Critical Analysis Of Democracy In America By Tocqueville

According to Tocqueville, the American social condition is eminently democratic, ultimately paving the way for the United States to become a society of equality. He interprets the topic of equality to be a negative element of democracy, as it has the tendency to deter individuals, who in a more aristocratic society, would become outstanding individuals, from reaching their highest potential. Although saddened by this fact, Tocqueville quickly notes that this is unfortunately inevitable. He introduces a new concept that arises from times of equality, individualism. Tocqueville defines individualism as, “a reflective and quiet sentiment that inclines each individual to distance himself from a crowd of peers and to draw apart with his own family and friends; in this way, he builds his own private world, willingly leaving the larger world to itself.” He warns of the dangers associated with individualism and how individualism can eventually merge into what he refers to as egoism. The autobiographies included in First Person Past emphasize the results of these individualistic motives through the lives of

Alexis de Tocqueville was a French aristocrat and adventurer who spent nine months traveling America during 1831. He wrote a book “Democracy in America” about his adventure and experiences in America. He was a well educated European who spoke to many important figures of the time and this helped to develop very good insight about current American culture. Some of his adventures include steamboat, visited the Eastern cities, stayed in a log cabin, and even explored the northwestern frontier. He wrote this book for the French audience, and was hoping to better explain what democracy was so it could help France transition into a democracy. He believed that Democracy was the way of the future, and he was a strong supporter of Democracy. His book

And this belief is what motivated his deep interest in America, his visit persuaded him that America had achieved in a peaceful and natural way almost complete equality of conditions. He said if we understand America, we could not only understand what democracy means, but in a way even take a look into the world’s future. He wrote, “ I confess, that in America I saw more than America; I sought the image of democracy itself, with its inclinations, its character, its prejudices, and its passions, in order to learn what we have to fear or hope from its progress.” (Democracy in America Volume I) He thought he saw the outlines of a new kind of society, which would slowly become that kind of society for the rest of the world. He saw at first hand democratized society. America became somewhat apprehensive of what they thought. America achieved its independence and many of the French supported America. Many Frenchmen learned their lesson when they came here and then they went back and began. Tocqueville saw the industrial revolution the enlightenment, and the

Alexis de Tocqueville delivers a unique observation and perspective on the development of American identity. As a distinguished aristocratic Frenchman, Tocqueville does not use this book as an argument for anything, but rather he uses it as an opportunity to inspect American character and its evolving identity. He treats democracy in the United States comprehensively in order to relate it to Americas history, national life, and perspectives toward freedom. Throughout this novel, Tocqueville targets two important areas of subject. First, he examines the structure of government and the institutions that help to maintain freedom. Secondly, he focuses

Both Tocqueville and Kammen argue that the unique political culture of the United States roots from its people and their origins. Tocqueville states that the diverse backgrounds and the common language among the newcomers created a sense of equality among the colonists, and thus formed the basis for a democratic mindset.

When referring to classical antiquity period, most think of Greece and Rome dominating and flourishing in the areas of philosophy, sciences, mathematics and literature. One other admirable achievement, the establishment of early forms of democracy, came from this time period and should not be overlooked as it is the historical basis of our government today. The Founding Fathers of the United States were influenced by Greek and Roman concepts in law, government structure, and even philosophy. Concepts described in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States can be traced back historically to the classical antiquity period, and show that the United States government and law were modeled after those of Greece

With key aspects of the Voting Rights Act being returned to the regulation of the state governments, there has been a trend of the defunding and stricter rules directed toward voting registration drives. These drives have long been problematic with the concepts of “priming” and “fraud” being discussed in relation to their existence, but they have played a huge role in the outreach program to increase overall voter turnout. There have been arguments that they decrease the urgency of the vote which has also been applied to early voting periods and Election Day Registration acts, but they succeeded in increasing the voter turnout rate overall and decreasing the wait lines at the poll, bringing forth the question as to why voting urgency would be a necessity in the process of the vote. Since the changes to the VRA, many states have gone forth to defund these drives, seeing them as having no purpose and being a waste of money. Many states that kept the drives added strict regulations. These include not allowing blank registration

The founder’s thoughts are echoed from across the Atlantic Ocean as well by a French visitor to America and an English thinker. In his book Democracy in America published in 1835, French historian Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “Men do not change their characters by uniting with one another; nor does their patience in the presence of obstacles increase with their strength (Majority Rule, 2012).” Throughout his American travels in 1831 and 1832, de Tocqueville saw instances of minority oppression by the force of the majority, especially in regards to the rights of African-Americans. As he watched black people, entitled by law to vote, refuse to do so for fear of retaliation by the white majority standing nearby, de Tocqueville’s ideas of minority rights began to take shape, alluding to the federal protectionist opinion that he later formed; he wrote of the incident in Democracy in America, “Since the majority has the greatest

One of the primary causes for low voter turnout in the United States is low voter registration. In order to vote in state, local, or federal elections, citizens are required to be registered by a certain date before the election. People can register in person, by visiting a state-affiliated election facility, or by mailing their registration forms, postmarked no later than the registration date. Additionally, only 31 states including the District of Columbia give voters the option of registering online. Considering this fact and that we are living in an age with great technological advances, 31 states is far too few. Hence, New York’s inability to modernize voter registration and reach out to new voters effectively lowers the number of registered

Alexis De Tocqueville was a French intellectual who lived in the heartland of the enlightenment. He decided to go to America because he thought he saw the outlines of a new kind of society, which would slowly become the kind of society for the rest of the world. He saw at first hand a democratized society with many issues. After his return, from America, he wrote and published the book that made him famous, Democracy in America. Democracy in America discusses many of the issues he encountered, but what he observed in the nineteenth century is still relevant today.

National Voter Registration Day (NVRD) is the second largest organization that encourages voter registration through social media. In 2008, NVRD reported that six million Americans didn’t vote because they missed the voter registration deadline. NVRD use their website for online voter registration, share events, and provides general tool-kits for any social media platform. They engage and register voters by making the process easier to share and complete online. For Twitter, users can share tweets developed by NVRD to inform users Twitter friends about Voter Registration Day. They also provide social media graphics that are embedded with links to their website to educate eligible voters and mobilize volunteers.

Have you ever noticed that the constitution never mentions the word democracy when describing America? Well, that’s because we are not a democracy; we are a democratic republic. When America said it was a democratic republic, it basically said that it could not decide which one would be better for the nation; because they were scared of England and their other enemies attacking them and the government not being able to do anything about it. Also the people of America were frightened that if they became a democracy, government would rule their lives and even perhaps become a monarchy again.

Tocqueville’s argument that there is an unreconciled tension between liberty and equality is relatively simple to grasp—the exercise of freedom can ultimately distribute wealth, opportunities, and goods in unequal ways; and vice versa, maintaining equality over time among people can ultimately come to having to limit the freedom of others by redistributing the same wealth, opportunities, and goods. One critical manifestation of this tension between liberty and equality is what Tocqueville calls the “tyranny” or “despotism of the majority.” If all men are equal, then no one person or group of people can rule over any other person or people, meaning that the only choice Americans have is to live according to the will of the largest number of people—tyranny of the majority becomes a harsh reality when that power goes unchecked. While it seems that if “equality” in its most perfect sense were what was being used as a measure, minority opinion could certainly be taken into account to the same degree as the opinion of any other group of people; however, this

On class mobility, Tocqueville did not comment on the racial factor that prevents social mobility. Tocqueville claimed that, “when men living in a democratic society are enlightened, they readily discover they are not confined and fixed by any limits which force them to accept their present fortune. They all, therefore, conceive the idea of increasing it… The legislature, it is true, no longer grants privileges…” (Tocqueville 38). This means that once men understand they are not confined to their current financial situation, they realize they can increase it, and that the legislature no longer plays a role in who has privilege. While this may be true, the great difference between the realization that one can improve their economic status to the reality of that happening disregards many important factors that come into play in this pursuit of wealth. Tocqueville specifically mentions that there is no legislature that grants privileges, however, that is false, as laws created and enforced at that time allowed white men to be treated with more privilege than other races.

Democracy is a unique type of government, and the purpose of this essay is to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses that a democratic government provides. I will detail that many components of this type of society are both strengths and weakness as each component has beneficial aspects as well as unavoidable pitfalls.