Tocqueville Chapter 1

Toqueville distinctly separated the people into three races: most intelligent, attractive and man in power and enjoyment is the European or white men, other pre-eminent and inferior group are the Negro and Indians. The European people tortured and enslaved other races. Negros where suffering as a slave as their grand generations were where made slave, and Indians suffered as Europeans ruled over them by their well-equipped technology. There was nothing common between Negro and Indian other than both was the victim and inferior group of people ruled by White People. In way of thinking both the group was different from eachother. Toquevillen predicts the future of this group. The Whites were powerful and intelligent. They had desire of getting everything they like, if they did not get

What relationships of power are featured in “Virginian Luxuries” (Document 1)? How are unequal power relationships reflected in Toqueville’s distinctions between the three races (Document 2)? What future does Toqueville predict fir these groups of people and why? Based upon your knowledge, how accurate do you believe Toqueville’s observations and predictions were?

Toqueville suggests that white men have the most power from compared to African Americans and Native Americans, but inferences that when African Americans will start to move away from their slave culture, it will be nightmare for the south. He makes a statement that soon, Native Americans will slowly die out, which is theoretically correct today. Toqueville’s observations and predictions were quite on par because today the population of Native Americans is extremely minimal, and the slave culture does not exist today in the United States, and is pretty much outlawed.

Tocqueville then goes on to describe an America where the individualism described above leads to a desire for materialistic wealth that “disposes men to believe that all is nothing but matter" (p. 519). He talks about how this can lead to an American society that emphasizes development of "the goods of the body" (p. 521) and disregards the development of the mind and care of the soul. Tocqueville qualifies these statements by making the claim that there is no other country that is "less occupied with philosophy than the United States" (p. 403). It is both profound and interesting that Tocqueville saw this happening in his time as it has certainly continued and grown since then. The epidemic of people, like the Kardashians, becoming celebrities for doing nothing perfectly illustrates what he describes as "minds so disposed, every new method that leads to wealth by a shorter path . . . every discovery that facilitates pleasures and augments them seems to be the most magnificent effort of human intelligence" (p. 436).

What relationships of power are featured in “Virginian Luxuries” (Document 1)? How are unequal power relationships reflected in Toqueville’s distinctions between the three races (Document 2)? What future does Toqueville predict for these groups of people and why? Based upon your own knowledge, how accurate do you believe Toqueville’s observations and predictions were?

Alexis de Tocqueville was a French philosopher who came to united states in 1831 to study about innovative prisons but later he got interested in studying about human behavior and sociology. After two years when he went back to his country he wrote two books about the democracy of America in which he wrote about society and government. and three races in the united states. When he came to united states he was

1) What relationships of power are featured in “Virginian Luxuries” (Document 1)? How are unequal power relationships reflected in Tocqueville's distinctions between the three races (Document 2)? What future does Tocqueville predict for these groups of people and why? Based on your own knowledge, how accurate do you believe Tocqueville's observations and predictions were?

Tocqueville talks about the connection between religion and individualism, diversity, and interconnectedness. Religion helps prevent individualism because churches encourage connecting and helping others. America is also the home of many different religions. Tocqueville praises America for the free exercise clause that allows people to practice whatever religion they want. “One will never encounter, whatever one does, genuine power among men except in the free concurrence of wills.

Tocqueville describes the Negro and the Indian as opposites with seemingly nothing similar except for their misfortunes in America. In a deeper analysis, they are a metaphor for democracy and aristocracy respectively. In expansion to this metaphor of the Negro as democracy and the Indian as aristocracy, Tocqueville recounts a story of an interaction between a young European child, a Native American woman, and a Negro woman that seems to reveal more about democracy in America.

Alexis de Tocqueville's visit to the United States in the early part of the nineteenth century prompted his work Democracy in America, in which he expressed the ability to make democracy work. Throughout his travels Tocqueville noted that private interest and personal gain motivated the actions of most Americans, which in turn cultivated a strong sense of individualism. Tocqueville believed that this individualism would soon "sap the virtue of public life" (395) and create a despotism of selfishness. This growth of despotism would be created by citizens becoming too individualistic, and therefore not bothering to fulfill their civic duties or exercise their freedom. Tocqueville feared that the political order of America would soon become

What relationships of power are featured in “Virginian Luxuries” (Document 1)? How are unequal power relationships reflected in Tocqueville’s distinctions between the three races (Document 2)? What future does Tocqueville predict for these groups of people and why? Based upon your own knowledge, how accurate do you believe Tocqueville’s observations and predictions were?

Nations differ in language, faith, culture, traditions and views. Thus, each government created distinctly different and formulated to best govern its constituents. This causes nations to function in a variety of ways as well as have varying public opinion. The differences represented in America at the time Tocqueville visited and wrote his book were what shaped his opinion of the differences between the United States and other countries. The first major difference Tocqueville observed upon arriving in America is the role faith played amongst the inhabitants especially Christianity.

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

In her book she challenges the government of France and their ideas that women should not be exposed to the same education as men. She gives warning that women will not forever be satisfied with only domestic concerns, and she demands justice for the female race.

After the geographical location in context of America is explored, Tocqueville begins his exploration of the origins of Anglo-American people in society.