Democracy In America Author: Alexis De Tocqueville | Language: English | ISBN:
0606265929 | Format: PDF
Democracy In America Description
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. A study of America's national government, egalitarian ideals, and character offers reflections on the effect of majority rule on the rights of individuals and provides insight into the rewards and responsibilities of a democratic government, in a new tra
- Series: Penguin Classics
- Library Binding: 992 pages
- Publisher: Turtleback (July 1, 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0606265929
- ISBN-13: 978-0606265928
- Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.9 x 1.9 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Alexis de Tocqueville looks at the United States and examines its political, social, and cultural intricacies in DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA AND TWO ESSAYS ON AMERICA. This edition of DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA is well introduced and translated by Gerald Bevan and Isaac Kramnick. This is not a basic travelogue of a French aristocrat -Intellect - statesman's journey through the American wilderness in a span of nine months, but it is a significant documentary that compares and contrasts European Aristocracy to American Democracy. At the time that Tocqueville wrote DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, both Europe and the United States experienced an enormous shift in its political and social structure. On the US side, several events occurred, Andrew Jackson was president, the Anti-Slavery movement, Indian Removal commenced, immigration was on the rise, and the industrial age was emerging; for the French and European side, the Revolution of 1830 and autocracy took precedence as well as a radical shake-up of the social class. Possibly, for Tocqueville his travels to the United States served as a respite from France's revolutionary tendencies, and the opportunity to observe US history in the making. In terms of chronology, 55 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and 30 years before the Civil War. In essence, Tocqueville's accounts bear much significance to how the United States progressed, and where it was headed.
Tocqueville writes and thinks in a Jeffersonian stance. With Bevan's translation, the book is readable. Throughout DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA Tocqueville suggests that productivity cannot occur while a man remains idle, and that action must take place in some form or another - the rule of law or through communication. No doubt, this annotates Jeffersonian politics and ideology.
This is a truly amazing book.
As noted above, de Tocqueville predicted both American and Russian ascendency over one hundred years before they actually occured.
However, beyond that, de Tocqueville applied a keen and discerning to then emergent trends in the United States and where they would lead. For example:
--On Slavery...de Tocqueville noted the inherent problems with extracting work from people who themselves were not compensated for doing the work;
--On North/South relations...de Tocqueville recognized that its reliance on slave labor put the South at a competitive advantage relative to the North in terms of developing a strong economic infrastructure;
--On the fate of African Americans...de Tocqueville recognized that if revolution was to occur in the United States, the fate of African Americans would play critically in it because once the process of giving people an equal stake in society was started it would have a self propogating effect;
--On the status of women...de Tocqueville though he was more careful here to hedge his bets allowed for the idea that the power of equality would eventually include American women as well;
--On the future...de Tocqueville perhaps at his most prescient recognized that equality could be a recipe for government either of the people or alternatively a dictatorship imposed on those same people.
This last observation is perhaps still most salient for our times as we come to see that even an oligarchy can be a dictatorship. Maybe even all governments, however started, are ultimately destined to oligarchy, a status that will change only when enough of the right excluded demand a change and in so doing start the process all over again.
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