State of the A ngIo~A mericans
.
Democracy in America
When
· the law orda·ms equal shar · breaks that intimat 53
nect10n
J d between family fee1·mg and es, it . e con-
he can rest for centuries; once the impulse has been given to his
an no longer represents the fa ·1 preservation of the land. th
handiwork, he can take his hand away; the mechanism works
by its own power and apparently spontaneously aims at the goal
':P al the end of one or two !t
m1 Y,. for, ~s is bound lo be di~id~
tmually diminish and comple~:;er;t10ns, it 1~ clear that it must con·
indicated beforehand. If it has been drafted in a certain way, it as•
sembles, concentrates, and piles up property, and soon pcwer too, in h landowner' if they are yfewisappear
afl!great or ·f f m the end · The sons of
the hands of one man; in a sense it makes an aristocracy leap forth sI ope to be no less rich th h'. I ortune favors the
to possess the same lands. th ~n t e1r parent, but they canno:i' may
from the ground. Guided by other principles and directed toward cl.ff 1 ' e1r wealth i bo d expect
1 erent e ements from his. s un to be composed of
other goals, its effect is even quicker; it divides, shares, and spreads
property and power; then sometimes people get frightened at the Now, as soon as landowners are d ,
speed of its progress; despairing of stopping its motion, men seek attachment lo the land b d epnved of their strong sentim 1
th t ' ase on memori s d . enta
at least to put obstacles and difficulties in its way; there is an at- a s_oone~ or later they will sell it f e an pnde, it is certain
tempt to balance its action by measures of opposite tendency. But pecuruary mterest in so doing . h' or they have a powerful

all in vain! It grinds up or smashes everything that stands in its way; a highe
, r ra t e of interest and ' Iismce
uid ot er form s of mvestment
· earn
with the continual rise and fall of its hammer strokes, everything is sallsfy the passions of th q assets are more easily - d
reduced to a fine, impalpable dust, and that dust is the foundation Once d ..ded e moment. use to
proporllonately, a smallholder gets ~ not c~me together again; for,
. lVl ' great landed estates d

forWhen
democracy.
the law of inheritance allows or, a fortiori, ordains the equal _than a great landlord from h. ~ etter mcome from his fields2
sharing of a father's property among his children, the results are of •.•.•.·.•.<higher
. th . hprice. Thus the same is,econorruc
an ~o cal he sells
1 . it too at a m uc h
two sorts, which need to be distinguished, though they both tend )i}• e rte . man to sell vast propert. ·11 cu allon which induced
toward
>-•/'i)~~e him from buying u allies Wl • even more powerfully dis-
Owingtheto same end.
the law of inheritance, the death of each owner causes ; · am
• P sm holdmgs t 0 make a great one
revolution in property; not only do possessions change hands, b
their very nature is altered, as they are continually broken up • )¥hat passes for family feeling is oft b
al selfishness; a man seeks to en ased ~n an illusion of per~
e, to make himself .rmmortal perpetuate
through h. himself and, in some
smaller
That fractions.
is the direct physical effect of the law. So in countries wh re . . y feeling is at an end LS great-grandchildren.
equal shares are the rule, property, particularly landed property, l famil
'.nchnations. As the famil ! pfersolnal selfishness turns again to
a permanent tendency to grow less. However, the effects of s ainco.
___
y1settobeava
nceptmn, each man con t
"d
gue, m etenninate
legislation would only be felt in the fullness of time if the effects e.' he th'mks about gettin thcen rates on his unme . d.iate con-'
the law were simply left to work themselves out, for in families t nothing further. g e next generation established in
not more than two children ( and the average of families wi
population pattern such as France is said to be only three), ce a man does not seek to e .
th~r means than landed e~taie:~at~ h,s family, or at least he
children sharing their father's and their mother's fortune
' e law of inheritance not onl o o ~·
not be poorer than either of the latter individually. the same domains intact b y m~kes it difficult for families
But the rule of equal shares does not affect only the fat d; in a sense, leads the 't ut t es away their wish to try
property; it also affects the very soul of the landowner and b m o cooperate with the law in their
his passions into play. It is these indirect effects which rapidly
up great fortunes, especially landed property.
o! equal shares progresses alon
, it affects persons. b f g two paths: by acting
In nations where the law of inheritance is based on primoge ' y ac mg on persons, it has its effect
landed estates generally pass undivided from one generation
other. Hence family feeling finds a sort of physical expression ?Iean to sayeathat the smallholder cultivates the I
th greater
land. The family represents the ]and, and the land the famil ]acls in skill • gerness and energy, making up b Yahnd
ardbetter,
work but
for
petuating its name, origin, glory, power, and virtue. It is an •
able witness to the past and a precious earnest of the futu
 Democracy in America Social State of the Ang/0 • A mencans
.
This . picture' w h"ic h some ma think 55
54By both these means it strikes at the root of landed estates and ~very ,mperfect impression of vJ'hat oe over~rawn, would give only
est and Southwest. g s on m the new states of the
quickly breaks up both families and fortunes.•
It is certainly not for us, Frenchmen of the nineteenth century,
who are daily witness of the political and social changes caused by
At the end of the last
~et~ate into the Mississi;;:~e;
e?-ca; soon most of those wh .
r;; bolf./dventurers began to
w~ I e a new discovery of
the law of inheritance, to doubt its power. Every day we see its in-

~
fluence coming and going over our land, knocking down the walls of prev10usly unheard of communities o ;;r~ immigrating went there.
our houses in its path, and throwing down the fences of our fields. :~- s;ates :"at had not even bee~u y sptng up in the wilder'.
But though the law of inheritance has done much among us, it still el~ Paces m the American Union It . e~ a thew years before look
~ee e~oc~acy in its most extreme f • IS m e West that one can
has much to do. Our memories, thoughts, and habits still put sub-
stantial obstacles in its way.
?"prov,sations of fortune the inh :,rm, In these states, in some sense
m the land where they dwell T: ita~ts have arrived only yesterday
In the United States its work of destruction has almost been
brought to an end. It is there that one can study its chief effects. each man is ignorant of hi . ey a~dly know one another d
part of the Amen"can s. nearest neighbor's history So . ' tahn
The English law concerning succession to property was abolished contment th . · m at
uence not only of e population escapes the m- .
in almost all the states at the time of the Revolution. flth ~ natural aristocracygreat
of d
names and
. great wealth but also f
The law of entail was so modified that it hardly put any restraint
enJoys the influence and resp: tJtion and probity. No man the:
on the free sale of land. (See Appendix I, G.)
The first generation passed away; land began to be divided. As . . . .· ~inf food. There are inhabi~ant~ea/~e::iw~ole~ife spent publicly in
time passed, the change grew faster and faster. Now, hardly sixty >,. es ' . u~ not as yet a society. y m e new states of the
years later, the aspect of society is already hard to recognize; the •iF But it IS not only fortunes that
iy\, some e.xtent affects their mental •:;e .
equal m America; equality to
families of the great landowners have almost mingled with the com-
mon mass. In the state of New York, where formerly there were many, s<>-3--: I think there is no th en O'Wlllents too.
>• , o er country · th
only two still keep their heads above the waters which are ready to· !lonate
. 'd1y to population, there are so fe m · e world where, propor~
swallow them too. The sons of these wealthy citizens are now mer• I"'; uals as in America. w ignorant and so few learned
d
chants, lawyers, or doctors. Most of them have fallen into the most Pnmary ·1education is with" h
complete obscurity. The last trace of hereditary ranks and distin Y avai ab le to anybody m reac of all·, h"igh er education is
tions has been destroyed; the law of inheritance has everywhere • · That is easily understood ~nd is . d
w~at has been said before. m eed the necessary consequence
posed
It isitsnotdead
thatlevel.
in the United States, as everywhere, there are Alinost
. thall Americans enJOY
. easy crrcum
.
rich; indeed I know no other country where love of money has su. ,..wre e basic elements of h kn st ances and can so easily
a grip on men's hearts or where stronger scorn is expressed for .,here are few rich me n m . Amum'."'
enca· h owledge. aim
theory of permanent equality of property. But wealth circulates th to take up some profession N ' ence ost all Americans
with incredible rapidity, and experience shows that two succes ~ nti cesh"ip. Therefore the A. ow . ' every p rof ess1on
. requires an
of life to general edu t" mencans can devote only the first
generations seldom enjoy its favors. . ed . ca 10n; at fifte th
'• eir ucat1on generally ends at th en ey start on a career
8 Land being the most solid type of property, one does sometimes find ued beyond that po' t . . e age when ours be<nns If i't .'
men ready to make great sacrifices to acquire it, voluntarily giving up a tbl · m,ita,msonl o·· IS
part of their income to make the rest safe. But those are exceptional a e objective; science is tud" d . y at some specialized and
5
It is in general only among the poor that love of land is something n up a trade; and only matte ie f m• the same sp111t · · as one
The smallholder with less education, less imagination, and fewer passions
· rs o munediat d ·
a!'plication receive attenti e an recognized
the large landowner is usually bent on nothing but increasing his holdin
it often happens that inheritance, marriage, or the chances of trade gra
::y
erica most rich men be an on. .
provide him with the means for this.
So besides the tendency which leads men to divide up land, there is
tendency leading them to accumulate it. That tendency, which is eno\1.
were busy in their youtf
~ave a taste for study, one'has
e, the taste has gone.
:o::lt,.
bemg poor; almost all men of
at the age when one
e time; and when time is
prevent the division of land ad infinitum, is not strong enough to forn(
territorial fortunes, still less to maintain them in the same familid,
 Social State of th e A nglo-Americans
Democracy in America
So, for a people who h 57
state, it is hard t 0 see an ave "ddlreached the Anglo Amencan . m' 'al
So there is no class in America in which a taste for intellectual of all and the absolute y rm e course between th s s.oc1
pleasures is transmitted with hereditary wealth and leisure and One must not di . po_'l'er of one man. e sovereignty
which holds the labors of the mind in esteem. •Just d escnbed
. sgu1se 1t from
may lead as e il ones elf that the social state I h
Both the will and the power to engage in such work are lacking. results. as Y to the one as to th h ave
A middling standard has been established in America for all human There is indeed a n1 e ot er of those
knowledge. All minds come near to it, some by raising and some by rouses •m all men a ma . yandl
clesire ··
to b egitimate passion for equa11ty
• wh · h
lowering their one
As a result standards.
finds a vast multitude of people with roughly the
ten s to elevate the littl
d heart also
human
e strong and respected T .
. e man to the rank of the . his pass10n
:c
w!;f!~:
same ideas about religion, history, science, palitical economy, legisla• the weak to want ~:u;shes a debased taste for equalireat .. But the

ti.on, and government.

Iiltellectual inequalities come directly from God, and man cannot
~nd_uces men to prefer
t IS not that peoples • h
:~t!~
':'ong ~own to their lei~!
m serv:itude to inequality . f '
prevent
But it them
resultsexisting always.
from what we have just been explaining, that, though
mental endowments remain unequal as the Creator intended, the
freedom is not the :::7'
freedom; on the co wit a democratic social stat m reedom.
they have an instinctive et~::u;all~ scorn
eqthuality.ckfor which they /:::id;t:~enual, olbject of their de~;et i~~!
means of exercising them are equal. w1 qm and sudden im I rna ove; they rush on '
Therefore, in America now the aristocratic element, which was · <> . themselves to th eir . . pu ses, but if they miss th . freedom
from the beginning weak, has been, if not destroyed, at least made '
feebler still, so that one can hardly attribute to it any influence over
• •' ,
)fil'lthout equality and th
d1Sappo"
i::itment; but nothing will ti?
ell" mark th ·
resigo
, ·. .·•.·.·.· On the other'hand ehy wohd z:a:her die than lose it sa s y them
theOn
course of things.
the other hand, time, circumstances, and laws have made
b d" ' w en t e c1ttz
.ecome~ ifficult to defend their free~':: "r;' ·
all more or less equal it
er. o o_ne among them bein an m rom the encroachments' of
democratic element not merely preponderant but, one might say, ex alone w1th success, only the gco yb~on~er strong enough to strug
to ?"arantee liberty. But :: macron ?f the forces of all _-
elusive.
One cannot trace any family or corporate influence; it is oft commg., su a combmation is not a Iways is
hard even to discover any durable individual influence. h
So the social state of America is a very strange phenomenon. M · . derive e1"ther of two- t li.
, nations can
same social state. th ,,.ea po heal conseq
there are nearer equality in wealth and mental endowments, or, but b th . . ' ese consequence cliff uences from
' o ongmate from th s er vastly from each
other words, more nearly equally powerful, than in any other coun e Anglo-Am · e same fact.
of the world or in any other age of recorded history. - . encans who were th fir
.e-ment10ned
er c· altern t"
a 1ves were luck e st to be faced Wl"th the
·. . ircumstances origin ed
and
to establish
. y enough to escape absol t
main'ta' ucthab.on, an~ above all mores allo u
m e sovere1goty of th e peo pl e. we
~
Political Consequences of the Social State of
the Anglo-Americans

It is easy to deduce the pali tielll consequences

state.
By no possibility could equality ultirnately fail to penetrate into\
sphere of politics as everywhere else. One cannot imagine that
should remain perpetually unequal in just one respect though
in all others; within a certain time they are bound to become
in Now,
all respects.
I know of only two ways of making equality prevail ·
politielll sphere; rights must be given either to every citizen
nobody.
 · America
Democracy in .
h t deroocra cy constrams
188 B it i.s clear t a
t d" uss· Chapter 4
· ~:, 0 verns best. u thers. . dless to isc ·
democracy g. , cy oppresses o hi'ch it 1s nee
d anstocra . d truth w POLITICAL ASSOCIATION IN
some _an. self-estabhshe
This is. a d 1 arn poor.
you are nch an
THE UNITED STATES

""Everyday use that the Anglo-Americans make of the right of

association. Three types of political associations. How the
:{' Americans apply the representative system to associations. Dan 9

gers resulting therefrom to the state. Great convention of 1831

--concerned with tariffs. Legislative character of that conven-
ion. Why the unlimited exercise of the right of association is
as dangerous in the United States as elsewhere. Why it
be considered necessary. Utility of associations in demo-

USE HAS BEEN MADE OF assoc1at10n and this powerful in-

of action has been applied to more varied aims in America
here else in the world.
from permanent associations such as townships, cities, and
ted by law, there are a quantity of others whose exist-
wth are solely due to the initiative of individuals.
bitant of the United States learns from birth that he
himself to combat the ills and trials of life; he is
efiant in his outlook toward the authority of society
ti! its power only when he cannot do without it. The
·!his attitude first appear at school, where the children,
games, submit to rules settled by themselves and
which they have defined themselves. The same at-
. in all the affairs of social life. If some obstacle
road halting the circulation of traffic, the neighbors
eliberative body; this improvised assembly produces
ority which remedies the trouble before anyone
e possibility of some previously constituted authority
ose concerned. Where enjoyment is concerned,
e festivities grander and more orderly. Finally,
ed to combat exclusively moral troubles: in-
t in common. Public security, trade and industry,
liwon all provide the aims for associations in
 Political Association in the United S
Democracy in America
minority wh' h tates
adoption.' I cicannot
only d e1·b
i erates
help b t th' and wh"ich gets I I 9I
the United States. There is no end which the human will despain exposed to great risk u mk that then p bl' aws ready for
of attaining by the free action of the collective pew" of individuals. There is certain! s. u IC order would be
Late< I shall have occasion to speak of the effects of association itself better tha y a great gap between .
on civil life. Foe the moment I must stick tD the woeld of pclitks. stituted for it. ;u~noter and. establishin::~:t~ that one law is in
The right of association being ,eeognized, citi,ens can use it in the hasty imaginatio: ::ethtramed minds may s:i~l ought to . be sub-

~
dif!e,ent ways. An association simply consists in the public and over, there are ti e crowd may be u see . a .wide gap
fonnal suppo<t of specific doctrines by a -ain numb" of in- most equal pa,ties, :::,~ ~h;n. the nation ~::~ of this. Mo,e'.

~ ~
dividuals who have undertaken to eoope,ate in a stated way io the rulmg power th a1mmg to represent th e. mto two al-
o«lee to make these doeuines peevail. Thus the right of association moral authority ano er power is establish m~Jority. If, besides
can al<nost be identified with freedom to write, but ,heady associa- talk and not a~t? an one suppose that in th el with almost equal
·11 . e ong r .
tions are more powerful than the press. When some view is repre- l it always st un it will just
sented by aii association, it must take eleaee< and more p,eeise shap<.
It counts its supporters and involves them in its cause; these sup-
W
tion that them
constrain ?
the objecd ofshort in frontis ofto the
associations d' metaphysical considera
, , an to g,.· d . irect opin · •
porten get to know one anothe<, and mnnbees inaease ,eal. Ao The more I b ve a vice about th 1 mns and not to
. o serve th . e aw but n t
association unites the ene,gi" of diveegent minds and vigoeoml, convinced am i th . e mam effects of f o to make it?
. . at, m the d a ree pres h .
directs them toward a clearly indicated goal. t e pnnc1pal and mo em world f d s, t e more
Freedom of assembly marks the second stage in the use made of nation
h bent on re' s~ ~o say, the constitutiv~ rlee om of the press is
mairung free . h e ement in f d
the right of ,ssoeiatinn. When a political association is allowed • . . atree hom.. A
cost,t on respect for th'1s f reedomIS Bt erefore right t o msist
form centers of action at certain important places in the country, mus not be entirel 'd . . ut unlimited f d ' w atever
its activity becomes geeatee and its influence more widespread. Then is both less necessa; I ~nhfied with freedom t~ee o.m of association
men meet, active measures are planned, and opinions ace exptessed may set limits there a~ more dangerous than t;r1te. The former
with that strength and warmth which the written word can never in order to rema· . without ceasing to be 't e latter. A nation
I Am m its own mast . . Is own master . d
n erica there is n 1' . er, it is sometimes n ; m. eed,
But the final stage is the use of association in the sphere of politics. ends. o rm1t to freedom of association . e~essary
f to do
1. , so.
attain.
The supporters of an agreed view may meet in electoral colleges ne example will h or po itICal
and appcint mandatories to repeesent them in a eent<al assemblJ. 0
far it is tolerated. s ow better than anything I coul .
That is, properly speaking, the application of the representative One remembers how . d say JUst how
trade-tariff
t . 1. con t roversy Notexcited . the
. Amencans
. were b h
system to the
So, in onefust
party.
of these eases, men sharing one opinion a,e hdd ena mterests stood . opm10ns only but y t e free-
together by a purely intellectual tie; in the second case, they med that some of it to ?ain or lose by a t' 'ff very powerful ma-
togethe< in ,mall assemblies eepeesenting only a fraction of d, it for almost ai81 ~trospenty was due thereto an h.. lThe North thought
tariff I s woes O ' w i e the So th bl .
party; finally, in the thitd ease, they fonn something like a seP"" question . · ne may say that u amed
nation within the nation and a government within the governmed. the Union. gave nse to the only politi;:rer a l?ng period the
In 183 I h pass10ns disturbing
Their mandatories, like those of the majority, represent by therosel\9
all the collective power of their supporters, and, like them in thi~ tot, ·· of , w en the ·
atizen
papers thatM assachusettsquarrel
thoughtwas
of :os: e~venomed, an obscure
they appeat as national ,epresentatives with all the moral P"'°'
Philadelph· all opponents of the t .ffgbestmg through the ne
~
derived therefrom. It is true that, unlike the others, they have • ia to concert an should d ws-
~
eight to make laws, but they do have the pew" to attack ..... th, invention of . '?gethe, measmes to mak sen deputies to
laws and to formulate, by anticipation, laws which should take rom Maine to N pnOntmg, this suggestion t.rade free. Thanks
up ardent! T ew rleans. The o passe m but a few da s
place of thesome
Imagine present ones. not perfectly accustomed to the use
people lion of ,,:· 1..~ey assembled from al~~:n" / the_ tceiff •=k
r were known men and an appointed deputies
j,
freedom, oe one in which profound pclitieal passions are "' · ' some of them had· nsen
. to.
Suppcse that, besides the majority that makes the laws, th"' I
 Democracy in America
Political Asso , .
celebrity. South Carolina, which was later to take up arms in this cia1ion in the U .
even in Ame . nzted States
cause, sent sixty-three people as its delegates. On October 1, 1831, . nca, a se ·
the assembly, which in American fashion styled itself a convention, enVIsage without al nous event and one ,c r93
That ann. mat good p ·
was constituted at Philadelphia; it counted more than two hundred came out clea J • atnots cannot
members. The discussions were public, and from the very lirs:t' men ?f .di~tinction t~f dunng the convention o
day it took on an altogether legislative character; discussion covered' ;"'d lmnt its objectiv pg part therein tried I f 1 831, when all th
the extent of the powers of Congress, theories of free trade, allli' ..miluence the attit d e. l'Obably the con
· u e of th al
? moderate its langu e
ventmn of 8 age
finally the various provisions of the tariff. After ten days the ,open revolt of I 832 . e m contents and I 31 did gTeatl
sembly broke up, having issued an address to the American peop One must not shut aga,?st the commercial Prepared them for th!
In that address it declared first that Congress had not the right Tassociation for poJ't~ne s eyes to the fact thlaws of the Union
. J ical end . at Unlirnit d .
impose a tariff and that the existing tariff was unconstitutio a nat10n can sustai W ~ ,s, of all fo=- 0 f . e freedom
rchy it d n. bile 't ...~ liberttr th
and second that it was against the interest of any people, ' oes constant] b . , may not act 11 " e last
particular the American people, that trade sho:µld not be free, of freedom how y nng it to the v ua y lead it into
d' . , soever d erge th f
It must be admitted that unlimited freedom of association in, irect.ion; in countr· angerous does . ereo . But this
unkn ,es where .' prov,de gu
political sphere has not yet produced in America the fatal - O'\Vn, There ar f . associations ar f arantees in
that one might anticipate from it elsewhere. The right of a e actions in Am . e reej secret societ·
. enca, but . 1es
tion is of English origin and always existed in America. Use _oncernmg the din
d .u erent wa . no consp1rato- . . ...
right is now an accepted part of customs and of mores. erstood in Europe and i y~ m ~hich the ri'ght of . .
In our own day freedom of association has become a ne n menca~ and the d' association is
guarantee against the ty,anny of the majority. In the United of it, if!erent uses made
once a party has become predominant, all public power p st natural right of
its hands; its close supporters occupy all offices and have c cprnbining his effo;:~m,. after that of actin .
all organized forces. The most distinguished men of the Therefore the r' h w:ith those of his f g on bis own, is
party, unable to cross the barrier keeping them from pow inalienable as fu~· \of association seems e;lows and acting
be able to establish themselves outside it; the minority must lawgiver can wish ';' u;l liberty. Short of o me by nature
whole of its moral authority to oppose the physical power · ~dam to unite j o a olish it. However attacking society
it. Thus the one danger has to be balanced against a mor are other natis purely beneficial and ' though for some
ble one. of life into a ons who pervert it by t~ ~ource of Pros.
The omnipotence of the majority seems to me such a .. ef
Y useful both fo':use of destruction. So ex_cess';s and
the American republics that the dangerous expedient us
it is actually something good.
comparison betwe go~ernments and for /~nk ,t will
in those natio:n e different ways inpo 1t_1caJ parties
Here I would repeat something which I have put in where this freed s that understand wh which associa.
when speaking of municipal freedom: no countries need. 'fie
.··. an., .,,1 om turns int 1i at freedom ·
,- - . Su.{ regard . . o cense. lS
more-to prevent either despotism of parties or the vised and d a.ssoc1at1on as a
of a prince-than those with a democratic social state. n may be fo';:e/} once on the ;;;:po; bof war to
nations secondary bodies form natural associations whic d is preocc . or the purpose ~ attle.
of power in check. In countries where such assoc(~ an army; ~~t~ by the thought of i~ d1sc1:1ssion, but
exist, if private people did not artificially and t after that th ts needed to count ,,ur,;:ndmg action.
something like them, I see no other dike to hold b.
whatever sort, and a great nation might with impuni
. easures as ;os':I~fch against the ene~;
s-_ of success e .means, but thev
1:d
build
. s mem~
by some tiny faction or by a single man. iation . . J are never tbe
The meeting of a great political convention (for the ..IS not understood lik
of all kinds), though it may often be a necessary cmzens wh f e that in th V .
Ow their n o onn the minorit e . ntted
ty a d umbers and to l y associate in
" n secondly, by stim J e:sen the moral au-
u at1ng competition_. to
 Political Association
. . in the .
Democracy in America resent the wishes fth United Stat n
0
creases err strength
th ·i, rn e m aJonty
· · Thi I9
Fo, what and wonderl ' belief or cl . 5
d i - " the .,guments roost \ikelY to rnake an gnp,e0sion on the
194 urnph of the O ore
Thus in the ~pressed
excusable than
cause o f nght'
ullr """"
to legi: greatly in-
. violence to bnng
. ize their acts.
,najorl'Y, for they alway• hope to draw the majority over to theit Im abo
comes about that merue complicati . ut the tri-
and then
sidePolitical to exercise
a,sociation> in p0wer in its State'
the United naxne.
are therefore peaceful extrem• d extreme freed on of huma I
in their objeets and legal in the rn•"" used; and when they say
that they only ,.;sh to prevail legally, in general they are telling
In Eur:;:";."'! fo,estalb d::'t"''" .;:.,:';J f'
the
ture and execut~~uons reganl th!::t';' of democracy reedom, and
,omethnes

own
mand.voice;
In Amstart._mg
e from se ~s ;n
councilthisof the nauon a way "'. the Ieg;~a-
whlch
There are _,al ,_ns for this difference between the A,nericam . enca h concepti cannot .
the truth,
and ounelves- In Europe there are parties differing so rnuch from IDJnority in th ' . w ere everyo on, they act d ra1Se its
e nation th ne sees th an th
th• majority that they can never hoPo to win its ,uppc«, and yet . e means used b ' 'l' talk and . ."' they repres ey com-
the,e parties believe themselves strong enoug~ to ,trnggle ngainst it a!Ill proposed y as,oc,at;on . pebbOn. ent only a
Th
on their own- When such • partY fonn• an "'°ciation it intend, T he mam. aim
. of smEuro .
pe are m accord .
not to convince but to fight. In A,nerica those whose opinions make "fight and not to th~ a=datioos · mth the
a wide gap between them ,nd the majority can do nothing to oppme tberr
du<edo,gacizatio convmce,
therein. n, and indeedthere
mm~ . natu,al\y
be,ng tonoth;ng
act and . n.r ) to talk,
its So
power; all others
the .xercise hope
of the win,s.,cia.tion
to of
rlght it over. becomes dangerous when [o,us "'much one also find, th ary ways and m .""" ,an about
great parties see no pO"'bility of l,eCOrolng the ,najoritv• In a counuy few hands, as they can and ple~acmgcentralizing
th coaxuns
ntrol are
of intro-
th .
like the United States, where differences of vieW are only mattm embers of th e whole auth . . '"
of nuance, the right of ,ssociation can rem.in, ,o to ,ay, without limits.
diers on act· ese associations
111lM onty m very
It i,, our ine,q,erience of liberty in action wbkh still lead• us m 1ve servi answer t
regard f,eedorn of a,.,cia.tion a, no ,nore than a ,ight to rnak• .., - ' o, rathe,, b
j :J''ce_; they profess o a wonl of com
th' .
on the goverronent Th• 6nt idea whkh cornes into a party'• ,.;,,d,
" into that of an individual, when it gains - · strength i, that
aa,fice of thek "ngle act of
11,,,e often prev~ gment and free :iJbng, have made
- society in th a tyranny more . ' hence w;thin
:ve
dogma of pas !"and like
obed;.
co_rnrlete
of violence; the thought of persuasion only co- later, fo, it B Toh great\ . •. n_rune of the mtole,ant than as,oc,abons,
character bel~n~nun1Shes their m~;alvernment they atta~hkat exercised
born
Th•ofEnglish, though the divisions between them a,e ,o deep, ol,
experience. pnao F o.ng to th strength T ·
dorn abuse the right of associations, because they have had 11'1 lo,,,'· . o,cases
certain howh can a man e struggle
claim of
th the oppressed
. hey aga'
lose the sacred
"'""'· up hi, w;n
..--g e consents seMle\y to at h e wants to bemst f the op-
experience of it. we !,ave such a passionate taste for war that tb<tl
Furthermore,
is no entetPrise ,o ,ecl<less or dangerous to th• state, but it i, d,ovg1<
°!1"Americans tooand submitting iJ;bey some of !us I,;"
when
~ciations but ~a~e provided a f very thoughts to othw men,
u a ' •t ts ii I onn of em>
glorious to die !or
But p«haP' .it withsuffrnge
unive=I . - in isone'•
the hand-
most pcwerfu\ of all 61 the...,,;~';',' for in<li;;dual f."J put it so, :::::;un•nt w;thln

~b~
elements tending to ,noderate the violence of pclitical ,_.... but the "' are advancing at ependence there· 1
g~vemrnent.
in the United StateS· In a country with universal ,uf!rag< tho• ..... no ;a,~fi:t to fon:1:: ;ame1 time t~w:Srd ~ society,
jority is never in doub~ because no pa,l'/ can reasonably dabD applied to b . o wdl or of xact y the sam e same
represent those who have not voted at all- Therefore as • · nng succe~ to a reason, but rather ~path. There
common enterpr·ISe. and reason
knoW, and everyone knows, that theY do not represent th•,..·
Th• very fact of their existence proves this, for if they did "
the ,najoriry, they themselves would change the law u,stwl -

the rnoral ,uength of the gov.-en• they attacl< B

TherebyrefortnS,
xnanding
increased and their own correspendlngly weakened-
,\lrnost all ..,oclations in Europe belieV• or , i.;rn that tl<I