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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/816-h.zip b/816-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..97968f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/816-h.zip diff --git a/816-h/816-h.htm b/816-h/816-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..89d5deb --- /dev/null +++ b/816-h/816-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,15989 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Democracy in America, Part II. by Alexis de Tocqueville + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Democracy In America, Volume 2 (of 2), by +Alexis de Toqueville + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Democracy In America, Volume 2 (of 2) + +Author: Alexis de Toqueville + +Translator: Henry Reeve + +Release Date: January 21, 2006 [EBook #816] +Last Updated: February 7, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, V2 *** + + + + +Produced by David Reed and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Alexis De Tocqueville + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Translated by Henry Reeve + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Volume II. + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>Book Two: Influence Of Democracy On + Progress Of Opinion</b> <br /> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <b>De Tocqueville's Preface To The Second Part</b> + </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT1"> <b>Section I: Influence of Democracy on the + Action of Intellect</b> <br /> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> Chapter I: Philosophical Method Among the + Americans </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> Chapter II: Of The Principal Source Of Belief + Among Democratic Nations </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> Chapter III: Why The Americans Display More + Readiness And More Taste </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> Chapter IV: Why The Americans Have Never Been + So Eager As The French </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> Chapter V: Of The Manner In Which Religion In + The United States Avails </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> Chapter VI: Of The Progress Of Roman + Catholicism In The United States </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> Chapter VII: Of The Cause Of A Leaning To + Pantheism </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> Chapter VIII: The Principle Of Equality + Suggests To The Americans </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> Chapter IX: The Example Of The Americans Does + Not Prove </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> Chapter X: Why The Americans Are More Addicted + To Practical </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> Chapter XI: Of The Spirit In Which The + Americans Cultivate The Arts </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> Chapter XII: Why The Americans Raise Some + Monuments So Insignificant </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> Chapter XIII: Literary Characteristics Of + Democratic Ages </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> Chapter XIV: The Trade Of Literature </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> Chapter XV: The Study Of Greek And Latin + Literature Peculiarly Useful </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> Chapter XVI: The Effect Of Democracy On + Language </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> Chapter XVII: Of Some Of The Sources Of Poetry + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> Chapter XVIII: Of The Inflated Style Of + American Writers And Orators </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0019"> Chapter XIX: Some Observations On The Drama + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0020"> Chapter XX: Characteristics Of Historians In + Democratic Ages </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0021"> Chapter XXI: Of Parliamentary Eloquence In The + United States </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT2"> <b>Section 2: Influence of Democracy on the + Feelings of Americans</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0022"> Chapter I: Why Democratic Nations Show A More + Ardent And Enduring Love </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0023"> Chapter II: Of Individualism In Democratic + Countries </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0024"> Chapter III: Individualism Stronger </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0025"> Chapter IV: That The Americans Combat The + Effects Of Individualism </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0026"> Chapter V: Of The Use Which The Americans Make + Of Public Associations </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0027"> Chapter VI: Of The Relation Between Public + Associations And Newspapers </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0028"> Chapter VII: Connection Of Civil And Political + Associations </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0029"> Chapter VIII: The Americans Combat + Individualism </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0030"> Chapter IX: That The Americans Apply The + Principle Of Interest Rightly </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0031"> Chapter X: Of The Taste For Physical Well-Being + In America </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0032"> Chapter XI: Peculiar Effects Of The Love Of + Physical Gratifications </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0033"> Chapter XII: Causes Of Fanatical Enthusiasm In + Some Americans </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0034"> Chapter XIII: Causes Of The Restless Spirit Of + Americans </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0035"> Chapter XIV: Taste For Physical Gratifications + United In America </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0036"> Chapter XV: That Religious Belief Sometimes + Turns The Thoughts </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0037"> Chapter XVI: That Excessive Care Of Worldly + Welfare </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0038"> Chapter XVII: That In Times Marked By Equality + Of Conditions </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0039"> Chapter XVIII: That Amongst The Americans All + Honest Callings </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0040"> Chapter XIX: That Almost All The Americans + Follow Industrial Callings </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0041"> Chapter XX: That Aristocracy May Be Engendered + By Manufactures </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0046"> <b>Book Three: Influence Of Democracy On + Manners, Properly So Called</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0042"> Chapter I: That Manners Are Softened As Social + Conditions Become </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0043"> Chapter II: That Democracy Renders The Habitual + Intercourse </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0044"> Chapter III: Why The Americans Show So Little + Sensitiveness </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0045"> Chapter IV: Consequences Of The Three Preceding + Chapters </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0046"> Chapter V: How Democracy Affects the Relation + Of Masters And Servants </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0047"> Chapter VI: That Democratic Institutions And + Manners Tend To Raise Rents </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0048"> Chapter VII: Influence Of Democracy On Wages + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0049"> Chapter VIII: Influence Of Democracy On Kindred + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0050"> Chapter IX: Education Of Young Women In The + United States </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0051"> Chapter X: The Young Woman In The Character Of + A Wife </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0052"> Chapter XI: That The Equality Of Conditions + Contributes </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0053"> Chapter XII: How The Americans Understand The + Equality Of The Sexes </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0054"> Chapter XIII: That The Principle Of Equality + Naturally Divides </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0055"> Chapter XIV: Some Reflections On American + Manners </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0056"> Chapter XV: Of The Gravity Of The Americans + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0057"> Chapter XVI: Why The National Vanity Of The + Americans Is More Restless </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0058"> Chapter XVII: That The Aspect Of Society In The + United States </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0059"> Chapter XVIII: Of Honor In The United States + And In Democratic </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0060"> Chapter XIX: Why So Many Ambitious Men And So + Little Lofty Ambition </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0061"> Chapter XX: The Trade Of Place-Hunting In + Certain Democratic Countries </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0062"> Chapter XXI: Why Great Revolutions Will Become + More Rare </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0063"> Chapter XXII: Why Democratic Nations Are + Naturally Desirous Of Peace </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0064"> Chapter XXIII: Which Is The Most Warlike And + Most Revolutionary Class </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0065"> Chapter XXIV: Causes Which Render Democratic + Armies Weaker </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0066"> Chapter XXV: Of Discipline In Democratic Armies + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0067"> Chapter XXVI: Some Considerations On War In + Democratic Communities </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0073"> <b>Book Four: Influence Of Democratic Opinions + On Political Society</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0068"> Chapter I: That Equality Naturally Gives Men A + Taste For Freedom </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0069"> Chapter II: That The Notions Of Democratic + Nations On Government </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0070"> Chapter III: That The Sentiments Of Democratic + Nations Accord </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0071"> Chapter IV: Of Certain Peculiar And Accidental + Causes </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0072"> Chapter V: That Amongst The European Nations Of + Our Time </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0073"> Chapter VI: What Sort Of Despotism Democratic + Nations Have To Fear </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0074"> Chapter VII: Continuation Of The Preceding + Chapters </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0075"> Chapter VIII: General Survey Of The Subject + </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0075"> <b>Appendix to Parts I. and II.</b> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART"> <b>Part I.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEa"> Appendix A </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEb"> Appendix B </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEc"> Appendix C </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEd"> Appendix D </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEe"> Appendix E </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEf"> Appendix F </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART2"> <b>Part II.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEg"> Appendix G </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEh"> Appendix H </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEi"> Appendix I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEk"> Appendix K </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEl"> Appendix L </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEm"> Appendix M </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEn"> Appendix N </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEo"> Appendix O </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEp"> Appendix P </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEq"> Appendix Q </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEr"> Appendix R </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEs"> Appendix S </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEt"> Appendix T </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEu"> Appendix U </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEv"> Appendix V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEw"> Appendix W </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEx"> Appendix X </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEy"> Appendix Y </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEz"> Appendix Z </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0110"> <b>Constitution Of The United States Of + America</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0111"> Article I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT11"> Section 1. All legislative Powers herein + granted shall be vested </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT12"> Section 2. The House of Representatives shall + be composed </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT13"> Section 3. The Senate of the United States + shall be composed </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT14"> Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of + holding Elections </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT15"> Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of + the Elections </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT16"> Section 6. The Senators and Representatives + shall receive a Compensation </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT17"> Section 7. All Bills for Raising Revenue shall + originate in the House </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT18"> Section 8. The Congress shall have Power to + lay and collect Taxes </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT19"> Section 9. The Migration or Importation of + such Persons </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT110"> Section 10. No State shall enter into any + Treaty, Alliance </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0121"> Article II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT21"> Section 1. The Executive Power shall be vested + in a President </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT22"> Section 2. The President shall be Commander in + Chief of the Army </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT23"> Section 3. He shall from time to time give to + the Congress Information </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT24"> Section 4. The President, Vice-President and + all civil Officers </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0126"> Article III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT31"> Section 1. The judicial Power of the United + States shall be vested </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT32"> Section 2. The judicial Power shall extend to + all cases </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT33"> Section 3. Treason against the United States + shall consist </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0130"> Article IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT41"> Section 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be + given in each State </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT42"> Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be + entitled </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT43"> Section 3. New States may be admitted by the + Congress into this Union </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_SECT44"> Section 4. The United States shall guarantee + to every State </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0135"> Article V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0136"> Article VI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0137"> Article VII </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0138"> <b>Bill Of Rights</b> </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Book Two: Influence Of Democracy On Progress Of Opinion in The United + States + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + De Tocqueville's Preface To The Second Part + </h2> + <p> + The Americans live in a democratic state of society, which has naturally + suggested to them certain laws and a certain political character. This + same state of society has, moreover, engendered amongst them a multitude + of feelings and opinions which were unknown amongst the elder aristocratic + communities of Europe: it has destroyed or modified all the relations + which before existed, and established others of a novel kind. The—aspect + of civil society has been no less affected by these changes than that of + the political world. The former subject has been treated of in the work on + the Democracy of America, which I published five years ago; to examine the + latter is the object of the present book; but these two parts complete + each other, and form one and the same work. + </p> + <p> + I must at once warn the reader against an error which would be extremely + prejudicial to me. When he finds that I attribute so many different + consequences to the principle of equality, he may thence infer that I + consider that principle to be the sole cause of all that takes place in + the present age: but this would be to impute to me a very narrow view. A + multitude of opinions, feelings, and propensities are now in existence, + which owe their origin to circumstances unconnected with or even contrary + to the principle of equality. Thus if I were to select the United States + as an example, I could easily prove that the nature of the country, the + origin of its inhabitants, the religion of its founders, their acquired + knowledge, and their former habits, have exercised, and still exercise, + independently of democracy, a vast influence upon the thoughts and + feelings of that people. Different causes, but no less distinct from the + circumstance of the equality of conditions, might be traced in Europe, and + would explain a great portion of the occurrences taking place amongst us. + </p> + <p> + I acknowledge the existence of all these different causes, and their + power, but my subject does not lead me to treat of them. I have not + undertaken to unfold the reason of all our inclinations and all our + notions: my only object is to show in what respects the principle of + equality has modified both the former and the latter. + </p> + <p> + Some readers may perhaps be astonished that—firmly persuaded as I am + that the democratic revolution which we are witnessing is an irresistible + fact against which it would be neither desirable nor wise to struggle—I + should often have had occasion in this book to address language of such + severity to those democratic communities which this revolution has brought + into being. My answer is simply, that it is because I am not an adversary + of democracy, that I have sought to speak of democracy in all sincerity. + </p> + <p> + Men will not accept truth at the hands of their enemies, and truth is + seldom offered to them by their friends: for this reason I have spoken it. + I was persuaded that many would take upon themselves to announce the new + blessings which the principle of equality promises to mankind, but that + few would dare to point out from afar the dangers with which it threatens + them. To those perils therefore I have turned my chief attention, and + believing that I had discovered them clearly, I have not had the cowardice + to leave them untold. + </p> + <p> + I trust that my readers will find in this Second Part that impartiality + which seems to have been remarked in the former work. Placed as I am in + the midst of the conflicting opinions between which we are divided, I have + endeavored to suppress within me for a time the favorable sympathies or + the adverse emotions with which each of them inspires me. If those who + read this book can find a single sentence intended to flatter any of the + great parties which have agitated my country, or any of those petty + factions which now harass and weaken it, let such readers raise their + voices to accuse me. + </p> + <p> + The subject I have sought to embrace is immense, for it includes the + greater part of the feelings and opinions to which the new state of + society has given birth. Such a subject is doubtless above my strength, + and in treating it I have not succeeded in satisfying myself. But, if I + have not been able to reach the goal which I had in view, my readers will + at least do me the justice to acknowledge that I have conceived and + followed up my undertaking in a spirit not unworthy of success. + </p> + <p> + A. De T. + </p> + <p> + March, 1840 + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT1" id="link2H_SECT1"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section I: Influence of Democracy on the Action of Intellect in The United + States. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter I: Philosophical Method Among the Americans + </h2> + <p> + I think that in no country in the civilized world is less attention paid + to philosophy than in the United States. The Americans have no + philosophical school of their own; and they care but little for all the + schools into which Europe is divided, the very names of which are scarcely + known to them. Nevertheless it is easy to perceive that almost all the + inhabitants of the United States conduct their understanding in the same + manner, and govern it by the same rules; that is to say, that without ever + having taken the trouble to define the rules of a philosophical method, + they are in possession of one, common to the whole people. To evade the + bondage of system and habit, of family maxims, class opinions, and, in + some degree, of national prejudices; to accept tradition only as a means + of information, and existing facts only as a lesson used in doing + otherwise, and doing better; to seek the reason of things for one's self, + and in one's self alone; to tend to results without being bound to means, + and to aim at the substance through the form;—such are the principal + characteristics of what I shall call the philosophical method of the + Americans. But if I go further, and if I seek amongst these + characteristics that which predominates over and includes almost all the + rest, I discover that in most of the operations of the mind, each American + appeals to the individual exercise of his own understanding alone. America + is therefore one of the countries in the world where philosophy is least + studied, and where the precepts of Descartes are best applied. Nor is this + surprising. The Americans do not read the works of Descartes, because + their social condition deters them from speculative studies; but they + follow his maxims because this very social condition naturally disposes + their understanding to adopt them. In the midst of the continual movement + which agitates a democratic community, the tie which unites one generation + to another is relaxed or broken; every man readily loses the trace of the + ideas of his forefathers or takes no care about them. Nor can men living + in this state of society derive their belief from the opinions of the + class to which they belong, for, so to speak, there are no longer any + classes, or those which still exist are composed of such mobile elements, + that their body can never exercise a real control over its members. As to + the influence which the intelligence of one man has on that of another, it + must necessarily be very limited in a country where the citizens, placed + on the footing of a general similitude, are all closely seen by each + other; and where, as no signs of incontestable greatness or superiority + are perceived in any one of them, they are constantly brought back to + their own reason as the most obvious and proximate source of truth. It is + not only confidence in this or that man which is then destroyed, but the + taste for trusting the ipse dixit of any man whatsoever. Everyone shuts + himself up in his own breast, and affects from that point to judge the + world. + </p> + <p> + The practice which obtains amongst the Americans of fixing the standard of + their judgment in themselves alone, leads them to other habits of mind. As + they perceive that they succeed in resolving without assistance all the + little difficulties which their practical life presents, they readily + conclude that everything in the world may be explained, and that nothing + in it transcends the limits of the understanding. Thus they fall to + denying what they cannot comprehend; which leaves them but little faith + for whatever is extraordinary, and an almost insurmountable distaste for + whatever is supernatural. As it is on their own testimony that they are + accustomed to rely, they like to discern the object which engages their + attention with extreme clearness; they therefore strip off as much as + possible all that covers it, they rid themselves of whatever separates + them from it, they remove whatever conceals it from sight, in order to + view it more closely and in the broad light of day. This disposition of + the mind soon leads them to contemn forms, which they regard as useless + and inconvenient veils placed between them and the truth. + </p> + <p> + The Americans then have not required to extract their philosophical method + from books; they have found it in themselves. The same thing may be + remarked in what has taken place in Europe. This same method has only been + established and made popular in Europe in proportion as the condition of + society has become more equal, and men have grown more like each other. + Let us consider for a moment the connection of the periods in which this + change may be traced. In the sixteenth century the Reformers subjected + some of the dogmas of the ancient faith to the scrutiny of private + judgment; but they still withheld from it the judgment of all the rest. In + the seventeenth century, Bacon in the natural sciences, and Descartes in + the study of philosophy in the strict sense of the term, abolished + recognized formulas, destroyed the empire of tradition, and overthrew the + authority of the schools. The philosophers of the eighteenth century, + generalizing at length the same principle, undertook to submit to the + private judgment of each man all the objects of his belief. + </p> + <p> + Who does not perceive that Luther, Descartes, and Voltaire employed the + same method, and that they differed only in the greater or less use which + they professed should be made of it? Why did the Reformers confine + themselves so closely within the circle of religious ideas? Why did + Descartes, choosing only to apply his method to certain matters, though he + had made it fit to be applied to all, declare that men might judge for + themselves in matters philosophical but not in matters political? How + happened it that in the eighteenth century those general applications were + all at once drawn from this same method, which Descartes and his + predecessors had either not perceived or had rejected? To what, lastly, is + the fact to be attributed, that at this period the method we are speaking + of suddenly emerged from the schools, to penetrate into society and become + the common standard of intelligence; and that, after it had become popular + among the French, it has been ostensibly adopted or secretly followed by + all the nations of Europe? + </p> + <p> + The philosophical method here designated may have been engendered in the + sixteenth century—it may have been more accurately defined and more + extensively applied in the seventeenth; but neither in the one nor in the + other could it be commonly adopted. Political laws, the condition of + society, and the habits of mind which are derived from these causes, were + as yet opposed to it. It was discovered at a time when men were beginning + to equalize and assimilate their conditions. It could only be generally + followed in ages when those conditions had at length become nearly equal, + and men nearly alike. + </p> + <p> + The philosophical method of the eighteenth century is then not only + French, but it is democratic; and this explains why it was so readily + admitted throughout Europe, where it has contributed so powerfully to + change the face of society. It is not because the French have changed + their former opinions, and altered their former manners, that they have + convulsed the world; but because they were the first to generalize and + bring to light a philosophical method, by the assistance of which it + became easy to attack all that was old, and to open a path to all that was + new. + </p> + <p> + If it be asked why, at the present day, this same method is more + rigorously followed and more frequently applied by the French than by the + Americans, although the principle of equality be no less complete, and of + more ancient date, amongst the latter people, the fact may be attributed + to two circumstances, which it is essential to have clearly understood in + the first instance. It must never be forgotten that religion gave birth to + Anglo-American society. In the United States religion is therefore + commingled with all the habits of the nation and all the feelings of + patriotism; whence it derives a peculiar force. To this powerful reason + another of no less intensity may be added: in American religion has, as it + were, laid down its own limits. Religious institutions have remained + wholly distinct from political institutions, so that former laws have been + easily changed whilst former belief has remained unshaken. Christianity + has therefore retained a strong hold on the public mind in America; and, I + would more particularly remark, that its sway is not only that of a + philosophical doctrine which has been adopted upon inquiry, but of a + religion which is believed without discussion. In the United States + Christian sects are infinitely diversified and perpetually modified; but + Christianity itself is a fact so irresistibly established, that no one + undertakes either to attack or to defend it. The Americans, having + admitted the principal doctrines of the Christian religion without + inquiry, are obliged to accept in like manner a great number of moral + truths originating in it and connected with it. Hence the activity of + individual analysis is restrained within narrow limits, and many of the + most important of human opinions are removed from the range of its + influence. + </p> + <p> + The second circumstance to which I have alluded is the following: the + social condition and the constitution of the Americans are democratic, but + they have not had a democratic revolution. They arrived upon the soil they + occupy in nearly the condition in which we see them at the present day; + and this is of very considerable importance. + </p> + <p> + There are no revolutions which do not shake existing belief, enervate + authority, and throw doubts over commonly received ideas. The effect of + all revolutions is therefore, more or less, to surrender men to their own + guidance, and to open to the mind of every man a void and almost unlimited + range of speculation. When equality of conditions succeeds a protracted + conflict between the different classes of which the elder society was + composed, envy, hatred, and uncharitableness, pride, and exaggerated + self-confidence are apt to seize upon the human heart, and plant their + sway there for a time. This, independently of equality itself, tends + powerfully to divide men—to lead them to mistrust the judgment of + others, and to seek the light of truth nowhere but in their own + understandings. Everyone then attempts to be his own sufficient guide, and + makes it his boast to form his own opinions on all subjects. Men are no + longer bound together by ideas, but by interests; and it would seem as if + human opinions were reduced to a sort of intellectual dust, scattered on + every side, unable to collect, unable to cohere. + </p> + <p> + Thus, that independence of mind which equality supposes to exist, is never + so great, nor ever appears so excessive, as at the time when equality is + beginning to establish itself, and in the course of that painful labor by + which it is established. That sort of intellectual freedom which equality + may give ought, therefore, to be very carefully distinguished from the + anarchy which revolution brings. Each of these two things must be + severally considered, in order not to conceive exaggerated hopes or fears + of the future. + </p> + <p> + I believe that the men who will live under the new forms of society will + make frequent use of their private judgment; but I am far from thinking + that they will often abuse it. This is attributable to a cause of more + general application to all democratic countries, and which, in the long + run, must needs restrain in them the independence of individual + speculation within fixed, and sometimes narrow, limits. I shall proceed to + point out this cause in the next chapter. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter II: Of The Principal Source Of Belief Among Democratic Nations + </h2> + <p> + At different periods dogmatical belief is more or less abundant. It arises + in different ways, and it may change its object or its form; but under no + circumstances will dogmatical belief cease to exist, or, in other words, + men will never cease to entertain some implicit opinions without trying + them by actual discussion. If everyone undertook to form his own opinions + and to seek for truth by isolated paths struck out by himself alone, it is + not to be supposed that any considerable number of men would ever unite in + any common belief. But obviously without such common belief no society can + prosper—say rather no society can subsist; for without ideas held in + common, there is no common action, and without common action, there may + still be men, but there is no social body. In order that society should + exist, and, a fortiori, that a society should prosper, it is required that + all the minds of the citizens should be rallied and held together by + certain predominant ideas; and this cannot be the case, unless each of + them sometimes draws his opinions from the common source, and consents to + accept certain matters of belief at the hands of the community. + </p> + <p> + If I now consider man in his isolated capacity, I find that dogmatical + belief is not less indispensable to him in order to live alone, than it is + to enable him to co-operate with his fellow-creatures. If man were forced + to demonstrate to himself all the truths of which he makes daily use, his + task would never end. He would exhaust his strength in preparatory + exercises, without advancing beyond them. As, from the shortness of his + life, he has not the time, nor, from the limits of his intelligence, the + capacity, to accomplish this, he is reduced to take upon trust a number of + facts and opinions which he has not had either the time or the power to + verify himself, but which men of greater ability have sought out, or which + the world adopts. On this groundwork he raises for himself the structure + of his own thoughts; nor is he led to proceed in this manner by choice so + much as he is constrained by the inflexible law of his condition. There is + no philosopher of such great parts in the world, but that he believes a + million of things on the faith of other people, and supposes a great many + more truths than he demonstrates. This is not only necessary but + desirable. A man who should undertake to inquire into everything for + himself, could devote to each thing but little time and attention. His + task would keep his mind in perpetual unrest, which would prevent him from + penetrating to the depth of any truth, or of grappling his mind + indissolubly to any conviction. His intellect would be at once independent + and powerless. He must therefore make his choice from amongst the various + objects of human belief, and he must adopt many opinions without + discussion, in order to search the better into that smaller number which + he sets apart for investigation. It is true that whoever receives an + opinion on the word of another, does so far enslave his mind; but it is a + salutary servitude which allows him to make a good use of freedom. + </p> + <p> + A principle of authority must then always occur, under all circumstances, + in some part or other of the moral and intellectual world. Its place is + variable, but a place it necessarily has. The independence of individual + minds may be greater, or it may be less: unbounded it cannot be. Thus the + question is, not to know whether any intellectual authority exists in the + ages of democracy, but simply where it resides and by what standard it is + to be measured. + </p> + <p> + I have shown in the preceding chapter how the equality of conditions leads + men to entertain a sort of instinctive incredulity of the supernatural, + and a very lofty and often exaggerated opinion of the human understanding. + The men who live at a period of social equality are not therefore easily + led to place that intellectual authority to which they bow either beyond + or above humanity. They commonly seek for the sources of truth in + themselves, or in those who are like themselves. This would be enough to + prove that at such periods no new religion could be established, and that + all schemes for such a purpose would be not only impious but absurd and + irrational. It may be foreseen that a democratic people will not easily + give credence to divine missions; that they will turn modern prophets to a + ready jest; and they that will seek to discover the chief arbiter of their + belief within, and not beyond, the limits of their kind. + </p> + <p> + When the ranks of society are unequal, and men unlike each other in + condition, there are some individuals invested with all the power of + superior intelligence, learning, and enlightenment, whilst the multitude + is sunk in ignorance and prejudice. Men living at these aristocratic + periods are therefore naturally induced to shape their opinions by the + superior standard of a person or a class of persons, whilst they are + averse to recognize the infallibility of the mass of the people. + </p> + <p> + The contrary takes place in ages of equality. The nearer the citizens are + drawn to the common level of an equal and similar condition, the less + prone does each man become to place implicit faith in a certain man or a + certain class of men. But his readiness to believe the multitude + increases, and opinion is more than ever mistress of the world. Not only + is common opinion the only guide which private judgment retains amongst a + democratic people, but amongst such a people it possesses a power + infinitely beyond what it has elsewhere. At periods of equality men have + no faith in one another, by reason of their common resemblance; but this + very resemblance gives them almost unbounded confidence in the judgment of + the public; for it would not seem probable, as they are all endowed with + equal means of judging, but that the greater truth should go with the + greater number. + </p> + <p> + When the inhabitant of a democratic country compares himself individually + with all those about him, he feels with pride that he is the equal of any + one of them; but when he comes to survey the totality of his fellows, and + to place himself in contrast to so huge a body, he is instantly + overwhelmed by the sense of his own insignificance and weakness. The same + equality which renders him independent of each of his fellow-citizens + taken severally, exposes him alone and unprotected to the influence of the + greater number. The public has therefore among a democratic people a + singular power, of which aristocratic nations could never so much as + conceive an idea; for it does not persuade to certain opinions, but it + enforces them, and infuses them into the faculties by a sort of enormous + pressure of the minds of all upon the reason of each. + </p> + <p> + In the United States the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of + ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from + the necessity of forming opinions of their own. Everybody there adopts + great numbers of theories, on philosophy, morals, and politics, without + inquiry, upon public trust; and if we look to it very narrowly, it will be + perceived that religion herself holds her sway there, much less as a + doctrine of revelation than as a commonly received opinion. The fact that + the political laws of the Americans are such that the majority rules the + community with sovereign sway, materially increases the power which that + majority naturally exercises over the mind. For nothing is more customary + in man than to recognize superior wisdom in the person of his oppressor. + This political omnipotence of the majority in the United States doubtless + augments the influence which public opinion would obtain without it over + the mind of each member of the community; but the foundations of that + influence do not rest upon it. They must be sought for in the principle of + equality itself, not in the more or less popular institutions which men + living under that condition may give themselves. The intellectual dominion + of the greater number would probably be less absolute amongst a democratic + people governed by a king than in the sphere of a pure democracy, but it + will always be extremely absolute; and by whatever political laws men are + governed in the ages of equality, it may be foreseen that faith in public + opinion will become a species of religion there, and the majority its + ministering prophet. + </p> + <p> + Thus intellectual authority will be different, but it will not be + diminished; and far from thinking that it will disappear, I augur that it + may readily acquire too much preponderance, and confine the action of + private judgment within narrower limits than are suited either to the + greatness or the happiness of the human race. In the principle of equality + I very clearly discern two tendencies; the one leading the mind of every + man to untried thoughts, the other inclined to prohibit him from thinking + at all. And I perceive how, under the dominion of certain laws, democracy + would extinguish that liberty of the mind to which a democratic social + condition is favorable; so that, after having broken all the bondage once + imposed on it by ranks or by men, the human mind would be closely fettered + to the general will of the greatest number. + </p> + <p> + If the absolute power of the majority were to be substituted by democratic + nations, for all the different powers which checked or retarded overmuch + the energy of individual minds, the evil would only have changed its + symptoms. Men would not have found the means of independent life; they + would simply have invented (no easy task) a new dress for servitude. There + is—and I cannot repeat it too often—there is in this matter + for profound reflection for those who look on freedom as a holy thing, and + who hate not only the despot, but despotism. For myself, when I feel the + hand of power lie heavy on my brow, I care but little to know who + oppresses me; and I am not the more disposed to pass beneath the yoke, + because it is held out to me by the arms of a million of men. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter III: Why The Americans Display More Readiness And More Taste For + General Ideas Than Their Forefathers, The English. + </h2> + <p> + The Deity does not regard the human race collectively. He surveys at one + glance and severally all the beings of whom mankind is composed, and he + discerns in each man the resemblances which assimilate him to all his + fellows, and the differences which distinguish him from them. God, + therefore, stands in no need of general ideas; that is to say, he is never + sensible of the necessity of collecting a considerable number of analogous + objects under the same form for greater convenience in thinking. Such is, + however, not the case with man. If the human mind were to attempt to + examine and pass a judgment on all the individual cases before it, the + immensity of detail would soon lead it astray and bewilder its + discernment: in this strait, man has recourse to an imperfect but + necessary expedient, which at once assists and demonstrates his weakness. + Having superficially considered a certain number of objects, and remarked + their resemblance, he assigns to them a common name, sets them apart, and + proceeds onwards. + </p> + <p> + General ideas are no proof of the strength, but rather of the + insufficiency of the human intellect; for there are in nature no beings + exactly alike, no things precisely identical, nor any rules + indiscriminately and alike applicable to several objects at once. The + chief merit of general ideas is, that they enable the human mind to pass a + rapid judgment on a great many objects at once; but, on the other hand, + the notions they convey are never otherwise than incomplete, and they + always cause the mind to lose as much in accuracy as it gains in + comprehensiveness. As social bodies advance in civilization, they acquire + the knowledge of new facts, and they daily lay hold almost unconsciously + of some particular truths. The more truths of this kind a man apprehends, + the more general ideas is he naturally led to conceive. A multitude of + particular facts cannot be seen separately, without at last discovering + the common tie which connects them. Several individuals lead to the + perception of the species; several species to that of the genus. Hence the + habit and the taste for general ideas will always be greatest amongst a + people of ancient cultivation and extensive knowledge. + </p> + <p> + But there are other reasons which impel men to generalize their ideas, or + which restrain them from it. + </p> + <p> + The Americans are much more addicted to the use of general ideas than the + English, and entertain a much greater relish for them: this appears very + singular at first sight, when it is remembered that the two nations have + the same origin, that they lived for centuries under the same laws, and + that they still incessantly interchange their opinions and their manners. + This contrast becomes much more striking still, if we fix our eyes on our + own part of the world, and compare together the two most enlightened + nations which inhabit it. It would seem as if the mind of the English + could only tear itself reluctantly and painfully away from the observation + of particular facts, to rise from them to their causes; and that it only + generalizes in spite of itself. Amongst the French, on the contrary, the + taste for general ideas would seem to have grown to so ardent a passion, + that it must be satisfied on every occasion. I am informed, every morning + when I wake, that some general and eternal law has just been discovered, + which I never heard mentioned before. There is not a mediocre scribbler + who does not try his hand at discovering truths applicable to a great + kingdom, and who is very ill pleased with himself if he does not succeed + in compressing the human race into the compass of an article. So great a + dissimilarity between two very enlightened nations surprises me. If I + again turn my attention to England, and observe the events which have + occurred there in the last half-century, I think I may affirm that a taste + for general ideas increases in that country in proportion as its ancient + constitution is weakened. + </p> + <p> + The state of civilization is therefore insufficient by itself to explain + what suggests to the human mind the love of general ideas, or diverts it + from them. When the conditions of men are very unequal, and inequality + itself is the permanent state of society, individual men gradually become + so dissimilar that each class assumes the aspect of a distinct race: only + one of these classes is ever in view at the same instant; and losing sight + of that general tie which binds them all within the vast bosom of mankind, + the observation invariably rests not on man, but on certain men. Those who + live in this aristocratic state of society never, therefore, conceive very + general ideas respecting themselves, and that is enough to imbue them with + an habitual distrust of such ideas, and an instinctive aversion of them. + He, on the contrary, who inhabits a democratic country, sees around him, + one very hand, men differing but little from each other; he cannot turn + his mind to any one portion of mankind, without expanding and dilating his + thought till it embrace the whole. All the truths which are applicable to + himself, appear to him equally and similarly applicable to each of his + fellow-citizens and fellow-men. Having contracted the habit of + generalizing his ideas in the study which engages him most, and interests + him more than others, he transfers the same habit to all his pursuits; and + thus it is that the craving to discover general laws in everything, to + include a great number of objects under the same formula, and to explain a + mass of facts by a single cause, becomes an ardent, and sometimes an + undiscerning, passion in the human mind. + </p> + <p> + Nothing shows the truth of this proposition more clearly than the opinions + of the ancients respecting their slaves. The most profound and capacious + minds of Rome and Greece were never able to reach the idea, at once so + general and so simple, of the common likeness of men, and of the common + birthright of each to freedom: they strove to prove that slavery was in + the order of nature, and that it would always exist. Nay, more, everything + shows that those of the ancients who had passed from the servile to the + free condition, many of whom have left us excellent writings, did + themselves regard servitude in no other light. + </p> + <p> + All the great writers of antiquity belonged to the aristocracy of masters, + or at least they saw that aristocracy established and uncontested before + their eyes. Their mind, after it had expanded itself in several + directions, was barred from further progress in this one; and the advent + of Jesus Christ upon earth was required to teach that all the members of + the human race are by nature equal and alike. + </p> + <p> + In the ages of equality all men are independent of each other, isolated + and weak. The movements of the multitude are not permanently guided by the + will of any individuals; at such times humanity seems always to advance of + itself. In order, therefore, to explain what is passing in the world, man + is driven to seek for some great causes, which, acting in the same manner + on all our fellow-creatures, thus impel them all involuntarily to pursue + the same track. This again naturally leads the human mind to conceive + general ideas, and superinduces a taste for them. + </p> + <p> + I have already shown in what way the equality of conditions leads every + man to investigate truths for himself. It may readily be perceived that a + method of this kind must insensibly beget a tendency to general ideas in + the human mind. When I repudiate the traditions of rank, profession, and + birth; when I escape from the authority of example, to seek out, by the + single effort of my reason, the path to be followed, I am inclined to + derive the motives of my opinions from human nature itself; which leads me + necessarily, and almost unconsciously, to adopt a great number of very + general notions. + </p> + <p> + All that I have here said explains the reasons for which the English + display much less readiness and taste or the generalization of ideas than + their American progeny, and still less again than their French neighbors; + and likewise the reason for which the English of the present day display + more of these qualities than their forefathers did. The English have long + been a very enlightened and a very aristocratic nation; their enlightened + condition urged them constantly to generalize, and their aristocratic + habits confined them to particularize. Hence arose that philosophy, at + once bold and timid, broad and narrow, which has hitherto prevailed in + England, and which still obstructs and stagnates in so many minds in that + country. + </p> + <p> + Independently of the causes I have pointed out in what goes before, others + may be discerned less apparent, but no less efficacious, which engender + amongst almost every democratic people a taste, and frequently a passion, + for general ideas. An accurate distinction must be taken between ideas of + this kind. Some are the result of slow, minute, and conscientious labor of + the mind, and these extend the sphere of human knowledge; others spring up + at once from the first rapid exercise of the wits, and beget none but very + superficial and very uncertain notions. Men who live in ages of equality + have a great deal of curiosity and very little leisure; their life is so + practical, so confused, so excited, so active, that but little time + remains to them for thought. Such men are prone to general ideas because + they spare them the trouble of studying particulars; they contain, if I + may so speak, a great deal in a little compass, and give, in a little + time, a great return. If then, upon a brief and inattentive investigation, + a common relation is thought to be detected between certain obtects, + inquiry is not pushed any further; and without examining in detail how far + these different objects differ or agree, they are hastily arranged under + one formulary, in order to pass to another subject. + </p> + <p> + One of the distinguishing characteristics of a democratic period is the + taste all men have at such ties for easy success and present enjoyment. + This occurs in the pursuits of the intellect as well as in all others. + Most of those who live at a time of equality are full of an ambition at + once aspiring and relaxed: they would fain succeed brilliantly and at + once, but they would be dispensed from great efforts to obtain success. + These conflicting tendencies lead straight to the research of general + ideas, by aid of which they flatter themselves that they can figure very + importantly at a small expense, and draw the attention of the public with + very little trouble. And I know not whether they be wrong in thinking + thus. For their readers are as much averse to investigating anything to + the bottom as they can be themselves; and what is generally sought in the + productions of the mind is easy pleasure and information without labor. + </p> + <p> + If aristocratic nations do not make sufficient use of general ideas, and + frequently treat them with inconsiderate disdain, it is true, on the other + hand, that a democratic people is ever ready to carry ideas of this kind + to excess, and to espouse the with injudicious warmth. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IV: Why The Americans Have Never Been So Eager As The French For + General Ideas In Political Matters + </h2> + <p> + I observed in the last chapter, that the Americans show a less decided + taste for general ideas than the French; this is more especially true in + political matters. Although the Americans infuse into their legislation + infinitely more general ideas than the English, and although they pay much + more attention than the latter people to the adjustment of the practice of + affairs to theory, no political bodies in the United States have ever + shown so warm an attachment to general ideas as the Constituent Assembly + and the Convention in France. At no time has the American people laid hold + on ideas of this kind with the passionate energy of the French people in + the eighteenth century, or displayed the same blind confidence in the + value and absolute truth of any theory. This difference between the + Americans and the French originates in several causes, but principally in + the following one. The Americans form a democratic people, which has + always itself directed public affairs. The French are a democratic people, + who, for a long time, could only speculate on the best manner of + conducting them. The social condition of France led that people to + conceive very general ideas on the subject of government, whilst its + political constitution prevented it from correcting those ideas by + experiment, and from gradually detecting their insufficiency; whereas in + America the two things constantly balance and correct each other. + </p> + <p> + It may seem, at first sight, that this is very much opposed to what I have + said before, that democratic nations derive their love of theory from the + excitement of their active life. A more attentive examination will show + that there is nothing contradictory in the proposition. Men living in + democratic countries eagerly lay hold of general ideas because they have + but little leisure, and because these ideas spare them the trouble of + studying particulars. This is true; but it is only to be understood to + apply to those matters which are not the necessary and habitual subjects + of their thoughts. Mercantile men will take up very eagerly, and without + any very close scrutiny, all the general ideas on philosophy, politics, + science, or the arts, which may be presented to them; but for such as + relate to commerce, they will not receive them without inquiry, or adopt + them without reserve. The same thing applies to statesmen with regard to + general ideas in politics. If, then, there be a subject upon which a + democratic people is peculiarly liable to abandon itself, blindly and + extravagantly, to general ideas, the best corrective that can be used will + be to make that subject a part of the daily practical occupation of that + people. The people will then be compelled to enter upon its details, and + the details will teach them the weak points of the theory. This remedy may + frequently be a painful one, but its effect is certain. + </p> + <p> + Thus it happens, that the democratic institutions which compel every + citizen to take a practical part in the government, moderate that + excessive taste for general theories in politics which the principle of + equality suggests. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter V: Of The Manner In Which Religion In The United States Avails + Itself Of Democratic Tendencies + </h2> + <p> + I have laid it down in a preceding chapter that men cannot do without + dogmatical belief; and even that it is very much to be desired that such + belief should exist amongst them. I now add, that of all the kinds of + dogmatical belief the most desirable appears to me to be dogmatical belief + in matters of religion; and this is a very clear inference, even from no + higher consideration than the interests of this world. There is hardly any + human action, however particular a character be assigned to it, which does + not originate in some very general idea men have conceived of the Deity, + of his relation to mankind, of the nature of their own souls, and of their + duties to their fellow-creatures. Nor can anything prevent these ideas + from being the common spring from which everything else emanates. Men are + therefore immeasurably interested in acquiring fixed ideas of God, of the + soul, and of their common duties to their Creator and to their fellow-men; + for doubt on these first principles would abandon all their actions to the + impulse of chance, and would condemn them to live, to a certain extent, + powerless and undisciplined. + </p> + <p> + This is then the subject on which it is most important for each of us to + entertain fixed ideas; and unhappily it is also the subject on which it is + most difficult for each of us, left to himself, to settle his opinions by + the sole force of his reason. None but minds singularly free from the + ordinary anxieties of life—minds at once penetrating, subtle, and + trained by thinking—can even with the assistance of much time and + care, sound the depth of these most necessary truths. And, indeed, we see + that these philosophers are themselves almost always enshrouded in + uncertainties; that at every step the natural light which illuminates + their path grows dimmer and less secure; and that, in spite of all their + efforts, they have as yet only discovered a small number of conflicting + notions, on which the mind of man has been tossed about for thousands of + years, without either laying a firmer grasp on truth, or finding novelty + even in its errors. Studies of this nature are far above the average + capacity of men; and even if the majority of mankind were capable of such + pursuits, it is evident that leisure to cultivate them would still be + wanting. Fixed ideas of God and human nature are indispensable to the + daily practice of men's lives; but the practice of their lives prevents + them from acquiring such ideas. + </p> + <p> + The difficulty appears to me to be without a parallel. Amongst the + sciences there are some which are useful to the mass of mankind, and which + are within its reach; others can only be approached by the few, and are + not cultivated by the many, who require nothing beyond their more remote + applications: but the daily practice of the science I speak of is + indispensable to all, although the study of it is inaccessible to the far + greater number. + </p> + <p> + General ideas respecting God and human nature are therefore the ideas + above all others which it is most suitable to withdraw from the habitual + action of private judgment, and in which there is most to gain and least + to lose by recognizing a principle of authority. The first object and one + of the principal advantages of religions, is to furnish to each of these + fundamental questions a solution which is at once clear, precise, + intelligible to the mass of mankind, and lasting. There are religions + which are very false and very absurd; but it may be affirmed, that any + religion which remains within the circle I have just traced, without + aspiring to go beyond it (as many religions have attempted to do, for the + purpose of enclosing on every side the free progress of the human mind), + imposes a salutary restraint on the intellect; and it must be admitted + that, if it do not save men in another world, such religion is at least + very conducive to their happiness and their greatness in this. This is + more especially true of men living in free countries. When the religion of + a people is destroyed, doubt gets hold of the highest portions of the + intellect, and half paralyzes all the rest of its powers. Every man + accustoms himself to entertain none but confused and changing notions on + the subjects most interesting to his fellow-creatures and himself. His + opinions are ill-defended and easily abandoned: and, despairing of ever + resolving by himself the hardest problems of the destiny of man, he + ignobly submits to think no more about them. Such a condition cannot but + enervate the soul, relax the springs of the will, and prepare a people for + servitude. Nor does it only happen, in such a case, that they allow their + freedom to be wrested from them; they frequently themselves surrender it. + When there is no longer any principle of authority in religion any more + than in politics, men are speedily frightened at the aspect of this + unbounded independence. The constant agitation of all surrounding things + alarms and exhausts them. As everything is at sea in the sphere of the + intellect, they determine at least that the mechanism of society should be + firm and fixed; and as they cannot resume their ancient belief, they + assume a master. + </p> + <p> + For my own part, I doubt whether man can ever support at the same time + complete religious independence and entire public freedom. And I am + inclined to think, that if faith be wanting in him, he must serve; and if + he be free, he must believe. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps, however, this great utility of religions is still more obvious + amongst nations where equality of conditions prevails than amongst others. + It must be acknowledged that equality, which brings great benefits into + the world, nevertheless suggests to men (as will be shown hereafter) some + very dangerous propensities. It tends to isolate them from each other, to + concentrate every man's attention upon himself; and it lays open the soul + to an inordinate love of material gratification. The greatest advantage of + religion is to inspire diametrically contrary principles. There is no + religion which does not place the object of man's desires above and beyond + the treasures of earth, and which does not naturally raise his soul to + regions far above those of the senses. Nor is there any which does not + impose on man some sort of duties to his kind, and thus draws him at times + from the contemplation of himself. This occurs in religions the most false + and dangerous. Religious nations are therefore naturally strong on the + very point on which democratic nations are weak; which shows of what + importance it is for men to preserve their religion as their conditions + become more equal. + </p> + <p> + I have neither the right nor the intention of examining the supernatural + means which God employs to infuse religious belief into the heart of man. + I am at this moment considering religions in a purely human point of view: + my object is to inquire by what means they may most easily retain their + sway in the democratic ages upon which we are entering. It has been shown + that, at times of general cultivation and equality, the human mind does + not consent to adopt dogmatical opinions without reluctance, and feels + their necessity acutely in spiritual matters only. This proves, in the + first place, that at such times religions ought, more cautiously than at + any other, to confine themselves within their own precincts; for in + seeking to extend their power beyond religious matters, they incur a risk + of not being believed at all. The circle within which they seek to bound + the human intellect ought therefore to be carefully traced, and beyond its + verge the mind should be left in entire freedom to its own guidance. + Mahommed professed to derive from Heaven, and he has inserted in the + Koran, not only a body of religious doctrines, but political maxims, civil + and criminal laws, and theories of science. The gospel, on the contrary, + only speaks of the general relations of men to God and to each other—beyond + which it inculcates and imposes no point of faith. This alone, besides a + thousand other reasons, would suffice to prove that the former of these + religions will never long predominate in a cultivated and democratic age, + whilst the latter is destined to retain its sway at these as at all other + periods. + </p> + <p> + But in continuation of this branch of the subject, I find that in order + for religions to maintain their authority, humanly speaking, in democratic + ages, they must not only confine themselves strictly within the circle of + spiritual matters: their power also depends very much on the nature of the + belief they inculcate, on the external forms they assume, and on the + obligations they impose. The preceding observation, that equality leads + men to very general and very extensive notions, is principally to be + understood as applied to the question of religion. Men living in a similar + and equal condition in the world readily conceive the idea of the one God, + governing every man by the same laws, and granting to every man future + happiness on the same conditions. The idea of the unity of mankind + constantly leads them back to the idea of the unity of the Creator; + whilst, on the contrary, in a state of society where men are broken up + into very unequal ranks, they are apt to devise as many deities as there + are nations, castes, classes, or families, and to trace a thousand private + roads to heaven. + </p> + <p> + It cannot be denied that Christianity itself has felt, to a certain + extent, the influence which social and political conditions exercise on + religious opinions. At the epoch at which the Christian religion appeared + upon earth, Providence, by whom the world was doubtless prepared for its + coming, had gathered a large portion of the human race, like an immense + flock, under the sceptre of the Caesars. The men of whom this multitude + was composed were distinguished by numerous differences; but they had thus + much in common, that they all obeyed the same laws, and that every subject + was so weak and insignificant in relation to the imperial potentate, that + all appeared equal when their condition was contrasted with his. This + novel and peculiar state of mankind necessarily predisposed men to listen + to the general truths which Christianity teaches, and may serve to explain + the facility and rapidity with which they then penetrated into the human + mind. The counterpart of this state of things was exhibited after the + destruction of the empire. The Roman world being then as it were shattered + into a thousand fragments, each nation resumed its pristine individuality. + An infinite scale of ranks very soon grew up in the bosom of these + nations; the different races were more sharply defined, and each nation + was divided by castes into several peoples. In the midst of this common + effort, which seemed to be urging human society to the greatest + conceivable amount of voluntary subdivision, Christianity did not lose + sight of the leading general ideas which it had brought into the world. + But it appeared, nevertheless, to lend itself, as much as was possible, to + those new tendencies to which the fractional distribution of mankind had + given birth. Men continued to worship an only God, the Creator and + Preserver of all things; but every people, every city, and, so to speak, + every man, thought to obtain some distinct privilege, and win the favor of + an especial patron at the foot of the Throne of Grace. Unable to subdivide + the Deity, they multiplied and improperly enhanced the importance of the + divine agents. The homage due to saints and angels became an almost + idolatrous worship amongst the majority of the Christian world; and + apprehensions might be entertained for a moment lest the religion of + Christ should retrograde towards the superstitions which it had subdued. + It seems evident, that the more the barriers are removed which separate + nation from nation amongst mankind, and citizen from citizen amongst a + people, the stronger is the bent of the human mind, as if by its own + impulse, towards the idea of an only and all-powerful Being, dispensing + equal laws in the same manner to every man. In democratic ages, then, it + is more particularly important not to allow the homage paid to secondary + agents to be confounded with the worship due to the Creator alone. + </p> + <p> + Another truth is no less clear—that religions ought to assume fewer + external observances in democratic periods than at any others. In speaking + of philosophical method among the Americans, I have shown that nothing is + more repugnant to the human mind in an age of equality than the idea of + subjection to forms. Men living at such times are impatient of figures; to + their eyes symbols appear to be the puerile artifice which is used to + conceal or to set off truths, which should more naturally be bared to the + light of open day: they are unmoved by ceremonial observances, and they + are predisposed to attach a secondary importance to the details of public + worship. Those whose care it is to regulate the external forms of religion + in a democratic age should pay a close attention to these natural + propensities of the human mind, in order not unnecessarily to run counter + to them. I firmly believe in the necessity of forms, which fix the human + mind in the contemplation of abstract truths, and stimulate its ardor in + the pursuit of them, whilst they invigorate its powers of retaining them + steadfastly. Nor do I suppose that it is possible to maintain a religion + without external observances; but, on the other hand, I am persuaded that, + in the ages upon which we are entering, it would be peculiarly dangerous + to multiply them beyond measure; and that they ought rather to be limited + to as much as is absolutely necessary to perpetuate the doctrine itself, + which is the substance of religions of which the ritual is only the form. + *a A religion which should become more minute, more peremptory, and more + surcharged with small observances at a time in which men are becoming more + equal, would soon find itself reduced to a band of fanatical zealots in + the midst of an infidel people. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ In all religions there are some ceremonies which are inherent in + the substance of the faith itself, and in these nothing should, on any + account, be changed. This is especially the case with Roman Catholicism, + in which the doctrine and the form are frequently so closely united as to + form one point of belief.] + </p> + <p> + I anticipate the objection, that as all religions have general and eternal + truths for their object, they cannot thus shape themselves to the shifting + spirit of every age without forfeiting their claim to certainty in the + eyes of mankind. To this I reply again, that the principal opinions which + constitute belief, and which theologians call articles of faith, must be + very carefully distinguished from the accessories connected with them. + Religions are obliged to hold fast to the former, whatever be the peculiar + spirit of the age; but they should take good care not to bind themselves + in the same manner to the latter at a time when everything is in + transition, and when the mind, accustomed to the moving pageant of human + affairs, reluctantly endures the attempt to fix it to any given point. The + fixity of external and secondary things can only afford a chance of + duration when civil society is itself fixed; under any other circumstances + I hold it to be perilous. + </p> + <p> + We shall have occasion to see that, of all the passions which originate + in, or are fostered by, equality, there is one which it renders peculiarly + intense, and which it infuses at the same time into the heart of every + man: I mean the love of well-being. The taste for well-being is the + prominent and indelible feature of democratic ages. It may be believed + that a religion which should undertake to destroy so deep seated a + passion, would meet its own destruction thence in the end; and if it + attempted to wean men entirely from the contemplation of the good things + of this world, in order to devote their faculties exclusively to the + thought of another, it may be foreseen that the soul would at length + escape from its grasp, to plunge into the exclusive enjoyment of present + and material pleasures. The chief concern of religions is to purify, to + regulate, and to restrain the excessive and exclusive taste for well-being + which men feel at periods of equality; but they would err in attempting to + control it completely or to eradicate it. They will not succeed in curing + men of the love of riches: but they may still persuade men to enrich + themselves by none but honest means. + </p> + <p> + This brings me to a final consideration, which comprises, as it were, all + the others. The more the conditions of men are equalized and assimilated + to each other, the more important is it for religions, whilst they + carefully abstain from the daily turmoil of secular affairs, not + needlessly to run counter to the ideas which generally prevail, and the + permanent interests which exist in the mass of the people. For as public + opinion grows to be more and more evidently the first and most + irresistible of existing powers, the religious principle has no external + support strong enough to enable it long to resist its attacks. This is not + less true of a democratic people, ruled by a despot, than in a republic. + In ages of equality, kings may often command obedience, but the majority + always commands belief: to the majority, therefore, deference is to be + paid in whatsoever is not contrary to the faith. + </p> + <p> + I showed in my former volumes how the American clergy stand aloof from + secular affairs. This is the most obvious, but it is not the only, example + of their self-restraint. In America religion is a distinct sphere, in + which the priest is sovereign, but out of which he takes care never to go. + Within its limits he is the master of the mind; beyond them, he leaves men + to themselves, and surrenders them to the independence and instability + which belong to their nature and their age. I have seen no country in + which Christianity is clothed with fewer forms, figures, and observances + than in the United States; or where it presents more distinct, more + simple, or more general notions to the mind. Although the Christians of + America are divided into a multitude of sects, they all look upon their + religion in the same light. This applies to Roman Catholicism as well as + to the other forms of belief. There are no Romish priests who show less + taste for the minute individual observances for extraordinary or peculiar + means of salvation, or who cling more to the spirit, and less to the + letter of the law, than the Roman Catholic priests of the United States. + Nowhere is that doctrine of the Church, which prohibits the worship + reserved to God alone from being offered to the saints, more clearly + inculcated or more generally followed. Yet the Roman Catholics of America + are very submissive and very sincere. + </p> + <p> + Another remark is applicable to the clergy of every communion. The + American ministers of the gospel do not attempt to draw or to fix all the + thoughts of man upon the life to come; they are willing to surrender a + portion of his heart to the cares of the present; seeming to consider the + goods of this world as important, although as secondary, objects. If they + take no part themselves in productive labor, they are at least interested + in its progression, and ready to applaud its results; and whilst they + never cease to point to the other world as the great object of the hopes + and fears of the believer, they do not forbid him honestly to court + prosperity in this. Far from attempting to show that these things are + distinct and contrary to one another, they study rather to find out on + what point they are most nearly and closely connected. + </p> + <p> + All the American clergy know and respect the intellectual supremacy + exercised by the majority; they never sustain any but necessary conflicts + with it. They take no share in the altercations of parties, but they + readily adopt the general opinions of their country and their age; and + they allow themselves to be borne away without opposition in the current + of feeling and opinion by which everything around them is carried along. + They endeavor to amend their contemporaries, but they do not quit + fellowship with them. Public opinion is therefore never hostile to them; + it rather supports and protects them; and their belief owes its authority + at the same time to the strength which is its own, and to that which they + borrow from the opinions of the majority. Thus it is that, by respecting + all democratic tendencies not absolutely contrary to herself, and by + making use of several of them for her own purposes, religion sustains an + advantageous struggle with that spirit of individual independence which is + her most dangerous antagonist. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VI: Of The Progress Of Roman Catholicism In The United States + </h2> + <p> + America is the most democratic country in the world, and it is at the same + time (according to reports worthy of belief) the country in which the + Roman Catholic religion makes most progress. At first sight this is + surprising. Two things must here be accurately distinguished: equality + inclines men to wish to form their own opinions; but, on the other hand, + it imbues them with the taste and the idea of unity, simplicity, and + impartiality in the power which governs society. Men living in democratic + ages are therefore very prone to shake off all religious authority; but if + they consent to subject themselves to any authority of this kind, they + choose at least that it should be single and uniform. Religious powers not + radiating from a common centre are naturally repugnant to their minds; and + they almost as readily conceive that there should be no religion, as that + there should be several. At the present time, more than in any preceding + one, Roman Catholics are seen to lapse into infidelity, and Protestants to + be converted to Roman Catholicism. If the Roman Catholic faith be + considered within the pale of the church, it would seem to be losing + ground; without that pale, to be gaining it. Nor is this circumstance + difficult of explanation. The men of our days are naturally disposed to + believe; but, as soon as they have any religion, they immediately find in + themselves a latent propensity which urges them unconsciously towards + Catholicism. Many of the doctrines and the practices of the Romish Church + astonish them; but they feel a secret admiration for its discipline, and + its great unity attracts them. If Catholicism could at length withdraw + itself from the political animosities to which it has given rise, I have + hardly any doubt but that the same spirit of the age, which appears to be + so opposed to it, would become so favorable as to admit of its great and + sudden advancement. One of the most ordinary weaknesses of the human + intellect is to seek to reconcile contrary principles, and to purchase + peace at the expense of logic. Thus there have ever been, and will ever + be, men who, after having submitted some portion of their religious belief + to the principle of authority, will seek to exempt several other parts of + their faith from its influence, and to keep their minds floating at random + between liberty and obedience. But I am inclined to believe that the + number of these thinkers will be less in democratic than in other ages; + and that our posterity will tend more and more to a single division into + two parts—some relinquishing Christianity entirely, and others + returning to the bosom of the Church of Rome. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VII: Of The Cause Of A Leaning To Pantheism Amongst Democratic + Nations + </h2> + <p> + I shall take occasion hereafter to show under what form the preponderating + taste of a democratic people for very general ideas manifests itself in + politics; but I would point out, at the present stage of my work, its + principal effect on philosophy. It cannot be denied that pantheism has + made great progress in our age. The writings of a part of Europe bear + visible marks of it: the Germans introduce it into philosophy, and the + French into literature. Most of the works of imagination published in + France contain some opinions or some tinge caught from pantheistical + doctrines, or they disclose some tendency to such doctrines in their + authors. This appears to me not only to proceed from an accidental, but + from a permanent cause. + </p> + <p> + When the conditions of society are becoming more equal, and each + individual man becomes more like all the rest, more weak and more + insignificant, a habit grows up of ceasing to notice the citizens to + consider only the people, and of overlooking individuals to think only of + their kind. At such times the human mind seeks to embrace a multitude of + different objects at once; and it constantly strives to succeed in + connecting a variety of consequences with a single cause. The idea of + unity so possesses itself of man, and is sought for by him so universally, + that if he thinks he has found it, he readily yields himself up to repose + in that belief. Nor does he content himself with the discovery that + nothing is in the world but a creation and a Creator; still embarrassed by + this primary division of things, he seeks to expand and to simplify his + conception by including God and the universe in one great whole. If there + be a philosophical system which teaches that all things material and + immaterial, visible and invisible, which the world contains, are only to + be considered as the several parts of an immense Being, which alone + remains unchanged amidst the continual change and ceaseless transformation + of all that constitutes it, we may readily infer that such a system, + although it destroy the individuality of man—nay, rather because it + destroys that individuality—will have secret charms for men living + in democracies. All their habits of thought prepare them to conceive it, + and predispose them to adopt it. It naturally attracts and fixes their + imagination; it fosters the pride, whilst it soothes the indolence, of + their minds. Amongst the different systems by whose aid philosophy + endeavors to explain the universe, I believe pantheism to be one of those + most fitted to seduce the human mind in democratic ages. Against it all + who abide in their attachment to the true greatness of man should struggle + and combine. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VIII: The Principle Of Equality Suggests To The Americans The Idea + Of The Indefinite Perfectibility Of Man + </h2> + <p> + Equality suggests to the human mind several ideas which would not have + originated from any other source, and it modifies almost all those + previously entertained. I take as an example the idea of human + perfectibility, because it is one of the principal notions that the + intellect can conceive, and because it constitutes of itself a great + philosophical theory, which is every instant to be traced by its + consequences in the practice of human affairs. Although man has many + points of resemblance with the brute creation, one characteristic is + peculiar to himself—he improves: they are incapable of improvement. + Mankind could not fail to discover this difference from its earliest + period. The idea of perfectibility is therefore as old as the world; + equality did not give birth to it, although it has imparted to it a novel + character. + </p> + <p> + When the citizens of a community are classed according to their rank, + their profession, or their birth, and when all men are constrained to + follow the career which happens to open before them, everyone thinks that + the utmost limits of human power are to be discerned in proximity to + himself, and none seeks any longer to resist the inevitable law of his + destiny. Not indeed that an aristocratic people absolutely contests man's + faculty of self-improvement, but they do not hold it to be indefinite; + amelioration they conceive, but not change: they imagine that the future + condition of society may be better, but not essentially different; and + whilst they admit that mankind has made vast strides in improvement, and + may still have some to make, they assign to it beforehand certain + impassable limits. Thus they do not presume that they have arrived at the + supreme good or at absolute truth (what people or what man was ever wild + enough to imagine it?) but they cherish a persuasion that they have pretty + nearly reached that degree of greatness and knowledge which our imperfect + nature admits of; and as nothing moves about them they are willing to + fancy that everything is in its fit place. Then it is that the legislator + affects to lay down eternal laws; that kings and nations will raise none + but imperishable monuments; and that the present generation undertakes to + spare generations to come the care of regulating their destinies. + </p> + <p> + In proportion as castes disappear and the classes of society approximate—as + manners, customs, and laws vary, from the tumultuous intercourse of men—as + new facts arise—as new truths are brought to light—as ancient + opinions are dissipated, and others take their place—the image of an + ideal perfection, forever on the wing, presents itself to the human mind. + Continual changes are then every instant occurring under the observation + of every man: the position of some is rendered worse; and he learns but + too well, that no people and no individual, how enlightened soever they + may be, can lay claim to infallibility;—the condition of others is + improved; whence he infers that man is endowed with an indefinite faculty + of improvement. His reverses teach him that none may hope to have + discovered absolute good—his success stimulates him to the + never-ending pursuit of it. Thus, forever seeking—forever falling, + to rise again—often disappointed, but not discouraged—he tends + unceasingly towards that unmeasured greatness so indistinctly visible at + the end of the long track which humanity has yet to tread. It can hardly + be believed how many facts naturally flow from the philosophical theory of + the indefinite perfectibility of man, or how strong an influence it + exercises even on men who, living entirely for the purposes of action and + not of thought, seem to conform their actions to it, without knowing + anything about it. I accost an American sailor, and I inquire why the + ships of his country are built so as to last but for a short time; he + answers without hesitation that the art of navigation is every day making + such rapid progress, that the finest vessel would become almost useless if + it lasted beyond a certain number of years. In these words, which fell + accidentally and on a particular subject from a man of rude attainments, I + recognize the general and systematic idea upon which a great people + directs all its concerns. + </p> + <p> + Aristocratic nations are naturally too apt to narrow the scope of human + perfectibility; democratic nations to expand it beyond compass. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IX: The Example Of The Americans Does Not Prove That A Democratic + People Can Have No Aptitude And No Taste For Science, Literature, Or Art + </h2> + <p> + It must be acknowledged that amongst few of the civilized nations of our + time have the higher sciences made less progress than in the United + States; and in few have great artists, fine poets, or celebrated writers + been more rare. Many Europeans, struck by this fact, have looked upon it + as a natural and inevitable result of equality; and they have supposed + that if a democratic state of society and democratic institutions were + ever to prevail over the whole earth, the human mind would gradually find + its beacon-lights grow dim, and men would relapse into a period of + darkness. To reason thus is, I think, to confound several ideas which it + is important to divide and to examine separately: it is to mingle, + unintentionally, what is democratic with what is only American. + </p> + <p> + The religion professed by the first emigrants, and bequeathed by them to + their descendants, simple in its form of worship, austere and almost harsh + in its principles, and hostile to external symbols and to ceremonial pomp, + is naturally unfavorable to the fine arts, and only yields a reluctant + sufferance to the pleasures of literature. The Americans are a very old + and a very enlightened people, who have fallen upon a new and unbounded + country, where they may extend themselves at pleasure, and which they may + fertilize without difficulty. This state of things is without a parallel + in the history of the world. In America, then, every one finds facilities, + unknown elsewhere, for making or increasing his fortune. The spirit of + gain is always on the stretch, and the human mind, constantly diverted + from the pleasures of imagination and the labors of the intellect, is + there swayed by no impulse but the pursuit of wealth. Not only are + manufacturing and commercial classes to be found in the United States, as + they are in all other countries; but what never occurred elsewhere, the + whole community is simultaneously engaged in productive industry and + commerce. I am convinced that, if the Americans had been alone in the + world, with the freedom and the knowledge acquired by their forefathers, + and the passions which are their own, they would not have been slow to + discover that progress cannot long be made in the application of the + sciences without cultivating the theory of them; that all the arts are + perfected by one another: and, however absorbed they might have been by + the pursuit of the principal object of their desires, they would speedily + have admitted, that it is necessary to turn aside from it occasionally, in + order the better to attain it in the end. + </p> + <p> + The taste for the pleasures of the mind is moreover so natural to the + heart of civilized man, that amongst the polite nations, which are least + disposed to give themselves up to these pursuits, a certain number of + citizens are always to be found who take part in them. This intellectual + craving, when once felt, would very soon have been satisfied. But at the + very time when the Americans were naturally inclined to require nothing of + science but its special applications to the useful arts and the means of + rendering life comfortable, learned and literary Europe was engaged in + exploring the common sources of truth, and in improving at the same time + all that can minister to the pleasures or satisfy the wants of man. At the + head of the enlightened nations of the Old World the inhabitants of the + United States more particularly distinguished one, to which they were + closely united by a common origin and by kindred habits. Amongst this + people they found distinguished men of science, artists of skill, writers + of eminence, and they were enabled to enjoy the treasures of the intellect + without requiring to labor in amassing them. I cannot consent to separate + America from Europe, in spite of the ocean which intervenes. I consider + the people of the United States as that portion of the English people + which is commissioned to explore the wilds of the New World; whilst the + rest of the nation, enjoying more leisure and less harassed by the + drudgery of life, may devote its energies to thought, and enlarge in all + directions the empire of the mind. The position of the Americans is + therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic + people will ever be placed in a similar one. Their strictly Puritanical + origin—their exclusively commercial habits—even the country + they inhabit, which seems to divert their minds from the pursuit of + science, literature, and the arts—the proximity of Europe, which + allows them to neglect these pursuits without relapsing into barbarism—a + thousand special causes, of which I have only been able to point out the + most important—have singularly concurred to fix the mind of the + American upon purely practical objects. His passions, his wants, his + education, and everything about him seem to unite in drawing the native of + the United States earthward: his religion alone bids him turn, from time + to time, a transient and distracted glance to heaven. Let us cease then to + view all democratic nations under the mask of the American people, and let + us attempt to survey them at length with their own proper features. + </p> + <p> + It is possible to conceive a people not subdivided into any castes or + scale of ranks; in which the law, recognizing no privileges, should divide + inherited property into equal shares; but which, at the same time, should + be without knowledge and without freedom. Nor is this an empty hypothesis: + a despot may find that it is his interest to render his subjects equal and + to leave them ignorant, in order more easily to keep them slaves. Not only + would a democratic people of this kind show neither aptitude nor taste for + science, literature, or art, but it would probably never arrive at the + possession of them. The law of descent would of itself provide for the + destruction of fortunes at each succeeding generation; and new fortunes + would be acquired by none. The poor man, without either knowledge or + freedom, would not so much as conceive the idea of raising himself to + wealth; and the rich man would allow himself to be degraded to poverty, + without a notion of self-defence. Between these two members of the + community complete and invincible equality would soon be established. + </p> + <p> + No one would then have time or taste to devote himself to the pursuits or + pleasures of the intellect; but all men would remain paralyzed by a state + of common ignorance and equal servitude. When I conceive a democratic + society of this kind, I fancy myself in one of those low, close, and + gloomy abodes, where the light which breaks in from without soon faints + and fades away. A sudden heaviness overpowers me, and I grope through the + surrounding darkness, to find the aperture which will restore me to + daylight and the air. + </p> + <p> + But all this is not applicable to men already enlightened who retain their + freedom, after having abolished from amongst them those peculiar and + hereditary rights which perpetuated the tenure of property in the hands of + certain individuals or certain bodies. When men living in a democratic + state of society are enlightened, they readily discover that they are + confined and fixed within no limits which constrain them to take up with + their present fortune. They all therefore conceive the idea of increasing + it; if they are free, they all attempt it, but all do not succeed in the + same manner. The legislature, it is true, no longer grants privileges, but + they are bestowed by nature. As natural inequality is very great, fortunes + become unequal as soon as every man exerts all his faculties to get rich. + The law of descent prevents the establishment of wealthy families; but it + does not prevent the existence of wealthy individuals. It constantly + brings back the members of the community to a common level, from which + they as constantly escape: and the inequality of fortunes augments in + proportion as knowledge is diffused and liberty increased. + </p> + <p> + A sect which arose in our time, and was celebrated for its talents and its + extravagance, proposed to concentrate all property into the hands of a + central power, whose function it should afterwards be to parcel it out to + individuals, according to their capacity. This would have been a method of + escaping from that complete and eternal equality which seems to threaten + democratic society. But it would be a simpler and less dangerous remedy to + grant no privilege to any, giving to all equal cultivation and equal + independence, and leaving everyone to determine his own position. Natural + inequality will very soon make way for itself, and wealth will + spontaneously pass into the hands of the most capable. + </p> + <p> + Free and democratic communities, then, will always contain a considerable + number of people enjoying opulence or competency. The wealthy will not be + so closely linked to each other as the members of the former aristocratic + class of society: their propensities will be different, and they will + scarcely ever enjoy leisure as secure or as complete: but they will be far + more numerous than those who belonged to that class of society could ever + be. These persons will not be strictly confined to the cares of practical + life, and they will still be able, though in different degrees, to indulge + in the pursuits and pleasures of the intellect. In those pleasures they + will indulge; for if it be true that the human mind leans on one side to + the narrow, the practical, and the useful, it naturally rises on the other + to the infinite, the spiritual, and the beautiful. Physical wants confine + it to the earth; but, as soon as the tie is loosened, it will unbend + itself again. + </p> + <p> + Not only will the number of those who can take an interest in the + productions of the mind be enlarged, but the taste for intellectual + enjoyment will descend, step by step, even to those who, in aristocratic + societies, seem to have neither time nor ability to in indulge in them. + When hereditary wealth, the privileges of rank, and the prerogatives of + birth have ceased to be, and when every man derives his strength from + himself alone, it becomes evident that the chief cause of disparity + between the fortunes of men is the mind. Whatever tends to invigorate, to + extend, or to adorn the mind, instantly rises to great value. The utility + of knowledge becomes singularly conspicuous even to the eyes of the + multitude: those who have no taste for its charms set store upon its + results, and make some efforts to acquire it. In free and enlightened + democratic ages, there is nothing to separate men from each other or to + retain them in their peculiar sphere; they rise or sink with extreme + rapidity. All classes live in perpetual intercourse from their great + proximity to each other. They communicate and intermingle every day—they + imitate and envy one other: this suggests to the people many ideas, + notions, and desires which it would never have entertained if the + distinctions of rank had been fixed and society at rest. In such nations + the servant never considers himself as an entire stranger to the pleasures + and toils of his master, nor the poor man to those of the rich; the rural + population assimilates itself to that of the towns, and the provinces to + the capital. No one easily allows himself to be reduced to the mere + material cares of life; and the humblest artisan casts at times an eager + and a furtive glance into the higher regions of the intellect. People do + not read with the same notions or in the same manner as they do in an + aristocratic community; but the circle of readers is unceasingly expanded, + till it includes all the citizens. + </p> + <p> + As soon as the multitude begins to take an interest in the labors of the + mind, it finds out that to excel in some of them is a powerful method of + acquiring fame, power, or wealth. The restless ambition which equality + begets instantly takes this direction as it does all others. The number of + those who cultivate science, letters, and the arts, becomes immense. The + intellectual world starts into prodigious activity: everyone endeavors to + open for himself a path there, and to draw the eyes of the public after + him. Something analogous occurs to what happens in society in the United + States, politically considered. What is done is often imperfect, but the + attempts are innumerable; and, although the results of individual effort + are commonly very small, the total amount is always very large. + </p> + <p> + It is therefore not true to assert that men living in democratic ages are + naturally indifferent to science, literature, and the arts: only it must + be acknowledged that they cultivate them after their own fashion, and + bring to the task their own peculiar qualifications and deficiencies. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter X: Why The Americans Are More Addicted To Practical Than To + Theoretical Science + </h2> + <p> + If a democratic state of society and democratic institutions do not stop + the career of the human mind, they incontestably guide it in one direction + in preference to another. Their effects, thus circumscribed, are still + exceedingly great; and I trust I may be pardoned if I pause for a moment + to survey them. We had occasion, in speaking of the philosophical method + of the American people, to make several remarks which must here be turned + to account. + </p> + <p> + Equality begets in man the desire of judging of everything for himself: it + gives him, in all things, a taste for the tangible and the real, a + contempt for tradition and for forms. These general tendencies are + principally discernible in the peculiar subject of this chapter. Those who + cultivate the sciences amongst a democratic people are always afraid of + losing their way in visionary speculation. They mistrust systems; they + adhere closely to facts and the study of facts with their own senses. As + they do not easily defer to the mere name of any fellow-man, they are + never inclined to rest upon any man's authority; but, on the contrary, + they are unremitting in their efforts to point out the weaker points of + their neighbors' opinions. Scientific precedents have very little weight + with them; they are never long detained by the subtilty of the schools, + nor ready to accept big words for sterling coin; they penetrate, as far as + they can, into the principal parts of the subject which engages them, and + they expound them in the vernacular tongue. Scientific pursuits then + follow a freer and a safer course, but a less lofty one. + </p> + <p> + The mind may, as it appears to me, divide science into three parts. The + first comprises the most theoretical principles, and those more abstract + notions whose application is either unknown or very remote. The second is + composed of those general truths which still belong to pure theory, but + lead, nevertheless, by a straight and short road to practical results. + Methods of application and means of execution make up the third. Each of + these different portions of science may be separately cultivated, although + reason and experience show that none of them can prosper long, if it be + absolutely cut off from the two others. + </p> + <p> + In America the purely practical part of science is admirably understood, + and careful attention is paid to the theoretical portion which is + immediately requisite to application. On this head the Americans always + display a clear, free, original, and inventive power of mind. But hardly + anyone in the United States devotes himself to the essentially theoretical + and abstract portion of human knowledge. In this respect the Americans + carry to excess a tendency which is, I think, discernible, though in a + less degree, amongst all democratic nations. + </p> + <p> + Nothing is more necessary to the culture of the higher sciences, or of the + more elevated departments of science, than meditation; and nothing is less + suited to meditation than the structure of democratic society. We do not + find there, as amongst an aristocratic people, one class which clings to a + state of repose because it is well off; and another which does not venture + to stir because it despairs of improving its condition. Everyone is + actively in motion: some in quest of power, others of gain. In the midst + of this universal tumult—this incessant conflict of jarring + interests—this continual stride of men after fortune—where is + that calm to be found which is necessary for the deeper combinations of + the intellect? How can the mind dwell upon any single point, when + everything whirls around it, and man himself is swept and beaten onwards + by the heady current which rolls all things in its course? But the + permanent agitation which subsists in the bosom of a peaceable and + established democracy, must be distinguished from the tumultuous and + revolutionary movements which almost always attend the birth and growth of + democratic society. When a violent revolution occurs amongst a highly + civilized people, it cannot fail to give a sudden impulse to their + feelings and their opinions. This is more particularly true of democratic + revolutions, which stir up all the classes of which a people is composed, + and beget, at the same time, inordinate ambition in the breast of every + member of the community. The French made most surprising advances in the + exact sciences at the very time at which they were finishing the + destruction of the remains of their former feudal society; yet this sudden + fecundity is not to be attributed to democracy, but to the unexampled + revolution which attended its growth. What happened at that period was a + special incident, and it would be unwise to regard it as the test of a + general principle. Great revolutions are not more common amongst + democratic nations than amongst others: I am even inclined to believe that + they are less so. But there prevails amongst those populations a small + distressing motion—a sort of incessant jostling of men—which + annoys and disturbs the mind, without exciting or elevating it. Men who + live in democratic communities not only seldom indulge in meditation, but + they naturally entertain very little esteem for it. A democratic state of + society and democratic institutions plunge the greater part of men in + constant active life; and the habits of mind which are suited to an active + life, are not always suited to a contemplative one. The man of action is + frequently obliged to content himself with the best he can get, because he + would never accomplish his purpose if he chose to carry every detail to + perfection. He has perpetually occasion to rely on ideas which he has not + had leisure to search to the bottom; for he is much more frequently aided + by the opportunity of an idea than by its strict accuracy; and, in the + long run, he risks less in making use of some false principles, than in + spending his time in establishing all his principles on the basis of + truth. The world is not led by long or learned demonstrations; a rapid + glance at particular incidents, the daily study of the fleeting passions + of the multitude, the accidents of the time, and the art of turning them + to account, decide all its affairs. + </p> + <p> + In the ages in which active life is the condition of almost everyone, men + are therefore generally led to attach an excessive value to the rapid + bursts and superficial conceptions of the intellect; and, on the other + hand, to depreciate below their true standard its slower and deeper + labors. This opinion of the public influences the judgment of the men who + cultivate the sciences; they are persuaded that they may succeed in those + pursuits without meditation, or deterred from such pursuits as demand it. + </p> + <p> + There are several methods of studying the sciences. Amongst a multitude of + men you will find a selfish, mercantile, and trading taste for the + discoveries of the mind, which must not be confounded with that + disinterested passion which is kindled in the heart of the few. A desire + to utilize knowledge is one thing; the pure desire to know is another. I + do not doubt that in a few minds and far between, an ardent, inexhaustible + love of truth springs up, self-supported, and living in ceaseless fruition + without ever attaining the satisfaction which it seeks. This ardent love + it is—this proud, disinterested love of what is true—which + raises men to the abstract sources of truth, to draw their + mother-knowledge thence. If Pascal had had nothing in view but some large + gain, or even if he had been stimulated by the love of fame alone, I + cannot conceive that he would ever have been able to rally all the powers + of his mind, as he did, for the better discovery of the most hidden things + of the Creator. When I see him, as it were, tear his soul from the midst + of all the cares of life to devote it wholly to these researches, and, + prematurely snapping the links which bind the frame to life, die of old + age before forty, I stand amazed, and I perceive that no ordinary cause is + at work to produce efforts so extra-ordinary. + </p> + <p> + The future will prove whether these passions, at once so rare and so + productive, come into being and into growth as easily in the midst of + democratic as in aristocratic communities. For myself, I confess that I am + slow to believe it. In aristocratic society, the class which gives the + tone to opinion, and has the supreme guidance of affairs, being + permanently and hereditarily placed above the multitude, naturally + conceives a lofty idea of itself and of man. It loves to invent for him + noble pleasures, to carve out splendid objects for his ambition. + Aristocracies often commit very tyrannical and very inhuman actions; but + they rarely entertain grovelling thoughts; and they show a kind of haughty + contempt of little pleasures, even whilst they indulge in them. The effect + is greatly to raise the general pitch of society. In aristocratic ages + vast ideas are commonly entertained of the dignity, the power, and the + greatness of man. These opinions exert their influence on those who + cultivate the sciences, as well as on the rest of the community. They + facilitate the natural impulse of the mind to the highest regions of + thought, and they naturally prepare it to conceive a sublime—nay, + almost a divine—love of truth. Men of science at such periods are + consequently carried away by theory; and it even happens that they + frequently conceive an inconsiderate contempt for the practical part of + learning. "Archimedes," says Plutarch, "was of so lofty a spirit, that he + never condescended to write any treatise on the manner of constructing all + these engines of offence and defence. And as he held this science of + inventing and putting together engines, and all arts generally speaking + which tended to any useful end in practice, to be vile, low, and + mercenary, he spent his talents and his studious hours in writing of those + things only whose beauty and subtilty had in them no admixture of + necessity." Such is the aristocratic aim of science; in democratic nations + it cannot be the same. + </p> + <p> + The greater part of the men who constitute these nations are extremely + eager in the pursuit of actual and physical gratification. As they are + always dissatisfied with the position which they occupy, and are always + free to leave it, they think of nothing but the means of changing their + fortune, or of increasing it. To minds thus predisposed, every new method + which leads by a shorter road to wealth, every machine which spares labor, + every instrument which diminishes the cost of production, every discovery + which facilitates pleasures or augments them, seems to be the grandest + effort of the human intellect. It is chiefly from these motives that a + democratic people addicts itself to scientific pursuits—that it + understands, and that it respects them. In aristocratic ages, science is + more particularly called upon to furnish gratification to the mind; in + democracies, to the body. You may be sure that the more a nation is + democratic, enlightened, and free, the greater will be the number of these + interested promoters of scientific genius, and the more will discoveries + immediately applicable to productive industry confer gain, fame, and even + power on their authors. For in democracies the working class takes a part + in public affairs; and public honors, as well as pecuniary remuneration, + may be awarded to those who deserve them. In a community thus organized it + may easily be conceived that the human mind may be led insensibly to the + neglect of theory; and that it is urged, on the contrary, with + unparalleled vehemence to the applications of science, or at least to that + portion of theoretical science which is necessary to those who make such + applications. In vain will some innate propensity raise the mind towards + the loftier spheres of the intellect; interest draws it down to the middle + zone. There it may develop all its energy and restless activity, there it + may engender all its wonders. These very Americans, who have not + discovered one of the general laws of mechanics, have introduced into + navigation an engine which changes the aspect of the world. + </p> + <p> + Assuredly I do not content that the democratic nations of our time are + destined to witness the extinction of the transcendent luminaries of man's + intelligence, nor even that no new lights will ever start into existence. + At the age at which the world has now arrived, and amongst so many + cultivated nations, perpetually excited by the fever of productive + industry, the bonds which connect the different parts of science together + cannot fail to strike the observation; and the taste for practical science + itself, if it be enlightened, ought to lead men not to neglect theory. In + the midst of such numberless attempted applications of so many + experiments, repeated every day, it is almost impossible that general laws + should not frequently be brought to light; so that great discoveries would + be frequent, though great inventors be rare. I believe, moreover, in the + high calling of scientific minds. If the democratic principle does not, on + the one hand, induce men to cultivate science for its own sake, on the + other it enormously increases the number of those who do cultivate it. Nor + is it credible that, from amongst so great a multitude no speculative + genius should from time to time arise, inflamed by the love of truth + alone. Such a one, we may be sure, would dive into the deepest mysteries + of nature, whatever be the spirit of his country or his age. He requires + no assistance in his course—enough that he be not checked in it. + </p> + <p> + All that I mean to say is this:—permanent inequality of conditions + leads men to confine themselves to the arrogant and sterile research of + abstract truths; whilst the social condition and the institutions of + democracy prepare them to seek the immediate and useful practical results + of the sciences. This tendency is natural and inevitable: it is curious to + be acquainted with it, and it may be necessary to point it out. If those + who are called upon to guide the nations of our time clearly discerned + from afar off these new tendencies, which will soon be irresistible, they + would understand that, possessing education and freedom, men living in + democratic ages cannot fail to improve the industrial part of science; and + that henceforward all the efforts of the constituted authorities ought to + be directed to support the highest branches of learning, and to foster the + nobler passion for science itself. In the present age the human mind must + be coerced into theoretical studies; it runs of its own accord to + practical applications; and, instead of perpetually referring it to the + minute examination of secondary effects, it is well to divert it from them + sometimes, in order to raise it up to the contemplation of primary causes. + Because the civilization of ancient Rome perished in consequence of the + invasion of the barbarians, we are perhaps too apt to think that + civilization cannot perish in any other manner. If the light by which we + are guided is ever extinguished, it will dwindle by degrees, and expire of + itself. By dint of close adherence to mere applications, principles would + be lost sight of; and when the principles were wholly forgotten, the + methods derived from them would be ill-pursued. New methods could no + longer be invented, and men would continue to apply, without intelligence, + and without art, scientific processes no longer understood. + </p> + <p> + When Europeans first arrived in China, three hundred years ago, they found + that almost all the arts had reached a certain degree of perfection there; + and they were surprised that a people which had attained this point should + not have gone beyond it. At a later period they discovered some traces of + the higher branches of science which were lost. The nation was absorbed in + productive industry: the greater part of its scientific processes had been + preserved, but science itself no longer existed there. This served to + explain the strangely motionless state in which they found the minds of + this people. The Chinese, in following the track of their forefathers, had + forgotten the reasons by which the latter had been guided. They still used + the formula, without asking for its meaning: they retained the instrument, + but they no longer possessed the art of altering or renewing it. The + Chinese, then, had lost the power of change; for them to improve was + impossible. They were compelled, at all times and in all points, to + imitate their predecessors, lest they should stray into utter darkness, by + deviating for an instant from the path already laid down for them. The + source of human knowledge was all but dry; and though the stream still ran + on, it could neither swell its waters nor alter its channel. + Notwithstanding this, China had subsisted peaceably for centuries. The + invaders who had conquered the country assumed the manners of the + inhabitants, and order prevailed there. A sort of physical prosperity was + everywhere discernible: revolutions were rare, and war was, so to speak, + unknown. + </p> + <p> + It is then a fallacy to flatter ourselves with the reflection that the + barbarians are still far from us; for if there be some nations which allow + civilization to be torn from their grasp, there are others who trample it + themselves under their feet. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XI: Of The Spirit In Which The Americans Cultivate The Arts + </h2> + <p> + It would be to waste the time of my readers and my own if I strove to + demonstrate how the general mediocrity of fortunes, the absence of + superfluous wealth, the universal desire of comfort, and the constant + efforts by which everyone attempts to procure it, make the taste for the + useful predominate over the love of the beautiful in the heart of man. + Democratic nations, amongst which all these things exist, will therefore + cultivate the arts which serve to render life easy, in preference to those + whose object is to adorn it. They will habitually prefer the useful to the + beautiful, and they will require that the beautiful should be useful. But + I propose to go further; and after having pointed out this first feature, + to sketch several others. + </p> + <p> + It commonly happens that in the ages of privilege the practice of almost + all the arts becomes a privilege; and that every profession is a separate + walk, upon which it is not allowable for everyone to enter. Even when + productive industry is free, the fixed character which belongs to + aristocratic nations gradually segregates all the persons who practise the + same art, till they form a distinct class, always composed of the same + families, whose members are all known to each other, and amongst whom a + public opinion of their own and a species of corporate pride soon spring + up. In a class or guild of this kind, each artisan has not only his + fortune to make, but his reputation to preserve. He is not exclusively + swayed by his own interest, or even by that of his customer, but by that + of the body to which he belongs; and the interest of that body is, that + each artisan should produce the best possible workmanship. In aristocratic + ages, the object of the arts is therefore to manufacture as well as + possible—not with the greatest despatch, or at the lowest rate. + </p> + <p> + When, on the contrary, every profession is open to all—when a + multitude of persons are constantly embracing and abandoning it—and + when its several members are strangers to each other, indifferent, and + from their numbers hardly seen amongst themselves; the social tie is + destroyed, and each workman, standing alone, endeavors simply to gain the + greatest possible quantity of money at the least possible cost. The will + of the customer is then his only limit. But at the same time a + corresponding revolution takes place in the customer also. In countries in + which riches as well as power are concentrated and retained in the hands + of the few, the use of the greater part of this world's goods belongs to a + small number of individuals, who are always the same. Necessity, public + opinion, or moderate desires exclude all others from the enjoyment of + them. As this aristocratic class remains fixed at the pinnacle of + greatness on which it stands, without diminution or increase, it is always + acted upon by the same wants and affected by them in the same manner. The + men of whom it is composed naturally derive from their superior and + hereditary position a taste for what is extremely well made and lasting. + This affects the general way of thinking of the nation in relation to the + arts. It often occurs, among such a people, that even the peasant will + rather go without the object he covets, than procure it in a state of + imperfection. In aristocracies, then, the handicraftsmen work for only a + limited number of very fastidious customers: the profit they hope to make + depends principally on the perfection of their workmanship. + </p> + <p> + Such is no longer the case when, all privileges being abolished, ranks are + intermingled, and men are forever rising or sinking upon the ladder of + society. Amongst a democratic people a number of citizens always exist + whose patrimony is divided and decreasing. They have contracted, under + more prosperous circumstances, certain wants, which remain after the means + of satisfying such wants are gone; and they are anxiously looking out for + some surreptitious method of providing for them. On the other hand, there + are always in democracies a large number of men whose fortune is upon the + increase, but whose desires grow much faster than their fortunes: and who + gloat upon the gifts of wealth in anticipation, long before they have + means to command them. Such men eager to find some short cut to these + gratifications, already almost within their reach. From the combination of + these causes the result is, that in democracies there are always a + multitude of individuals whose wants are above their means, and who are + very willing to take up with imperfect satisfaction rather than abandon + the object of their desires. + </p> + <p> + The artisan readily understands these passions, for he himself partakes in + them: in an aristocracy he would seek to sell his workmanship at a high + price to the few; he now conceives that the more expeditious way of + getting rich is to sell them at a low price to all. But there are only two + ways of lowering the price of commodities. The first is to discover some + better, shorter, and more ingenious method of producing them: the second + is to manufacture a larger quantity of goods, nearly similar, but of less + value. Amongst a democratic population, all the intellectual faculties of + the workman are directed to these two objects: he strives to invent + methods which may enable him not only to work better, but quicker and + cheaper; or, if he cannot succeed in that, to diminish the intrinsic + qualities of the thing he makes, without rendering it wholly unfit for the + use for which it is intended. When none but the wealthy had watches, they + were almost all very good ones: few are now made which are worth much, but + everybody has one in his pocket. Thus the democratic principle not only + tends to direct the human mind to the useful arts, but it induces the + artisan to produce with greater rapidity a quantity of imperfect + commodities, and the consumer to content himself with these commodities. + </p> + <p> + Not that in democracies the arts are incapable of producing very + commendable works, if such be required. This may occasionally be the case, + if customers appear who are ready to pay for time and trouble. In this + rivalry of every kind of industry—in the midst of this immense + competition and these countless experiments, some excellent workmen are + formed who reach the utmost limits of their craft. But they have rarely an + opportunity of displaying what they can do; they are scrupulously sparing + of their powers; they remain in a state of accomplished mediocrity, which + condemns itself, and, though it be very well able to shoot beyond the mark + before it, aims only at what it hits. In aristocracies, on the contrary, + workmen always do all they can; and when they stop, it is because they + have reached the limit of their attainments. + </p> + <p> + When I arrive in a country where I find some of the finest productions of + the arts, I learn from this fact nothing of the social condition or of the + political constitution of the country. But if I perceive that the + productions of the arts are generally of an inferior quality, very + abundant and very cheap, I am convinced that, amongst the people where + this occurs, privilege is on the decline, and that ranks are beginning to + intermingle, and will soon be confounded together. + </p> + <p> + The handicraftsmen of democratic ages endeavor not only to bring their + useful productions within the reach of the whole community, but they + strive to give to all their commodities attractive qualities which they do + not in reality possess. In the confusion of all ranks everyone hopes to + appear what he is not, and makes great exertions to succeed in this + object. This sentiment indeed, which is but too natural to the heart of + man, does not originate in the democratic principle; but that principle + applies it to material objects. To mimic virtue is of every age; but the + hypocrisy of luxury belongs more particularly to the ages of democracy. + </p> + <p> + To satisfy these new cravings of human vanity the arts have recourse to + every species of imposture: and these devices sometimes go so far as to + defeat their own purpose. Imitation diamonds are now made which may be + easily mistaken for real ones; as soon as the art of fabricating false + diamonds shall have reached so high a degree of perfection that they + cannot be distinguished from real ones, it is probable that both one and + the other will be abandoned, and become mere pebbles again. + </p> + <p> + This leads me to speak of those arts which are called the fine arts, by + way of distinction. I do not believe that it is a necessary effect of a + democratic social condition and of democratic institutions to diminish the + number of men who cultivate the fine arts; but these causes exert a very + powerful influence on the manner in which these arts are cultivated. Many + of those who had already contracted a taste for the fine arts are + impoverished: on the other hand, many of those who are not yet rich begin + to conceive that taste, at least by imitation; and the number of consumers + increases, but opulent and fastidious consumers become more scarce. + Something analogous to what I have already pointed out in the useful arts + then takes place in the fine arts; the productions of artists are more + numerous, but the merit of each production is diminished. No longer able + to soar to what is great, they cultivate what is pretty and elegant; and + appearance is more attended to than reality. In aristocracies a few great + pictures are produced; in democratic countries, a vast number of + insignificant ones. In the former, statues are raised of bronze; in the + latter, they are modelled in plaster. + </p> + <p> + When I arrived for the first time at New York, by that part of the + Atlantic Ocean which is called the Narrows, I was surprised to perceive + along the shore, at some distance from the city, a considerable number of + little palaces of white marble, several of which were built after the + models of ancient architecture. When I went the next day to inspect more + closely the building which had particularly attracted my notice, I found + that its walls were of whitewashed brick, and its columns of painted wood. + All the edifices which I had admired the night before were of the same + kind. + </p> + <p> + The social condition and the institutions of democracy impart, moreover, + certain peculiar tendencies to all the imitative arts, which it is easy to + point out. They frequently withdraw them from the delineation of the soul + to fix them exclusively on that of the body: and they substitute the + representation of motion and sensation for that of sentiment and thought: + in a word, they put the real in the place of the ideal. I doubt whether + Raphael studied the minutest intricacies of the mechanism of the human + body as thoroughly as the draughtsmen of our own time. He did not attach + the same importance to rigorous accuracy on this point as they do, because + he aspired to surpass nature. He sought to make of man something which + should be superior to man, and to embellish beauty's self. David and his + scholars were, on the contrary, as good anatomists as they were good + painters. They wonderfully depicted the models which they had before their + eyes, but they rarely imagined anything beyond them: they followed nature + with fidelity: whilst Raphael sought for something better than nature. + They have left us an exact portraiture of man; but he discloses in his + works a glimpse of the Divinity. This remark as to the manner of treating + a subject is no less applicable to the choice of it. The painters of the + Middle Ages generally sought far above themselves, and away from their own + time, for mighty subjects, which left to their imagination an unbounded + range. Our painters frequently employ their talents in the exact imitation + of the details of private life, which they have always before their eyes; + and they are forever copying trivial objects, the originals of which are + only too abundant in nature. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XII: Why The Americans Raise Some Monuments So Insignificant, And + Others So Important + </h2> + <p> + I have just observed, that in democratic ages monuments of the arts tend + to become more numerous and less important. I now hasten to point out the + exception to this rule. In a democratic community individuals are very + powerless; but the State which represents them all, and contains them all + in its grasp, is very powerful. Nowhere do citizens appear so + insignificant as in a democratic nation; nowhere does the nation itself + appear greater, or does the mind more easily take in a wide general survey + of it. In democratic communities the imagination is compressed when men + consider themselves; it expands indefinitely when they think of the State. + Hence it is that the same men who live on a small scale in narrow + dwellings, frequently aspire to gigantic splendor in the erection of their + public monuments. + </p> + <p> + The Americans traced out the circuit of an immense city on the site which + they intended to make their capital, but which, up to the present time, is + hardly more densely peopled than Pontoise, though, according to them, it + will one day contain a million of inhabitants. They have already rooted up + trees for ten miles round, lest they should interfere with the future + citizens of this imaginary metropolis. They have erected a magnificent + palace for Congress in the centre of the city, and have given it the + pompous name of the Capitol. The several States of the Union are every day + planning and erecting for themselves prodigious undertakings, which would + astonish the engineers of the great European nations. Thus democracy not + only leads men to a vast number of inconsiderable productions; it also + leads them to raise some monuments on the largest scale: but between these + two extremes there is a blank. A few scattered remains of enormous + buildings can therefore teach us nothing of the social condition and the + institutions of the people by whom they were raised. I may add, though the + remark leads me to step out of my subject, that they do not make us better + acquainted with its greatness, its civilization, and its real prosperity. + Whensoever a power of any kind shall be able to make a whole people + co-operate in a single undertaking, that power, with a little knowledge + and a great deal of time, will succeed in obtaining something enormous + from the co-operation of efforts so multiplied. But this does not lead to + the conclusion that the people was very happy, very enlightened, or even + very strong. + </p> + <p> + The Spaniards found the City of Mexico full of magnificent temples and + vast palaces; but that did not prevent Cortes from conquering the Mexican + Empire with 600 foot soldiers and sixteen horses. If the Romans had been + better acquainted with the laws of hydraulics, they would not have + constructed all the aqueducts which surround the ruins of their cities—they + would have made a better use of their power and their wealth. If they had + invented the steam-engine, perhaps they would not have extended to the + extremities of their empire those long artificial roads which are called + Roman roads. These things are at once the splendid memorials of their + ignorance and of their greatness. A people which should leave no other + vestige of its track than a few leaden pipes in the earth and a few iron + rods upon its surface, might have been more the master of nature than the + Romans. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XIII: Literary Characteristics Of Democratic Ages + </h2> + <p> + When a traveller goes into a bookseller's shop in the United States, and + examines the American books upon the shelves, the number of works appears + extremely great; whilst that of known authors appears, on the contrary, to + be extremely small. He will first meet with a number of elementary + treatises, destined to teach the rudiments of human knowledge. Most of + these books are written in Europe; the Americans reprint them, adapting + them to their own country. Next comes an enormous quantity of religious + works, Bibles, sermons, edifying anecdotes, controversial divinity, and + reports of charitable societies; lastly, appears the long catalogue of + political pamphlets. In America, parties do not write books to combat each + others' opinions, but pamphlets which are circulated for a day with + incredible rapidity, and then expire. In the midst of all these obscure + productions of the human brain are to be found the more remarkable works + of that small number of authors, whose names are, or ought to be, known to + Europeans. + </p> + <p> + Although America is perhaps in our days the civilized country in which + literature is least attended to, a large number of persons are + nevertheless to be found there who take an interest in the productions of + the mind, and who make them, if not the study of their lives, at least the + charm of their leisure hours. But England supplies these readers with the + larger portion of the books which they require. Almost all important + English books are republished in the United States. The literary genius of + Great Britain still darts its rays into the recesses of the forests of the + New World. There is hardly a pioneer's hut which does not contain a few + odd volumes of Shakespeare. I remember that I read the feudal play of + Henry V for the first time in a loghouse. + </p> + <p> + Not only do the Americans constantly draw upon the treasures of English + literature, but it may be said with truth that they find the literature of + England growing on their own soil. The larger part of that small number of + men in the United States who are engaged in the composition of literary + works are English in substance, and still more so in form. Thus they + transport into the midst of democracy the ideas and literary fashions + which are current amongst the aristocratic nation they have taken for + their model. They paint with colors borrowed from foreign manners; and as + they hardly ever represent the country they were born in as it really is, + they are seldom popular there. The citizens of the United States are + themselves so convinced that it is not for them that books are published, + that before they can make up their minds upon the merit of one of their + authors, they generally wait till his fame has been ratified in England, + just as in pictures the author of an original is held to be entitled to + judge of the merit of a copy. The inhabitants of the United States have + then at present, properly speaking, no literature. The only authors whom I + acknowledge as American are the journalists. They indeed are not great + writers, but they speak the language of their countrymen, and make + themselves heard by them. Other authors are aliens; they are to the + Americans what the imitators of the Greeks and Romans were to us at the + revival of learning—an object of curiosity, not of general sympathy. + They amuse the mind, but they do not act upon the manners of the people. + </p> + <p> + I have already said that this state of things is very far from originating + in democracy alone, and that the causes of it must be sought for in + several peculiar circumstances independent of the democratic principle. If + the Americans, retaining the same laws and social condition, had had a + different origin, and had been transported into another country, I do not + question that they would have had a literature. Even as they now are, I am + convinced that they will ultimately have one; but its character will be + different from that which marks the American literary productions of our + time, and that character will be peculiarly its own. Nor is it impossible + to trace this character beforehand. + </p> + <p> + I suppose an aristocratic people amongst whom letters are cultivated; the + labors of the mind, as well as the affairs of state, are conducted by a + ruling class in society. The literary as well as the political career is + almost entirely confined to this class, or to those nearest to it in rank. + These premises suffice to give me a key to all the rest. When a small + number of the same men are engaged at the same time upon the same objects, + they easily concert with one another, and agree upon certain leading rules + which are to govern them each and all. If the object which attracts the + attention of these men is literature, the productions of the mind will + soon be subjected by them to precise canons, from which it will no longer + be allowable to depart. If these men occupy a hereditary position in the + country, they will be naturally inclined, not only to adopt a certain + number of fixed rules for themselves, but to follow those which their + forefathers laid down for their own guidance; their code will be at once + strict and traditional. As they are not necessarily engrossed by the cares + of daily life—as they have never been so, any more than their + fathers were before them—they have learned to take an interest, for + several generations back, in the labors of the mind. They have learned to + understand literature as an art, to love it in the end for its own sake, + and to feel a scholar-like satisfaction in seeing men conform to its + rules. Nor is this all: the men of whom I speak began and will end their + lives in easy or in affluent circumstances; hence they have naturally + conceived a taste for choice gratifications, and a love of refined and + delicate pleasures. Nay more, a kind of indolence of mind and heart, which + they frequently contract in the midst of this long and peaceful enjoyment + of so much welfare, leads them to put aside, even from their pleasures, + whatever might be too startling or too acute. They had rather be amused + than intensely excited; they wish to be interested, but not to be carried + away. + </p> + <p> + Now let us fancy a great number of literary performances executed by the + men, or for the men, whom I have just described, and we shall readily + conceive a style of literature in which everything will be regular and + prearranged. The slightest work will be carefully touched in its least + details; art and labor will be conspicuous in everything; each kind of + writing will have rules of its own, from which it will not be allowed to + swerve, and which distinguish it from all others. Style will be thought of + almost as much importance as thought; and the form will be no less + considered than the matter: the diction will be polished, measured, and + uniform. The tone of the mind will be always dignified, seldom very + animated; and writers will care more to perfect what they produce than to + multiply their productions. It will sometimes happen that the members of + the literary class, always living amongst themselves and writing for + themselves alone, will lose sight of the rest of the world, which will + infect them with a false and labored style; they will lay down minute + literary rules for their exclusive use, which will insensibly lead them to + deviate from common-sense, and finally to transgress the bounds of nature. + By dint of striving after a mode of parlance different from the vulgar, + they will arrive at a sort of aristocratic jargon, which is hardly less + remote from pure language than is the coarse dialect of the people. Such + are the natural perils of literature amongst aristocracies. Every + aristocracy which keeps itself entirely aloof from the people becomes + impotent—a fact which is as true in literature as it is in politics. + *a + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ All this is especially true of the aristocratic countries which + have been long and peacefully subject to a monarchical government. When + liberty prevails in an aristocracy, the higher ranks are constantly + obliged to make use of the lower classes; and when they use, they approach + them. This frequently introduces something of a democratic spirit into an + aristocratic community. There springs up, moreover, in a privileged body, + governing with energy and an habitually bold policy, a taste for stir and + excitement which must infallibly affect all literary performances.] + </p> + <p> + Let us now turn the picture and consider the other side of it; let us + transport ourselves into the midst of a democracy, not unprepared by + ancient traditions and present culture to partake in the pleasures of the + mind. Ranks are there intermingled and confounded; knowledge and power are + both infinitely subdivided, and, if I may use the expression, scattered on + every side. Here then is a motley multitude, whose intellectual wants are + to be supplied. These new votaries of the pleasures of the mind have not + all received the same education; they do not possess the same degree of + culture as their fathers, nor any resemblance to them—nay, they + perpetually differ from themselves, for they live in a state of incessant + change of place, feelings, and fortunes. The mind of each member of the + community is therefore unattached to that of his fellow-citizens by + tradition or by common habits; and they have never had the power, the + inclination, nor the time to concert together. It is, however, from the + bosom of this heterogeneous and agitated mass that authors spring; and + from the same source their profits and their fame are distributed. I can + without difficulty understand that, under these circumstances, I must + expect to meet in the literature of such a people with but few of those + strict conventional rules which are admitted by readers and by writers in + aristocratic ages. If it should happen that the men of some one period + were agreed upon any such rules, that would prove nothing for the + following period; for amongst democratic nations each new generation is a + new people. Amongst such nations, then, literature will not easily be + subjected to strict rules, and it is impossible that any such rules should + ever be permanent. + </p> + <p> + In democracies it is by no means the case that all the men who cultivate + literature have received a literary education; and most of those who have + some tinge of belles-lettres are either engaged in politics, or in a + profession which only allows them to taste occasionally and by stealth the + pleasures of the mind. These pleasures, therefore, do not constitute the + principal charm of their lives; but they are considered as a transient and + necessary recreation amidst the serious labors of life. Such man can never + acquire a sufficiently intimate knowledge of the art of literature to + appreciate its more delicate beauties; and the minor shades of expression + must escape them. As the time they can devote to letters is very short, + they seek to make the best use of the whole of it. They prefer books which + may be easily procured, quickly read, and which require no learned + researches to be understood. They ask for beauties, self-proffered and + easily enjoyed; above all, they must have what is unexpected and new. + Accustomed to the struggle, the crosses, and the monotony of practical + life, they require rapid emotions, startling passages—truths or + errors brilliant enough to rouse them up, and to plunge them at once, as + if by violence, into the midst of a subject. + </p> + <p> + Why should I say more? or who does not understand what is about to follow, + before I have expressed it? Taken as a whole, literature in democratic + ages can never present, as it does in the periods of aristocracy, an + aspect of order, regularity, science, and art; its form will, on the + contrary, ordinarily be slighted, sometimes despised. Style will + frequently be fantastic, incorrect, overburdened, and loose—almost + always vehement and bold. Authors will aim at rapidity of execution, more + than at perfection of detail. Small productions will be more common than + bulky books; there will be more wit than erudition, more imagination than + profundity; and literary performances will bear marks of an untutored and + rude vigor of thought—frequently of great variety and singular + fecundity. The object of authors will be to astonish rather than to + please, and to stir the passions more than to charm the taste. Here and + there, indeed, writers will doubtless occur who will choose a different + track, and who will, if they are gifted with superior abilities, succeed + in finding readers, in spite of their defects or their better qualities; + but these exceptions will be rare, and even the authors who shall so + depart from the received practice in the main subject of their works, will + always relapse into it in some lesser details. + </p> + <p> + I have just depicted two extreme conditions: the transition by which a + nation passes from the former to the latter is not sudden but gradual, and + marked with shades of very various intensity. In the passage which + conducts a lettered people from the one to the other, there is almost + always a moment at which the literary genius of democratic nations has its + confluence with that of aristocracies, and both seek to establish their + joint sway over the human mind. Such epochs are transient, but very + brilliant: they are fertile without exuberance, and animated without + confusion. The French literature of the eighteenth century may serve as an + example. + </p> + <p> + I should say more than I mean if I were to assert that the literature of a + nation is always subordinate to its social condition and its political + constitution. I am aware that, independently of these causes, there are + several others which confer certain characteristics on literary + productions; but these appear to me to be the chief. The relations which + exist between the social and political condition of a people and the + genius of its authors are always very numerous: whoever knows the one is + never completely ignorant of the other. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XIV: The Trade Of Literature + </h2> + <p> + Democracy not only infuses a taste for letters among the trading classes, + but introduces a trading spirit into literature. In aristocracies, readers + are fastidious and few in number; in democracies, they are far more + numerous and far less difficult to please. The consequence is, that among + aristocratic nations, no one can hope to succeed without immense + exertions, and that these exertions may bestow a great deal of fame, but + can never earn much money; whilst among democratic nations, a writer may + flatter himself that he will obtain at a cheap rate a meagre reputation + and a large fortune. For this purpose he need not be admired; it is enough + that he is liked. The ever-increasing crowd of readers, and their + continual craving for something new, insure the sale of books which nobody + much esteems. + </p> + <p> + In democratic periods the public frequently treat authors as kings do + their courtiers; they enrich, and they despise them. What more is needed + by the venal souls which are born in courts, or which are worthy to live + there? Democratic literature is always infested with a tribe of writers + who look upon letters as a mere trade: and for some few great authors who + adorn it you may reckon thousands of idea-mongers. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XV: The Study Of Greek And Latin Literature Peculiarly Useful In + Democratic Communities + </h2> + <p> + What was called the People in the most democratic republics of antiquity, + was very unlike what we designate by that term. In Athens, all the + citizens took part in public affairs; but there were only 20,000 citizens + to more than 350,000 inhabitants. All the rest were slaves, and discharged + the greater part of those duties which belong at the present day to the + lower or even to the middle classes. Athens, then, with her universal + suffrage, was after all merely an aristocratic republic in which all the + nobles had an equal right to the government. The struggle between the + patricians and plebeians of Rome must be considered in the same light: it + was simply an intestine feud between the elder and younger branches of the + same family. All the citizens belonged, in fact, to the aristocracy, and + partook of its character. + </p> + <p> + It is moreover to be remarked, that amongst the ancients books were always + scarce and dear; and that very great difficulties impeded their + publication and circulation. These circumstances concentrated literary + tastes and habits amongst a small number of men, who formed a small + literary aristocracy out of the choicer spirits of the great political + aristocracy. Accordingly nothing goes to prove that literature was ever + treated as a trade amongst the Greeks and Romans. + </p> + <p> + These peoples, which not only constituted aristocracies, but very polished + and free nations, of course imparted to their literary productions the + defects and the merits which characterize the literature of aristocratic + ages. And indeed a very superficial survey of the literary remains of the + ancients will suffice to convince us, that if those writers were sometimes + deficient in variety, or fertility in their subjects, or in boldness, + vivacity, or power of generalization in their thoughts, they always + displayed exquisite care and skill in their details. Nothing in their + works seems to be done hastily or at random: every line is written for the + eye of the connoisseur, and is shaped after some conception of ideal + beauty. No literature places those fine qualities, in which the writers of + democracies are naturally deficient, in bolder relief than that of the + ancients; no literature, therefore, ought to be more studied in democratic + ages. This study is better suited than any other to combat the literary + defects inherent in those ages; as for their more praiseworthy literary + qualities, they will spring up of their own accord, without its being + necessary to learn to acquire them. + </p> + <p> + It is important that this point should be clearly understood. A particular + study may be useful to the literature of a people, without being + appropriate to its social and political wants. If men were to persist in + teaching nothing but the literature of the dead languages in a community + where everyone is habitually led to make vehement exertions to augment or + to maintain his fortune, the result would be a very polished, but a very + dangerous, race of citizens. For as their social and political condition + would give them every day a sense of wants which their education would + never teach them to supply, they would perturb the State, in the name of + the Greeks and Romans, instead of enriching it by their productive + industry. + </p> + <p> + It is evident that in democratic communities the interest of individuals, + as well as the security of the commonwealth, demands that the education of + the greater number should be scientific, commercial, and industrial, + rather than literary. Greek and Latin should not be taught in all schools; + but it is important that those who by their natural disposition or their + fortune are destined to cultivate letters or prepared to relish them, + should find schools where a complete knowledge of ancient literature may + be acquired, and where the true scholar may be formed. A few excellent + universities would do more towards the attainment of this object than a + vast number of bad grammar schools, where superfluous matters, badly + learned, stand in the way of sound instruction in necessary studies. + </p> + <p> + All who aspire to literary excellence in democratic nations, ought + frequently to refresh themselves at the springs of ancient literature: + there is no more wholesome course for the mind. Not that I hold the + literary productions of the ancients to be irreproachable; but I think + that they have some especial merits, admirably calculated to + counterbalance our peculiar defects. They are a prop on the side on which + we are in most danger of falling. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XVI: The Effect Of Democracy On Language + </h2> + <p> + If the reader has rightly understood what I have already said on the + subject of literature in general, he will have no difficulty in + comprehending that species of influence which a democratic social + condition and democratic institutions may exercise over language itself, + which is the chief instrument of thought. + </p> + <p> + American authors may truly be said to live more in England than in their + own country; since they constantly study the English writers, and take + them every day for their models. But such is not the case with the bulk of + the population, which is more immediately subjected to the peculiar causes + acting upon the United States. It is not then to the written, but to the + spoken language that attention must be paid, if we would detect the + modifications which the idiom of an aristocratic people may undergo when + it becomes the language of a democracy. + </p> + <p> + Englishmen of education, and more competent judges than I can be myself of + the nicer shades of expression, have frequently assured me that the + language of the educated classes in the United States is notably different + from that of the educated classes in Great Britain. They complain not only + that the Americans have brought into use a number of new words—the + difference and the distance between the two countries might suffice to + explain that much—but that these new words are more especially taken + from the jargon of parties, the mechanical arts, or the language of trade. + They assert, in addition to this, that old English words are often used by + the Americans in new acceptations; and lastly, that the inhabitants of the + United States frequently intermingle their phraseology in the strangest + manner, and sometimes place words together which are always kept apart in + the language of the mother-country. These remarks, which were made to me + at various times by persons who appeared to be worthy of credit, led me to + reflect upon the subject; and my reflections brought me, by theoretical + reasoning, to the same point at which my informants had arrived by + practical observation. + </p> + <p> + In aristocracies, language must naturally partake of that state of repose + in which everything remains. Few new words are coined, because few new + things are made; and even if new things were made, they would be + designated by known words, whose meaning has been determined by tradition. + If it happens that the human mind bestirs itself at length, or is roused + by light breaking in from without, the novel expressions which are + introduced are characterized by a degree of learning, intelligence, and + philosophy, which shows that they do not originate in a democracy. After + the fall of Constantinople had turned the tide of science and literature + towards the west, the French language was almost immediately invaded by a + multitude of new words, which had all Greek or Latin roots. An erudite + neologism then sprang up in France which was confined to the educated + classes, and which produced no sensible effect, or at least a very gradual + one, upon the people. All the nations of Europe successively exhibited the + same change. Milton alone introduced more than six hundred words into the + English language, almost all derived from the Latin, the Greek, or the + Hebrew. The constant agitation which prevails in a democratic community + tends unceasingly, on the contrary, to change the character of the + language, as it does the aspect of affairs. In the midst of this general + stir and competition of minds, a great number of new ideas are formed, old + ideas are lost, or reappear, or are subdivided into an infinite variety of + minor shades. The consequence is, that many words must fall into + desuetude, and others must be brought into use. + </p> + <p> + Democratic nations love change for its own sake; and this is seen in their + language as much as in their politics. Even when they do not need to + change words, they sometimes feel a wish to transform them. The genius of + a democratic people is not only shown by the great number of words they + bring into use, but also by the nature of the ideas these new words + represent. Amongst such a people the majority lays down the law in + language as well as in everything else; its prevailing spirit is as + manifest in that as in other respects. But the majority is more engaged in + business than in study—in political and commercial interests than in + philosophical speculation or literary pursuits. Most of the words coined + or adopted for its use will therefore bear the mark of these habits; they + will mainly serve to express the wants of business, the passions of party, + or the details of the public administration. In these departments the + language will constantly spread, whilst on the other hand it will + gradually lose ground in metaphysics and theology. + </p> + <p> + As to the source from which democratic nations are wont to derive their + new expressions, and the manner in which they go to work to coin them, + both may easily be described. Men living in democratic countries know but + little of the language which was spoken at Athens and at Rome, and they do + not care to dive into the lore of antiquity to find the expression they + happen to want. If they have sometimes recourse to learned etymologies, + vanity will induce them to search at the roots of the dead languages; but + erudition does not naturally furnish them with its resources. The most + ignorant, it sometimes happens, will use them most. The eminently + democratic desire to get above their own sphere will often lead them to + seek to dignify a vulgar profession by a Greek or Latin name. The lower + the calling is, and the more remote from learning, the more pompous and + erudite is its appellation. Thus the French rope-dancers have transformed + themselves into acrobates and funambules. + </p> + <p> + In the absence of knowledge of the dead languages, democratic nations are + apt to borrow words from living tongues; for their mutual intercourse + becomes perpetual, and the inhabitants of different countries imitate each + other the more readily as they grow more like each other every day. + </p> + <p> + But it is principally upon their own languages that democratic nations + attempt to perpetrate innovations. From time to time they resume forgotten + expressions in their vocabulary, which they restore to use; or they borrow + from some particular class of the community a term peculiar to it, which + they introduce with a figurative meaning into the language of daily life. + Many expressions which originally belonged to the technical language of a + profession or a party, are thus drawn into general circulation. + </p> + <p> + The most common expedient employed by democratic nations to make an + innovation in language consists in giving some unwonted meaning to an + expression already in use. This method is very simple, prompt, and + convenient; no learning is required to use it aright, and ignorance itself + rather facilitates the practice; but that practice is most dangerous to + the language. When a democratic people doubles the meaning of a word in + this way, they sometimes render the signification which it retains as + ambiguous as that which it acquires. An author begins by a slight + deflection of a known expression from its primitive meaning, and he adapts + it, thus modified, as well as he can to his subject. A second writer + twists the sense of the expression in another way; a third takes + possession of it for another purpose; and as there is no common appeal to + the sentence of a permanent tribunal which may definitely settle the + signification of the word, it remains in an ambiguous condition. The + consequence is that writers hardly ever appear to dwell upon a single + thought, but they always seem to point their aim at a knot of ideas, + leaving the reader to judge which of them has been hit. This is a + deplorable consequence of democracy. I had rather that the language should + be made hideous with words imported from the Chinese, the Tartars, or the + Hurons, than that the meaning of a word in our own language should become + indeterminate. Harmony and uniformity are only secondary beauties in + composition; many of these things are conventional, and, strictly + speaking, it is possible to forego them; but without clear phraseology + there is no good language. + </p> + <p> + The principle of equality necessarily introduces several other changes + into language. In aristocratic ages, when each nation tends to stand aloof + from all others and likes to have distinct characteristics of its own, it + often happens that several peoples which have a common origin become + nevertheless estranged from each other, so that, without ceasing to + understand the same language, they no longer all speak it in the same + manner. In these ages each nation is divided into a certain number of + classes, which see but little of each other, and do not intermingle. Each + of these classes contracts, and invariably retains, habits of mind + peculiar to itself, and adopts by choice certain words and certain terms, + which afterwards pass from generation to generation, like their estates. + The same idiom then comprises a language of the poor and a language of the + rich—a language of the citizen and a language of the nobility—a + learned language and a vulgar one. The deeper the divisions, and the more + impassable the barriers of society become, the more must this be the case. + I would lay a wager, that amongst the castes of India there are amazing + variations of language, and that there is almost as much difference + between the language of the pariah and that of the Brahmin as there is in + their dress. When, on the contrary, men, being no longer restrained by + ranks, meet on terms of constant intercourse—when castes are + destroyed, and the classes of society are recruited and intermixed with + each other, all the words of a language are mingled. Those which are + unsuitable to the greater number perish; the remainder form a common + store, whence everyone chooses pretty nearly at random. Almost all the + different dialects which divided the idioms of European nations are + manifestly declining; there is no patois in the New World, and it is + disappearing every day from the old countries. + </p> + <p> + The influence of this revolution in social conditions is as much felt in + style as it is in phraseology. Not only does everyone use the same words, + but a habit springs up of using them without discrimination. The rules + which style had set up are almost abolished: the line ceases to be drawn + between expressions which seem by their very nature vulgar, and other + which appear to be refined. Persons springing from different ranks of + society carry the terms and expressions they are accustomed to use with + them, into whatever circumstances they may pass; thus the origin of words + is lost like the origin of individuals, and there is as much confusion in + language as there is in society. + </p> + <p> + I am aware that in the classification of words there are rules which do + not belong to one form of society any more than to another, but which are + derived from the nature of things. Some expressions and phrases are + vulgar, because the ideas they are meant to express are low in themselves; + others are of a higher character, because the objects they are intended to + designate are naturally elevated. No intermixture of ranks will ever + efface these differences. But the principle of equality cannot fail to + root out whatever is merely conventional and arbitrary in the forms of + thought. Perhaps the necessary classification which I pointed out in the + last sentence will always be less respected by a democratic people than by + any other, because amongst such a people there are no men who are + permanently disposed by education, culture, and leisure to study the + natural laws of language, and who cause those laws to be respected by + their own observance of them. + </p> + <p> + I shall not quit this topic without touching on a feature of democratic + languages, which is perhaps more characteristic of them than any other. It + has already been shown that democratic nations have a taste, and sometimes + a passion, for general ideas, and that this arises from their peculiar + merits and defects. This liking for general ideas is displayed in + democratic languages by the continual use of generic terms or abstract + expressions, and by the manner in which they are employed. This is the + great merit and the great imperfection of these languages. Democratic + nations are passionately addicted to generic terms or abstract + expressions, because these modes of speech enlarge thought, and assist the + operations of the mind by enabling it to include several objects in a + small compass. A French democratic writer will be apt to say capacites in + the abstract for men of capacity, and without particularizing the objects + to which their capacity is applied: he will talk about actualities to + designate in one word the things passing before his eyes at the instant; + and he will comprehend under the term eventualities whatever may happen in + the universe, dating from the moment at which he speaks. Democratic + writers are perpetually coining words of this kind, in which they + sublimate into further abstraction the abstract terms of the language. + Nay, more, to render their mode of speech more succinct, they personify + the subject of these abstract terms, and make it act like a real entity. + Thus they would say in French, "La force des choses veut que les capacites + gouvernent." + </p> + <p> + I cannot better illustrate what I mean than by my own example. I have + frequently used the word "equality" in an absolute sense—nay, I have + personified equality in several places; thus I have said that equality + does such and such things, or refrains from doing others. It may be + affirmed that the writers of the age of Louis XIV would not have used + these expressions: they would never have thought of using the word + "equality" without applying it to some particular object; and they would + rather have renounced the term altogether than have consented to make a + living personage of it. + </p> + <p> + These abstract terms which abound in democratic languages, and which are + used on every occasion without attaching them to any particular fact, + enlarge and obscure the thoughts they are intended to convey; they render + the mode of speech more succinct, and the idea contained in it less clear. + But with regard to language, democratic nations prefer obscurity to labor. + I know not indeed whether this loose style has not some secret charm for + those who speak and write amongst these nations. As the men who live there + are frequently left to the efforts of their individual powers of mind, + they are almost always a prey to doubt; and as their situation in life is + forever changing, they are never held fast to any of their opinions by the + certain tenure of their fortunes. Men living in democratic countries are, + then, apt to entertain unsettled ideas, and they require loose expressions + to convey them. As they never know whether the idea they express to-day + will be appropriate to the new position they may occupy to-morrow, they + naturally acquire a liking for abstract terms. An abstract term is like a + box with a false bottom: you may put in it what ideas you please, and take + them out again without being observed. + </p> + <p> + Amongst all nations, generic and abstract terms form the basis of + language. I do not, therefore, affect to expel these terms from democratic + languages; I simply remark that men have an especial tendency, in the ages + of democracy, to multiply words of this kind—to take them always by + themselves in their most abstract acceptation, and to use them on all + occasions, even when the nature of the discourse does not require them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XVII: Of Some Of The Sources Of Poetry Amongst Democratic Nations + </h2> + <p> + Various different significations have been given to the word "poetry." It + would weary my readers if I were to lead them into a discussion as to + which of these definitions ought to be selected: I prefer telling them at + once that which I have chosen. In my opinion, poetry is the search and the + delineation of the ideal. The poet is he who, by suppressing a part of + what exists, by adding some imaginary touches to the picture, and by + combining certain real circumstances, but which do not in fact + concurrently happen, completes and extends the work of nature. Thus the + object of poetry is not to represent what is true, but to adorn it, and to + present to the mind some loftier imagery. Verse, regarded as the ideal + beauty of language, may be eminently poetical; but verse does not, of + itself, constitute poetry. + </p> + <p> + I now proceed to inquire whether, amongst the actions, the sentiments, and + the opinions of democratic nations, there are any which lead to a + conception of ideal beauty, and which may for this reason be considered as + natural sources of poetry. It must in the first place, be acknowledged + that the taste for ideal beauty, and the pleasure derived from the + expression of it, are never so intense or so diffused amongst a democratic + as amongst an aristocratic people. In aristocratic nations it sometimes + happens that the body goes on to act as it were spontaneously, whilst the + higher faculties are bound and burdened by repose. Amongst these nations + the people will very often display poetic tastes, and sometimes allow + their fancy to range beyond and above what surrounds them. But in + democracies the love of physical gratification, the notion of bettering + one's condition, the excitement of competition, the charm of anticipated + success, are so many spurs to urge men onwards in the active professions + they have embraced, without allowing them to deviate for an instant from + the track. The main stress of the faculties is to this point. The + imagination is not extinct; but its chief function is to devise what may + be useful, and to represent what is real. + </p> + <p> + The principle of equality not only diverts men from the description of + ideal beauty—it also diminishes the number of objects to be + described. Aristocracy, by maintaining society in a fixed position, is + favorable to the solidity and duration of positive religions, as well as + to the stability of political institutions. It not only keeps the human + mind within a certain sphere of belief, but it predisposes the mind to + adopt one faith rather than another. An aristocratic people will always be + prone to place intermediate powers between God and man. In this respect it + may be said that the aristocratic element is favorable to poetry. When the + universe is peopled with supernatural creatures, not palpable to the + senses but discovered by the mind, the imagination ranges freely, and + poets, finding a thousand subjects to delineate, also find a countless + audience to take an interest in their productions. In democratic ages it + sometimes happens, on the contrary, that men are as much afloat in matters + of belief as they are in their laws. Scepticism then draws the imagination + of poets back to earth, and confines them to the real and visible world. + Even when the principle of equality does not disturb religious belief, it + tends to simplify it, and to divert attention from secondary agents, to + fix it principally on the Supreme Power. Aristocracy naturally leads the + human mind to the contemplation of the past, and fixes it there. + Democracy, on the contrary, gives men a sort of instinctive distaste for + what is ancient. In this respect aristocracy is far more favorable to + poetry; for things commonly grow larger and more obscure as they are more + remote; and for this twofold reason they are better suited to the + delineation of the ideal. + </p> + <p> + After having deprived poetry of the past, the principle of equality robs + it in part of the present. Amongst aristocratic nations there are a + certain number of privileged personages, whose situation is, as it were, + without and above the condition of man; to these, power, wealth, fame, + wit, refinement, and distinction in all things appear peculiarly to + belong. The crowd never sees them very closely, or does not watch them in + minute details; and little is needed to make the description of such men + poetical. On the other hand, amongst the same people, you will meet with + classes so ignorant, low, and enslaved, that they are no less fit objects + for poetry from the excess of their rudeness and wretchedness, than the + former are from their greatness and refinement. Besides, as the different + classes of which an aristocratic community is composed are widely + separated, and imperfectly acquainted with each other, the imagination may + always represent them with some addition to, or some subtraction from, + what they really are. In democratic communities, where men are all + insignificant and very much alike, each man instantly sees all his fellows + when he surveys himself. The poets of democratic ages can never, + therefore, take any man in particular as the subject of a piece; for an + object of slender importance, which is distinctly seen on all sides, will + never lend itself to an ideal conception. Thus the principle of equality; + in proportion as it has established itself in the world, has dried up most + of the old springs of poetry. Let us now attempt to show what new ones it + may disclose. + </p> + <p> + When scepticism had depopulated heaven, and the progress of equality had + reduced each individual to smaller and better known proportions, the + poets, not yet aware of what they could substitute for the great themes + which were departing together with the aristocracy, turned their eyes to + inanimate nature. As they lost sight of gods and heroes, they set + themselves to describe streams and mountains. Thence originated in the + last century, that kind of poetry which has been called, by way of + distinction, the descriptive. Some have thought that this sort of + delineation, embellished with all the physical and inanimate objects which + cover the earth, was the kind of poetry peculiar to democratic ages; but I + believe this to be an error, and that it only belongs to a period of + transition. + </p> + <p> + I am persuaded that in the end democracy diverts the imagination from all + that is external to man, and fixes it on man alone. Democratic nations may + amuse themselves for a while with considering the productions of nature; + but they are only excited in reality by a survey of themselves. Here, and + here alone, the true sources of poetry amongst such nations are to be + found; and it may be believed that the poets who shall neglect to draw + their inspirations hence, will lose all sway over the minds which they + would enchant, and will be left in the end with none but unimpassioned + spectators of their transports. I have shown how the ideas of progression + and of the indefinite perfectibility of the human race belong to + democratic ages. Democratic nations care but little for what has been, but + they are haunted by visions of what will be; in this direction their + unbounded imagination grows and dilates beyond all measure. Here then is + the wildest range open to the genius of poets, which allows them to remove + their performances to a sufficient distance from the eye. Democracy shuts + the past against the poet, but opens the future before him. As all the + citizens who compose a democratic community are nearly equal and alike, + the poet cannot dwell upon any one of them; but the nation itself invites + the exercise of his powers. The general similitude of individuals, which + renders any one of them taken separately an improper subject of poetry, + allows poets to include them all in the same imagery, and to take a + general survey of the people itself. Democractic nations have a clearer + perception than any others of their own aspect; and an aspect so imposing + is admirably fitted to the delineation of the ideal. + </p> + <p> + I readily admit that the Americans have no poets; I cannot allow that they + have no poetic ideas. In Europe people talk a great deal of the wilds of + America, but the Americans themselves never think about them: they are + insensible to the wonders of inanimate nature, and they may be said not to + perceive the mighty forests which surround them till they fall beneath the + hatchet. Their eyes are fixed upon another sight: the American people + views its own march across these wilds—drying swamps, turning the + course of rivers, peopling solitudes, and subduing nature. This + magnificent image of themselves does not meet the gaze of the Americans at + intervals only; it may be said to haunt every one of them in his least as + well as in his most important actions, and to be always flitting before + his mind. Nothing conceivable is so petty, so insipid, so crowded with + paltry interests, in one word so anti-poetic, as the life of a man in the + United States. But amongst the thoughts which it suggests there is always + one which is full of poetry, and that is the hidden nerve which gives + vigor to the frame. + </p> + <p> + In aristocratic ages each people, as well as each individual, is prone to + stand separate and aloof from all others. In democratic ages, the extreme + fluctuations of men and the impatience of their desires keep them + perpetually on the move; so that the inhabitants of different countries + intermingle, see, listen to, and borrow from each other's stores. It is + not only then the members of the same community who grow more alike; + communities are themselves assimilated to one another, and the whole + assemblage presents to the eye of the spectator one vast democracy, each + citizen of which is a people. This displays the aspect of mankind for the + first time in the broadest light. All that belongs to the existence of the + human race taken as a whole, to its vicissitudes and to its future, + becomes an abundant mine of poetry. The poets who lived in aristocratic + ages have been eminently successful in their delineations of certain + incidents in the life of a people or a man; but none of them ever ventured + to include within his performances the destinies of mankind—a task + which poets writing in democratic ages may attempt. At that same time at + which every man, raising his eyes above his country, begins at length to + discern mankind at large, the Divinity is more and more manifest to the + human mind in full and entire majesty. If in democratic ages faith in + positive religions be often shaken, and the belief in intermediate agents, + by whatever name they are called, be overcast; on the other hand men are + disposed to conceive a far broader idea of Providence itself, and its + interference in human affairs assumes a new and more imposing appearance + to their eyes. Looking at the human race as one great whole, they easily + conceive that its destinies are regulated by the same design; and in the + actions of every individual they are led to acknowledge a trace of that + universal and eternal plan on which God rules our race. This consideration + may be taken as another prolific source of poetry which is opened in + democratic ages. Democratic poets will always appear trivial and frigid if + they seek to invest gods, demons, or angels, with corporeal forms, and if + they attempt to draw them down from heaven to dispute the supremacy of + earth. But if they strive to connect the great events they commemorate + with the general providential designs which govern the universe, and, + without showing the finger of the Supreme Governor, reveal the thoughts of + the Supreme Mind, their works will be admired and understood, for the + imagination of their contemporaries takes this direction of its own + accord. + </p> + <p> + It may be foreseen in the like manner that poets living in democratic ages + will prefer the delineation of passions and ideas to that of persons and + achievements. The language, the dress, and the daily actions of men in + democracies are repugnant to ideal conceptions. These things are not + poetical in themselves; and, if it were otherwise, they would cease to be + so, because they are too familiar to all those to whom the poet would + speak of them. This forces the poet constantly to search below the + external surface which is palpable to the senses, in order to read the + inner soul: and nothing lends itself more to the delineation of the ideal + than the scrutiny of the hidden depths in the immaterial nature of man. I + need not to ramble over earth and sky to discover a wondrous object woven + of contrasts, of greatness and littleness infinite, of intense gloom and + of amazing brightness—capable at once of exciting pity, admiration, + terror, contempt. I find that object in myself. Man springs out of + nothing, crosses time, and disappears forever in the bosom of God; he is + seen but for a moment, staggering on the verge of the two abysses, and + there he is lost. If man were wholly ignorant of himself, he would have no + poetry in him; for it is impossible to describe what the mind does not + conceive. If man clearly discerned his own nature, his imagination would + remain idle, and would have nothing to add to the picture. But the nature + of man is sufficiently disclosed for him to apprehend something of + himself; and sufficiently obscure for all the rest to be plunged in thick + darkness, in which he gropes forever—and forever in vain—to + lay hold on some completer notion of his being. + </p> + <p> + Amongst a democratic people poetry will not be fed with legendary lays or + the memorials of old traditions. The poet will not attempt to people the + universe with supernatural beings in whom his readers and his own fancy + have ceased to believe; nor will he present virtues and vices in the mask + of frigid personification, which are better received under their own + features. All these resources fail him; but Man remains, and the poet + needs no more. The destinies of mankind—man himself, taken aloof + from his age and his country, and standing in the presence of Nature and + of God, with his passions, his doubts, his rare prosperities, and + inconceivable wretchedness—will become the chief, if not the sole + theme of poetry amongst these nations. Experience may confirm this + assertion, if we consider the productions of the greatest poets who have + appeared since the world has been turned to democracy. The authors of our + age who have so admirably delineated the features of Faust, Childe Harold, + Rene, and Jocelyn, did not seek to record the actions of an individual, + but to enlarge and to throw light on some of the obscurer recesses of the + human heart. Such are the poems of democracy. The principle of equality + does not then destroy all the subjects of poetry: it renders them less + numerous, but more vast. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XVIII: Of The Inflated Style Of American Writers And Orators + </h2> + <p> + I have frequently remarked that the Americans, who generally treat of + business in clear, plain language, devoid of all ornament, and so + extremely simple as to be often coarse, are apt to become inflated as soon + as they attempt a more poetical diction. They then vent their pomposity + from one end of a harangue to the other; and to hear them lavish imagery + on every occasion, one might fancy that they never spoke of anything with + simplicity. The English are more rarely given to a similar failing. The + cause of this may be pointed out without much difficulty. In democratic + communities each citizen is habitually engaged in the contemplation of a + very puny object, namely himself. If he ever raises his looks higher, he + then perceives nothing but the immense form of society at large, or the + still more imposing aspect of mankind. His ideas are all either extremely + minute and clear, or extremely general and vague: what lies between is an + open void. When he has been drawn out of his own sphere, therefore, he + always expects that some amazing object will be offered to his attention; + and it is on these terms alone that he consents to tear himself for an + instant from the petty complicated cares which form the charm and the + excitement of his life. This appears to me sufficiently to explain why men + in democracies, whose concerns are in general so paltry, call upon their + poets for conceptions so vast and descriptions so unlimited. + </p> + <p> + The authors, on their part, do not fail to obey a propensity of which they + themselves partake; they perpetually inflate their imaginations, and + expanding them beyond all bounds, they not unfrequently abandon the great + in order to reach the gigantic. By these means they hope to attract the + observation of the multitude, and to fix it easily upon themselves: nor + are their hopes disappointed; for as the multitude seeks for nothing in + poetry but subjects of very vast dimensions, it has neither the time to + measure with accuracy the proportions of all the subjects set before it, + nor a taste sufficiently correct to perceive at once in what respect they + are out of proportion. The author and the public at once vitiate one + another. + </p> + <p> + We have just seen that amongst democratic nations, the sources of poetry + are grand, but not abundant. They are soon exhausted: and poets, not + finding the elements of the ideal in what is real and true, abandon them + entirely and create monsters. I do not fear that the poetry of democratic + nations will prove too insipid, or that it will fly too near the ground; I + rather apprehend that it will be forever losing itself in the clouds, and + that it will range at last to purely imaginary regions. I fear that the + productions of democratic poets may often be surcharged with immense and + incoherent imagery, with exaggerated descriptions and strange creations; + and that the fantastic beings of their brain may sometimes make us regret + the world of reality. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XIX: Some Observations On The Drama Amongst Democratic Nations + </h2> + <p> + When the revolution which subverts the social and political state of an + aristocratic people begins to penetrate into literature, it generally + first manifests itself in the drama, and it always remains conspicuous + there. The spectator of a dramatic piece is, to a certain extent, taken by + surprise by the impression it conveys. He has no time to refer to his + memory, or to consult those more able to judge than himself. It does not + occur to him to resist the new literary tendencies which begin to be felt + by him; he yields to them before he knows what they are. Authors are very + prompt in discovering which way the taste of the public is thus secretly + inclined. They shape their productions accordingly; and the literature of + the stage, after having served to indicate the approaching literary + revolution, speedily completes its accomplishment. If you would judge + beforehand of the literature of a people which is lapsing into democracy, + study its dramatic productions. + </p> + <p> + The literature of the stage, moreover, even amongst aristocratic nations, + constitutes the most democratic part of their literature. No kind of + literary gratification is so much within the reach of the multitude as + that which is derived from theatrical representations. Neither preparation + nor study is required to enjoy them: they lay hold on you in the midst of + your prejudices and your ignorance. When the yet untutored love of the + pleasures of the mind begins to affect a class of the community, it + instantly draws them to the stage. The theatres of aristocratic nations + have always been filled with spectators not belonging to the aristocracy. + At the theatre alone the higher ranks mix with the middle and the lower + classes; there alone do the former consent to listen to the opinion of the + latter, or at least to allow them to give an opinion at all. At the + theatre, men of cultivation and of literary attainments have always had + more difficulty than elsewhere in making their taste prevail over that of + the people, and in preventing themselves from being carried away by the + latter. The pit has frequently made laws for the boxes. + </p> + <p> + If it be difficult for an aristocracy to prevent the people from getting + the upper hand in the theatre, it will readily be understood that the + people will be supreme there when democratic principles have crept into + the laws and manners—when ranks are intermixed—when minds, as + well as fortunes, are brought more nearly together—and when the + upper class has lost, with its hereditary wealth, its power, its + precedents, and its leisure. The tastes and propensities natural to + democratic nations, in respect to literature, will therefore first be + discernible in the drama, and it may be foreseen that they will break out + there with vehemence. In written productions, the literary canons of + aristocracy will be gently, gradually, and, so to speak, legally modified; + at the theatre they will be riotously overthrown. The drama brings out + most of the good qualities, and almost all the defects, inherent in + democratic literature. Democratic peoples hold erudition very cheap, and + care but little for what occurred at Rome and Athens; they want to hear + something which concerns themselves, and the delineation of the present + age is what they demand. + </p> + <p> + When the heroes and the manners of antiquity are frequently brought upon + the stage, and dramatic authors faithfully observe the rules of antiquated + precedent, that is enough to warrant a conclusion that the democratic + classes have not yet got the upper hand of the theatres. Racine makes a + very humble apology in the preface to the "Britannicus" for having + disposed of Junia amongst the Vestals, who, according to Aulus Gellius, he + says, "admitted no one below six years of age nor above ten." We may be + sure that he would neither have accused himself of the offence, nor + defended himself from censure, if he had written for our contemporaries. A + fact of this kind not only illustrates the state of literature at the time + when it occurred, but also that of society itself. A democratic stage does + not prove that the nation is in a state of democracy, for, as we have just + seen, even in aristocracies it may happen that democratic tastes affect + the drama; but when the spirit of aristocracy reigns exclusively on the + stage, the fact irrefragably demonstrates that the whole of society is + aristocratic; and it may be boldly inferred that the same lettered and + learned class which sways the dramatic writers commands the people and + governs the country. + </p> + <p> + The refined tastes and the arrogant bearing of an aristocracy will rarely + fail to lead it, when it manages the stage, to make a kind of selection in + human nature. Some of the conditions of society claim its chief interest; + and the scenes which delineate their manners are preferred upon the stage. + Certain virtues, and even certain vices, are thought more particularly to + deserve to figure there; and they are applauded whilst all others are + excluded. Upon the stage, as well as elsewhere, an aristocratic audience + will only meet personages of quality, and share the emotions of kings. The + same thing applies to style: an aristocracy is apt to impose upon dramatic + authors certain modes of expression which give the key in which everything + is to be delivered. By these means the stage frequently comes to delineate + only one side of man, or sometimes even to represent what is not to be met + with in human nature at all—to rise above nature and to go beyond + it. + </p> + <p> + In democratic communities the spectators have no such partialities, and + they rarely display any such antipathies: they like to see upon the stage + that medley of conditions, of feelings, and of opinions, which occurs + before their eyes. The drama becomes more striking, more common, and more + true. Sometimes, however, those who write for the stage in democracies + also transgress the bounds of human nature—but it is on a different + side from their predecessors. By seeking to represent in minute detail the + little singularities of the moment and the peculiar characteristics of + certain personages, they forget to portray the general features of the + race. + </p> + <p> + When the democratic classes rule the stage, they introduce as much license + in the manner of treating subjects as in the choice of them. As the love + of the drama is, of all literary tastes, that which is most natural to + democratic nations, the number of authors and of spectators, as well as of + theatrical representations, is constantly increasing amongst these + communities. A multitude composed of elements so different, and scattered + in so many different places, cannot acknowledge the same rules or submit + to the same laws. No concurrence is possible amongst judges so numerous, + who know not when they may meet again; and therefore each pronounces his + own sentence on the piece. If the effect of democracy is generally to + question the authority of all literary rules and conventions, on the stage + it abolishes them altogether, and puts in their place nothing but the whim + of each author and of each public. + </p> + <p> + The drama also displays in an especial manner the truth of what I have + said before in speaking more generally of style and art in democratic + literature. In reading the criticisms which were occasioned by the + dramatic productions of the age of Louis XIV, one is surprised to remark + the great stress which the public laid on the probability of the plot, and + the importance which was attached to the perfect consistency of the + characters, and to their doing nothing which could not be easily explained + and understood. The value which was set upon the forms of language at that + period, and the paltry strife about words with which dramatic authors were + assailed, are no less surprising. It would seem that the men of the age of + Louis XIV attached very exaggerated importance to those details, which may + be perceived in the study, but which escape attention on the stage. For, + after all, the principal object of a dramatic piece is to be performed, + and its chief merit is to affect the audience. But the audience and the + readers in that age were the same: on quitting the theatre they called up + the author for judgment to their own firesides. In democracies, dramatic + pieces are listened to, but not read. Most of those who frequent the + amusements of the stage do not go there to seek the pleasures of the mind, + but the keen emotions of the heart. They do not expect to hear a fine + literary work, but to see a play; and provided the author writes the + language of his country correctly enough to be understood, and that his + characters excite curiosity and awaken sympathy, the audience are + satisfied. They ask no more of fiction, and immediately return to real + life. Accuracy of style is therefore less required, because the attentive + observance of its rules is less perceptible on the stage. As for the + probability of the plot, it is incompatible with perpetual novelty, + surprise, and rapidity of invention. It is therefore neglected, and the + public excuses the neglect. You may be sure that if you succeed in + bringing your audience into the presence of something that affects them, + they will not care by what road you brought them there; and they will + never reproach you for having excited their emotions in spite of dramatic + rules. + </p> + <p> + The Americans very broadly display all the different propensities which I + have here described when they go to the theatres; but it must be + acknowledged that as yet a very small number of them go to theatres at + all. Although playgoers and plays have prodigiously increased in the + United States in the last forty years, the population indulges in this + kind of amusement with the greatest reserve. This is attributable to + peculiar causes, which the reader is already acquainted with, and of which + a few words will suffice to remind him. The Puritans who founded the + American republics were not only enemies to amusements, but they professed + an especial abhorrence for the stage. They considered it as an abominable + pastime; and as long as their principles prevailed with undivided sway, + scenic performances were wholly unknown amongst them. These opinions of + the first fathers of the colony have left very deep marks on the minds of + their descendants. The extreme regularity of habits and the great + strictness of manners which are observable in the United States, have as + yet opposed additional obstacles to the growth of dramatic art. There are + no dramatic subjects in a country which has witnessed no great political + catastrophes, and in which love invariably leads by a straight and easy + road to matrimony. People who spend every day in the week in making money, + and the Sunday in going to church, have nothing to invite the muse of + Comedy. + </p> + <p> + A single fact suffices to show that the stage is not very popular in the + United States. The Americans, whose laws allow of the utmost freedom and + even license of language in all other respects, have nevertheless + subjected their dramatic authors to a sort of censorship. Theatrical + performances can only take place by permission of the municipal + authorities. This may serve to show how much communities are like + individuals; they surrender themselves unscrupulously to their ruling + passions, and afterwards take the greatest care not to yield too much to + the vehemence of tastes which they do not possess. + </p> + <p> + No portion of literature is connected by closer or more numerous ties with + the present condition of society than the drama. The drama of one period + can never be suited to the following age, if in the interval an important + revolution has changed the manners and the laws of the nation. The great + authors of a preceding age may be read; but pieces written for a different + public will not be followed. The dramatic authors of the past live only in + books. The traditional taste of certain individuals, vanity, fashion, or + the genius of an actor may sustain or resuscitate for a time the + aristocratic drama amongst a democracy; but it will speedily fall away of + itself—not overthrown, but abandoned. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XX: Characteristics Of Historians In Democratic Ages + </h2> + <p> + Historians who write in aristocratic ages are wont to refer all + occurrences to the particular will or temper of certain individuals; and + they are apt to attribute the most important revolutions to very slight + accidents. They trace out the smallest causes with sagacity, and + frequently leave the greatest unperceived. Historians who live in + democratic ages exhibit precisely opposite characteristics. Most of them + attribute hardly any influence to the individual over the destiny of the + race, nor to citizens over the fate of a people; but, on the other hand, + they assign great general causes to all petty incidents. These contrary + tendencies explain each other. + </p> + <p> + When the historian of aristocratic ages surveys the theatre of the world, + he at once perceives a very small number of prominent actors, who manage + the whole piece. These great personages, who occupy the front of the + stage, arrest the observation, and fix it on themselves; and whilst the + historian is bent on penetrating the secret motives which make them speak + and act, the rest escape his memory. The importance of the things which + some men are seen to do, gives him an exaggerated estimate of the + influence which one man may possess; and naturally leads him to think, + that in order to explain the impulses of the multitude, it is necessary to + refer them to the particular influence of some one individual. + </p> + <p> + When, on the contrary, all the citizens are independent of one another, + and each of them is individually weak, no one is seen to exert a great, or + still less a lasting power, over the community. At first sight, + individuals appear to be absolutely devoid of any influence over it; and + society would seem to advance alone by the free and voluntary concurrence + of all the men who compose it. This naturally prompts the mind to search + for that general reason which operates upon so many men's faculties at the + same time, and turns them simultaneously in the same direction. + </p> + <p> + I am very well convinced that even amongst democratic nations, the genius, + the vices, or the virtues of certain individuals retard or accelerate the + natural current of a people's history: but causes of this secondary and + fortuitous nature are infinitely more various, more concealed, more + complex, less powerful, and consequently less easy to trace in periods of + equality than in ages of aristocracy, when the task of the historian is + simply to detach from the mass of general events the particular influences + of one man or of a few men. In the former case the historian is soon + wearied by the toil; his mind loses itself in this labyrinth; and, in his + inability clearly to discern or conspicuously to point out the influence + of individuals, he denies their existence. He prefers talking about the + characteristics of race, the physical conformation of the country, or the + genius of civilization, which abridges his own labors, and satisfies his + reader far better at less cost. + </p> + <p> + M. de Lafayette says somewhere in his "Memoirs" that the exaggerated + system of general causes affords surprising consolations to second-rate + statesmen. I will add, that its effects are not less consolatory to + second-rate historians; it can always furnish a few mighty reasons to + extricate them from the most difficult part of their work, and it indulges + the indolence or incapacity of their minds, whilst it confers upon them + the honors of deep thinking. + </p> + <p> + For myself, I am of opinion that at all times one great portion of the + events of this world are attributable to general facts, and another to + special influences. These two kinds of cause are always in operation: + their proportion only varies. General facts serve to explain more things + in democratic than in aristocratic ages, and fewer things are then + assignable to special influences. At periods of aristocracy the reverse + takes place: special influences are stronger, general causes weaker—unless + indeed we consider as a general cause the fact itself of the inequality of + conditions, which allows some individuals to baffle the natural tendencies + of all the rest. The historians who seek to describe what occurs in + democratic societies are right, therefore, in assigning much to general + causes, and in devoting their chief attention to discover them; but they + are wrong in wholly denying the special influence of individuals, because + they cannot easily trace or follow it. + </p> + <p> + The historians who live in democratic ages are not only prone to assign a + great cause to every incident, but they are also given to connect + incidents together, so as to deduce a system from them. In aristocratic + ages, as the attention of historians is constantly drawn to individuals, + the connection of events escapes them; or rather, they do not believe in + any such connection. To them the clew of history seems every instant + crossed and broken by the step of man. In democratic ages, on the + contrary, as the historian sees much more of actions than of actors, he + may easily establish some kind of sequency and methodical order amongst + the former. Ancient literature, which is so rich in fine historical + compositions, does not contain a single great historical system, whilst + the poorest of modern literatures abound with them. It would appear that + the ancient historians did not make sufficient use of those general + theories which our historical writers are ever ready to carry to excess. + </p> + <p> + Those who write in democratic ages have another more dangerous tendency. + When the traces of individual action upon nations are lost, it often + happens that the world goes on to move, though the moving agent is no + longer discoverable. As it becomes extremely difficult to discern and to + analyze the reasons which, acting separately on the volition of each + member of the community, concur in the end to produce movement in the old + mass, men are led to believe that this movement is involuntary, and that + societies unconsciously obey some superior force ruling over them. But + even when the general fact which governs the private volition of all + individuals is supposed to be discovered upon the earth, the principle of + human free-will is not secure. A cause sufficiently extensive to affect + millions of men at once, and sufficiently strong to bend them all together + in the same direction, may well seem irresistible: having seen that + mankind do yield to it, the mind is close upon the inference that mankind + cannot resist it. + </p> + <p> + Historians who live in democratic ages, then, not only deny that the few + have any power of acting upon the destiny of a people, but they deprive + the people themselves of the power of modifying their own condition, and + they subject them either to an inflexible Providence, or to some blind + necessity. According to them, each nation is indissolubly bound by its + position, its origin, its precedents, and its character, to a certain lot + which no efforts can ever change. They involve generation in generation, + and thus, going back from age to age, and from necessity to necessity, up + to the origin of the world, they forge a close and enormous chain, which + girds and binds the human race. To their minds it is not enough to show + what events have occurred: they would fain show that events could not have + occurred otherwise. They take a nation arrived at a certain stage of its + history, and they affirm that it could not but follow the track which + brought it thither. It is easier to make such an assertion than to show by + what means the nation might have adopted a better course. + </p> + <p> + In reading the historians of aristocratic ages, and especially those of + antiquity, it would seem that, to be master of his lot, and to govern his + fellow-creatures, man requires only to be master of himself. In perusing + the historical volumes which our age has produced, it would seem that man + is utterly powerless over himself and over all around him. The historians + of antiquity taught how to command: those of our time teach only how to + obey; in their writings the author often appears great, but humanity is + always diminutive. If this doctrine of necessity, which is so attractive + to those who write history in democratic ages, passes from authors to + their readers, till it infects the whole mass of the community and gets + possession of the public mind, it will soon paralyze the activity of + modern society, and reduce Christians to the level of the Turks. I would + moreover observe, that such principles are peculiarly dangerous at the + period at which we are arrived. Our contemporaries are but too prone to + doubt of the human free-will, because each of them feels himself confined + on every side by his own weakness; but they are still willing to + acknowledge the strength and independence of men united in society. Let + not this principle be lost sight of; for the great object in our time is + to raise the faculties of men, not to complete their prostration. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XXI: Of Parliamentary Eloquence In The United States + </h2> + <p> + Amongst aristocratic nations all the members of the community are + connected with and dependent upon each other; the graduated scale of + different ranks acts as a tie, which keeps everyone in his proper place + and the whole body in subordination. Something of the same kind always + occurs in the political assemblies of these nations. Parties naturally + range themselves under certain leaders, whom they obey by a sort of + instinct, which is only the result of habits contracted elsewhere. They + carry the manners of general society into the lesser assemblage. + </p> + <p> + In democratic countries it often happens that a great number of citizens + are tending to the same point; but each one only moves thither, or at + least flatters himself that he moves, of his own accord. Accustomed to + regulate his doings by personal impulse alone, he does not willingly + submit to dictation from without. This taste and habit of independence + accompany him into the councils of the nation. If he consents to connect + himself with other men in the prosecution of the same purpose, at least he + chooses to remain free to contribute to the common success after his own + fashion. Hence it is that in democratic countries parties are so impatient + of control, and are never manageable except in moments of great public + danger. Even then, the authority of leaders, which under such + circumstances may be able to make men act or speak, hardly ever reaches + the extent of making them keep silence. + </p> + <p> + Amongst aristocratic nations the members of political assemblies are at + the same time members of the aristocracy. Each of them enjoys high + established rank in his own right, and the position which he occupies in + the assembly is often less important in his eyes than that which he fills + in the country. This consoles him for playing no part in the discussion of + public affairs, and restrains him from too eagerly attempting to play an + insignificant one. + </p> + <p> + In America, it generally happens that a Representative only becomes + somebody from his position in the Assembly. He is therefore perpetually + haunted by a craving to acquire importance there, and he feels a petulant + desire to be constantly obtruding his opinions upon the House. His own + vanity is not the only stimulant which urges him on in this course, but + that of his constituents, and the continual necessity of propitiating + them. Amongst aristocratic nations a member of the legislature is rarely + in strict dependence upon his constituents: he is frequently to them a + sort of unavoidable representative; sometimes they are themselves strictly + dependent upon him; and if at length they reject him, he may easily get + elected elsewhere, or, retiring from public life, he may still enjoy the + pleasures of splendid idleness. In a democratic country like the United + States a Representative has hardly ever a lasting hold on the minds of his + constituents. However small an electoral body may be, the fluctuations of + democracy are constantly changing its aspect; it must, therefore, be + courted unceasingly. He is never sure of his supporters, and, if they + forsake him, he is left without a resource; for his natural position is + not sufficiently elevated for him to be easily known to those not close to + him; and, with the complete state of independence prevailing among the + people, he cannot hope that his friends or the government will send him + down to be returned by an electoral body unacquainted with him. The seeds + of his fortune are, therefore, sown in his own neighborhood; from that + nook of earth he must start, to raise himself to the command of a people + and to influence the destinies of the world. Thus it is natural that in + democratic countries the members of political assemblies think more of + their constituents than of their party, whilst in aristocracies they think + more of their party than of their constituents. + </p> + <p> + But what ought to be said to gratify constituents is not always what ought + to be said in order to serve the party to which Representatives profess to + belong. The general interest of a party frequently demands that members + belonging to it should not speak on great questions which they understand + imperfectly; that they should speak but little on those minor questions + which impede the great ones; lastly, and for the most part, that they + should not speak at all. To keep silence is the most useful service that + an indifferent spokesman can render to the commonwealth. Constituents, + however, do not think so. The population of a district sends a + representative to take a part in the government of a country, because they + entertain a very lofty notion of his merits. As men appear greater in + proportion to the littleness of the objects by which they are surrounded, + it may be assumed that the opinion entertained of the delegate will be so + much the higher as talents are more rare among his constituents. It will + therefore frequently happen that the less constituents have to expect from + their representative, the more they will anticipate from him; and, however + incompetent he may be, they will not fail to call upon him for signal + exertions, corresponding to the rank they have conferred upon him. + </p> + <p> + Independently of his position as a legislator of the State, electors also + regard their Representative as the natural patron of the constituency in + the Legislature; they almost consider him as the proxy of each of his + supporters, and they flatter themselves that he will not be less zealous + in defense of their private interests than of those of the country. Thus + electors are well assured beforehand that the Representative of their + choice will be an orator; that he will speak often if he can, and that in + case he is forced to refrain, he will strive at any rate to compress into + his less frequent orations an inquiry into all the great questions of + state, combined with a statement of all the petty grievances they have + themselves to complain to; so that, though he be not able to come forward + frequently, he should on each occasion prove what he is capable of doing; + and that, instead of perpetually lavishing his powers, he should + occasionally condense them in a small compass, so as to furnish a sort of + complete and brilliant epitome of his constituents and of himself. On + these terms they will vote for him at the next election. These conditions + drive worthy men of humble abilities to despair, who, knowing their own + powers, would never voluntarily have come forward. But thus urged on, the + Representative begins to speak, to the great alarm of his friends; and + rushing imprudently into the midst of the most celebrated orators, he + perplexes the debate and wearies the House. + </p> + <p> + All laws which tend to make the Representative more dependent on the + elector, not only affect the conduct of the legislators, as I have + remarked elsewhere, but also their language. They exercise a simultaneous + influence on affairs themselves, and on the manner in which affairs are + discussed. + </p> + <p> + There is hardly a member of Congress who can make up his mind to go home + without having despatched at least one speech to his constituents; nor who + will endure any interruption until he has introduced into his harangue + whatever useful suggestions may be made touching the four-and-twenty + States of which the Union is composed, and especially the district which + he represents. He therefore presents to the mind of his auditors a + succession of great general truths (which he himself only comprehends, and + expresses, confusedly), and of petty minutia, which he is but too able to + discover and to point out. The consequence is that the debates of that + great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, and that they seem + rather to drag their slow length along than to advance towards a distinct + object. Some such state of things will, I believe, always arise in the + public assemblies of democracies. + </p> + <p> + Propitious circumstances and good laws might succeed in drawing to the + legislature of a democratic people men very superior to those who are + returned by the Americans to Congress; but nothing will ever prevent the + men of slender abilities who sit there from obtruding themselves with + complacency, and in all ways, upon the public. The evil does not appear to + me to be susceptible of entire cure, because it not only originates in the + tactics of that assembly, but in its constitution and in that of the + country. The inhabitants of the United States seem themselves to consider + the matter in this light; and they show their long experience of + parliamentary life not by abstaining from making bad speeches, but by + courageously submitting to hear them made. They are resigned to it, as to + an evil which they know to be inevitable. + </p> + <p> + We have shown the petty side of political debates in democratic assemblies—let + us now exhibit the more imposing one. The proceedings within the + Parliament of England for the last one hundred and fifty years have never + occasioned any great sensation out of that country; the opinions and + feelings expressed by the speakers have never awakened much sympathy, even + amongst the nations placed nearest to the great arena of British liberty; + whereas Europe was excited by the very first debates which took place in + the small colonial assemblies of America at the time of the Revolution. + This was attributable not only to particular and fortuitous circumstances, + but to general and lasting causes. I can conceive nothing more admirable + or more powerful than a great orator debating on great questions of state + in a democratic assembly. As no particular class is ever represented there + by men commissioned to defend its own interests, it is always to the whole + nation, and in the name of the whole nation, that the orator speaks. This + expands his thoughts, and heightens his power of language. As precedents + have there but little weight-as there are no longer any privileges + attached to certain property, nor any rights inherent in certain bodies or + in certain individuals, the mind must have recourse to general truths + derived from human nature to resolve the particular question under + discussion. Hence the political debates of a democratic people, however + small it may be, have a degree of breadth which frequently renders them + attractive to mankind. All men are interested by them, because they treat + of man, who is everywhere the same. Amongst the greatest aristocratic + nations, on the contrary, the most general questions are almost always + argued on some special grounds derived from the practice of a particular + time, or the rights of a particular class; which interest that class + alone, or at most the people amongst whom that class happens to exist. It + is owing to this, as much as to the greatness of the French people, and + the favorable disposition of the nations who listen to them, that the + great effect which the French political debates sometimes produce in the + world, must be attributed. The orators of France frequently speak to + mankind, even when they are addressing their countrymen only. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT2" id="link2H_SECT2"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 2: Influence of Democracy on the Feelings of Americans + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter I: Why Democratic Nations Show A More Ardent And Enduring Love Of + Equality Than Of Liberty + </h2> + <p> + The first and most intense passion which is engendered by the equality of + conditions is, I need hardly say, the love of that same equality. My + readers will therefore not be surprised that I speak of its before all + others. Everybody has remarked that in our time, and especially in France, + this passion for equality is every day gaining ground in the human heart. + It has been said a hundred times that our contemporaries are far more + ardently and tenaciously attached to equality than to freedom; but as I do + not find that the causes of the fact have been sufficiently analyzed, I + shall endeavor to point them out. + </p> + <p> + It is possible to imagine an extreme point at which freedom and equality + would meet and be confounded together. Let us suppose that all the members + of the community take a part in the government, and that each of them has + an equal right to take a part in it. As none is different from his + fellows, none can exercise a tyrannical power: men will be perfectly free, + because they will all be entirely equal; and they will all be perfectly + equal, because they will be entirely free. To this ideal state democratic + nations tend. Such is the completest form that equality can assume upon + earth; but there are a thousand others which, without being equally + perfect, are not less cherished by those nations. + </p> + <p> + The principle of equality may be established in civil society, without + prevailing in the political world. Equal rights may exist of indulging in + the same pleasures, of entering the same professions, of frequenting the + same places—in a word, of living in the same manner and seeking + wealth by the same means, although all men do not take an equal share in + the government. A kind of equality may even be established in the + political world, though there should be no political freedom there. A man + may be the equal of all his countrymen save one, who is the master of all + without distinction, and who selects equally from among them all the + agents of his power. Several other combinations might be easily imagined, + by which very great equality would be united to institutions more or less + free, or even to institutions wholly without freedom. Although men cannot + become absolutely equal unless they be entirely free, and consequently + equality, pushed to its furthest extent, may be confounded with freedom, + yet there is good reason for distinguishing the one from the other. The + taste which men have for liberty, and that which they feel for equality, + are, in fact, two different things; and I am not afraid to add that, + amongst democratic nations, they are two unequal things. + </p> + <p> + Upon close inspection, it will be seen that there is in every age some + peculiar and preponderating fact with which all others are connected; this + fact almost always gives birth to some pregnant idea or some ruling + passion, which attracts to itself, and bears away in its course, all the + feelings and opinions of the time: it is like a great stream, towards + which each of the surrounding rivulets seems to flow. Freedom has appeared + in the world at different times and under various forms; it has not been + exclusively bound to any social condition, and it is not confined to + democracies. Freedom cannot, therefore, form the distinguishing + characteristic of democratic ages. The peculiar and preponderating fact + which marks those ages as its own is the equality of conditions; the + ruling passion of men in those periods is the love of this equality. Ask + not what singular charm the men of democratic ages find in being equal, or + what special reasons they may have for clinging so tenaciously to equality + rather than to the other advantages which society holds out to them: + equality is the distinguishing characteristic of the age they live in; + that, of itself, is enough to explain that they prefer it to all the rest. + </p> + <p> + But independently of this reason there are several others, which will at + all times habitually lead men to prefer equality to freedom. If a people + could ever succeed in destroying, or even in diminishing, the equality + which prevails in its own body, this could only be accomplished by long + and laborious efforts. Its social condition must be modified, its laws + abolished, its opinions superseded, its habits changed, its manners + corrupted. But political liberty is more easily lost; to neglect to hold + it fast is to allow it to escape. Men therefore not only cling to equality + because it is dear to them; they also adhere to it because they think it + will last forever. + </p> + <p> + That political freedom may compromise in its excesses the tranquillity, + the property, the lives of individuals, is obvious to the narrowest and + most unthinking minds. But, on the contrary, none but attentive and + clear-sighted men perceive the perils with which equality threatens us, + and they commonly avoid pointing them out. They know that the calamities + they apprehend are remote, and flatter themselves that they will only fall + upon future generations, for which the present generation takes but little + thought. The evils which freedom sometimes brings with it are immediate; + they are apparent to all, and all are more or less affected by them. The + evils which extreme equality may produce are slowly disclosed; they creep + gradually into the social frame; they are only seen at intervals, and at + the moment at which they become most violent habit already causes them to + be no longer felt. The advantages which freedom brings are only shown by + length of time; and it is always easy to mistake the cause in which they + originate. The advantages of equality are instantaneous, and they may + constantly be traced from their source. Political liberty bestows exalted + pleasures, from time to time, upon a certain number of citizens. Equality + every day confers a number of small enjoyments on every man. The charms of + equality are every instant felt, and are within the reach of all; the + noblest hearts are not insensible to them, and the most vulgar souls exult + in them. The passion which equality engenders must therefore be at once + strong and general. Men cannot enjoy political liberty unpurchased by some + sacrifices, and they never obtain it without great exertions. But the + pleasures of equality are self-proffered: each of the petty incidents of + life seems to occasion them, and in order to taste them nothing is + required but to live. + </p> + <p> + Democratic nations are at all times fond of equality, but there are + certain epochs at which the passion they entertain for it swells to the + height of fury. This occurs at the moment when the old social system, long + menaced, completes its own destruction after a last intestine struggle, + and when the barriers of rank are at length thrown down. At such times men + pounce upon equality as their booty, and they cling to it as to some + precious treasure which they fear to lose. The passion for equality + penetrates on every side into men's hearts, expands there, and fills them + entirely. Tell them not that by this blind surrender of themselves to an + exclusive passion they risk their dearest interests: they are deaf. Show + them not freedom escaping from their grasp, whilst they are looking + another way: they are blind—or rather, they can discern but one sole + object to be desired in the universe. + </p> + <p> + What I have said is applicable to all democratic nations: what I am about + to say concerns the French alone. Amongst most modern nations, and + especially amongst all those of the Continent of Europe, the taste and the + idea of freedom only began to exist and to extend themselves at the time + when social conditions were tending to equality, and as a consequence of + that very equality. Absolute kings were the most efficient levellers of + ranks amongst their subjects. Amongst these nations equality preceded + freedom: equality was therefore a fact of some standing when freedom was + still a novelty: the one had already created customs, opinions, and laws + belonging to it, when the other, alone and for the first time, came into + actual existence. Thus the latter was still only an affair of opinion and + of taste, whilst the former had already crept into the habits of the + people, possessed itself of their manners, and given a particular turn to + the smallest actions of their lives. Can it be wondered that the men of + our own time prefer the one to the other? + </p> + <p> + I think that democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom: left + to themselves, they will seek it, cherish it, and view any privation of it + with regret. But for equality, their passion is ardent, insatiable, + incessant, invincible: they call for equality in freedom; and if they + cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery. They will + endure poverty, servitude, barbarism—but they will not endure + aristocracy. This is true at all times, and especially true in our own. + All men and all powers seeking to cope with this irresistible passion, + will be overthrown and destroyed by it. In our age, freedom cannot be + established without it, and despotism itself cannot reign without its + support. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter II: Of Individualism In Democratic Countries + </h2> + <p> + I have shown how it is that in ages of equality every man seeks for his + opinions within himself: I am now about to show how it is that, in the + same ages, all his feelings are turned towards himself alone. + Individualism *a is a novel expression, to which a novel idea has given + birth. Our fathers were only acquainted with egotism. Egotism is a + passionate and exaggerated love of self, which leads a man to connect + everything with his own person, and to prefer himself to everything in the + world. Individualism is a mature and calm feeling, which disposes each + member of the community to sever himself from the mass of his + fellow-creatures; and to draw apart with his family and his friends; so + that, after he has thus formed a little circle of his own, he willingly + leaves society at large to itself. Egotism originates in blind instinct: + individualism proceeds from erroneous judgment more than from depraved + feelings; it originates as much in the deficiencies of the mind as in the + perversity of the heart. Egotism blights the germ of all virtue; + individualism, at first, only saps the virtues of public life; but, in the + long run, it attacks and destroys all others, and is at length absorbed in + downright egotism. Egotism is a vice as old as the world, which does not + belong to one form of society more than to another: individualism is of + democratic origin, and it threatens to spread in the same ratio as the + equality of conditions. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ [I adopt the expression of the original, however strange it may + seem to the English ear, partly because it illustrates the remark on the + introduction of general terms into democratic language which was made in a + preceding chapter, and partly because I know of no English word exactly + equivalent to the expression. The chapter itself defines the meaning + attached to it by the author.—Translator's Note.]] + </p> + <p> + Amongst aristocratic nations, as families remain for centuries in the same + condition, often on the same spot, all generations become as it were + contemporaneous. A man almost always knows his forefathers, and respects + them: he thinks he already sees his remote descendants, and he loves them. + He willingly imposes duties on himself towards the former and the latter; + and he will frequently sacrifice his personal gratifications to those who + went before and to those who will come after him. Aristocratic + institutions have, moreover, the effect of closely binding every man to + several of his fellow-citizens. As the classes of an aristocratic people + are strongly marked and permanent, each of them is regarded by its own + members as a sort of lesser country, more tangible and more cherished than + the country at large. As in aristocratic communities all the citizens + occupy fixed positions, one above the other, the result is that each of + them always sees a man above himself whose patronage is necessary to him, + and below himself another man whose co-operation he may claim. Men living + in aristocratic ages are therefore almost always closely attached to + something placed out of their own sphere, and they are often disposed to + forget themselves. It is true that in those ages the notion of human + fellowship is faint, and that men seldom think of sacrificing themselves + for mankind; but they often sacrifice themselves for other men. In + democratic ages, on the contrary, when the duties of each individual to + the race are much more clear, devoted service to any one man becomes more + rare; the bond of human affection is extended, but it is relaxed. + </p> + <p> + Amongst democratic nations new families are constantly springing up, + others are constantly falling away, and all that remain change their + condition; the woof of time is every instant broken, and the track of + generations effaced. Those who went before are soon forgotten; of those + who will come after no one has any idea: the interest of man is confined + to those in close propinquity to himself. As each class approximates to + other classes, and intermingles with them, its members become indifferent + and as strangers to one another. Aristocracy had made a chain of all the + members of the community, from the peasant to the king: democracy breaks + that chain, and severs every link of it. As social conditions become more + equal, the number of persons increases who, although they are neither rich + enough nor powerful enough to exercise any great influence over their + fellow-creatures, have nevertheless acquired or retained sufficient + education and fortune to satisfy their own wants. They owe nothing to any + man, they expect nothing from any man; they acquire the habit of always + considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that + their whole destiny is in their own hands. Thus not only does democracy + make every man forget his ancestors, but it hides his descendants, and + separates his contemporaries from him; it throws him back forever upon + himself alone, and threatens in the end to confine him entirely within the + solitude of his own heart. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter III: Individualism Stronger At The Close Of A Democratic + Revolution Than At Other Periods + </h2> + <p> + The period when the construction of democratic society upon the ruins of + an aristocracy has just been completed, is especially that at which this + separation of men from one another, and the egotism resulting from it, + most forcibly strike the observation. Democratic communities not only + contain a large number of independent citizens, but they are constantly + filled with men who, having entered but yesterday upon their independent + condition, are intoxicated with their new power. They entertain a + presumptuous confidence in their strength, and as they do not suppose that + they can henceforward ever have occasion to claim the assistance of their + fellow-creatures, they do not scruple to show that they care for nobody + but themselves. + </p> + <p> + An aristocracy seldom yields without a protracted struggle, in the course + of which implacable animosities are kindled between the different classes + of society. These passions survive the victory, and traces of them may be + observed in the midst of the democratic confusion which ensues. Those + members of the community who were at the top of the late gradations of + rank cannot immediately forget their former greatness; they will long + regard themselves as aliens in the midst of the newly composed society. + They look upon all those whom this state of society has made their equals + as oppressors, whose destiny can excite no sympathy; they have lost sight + of their former equals, and feel no longer bound by a common interest to + their fate: each of them, standing aloof, thinks that he is reduced to + care for himself alone. Those, on the contrary, who were formerly at the + foot of the social scale, and who have been brought up to the common level + by a sudden revolution, cannot enjoy their newly acquired independence + without secret uneasiness; and if they meet with some of their former + superiors on the same footing as themselves, they stand aloof from them + with an expression of triumph and of fear. It is, then, commonly at the + outset of democratic society that citizens are most disposed to live + apart. Democracy leads men not to draw near to their fellow-creatures; but + democratic revolutions lead them to shun each other, and perpetuate in a + state of equality the animosities which the state of inequality + engendered. The great advantage of the Americans is that they have arrived + at a state of democracy without having to endure a democratic revolution; + and that they are born equal, instead of becoming so. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IV: That The Americans Combat The Effects Of Individualism By Free + Institutions + </h2> + <p> + Despotism, which is of a very timorous nature, is never more secure of + continuance than when it can keep men asunder; and all is influence is + commonly exerted for that purpose. No vice of the human heart is so + acceptable to it as egotism: a despot easily forgives his subjects for not + loving him, provided they do not love each other. He does not ask them to + assist him in governing the State; it is enough that they do not aspire to + govern it themselves. He stigmatizes as turbulent and unruly spirits those + who would combine their exertions to promote the prosperity of the + community, and, perverting the natural meaning of words, he applauds as + good citizens those who have no sympathy for any but themselves. Thus the + vices which despotism engenders are precisely those which equality + fosters. These two things mutually and perniciously complete and assist + each other. Equality places men side by side, unconnected by any common + tie; despotism raises barriers to keep them asunder; the former + predisposes them not to consider their fellow-creatures, the latter makes + general indifference a sort of public virtue. + </p> + <p> + Despotism then, which is at all times dangerous, is more particularly to + be feared in democratic ages. It is easy to see that in those same ages + men stand most in need of freedom. When the members of a community are + forced to attend to public affairs, they are necessarily drawn from the + circle of their own interests, and snatched at times from + self-observation. As soon as a man begins to treat of public affairs in + public, he begins to perceive that he is not so independent of his + fellow-men as he had at first imagined, and that, in order to obtain their + support, he must often lend them his co-operation. + </p> + <p> + When the public is supreme, there is no man who does not feel the value of + public goodwill, or who does not endeavor to court it by drawing to + himself the esteem and affection of those amongst whom he is to live. Many + of the passions which congeal and keep asunder human hearts, are then + obliged to retire and hide below the surface. Pride must be dissembled; + disdain dares not break out; egotism fears its own self. Under a free + government, as most public offices are elective, the men whose elevated + minds or aspiring hopes are too closely circumscribed in private life, + constantly feel that they cannot do without the population which surrounds + them. Men learn at such times to think of their fellow-men from ambitious + motives; and they frequently find it, in a manner, their interest to + forget themselves. + </p> + <p> + I may here be met by an objection derived from electioneering intrigues, + the meannesses of candidates, and the calumnies of their opponents. These + are opportunities for animosity which occur the oftener the more frequent + elections become. Such evils are doubtless great, but they are transient; + whereas the benefits which attend them remain. The desire of being elected + may lead some men for a time to violent hostility; but this same desire + leads all men in the long run mutually to support each other; and if it + happens that an election accidentally severs two friends, the electoral + system brings a multitude of citizens permanently together, who would + always have remained unknown to each other. Freedom engenders private + animosities, but despotism gives birth to general indifference. + </p> + <p> + The Americans have combated by free institutions the tendency of equality + to keep men asunder, and they have subdued it. The legislators of America + did not suppose that a general representation of the whole nation would + suffice to ward off a disorder at once so natural to the frame of + democratic society, and so fatal: they also thought that it would be well + to infuse political life into each portion of the territory, in order to + multiply to an infinite extent opportunities of acting in concert for all + the members of the community, and to make them constantly feel their + mutual dependence on each other. The plan was a wise one. The general + affairs of a country only engage the attention of leading politicians, who + assemble from time to time in the same places; and as they often lose + sight of each other afterwards, no lasting ties are established between + them. But if the object be to have the local affairs of a district + conducted by the men who reside there, the same persons are always in + contact, and they are, in a manner, forced to be acquainted, and to adapt + themselves to one another. + </p> + <p> + It is difficult to draw a man out of his own circle to interest him in the + destiny of the State, because he does not clearly understand what + influence the destiny of the State can have upon his own lot. But if it be + proposed to make a road cross the end of his estate, he will see at a + glance that there is a connection between this small public affair and his + greatest private affairs; and he will discover, without its being shown to + him, the close tie which unites private to general interest. Thus, far + more may be done by intrusting to the citizens the administration of minor + affairs than by surrendering to them the control of important ones, + towards interesting them in the public welfare, and convincing them that + they constantly stand in need one of the other in order to provide for it. + A brilliant achievement may win for you the favor of a people at one + stroke; but to earn the love and respect of the population which surrounds + you, a long succession of little services rendered and of obscure good + deeds—a constant habit of kindness, and an established reputation + for disinterestedness—will be required. Local freedom, then, which + leads a great number of citizens to value the affection of their neighbors + and of their kindred, perpetually brings men together, and forces them to + help one another, in spite of the propensities which sever them. + </p> + <p> + In the United States the more opulent citizens take great care not to + stand aloof from the people; on the contrary, they constantly keep on easy + terms with the lower classes: they listen to them, they speak to them + every day. They know that the rich in democracies always stand in need of + the poor; and that in democratic ages you attach a poor man to you more by + your manner than by benefits conferred. The magnitude of such benefits, + which sets off the difference of conditions, causes a secret irritation to + those who reap advantage from them; but the charm of simplicity of manners + is almost irresistible: their affability carries men away, and even their + want of polish is not always displeasing. This truth does not take root at + once in the minds of the rich. They generally resist it as long as the + democratic revolution lasts, and they do not acknowledge it immediately + after that revolution is accomplished. They are very ready to do good to + the people, but they still choose to keep them at arm's length; they think + that is sufficient, but they are mistaken. They might spend fortunes thus + without warming the hearts of the population around them;—that + population does not ask them for the sacrifice of their money, but of + their pride. + </p> + <p> + It would seem as if every imagination in the United States were upon the + stretch to invent means of increasing the wealth and satisfying the wants + of the public. The best-informed inhabitants of each district constantly + use their information to discover new truths which may augment the general + prosperity; and if they have made any such discoveries, they eagerly + surrender them to the mass of the people. + </p> + <p> + When the vices and weaknesses, frequently exhibited by those who govern in + America, are closely examined, the prosperity of the people occasions—but + improperly occasions—surprise. Elected magistrates do not make the + American democracy flourish; it flourishes because the magistrates are + elective. + </p> + <p> + It would be unjust to suppose that the patriotism and the zeal which every + American displays for the welfare of his fellow-citizens are wholly + insincere. Although private interest directs the greater part of human + actions in the United States as well as elsewhere, it does not regulate + them all. I must say that I have often seen Americans make great and real + sacrifices to the public welfare; and I have remarked a hundred instances + in which they hardly ever failed to lend faithful support to each other. + The free institutions which the inhabitants of the United States possess, + and the political rights of which they make so much use, remind every + citizen, and in a thousand ways, that he lives in society. They every + instant impress upon his mind the notion that it is the duty, as well as + the interest of men, to make themselves useful to their fellow-creatures; + and as he sees no particular ground of animosity to them, since he is + never either their master or their slave, his heart readily leans to the + side of kindness. Men attend to the interests of the public, first by + necessity, afterwards by choice: what was intentional becomes an instinct; + and by dint of working for the good of one's fellow citizens, the habit + and the taste for serving them is at length acquired. + </p> + <p> + Many people in France consider equality of conditions as one evil, and + political freedom as a second. When they are obliged to yield to the + former, they strive at least to escape from the latter. But I contend that + in order to combat the evils which equality may produce, there is only one + effectual remedy—namely, political freedom. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter V: Of The Use Which The Americans Make Of Public Associations In + Civil Life + </h2> + <p> + I do not propose to speak of those political associations—by the aid + of which men endeavor to defend themselves against the despotic influence + of a majority—or against the aggressions of regal power. That + subject I have already treated. If each citizen did not learn, in + proportion as he individually becomes more feeble, and consequently more + incapable of preserving his freedom single-handed, to combine with his + fellow-citizens for the purpose of defending it, it is clear that tyranny + would unavoidably increase together with equality. + </p> + <p> + Those associations only which are formed in civil life, without reference + to political objects, are here adverted to. The political associations + which exist in the United States are only a single feature in the midst of + the immense assemblage of associations in that country. Americans of all + ages, all conditions, and all dispositions, constantly form associations. + They have not only commercial and manufacturing companies, in which all + take part, but associations of a thousand other kinds—religious, + moral, serious, futile, extensive, or restricted, enormous or diminutive. + The Americans make associations to give entertainments, to found + establishments for education, to build inns, to construct churches, to + diffuse books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; and in this manner + they found hospitals, prisons, and schools. If it be proposed to advance + some truth, or to foster some feeling by the encouragement of a great + example, they form a society. Wherever, at the head of some new + undertaking, you see the government in France, or a man of rank in + England, in the United States you will be sure to find an association. I + met with several kinds of associations in America, of which I confess I + had no previous notion; and I have often admired the extreme skill with + which the inhabitants of the United States succeed in proposing a common + object to the exertions of a great many men, and in getting them + voluntarily to pursue it. I have since travelled over England, whence the + Americans have taken some of their laws and many of their customs; and it + seemed to me that the principle of association was by no means so + constantly or so adroitly used in that country. The English often perform + great things singly; whereas the Americans form associations for the + smallest undertakings. It is evident that the former people consider + association as a powerful means of action, but the latter seem to regard + it as the only means they have of acting. + </p> + <p> + Thus the most democratic country on the face of the earth is that in which + men have in our time carried to the highest perfection the art of pursuing + in common the object of their common desires, and have applied this new + science to the greatest number of purposes. Is this the result of + accident? or is there in reality any necessary connection between the + principle of association and that of equality? Aristocratic communities + always contain, amongst a multitude of persons who by themselves are + powerless, a small number of powerful and wealthy citizens, each of whom + can achieve great undertakings single-handed. In aristocratic societies + men do not need to combine in order to act, because they are strongly held + together. Every wealthy and powerful citizen constitutes the head of a + permanent and compulsory association, composed of all those who are + dependent upon him, or whom he makes subservient to the execution of his + designs. Amongst democratic nations, on the contrary, all the citizens are + independent and feeble; they can do hardly anything by themselves, and + none of them can oblige his fellow-men to lend him their assistance. They + all, therefore, fall into a state of incapacity, if they do not learn + voluntarily to help each other. If men living in democratic countries had + no right and no inclination to associate for political purposes, their + independence would be in great jeopardy; but they might long preserve + their wealth and their cultivation: whereas if they never acquired the + habit of forming associations in ordinary life, civilization itself would + be endangered. A people amongst which individuals should lose the power of + achieving great things single-handed, without acquiring the means of + producing them by united exertions, would soon relapse into barbarism. + </p> + <p> + Unhappily, the same social condition which renders associations so + necessary to democratic nations, renders their formation more difficult + amongst those nations than amongst all others. When several members of an + aristocracy agree to combine, they easily succeed in doing so; as each of + them brings great strength to the partnership, the number of its members + may be very limited; and when the members of an association are limited in + number, they may easily become mutually acquainted, understand each other, + and establish fixed regulations. The same opportunities do not occur + amongst democratic nations, where the associated members must always be + very numerous for their association to have any power. + </p> + <p> + I am aware that many of my countrymen are not in the least embarrassed by + this difficulty. They contend that the more enfeebled and incompetent the + citizens become, the more able and active the government ought to be + rendered, in order that society at large may execute what individuals can + no longer accomplish. They believe this answers the whole difficulty, but + I think they are mistaken. A government might perform the part of some of + the largest American companies; and several States, members of the Union, + have already attempted it; but what political power could ever carry on + the vast multitude of lesser undertakings which the American citizens + perform every day, with the assistance of the principle of association? It + is easy to foresee that the time is drawing near when man will be less and + less able to produce, of himself alone, the commonest necessaries of life. + The task of the governing power will therefore perpetually increase, and + its very efforts will extend it every day. The more it stands in the place + of associations, the more will individuals, losing the notion of combining + together, require its assistance: these are causes and effects which + unceasingly engender each other. Will the administration of the country + ultimately assume the management of all the manufacturers, which no single + citizen is able to carry on? And if a time at length arrives, when, in + consequence of the extreme subdivision of landed property, the soil is + split into an infinite number of parcels, so that it can only be + cultivated by companies of husbandmen, will it be necessary that the head + of the government should leave the helm of state to follow the plough? The + morals and the intelligence of a democratic people would be as much + endangered as its business and manufactures, if the government ever wholly + usurped the place of private companies. + </p> + <p> + Feelings and opinions are recruited, the heart is enlarged, and the human + mind is developed by no other means than by the reciprocal influence of + men upon each other. I have shown that these influences are almost null in + democratic countries; they must therefore be artificially created, and + this can only be accomplished by associations. + </p> + <p> + When the members of an aristocratic community adopt a new opinion, or + conceive a new sentiment, they give it a station, as it were, beside + themselves, upon the lofty platform where they stand; and opinions or + sentiments so conspicuous to the eyes of the multitude are easily + introduced into the minds or hearts of all around. In democratic countries + the governing power alone is naturally in a condition to act in this + manner; but it is easy to see that its action is always inadequate, and + often dangerous. A government can no more be competent to keep alive and + to renew the circulation of opinions and feelings amongst a great people, + than to manage all the speculations of productive industry. No sooner does + a government attempt to go beyond its political sphere and to enter upon + this new track, than it exercises, even unintentionally, an insupportable + tyranny; for a government can only dictate strict rules, the opinions + which it favors are rigidly enforced, and it is never easy to discriminate + between its advice and its commands. Worse still will be the case if the + government really believes itself interested in preventing all circulation + of ideas; it will then stand motionless, and oppressed by the heaviness of + voluntary torpor. Governments therefore should not be the only active + powers: associations ought, in democratic nations, to stand in lieu of + those powerful private individuals whom the equality of conditions has + swept away. + </p> + <p> + As soon as several of the inhabitants of the United States have taken up + an opinion or a feeling which they wish to promote in the world, they look + out for mutual assistance; and as soon as they have found each other out, + they combine. From that moment they are no longer isolated men, but a + power seen from afar, whose actions serve for an example, and whose + language is listened to. The first time I heard in the United States that + 100,000 men had bound themselves publicly to abstain from spirituous + liquors, it appeared to me more like a joke than a serious engagement; and + I did not at once perceive why these temperate citizens could not content + themselves with drinking water by their own firesides. I at last + understood that 300,000 Americans, alarmed by the progress of drunkenness + around them, had made up their minds to patronize temperance. They acted + just in the same way as a man of high rank who should dress very plainly, + in order to inspire the humbler orders with a contempt of luxury. It is + probable that if these 100,000 men had lived in France, each of them would + singly have memorialized the government to watch the public-houses all + over the kingdom. + </p> + <p> + Nothing, in my opinion, is more deserving of our attention than the + intellectual and moral associations of America. The political and + industrial associations of that country strike us forcibly; but the others + elude our observation, or if we discover them, we understand them + imperfectly, because we have hardly ever seen anything of the kind. It + must, however, be acknowledged that they are as necessary to the American + people as the former, and perhaps more so. In democratic countries the + science of association is the mother of science; the progress of all the + rest depends upon the progress it has made. Amongst the laws which rule + human societies there is one which seems to be more precise and clear than + all others. If men are to remain civilized, or to become so, the art of + associating together must grow and improve in the same ratio in which the + equality of conditions is increased. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VI: Of The Relation Between Public Associations And Newspapers + </h2> + <p> + When men are no longer united amongst themselves by firm and lasting ties, + it is impossible to obtain the cooperation of any great number of them, + unless you can persuade every man whose concurrence you require that this + private interest obliges him voluntarily to unite his exertions to the + exertions of all the rest. This can only be habitually and conveniently + effected by means of a newspaper; nothing but a newspaper can drop the + same thought into a thousand minds at the same moment. A newspaper is an + adviser who does not require to be sought, but who comes of his own + accord, and talks to you briefly every day of the common weal, without + distracting you from your private affairs. + </p> + <p> + Newspapers therefore become more necessary in proportion as men become + more equal, and individualism more to be feared. To suppose that they only + serve to protect freedom would be to diminish their importance: they + maintain civilization. I shall not deny that in democratic countries + newspapers frequently lead the citizens to launch together in very + ill-digested schemes; but if there were no newspapers there would be no + common activity. The evil which they produce is therefore much less than + that which they cure. + </p> + <p> + The effect of a newspaper is not only to suggest the same purpose to a + great number of persons, but also to furnish means for executing in common + the designs which they may have singly conceived. The principal citizens + who inhabit an aristocratic country discern each other from afar; and if + they wish to unite their forces, they move towards each other, drawing a + multitude of men after them. It frequently happens, on the contrary, in + democratic countries, that a great number of men who wish or who want to + combine cannot accomplish it, because as they are very insignificant and + lost amidst the crowd, they cannot see, and know not where to find, one + another. A newspaper then takes up the notion or the feeling which had + occurred simultaneously, but singly, to each of them. All are then + immediately guided towards this beacon; and these wandering minds, which + had long sought each other in darkness, at length meet and unite. + </p> + <p> + The newspaper brought them together, and the newspaper is still necessary + to keep them united. In order that an association amongst a democratic + people should have any power, it must be a numerous body. The persons of + whom it is composed are therefore scattered over a wide extent, and each + of them is detained in the place of his domicile by the narrowness of his + income, or by the small unremitting exertions by which he earns it. Means + then must be found to converse every day without seeing each other, and to + take steps in common without having met. Thus hardly any democratic + association can do without newspapers. There is consequently a necessary + connection between public associations and newspapers: newspapers make + associations, and associations make newspapers; and if it has been + correctly advanced that associations will increase in number as the + conditions of men become more equal, it is not less certain that the + number of newspapers increases in proportion to that of associations. Thus + it is in America that we find at the same time the greatest number of + associations and of newspapers. + </p> + <p> + This connection between the number of newspapers and that of associations + leads us to the discovery of a further connection between the state of the + periodical press and the form of the administration in a country; and + shows that the number of newspapers must diminish or increase amongst a + democratic people, in proportion as its administration is more or less + centralized. For amongst democratic nations the exercise of local powers + cannot be intrusted to the principal members of the community as in + aristocracies. Those powers must either be abolished, or placed in the + hands of very large numbers of men, who then in fact constitute an + association permanently established by law for the purpose of + administering the affairs of a certain extent of territory; and they + require a journal, to bring to them every day, in the midst of their own + minor concerns, some intelligence of the state of their public weal. The + more numerous local powers are, the greater is the number of men in whom + they are vested by law; and as this want is hourly felt, the more + profusely do newspapers abound. + </p> + <p> + The extraordinary subdivision of administrative power has much more to do + with the enormous number of American newspapers than the great political + freedom of the country and the absolute liberty of the press. If all the + inhabitants of the Union had the suffrage—but a suffrage which + should only extend to the choice of their legislators in Congress—they + would require but few newspapers, because they would only have to act + together on a few very important but very rare occasions. But within the + pale of the great association of the nation, lesser associations have been + established by law in every country, every city, and indeed in every + village, for the purposes of local administration. The laws of the country + thus compel every American to co-operate every day of his life with some + of his fellow-citizens for a common purpose, and each one of them requires + a newspaper to inform him what all the others are doing. + </p> + <p> + I am of opinion that a democratic people, *a without any national + representative assemblies, but with a great number of small local powers, + would have in the end more newspapers than another people governed by a + centralized administration and an elective legislation. What best explains + to me the enormous circulation of the daily press in the United States, is + that amongst the Americans I find the utmost national freedom combined + with local freedom of every kind. There is a prevailing opinion in France + and England that the circulation of newspapers would be indefinitely + increased by removing the taxes which have been laid upon the press. This + is a very exaggerated estimate of the effects of such a reform. Newspapers + increase in numbers, not according to their cheapness, but according to + the more or less frequent want which a great number of men may feel for + intercommunication and combination. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ I say a democratic people: the administration of an aristocratic + people may be the reverse of centralized, and yet the want of newspapers + be little felt, because local powers are then vested in the hands of a + very small number of men, who either act apart, or who know each other and + can easily meet and come to an understanding.] + </p> + <p> + In like manner I should attribute the increasing influence of the daily + press to causes more general than those by which it is commonly explained. + A newspaper can only subsist on the condition of publishing sentiments or + principles common to a large number of men. A newspaper therefore always + represents an association which is composed of its habitual readers. This + association may be more or less defined, more or less restricted, more or + less numerous; but the fact that the newspaper keeps alive, is a proof + that at least the germ of such an association exists in the minds of its + readers. + </p> + <p> + This leads me to a last reflection, with which I shall conclude this + chapter. The more equal the conditions of men become, and the less strong + men individually are, the more easily do they give way to the current of + the multitude, and the more difficult is it for them to adhere by + themselves to an opinion which the multitude discard. A newspaper + represents an association; it may be said to address each of its readers + in the name of all the others, and to exert its influence over them in + proportion to their individual weakness. The power of the newspaper press + must therefore increase as the social conditions of men become more equal. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0028" id="link2HCH0028"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VII: Connection Of Civil And Political Associations + </h2> + <p> + There is only one country on the face of the earth where the citizens + enjoy unlimited freedom of association for political purposes. This same + country is the only one in the world where the continual exercise of the + right of association has been introduced into civil life, and where all + the advantages which civilization can confer are procured by means of it. + In all the countries where political associations are prohibited, civil + associations are rare. It is hardly probable that this is the result of + accident; but the inference should rather be, that there is a natural, and + perhaps a necessary, connection between these two kinds of associations. + Certain men happen to have a common interest in some concern—either + a commercial undertaking is to be managed, or some speculation in + manufactures to be tried; they meet, they combine, and thus by degrees + they become familiar with the principle of association. The greater is the + multiplicity of small affairs, the more do men, even without knowing it, + acquire facility in prosecuting great undertakings in common. Civil + associations, therefore, facilitate political association: but, on the + other hand, political association singularly strengthens and improves + associations for civil purposes. In civil life every man may, strictly + speaking, fancy that he can provide for his own wants; in politics, he can + fancy no such thing. When a people, then, have any knowledge of public + life, the notion of association, and the wish to coalesce, present + themselves every day to the minds of the whole community: whatever natural + repugnance may restrain men from acting in concert, they will always be + ready to combine for the sake of a party. Thus political life makes the + love and practice of association more general; it imparts a desire of + union, and teaches the means of combination to numbers of men who would + have always lived apart. + </p> + <p> + Politics not only give birth to numerous associations, but to associations + of great extent. In civil life it seldom happens that any one interest + draws a very large number of men to act in concert; much skill is required + to bring such an interest into existence: but in politics opportunities + present themselves every day. Now it is solely in great associations that + the general value of the principle of association is displayed. Citizens + who are individually powerless, do not very clearly anticipate the + strength which they may acquire by uniting together; it must be shown to + them in order to be understood. Hence it is often easier to collect a + multitude for a public purpose than a few persons; a thousand citizens do + not see what interest they have in combining together—ten thousand + will be perfectly aware of it. In politics men combine for great + undertakings; and the use they make of the principle of association in + important affairs practically teaches them that it is their interest to + help each other in those of less moment. A political association draws a + number of individuals at the same time out of their own circle: however + they may be naturally kept asunder by age, mind, and fortune, it places + them nearer together and brings them into contact. Once met, they can + always meet again. + </p> + <p> + Men can embark in few civil partnerships without risking a portion of + their possessions; this is the case with all manufacturing and trading + companies. When men are as yet but little versed in the art of + association, and are unacquainted with its principal rules, they are + afraid, when first they combine in this manner, of buying their experience + dear. They therefore prefer depriving themselves of a powerful instrument + of success to running the risks which attend the use of it. They are, + however, less reluctant to join political associations, which appear to + them to be without danger, because they adventure no money in them. But + they cannot belong to these associations for any length of time without + finding out how order is maintained amongst a large number of men, and by + what contrivance they are made to advance, harmoniously and methodically, + to the same object. Thus they learn to surrender their own will to that of + all the rest, and to make their own exertions subordinate to the common + impulse—things which it is not less necessary to know in civil than + in political associations. Political associations may therefore be + considered as large free schools, where all the members of the community + go to learn the general theory of association. + </p> + <p> + But even if political association did not directly contribute to the + progress of civil association, to destroy the former would be to impair + the latter. When citizens can only meet in public for certain purposes, + they regard such meetings as a strange proceeding of rare occurrence, and + they rarely think at all about it. When they are allowed to meet freely + for all purposes, they ultimately look upon public association as the + universal, or in a manner the sole means, which men can employ to + accomplish the different purposes they may have in view. Every new want + instantly revives the notion. The art of association then becomes, as I + have said before, the mother of action, studied and applied by all. + </p> + <p> + When some kinds of associations are prohibited and others allowed, it is + difficult to distinguish the former from the latter, beforehand. In this + state of doubt men abstain from them altogether, and a sort of public + opinion passes current which tends to cause any association whatsoever to + be regarded as a bold and almost an illicit enterprise. *a + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ This is more especially true when the executive government has a + discretionary power of allowing or prohibiting associations. When certain + associations are simply prohibited by law, and the courts of justice have + to punish infringements of that law, the evil is far less considerable. + Then every citizen knows beforehand pretty nearly what he has to expect. + He judges himself before he is judged by the law, and, abstaining from + prohibited associations, he embarks in those which are legally sanctioned. + It is by these restrictions that all free nations have always admitted + that the right of association might be limited. But if the legislature + should invest a man with a power of ascertaining beforehand which + associations are dangerous and which are useful, and should authorize him + to destroy all associations in the bud or allow them to be formed, as + nobody would be able to foresee in what cases associations might be + established and in what cases they would be put down, the spirit of + association would be entirely paralyzed. The former of these laws would + only assail certain associations; the latter would apply to society + itself, and inflict an injury upon it. I can conceive that a regular + government may have recourse to the former, but I do not concede that any + government has the right of enacting the latter.] + </p> + <p> + It is therefore chimerical to suppose that the spirit of association, when + it is repressed on some one point, will nevertheless display the same + vigor on all others; and that if men be allowed to prosecute certain + undertakings in common, that is quite enough for them eagerly to set about + them. When the members of a community are allowed and accustomed to + combine for all purposes, they will combine as readily for the lesser as + for the more important ones; but if they are only allowed to combine for + small affairs, they will be neither inclined nor able to effect it. It is + in vain that you will leave them entirely free to prosecute their business + on joint-stock account: they will hardly care to avail themselves of the + rights you have granted to them; and, after having exhausted your strength + in vain efforts to put down prohibited associations, you will be surprised + that you cannot persuade men to form the associations you encourage. + </p> + <p> + I do not say that there can be no civil associations in a country where + political association is prohibited; for men can never live in society + without embarking in some common undertakings: but I maintain that in such + a country civil associations will always be few in number, feebly planned, + unskillfully managed, that they will never form any vast designs, or that + they will fail in the execution of them. + </p> + <p> + This naturally leads me to think that freedom of association in political + matters is not so dangerous to public tranquillity as is supposed; and + that possibly, after having agitated society for some time, it may + strengthen the State in the end. In democratic countries political + associations are, so to speak, the only powerful persons who aspire to + rule the State. Accordingly, the governments of our time look upon + associations of this kind just as sovereigns in the Middle Ages regarded + the great vassals of the Crown: they entertain a sort of instinctive + abhorrence of them, and they combat them on all occasions. They bear, on + the contrary, a natural goodwill to civil associations, because they + readily discover that, instead of directing the minds of the community to + public affairs, these institutions serve to divert them from such + reflections; and that, by engaging them more and more in the pursuit of + objects which cannot be attained without public tranquillity, they deter + them from revolutions. But these governments do not attend to the fact + that political associations tend amazingly to multiply and facilitate + those of a civil character, and that in avoiding a dangerous evil they + deprive themselves of an efficacious remedy. + </p> + <p> + When you see the Americans freely and constantly forming associations for + the purpose of promoting some political principle, of raising one man to + the head of affairs, or of wresting power from another, you have some + difficulty in understanding that men so independent do not constantly fall + into the abuse of freedom. If, on the other hand, you survey the infinite + number of trading companies which are in operation in the United States, + and perceive that the Americans are on every side unceasingly engaged in + the execution of important and difficult plans, which the slightest + revolution would throw into confusion, you will readily comprehend why + people so well employed are by no means tempted to perturb the State, nor + to destroy that public tranquillity by which they all profit. + </p> + <p> + Is it enough to observe these things separately, or should we not discover + the hidden tie which connects them? In their political associations, the + Americans of all conditions, minds, and ages, daily acquire a general + taste for association, and grow accustomed to the use of it. There they + meet together in large numbers, they converse, they listen to each other, + and they are mutually stimulated to all sorts of undertakings. They + afterwards transfer to civil life the notions they have thus acquired, and + make them subservient to a thousand purposes. Thus it is by the enjoyment + of a dangerous freedom that the Americans learn the art of rendering the + dangers of freedom less formidable. + </p> + <p> + If a certain moment in the existence of a nation be selected, it is easy + to prove that political associations perturb the State, and paralyze + productive industry; but take the whole life of a people, and it may + perhaps be easy to demonstrate that freedom of association in political + matters is favorable to the prosperity and even to the tranquillity of the + community. + </p> + <p> + I said in the former part of this work, "The unrestrained liberty of + political association cannot be entirely assimilated to the liberty of the + press. The one is at the same time less necessary and more dangerous than + the other. A nation may confine it within certain limits without ceasing + to be mistress of itself; and it may sometimes be obliged to do so in + order to maintain its own authority." And further on I added: "It cannot + be denied that the unrestrained liberty of association for political + purposes is the last degree of liberty which a people is fit for. If it + does not throw them into anarchy, it perpetually brings them, as it were, + to the verge of it." Thus I do not think that a nation is always at + liberty to invest its citizens with an absolute right of association for + political purposes; and I doubt whether, in any country or in any age, it + be wise to set no limits to freedom of association. A certain nation, it + is said, could not maintain tranquillity in the community, cause the laws + to be respected, or establish a lasting government, if the right of + association were not confined within narrow limits. These blessings are + doubtless invaluable, and I can imagine that, to acquire or to preserve + them, a nation may impose upon itself severe temporary restrictions: but + still it is well that the nation should know at what price these blessings + are purchased. I can understand that it may be advisable to cut off a + man's arm in order to save his life; but it would be ridiculous to assert + that he will be as dexterous as he was before he lost it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0029" id="link2HCH0029"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VIII: The Americans Combat Individualism By The Principle Of + Interest Rightly Understood + </h2> + <p> + When the world was managed by a few rich and powerful individuals, these + persons loved to entertain a lofty idea of the duties of man. They were + fond of professing that it is praiseworthy to forget one's self, and that + good should be done without hope of reward, as it is by the Deity himself. + Such were the standard opinions of that time in morals. I doubt whether + men were more virtuous in aristocratic ages than in others; but they were + incessantly talking of the beauties of virtue, and its utility was only + studied in secret. But since the imagination takes less lofty flights and + every man's thoughts are centred in himself, moralists are alarmed by this + idea of self-sacrifice, and they no longer venture to present it to the + human mind. They therefore content themselves with inquiring whether the + personal advantage of each member of the community does not consist in + working for the good of all; and when they have hit upon some point on + which private interest and public interest meet and amalgamate, they are + eager to bring it into notice. Observations of this kind are gradually + multiplied: what was only a single remark becomes a general principle; and + it is held as a truth that man serves himself in serving his + fellow-creatures, and that his private interest is to do good. + </p> + <p> + I have already shown, in several parts of this work, by what means the + inhabitants of the United States almost always manage to combine their own + advantage with that of their fellow-citizens: my present purpose is to + point out the general rule which enables them to do so. In the United + States hardly anybody talks of the beauty of virtue; but they maintain + that virtue is useful, and prove it every day. The American moralists do + not profess that men ought to sacrifice themselves for their + fellow-creatures because it is noble to make such sacrifices; but they + boldly aver that such sacrifices are as necessary to him who imposes them + upon himself as to him for whose sake they are made. They have found out + that in their country and their age man is brought home to himself by an + irresistible force; and losing all hope of stopping that force, they turn + all their thoughts to the direction of it. They therefore do not deny that + every man may follow his own interest; but they endeavor to prove that it + is the interest of every man to be virtuous. I shall not here enter into + the reasons they allege, which would divert me from my subject: suffice it + to say that they have convinced their fellow-countrymen. + </p> + <p> + Montaigne said long ago: "Were I not to follow the straight road for its + straightness, I should follow it for having found by experience that in + the end it is commonly the happiest and most useful track." The doctrine + of interest rightly understood is not, then, new, but amongst the + Americans of our time it finds universal acceptance: it has become popular + there; you may trace it at the bottom of all their actions, you will + remark it in all they say. It is as often to be met with on the lips of + the poor man as of the rich. In Europe the principle of interest is much + grosser than it is in America, but at the same time it is less common, and + especially it is less avowed; amongst us, men still constantly feign great + abnegation which they no longer feel. The Americans, on the contrary, are + fond of explaining almost all the actions of their lives by the principle + of interest rightly understood; they show with complacency how an + enlightened regard for themselves constantly prompts them to assist each + other, and inclines them willingly to sacrifice a portion of their time + and property to the welfare of the State. In this respect I think they + frequently fail to do themselves justice; for in the United States, as + well as elsewhere, people are sometimes seen to give way to those + disinterested and spontaneous impulses which are natural to man; but the + Americans seldom allow that they yield to emotions of this kind; they are + more anxious to do honor to their philosophy than to themselves. + </p> + <p> + I might here pause, without attempting to pass a judgment on what I have + described. The extreme difficulty of the subject would be my excuse, but I + shall not avail myself of it; and I had rather that my readers, clearly + perceiving my object, should refuse to follow me than that I should leave + them in suspense. The principle of interest rightly understood is not a + lofty one, but it is clear and sure. It does not aim at mighty objects, + but it attains without excessive exertion all those at which it aims. As + it lies within the reach of all capacities, everyone can without + difficulty apprehend and retain it. By its admirable conformity to human + weaknesses, it easily obtains great dominion; nor is that dominion + precarious, since the principle checks one personal interest by another, + and uses, to direct the passions, the very same instrument which excites + them. The principle of interest rightly understood produces no great acts + of self-sacrifice, but it suggests daily small acts of self-denial. By + itself it cannot suffice to make a man virtuous, but it disciplines a + number of citizens in habits of regularity, temperance, moderation, + foresight, self-command; and, if it does not lead men straight to virtue + by the will, it gradually draws them in that direction by their habits. If + the principle of interest rightly understood were to sway the whole moral + world, extraordinary virtues would doubtless be more rare; but I think + that gross depravity would then also be less common. The principle of + interest rightly understood perhaps prevents some men from rising far + above the level of mankind; but a great number of other men, who were + falling far below it, are caught and restrained by it. Observe some few + individuals, they are lowered by it; survey mankind, it is raised. I am + not afraid to say that the principle of interest, rightly understood, + appears to me the best suited of all philosophical theories to the wants + of the men of our time, and that I regard it as their chief remaining + security against themselves. Towards it, therefore, the minds of the + moralists of our age should turn; even should they judge it to be + incomplete, it must nevertheless be adopted as necessary. + </p> + <p> + I do not think upon the whole that there is more egotism amongst us than + in America; the only difference is, that there it is enlightened—here + it is not. Every American will sacrifice a portion of his private + interests to preserve the rest; we would fain preserve the whole, and + oftentimes the whole is lost. Everybody I see about me seems bent on + teaching his contemporaries, by precept and example, that what is useful + is never wrong. Will nobody undertake to make them understand how what is + right may be useful? No power upon earth can prevent the increasing + equality of conditions from inclining the human mind to seek out what is + useful, or from leading every member of the community to be wrapped up in + himself. It must therefore be expected that personal interest will become + more than ever the principal, if not the sole, spring of men's actions; + but it remains to be seen how each man will understand his personal + interest. If the members of a community, as they become more equal, become + more ignorant and coarse, it is difficult to foresee to what pitch of + stupid excesses their egotism may lead them; and no one can foretell into + what disgrace and wretchedness they would plunge themselves, lest they + should have to sacrifice something of their own well-being to the + prosperity of their fellow-creatures. I do not think that the system of + interest, as it is professed in America, is, in all its parts, + self-evident; but it contains a great number of truths so evident that + men, if they are but educated, cannot fail to see them. Educate, then, at + any rate; for the age of implicit self-sacrifice and instinctive virtues + is already flitting far away from us, and the time is fast approaching + when freedom, public peace, and social order itself will not be able to + exist without education. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0030" id="link2HCH0030"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IX: That The Americans Apply The Principle Of Interest Rightly + Understood To Religious Matters + </h2> + <p> + If the principle of interest rightly understood had nothing but the + present world in view, it would be very insufficient; for there are many + sacrifices which can only find their recompense in another; and whatever + ingenuity may be put forth to demonstrate the utility of virtue, it will + never be an easy task to make that man live aright who has no thoughts of + dying. It is therefore necessary to ascertain whether the principle of + interest rightly understood is easily compatible with religious belief. + The philosophers who inculcate this system of morals tell men, that to be + happy in this life they must watch their own passions and steadily control + their excess; that lasting happiness can only be secured by renouncing a + thousand transient gratifications; and that a man must perpetually triumph + over himself, in order to secure his own advantage. The founders of almost + all religions have held the same language. The track they point out to man + is the same, only that the goal is more remote; instead of placing in this + world the reward of the sacrifices they impose, they transport it to + another. Nevertheless I cannot believe that all those who practise virtue + from religious motives are only actuated by the hope of a recompense. I + have known zealous Christians who constantly forgot themselves, to work + with greater ardor for the happiness of their fellow-men; and I have heard + them declare that all they did was only to earn the blessings of a future + state. I cannot but think that they deceive themselves; I respect them too + much to believe them. + </p> + <p> + Christianity indeed teaches that a man must prefer his neighbor to + himself, in order to gain eternal life; but Christianity also teaches that + men ought to benefit their fellow-creatures for the love of God. A sublime + expression! Man, searching by his intellect into the divine conception, + and seeing that order is the purpose of God, freely combines to prosecute + the great design; and whilst he sacrifices his personal interests to this + consummate order of all created things, expects no other recompense than + the pleasure of contemplating it. I do not believe that interest is the + sole motive of religious men: but I believe that interest is the principal + means which religions themselves employ to govern men, and I do not + question that this way they strike into the multitude and become popular. + It is not easy clearly to perceive why the principle of interest rightly + understood should keep aloof from religious opinions; and it seems to me + more easy to show why it should draw men to them. Let it be supposed that, + in order to obtain happiness in this world, a man combats his instinct on + all occasions and deliberately calculates every action of his life; that, + instead of yielding blindly to the impetuosity of first desires, he has + learned the art of resisting them, and that he has accustomed himself to + sacrifice without an effort the pleasure of a moment to the lasting + interest of his whole life. If such a man believes in the religion which + he professes, it will cost him but little to submit to the restrictions it + may impose. Reason herself counsels him to obey, and habit has prepared + him to endure them. If he should have conceived any doubts as to the + object of his hopes, still he will not easily allow himself to be stopped + by them; and he will decide that it is wise to risk some of the advantages + of this world, in order to preserve his rights to the great inheritance + promised him in another. "To be mistaken in believing that the Christian + religion is true," says Pascal, "is no great loss to anyone; but how + dreadful to be mistaken in believing it to be false!" + </p> + <p> + The Americans do not affect a brutal indifference to a future state; they + affect no puerile pride in despising perils which they hope to escape + from. They therefore profess their religion without shame and without + weakness; but there generally is, even in their zeal, something so + indescribably tranquil, methodical, and deliberate, that it would seem as + if the head, far more than the heart, brought them to the foot of the + altar. The Americans not only follow their religion from interest, but + they often place in this world the interest which makes them follow it. In + the Middle Ages the clergy spoke of nothing but a future state; they + hardly cared to prove that a sincere Christian may be a happy man here + below. But the American preachers are constantly referring to the earth; + and it is only with great difficulty that they can divert their attention + from it. To touch their congregations, they always show them how favorable + religious opinions are to freedom and public tranquillity; and it is often + difficult to ascertain from their discourses whether the principal object + of religion is to procure eternal felicity in the other world, or + prosperity in this. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0031" id="link2HCH0031"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter X: Of The Taste For Physical Well-Being In America + </h2> + <p> + In America the passion for physical well-being is not always exclusive, + but it is general; and if all do not feel it in the same manner, yet it is + felt by all. Carefully to satisfy all, even the least wants of the body, + and to provide the little conveniences of life, is uppermost in every + mind. Something of an analogous character is more and more apparent in + Europe. Amongst the causes which produce these similar consequences in + both hemispheres, several are so connected with my subject as to deserve + notice. + </p> + <p> + When riches are hereditarily fixed in families, there are a great number + of men who enjoy the comforts of life without feeling an exclusive taste + for those comforts. The heart of man is not so much caught by the + undisturbed possession of anything valuable as by the desire, as yet + imperfectly satisfied, of possessing it, and by the incessant dread of + losing it. In aristocratic communities, the wealthy, never having + experienced a condition different from their own, entertain no fear of + changing it; the existence of such conditions hardly occurs to them. The + comforts of life are not to them the end of life, but simply a way of + living; they regard them as existence itself—enjoyed, but scarcely + thought of. As the natural and instinctive taste which all men feel for + being well off is thus satisfied without trouble and without apprehension, + their faculties are turned elsewhere, and cling to more arduous and more + lofty undertakings, which excite and engross their minds. Hence it is + that, in the midst of physical gratifications, the members of an + aristocracy often display a haughty contempt of these very enjoyments, and + exhibit singular powers of endurance under the privation of them. All the + revolutions which have ever shaken or destroyed aristocracies, have shown + how easily men accustomed to superfluous luxuries can do without the + necessaries of life; whereas men who have toiled to acquire a competency + can hardly live after they have lost it. + </p> + <p> + If I turn my observation from the upper to the lower classes, I find + analogous effects produced by opposite causes. Amongst a nation where + aristocracy predominates in society, and keeps it stationary, the people + in the end get as much accustomed to poverty as the rich to their + opulence. The latter bestow no anxiety on their physical comforts, because + they enjoy them without an effort; the former do not think of things which + they despair of obtaining, and which they hardly know enough of to desire + them. In communities of this kind, the imagination of the poor is driven + to seek another world; the miseries of real life inclose it around, but it + escapes from their control, and flies to seek its pleasures far beyond. + When, on the contrary, the distinctions of ranks are confounded together + and privileges are destroyed—when hereditary property is subdivided, + and education and freedom widely diffused, the desire of acquiring the + comforts of the world haunts the imagination of the poor, and the dread of + losing them that of the rich. Many scanty fortunes spring up; those who + possess them have a sufficient share of physical gratifications to + conceive a taste for these pleasures—not enough to satisfy it. They + never procure them without exertion, and they never indulge in them + without apprehension. They are therefore always straining to pursue or to + retain gratifications so delightful, so imperfect, so fugitive. + </p> + <p> + If I were to inquire what passion is most natural to men who are + stimulated and circumscribed by the obscurity of their birth or the + mediocrity of their fortune, I could discover none more peculiarly + appropriate to their condition than this love of physical prosperity. The + passion for physical comforts is essentially a passion of the middle + classes: with those classes it grows and spreads, with them it + preponderates. From them it mounts into the higher orders of society, and + descends into the mass of the people. I never met in America with any + citizen so poor as not to cast a glance of hope and envy on the enjoyments + of the rich, or whose imagination did not possess itself by anticipation + of those good things which fate still obstinately withheld from him. On + the other hand, I never perceived amongst the wealthier inhabitants of the + United States that proud contempt of physical gratifications which is + sometimes to be met with even in the most opulent and dissolute + aristocracies. Most of these wealthy persons were once poor; they have + felt the sting of want; they were long a prey to adverse fortunes; and now + that the victory is won, the passions which accompanied the contest have + survived it: their minds are, as it were, intoxicated by the small + enjoyments which they have pursued for forty years. Not but that in the + United States, as elsewhere, there are a certain number of wealthy persons + who, having come into their property by inheritance, possess, without + exertion, an opulence they have not earned. But even these men are not + less devotedly attached to the pleasures of material life. The love of + well-being is now become the predominant taste of the nation; the great + current of man's passions runs in that channel, and sweeps everything + along in its course. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0032" id="link2HCH0032"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XI: Peculiar Effects Of The Love Of Physical Gratifications In + Democratic Ages + </h2> + <p> + It may be supposed, from what has just been said, that the love of + physical gratifications must constantly urge the Americans to + irregularities in morals, disturb the peace of families, and threaten the + security of society at large. Such is not the case: the passion for + physical gratifications produces in democracies effects very different + from those which it occasions in aristocratic nations. It sometimes + happens that, wearied with public affairs and sated with opulence, amidst + the ruin of religious belief and the decline of the State, the heart of an + aristocracy may by degrees be seduced to the pursuit of sensual enjoyments + only. At other times the power of the monarch or the weakness of the + people, without stripping the nobility of their fortune, compels them to + stand aloof from the administration of affairs, and whilst the road to + mighty enterprise is closed, abandons them to the inquietude of their own + desires; they then fall back heavily upon themselves, and seek in the + pleasures of the body oblivion of their former greatness. When the members + of an aristocratic body are thus exclusively devoted to the pursuit of + physical gratifications, they commonly concentrate in that direction all + the energy which they derive from their long experience of power. Such men + are not satisfied with the pursuit of comfort; they require sumptuous + depravity and splendid corruption. The worship they pay the senses is a + gorgeous one; and they seem to vie with each other in the art of degrading + their own natures. The stronger, the more famous, and the more free an + aristocracy has been, the more depraved will it then become; and however + brilliant may have been the lustre of its virtues, I dare predict that + they will always be surpassed by the splendor of its vices. + </p> + <p> + The taste for physical gratifications leads a democratic people into no + such excesses. The love of well-being is there displayed as a tenacious, + exclusive, universal passion; but its range is confined. To build enormous + palaces, to conquer or to mimic nature, to ransack the world in order to + gratify the passions of a man, is not thought of: but to add a few roods + of land to your field, to plant an orchard, to enlarge a dwelling, to be + always making life more comfortable and convenient, to avoid trouble, and + to satisfy the smallest wants without effort and almost without cost. + These are small objects, but the soul clings to them; it dwells upon them + closely and day by day, till they at last shut out the rest of the world, + and sometimes intervene between itself and heaven. + </p> + <p> + This, it may be said, can only be applicable to those members of the + community who are in humble circumstances; wealthier individuals will + display tastes akin to those which belonged to them in aristocratic ages. + I contest the proposition: in point of physical gratifications, the most + opulent members of a democracy will not display tastes very different from + those of the people; whether it be that, springing from the people, they + really share those tastes, or that they esteem it a duty to submit to + them. In democratic society the sensuality of the public has taken a + moderate and tranquil course, to which all are bound to conform: it is as + difficult to depart from the common rule by one's vices as by one's + virtues. Rich men who live amidst democratic nations are therefore more + intent on providing for their smallest wants than for their extraordinary + enjoyments; they gratify a number of petty desires, without indulging in + any great irregularities of passion: thus they are more apt to become + enervated than debauched. The especial taste which the men of democratic + ages entertain for physical enjoyments is not naturally opposed to the + principles of public order; nay, it often stands in need of order that it + may be gratified. Nor is it adverse to regularity of morals, for good + morals contribute to public tranquillity and are favorable to industry. It + may even be frequently combined with a species of religious morality: men + wish to be as well off as they can in this world, without foregoing their + chance of another. Some physical gratifications cannot be indulged in + without crime; from such they strictly abstain. The enjoyment of others is + sanctioned by religion and morality; to these the heart, the imagination, + and life itself are unreservedly given up; till, in snatching at these + lesser gifts, men lose sight of those more precious possessions which + constitute the glory and the greatness of mankind. The reproach I address + to the principle of equality, is not that it leads men away in the pursuit + of forbidden enjoyments, but that it absorbs them wholly in quest of those + which are allowed. By these means, a kind of virtuous materialism may + ultimately be established in the world, which would not corrupt, but + enervate the soul, and noiselessly unbend its springs of action. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0033" id="link2HCH0033"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XII: Causes Of Fanatical Enthusiasm In Some Americans + </h2> + <p> + Although the desire of acquiring the good things of this world is the + prevailing passion of the American people, certain momentary outbreaks + occur, when their souls seem suddenly to burst the bonds of matter by + which they are restrained, and to soar impetuously towards heaven. In all + the States of the Union, but especially in the half-peopled country of the + Far West, wandering preachers may be met with who hawk about the word of + God from place to place. Whole families—old men, women, and children—cross + rough passes and untrodden wilds, coming from a great distance, to join a + camp-meeting, where they totally forget for several days and nights, in + listening to these discourses, the cares of business and even the most + urgent wants of the body. Here and there, in the midst of American + society, you meet with men, full of a fanatical and almost wild + enthusiasm, which hardly exists in Europe. From time to time strange sects + arise, which endeavor to strike out extraordinary paths to eternal + happiness. Religious insanity is very common in the United States. + </p> + <p> + Nor ought these facts to surprise us. It was not man who implanted in + himself the taste for what is infinite and the love of what is immortal: + those lofty instincts are not the offspring of his capricious will; their + steadfast foundation is fixed in human nature, and they exist in spite of + his efforts. He may cross and distort them—destroy them he cannot. + The soul has wants which must be satisfied; and whatever pains be taken to + divert it from itself, it soon grows weary, restless, and disquieted + amidst the enjoyments of sense. If ever the faculties of the great + majority of mankind were exclusively bent upon the pursuit of material + objects, it might be anticipated that an amazing reaction would take place + in the souls of some men. They would drift at large in the world of + spirits, for fear of remaining shackled by the close bondage of the body. + </p> + <p> + It is not then wonderful if, in the midst of a community whose thoughts + tend earthward, a small number of individuals are to be found who turn + their looks to heaven. I should be surprised if mysticism did not soon + make some advance amongst a people solely engaged in promoting its own + worldly welfare. It is said that the deserts of the Thebaid were peopled + by the persecutions of the emperors and the massacres of the Circus; I + should rather say that it was by the luxuries of Rome and the Epicurean + philosophy of Greece. If their social condition, their present + circumstances, and their laws did not confine the minds of the Americans + so closely to the pursuit of worldly welfare, it is probable that they + would display more reserve and more experience whenever their attention is + turned to things immaterial, and that they would check themselves without + difficulty. But they feel imprisoned within bounds which they will + apparently never be allowed to pass. As soon as they have passed these + bounds, their minds know not where to fix themselves, and they often rush + unrestrained beyond the range of common-sense. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0034" id="link2HCH0034"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XIII: Causes Of The Restless Spirit Of Americans In The Midst Of + Their Prosperity + </h2> + <p> + In certain remote corners of the Old World you may still sometimes stumble + upon a small district which seems to have been forgotten amidst the + general tumult, and to have remained stationary whilst everything around + it was in motion. The inhabitants are for the most part extremely ignorant + and poor; they take no part in the business of the country, and they are + frequently oppressed by the government; yet their countenances are + generally placid, and their spirits light. In America I saw the freest and + most enlightened men, placed in the happiest circumstances which the world + affords: it seemed to me as if a cloud habitually hung upon their brow, + and I thought them serious and almost sad even in their pleasures. The + chief reason of this contrast is that the former do not think of the ills + they endure—the latter are forever brooding over advantages they do + not possess. It is strange to see with what feverish ardor the Americans + pursue their own welfare; and to watch the vague dread that constantly + torments them lest they should not have chosen the shortest path which may + lead to it. A native of the United States clings to this world's goods as + if he were certain never to die; and he is so hasty in grasping at all + within his reach, that one would suppose he was constantly afraid of not + living long enough to enjoy them. He clutches everything, he holds nothing + fast, but soon loosens his grasp to pursue fresh gratifications. + </p> + <p> + In the United States a man builds a house to spend his latter years in it, + and he sells it before the roof is on: he plants a garden, and lets it + just as the trees are coming into bearing: he brings a field into tillage, + and leaves other men to gather the crops: he embraces a profession, and + gives it up: he settles in a place, which he soon afterwards leaves, to + carry his changeable longings elsewhere. If his private affairs leave him + any leisure, he instantly plunges into the vortex of politics; and if at + the end of a year of unremitting labor he finds he has a few days' + vacation, his eager curiosity whirls him over the vast extent of the + United States, and he will travel fifteen hundred miles in a few days, to + shake off his happiness. Death at length overtakes him, but it is before + he is weary of his bootless chase of that complete felicity which is + forever on the wing. + </p> + <p> + At first sight there is something surprising in this strange unrest of so + many happy men, restless in the midst of abundance. The spectacle itself + is however as old as the world; the novelty is to see a whole people + furnish an exemplification of it. Their taste for physical gratifications + must be regarded as the original source of that secret inquietude which + the actions of the Americans betray, and of that inconstancy of which they + afford fresh examples every day. He who has set his heart exclusively upon + the pursuit of worldly welfare is always in a hurry, for he has but a + limited time at his disposal to reach it, to grasp it, and to enjoy it. + The recollection of the brevity of life is a constant spur to him. Besides + the good things which he possesses, he every instant fancies a thousand + others which death will prevent him from trying if he does not try them + soon. This thought fills him with anxiety, fear, and regret, and keeps his + mind in ceaseless trepidation, which leads him perpetually to change his + plans and his abode. If in addition to the taste for physical well-being a + social condition be superadded, in which the laws and customs make no + condition permanent, here is a great additional stimulant to this + restlessness of temper. Men will then be seen continually to change their + track, for fear of missing the shortest cut to happiness. It may readily + be conceived that if men, passionately bent upon physical gratifications, + desire eagerly, they are also easily discouraged: as their ultimate object + is to enjoy, the means to reach that object must be prompt and easy, or + the trouble of acquiring the gratification would be greater than the + gratification itself. Their prevailing frame of mind then is at once + ardent and relaxed, violent and enervated. Death is often less dreaded + than perseverance in continuous efforts to one end. + </p> + <p> + The equality of conditions leads by a still straighter road to several of + the effects which I have here described. When all the privileges of birth + and fortune are abolished, when all professions are accessible to all, and + a man's own energies may place him at the top of any one of them, an easy + and unbounded career seems open to his ambition, and he will readily + persuade himself that he is born to no vulgar destinies. But this is an + erroneous notion, which is corrected by daily experience. The same + equality which allows every citizen to conceive these lofty hopes, renders + all the citizens less able to realize them: it circumscribes their powers + on every side, whilst it gives freer scope to their desires. Not only are + they themselves powerless, but they are met at every step by immense + obstacles, which they did not at first perceive. They have swept away the + privileges of some of their fellow-creatures which stood in their way, but + they have opened the door to universal competition: the barrier has + changed its shape rather than its position. When men are nearly alike, and + all follow the same track, it is very difficult for any one individual to + walk quick and cleave a way through the dense throng which surrounds and + presses him. This constant strife between the propensities springing from + the equality of conditions and the means it supplies to satisfy them, + harasses and wearies the mind. + </p> + <p> + It is possible to conceive men arrived at a degree of freedom which should + completely content them; they would then enjoy their independence without + anxiety and without impatience. But men will never establish any equality + with which they can be contented. Whatever efforts a people may make, they + will never succeed in reducing all the conditions of society to a perfect + level; and even if they unhappily attained that absolute and complete + depression, the inequality of minds would still remain, which, coming + directly from the hand of God, will forever escape the laws of man. + However democratic then the social state and the political constitution of + a people may be, it is certain that every member of the community will + always find out several points about him which command his own position; + and we may foresee that his looks will be doggedly fixed in that + direction. When inequality of conditions is the common law of society, the + most marked inequalities do not strike the eye: when everything is nearly + on the same level, the slightest are marked enough to hurt it. Hence the + desire of equality always becomes more insatiable in proportion as + equality is more complete. + </p> + <p> + Amongst democratic nations men easily attain a certain equality of + conditions: they can never attain the equality they desire. It perpetually + retires from before them, yet without hiding itself from their sight, and + in retiring draws them on. At every moment they think they are about to + grasp it; it escapes at every moment from their hold. They are near enough + to see its charms, but too far off to enjoy them; and before they have + fully tasted its delights they die. To these causes must be attributed + that strange melancholy which oftentimes will haunt the inhabitants of + democratic countries in the midst of their abundance, and that disgust at + life which sometimes seizes upon them in the midst of calm and easy + circumstances. Complaints are made in France that the number of suicides + increases; in America suicide is rare, but insanity is said to be more + common than anywhere else. These are all different symptoms of the same + disease. The Americans do not put an end to their lives, however + disquieted they may be, because their religion forbids it; and amongst + them materialism may be said hardly to exist, notwithstanding the general + passion for physical gratification. The will resists—reason + frequently gives way. In democratic ages enjoyments are more intense than + in the ages of aristocracy, and especially the number of those who partake + in them is larger: but, on the other hand, it must be admitted that man's + hopes and his desires are oftener blasted, the soul is more stricken and + perturbed, and care itself more keen. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0035" id="link2HCH0035"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XIV: Taste For Physical Gratifications United In America To Love + Of Freedom And Attention To Public Affairs + </h2> + <p> + When a democratic state turns to absolute monarchy, the activity which was + before directed to public and to private affairs is all at once centred + upon the latter: the immediate consequence is, for some time, great + physical prosperity; but this impulse soon slackens, and the amount of + productive industry is checked. I know not if a single trading or + manufacturing people can be cited, from the Tyrians down to the + Florentines and the English, who were not a free people also. There is + therefore a close bond and necessary relation between these two elements—freedom + and productive industry. This proposition is generally true of all + nations, but especially of democratic nations. I have already shown that + men who live in ages of equality continually require to form associations + in order to procure the things they covet; and, on the other hand, I have + shown how great political freedom improves and diffuses the art of + association. Freedom, in these ages, is therefore especially favorable to + the production of wealth; nor is it difficult to perceive that despotism + is especially adverse to the same result. The nature of despotic power in + democratic ages is not to be fierce or cruel, but minute and meddling. + Despotism of this kind, though it does not trample on humanity, is + directly opposed to the genius of commerce and the pursuits of industry. + </p> + <p> + Thus the men of democratic ages require to be free in order more readily + to procure those physical enjoyments for which they are always longing. It + sometimes happens, however, that the excessive taste they conceive for + these same enjoyments abandons them to the first master who appears. The + passion for worldly welfare then defeats itself, and, without perceiving + it, throws the object of their desires to a greater distance. + </p> + <p> + There is, indeed, a most dangerous passage in the history of a democratic + people. When the taste for physical gratifications amongst such a people + has grown more rapidly than their education and their experience of free + institutions, the time will come when men are carried away, and lose all + self-restraint, at the sight of the new possessions they are about to lay + hold upon. In their intense and exclusive anxiety to make a fortune, they + lose sight of the close connection which exists between the private + fortune of each of them and the prosperity of all. It is not necessary to + do violence to such a people in order to strip them of the rights they + enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen their hold. The discharge of + political duties appears to them to be a troublesome annoyance, which + diverts them from their occupations and business. If they be required to + elect representatives, to support the Government by personal service, to + meet on public business, they have no time—they cannot waste their + precious time in useless engagements: such idle amusements are unsuited to + serious men who are engaged with the more important interests of life. + These people think they are following the principle of self-interest, but + the idea they entertain of that principle is a very rude one; and the + better to look after what they call their business, they neglect their + chief business, which is to remain their own masters. + </p> + <p> + As the citizens who work do not care to attend to public business, and as + the class which might devote its leisure to these duties has ceased to + exist, the place of the Government is, as it were, unfilled. If at that + critical moment some able and ambitious man grasps the supreme power, he + will find the road to every kind of usurpation open before him. If he does + but attend for some time to the material prosperity of the country, no + more will be demanded of him. Above all he must insure public + tranquillity: men who are possessed by the passion of physical + gratification generally find out that the turmoil of freedom disturbs + their welfare, before they discover how freedom itself serves to promote + it. If the slightest rumor of public commotion intrudes into the petty + pleasures of private life, they are aroused and alarmed by it. The fear of + anarchy perpetually haunts them, and they are always ready to fling away + their freedom at the first disturbance. + </p> + <p> + I readily admit that public tranquillity is a great good; but at the same + time I cannot forget that all nations have been enslaved by being kept in + good order. Certainly it is not to be inferred that nations ought to + despise public tranquillity; but that state ought not to content them. A + nation which asks nothing of its government but the maintenance of order + is already a slave at heart—the slave of its own well-being, + awaiting but the hand that will bind it. By such a nation the despotism of + faction is not less to be dreaded than the despotism of an individual. + When the bulk of the community is engrossed by private concerns, the + smallest parties need not despair of getting the upper hand in public + affairs. At such times it is not rare to see upon the great stage of the + world, as we see at our theatres, a multitude represented by a few + players, who alone speak in the name of an absent or inattentive crowd: + they alone are in action whilst all are stationary; they regulate + everything by their own caprice; they change the laws, and tyrannize at + will over the manners of the country; and then men wonder to see into how + small a number of weak and worthless hands a great people may fall. + </p> + <p> + Hitherto the Americans have fortunately escaped all the perils which I + have just pointed out; and in this respect they are really deserving of + admiration. Perhaps there is no country in the world where fewer idle men + are to be met with than in America, or where all who work are more eager + to promote their own welfare. But if the passion of the Americans for + physical gratifications is vehement, at least it is not indiscriminating; + and reason, though unable to restrain it, still directs its course. An + American attends to his private concerns as if he were alone in the world, + and the next minute he gives himself up to the common weal as if he had + forgotten them. At one time he seems animated by the most selfish + cupidity, at another by the most lively patriotism. The human heart cannot + be thus divided. The inhabitants of the United States alternately display + so strong and so similar a passion for their own welfare and for their + freedom, that it may be supposed that these passions are united and + mingled in some part of their character. And indeed the Americans believe + their freedom to be the best instrument and surest safeguard of their + welfare: they are attached to the one by the other. They by no means think + that they are not called upon to take a part in the public weal; they + believe, on the contrary, that their chief business is to secure for + themselves a government which will allow them to acquire the things they + covet, and which will not debar them from the peaceful enjoyment of those + possessions which they have acquired. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0036" id="link2HCH0036"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XV: That Religious Belief Sometimes Turns The Thoughts Of The + Americans To Immaterial Pleasures + </h2> + <p> + In the United States, on the seventh day of every week, the trading and + working life of the nation seems suspended; all noises cease; a deep + tranquillity, say rather the solemn calm of meditation, succeeds the + turmoil of the week, and the soul resumes possession and contemplation of + itself. Upon this day the marts of traffic are deserted; every member of + the community, accompanied by his children, goes to church, where he + listens to strange language which would seem unsuited to his ear. He is + told of the countless evils caused by pride and covetousness: he is + reminded of the necessity of checking his desires, of the finer pleasures + which belong to virtue alone, and of the true happiness which attends it. + On his return home, he does not turn to the ledgers of his calling, but he + opens the book of Holy Scripture; there he meets with sublime or affecting + descriptions of the greatness and goodness of the Creator, of the infinite + magnificence of the handiwork of God, of the lofty destinies of man, of + his duties, and of his immortal privileges. Thus it is that the American + at times steals an hour from himself; and laying aside for a while the + petty passions which agitate his life, and the ephemeral interests which + engross it, he strays at once into an ideal world, where all is great, + eternal, and pure. + </p> + <p> + I have endeavored to point out in another part of this work the causes to + which the maintenance of the political institutions of the Americans is + attributable; and religion appeared to be one of the most prominent + amongst them. I am now treating of the Americans in an individual + capacity, and I again observe that religion is not less useful to each + citizen than to the whole State. The Americans show, by their practice, + that they feel the high necessity of imparting morality to democratic + communities by means of religion. What they think of themselves in this + respect is a truth of which every democratic nation ought to be thoroughly + persuaded. + </p> + <p> + I do not doubt that the social and political constitution of a people + predisposes them to adopt a certain belief and certain tastes, which + afterwards flourish without difficulty amongst them; whilst the same + causes may divert a people from certain opinions and propensities, without + any voluntary effort, and, as it were, without any distinct consciousness, + on their part. The whole art of the legislator is correctly to discern + beforehand these natural inclinations of communities of men, in order to + know whether they should be assisted, or whether it may not be necessary + to check them. For the duties incumbent on the legislator differ at + different times; the goal towards which the human race ought ever to be + tending is alone stationary; the means of reaching it are perpetually to + be varied. + </p> + <p> + If I had been born in an aristocratic age, in the midst of a nation where + the hereditary wealth of some, and the irremediable penury of others, + should equally divert men from the idea of bettering their condition, and + hold the soul as it were in a state of torpor fixed on the contemplation + of another world, I should then wish that it were possible for me to rouse + that people to a sense of their wants; I should seek to discover more + rapid and more easy means for satisfying the fresh desires which I might + have awakened; and, directing the most strenuous efforts of the human mind + to physical pursuits, I should endeavor to stimulate it to promote the + well-being of man. If it happened that some men were immoderately incited + to the pursuit of riches, and displayed an excessive liking for physical + gratifications, I should not be alarmed; these peculiar symptoms would + soon be absorbed in the general aspect of the people. + </p> + <p> + The attention of the legislators of democracies is called to other cares. + Give democratic nations education and freedom, and leave them alone. They + will soon learn to draw from this world all the benefits which it can + afford; they will improve each of the useful arts, and will day by day + render life more comfortable, more convenient, and more easy. Their social + condition naturally urges them in this direction; I do not fear that they + will slacken their course. + </p> + <p> + But whilst man takes delight in this honest and lawful pursuit of his + wellbeing, it is to be apprehended that he may in the end lose the use of + his sublimest faculties; and that whilst he is busied in improving all + around him, he may at length degrade himself. Here, and here only, does + the peril lie. It should therefore be the unceasing object of the + legislators of democracies, and of all the virtuous and enlightened men + who live there, to raise the souls of their fellow-citizens, and keep them + lifted up towards heaven. It is necessary that all who feel an interest in + the future destinies of democratic society should unite, and that all + should make joint and continual efforts to diffuse the love of the + infinite, a sense of greatness, and a love of pleasures not of earth. If + amongst the opinions of a democratic people any of those pernicious + theories exist which tend to inculcate that all perishes with the body, + let men by whom such theories are professed be marked as the natural foes + of such a people. + </p> + <p> + The materialists are offensive to me in many respects; their doctrines I + hold to be pernicious, and I am disgusted at their arrogance. If their + system could be of any utility to man, it would seem to be by giving him a + modest opinion of himself. But these reasoners show that it is not so; and + when they think they have said enough to establish that they are brutes, + they show themselves as proud as if they had demonstrated that they are + gods. Materialism is, amongst all nations, a dangerous disease of the + human mind; but it is more especially to be dreaded amongst a democratic + people, because it readily amalgamates with that vice which is most + familiar to the heart under such circumstances. Democracy encourages a + taste for physical gratification: this taste, if it become excessive, soon + disposes men to believe that all is matter only; and materialism, in turn, + hurries them back with mad impatience to these same delights: such is the + fatal circle within which democratic nations are driven round. It were + well that they should see the danger and hold back. + </p> + <p> + Most religions are only general, simple, and practical means of teaching + men the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. That is the greatest + benefit which a democratic people derives, from its belief, and hence + belief is more necessary to such a people than to all others. When + therefore any religion has struck its roots deep into a democracy, beware + lest you disturb them; but rather watch it carefully, as the most precious + bequest of aristocratic ages. Seek not to supersede the old religious + opinions of men by new ones; lest in the passage from one faith to + another, the soul being left for a while stripped of all belief, the love + of physical gratifications should grow upon it and fill it wholly. + </p> + <p> + The doctrine of metempsychosis is assuredly not more rational than that of + materialism; nevertheless if it were absolutely necessary that a democracy + should choose one of the two, I should not hesitate to decide that the + community would run less risk of being brutalized by believing that the + soul of man will pass into the carcass of a hog, than by believing that + the soul of man is nothing at all. The belief in a supersensual and + immortal principle, united for a time to matter, is so indispensable to + man's greatness, that its effects are striking even when it is not united + to the doctrine of future reward and punishment; and when it holds no more + than that after death the divine principle contained in man is absorbed in + the Deity, or transferred to animate the frame of some other creature. Men + holding so imperfect a belief will still consider the body as the + secondary and inferior portion of their nature, and they will despise it + even whilst they yield to its influence; whereas they have a natural + esteem and secret admiration for the immaterial part of man, even though + they sometimes refuse to submit to its dominion. That is enough to give a + lofty cast to their opinions and their tastes, and to bid them tend with + no interested motive, and as it were by impulse, to pure feelings and + elevated thoughts. + </p> + <p> + It is not certain that Socrates and his followers had very fixed opinions + as to what would befall man hereafter; but the sole point of belief on + which they were determined—that the soul has nothing in common with + the body, and survives it—was enough to give the Platonic philosophy + that sublime aspiration by which it is distinguished. It is clear from the + works of Plato, that many philosophical writers, his predecessors or + contemporaries, professed materialism. These writers have not reached us, + or have reached us in mere fragments. The same thing has happened in + almost all ages; the greater part of the most famous minds in literature + adhere to the doctrines of a supersensual philosophy. The instinct and the + taste of the human race maintain those doctrines; they save them + oftentimes in spite of men themselves, and raise the names of their + defenders above the tide of time. It must not then be supposed that at any + period or under any political condition, the passion for physical + gratifications, and the opinions which are superinduced by that passion, + can ever content a whole people. The heart of man is of a larger mould: it + can at once comprise a taste for the possessions of earth and the love of + those of heaven: at times it may seem to cling devotedly to the one, but + it will never be long without thinking of the other. + </p> + <p> + If it be easy to see that it is more particularly important in democratic + ages that spiritual opinions should prevail, it is not easy to say by what + means those who govern democratic nations may make them predominate. I am + no believer in the prosperity, any more than in the durability, of + official philosophies; and as to state religions, I have always held, that + if they be sometimes of momentary service to the interests of political + power, they always, sooner or later, become fatal to the Church. Nor do I + think with those who assert, that to raise religion in the eyes of the + people, and to make them do honor to her spiritual doctrines, it is + desirable indirectly to give her ministers a political influence which the + laws deny them. I am so much alive to the almost inevitable dangers which + beset religious belief whenever the clergy take part in public affairs, + and I am so convinced that Christianity must be maintained at any cost in + the bosom of modern democracies, that I had rather shut up the priesthood + within the sanctuary than allow them to step beyond it. + </p> + <p> + What means then remain in the hands of constituted authorities to bring + men back to spiritual opinions, or to hold them fast to the religion by + which those opinions are suggested? My answer will do me harm in the eyes + of politicians. I believe that the sole effectual means which governments + can employ in order to have the doctrine of the immortality of the soul + duly respected, is ever to act as if they believed in it themselves; and I + think that it is only by scrupulous conformity to religious morality in + great affairs that they can hope to teach the community at large to know, + to love, and to observe it in the lesser concerns of life. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0037" id="link2HCH0037"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XVI: That Excessive Care Of Worldly Welfare May Impair That + Welfare + </h2> + <p> + There is a closer tie than is commonly supposed between the improvement of + the soul and the amelioration of what belongs to the body. Man may leave + these two things apart, and consider each of them alternately; but he + cannot sever them entirely without at last losing sight of one and of the + other. The beasts have the same senses as ourselves, and very nearly the + same appetites. We have no sensual passions which are not common to our + race and theirs, and which are not to be found, at least in the germ, in a + dog as well as in a man. Whence is it then that the animals can only + provide for their first and lowest wants, whereas we can infinitely vary + and endlessly increase our enjoyments? + </p> + <p> + We are superior to the beasts in this, that we use our souls to find out + those material benefits to which they are only led by instinct. In man, + the angel teaches the brute the art of contenting its desires. It is + because man is capable of rising above the things of the body, and of + contemning life itself, of which the beasts have not the least notion, + that he can multiply these same things of the body to a degree which + inferior races are equally unable to conceive. Whatever elevates, + enlarges, and expands the soul, renders it more capable of succeeding in + those very undertakings which concern it not. Whatever, on the other hand, + enervates or lowers it, weakens it for all purposes, the chiefest, as well + as the least, and threatens to render it almost equally impotent for the + one and for the other. Hence the soul must remain great and strong, though + it were only to devote its strength and greatness from time to time to the + service of the body. If men were ever to content themselves with material + objects, it is probable that they would lose by degrees the art of + producing them; and they would enjoy them in the end, like the brutes, + without discernment and without improvement. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0038" id="link2HCH0038"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XVII: That In Times Marked By Equality Of Conditions And Sceptical + Opinions, It Is Important To Remove To A Distance The Objects Of Human + Actions + </h2> + <p> + In the ages of faith the final end of life is placed beyond life. The men + of those ages therefore naturally, and in a manner involuntarily, accustom + themselves to fix their gaze for a long course of years on some immovable + object, towards which they are constantly tending; and they learn by + insensible degrees to repress a multitude of petty passing desires, in + order to be the better able to content that great and lasting desire which + possesses them. When these same men engage in the affairs of this world, + the same habits may be traced in their conduct. They are apt to set up + some general and certain aim and end to their actions here below, towards + which all their efforts are directed: they do not turn from day to day to + chase some novel object of desire, but they have settled designs which + they are never weary of pursuing. This explains why religious nations have + so often achieved such lasting results: for whilst they were thinking only + of the other world, they had found out the great secret of success in + this. Religions give men a general habit of conducting themselves with a + view to futurity: in this respect they are not less useful to happiness in + this life than to felicity hereafter; and this is one of their chief + political characteristics. + </p> + <p> + But in proportion as the light of faith grows dim, the range of man's + sight is circumscribed, as if the end and aim of human actions appeared + every day to be more within his reach. When men have once allowed + themselves to think no more of what is to befall them after life, they + readily lapse into that complete and brutal indifference to futurity, + which is but too conformable to some propensities of mankind. As soon as + they have lost the habit of placing their chief hopes upon remote events, + they naturally seek to gratify without delay their smallest desires; and + no sooner do they despair of living forever, than they are disposed to act + as if they were to exist but for a single day. In sceptical ages it is + always therefore to be feared that men may perpetually give way to their + daily casual desires; and that, wholly renouncing whatever cannot be + acquired without protracted effort, they may establish nothing great, + permanent, and calm. + </p> + <p> + If the social condition of a people, under these circumstances, becomes + democratic, the danger which I here point out is thereby increased. When + everyone is constantly striving to change his position—when an + immense field for competition is thrown open to all—when wealth is + amassed or dissipated in the shortest possible space of time amidst the + turmoil of democracy, visions of sudden and easy fortunes—of great + possessions easily won and lost—of chance, under all its forms—haunt + the mind. The instability of society itself fosters the natural + instability of man's desires. In the midst of these perpetual fluctuations + of his lot, the present grows upon his mind, until it conceals futurity + from his sight, and his looks go no further than the morrow. + </p> + <p> + In those countries in which unhappily irreligion and democracy coexist, + the most important duty of philosophers and of those in power is to be + always striving to place the objects of human actions far beyond man's + immediate range. Circumscribed by the character of his country and his + age, the moralist must learn to vindicate his principles in that position. + He must constantly endeavor to show his contemporaries, that, even in the + midst of the perpetual commotion around them, it is easier than they think + to conceive and to execute protracted undertakings. He must teach them + that, although the aspect of mankind may have changed, the methods by + which men may provide for their prosperity in this world are still the + same; and that amongst democratic nations, as well as elsewhere, it is + only by resisting a thousand petty selfish passions of the hour that the + general and unquenchable passion for happiness can be satisfied. + </p> + <p> + The task of those in power is not less clearly marked out. At all times it + is important that those who govern nations should act with a view to the + future: but this is even more necessary in democratic and sceptical ages + than in any others. By acting thus, the leading men of democracies not + only make public affairs prosperous, but they also teach private + individuals, by their example, the art of managing private concerns. Above + all they must strive as much as possible to banish chance from the sphere + of politics. The sudden and undeserved promotion of a courtier produces + only a transient impression in an aristocratic country, because the + aggregate institutions and opinions of the nation habitually compel men to + advance slowly in tracks which they cannot get out of. But nothing is more + pernicious than similar instances of favor exhibited to the eyes of a + democratic people: they give the last impulse to the public mind in a + direction where everything hurries it onwards. At times of scepticism and + equality more especially, the favor of the people or of the prince, which + chance may confer or chance withhold, ought never to stand in lieu of + attainments or services. It is desirable that every advancement should + there appear to be the result of some effort; so that no greatness should + be of too easy acquirement, and that ambition should be obliged to fix its + gaze long upon an object before it is gratified. Governments must apply + themselves to restore to men that love of the future with which religion + and the state of society no longer inspire them; and, without saying so, + they must practically teach the community day by day that wealth, fame, + and power are the rewards of labor—that great success stands at the + utmost range of long desires, and that nothing lasting is obtained but + what is obtained by toil. When men have accustomed themselves to foresee + from afar what is likely to befall in the world and to feed upon hopes, + they can hardly confine their minds within the precise circumference of + life, and they are ready to break the boundary and cast their looks + beyond. I do not doubt that, by training the members of a community to + think of their future condition in this world, they would be gradually and + unconsciously brought nearer to religious convictions. Thus the means + which allow men, up to a certain point, to go without religion, are + perhaps after all the only means we still possess for bringing mankind + back by a long and roundabout path to a state of faith. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0039" id="link2HCH0039"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XVIII: That Amongst The Americans All Honest Callings Are + Honorable + </h2> + <p> + Amongst a democratic people, where there is no hereditary wealth, every + man works to earn a living, or has worked, or is born of parents who have + worked. The notion of labor is therefore presented to the mind on every + side as the necessary, natural, and honest condition of human existence. + Not only is labor not dishonorable amongst such a people, but it is held + in honor: the prejudice is not against it, but in its favor. In the United + States a wealthy man thinks that he owes it to public opinion to devote + his leisure to some kind of industrial or commercial pursuit, or to public + business. He would think himself in bad repute if he employed his life + solely in living. It is for the purpose of escaping this obligation to + work, that so many rich Americans come to Europe, where they find some + scattered remains of aristocratic society, amongst which idleness is still + held in honor. + </p> + <p> + Equality of conditions not only ennobles the notion of labor in men's + estimation, but it raises the notion of labor as a source of profit. In + aristocracies it is not exactly labor that is despised, but labor with a + view to profit. Labor is honorific in itself, when it is undertaken at the + sole bidding of ambition or of virtue. Yet in aristocratic society it + constantly happens that he who works for honor is not insensible to the + attractions of profit. But these two desires only intermingle in the + innermost depths of his soul: he carefully hides from every eye the point + at which they join; he would fain conceal it from himself. In aristocratic + countries there are few public officers who do not affect to serve their + country without interested motives. Their salary is an incident of which + they think but little, and of which they always affect not to think at + all. Thus the notion of profit is kept distinct from that of labor; + however they may be united in point of fact, they are not thought of + together. + </p> + <p> + In democratic communities these two notions are, on the contrary, always + palpably united. As the desire of well-being is universal—as + fortunes are slender or fluctuating—as everyone wants either to + increase his own resources, or to provide fresh ones for his progeny, men + clearly see that it is profit which, if not wholly, at least partially, + leads them to work. Even those who are principally actuated by the love of + fame are necessarily made familiar with the thought that they are not + exclusively actuated by that motive; and they discover that the desire of + getting a living is mingled in their minds with the desire of making life + illustrious. + </p> + <p> + As soon as, on the one hand, labor is held by the whole community to be an + honorable necessity of man's condition, and, on the other, as soon as + labor is always ostensibly performed, wholly or in part, for the purpose + of earning remuneration, the immense interval which separated different + callings in aristocratic societies disappears. If all are not alike, all + at least have one feature in common. No profession exists in which men do + not work for money; and the remuneration which is common to them all gives + them all an air of resemblance. This serves to explain the opinions which + the Americans entertain with respect to different callings. In America no + one is degraded because he works, for everyone about him works also; nor + is anyone humiliated by the notion of receiving pay, for the President of + the United States also works for pay. He is paid for commanding, other men + for obeying orders. In the United States professions are more or less + laborious, more or less profitable; but they are never either high or low: + every honest calling is honorable. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0040" id="link2HCH0040"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XIX: That Almost All The Americans Follow Industrial Callings + </h2> + <p> + Agriculture is, perhaps, of all the useful arts that which improves most + slowly amongst democratic nations. Frequently, indeed, it would seem to be + stationary, because other arts are making rapid strides towards + perfection. On the other hand, almost all the tastes and habits which the + equality of condition engenders naturally lead men to commercial and + industrial occupations. + </p> + <p> + Suppose an active, enlightened, and free man, enjoying a competency, but + full of desires: he is too poor to live in idleness; he is rich enough to + feel himself protected from the immediate fear of want, and he thinks how + he can better his condition. This man has conceived a taste for physical + gratifications, which thousands of his fellow-men indulge in around him; + he has himself begun to enjoy these pleasures, and he is eager to increase + his means of satisfying these tastes more completely. But life is slipping + away, time is urgent—to what is he to turn? The cultivation of the + ground promises an almost certain result to his exertions, but a slow one; + men are not enriched by it without patience and toil. Agriculture is + therefore only suited to those who have already large, superfluous wealth, + or to those whose penury bids them only seek a bare subsistence. The + choice of such a man as we have supposed is soon made; he sells his plot + of ground, leaves his dwelling, and embarks in some hazardous but + lucrative calling. Democratic communities abound in men of this kind; and + in proportion as the equality of conditions becomes greater, their + multitude increases. Thus democracy not only swells the number of + workingmen, but it leads men to prefer one kind of labor to another; and + whilst it diverts them from agriculture, it encourages their taste for + commerce and manufactures. *a + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ It has often been remarked that manufacturers and mercantile men + are inordinately addicted to physical gratifications, and this has been + attributed to commerce and manufactures; but that is, I apprehend, to take + the effect for the cause. The taste for physical gratifications is not + imparted to men by commerce or manufactures, but it is rather this taste + which leads men to embark in commerce and manufactures, as a means by + which they hope to satisfy themselves more promptly and more completely. + If commerce and manufactures increase the desire of well-being, it is + because every passion gathers strength in proportion as it is cultivated, + and is increased by all the efforts made to satiate it. All the causes + which make the love of worldly welfare predominate in the heart of man are + favorable to the growth of commerce and manufactures. Equality of + conditions is one of those causes; it encourages trade, not directly by + giving men a taste for business, but indirectly by strengthening and + expanding in their minds a taste for prosperity.] + </p> + <p> + This spirit may be observed even amongst the richest members of the + community. In democratic countries, however opulent a man is supposed to + be, he is almost always discontented with his fortune, because he finds + that he is less rich than his father was, and he fears that his sons will + be less rich than himself. Most rich men in democracies are therefore + constantly haunted by the desire of obtaining wealth, and they naturally + turn their attention to trade and manufactures, which appear to offer the + readiest and most powerful means of success. In this respect they share + the instincts of the poor, without feeling the same necessities; say + rather, they feel the most imperious of all necessities, that of not + sinking in the world. + </p> + <p> + In aristocracies the rich are at the same time those who govern. The + attention which they unceasingly devote to important public affairs + diverts them from the lesser cares which trade and manufactures demand. If + the will of an individual happens, nevertheless, to turn his attention to + business, the will of the body to which he belongs will immediately debar + him from pursuing it; for however men may declaim against the rule of + numbers, they cannot wholly escape their sway; and even amongst those + aristocratic bodies which most obstinately refuse to acknowledge the + rights of the majority of the nation, a private majority is formed which + governs the rest. *b + </p> + <p class="foot"> + b <br /> [ Some aristocracies, however, have devoted themselves eagerly to + commerce, and have cultivated manufactures with success. The history of + the world might furnish several conspicuous examples. But, generally + speaking, it may be affirmed that the aristocratic principle is not + favorable to the growth of trade and manufactures. Moneyed aristocracies + are the only exception to the rule. Amongst such aristocracies there are + hardly any desires which do not require wealth to satisfy them; the love + of riches becomes, so to speak, the high road of human passions, which is + crossed by or connected with all lesser tracks. The love of money and the + thirst for that distinction which attaches to power, are then so closely + intermixed in the same souls, that it becomes difficult to discover + whether men grow covetous from ambition, or whether they are ambitious + from covetousness. This is the case in England, where men seek to get rich + in order to arrive at distinction, and seek distinctions as a + manifestation of their wealth. The mind is then seized by both ends, and + hurried into trade and manufactures, which are the shortest roads that + lead to opulence. + </p> + <p> + This, however, strikes me as an exceptional and transitory circumstance. + When wealth is become the only symbol of aristocracy, it is very difficult + for the wealthy to maintain sole possession of political power, to the + exclusion of all other men. The aristocracy of birth and pure democracy + are at the two extremes of the social and political state of nations: + between them moneyed aristocracy finds its place. The latter approximates + to the aristocracy of birth by conferring great privileges on a small + number of persons; it so far belongs to the democratic element, that these + privileges may be successively acquired by all. It frequently forms a + natural transition between these two conditions of society, and it is + difficult to say whether it closes the reign of aristocratic institutions, + or whether it already opens the new era of democracy.] + </p> + <p> + In democratic countries, where money does not lead those who possess it to + political power, but often removes them from it, the rich do not know how + to spend their leisure. They are driven into active life by the inquietude + and the greatness of their desires, by the extent of their resources, and + by the taste for what is extraordinary, which is almost always felt by + those who rise, by whatsoever means, above the crowd. Trade is the only + road open to them. In democracies nothing is more great or more brilliant + than commerce: it attracts the attention of the public, and fills the + imagination of the multitude; all energetic passions are directed towards + it. Neither their own prejudices, nor those of anybody else, can prevent + the rich from devoting themselves to it. The wealthy members of + democracies never form a body which has manners and regulations of its + own; the opinions peculiar to their class do not restrain them, and the + common opinions of their country urge them on. Moreover, as all the large + fortunes which are to be met with in a democratic community are of + commercial growth, many generations must succeed each other before their + possessors can have entirely laid aside their habits of business. + </p> + <p> + Circumscribed within the narrow space which politics leave them, rich men + in democracies eagerly embark in commercial enterprise: there they can + extend and employ their natural advantages; and indeed it is even by the + boldness and the magnitude of their industrial speculations that we may + measure the slight esteem in which productive industry would have been + held by them, if they had been born amidst an aristocracy. + </p> + <p> + A similar observation is likewise applicable to all men living in + democracies, whether they be poor or rich. Those who live in the midst of + democratic fluctuations have always before their eyes the phantom of + chance; and they end by liking all undertakings in which chance plays a + part. They are therefore all led to engage in commerce, not only for the + sake of the profit it holds out to them, but for the love of the constant + excitement occasioned by that pursuit. + </p> + <p> + The United States of America have only been emancipated for half a century + [in 1840] from the state of colonial dependence in which they stood to + Great Britain; the number of large fortunes there is small, and capital is + still scarce. Yet no people in the world has made such rapid progress in + trade and manufactures as the Americans: they constitute at the present + day the second maritime nation in the world; and although their + manufactures have to struggle with almost insurmountable natural + impediments, they are not prevented from making great and daily advances. + In the United States the greatest undertakings and speculations are + executed without difficulty, because the whole population is engaged in + productive industry, and because the poorest as well as the most opulent + members of the commonwealth are ready to combine their efforts for these + purposes. The consequence is, that a stranger is constantly amazed by the + immense public works executed by a nation which contains, so to speak, no + rich men. The Americans arrived but as yesterday on the territory which + they inhabit, and they have already changed the whole order of nature for + their own advantage. They have joined the Hudson to the Mississippi, and + made the Atlantic Ocean communicate with the Gulf of Mexico, across a + continent of more than five hundred leagues in extent which separates the + two seas. The longest railroads which have been constructed up to the + present time are in America. But what most astonishes me in the United + States, is not so much the marvellous grandeur of some undertakings, as + the innumerable multitude of small ones. Almost all the farmers of the + United States combine some trade with agriculture; most of them make + agriculture itself a trade. It seldom happens that an American farmer + settles for good upon the land which he occupies: especially in the + districts of the Far West he brings land into tillage in order to sell it + again, and not to farm it: he builds a farmhouse on the speculation that, + as the state of the country will soon be changed by the increase of + population, a good price will be gotten for it. Every year a swarm of the + inhabitants of the North arrive in the Southern States, and settle in the + parts where the cotton plant and the sugar-cane grow. These men cultivate + the soil in order to make it produce in a few years enough to enrich them; + and they already look forward to the time when they may return home to + enjoy the competency thus acquired. Thus the Americans carry their + business-like qualities into agriculture; and their trading passions are + displayed in that as in their other pursuits. + </p> + <p> + The Americans make immense progress in productive industry, because they + all devote themselves to it at once; and for this same reason they are + exposed to very unexpected and formidable embarrassments. As they are all + engaged in commerce, their commercial affairs are affected by such various + and complex causes that it is impossible to foresee what difficulties may + arise. As they are all more or less engaged in productive industry, at the + least shock given to business all private fortunes are put in jeopardy at + the same time, and the State is shaken. I believe that the return of these + commercial panics is an endemic disease of the democratic nations of our + age. It may be rendered less dangerous, but it cannot be cured; because it + does not originate in accidental circumstances, but in the temperament of + these nations. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0041" id="link2HCH0041"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XX: That Aristocracy May Be Engendered By Manufactures + </h2> + <p> + I have shown that democracy is favorable to the growth of manufactures, + and that it increases without limit the numbers of the manufacturing + classes: we shall now see by what side road manufacturers may possibly in + their turn bring men back to aristocracy. It is acknowledged that when a + workman is engaged every day upon the same detail, the whole commodity is + produced with greater ease, promptitude, and economy. It is likewise + acknowledged that the cost of the production of manufactured goods is + diminished by the extent of the establishment in which they are made, and + by the amount of capital employed or of credit. These truths had long been + imperfectly discerned, but in our time they have been demonstrated. They + have been already applied to many very important kinds of manufactures, + and the humblest will gradually be governed by them. I know of nothing in + politics which deserves to fix the attention of the legislator more + closely than these two new axioms of the science of manufactures. + </p> + <p> + When a workman is unceasingly and exclusively engaged in the fabrication + of one thing, he ultimately does his work with singular dexterity; but at + the same time he loses the general faculty of applying his mind to the + direction of the work. He every day becomes more adroit and less + industrious; so that it may be said of him, that in proportion as the + workman improves the man is degraded. What can be expected of a man who + has spent twenty years of his life in making heads for pins? and to what + can that mighty human intelligence, which has so often stirred the world, + be applied in him, except it be to investigate the best method of making + pins' heads? When a workman has spent a considerable portion of his + existence in this manner, his thoughts are forever set upon the object of + his daily toil; his body has contracted certain fixed habits, which it can + never shake off: in a word, he no longer belongs to himself, but to the + calling which he has chosen. It is in vain that laws and manners have been + at the pains to level all barriers round such a man, and to open to him on + every side a thousand different paths to fortune; a theory of manufactures + more powerful than manners and laws binds him to a craft, and frequently + to a spot, which he cannot leave: it assigns to him a certain place in + society, beyond which he cannot go: in the midst of universal movement it + has rendered him stationary. + </p> + <p> + In proportion as the principle of the division of labor is more + extensively applied, the workman becomes more weak, more narrow-minded, + and more dependent. The art advances, the artisan recedes. On the other + hand, in proportion as it becomes more manifest that the productions of + manufactures are by so much the cheaper and better as the manufacture is + larger and the amount of capital employed more considerable, wealthy and + educated men come forward to embark in manufactures which were heretofore + abandoned to poor or ignorant handicraftsmen. The magnitude of the efforts + required, and the importance of the results to be obtained, attract them. + Thus at the very time at which the science of manufactures lowers the + class of workmen, it raises the class of masters. + </p> + <p> + Whereas the workman concentrates his faculties more and more upon the + study of a single detail, the master surveys a more extensive whole, and + the mind of the latter is enlarged in proportion as that of the former is + narrowed. In a short time the one will require nothing but physical + strength without intelligence; the other stands in need of science, and + almost of genius, to insure success. This man resembles more and more the + administrator of a vast empire—that man, a brute. The master and the + workman have then here no similarity, and their differences increase every + day. They are only connected as the two rings at the extremities of a long + chain. Each of them fills the station which is made for him, and out of + which he does not get: the one is continually, closely, and necessarily + dependent upon the other, and seems as much born to obey as that other is + to command. What is this but aristocracy? + </p> + <p> + As the conditions of men constituting the nation become more and more + equal, the demand for manufactured commodities becomes more general and + more extensive; and the cheapness which places these objects within the + reach of slender fortunes becomes a great element of success. Hence there + are every day more men of great opulence and education who devote their + wealth and knowledge to manufactures; and who seek, by opening large + establishments, and by a strict division of labor, to meet the fresh + demands which are made on all sides. Thus, in proportion as the mass of + the nation turns to democracy, that particular class which is engaged in + manufactures becomes more aristocratic. Men grow more alike in the one—more + different in the other; and inequality increases in the less numerous + class in the same ratio in which it decreases in the community. Hence it + would appear, on searching to the bottom, that aristocracy should + naturally spring out of the bosom of democracy. + </p> + <p> + But this kind of aristocracy by no means resembles those kinds which + preceded it. It will be observed at once, that as it applies exclusively + to manufactures and to some manufacturing callings, it is a monstrous + exception in the general aspect of society. The small aristocratic + societies which are formed by some manufacturers in the midst of the + immense democracy of our age, contain, like the great aristocratic + societies of former ages, some men who are very opulent, and a multitude + who are wretchedly poor. The poor have few means of escaping from their + condition and becoming rich; but the rich are constantly becoming poor, or + they give up business when they have realized a fortune. Thus the elements + of which the class of the poor is composed are fixed; but the elements of + which the class of the rich is composed are not so. To say the truth, + though there are rich men, the class of rich men does not exist; for these + rich individuals have no feelings or purposes in common, no mutual + traditions or mutual hopes; there are therefore members, but no body. + </p> + <p> + Not only are the rich not compactly united amongst themselves, but there + is no real bond between them and the poor. Their relative position is not + a permanent one; they are constantly drawn together or separated by their + interests. The workman is generally dependent on the master, but not on + any particular master; these two men meet in the factory, but know not + each other elsewhere; and whilst they come into contact on one point, they + stand very wide apart on all others. The manufacturer asks nothing of the + workman but his labor; the workman expects nothing from him but his wages. + The one contracts no obligation to protect, nor the other to defend; and + they are not permanently connected either by habit or by duty. The + aristocracy created by business rarely settles in the midst of the + manufacturing population which it directs; the object is not to govern + that population, but to use it. An aristocracy thus constituted can have + no great hold upon those whom it employs; and even if it succeed in + retaining them at one moment, they escape the next; it knows not how to + will, and it cannot act. The territorial aristocracy of former ages was + either bound by law, or thought itself bound by usage, to come to the + relief of its serving-men, and to succor their distresses. But the + manufacturing aristocracy of our age first impoverishes and debases the + men who serve it, and then abandons them to be supported by the charity of + the public. This is a natural consequence of what has been said before. + Between the workmen and the master there are frequent relations, but no + real partnership. + </p> + <p> + I am of opinion, upon the whole, that the manufacturing aristocracy which + is growing up under our eyes is one of the harshest which ever existed in + the world; but at the same time it is one of the most confined and least + dangerous. Nevertheless the friends of democracy should keep their eyes + anxiously fixed in this direction; for if ever a permanent inequality of + conditions and aristocracy again penetrate into the world, it may be + predicted that this is the channel by which they will enter. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0046" id="link2H_4_0046"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Book Three: Influence Of Democracy On Manners, Properly So Called + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0042" id="link2HCH0042"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter I: That Manners Are Softened As Social Conditions Become More + Equal + </h2> + <p> + We perceive that for several ages social conditions have tended to + equality, and we discover that in the course of the same period the + manners of society have been softened. Are these two things merely + contemporaneous, or does any secret link exist between them, so that the + one cannot go on without making the other advance? Several causes may + concur to render the manners of a people less rude; but, of all these + causes, the most powerful appears to me to be the equality of conditions. + Equality of conditions and growing civility in manners are, then, in my + eyes, not only contemporaneous occurrences, but correlative facts. When + the fabulists seek to interest us in the actions of beasts, they invest + them with human notions and passions; the poets who sing of spirits and + angels do the same; there is no wretchedness so deep, nor any happiness so + pure, as to fill the human mind and touch the heart, unless we are + ourselves held up to our own eyes under other features. + </p> + <p> + This is strictly applicable to the subject upon which we are at present + engaged. When all men are irrevocably marshalled in an aristocratic + community, according to their professions, their property, and their + birth, the members of each class, considering themselves as children of + the same family, cherish a constant and lively sympathy towards each + other, which can never be felt in an equal degree by the citizens of a + democracy. But the same feeling does not exist between the several classes + towards each other. Amongst an aristocratic people each caste has its own + opinions, feelings, rights, manners, and modes of living. Thus the men of + whom each caste is composed do not resemble the mass of their + fellow-citizens; they do not think or feel in the same manner, and they + scarcely believe that they belong to the same human race. They cannot, + therefore, thoroughly understand what others feel, nor judge of others by + themselves. Yet they are sometimes eager to lend each other mutual aid; + but this is not contrary to my previous observation. These aristocratic + institutions, which made the beings of one and the same race so different, + nevertheless bound them to each other by close political ties. Although + the serf had no natural interest in the fate of nobles, he did not the + less think himself obliged to devote his person to the service of that + noble who happened to be his lord; and although the noble held himself to + be of a different nature from that of his serfs, he nevertheless held that + his duty and his honor constrained him to defend, at the risk of his own + life, those who dwelt upon his domains. + </p> + <p> + It is evident that these mutual obligations did not originate in the law + of nature, but in the law of society; and that the claim of social duty + was more stringent than that of mere humanity. These services were not + supposed to be due from man to man, but to the vassal or to the lord. + Feudal institutions awakened a lively sympathy for the sufferings of + certain men, but none at all for the miseries of mankind. They infused + generosity rather than mildness into the manners of the time, and although + they prompted men to great acts of self-devotion, they engendered no real + sympathies; for real sympathies can only exist between those who are + alike; and in aristocratic ages men acknowledge none but the members of + their own caste to be like themselves. + </p> + <p> + When the chroniclers of the Middle Ages, who all belonged to the + aristocracy by birth or education, relate the tragical end of a noble, + their grief flows apace; whereas they tell you at a breath, and without + wincing, of massacres and tortures inflicted on the common sort of people. + Not that these writers felt habitual hatred or systematic disdain for the + people; war between the several classes of the community was not yet + declared. They were impelled by an instinct rather than by a passion; as + they had formed no clear notion of a poor man's sufferings, they cared but + little for his fate. The same feelings animated the lower orders whenever + the feudal tie was broken. The same ages which witnessed so many heroic + acts of self-devotion on the part of vassals for their lords, were stained + with atrocious barbarities, exercised from time to time by the lower + classes on the higher. It must not be supposed that this mutual + insensibility arose solely from the absence of public order and education; + for traces of it are to be found in the following centuries, which became + tranquil and enlightened whilst they remained aristocratic. In 1675 the + lower classes in Brittany revolted at the imposition of a new tax. These + disturbances were put down with unexampled atrocity. Observe the language + in which Madame de Sevigne, a witness of these horrors, relates them to + her daughter:— + </p> + <p> + "Aux Rochers, 30 Octobre, 1675. + </p> + <p> + "Mon Dieu, ma fille, que votre lettre d'Aix est plaisante! Au moins + relisez vos lettres avant que de les envoyer; laissez-vous surpendre a + leur agrement, et consolez-vous par ce plaisir de la peine que vous avez + d'en tant ecrire. Vous avez donc baise toute la Provence? il n'y aurait + pas satisfaction a baiser toute la Bretagne, a moins qu'on n'aimat a + sentir le vin. . . . Voulez-vous savoir des nouvelles de Rennes? On a fait + une taxe de cent mille ecus sur le bourgeois; et si on ne trouve point + cette somme dans vingt-quatre heures, elle sera doublee et exigible par + les soldats. On a chasse et banni toute une grand rue, et defendu de les + recueillir sous peine de la vie; de sorte qu'on voyait tous ces + miserables, veillards, femmes accouchees, enfans, errer en pleurs au + sortir de cette ville sans savoir ou aller. On roua avant-hier un violon, + qui avait commence la danse et la pillerie du papier timbre; il a ete + ecartele apres sa mort, et ses quatre quartiers exposes aux quatre coins + de la ville. On a pris soixante bourgeois, et on commence demain les + punitions. Cette province est un bel exemple pour les autres, et surtout + de respecter les gouverneurs et les gouvernantes, et de ne point jeter de + pierres dans leur jardin." *a + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ To feel the point of this joke the reader should recollect that + Madame de Grignan was Gouvernante de Provence.] "Madame de Tarente etait + hier dans ces bois par un temps enchante: il n'est question ni de chambre + ni de collation; elle entre par la barriere et s'en retourne de meme. . . + ." + </p> + <p> + In another letter she adds:— + </p> + <p> + "Vous me parlez bien plaisamment de nos miseres; nous ne sommes plus si + roues; un en huit jours, pour entretenir la justice. Il est vrai que la + penderie me parait maintenant un refraichissement. J'ai une tout autre + idee de la justice, depuis que je suis en ce pays. Vos galeriens me + paraissent une societe d'honnetes gens qui se sont retires du monde pour + mener une vie douce." + </p> + <p> + It would be a mistake to suppose that Madame de Sevigne, who wrote these + lines, was a selfish or cruel person; she was passionately attached to her + children, and very ready to sympathize in the sorrows of her friends; nay, + her letters show that she treated her vassals and servants with kindness + and indulgence. But Madame de Sevigne had no clear notion of suffering in + anyone who was not a person of quality. + </p> + <p> + In our time the harshest man writing to the most insensible person of his + acquaintance would not venture wantonly to indulge in the cruel jocularity + which I have quoted; and even if his own manners allowed him to do so, the + manners of society at large would forbid it. Whence does this arise? Have + we more sensibility than our forefathers? I know not that we have; but I + am sure that our insensibility is extended to a far greater range of + objects. When all the ranks of a community are nearly equal, as all men + think and feel in nearly the same manner, each of them may judge in a + moment of the sensations of all the others; he casts a rapid glance upon + himself, and that is enough. There is no wretchedness into which he cannot + readily enter, and a secret instinct reveals to him its extent. It + signifies not that strangers or foes be the sufferers; imagination puts + him in their place; something like a personal feeling is mingled with his + pity, and makes himself suffer whilst the body of his fellow-creature is + in torture. In democratic ages men rarely sacrifice themselves for one + another; but they display general compassion for the members of the human + race. They inflict no useless ills; and they are happy to relieve the + griefs of others, when they can do so without much hurting themselves; + they are not disinterested, but they are humane. + </p> + <p> + Although the Americans have, in a manner, reduced egotism to a social and + philosophical theory, they are nevertheless extremely open to compassion. + In no country is criminal justice administered with more mildness than in + the United States. Whilst the English seem disposed carefully to retain + the bloody traces of the dark ages in their penal legislation, the + Americans have almost expunged capital punishment from their codes. North + America is, I think, the only one country upon earth in which the life of + no one citizen has been taken for a political offence in the course of the + last fifty years. The circumstance which conclusively shows that this + singular mildness of the Americans arises chiefly from their social + condition, is the manner in which they treat their slaves. Perhaps there + is not, upon the whole, a single European colony in the New World in which + the physical condition of the blacks is less severe than in the United + States; yet the slaves still endure horrid sufferings there, and are + constantly exposed to barbarous punishments. It is easy to perceive that + the lot of these unhappy beings inspires their masters with but little + compassion, and that they look upon slavery, not only as an institution + which is profitable to them, but as an evil which does not affect them. + Thus the same man who is full of humanity towards his fellow-creatures + when they are at the same time his equals, becomes insensible to their + afflictions as soon as that equality ceases. His mildness should therefore + be attributed to the equality of conditions, rather than to civilization + and education. + </p> + <p> + What I have here remarked of individuals is, to a certain extent, + applicable to nations. When each nation has its distinct opinions, belief, + laws, and customs, it looks upon itself as the whole of mankind, and is + moved by no sorrows but its own. Should war break out between two nations + animated by this feeling, it is sure to be waged with great cruelty. At + the time of their highest culture, the Romans slaughtered the generals of + their enemies, after having dragged them in triumph behind a car; and they + flung their prisoners to the beasts of the Circus for the amusement of the + people. Cicero, who declaimed so vehemently at the notion of crucifying a + Roman citizen, had not a word to say against these horrible abuses of + victory. It is evident that in his eyes a barbarian did not belong to the + same human race as a Roman. On the contrary, in proportion as nations + become more like each other, they become reciprocally more compassionate, + and the law of nations is mitigated. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0043" id="link2HCH0043"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter II: That Democracy Renders The Habitual Intercourse Of The + Americans Simple And Easy + </h2> + <p> + Democracy does not attach men strongly to each other; but it places their + habitual intercourse upon an easier footing. If two Englishmen chance to + meet at the Antipodes, where they are surrounded by strangers whose + language and manners are almost unknown to them, they will first stare at + each other with much curiosity and a kind of secret uneasiness; they will + then turn away, or, if one accosts the other, they will take care only to + converse with a constrained and absent air upon very unimportant subjects. + Yet there is no enmity between these men; they have never seen each other + before, and each believes the other to be a respectable person. Why then + should they stand so cautiously apart? We must go back to England to learn + the reason. + </p> + <p> + When it is birth alone, independent of wealth, which classes men in + society, everyone knows exactly what his own position is upon the social + scale; he does not seek to rise, he does not fear to sink. In a community + thus organized, men of different castes communicate very little with each + other; but if accident brings them together, they are ready to converse + without hoping or fearing to lose their own position. Their intercourse is + not upon a footing of equality, but it is not constrained. When moneyed + aristocracy succeeds to aristocracy of birth, the case is altered. The + privileges of some are still extremely great, but the possibility of + acquiring those privileges is open to all: whence it follows that those + who possess them are constantly haunted by the apprehension of losing + them, or of other men's sharing them; those who do not yet enjoy them long + to possess them at any cost, or, if they fail to appear at least to + possess them—which is not impossible. As the social importance of + men is no longer ostensibly and permanently fixed by blood, and is + infinitely varied by wealth, ranks still exist, but it is not easy clearly + to distinguish at a glance those who respectively belong to them. Secret + hostilities then arise in the community; one set of men endeavor by + innumerable artifices to penetrate, or to appear to penetrate, amongst + those who are above them; another set are constantly in arms against these + usurpers of their rights; or rather the same individual does both at once, + and whilst he seeks to raise himself into a higher circle, he is always on + the defensive against the intrusion of those below him. + </p> + <p> + Such is the condition of England at the present time; and I am of opinion + that the peculiarity before adverted to is principally to be attributed to + this cause. As aristocratic pride is still extremely great amongst the + English, and as the limits of aristocracy are ill-defined, everybody lives + in constant dread lest advantage should be taken of his familiarity. + Unable to judge at once of the social position of those he meets, an + Englishman prudently avoids all contact with them. Men are afraid lest + some slight service rendered should draw them into an unsuitable + acquaintance; they dread civilities, and they avoid the obtrusive + gratitude of a stranger quite as much as his hatred. Many people attribute + these singular anti-social propensities, and the reserved and taciturn + bearing of the English, to purely physical causes. I may admit that there + is something of it in their race, but much more of it is attributable to + their social condition, as is proved by the contrast of the Americans. + </p> + <p> + In America, where the privileges of birth never existed, and where riches + confer no peculiar rights on their possessors, men unacquainted with each + other are very ready to frequent the same places, and find neither peril + nor advantage in the free interchange of their thoughts. If they meet by + accident, they neither seek nor avoid intercourse; their manner is + therefore natural, frank, and open: it is easy to see that they hardly + expect or apprehend anything from each other, and that they do not care to + display, any more than to conceal, their position in the world. If their + demeanor is often cold and serious, it is never haughty or constrained; + and if they do not converse, it is because they are not in a humor to + talk, not because they think it their interest to be silent. In a foreign + country two Americans are at once friends, simply because they are + Americans. They are repulsed by no prejudice; they are attracted by their + common country. For two Englishmen the same blood is not enough; they must + be brought together by the same rank. The Americans remark this unsociable + mood of the English as much as the French do, and they are not less + astonished by it. Yet the Americans are connected with England by their + origin, their religion, their language, and partially by their manners; + they only differ in their social condition. It may therefore be inferred + that the reserve of the English proceeds from the constitution of their + country much more than from that of its inhabitants. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0044" id="link2HCH0044"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter III: Why The Americans Show So Little Sensitiveness In Their Own + Country, And Are So Sensitive In Europe + </h2> + <p> + The temper of the Americans is vindictive, like that of all serious and + reflecting nations. They hardly ever forget an offence, but it is not easy + to offend them; and their resentment is as slow to kindle as it is to + abate. In aristocratic communities where a small number of persons manage + everything, the outward intercourse of men is subject to settled + conventional rules. Everyone then thinks he knows exactly what marks of + respect or of condescension he ought to display, and none are presumed to + be ignorant of the science of etiquette. These usages of the first class + in society afterwards serve as a model to all the others; besides which + each of the latter lays down a code of its own, to which all its members + are bound to conform. Thus the rules of politeness form a complex system + of legislation, which it is difficult to be perfectly master of, but from + which it is dangerous for anyone to deviate; so that men are constantly + exposed involuntarily to inflict or to receive bitter affronts. But as the + distinctions of rank are obliterated, as men differing in education and in + birth meet and mingle in the same places of resort, it is almost + impossible to agree upon the rules of good breeding. As its laws are + uncertain, to disobey them is not a crime, even in the eyes of those who + know what they are; men attach more importance to intentions than to + forms, and they grow less civil, but at the same time less quarrelsome. + There are many little attentions which an American does not care about; he + thinks they are not due to him, or he presumes that they are not known to + be due: he therefore either does not perceive a rudeness or he forgives + it; his manners become less courteous, and his character more plain and + masculine. + </p> + <p> + The mutual indulgence which the Americans display, and the manly + confidence with which they treat each other, also result from another + deeper and more general cause, which I have already adverted to in the + preceding chapter. In the United States the distinctions of rank in civil + society are slight, in political society they are null; an American, + therefore, does not think himself bound to pay particular attentions to + any of his fellow-citizens, nor does he require such attentions from them + towards himself. As he does not see that it is his interest eagerly to + seek the company of any of his countrymen, he is slow to fancy that his + own company is declined: despising no one on account of his station, he + does not imagine that anyone can despise him for that cause; and until he + has clearly perceived an insult, he does not suppose that an affront was + intended. The social condition of the Americans naturally accustoms them + not to take offence in small matters; and, on the other hand, the + democratic freedom which they enjoy transfuses this same mildness of + temper into the character of the nation. The political institutions of the + United States constantly bring citizens of all ranks into contact, and + compel them to pursue great undertakings in concert. People thus engaged + have scarcely time to attend to the details of etiquette, and they are + besides too strongly interested in living harmoniously for them to stick + at such things. They therefore soon acquire a habit of considering the + feelings and opinions of those whom they meet more than their manners, and + they do not allow themselves to be annoyed by trifles. + </p> + <p> + I have often remarked in the United States that it is not easy to make a + man understand that his presence may be dispensed with; hints will not + always suffice to shake him off. I contradict an American at every word he + says, to show him that his conversation bores me; he instantly labors with + fresh pertinacity to convince me; I preserve a dogged silence, and he + thinks I am meditating deeply on the truths which he is uttering; at last + I rush from his company, and he supposes that some urgent business hurries + me elsewhere. This man will never understand that he wearies me to + extinction unless I tell him so: and the only way to get rid of him is to + make him my enemy for life. + </p> + <p> + It appears surprising at first sight that the same man transported to + Europe suddenly becomes so sensitive and captious, that I often find it as + difficult to avoid offending him here as it was to put him out of + countenance. These two opposite effects proceed from the same cause. + Democratic institutions generally give men a lofty notion of their country + and of themselves. An American leaves his country with a heart swollen + with pride; on arriving in Europe he at once finds out that we are not so + engrossed by the United States and the great people which inhabits them as + he had supposed, and this begins to annoy him. He has been informed that + the conditions of society are not equal in our part of the globe, and he + observes that among the nations of Europe the traces of rank are not + wholly obliterated; that wealth and birth still retain some indeterminate + privileges, which force themselves upon his notice whilst they elude + definition. He is therefore profoundly ignorant of the place which he + ought to occupy in this half-ruined scale of classes, which are + sufficiently distinct to hate and despise each other, yet sufficiently + alike for him to be always confounding them. He is afraid of ranging + himself too high—still more is he afraid of being ranged too low; + this twofold peril keeps his mind constantly on the stretch, and + embarrasses all he says and does. He learns from tradition that in Europe + ceremonial observances were infinitely varied according to different + ranks; this recollection of former times completes his perplexity, and he + is the more afraid of not obtaining those marks of respect which are due + to him, as he does not exactly know in what they consist. He is like a man + surrounded by traps: society is not a recreation for him, but a serious + toil: he weighs your least actions, interrogates your looks, and + scrutinizes all you say, lest there should be some hidden allusion to + affront him. I doubt whether there was ever a provincial man of quality so + punctilious in breeding as he is: he endeavors to attend to the slightest + rules of etiquette, and does not allow one of them to be waived towards + himself: he is full of scruples and at the same time of pretensions; he + wishes to do enough, but fears to do too much; and as he does not very + well know the limits of the one or of the other, he keeps up a haughty and + embarrassed air of reserve. + </p> + <p> + But this is not all: here is yet another double of the human heart. An + American is forever talking of the admirable equality which prevails in + the United States; aloud he makes it the boast of his country, but in + secret he deplores it for himself; and he aspires to show that, for his + part, he is an exception to the general state of things which he vaunts. + There is hardly an American to be met with who does not claim some remote + kindred with the first founders of the colonies; and as for the scions of + the noble families of England, America seemed to me to be covered with + them. When an opulent American arrives in Europe, his first care is to + surround himself with all the luxuries of wealth: he is so afraid of being + taken for the plain citizen of a democracy, that he adopts a hundred + distorted ways of bringing some new instance of his wealth before you + every day. His house will be in the most fashionable part of the town: he + will always be surrounded by a host of servants. I have heard an American + complain, that in the best houses of Paris the society was rather mixed; + the taste which prevails there was not pure enough for him; and he + ventured to hint that, in his opinion, there was a want of elegance of + manner; he could not accustom himself to see wit concealed under such + unpretending forms. + </p> + <p> + These contrasts ought not to surprise us. If the vestiges of former + aristocratic distinctions were not so completely effaced in the United + States, the Americans would be less simple and less tolerant in their own + country—they would require less, and be less fond of borrowed + manners in ours. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0045" id="link2HCH0045"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IV: Consequences Of The Three Preceding Chapters + </h2> + <p> + When men feel a natural compassion for their mutual sufferings—when + they are brought together by easy and frequent intercourse, and no + sensitive feelings keep them asunder—it may readily be supposed that + they will lend assistance to one another whenever it is needed. When an + American asks for the co-operation of his fellow-citizens it is seldom + refused, and I have often seen it afforded spontaneously and with great + goodwill. If an accident happens on the highway, everybody hastens to help + the sufferer; if some great and sudden calamity befalls a family, the + purses of a thousand strangers are at once willingly opened, and small but + numerous donations pour in to relieve their distress. It often happens + amongst the most civilized nations of the globe, that a poor wretch is as + friendless in the midst of a crowd as the savage in his wilds: this is + hardly ever the case in the United States. The Americans, who are always + cold and often coarse in their manners, seldom show insensibility; and if + they do not proffer services eagerly, yet they do not refuse to render + them. + </p> + <p> + All this is not in contradiction to what I have said before on the subject + of individualism. The two things are so far from combating each other, + that I can see how they agree. Equality of conditions, whilst it makes men + feel their independence, shows them their own weakness: they are free, but + exposed to a thousand accidents; and experience soon teaches them that, + although they do not habitually require the assistance of others, a time + almost always comes when they cannot do without it. We constantly see in + Europe that men of the same profession are ever ready to assist each + other; they are all exposed to the same ills, and that is enough to teach + them to seek mutual preservatives, however hard-hearted and selfish they + may otherwise be. When one of them falls into danger, from which the + others may save him by a slight transient sacrifice or a sudden effort, + they do not fail to make the attempt. Not that they are deeply interested + in his fate; for if, by chance, their exertions are unavailing, they + immediately forget the object of them, and return to their own business; + but a sort of tacit and almost involuntary agreement has been passed + between them, by which each one owes to the others a temporary support + which he may claim for himself in turn. Extend to a people the remark here + applied to a class, and you will understand my meaning. A similar covenant + exists in fact between all the citizens of a democracy: they all feel + themselves subject to the same weakness and the same dangers; and their + interest, as well as their sympathy, makes it a rule with them to lend + each other mutual assistance when required. The more equal social + conditions become, the more do men display this reciprocal disposition to + oblige each other. In democracies no great benefits are conferred, but + good offices are constantly rendered: a man seldom displays self-devotion, + but all men are ready to be of service to one another. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0046" id="link2HCH0046"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter V: How Democracy Affects the Relation Of Masters And Servants + </h2> + <p> + An American who had travelled for a long time in Europe once said to me, + "The English treat their servants with a stiffness and imperiousness of + manner which surprise us; but on the other hand the French sometimes treat + their attendants with a degree of familiarity or of politeness which we + cannot conceive. It looks as if they were afraid to give orders: the + posture of the superior and the inferior is ill-maintained." The remark + was a just one, and I have often made it myself. I have always considered + England as the country in the world where, in our time, the bond of + domestic service is drawn most tightly, and France as the country where it + is most relaxed. Nowhere have I seen masters stand so high or so low as in + these two countries. Between these two extremes the Americans are to be + placed. Such is the fact as it appears upon the surface of things: to + discover the causes of that fact, it is necessary to search the matter + thoroughly. + </p> + <p> + No communities have ever yet existed in which social conditions have been + so equal that there were neither rich nor poor, and consequently neither + masters nor servants. Democracy does not prevent the existence of these + two classes, but it changes their dispositions and modifies their mutual + relations. Amongst aristocratic nations servants form a distinct class, + not more variously composed than that of masters. A settled order is soon + established; in the former as well as in the latter class a scale is + formed, with numerous distinctions or marked gradations of rank, and + generations succeed each other thus without any change of position. These + two communities are superposed one above the other, always distinct, but + regulated by analogous principles. This aristocratic constitution does not + exert a less powerful influence on the notions and manners of servants + than on those of masters; and, although the effects are different, the + same cause may easily be traced. Both classes constitute small communities + in the heart of the nation, and certain permanent notions of right and + wrong are ultimately engendered amongst them. The different acts of human + life are viewed by one particular and unchanging light. In the society of + servants, as in that of masters, men exercise a great influence over each + other: they acknowledge settled rules, and in the absence of law they are + guided by a sort of public opinion: their habits are settled, and their + conduct is placed under a certain control. + </p> + <p> + These men, whose destiny is to obey, certainly do not understand fame, + virtue, honesty, and honor in the same manner as their masters; but they + have a pride, a virtue, and an honesty pertaining to their condition; and + they have a notion, if I may use the expression, of a sort of servile + honor. *a Because a class is mean, it must not be supposed that all who + belong to it are mean-hearted; to think so would be a great mistake. + However lowly it may be, he who is foremost there, and who has no notion + of quitting it, occupies an aristocratic position which inspires him with + lofty feelings, pride, and self-respect, that fit him for the higher + virtues and actions above the common. Amongst aristocratic nations it was + by no means rare to find men of noble and vigorous minds in the service of + the great, who felt not the servitude they bore, and who submitted to the + will of their masters without any fear of their displeasure. But this was + hardly ever the case amongst the inferior ranks of domestic servants. It + may be imagined that he who occupies the lowest stage of the order of + menials stands very low indeed. The French created a word on purpose to + designate the servants of the aristocracy—they called them lackeys. + This word "lackey" served as the strongest expression, when all others + were exhausted, to designate human meanness. Under the old French + monarchy, to denote by a single expression a low-spirited contemptible + fellow, it was usual to say that he had the "soul of a lackey"; the term + was enough to convey all that was intended. [Footnote a: If the principal + opinions by which men are guided are examined closely and in detail, the + analogy appears still more striking, and one is surprised to find amongst + them, just as much as amongst the haughtiest scions of a feudal race, + pride of birth, respect for their ancestry and their descendants, disdain + of their inferiors, a dread of contact, a taste for etiquette, precedents, + and antiquity.] + </p> + <p> + The permanent inequality of conditions not only gives servants certain + peculiar virtues and vices, but it places them in a peculiar relation with + respect to their masters. Amongst aristocratic nations the poor man is + familiarized from his childhood with the notion of being commanded: to + whichever side he turns his eyes the graduated structure of society and + the aspect of obedience meet his view. Hence in those countries the master + readily obtains prompt, complete, respectful, and easy obedience from his + servants, because they revere in him not only their master but the class + of masters. He weighs down their will by the whole weight of the + aristocracy. He orders their actions—to a certain extent he even + directs their thoughts. In aristocracies the master often exercises, even + without being aware of it, an amazing sway over the opinions, the habits, + and the manners of those who obey him, and his influence extends even + further than his authority. + </p> + <p> + In aristocratic communities there are not only hereditary families of + servants as well as of masters, but the same families of servants adhere + for several generations to the same families of masters (like two parallel + lines which neither meet nor separate); and this considerably modifies the + mutual relations of these two classes of persons. Thus, although in + aristocratic society the master and servant have no natural resemblance—although, + on the contrary, they are placed at an immense distance on the scale of + human beings by their fortune, education, and opinions—yet time + ultimately binds them together. They are connected by a long series of + common reminiscences, and however different they may be, they grow alike; + whilst in democracies, where they are naturally almost alike, they always + remain strangers to each other. Amongst an aristocratic people the master + gets to look upon his servants as an inferior and secondary part of + himself, and he often takes an interest in their lot by a last stretch of + egotism. + </p> + <p> + Servants, on their part, are not averse to regard themselves in the same + light; and they sometimes identify themselves with the person of the + master, so that they become an appendage to him in their own eyes as well + as in his. In aristocracies a servant fills a subordinate position which + he cannot get out of; above him is another man, holding a superior rank + which he cannot lose. On one side are obscurity, poverty, obedience for + life; on the other, and also for life, fame, wealth, and command. The two + conditions are always distinct and always in propinquity; the tie that + connects them is as lasting as they are themselves. In this predicament + the servant ultimately detaches his notion of interest from his own + person; he deserts himself, as it were, or rather he transports himself + into the character of his master, and thus assumes an imaginary + personality. He complacently invests himself with the wealth of those who + command him; he shares their fame, exalts himself by their rank, and feeds + his mind with borrowed greatness, to which he attaches more importance + than those who fully and really possess it. There is something touching, + and at the same time ridiculous, in this strange confusion of two + different states of being. These passions of masters, when they pass into + the souls of menials, assume the natural dimensions of the place they + occupy—they are contracted and lowered. What was pride in the former + becomes puerile vanity and paltry ostentation in the latter. The servants + of a great man are commonly most punctilious as to the marks of respect + due to him, and they attach more importance to his slightest privileges + than he does himself. In France a few of these old servants of the + aristocracy are still to be met with here and there; they have survived + their race, which will soon disappear with them altogether. In the United + States I never saw anyone at all like them. The Americans are not only + unacquainted with the kind of man, but it is hardly possible to make them + understand that such ever existed. It is scarcely less difficult for them + to conceive it, than for us to form a correct notion of what a slave was + amongst the Romans, or a serf in the Middle Ages. All these men were in + fact, though in different degrees, results of the same cause: they are all + retiring from our sight, and disappearing in the obscurity of the past, + together with the social condition to which they owed their origin. + </p> + <p> + Equality of conditions turns servants and masters into new beings, and + places them in new relative positions. When social conditions are nearly + equal, men are constantly changing their situations in life: there is + still a class of menials and a class of masters, but these classes are not + always composed of the same individuals, still less of the same families; + and those who command are not more secure of perpetuity than those who + obey. As servants do not form a separate people, they have no habits, + prejudices, or manners peculiar to themselves; they are not remarkable for + any particular turn of mind or moods of feeling. They know no vices or + virtues of their condition, but they partake of the education, the + opinions, the feelings, the virtues, and the vices of their + contemporaries; and they are honest men or scoundrels in the same way as + their masters are. The conditions of servants are not less equal than + those of masters. As no marked ranks or fixed subordination are to be + found amongst them, they will not display either the meanness or the + greatness which characterizes the aristocracy of menials as well as all + other aristocracies. I never saw a man in the United States who reminded + me of that class of confidential servants of which we still retain a + reminiscence in Europe, neither did I ever meet with such a thing as a + lackey: all traces of the one and of the other have disappeared. + </p> + <p> + In democracies servants are not only equal amongst themselves, but it may + be said that they are in some sort the equals of their masters. This + requires explanation in order to be rightly understood. At any moment a + servant may become a master, and he aspires to rise to that condition: the + servant is therefore not a different man from the master. Why then has the + former a right to command, and what compels the latter to obey?—the + free and temporary consent of both their wills. Neither of them is by + nature inferior to the other; they only become so for a time by covenant. + Within the terms of this covenant, the one is a servant, the other a + master; beyond it they are two citizens of the commonwealth—two men. + I beg the reader particularly to observe that this is not only the notion + which servants themselves entertain of their own condition; domestic + service is looked upon by masters in the same light; and the precise + limits of authority and obedience are as clearly settled in the mind of + the one as in that of the other. + </p> + <p> + When the greater part of the community have long attained a condition + nearly alike, and when equality is an old and acknowledged fact, the + public mind, which is never affected by exceptions, assigns certain + general limits to the value of man, above or below which no man can long + remain placed. It is in vain that wealth and poverty, authority and + obedience, accidentally interpose great distances between two men; public + opinion, founded upon the usual order of things, draws them to a common + level, and creates a species of imaginary equality between them, in spite + of the real inequality of their conditions. This all-powerful opinion + penetrates at length even into the hearts of those whose interest might + arm them to resist it; it affects their judgment whilst it subdues their + will. In their inmost convictions the master and the servant no longer + perceive any deep-seated difference between them, and they neither hope + nor fear to meet with any such at any time. They are therefore neither + subject to disdain nor to anger, and they discern in each other neither + humility nor pride. The master holds the contract of service to be the + only source of his power, and the servant regards it as the only cause of + his obedience. They do not quarrel about their reciprocal situations, but + each knows his own and keeps it. + </p> + <p> + In the French army the common soldier is taken from nearly the same + classes as the officer, and may hold the same commissions; out of the + ranks he considers himself entirely equal to his military superiors, and + in point of fact he is so; but when under arms he does not hesitate to + obey, and his obedience is not the less prompt, precise, and ready, for + being voluntary and defined. This example may give a notion of what takes + place between masters and servants in democratic communities. + </p> + <p> + It would be preposterous to suppose that those warm and deep-seated + affections, which are sometimes kindled in the domestic service of + aristocracy, will ever spring up between these two men, or that they will + exhibit strong instances of self-sacrifice. In aristocracies masters and + servants live apart, and frequently their only intercourse is through a + third person; yet they commonly stand firmly by one another. In democratic + countries the master and the servant are close together; they are in daily + personal contact, but their minds do not intermingle; they have common + occupations, hardly ever common interests. Amongst such a people the + servant always considers himself as a sojourner in the dwelling of his + masters. He knew nothing of their forefathers—he will see nothing of + their descendants—he has nothing lasting to expect from their hand. + Why then should he confound his life with theirs, and whence should so + strange a surrender of himself proceed? The reciprocal position of the two + men is changed—their mutual relations must be so too. + </p> + <p> + I would fain illustrate all these reflections by the example of the + Americans; but for this purpose the distinctions of persons and places + must be accurately traced. In the South of the Union, slavery exists; all + that I have just said is consequently inapplicable there. In the North, + the majority of servants are either freedmen or the children of freedmen; + these persons occupy a contested position in the public estimation; by the + laws they are brought up to the level of their masters—by the + manners of the country they are obstinately detruded from it. They do not + themselves clearly know their proper place, and they are almost always + either insolent or craven. But in the Northern States, especially in New + England, there are a certain number of whites, who agree, for wages, to + yield a temporary obedience to the will of their fellow-citizens. I have + heard that these servants commonly perform the duties of their situation + with punctuality and intelligence; and that without thinking themselves + naturally inferior to the person who orders them, they submit without + reluctance to obey him. They appear to me to carry into service some of + those manly habits which independence and equality engender. Having once + selected a hard way of life, they do not seek to escape from it by + indirect means; and they have sufficient respect for themselves, not to + refuse to their master that obedience which they have freely promised. On + their part, masters require nothing of their servants but the faithful and + rigorous performance of the covenant: they do not ask for marks of + respect, they do not claim their love or devoted attachment; it is enough + that, as servants, they are exact and honest. It would not then be true to + assert that, in democratic society, the relation of servants and masters + is disorganized: it is organized on another footing; the rule is + different, but there is a rule. + </p> + <p> + It is not my purpose to inquire whether the new state of things which I + have just described is inferior to that which preceded it, or simply + different. Enough for me that it is fixed and determined: for what is most + important to meet with among men is not any given ordering, but order. But + what shall I say of those sad and troubled times at which equality is + established in the midst of the tumult of revolution—when democracy, + after having been introduced into the state of society, still struggles + with difficulty against the prejudices and manners of the country? The + laws, and partially public opinion, already declare that no natural or + permanent inferiority exists between the servant and the master. But this + new belief has not yet reached the innermost convictions of the latter, or + rather his heart rejects it; in the secret persuasion of his mind the + master thinks that he belongs to a peculiar and superior race; he dares + not say so, but he shudders whilst he allows himself to be dragged to the + same level. His authority over his servants becomes timid and at the same + time harsh: he has already ceased to entertain for them the feelings of + patronizing kindness which long uncontested power always engenders, and he + is surprised that, being changed himself, his servant changes also. He + wants his attendants to form regular and permanent habits, in a condition + of domestic service which is only temporary: he requires that they should + appear contented with and proud of a servile condition, which they will + one day shake off—that they should sacrifice themselves to a man who + can neither protect nor ruin them—and in short that they should + contract an indissoluble engagement to a being like themselves, and one + who will last no longer than they will. + </p> + <p> + Amongst aristocratic nations it often happens that the condition of + domestic service does not degrade the character of those who enter upon + it, because they neither know nor imagine any other; and the amazing + inequality which is manifest between them and their master appears to be + the necessary and unavoidable consequence of some hidden law of + Providence. In democracies the condition of domestic service does not + degrade the character of those who enter upon it, because it is freely + chosen, and adopted for a time only; because it is not stigmatized by + public opinion, and creates no permanent inequality between the servant + and the master. But whilst the transition from one social condition to + another is going on, there is almost always a time when men's minds + fluctuate between the aristocratic notion of subjection and the democratic + notion of obedience. Obedience then loses its moral importance in the eyes + of him who obeys; he no longer considers it as a species of divine + obligation, and he does not yet view it under its purely human aspect; it + has to him no character of sanctity or of justice, and he submits to it as + to a degrading but profitable condition. At that moment a confused and + imperfect phantom of equality haunts the minds of servants; they do not at + once perceive whether the equality to which they are entitled is to be + found within or without the pale of domestic service; and they rebel in + their hearts against a subordination to which they have subjected + themselves, and from which they derive actual profit. They consent to + serve, and they blush to obey; they like the advantages of service, but + not the master; or rather, they are not sure that they ought not + themselves to be masters, and they are inclined to consider him who orders + them as an unjust usurper of their own rights. Then it is that the + dwelling of every citizen offers a spectacle somewhat analogous to the + gloomy aspect of political society. A secret and intestine warfare is + going on there between powers, ever rivals and suspicious of one another: + the master is ill-natured and weak, the servant ill-natured and + intractable; the one constantly attempts to evade by unfair restrictions + his obligation to protect and to remunerate—the other his obligation + to obey. The reins of domestic government dangle between them, to be + snatched at by one or the other. The lines which divide authority from + oppression, liberty from license, and right from might, are to their eyes + so jumbled together and confused, that no one knows exactly what he is, or + what he may be, or what he ought to be. Such a condition is not democracy, + but revolution. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0047" id="link2HCH0047"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VI: That Democratic Institutions And Manners Tend To Raise Rents + And Shorten The Terms Of Leases + </h2> + <p> + What has been said of servants and masters is applicable, to a certain + extent, to landowners and farming tenants; but this subject deserves to be + considered by itself. In America there are, properly speaking, no tenant + farmers; every man owns the ground he tills. It must be admitted that + democratic laws tend greatly to increase the number of landowners, and to + diminish that of farming tenants. Yet what takes place in the United + States is much less attributable to the institutions of the country than + to the country itself. In America land is cheap, and anyone may easily + become a landowner; its returns are small, and its produce cannot well be + divided between a landowner and a farmer. America therefore stands alone + in this as well as in many other respects, and it would be a mistake to + take it as an example. + </p> + <p> + I believe that in democratic as well as in aristocratic countries there + will be landowners and tenants, but the connection existing between them + will be of a different kind. In aristocracies the hire of a farm is paid + to the landlord, not only in rent, but in respect, regard, and duty; in + democracies the whole is paid in cash. When estates are divided and passed + from hand to hand, and the permanent connection which existed between + families and the soil is dissolved, the landowner and the tenant are only + casually brought into contact. They meet for a moment to settle the + conditions of the agreement, and then lose sight of each other; they are + two strangers brought together by a common interest, and who keenly talk + over a matter of business, the sole object of which is to make money. + </p> + <p> + In proportion as property is subdivided and wealth distributed over the + country, the community is filled with people whose former opulence is + declining, and with others whose fortunes are of recent growth and whose + wants increase more rapidly than their resources. For all such persons the + smallest pecuniary profit is a matter of importance, and none of them feel + disposed to waive any of their claims, or to lose any portion of their + income. As ranks are intermingled, and as very large as well as very + scanty fortunes become more rare, every day brings the social condition of + the landowner nearer to that of the farmer; the one has not naturally any + uncontested superiority over the other; between two men who are equal, and + not at ease in their circumstances, the contract of hire is exclusively an + affair of money. A man whose estate extends over a whole district, and who + owns a hundred farms, is well aware of the importance of gaining at the + same time the affections of some thousands of men; this object appears to + call for his exertions, and to attain it he will readily make considerable + sacrifices. But he who owns a hundred acres is insensible to similar + considerations, and he cares but little to win the private regard of his + tenant. + </p> + <p> + An aristocracy does not expire like a man in a single day; the + aristocratic principle is slowly undermined in men's opinion, before it is + attacked in their laws. Long before open war is declared against it, the + tie which had hitherto united the higher classes to the lower may be seen + to be gradually relaxed. Indifference and contempt are betrayed by one + class, jealousy and hatred by the others; the intercourse between rich and + poor becomes less frequent and less kind, and rents are raised. This is + not the consequence of a democratic revolution, but its certain harbinger; + for an aristocracy which has lost the affections of the people, once and + forever, is like a tree dead at the root, which is the more easily torn up + by the winds the higher its branches have spread. + </p> + <p> + In the course of the last fifty years the rents of farms have amazingly + increased, not only in France but throughout the greater part of Europe. + The remarkable improvements which have taken place in agriculture and + manufactures within the same period do not suffice in my opinion to + explain this fact; recourse must be had to another cause more powerful and + more concealed. I believe that cause is to be found in the democratic + institutions which several European nations have adopted, and in the + democratic passions which more or less agitate all the rest. I have + frequently heard great English landowners congratulate themselves that, at + the present day, they derive a much larger income from their estates than + their fathers did. They have perhaps good reasons to be glad; but most + assuredly they know not what they are glad of. They think they are making + a clear gain, when it is in reality only an exchange; their influence is + what they are parting with for cash; and what they gain in money will ere + long be lost in power. + </p> + <p> + There is yet another sign by which it is easy to know that a great + democratic revolution is going on or approaching. In the Middle Ages + almost all lands were leased for lives, or for very long terms; the + domestic economy of that period shows that leases for ninety-nine years + were more frequent then than leases for twelve years are now. Men then + believed that families were immortal; men's conditions seemed settled + forever, and the whole of society appeared to be so fixed, that it was not + supposed that anything would ever be stirred or shaken in its structure. + In ages of equality, the human mind takes a different bent; the prevailing + notion is that nothing abides, and man is haunted by the thought of + mutability. Under this impression the landowner and the tenant himself are + instinctively averse to protracted terms of obligation; they are afraid of + being tied up to-morrow by the contract which benefits them today. They + have vague anticipations of some sudden and unforeseen change in their + conditions; they mistrust themselves; they fear lest their taste should + change, and lest they should lament that they cannot rid themselves of + what they coveted; nor are such fears unfounded, for in democratic ages + that which is most fluctuating amidst the fluctuation of all around is the + heart of man. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0048" id="link2HCH0048"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VII: Influence Of Democracy On Wages + </h2> + <p> + Most of the remarks which I have already made in speaking of servants and + masters, may be applied to masters and workmen. As the gradations of the + social scale come to be less observed, whilst the great sink the humble + rise, and as poverty as well as opulence ceases to be hereditary, the + distance both in reality and in opinion, which heretofore separated the + workman from the master, is lessened every day. The workman conceives a + more lofty opinion of his rights, of his future, of himself; he is filled + with new ambition and with new desires, he is harassed by new wants. Every + instant he views with longing eyes the profits of his employer; and in + order to share them, he strives to dispose of his labor at a higher rate, + and he generally succeeds at length in the attempt. In democratic + countries, as well as elsewhere, most of the branches of productive + industry are carried on at a small cost, by men little removed by their + wealth or education above the level of those whom they employ. These + manufacturing speculators are extremely numerous; their interests differ; + they cannot therefore easily concert or combine their exertions. On the + other hand the workmen have almost always some sure resources, which + enable them to refuse to work when they cannot get what they conceive to + be the fair price of their labor. In the constant struggle for wages which + is going on between these two classes, their strength is divided, and + success alternates from one to the other. It is even probable that in the + end the interest of the working class must prevail; for the high wages + which they have already obtained make them every day less dependent on + their masters; and as they grow more independent, they have greater + facilities for obtaining a further increase of wages. + </p> + <p> + I shall take for example that branch of productive industry which is still + at the present day the most generally followed in France, and in almost + all the countries of the world—I mean the cultivation of the soil. + In France most of those who labor for hire in agriculture, are themselves + owners of certain plots of ground, which just enable them to subsist + without working for anyone else. When these laborers come to offer their + services to a neighboring landowner or farmer, if he refuses them a + certain rate of wages, they retire to their own small property and await + another opportunity. + </p> + <p> + I think that, upon the whole, it may be asserted that a slow and gradual + rise of wages is one of the general laws of democratic communities. In + proportion as social conditions become more equal, wages rise; and as + wages are higher, social conditions become more equal. But a great and + gloomy exception occurs in our own time. I have shown in a preceding + chapter that aristocracy, expelled from political society, has taken + refuge in certain departments of productive industry, and has established + its sway there under another form; this powerfully affects the rate of + wages. As a large capital is required to embark in the great manufacturing + speculations to which I allude, the number of persons who enter upon them + is exceedingly limited: as their number is small, they can easily concert + together, and fix the rate of wages as they please. Their workmen on the + contrary are exceedingly numerous, and the number of them is always + increasing; for, from time to time, an extraordinary run of business takes + place, during which wages are inordinately high, and they attract the + surrounding population to the factories. But, when once men have embraced + that line of life, we have already seen that they cannot quit it again, + because they soon contract habits of body and mind which unfit them for + any other sort of toil. These men have generally but little education and + industry, with but few resources; they stand therefore almost at the mercy + of the master. When competition, or other fortuitous circumstances, lessen + his profits, he can reduce the wages of his workmen almost at pleasure, + and make from them what he loses by the chances of business. Should the + workmen strike, the master, who is a rich man, can very well wait without + being ruined until necessity brings them back to him; but they must work + day by day or they die, for their only property is in their hands. They + have long been impoverished by oppression, and the poorer they become the + more easily may they be oppressed: they can never escape from this fatal + circle of cause and consequence. It is not then surprising that wages, + after having sometimes suddenly risen, are permanently lowered in this + branch of industry; whereas in other callings the price of labor, which + generally increases but little, is nevertheless constantly augmented. + </p> + <p> + This state of dependence and wretchedness, in which a part of the + manufacturing population of our time lives, forms an exception to the + general rule, contrary to the state of all the rest of the community; but, + for this very reason, no circumstance is more important or more deserving + of the especial consideration of the legislator; for when the whole of + society is in motion, it is difficult to keep any one class stationary; + and when the greater number of men are opening new paths to fortune, it is + no less difficult to make the few support in peace their wants and their + desires. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0049" id="link2HCH0049"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VIII: Influence Of Democracy On Kindred + </h2> + <p> + I have just examined the changes which the equality of conditions produces + in the mutual relations of the several members of the community amongst + democratic nations, and amongst the Americans in particular. I would now + go deeper, and inquire into the closer ties of kindred: my object here is + not to seek for new truths, but to show in what manner facts already known + are connected with my subject. + </p> + <p> + It has been universally remarked, that in our time the several members of + a family stand upon an entirely new footing towards each other; that the + distance which formerly separated a father from his sons has been + lessened; and that paternal authority, if not destroyed, is at least + impaired. Something analogous to this, but even more striking, may be + observed in the United States. In America the family, in the Roman and + aristocratic signification of the word, does not exist. All that remains + of it are a few vestiges in the first years of childhood, when the father + exercises, without opposition, that absolute domestic authority, which the + feebleness of his children renders necessary, and which their interest, as + well as his own incontestable superiority, warrants. But as soon as the + young American approaches manhood, the ties of filial obedience are + relaxed day by day: master of his thoughts, he is soon master of his + conduct. In America there is, strictly speaking, no adolescence: at the + close of boyhood the man appears, and begins to trace out his own path. It + would be an error to suppose that this is preceded by a domestic struggle, + in which the son has obtained by a sort of moral violence the liberty that + his father refused him. The same habits, the same principles which impel + the one to assert his independence, predispose the other to consider the + use of that independence as an incontestable right. The former does not + exhibit any of those rancorous or irregular passions which disturb men + long after they have shaken off an established authority; the latter feels + none of that bitter and angry regret which is apt to survive a bygone + power. The father foresees the limits of his authority long beforehand, + and when the time arrives he surrenders it without a struggle: the son + looks forward to the exact period at which he will be his own master; and + he enters upon his freedom without precipitation and without effort, as a + possession which is his own and which no one seeks to wrest from him. *a + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ The Americans, however, have not yet thought fit to strip the + parent, as has been done in France, of one of the chief elements of + parental authority, by depriving him of the power of disposing of his + property at his death. In the United States there are no restrictions on + the powers of a testator. In this respect, as in almost all others, it is + easy to perceive, that if the political legislation of the Americans is + much more democratic than that of the French, the civil legislation of the + latter is infinitely more democratic than that of the former. This may + easily be accounted for. The civil legislation of France was the work of a + man who saw that it was his interest to satisfy the democratic passions of + his contemporaries in all that was not directly and immediately hostile to + his own power. He was willing to allow some popular principles to regulate + the distribution of property and the government of families, provided they + were not to be introduced into the administration of public affairs. + Whilst the torrent of democracy overwhelmed the civil laws of the country, + he hoped to find an easy shelter behind its political institutions. This + policy was at once both adroit and selfish; but a compromise of this kind + could not last; for in the end political institutions never fail to become + the image and expression of civil society; and in this sense it may be + said that nothing is more political in a nation than its civil + legislation.] + </p> + <p> + It may perhaps not be without utility to show how these changes which take + place in family relations, are closely connected with the social and + political revolution which is approaching its consummation under our own + observation. There are certain great social principles, which a people + either introduces everywhere, or tolerates nowhere. In countries which are + aristocratically constituted with all the gradations of rank, the + government never makes a direct appeal to the mass of the governed: as men + are united together, it is enough to lead the foremost, the rest will + follow. This is equally applicable to the family, as to all aristocracies + which have a head. Amongst aristocratic nations, social institutions + recognize, in truth, no one in the family but the father; children are + received by society at his hands; society governs him, he governs them. + Thus the parent has not only a natural right, but he acquires a political + right, to command them: he is the author and the support of his family; + but he is also its constituted ruler. In democracies, where the government + picks out every individual singly from the mass, to make him subservient + to the general laws of the community, no such intermediate person is + required: a father is there, in the eye of the law, only a member of the + community, older and richer than his sons. + </p> + <p> + When most of the conditions of life are extremely unequal, and the + inequality of these conditions is permanent, the notion of a superior + grows upon the imaginations of men: if the law invested him with no + privileges, custom and public opinion would concede them. When, on the + contrary, men differ but little from each other, and do not always remain + in dissimilar conditions of life, the general notion of a superior becomes + weaker and less distinct: it is vain for legislation to strive to place + him who obeys very much beneath him who commands; the manners of the time + bring the two men nearer to one another, and draw them daily towards the + same level. Although the legislation of an aristocratic people should + grant no peculiar privileges to the heads of families; I shall not be the + less convinced that their power is more respected and more extensive than + in a democracy; for I know that, whatsoever the laws may be, superiors + always appear higher and inferiors lower in aristocracies than amongst + democratic nations. + </p> + <p> + When men live more for the remembrance of what has been than for the care + of what is, and when they are more given to attend to what their ancestors + thought than to think themselves, the father is the natural and necessary + tie between the past and the present—the link by which the ends of + these two chains are connected. In aristocracies, then, the father is not + only the civil head of the family, but the oracle of its traditions, the + expounder of its customs, the arbiter of its manners. He is listened to + with deference, he is addressed with respect, and the love which is felt + for him is always tempered with fear. When the condition of society + becomes democratic, and men adopt as their general principle that it is + good and lawful to judge of all things for one's self, using former points + of belief not as a rule of faith but simply as a means of information, the + power which the opinions of a father exercise over those of his sons + diminishes as well as his legal power. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps the subdivision of estates which democracy brings with it + contributes more than anything else to change the relations existing + between a father and his children. When the property of the father of a + family is scanty, his son and himself constantly live in the same place, + and share the same occupations: habit and necessity bring them together, + and force them to hold constant communication: the inevitable consequence + is a sort of familiar intimacy, which renders authority less absolute, and + which can ill be reconciled with the external forms of respect. Now in + democratic countries the class of those who are possessed of small + fortunes is precisely that which gives strength to the notions, and a + particular direction to the manners, of the community. That class makes + its opinions preponderate as universally as its will, and even those who + are most inclined to resist its commands are carried away in the end by + its example. I have known eager opponents of democracy who allowed their + children to address them with perfect colloquial equality. + </p> + <p> + Thus, at the same time that the power of aristocracy is declining, the + austere, the conventional, and the legal part of parental authority + vanishes, and a species of equality prevails around the domestic hearth. I + know not, upon the whole, whether society loses by the change, but I am + inclined to believe that man individually is a gainer by it. I think that, + in proportion as manners and laws become more democratic, the relation of + father and son becomes more intimate and more affectionate; rules and + authority are less talked of; confidence and tenderness are oftentimes + increased, and it would seem that the natural bond is drawn closer in + proportion as the social bond is loosened. In a democratic family the + father exercises no other power than that with which men love to invest + the affection and the experience of age; his orders would perhaps be + disobeyed, but his advice is for the most part authoritative. Though he be + not hedged in with ceremonial respect, his sons at least accost him with + confidence; no settled form of speech is appropriated to the mode of + addressing him, but they speak to him constantly, and are ready to consult + him day by day; the master and the constituted ruler have vanished—the + father remains. Nothing more is needed, in order to judge of the + difference between the two states of society in this respect, than to + peruse the family correspondence of aristocratic ages. The style is always + correct, ceremonious, stiff, and so cold that the natural warmth of the + heart can hardly be felt in the language. The language, on the contrary, + addressed by a son to his father in democratic countries is always marked + by mingled freedom, familiarity and affection, which at once show that new + relations have sprung up in the bosom of the family. + </p> + <p> + A similar revolution takes place in the mutual relations of children. In + aristocratic families, as well as in aristocratic society, every place is + marked out beforehand. Not only does the father occupy a separate rank, in + which he enjoys extensive privileges, but even the children are not equal + amongst themselves. The age and sex of each irrevocably determine his + rank, and secure to him certain privileges: most of these distinctions are + abolished or diminished by democracy. In aristocratic families the eldest + son, inheriting the greater part of the property, and almost all the + rights of the family, becomes the chief, and, to a certain extent, the + master, of his brothers. Greatness and power are for him—for them, + mediocrity and dependence. Nevertheless it would be wrong to suppose that, + amongst aristocratic nations, the privileges of the eldest son are + advantageous to himself alone, or that they excite nothing but envy and + hatred in those around him. The eldest son commonly endeavors to procure + wealth and power for his brothers, because the general splendor of the + house is reflected back on him who represents it; the younger sons seek to + back the elder brother in all his undertakings, because the greatness and + power of the head of the family better enable him to provide for all its + branches. The different members of an aristocratic family are therefore + very closely bound together; their interests are connected, their minds + agree, but their hearts are seldom in harmony. + </p> + <p> + Democracy also binds brothers to each other, but by very different means. + Under democratic laws all the children are perfectly equal, and + consequently independent; nothing brings them forcibly together, but + nothing keeps them apart; and as they have the same origin, as they are + trained under the same roof, as they are treated with the same care, and + as no peculiar privilege distinguishes or divides them, the affectionate + and youthful intimacy of early years easily springs up between them. + Scarcely any opportunities occur to break the tie thus formed at the + outset of life; for their brotherhood brings them daily together, without + embarrassing them. It is not, then, by interest, but by common + associations and by the free sympathy of opinion and of taste, that + democracy unites brothers to each other. It divides their inheritance, but + it allows their hearts and minds to mingle together. Such is the charm of + these democratic manners, that even the partisans of aristocracy are + caught by it; and after having experienced it for some time, they are by + no means tempted to revert to the respectful and frigid observance of + aristocratic families. They would be glad to retain the domestic habits of + democracy, if they might throw off its social conditions and its laws; but + these elements are indissolubly united, and it is impossible to enjoy the + former without enduring the latter. The remarks I have made on filial love + and fraternal affection are applicable to all the passions which emanate + spontaneously from human nature itself. If a certain mode of thought or + feeling is the result of some peculiar condition of life, when that + condition is altered nothing whatever remains of the thought or feeling. + Thus a law may bind two members of the community very closely to one + another; but that law being abolished, they stand asunder. Nothing was + more strict than the tie which united the vassal to the lord under the + feudal system; at the present day the two men know not each other; the + fear, the gratitude, and the affection which formerly connected them have + vanished, and not a vestige of the tie remains. Such, however, is not the + case with those feelings which are natural to mankind. Whenever a law + attempts to tutor these feelings in any particular manner, it seldom fails + to weaken them; by attempting to add to their intensity, it robs them of + some of their elements, for they are never stronger than when left to + themselves. + </p> + <p> + Democracy, which destroys or obscures almost all the old conventional + rules of society, and which prevents men from readily assenting to new + ones, entirely effaces most of the feelings to which these conventional + rules have given rise; but it only modifies some others, and frequently + imparts to them a degree of energy and sweetness unknown before. Perhaps + it is not impossible to condense into a single proposition the whole + meaning of this chapter, and of several others that preceded it. Democracy + loosens social ties, but it draws the ties of nature more tight; it brings + kindred more closely together, whilst it places the various members of the + community more widely apart. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0050" id="link2HCH0050"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IX: Education Of Young Women In The United States + </h2> + <p> + No free communities ever existed without morals; and, as I observed in the + former part of this work, morals are the work of woman. Consequently, + whatever affects the condition of women, their habits and their opinions, + has great political importance in my eyes. Amongst almost all Protestant + nations young women are far more the mistresses of their own actions than + they are in Catholic countries. This independence is still greater in + Protestant countries, like England, which have retained or acquired the + right of self-government; the spirit of freedom is then infused into the + domestic circle by political habits and by religious opinions. In the + United States the doctrines of Protestantism are combined with great + political freedom and a most democratic state of society; and nowhere are + young women surrendered so early or so completely to their own guidance. + Long before an American girl arrives at the age of marriage, her + emancipation from maternal control begins; she has scarcely ceased to be a + child when she already thinks for herself, speaks with freedom, and acts + on her own impulse. The great scene of the world is constantly open to her + view; far from seeking concealment, it is every day disclosed to her more + completely, and she is taught to survey it with a firm and calm gaze. Thus + the vices and dangers of society are early revealed to her; as she sees + them clearly, she views them without illusions, and braves them without + fear; for she is full of reliance on her own strength, and her reliance + seems to be shared by all who are about her. An American girl scarcely + ever displays that virginal bloom in the midst of young desires, or that + innocent and ingenuous grace which usually attends the European woman in + the transition from girlhood to youth. It is rarely that an American woman + at any age displays childish timidity or ignorance. Like the young women + of Europe, she seeks to please, but she knows precisely the cost of + pleasing. If she does not abandon herself to evil, at least she knows that + it exists; and she is remarkable rather for purity of manners than for + chastity of mind. I have been frequently surprised, and almost frightened, + at the singular address and happy boldness with which young women in + America contrive to manage their thoughts and their language amidst all + the difficulties of stimulating conversation; a philosopher would have + stumbled at every step along the narrow path which they trod without + accidents and without effort. It is easy indeed to perceive that, even + amidst the independence of early youth, an American woman is always + mistress of herself; she indulges in all permitted pleasures, without + yielding herself up to any of them; and her reason never allows the reins + of self-guidance to drop, though it often seems to hold them loosely. + </p> + <p> + In France, where remnants of every age are still so strangely mingled in + the opinions and tastes of the people, women commonly receive a reserved, + retired, and almost cloistral education, as they did in aristocratic + times; and then they are suddenly abandoned, without a guide and without + assistance, in the midst of all the irregularities inseparable from + democratic society. The Americans are more consistent. They have found out + that in a democracy the independence of individuals cannot fail to be very + great, youth premature, tastes ill-restrained, customs fleeting, public + opinion often unsettled and powerless, paternal authority weak, and + marital authority contested. Under these circumstances, believing that + they had little chance of repressing in woman the most vehement passions + of the human heart, they held that the surer way was to teach her the art + of combating those passions for herself. As they could not prevent her + virtue from being exposed to frequent danger, they determined that she + should know how best to defend it; and more reliance was placed on the + free vigor of her will than on safeguards which have been shaken or + overthrown. Instead, then, of inculcating mistrust of herself, they + constantly seek to enhance their confidence in her own strength of + character. As it is neither possible nor desirable to keep a young woman + in perpetual or complete ignorance, they hasten to give her a precocious + knowledge on all subjects. Far from hiding the corruptions of the world + from her, they prefer that she should see them at once and train herself + to shun them; and they hold it of more importance to protect her conduct + than to be over-scrupulous of her innocence. + </p> + <p> + Although the Americans are a very religious people, they do not rely on + religion alone to defend the virtue of woman; they seek to arm her reason + also. In this they have followed the same method as in several other + respects; they first make the most vigorous efforts to bring individual + independence to exercise a proper control over itself, and they do not + call in the aid of religion until they have reached the utmost limits of + human strength. I am aware that an education of this kind is not without + danger; I am sensible that it tends to invigorate the judgment at the + expense of the imagination, and to make cold and virtuous women instead of + affectionate wives and agreeable companions to man. Society may be more + tranquil and better regulated, but domestic life has often fewer charms. + These, however, are secondary evils, which may be braved for the sake of + higher interests. At the stage at which we are now arrived the time for + choosing is no longer within our control; a democratic education is + indispensable to protect women from the dangers with which democratic + institutions and manners surround them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0051" id="link2HCH0051"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter X: The Young Woman In The Character Of A Wife + </h2> + <p> + In America the independence of woman is irrevocably lost in the bonds of + matrimony: if an unmarried woman is less constrained there than elsewhere, + a wife is subjected to stricter obligations. The former makes her father's + house an abode of freedom and of pleasure; the latter lives in the home of + her husband as if it were a cloister. Yet these two different conditions + of life are perhaps not so contrary as may be supposed, and it is natural + that the American women should pass through the one to arrive at the + other. + </p> + <p> + Religious peoples and trading nations entertain peculiarly serious notions + of marriage: the former consider the regularity of woman's life as the + best pledge and most certain sign of the purity of her morals; the latter + regard it as the highest security for the order and prosperity of the + household. The Americans are at the same time a puritanical people and a + commercial nation: their religious opinions, as well as their trading + habits, consequently lead them to require much abnegation on the part of + woman, and a constant sacrifice of her pleasures to her duties which is + seldom demanded of her in Europe. Thus in the United States the inexorable + opinion of the public carefully circumscribes woman within the narrow + circle of domestic interest and duties, and forbids her to step beyond it. + </p> + <p> + Upon her entrance into the world a young American woman finds these + notions firmly established; she sees the rules which are derived from + them; she is not slow to perceive that she cannot depart for an instant + from the established usages of her contemporaries, without putting in + jeopardy her peace of mind, her honor, nay even her social existence; and + she finds the energy required for such an act of submission in the + firmness of her understanding and in the virile habits which her education + has given her. It may be said that she has learned by the use of her + independence to surrender it without a struggle and without a murmur when + the time comes for making the sacrifice. But no American woman falls into + the toils of matrimony as into a snare held out to her simplicity and + ignorance. She has been taught beforehand what is expected of her, and + voluntarily and freely does she enter upon this engagement. She supports + her new condition with courage, because she chose it. As in America + paternal discipline is very relaxed and the conjugal tie very strict, a + young woman does not contract the latter without considerable + circumspection and apprehension. Precocious marriages are rare. Thus + American women do not marry until their understandings are exercised and + ripened; whereas in other countries most women generally only begin to + exercise and to ripen their understandings after marriage. + </p> + <p> + I by no means suppose, however, that the great change which takes place in + all the habits of women in the United States, as soon as they are married, + ought solely to be attributed to the constraint of public opinion: it is + frequently imposed upon themselves by the sole effort of their own will. + When the time for choosing a husband is arrived, that cold and stern + reasoning power which has been educated and invigorated by the free + observation of the world, teaches an American woman that a spirit of + levity and independence in the bonds of marriage is a constant subject of + annoyance, not of pleasure; it tells her that the amusements of the girl + cannot become the recreations of the wife, and that the sources of a + married woman's happiness are in the home of her husband. As she clearly + discerns beforehand the only road which can lead to domestic happiness, + she enters upon it at once, and follows it to the end without seeking to + turn back. + </p> + <p> + The same strength of purpose which the young wives of America display, in + bending themselves at once and without repining to the austere duties of + their new condition, is no less manifest in all the great trials of their + lives. In no country in the world are private fortunes more precarious + than in the United States. It is not uncommon for the same man, in the + course of his life, to rise and sink again through all the grades which + lead from opulence to poverty. American women support these vicissitudes + with calm and unquenchable energy: it would seem that their desires + contract, as easily as they expand, with their fortunes. *a + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ See Appendix S.] + </p> + <p> + The greater part of the adventurers who migrate every year to people the + western wilds, belong, as I observed in the former part of this work, to + the old Anglo-American race of the Northern States. Many of these men, who + rush so boldly onwards in pursuit of wealth, were already in the enjoyment + of a competency in their own part of the country. They take their wives + along with them, and make them share the countless perils and privations + which always attend the commencement of these expeditions. I have often + met, even on the verge of the wilderness, with young women, who after + having been brought up amidst all the comforts of the large towns of New + England, had passed, almost without any intermediate stage, from the + wealthy abode of their parents to a comfortless hovel in a forest. Fever, + solitude, and a tedious life had not broken the springs of their courage. + Their features were impaired and faded, but their looks were firm: they + appeared to be at once sad and resolute. I do not doubt that these young + American women had amassed, in the education of their early years, that + inward strength which they displayed under these circumstances. The early + culture of the girl may still therefore be traced, in the United States, + under the aspect of marriage: her part is changed, her habits are + different, but her character is the same. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0052" id="link2HCH0052"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XI: That The Equality Of Conditions Contributes To The Maintenance + Of Good Morals In America + </h2> + <p> + Some philosophers and historians have said, or have hinted, that the + strictness of female morality was increased or diminished simply by the + distance of a country from the equator. This solution of the difficulty + was an easy one; and nothing was required but a globe and a pair of + compasses to settle in an instant one of the most difficult problems in + the condition of mankind. But I am not aware that this principle of the + materialists is supported by facts. The same nations have been chaste or + dissolute at different periods of their history; the strictness or the + laxity of their morals depended therefore on some variable cause, not only + on the natural qualities of their country, which were invariable. I do not + deny that in certain climates the passions which are occasioned by the + mutual attraction of the sexes are peculiarly intense; but I am of opinion + that this natural intensity may always be excited or restrained by the + condition of society and by political institutions. + </p> + <p> + Although the travellers who have visited North America differ on a great + number of points, they all agree in remarking that morals are far more + strict there than elsewhere. It is evident that on this point the + Americans are very superior to their progenitors the English. A + superficial glance at the two nations will establish the fact. In England, + as in all other countries of Europe, public malice is constantly attacking + the frailties of women. Philosophers and statesmen are heard to deplore + that morals are not sufficiently strict, and the literary productions of + the country constantly lead one to suppose so. In America all books, + novels not excepted, suppose women to be chaste, and no one thinks of + relating affairs of gallantry. No doubt this great regularity of American + morals originates partly in the country, in the race of the people, and in + their religion: but all these causes, which operate elsewhere, do not + suffice to account for it; recourse must be had to some special reason. + This reason appears to me to be the principle of equality and the + institutions derived from it. Equality of conditions does not of itself + engender regularity of morals, but it unquestionably facilitates and + increases it. *a [Footnote a: See Appendix T.] + </p> + <p> + Amongst aristocratic nations birth and fortune frequently make two such + different beings of man and woman, that they can never be united to each + other. Their passions draw them together, but the condition of society, + and the notions suggested by it, prevent them from contracting a permanent + and ostensible tie. The necessary consequence is a great number of + transient and clandestine connections. Nature secretly avenges herself for + the constraint imposed upon her by the laws of man. This is not so much + the case when the equality of conditions has swept away all the imaginary, + or the real, barriers which separated man from woman. No girl then + believes that she cannot become the wife of the man who loves her; and + this renders all breaches of morality before marriage very uncommon: for, + whatever be the credulity of the passions, a woman will hardly be able to + persuade herself that she is beloved, when her lover is perfectly free to + marry her and does not. + </p> + <p> + The same cause operates, though more indirectly, on married life. Nothing + better serves to justify an illicit passion, either to the minds of those + who have conceived it or to the world which looks on, than compulsory or + accidental marriages. *b In a country in which a woman is always free to + exercise her power of choosing, and in which education has prepared her to + choose rightly, public opinion is inexorable to her faults. The rigor of + the Americans arises in part from this cause. They consider marriages as a + covenant which is often onerous, but every condition of which the parties + are strictly bound to fulfil, because they knew all those conditions + beforehand, and were perfectly free not to have contracted them. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + b <br /> [ The literature of Europe sufficiently corroborates this remark. + When a European author wishes to depict in a work of imagination any of + these great catastrophes in matrimony which so frequently occur amongst + us, he takes care to bespeak the compassion of the reader by bringing + before him ill-assorted or compulsory marriages. Although habitual + tolerance has long since relaxed our morals, an author could hardly + succeed in interesting us in the misfortunes of his characters, if he did + not first palliate their faults. This artifice seldom fails: the daily + scenes we witness prepare us long beforehand to be indulgent. But American + writers could never render these palliations probable to their readers; + their customs and laws are opposed to it; and as they despair of rendering + levity of conduct pleasing, they cease to depict it. This is one of the + causes to which must be attributed the small number of novels published in + the United States.] + </p> + <p> + The very circumstances which render matrimonial fidelity more obligatory + also render it more easy. In aristocratic countries the object of marriage + is rather to unite property than persons; hence the husband is sometimes + at school and the wife at nurse when they are betrothed. It cannot be + wondered at if the conjugal tie which holds the fortunes of the pair + united allows their hearts to rove; this is the natural result of the + nature of the contract. When, on the contrary, a man always chooses a wife + for himself, without any external coercion or even guidance, it is + generally a conformity of tastes and opinions which brings a man and a + woman together, and this same conformity keeps and fixes them in close + habits of intimacy. + </p> + <p> + Our forefathers had conceived a very strange notion on the subject of + marriage: as they had remarked that the small number of love-matches which + occurred in their time almost always turned out ill, they resolutely + inferred that it was exceedingly dangerous to listen to the dictates of + the heart on the subject. Accident appeared to them to be a better guide + than choice. Yet it was not very difficult to perceive that the examples + which they witnessed did in fact prove nothing at all. For in the first + place, if democratic nations leave a woman at liberty to choose her + husband, they take care to give her mind sufficient knowledge, and her + will sufficient strength, to make so important a choice: whereas the young + women who, amongst aristocratic nations, furtively elope from the + authority of their parents to throw themselves of their own accord into + the arms of men whom they have had neither time to know, nor ability to + judge of, are totally without those securities. It is not surprising that + they make a bad use of their freedom of action the first time they avail + themselves of it; nor that they fall into such cruel mistakes, when, not + having received a democratic education, they choose to marry in conformity + to democratic customs. But this is not all. When a man and woman are bent + upon marriage in spite of the differences of an aristocratic state of + society, the difficulties to be overcome are enormous. Having broken or + relaxed the bonds of filial obedience, they have then to emancipate + themselves by a final effort from the sway of custom and the tyranny of + opinion; and when at length they have succeeded in this arduous task, they + stand estranged from their natural friends and kinsmen: the prejudice they + have crossed separates them from all, and places them in a situation which + soon breaks their courage and sours their hearts. If, then, a couple + married in this manner are first unhappy and afterwards criminal, it ought + not to be attributed to the freedom of their choice, but rather to their + living in a community in which this freedom of choice is not admitted. + </p> + <p> + Moreover it should not be forgotten that the same effort which makes a man + violently shake off a prevailing error, commonly impels him beyond the + bounds of reason; that, to dare to declare war, in however just a cause, + against the opinion of one's age and country, a violent and adventurous + spirit is required, and that men of this character seldom arrive at + happiness or virtue, whatever be the path they follow. And this, it may be + observed by the way, is the reason why in the most necessary and righteous + revolutions, it is so rare to meet with virtuous or moderate revolutionary + characters. There is then no just ground for surprise if a man, who in an + age of aristocracy chooses to consult nothing but his own opinion and his + own taste in the choice of a wife, soon finds that infractions of morality + and domestic wretchedness invade his household: but when this same line of + action is in the natural and ordinary course of things, when it is + sanctioned by parental authority and backed by public opinion, it cannot + be doubted that the internal peace of families will be increased by it, + and conjugal fidelity more rigidly observed. + </p> + <p> + Almost all men in democracies are engaged in public or professional life; + and on the other hand the limited extent of common incomes obliges a wife + to confine herself to the house, in order to watch in person and very + closely over the details of domestic economy. All these distinct and + compulsory occupations are so many natural barriers, which, by keeping the + two sexes asunder, render the solicitations of the one less frequent and + less ardent—the resistance of the other more easy. + </p> + <p> + Not indeed that the equality of conditions can ever succeed in making men + chaste, but it may impart a less dangerous character to their breaches of + morality. As no one has then either sufficient time or opportunity to + assail a virtue armed in self-defence, there will be at the same time a + great number of courtesans and a great number of virtuous women. This + state of things causes lamentable cases of individual hardship, but it + does not prevent the body of society from being strong and alert: it does + not destroy family ties, or enervate the morals of the nation. Society is + endangered not by the great profligacy of a few, but by laxity of morals + amongst all. In the eyes of a legislator, prostitution is less to be + dreaded than intrigue. + </p> + <p> + The tumultuous and constantly harassed life which equality makes men lead, + not only distracts them from the passion of love, by denying them time to + indulge in it, but it diverts them from it by another more secret but more + certain road. All men who live in democratic ages more or less contract + the ways of thinking of the manufacturing and trading classes; their minds + take a serious, deliberate, and positive turn; they are apt to relinquish + the ideal, in order to pursue some visible and proximate object, which + appears to be the natural and necessary aim of their desires. Thus the + principle of equality does not destroy the imagination, but lowers its + flight to the level of the earth. No men are less addicted to reverie than + the citizens of a democracy; and few of them are ever known to give way to + those idle and solitary meditations which commonly precede and produce the + great emotions of the heart. It is true they attach great importance to + procuring for themselves that sort of deep, regular, and quiet affection + which constitutes the charm and safeguard of life, but they are not apt to + run after those violent and capricious sources of excitement which disturb + and abridge it. + </p> + <p> + I am aware that all this is only applicable in its full extent to America, + and cannot at present be extended to Europe. In the course of the last + half-century, whilst laws and customs have impelled several European + nations with unexampled force towards democracy, we have not had occasion + to observe that the relations of man and woman have become more orderly or + more chaste. In some places the very reverse may be detected: some classes + are more strict—the general morality of the people appears to be + more lax. I do not hesitate to make the remark, for I am as little + disposed to flatter my contemporaries as to malign them. This fact must + distress, but it ought not to surprise us. The propitious influence which + a democratic state of society may exercise upon orderly habits, is one of + those tendencies which can only be discovered after a time. If the + equality of conditions is favorable to purity of morals, the social + commotion by which conditions are rendered equal is adverse to it. In the + last fifty years, during which France has been undergoing this + transformation, that country has rarely had freedom, always disturbance. + Amidst this universal confusion of notions and this general stir of + opinions—amidst this incoherent mixture of the just and unjust, of + truth and falsehood, of right and might—public virtue has become + doubtful, and private morality wavering. But all revolutions, whatever may + have been their object or their agents, have at first produced similar + consequences; even those which have in the end drawn the bonds of morality + more tightly began by loosening them. The violations of morality which the + French frequently witness do not appear to me to have a permanent + character; and this is already betokened by some curious signs of the + times. + </p> + <p> + Nothing is more wretchedly corrupt than an aristocracy which retains its + wealth when it has lost its power, and which still enjoys a vast deal of + leisure after it is reduced to mere vulgar pastimes. The energetic + passions and great conceptions which animated it heretofore, leave it + then; and nothing remains to it but a host of petty consuming vices, which + cling about it like worms upon a carcass. No one denies that the French + aristocracy of the last century was extremely dissolute; whereas + established habits and ancient belief still preserved some respect for + morality amongst the other classes of society. Nor will it be contested + that at the present day the remnants of that same aristocracy exhibit a + certain severity of morals; whilst laxity of morals appears to have spread + amongst the middle and lower ranks. So that the same families which were + most profligate fifty years ago are nowadays the most exemplary, and + democracy seems only to have strengthened the morality of the aristocratic + classes. The French Revolution, by dividing the fortunes of the nobility, + by forcing them to attend assiduously to their affairs and to their + families, by making them live under the same roof with their children, and + in short by giving a more rational and serious turn to their minds, has + imparted to them, almost without their being aware of it, a reverence for + religious belief, a love of order, of tranquil pleasures, of domestic + endearments, and of comfort; whereas the rest of the nation, which had + naturally these same tastes, was carried away into excesses by the effort + which was required to overthrow the laws and political habits of the + country. The old French aristocracy has undergone the consequences of the + Revolution, but it neither felt the revolutionary passions nor shared in + the anarchical excitement which produced that crisis; it may easily be + conceived that this aristocracy feels the salutary influence of the + Revolution in its manners, before those who achieve it. It may therefore + be said, though at first it seems paradoxical, that, at the present day, + the most anti-democratic classes of the nation principally exhibit the + kind of morality which may reasonably be anticipated from democracy. I + cannot but think that when we shall have obtained all the effects of this + democratic Revolution, after having got rid of the tumult it has caused, + the observations which are now only applicable to the few will gradually + become true of the whole community. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0053" id="link2HCH0053"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XII: How The Americans Understand The Equality Of The Sexes + </h2> + <p> + I Have shown how democracy destroys or modifies the different inequalities + which originate in society; but is this all? or does it not ultimately + affect that great inequality of man and woman which has seemed, up to the + present day, to be eternally based in human nature? I believe that the + social changes which bring nearer to the same level the father and son, + the master and servant, and superiors and inferiors generally speaking, + will raise woman and make her more and more the equal of man. But here, + more than ever, I feel the necessity of making myself clearly understood; + for there is no subject on which the coarse and lawless fancies of our age + have taken a freer range. + </p> + <p> + There are people in Europe who, confounding together the different + characteristics of the sexes, would make of man and woman beings not only + equal but alike. They would give to both the same functions, impose on + both the same duties, and grant to both the same rights; they would mix + them in all things—their occupations, their pleasures, their + business. It may readily be conceived, that by thus attempting to make one + sex equal to the other, both are degraded; and from so preposterous a + medley of the works of nature nothing could ever result but weak men and + disorderly women. It is not thus that the Americans understand that + species of democratic equality which may be established between the sexes. + They admit, that as nature has appointed such wide differences between the + physical and moral constitution of man and woman, her manifest design was + to give a distinct employment to their various faculties; and they hold + that improvement does not consist in making beings so dissimilar do pretty + nearly the same things, but in getting each of them to fulfil their + respective tasks in the best possible manner. The Americans have applied + to the sexes the great principle of political economy which governs the + manufactures of our age, by carefully dividing the duties of man from + those of woman, in order that the great work of society may be the better + carried on. + </p> + <p> + In no country has such constant care been taken as in America to trace two + clearly distinct lines of action for the two sexes, and to make them keep + pace one with the other, but in two pathways which are always different. + American women never manage the outward concerns of the family, or conduct + a business, or take a part in political life; nor are they, on the other + hand, ever compelled to perform the rough labor of the fields, or to make + any of those laborious exertions which demand the exertion of physical + strength. No families are so poor as to form an exception to this rule. If + on the one hand an American woman cannot escape from the quiet circle of + domestic employments, on the other hand she is never forced to go beyond + it. Hence it is that the women of America, who often exhibit a masculine + strength of understanding and a manly energy, generally preserve great + delicacy of personal appearance and always retain the manners of women, + although they sometimes show that they have the hearts and minds of men. + </p> + <p> + Nor have the Americans ever supposed that one consequence of democratic + principles is the subversion of marital power, of the confusion of the + natural authorities in families. They hold that every association must + have a head in order to accomplish its object, and that the natural head + of the conjugal association is man. They do not therefore deny him the + right of directing his partner; and they maintain, that in the smaller + association of husband and wife, as well as in the great social community, + the object of democracy is to regulate and legalize the powers which are + necessary, not to subvert all power. This opinion is not peculiar to one + sex, and contested by the other: I never observed that the women of + America consider conjugal authority as a fortunate usurpation of their + rights, nor that they thought themselves degraded by submitting to it. It + appeared to me, on the contrary, that they attach a sort of pride to the + voluntary surrender of their own will, and make it their boast to bend + themselves to the yoke, not to shake it off. Such at least is the feeling + expressed by the most virtuous of their sex; the others are silent; and in + the United States it is not the practice for a guilty wife to clamor for + the rights of women, whilst she is trampling on her holiest duties. + </p> + <p> + It has often been remarked that in Europe a certain degree of contempt + lurks even in the flattery which men lavish upon women: although a + European frequently affects to be the slave of woman, it may be seen that + he never sincerely thinks her his equal. In the United States men seldom + compliment women, but they daily show how much they esteem them. They + constantly display an entire confidence in the understanding of a wife, + and a profound respect for her freedom; they have decided that her mind is + just as fitted as that of a man to discover the plain truth, and her heart + as firm to embrace it; and they have never sought to place her virtue, any + more than his, under the shelter of prejudice, ignorance, and fear. It + would seem that in Europe, where man so easily submits to the despotic + sway of women, they are nevertheless curtailed of some of the greatest + qualities of the human species, and considered as seductive but imperfect + beings; and (what may well provoke astonishment) women ultimately look + upon themselves in the same light, and almost consider it as a privilege + that they are entitled to show themselves futile, feeble, and timid. The + women of America claim no such privileges. + </p> + <p> + Again, it may be said that in our morals we have reserved strange + immunities to man; so that there is, as it were, one virtue for his use, + and another for the guidance of his partner; and that, according to the + opinion of the public, the very same act may be punished alternately as a + crime or only as a fault. The Americans know not this iniquitous division + of duties and rights; amongst them the seducer is as much dishonored as + his victim. It is true that the Americans rarely lavish upon women those + eager attentions which are commonly paid them in Europe; but their conduct + to women always implies that they suppose them to be virtuous and refined; + and such is the respect entertained for the moral freedom of the sex, that + in the presence of a woman the most guarded language is used, lest her ear + should be offended by an expression. In America a young unmarried woman + may, alone and without fear, undertake a long journey. + </p> + <p> + The legislators of the United States, who have mitigated almost all the + penalties of criminal law, still make rape a capital offence, and no crime + is visited with more inexorable severity by public opinion. This may be + accounted for; as the Americans can conceive nothing more precious than a + woman's honor, and nothing which ought so much to be respected as her + independence, they hold that no punishment is too severe for the man who + deprives her of them against her will. In France, where the same offence + is visited with far milder penalties, it is frequently difficult to get a + verdict from a jury against the prisoner. Is this a consequence of + contempt of decency or contempt of women? I cannot but believe that it is + a contempt of one and of the other. + </p> + <p> + Thus the Americans do not think that man and woman have either the duty or + the right to perform the same offices, but they show an equal regard for + both their respective parts; and though their lot is different, they + consider both of them as beings of equal value. They do not give to the + courage of woman the same form or the same direction as to that of man; + but they never doubt her courage: and if they hold that man and his + partner ought not always to exercise their intellect and understanding in + the same manner, they at least believe the understanding of the one to be + as sound as that of the other, and her intellect to be as clear. Thus, + then, whilst they have allowed the social inferiority of woman to subsist, + they have done all they could to raise her morally and intellectually to + the level of man; and in this respect they appear to me to have + excellently understood the true principle of democratic improvement. As + for myself, I do not hesitate to avow that, although the women of the + United States are confined within the narrow circle of domestic life, and + their situation is in some respects one of extreme dependence, I have + nowhere seen woman occupying a loftier position; and if I were asked, now + that I am drawing to the close of this work, in which I have spoken of so + many important things done by the Americans, to what the singular + prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be + attributed, I should reply—to the superiority of their women. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0054" id="link2HCH0054"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XIII: That The Principle Of Equality Naturally Divides The + Americans Into A Number Of Small Private Circles + </h2> + <p> + It may probably be supposed that the final consequence and necessary + effect of democratic institutions is to confound together all the members + of the community in private as well as in public life, and to compel them + all to live in common; but this would be to ascribe a very coarse and + oppressive form to the equality which originates in democracy. No state of + society or laws can render men so much alike, but that education, fortune, + and tastes will interpose some differences between them; and, though + different men may sometimes find it their interest to combine for the same + purposes, they will never make it their pleasure. They will therefore + always tend to evade the provisions of legislation, whatever they may be; + and departing in some one respect from the circle within which they were + to be bounded, they will set up, close by the great political community, + small private circles, united together by the similitude of their + conditions, habits, and manners. + </p> + <p> + In the United States the citizens have no sort of pre-eminence over each + other; they owe each other no mutual obedience or respect; they all meet + for the administration of justice, for the government of the State, and in + general to treat of the affairs which concern their common welfare; but I + never heard that attempts have been made to bring them all to follow the + same diversions, or to amuse themselves promiscuously in the same places + of recreation. The Americans, who mingle so readily in their political + assemblies and courts of justice, are wont on the contrary carefully to + separate into small distinct circles, in order to indulge by themselves in + the enjoyments of private life. Each of them is willing to acknowledge all + his fellow-citizens as his equals, but he will only receive a very limited + number of them amongst his friends or his guests. This appears to me to be + very natural. In proportion as the circle of public society is extended, + it may be anticipated that the sphere of private intercourse will be + contracted; far from supposing that the members of modern society will + ultimately live in common, I am afraid that they may end by forming + nothing but small coteries. + </p> + <p> + Amongst aristocratic nations the different classes are like vast chambers, + out of which it is impossible to get, into which it is impossible to + enter. These classes have no communication with each other, but within + their pale men necessarily live in daily contact; even though they would + not naturally suit, the general conformity of a similar condition brings + them nearer together. But when neither law nor custom professes to + establish frequent and habitual relations between certain men, their + intercourse originates in the accidental analogy of opinions and tastes; + hence private society is infinitely varied. In democracies, where the + members of the community never differ much from each other, and naturally + stand in such propinquity that they may all at any time be confounded in + one general mass, numerous artificial and arbitrary distinctions spring + up, by means of which every man hopes to keep himself aloof, lest he + should be carried away in the crowd against his will. This can never fail + to be the case; for human institutions may be changed, but not man: + whatever may be the general endeavor of a community to render its members + equal and alike, the personal pride of individuals will always seek to + rise above the line, and to form somewhere an inequality to their own + advantage. + </p> + <p> + In aristocracies men are separated from each other by lofty stationary + barriers; in democracies they are divided by a number of small and almost + invisible threads, which are constantly broken or moved from place to + place. Thus, whatever may be the progress of equality, in democratic + nations a great number of small private communities will always be formed + within the general pale of political society; but none of them will bear + any resemblance in its manners to the highest class in aristocracies. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0055" id="link2HCH0055"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XIV: Some Reflections On American Manners + </h2> + <p> + Nothing seems at first sight less important than the outward form of human + actions, yet there is nothing upon which men set more store: they grow + used to everything except to living in a society which has not their own + manners. The influence of the social and political state of a country upon + manners is therefore deserving of serious examination. Manners are, + generally, the product of the very basis of the character of a people, but + they are also sometimes the result of an arbitrary convention between + certain men; thus they are at once natural and acquired. When certain men + perceive that they are the foremost persons in society, without + contestation and without effort—when they are constantly engaged on + large objects, leaving the more minute details to others—and when + they live in the enjoyment of wealth which they did not amass and which + they do not fear to lose, it may be supposed that they feel a kind of + haughty disdain of the petty interests and practical cares of life, and + that their thoughts assume a natural greatness, which their language and + their manners denote. In democratic countries manners are generally devoid + of dignity, because private life is there extremely petty in its + character; and they are frequently low, because the mind has few + opportunities of rising above the engrossing cares of domestic interests. + True dignity in manners consists in always taking one's proper station, + neither too high nor too low; and this is as much within the reach of a + peasant as of a prince. In democracies all stations appear doubtful; hence + it is that the manners of democracies, though often full of arrogance, are + commonly wanting in dignity, and, moreover, they are never either well + disciplined or accomplished. + </p> + <p> + The men who live in democracies are too fluctuating for a certain number + of them ever to succeed in laying down a code of good breeding, and in + forcing people to follow it. Every man therefore behaves after his own + fashion, and there is always a certain incoherence in the manners of such + times, because they are moulded upon the feelings and notions of each + individual, rather than upon an ideal model proposed for general + imitation. This, however, is much more perceptible at the time when an + aristocracy has just been overthrown than after it has long been + destroyed. New political institutions and new social elements then bring + to the same places of resort, and frequently compel to live in common, men + whose education and habits are still amazingly dissimilar, and this + renders the motley composition of society peculiarly visible. The + existence of a former strict code of good breeding is still remembered, + but what it contained or where it is to be found is already forgotten. Men + have lost the common law of manners, and they have not yet made up their + minds to do without it; but everyone endeavors to make to himself some + sort of arbitrary and variable rule, from the remnant of former usages; so + that manners have neither the regularity and the dignity which they often + display amongst aristocratic nations, nor the simplicity and freedom which + they sometimes assume in democracies; they are at once constrained and + without constraint. + </p> + <p> + This, however, is not the normal state of things. When the equality of + conditions is long established and complete, as all men entertain nearly + the same notions and do nearly the same things, they do not require to + agree or to copy from one another in order to speak or act in the same + manner: their manners are constantly characterized by a number of lesser + diversities, but not by any great differences. They are never perfectly + alike, because they do not copy from the same pattern; they are never very + unlike, because their social condition is the same. At first sight a + traveller would observe that the manners of all the Americans are exactly + similar; it is only upon close examination that the peculiarities in which + they differ may be detected. + </p> + <p> + The English make game of the manners of the Americans; but it is singular + that most of the writers who have drawn these ludicrous delineations + belonged themselves to the middle classes in England, to whom the same + delineations are exceedingly applicable: so that these pitiless censors + for the most part furnish an example of the very thing they blame in the + United States; they do not perceive that they are deriding themselves, to + the great amusement of the aristocracy of their own country. + </p> + <p> + Nothing is more prejudicial to democracy than its outward forms of + behavior: many men would willingly endure its vices, who cannot support + its manners. I cannot, however, admit that there is nothing commendable in + the manners of a democratic people. Amongst aristocratic nations, all who + live within reach of the first class in society commonly strain to be like + it, which gives rise to ridiculous and insipid imitations. As a democratic + people does not possess any models of high breeding, at least it escapes + the daily necessity of seeing wretched copies of them. In democracies + manners are never so refined as amongst aristocratic nations, but on the + other hand they are never so coarse. Neither the coarse oaths of the + populace, nor the elegant and choice expressions of the nobility are to be + heard there: the manners of such a people are often vulgar, but they are + neither brutal nor mean. I have already observed that in democracies no + such thing as a regular code of good breeding can be laid down; this has + some inconveniences and some advantages. In aristocracies the rules of + propriety impose the same demeanor on everyone; they make all the members + of the same class appear alike, in spite of their private inclinations; + they adorn and they conceal the natural man. Amongst a democratic people + manners are neither so tutored nor so uniform, but they are frequently + more sincere. They form, as it were, a light and loosely woven veil, + through which the real feelings and private opinions of each individual + are easily discernible. The form and the substance of human actions often, + therefore, stand in closer relation; and if the great picture of human + life be less embellished, it is more true. Thus it may be said, in one + sense, that the effect of democracy is not exactly to give men any + particular manners, but to prevent them from having manners at all. + </p> + <p> + The feelings, the passions, the virtues, and the vices of an aristocracy + may sometimes reappear in a democracy, but not its manners; they are lost, + and vanish forever, as soon as the democratic revolution is completed. It + would seem that nothing is more lasting than the manners of an + aristocratic class, for they are preserved by that class for some time + after it has lost its wealth and its power—nor so fleeting, for no + sooner have they disappeared than not a trace of them is to be found; and + it is scarcely possible to say what they have been as soon as they have + ceased to be. A change in the state of society works this miracle, and a + few generations suffice to consummate it. The principal characteristics of + aristocracy are handed down by history after an aristocracy is destroyed, + but the light and exquisite touches of manners are effaced from men's + memories almost immediately after its fall. Men can no longer conceive + what these manners were when they have ceased to witness them; they are + gone, and their departure was unseen, unfelt; for in order to feel that + refined enjoyment which is derived from choice and distinguished manners, + habit and education must have prepared the heart, and the taste for them + is lost almost as easily as the practice of them. Thus not only a + democratic people cannot have aristocratic manners, but they neither + comprehend nor desire them; and as they never have thought of them, it is + to their minds as if such things had never been. Too much importance + should not be attached to this loss, but it may well be regretted. + </p> + <p> + I am aware that it has not unfrequently happened that the same men have + had very high-bred manners and very low-born feelings: the interior of + courts has sufficiently shown what imposing externals may conceal the + meanest hearts. But though the manners of aristocracy did not constitute + virtue, they sometimes embellish virtue itself. It was no ordinary sight + to see a numerous and powerful class of men, whose every outward action + seemed constantly to be dictated by a natural elevation of thought and + feeling, by delicacy and regularity of taste, and by urbanity of manners. + Those manners threw a pleasing illusory charm over human nature; and + though the picture was often a false one, it could not be viewed without a + noble satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0056" id="link2HCH0056"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XV: Of The Gravity Of The Americans, And Why It Does Not Prevent + Them From Often Committing Inconsiderate Actions + </h2> + <p> + Men who live in democratic countries do not value the simple, turbulent, + or coarse diversions in which the people indulge in aristocratic + communities: such diversions are thought by them to be puerile or insipid. + Nor have they a greater inclination for the intellectual and refined + amusements of the aristocratic classes. They want something productive and + substantial in their pleasures; they want to mix actual fruition with + their joy. In aristocratic communities the people readily give themselves + up to bursts of tumultuous and boisterous gayety, which shake off at once + the recollection of their privations: the natives of democracies are not + fond of being thus violently broken in upon, and they never lose sight of + their own selves without regret. They prefer to these frivolous delights + those more serious and silent amusements which are like business, and + which do not drive business wholly from their minds. An American, instead + of going in a leisure hour to dance merrily at some place of public + resort, as the fellows of his calling continue to do throughout the + greater part of Europe, shuts himself up at home to drink. He thus enjoys + two pleasures; he can go on thinking of his business, and he can get drunk + decently by his own fireside. + </p> + <p> + I thought that the English constituted the most serious nation on the face + of the earth, but I have since seen the Americans and have changed my + opinion. I do not mean to say that temperament has not a great deal to do + with the character of the inhabitants of the United States, but I think + that their political institutions are a still more influential cause. I + believe the seriousness of the Americans arises partly from their pride. + In democratic countries even poor men entertain a lofty notion of their + personal importance: they look upon themselves with complacency, and are + apt to suppose that others are looking at them, too. With this disposition + they watch their language and their actions with care, and do not lay + themselves open so as to betray their deficiencies; to preserve their + dignity they think it necessary to retain their gravity. + </p> + <p> + But I detect another more deep-seated and powerful cause which + instinctively produces amongst the Americans this astonishing gravity. + Under a despotism communities give way at times to bursts of vehement joy; + but they are generally gloomy and moody, because they are afraid. Under + absolute monarchies tempered by the customs and manners of the country, + their spirits are often cheerful and even, because as they have some + freedom and a good deal of security, they are exempted from the most + important cares of life; but all free peoples are serious, because their + minds are habitually absorbed by the contemplation of some dangerous or + difficult purpose. This is more especially the case amongst those free + nations which form democratic communities. Then there are in all classes a + very large number of men constantly occupied with the serious affairs of + the government; and those whose thoughts are not engaged in the direction + of the commonwealth are wholly engrossed by the acquisition of a private + fortune. Amongst such a people a serious demeanor ceases to be peculiar to + certain men, and becomes a habit of the nation. + </p> + <p> + We are told of small democracies in the days of antiquity, in which the + citizens met upon the public places with garlands of roses, and spent + almost all their time in dancing and theatrical amusements. I do not + believe in such republics any more than in that of Plato; or, if the + things we read of really happened, I do not hesitate to affirm that these + supposed democracies were composed of very different elements from ours, + and that they had nothing in common with the latter except their name. But + it must not be supposed that, in the midst of all their toils, the people + who live in democracies think themselves to be pitied; the contrary is + remarked to be the case. No men are fonder of their own condition. Life + would have no relish for them if they were delivered from the anxieties + which harass them, and they show more attachment to their cares than + aristocratic nations to their pleasures. + </p> + <p> + I am next led to inquire how it is that these same democratic nations, + which are so serious, sometimes act in so inconsiderate a manner. The + Americans, who almost always preserve a staid demeanor and a frigid air, + nevertheless frequently allow themselves to be borne away, far beyond the + bound of reason, by a sudden passion or a hasty opinion, and they + sometimes gravely commit strange absurdities. This contrast ought not to + surprise us. There is one sort of ignorance which originates in extreme + publicity. In despotic States men know not how to act, because they are + told nothing; in democratic nations they often act at random, because + nothing is to be left untold. The former do not know—the latter + forget; and the chief features of each picture are lost to them in a + bewilderment of details. + </p> + <p> + It is astonishing what imprudent language a public man may sometimes use + in free countries, and especially in democratic States, without being + compromised; whereas in absolute monarchies a few words dropped by + accident are enough to unmask him forever, and ruin him without hope of + redemption. This is explained by what goes before. When a man speaks in + the midst of a great crowd, many of his words are not heard, or are + forthwith obliterated from the memories of those who hear them; but amidst + the silence of a mute and motionless throng the slightest whisper strikes + the ear. + </p> + <p> + In democracies men are never stationary; a thousand chances waft them to + and fro, and their life is always the sport of unforeseen or (so to speak) + extemporaneous circumstances. Thus they are often obliged to do things + which they have imperfectly learned, to say things they imperfectly + understand, and to devote themselves to work for which they are unprepared + by long apprenticeship. In aristocracies every man has one sole object + which he unceasingly pursues, but amongst democratic nations the existence + of man is more complex; the same mind will almost always embrace several + objects at the same time, and these objects are frequently wholly foreign + to each other: as it cannot know them all well, the mind is readily + satisfied with imperfect notions of each. + </p> + <p> + When the inhabitant of democracies is not urged by his wants, he is so at + least by his desires; for of all the possessions which he sees around him, + none are wholly beyond his reach. He therefore does everything in a hurry, + he is always satisfied with "pretty well," and never pauses more than an + instant to consider what he has been doing. His curiosity is at once + insatiable and cheaply satisfied; for he cares more to know a great deal + quickly than to know anything well: he has no time and but little taste to + search things to the bottom. Thus then democratic peoples are grave, + because their social and political condition constantly leads them to + engage in serious occupations; and they act inconsiderately, because they + give but little time and attention to each of these occupations. The habit + of inattention must be considered as the greatest bane of the democratic + character. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0057" id="link2HCH0057"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XVI: Why The National Vanity Of The Americans Is More Restless And + Captious Than That Of The English + </h2> + <p> + All free nations are vainglorious, but national pride is not displayed by + all in the same manner. The Americans in their intercourse with strangers + appear impatient of the smallest censure and insatiable of praise. The + most slender eulogium is acceptable to them; the most exalted seldom + contents them; they unceasingly harass you to extort praise, and if you + resist their entreaties they fall to praising themselves. It would seem as + if, doubting their own merit, they wished to have it constantly exhibited + before their eyes. Their vanity is not only greedy, but restless and + jealous; it will grant nothing, whilst it demands everything, but is ready + to beg and to quarrel at the same time. If I say to an American that the + country he lives in is a fine one, "Ay," he replies, "there is not its + fellow in the world." If I applaud the freedom which its inhabitants + enjoy, he answers, "Freedom is a fine thing, but few nations are worthy to + enjoy it." If I remark the purity of morals which distinguishes the United + States, "I can imagine," says he, "that a stranger, who has been struck by + the corruption of all other nations, is astonished at the difference." At + length I leave him to the contemplation of himself; but he returns to the + charge, and does not desist till he has got me to repeat all I had just + been saying. It is impossible to conceive a more troublesome or more + garrulous patriotism; it wearies even those who are disposed to respect + it. *a + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ See Appendix U.] + </p> + <p> + Such is not the case with the English. An Englishman calmly enjoys the + real or imaginary advantages which in his opinion his country possesses. + If he grants nothing to other nations, neither does he solicit anything + for his own. The censure of foreigners does not affect him, and their + praise hardly flatters him; his position with regard to the rest of the + world is one of disdainful and ignorant reserve: his pride requires no + sustenance, it nourishes itself. It is remarkable that two nations, so + recently sprung from the same stock, should be so opposite to one another + in their manner of feeling and conversing. + </p> + <p> + In aristocratic countries the great possess immense privileges, upon which + their pride rests, without seeking to rely upon the lesser advantages + which accrue to them. As these privileges came to them by inheritance, + they regard them in some sort as a portion of themselves, or at least as a + natural right inherent in their own persons. They therefore entertain a + calm sense of their superiority; they do not dream of vaunting privileges + which everyone perceives and no one contests, and these things are not + sufficiently new to them to be made topics of conversation. They stand + unmoved in their solitary greatness, well assured that they are seen of + all the world without any effort to show themselves off, and that no one + will attempt to drive them from that position. When an aristocracy carries + on the public affairs, its national pride naturally assumes this reserved, + indifferent, and haughty form, which is imitated by all the other classes + of the nation. + </p> + <p> + When, on the contrary, social conditions differ but little, the slightest + privileges are of some importance; as every man sees around himself a + million of people enjoying precisely similar or analogous advantages, his + pride becomes craving and jealous, he clings to mere trifles, and doggedly + defends them. In democracies, as the conditions of life are very + fluctuating, men have almost always recently acquired the advantages which + they possess; the consequence is that they feel extreme pleasure in + exhibiting them, to show others and convince themselves that they really + enjoy them. As at any instant these same advantages may be lost, their + possessors are constantly on the alert, and make a point of showing that + they still retain them. Men living in democracies love their country just + as they love themselves, and they transfer the habits of their private + vanity to their vanity as a nation. The restless and insatiable vanity of + a democratic people originates so entirely in the equality and + precariousness of social conditions, that the members of the haughtiest + nobility display the very same passion in those lesser portions of their + existence in which there is anything fluctuating or contested. An + aristocratic class always differs greatly from the other classes of the + nation, by the extent and perpetuity of its privileges; but it often + happens that the only differences between the members who belong to it + consist in small transient advantages, which may any day be lost or + acquired. The members of a powerful aristocracy, collected in a capital or + a court, have been known to contest with virulence those frivolous + privileges which depend on the caprice of fashion or the will of their + master. These persons then displayed towards each other precisely the same + puerile jealousies which animate the men of democracies, the same + eagerness to snatch the smallest advantages which their equals contested, + and the same desire to parade ostentatiously those of which they were in + possession. If national pride ever entered into the minds of courtiers, I + do not question that they would display it in the same manner as the + members of a democratic community. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0058" id="link2HCH0058"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XVII: That The Aspect Of Society In The United States Is At Once + Excited And Monotonous + </h2> + <p> + It would seem that nothing can be more adapted to stimulate and to feed + curiosity than the aspect of the United States. Fortunes, opinions, and + laws are there in ceaseless variation: it is as if immutable nature + herself were mutable, such are the changes worked upon her by the hand of + man. Yet in the end the sight of this excited community becomes + monotonous, and after having watched the moving pageant for a time the + spectator is tired of it. Amongst aristocratic nations every man is pretty + nearly stationary in his own sphere; but men are astonishingly unlike each + other—their passions, their notions, their habits, and their tastes + are essentially different: nothing changey, but everything differs. In + democracies, on the contrary, all men are alike and do things pretty + nearly alike. It is true that they are subject to great and frequent + vicissitudes; but as the same events of good or adverse fortune are + continually recurring, the name of the actors only is changed, the piece + is always the same. The aspect of American society is animated, because + men and things are always changing; but it is monotonous, because all + these changes are alike. + </p> + <p> + Men living in democratic ages have many passions, but most of their + passions either end in the love of riches or proceed from it. The cause of + this is, not that their souls are narrower, but that the importance of + money is really greater at such times. When all the members of a community + are independent of or indifferent to each other, the co-operation of each + of them can only be obtained by paying for it: this infinitely multiplies + the purposes to which wealth may be applied, and increases its value. When + the reverence which belonged to what is old has vanished, birth, + condition, and profession no longer distinguish men, or scarcely + distinguish them at all: hardly anything but money remains to create + strongly marked differences between them, and to raise some of them above + the common level. The distinction originating in wealth is increased by + the disappearance and diminution of all other distinctions. Amongst + aristocratic nations money only reaches to a few points on the vast circle + of man's desires—in democracies it seems to lead to all. The love of + wealth is therefore to be traced, either as a principal or an accessory + motive, at the bottom of all that the Americans do: this gives to all + their passions a sort of family likeness, and soon renders the survey of + them exceedingly wearisome. This perpetual recurrence of the same passion + is monotonous; the peculiar methods by which this passion seeks its own + gratification are no less so. + </p> + <p> + In an orderly and constituted democracy like the United States, where men + cannot enrich themselves by war, by public office, or by political + confiscation, the love of wealth mainly drives them into business and + manufactures. Although these pursuits often bring about great commotions + and disasters, they cannot prosper without strictly regular habits and a + long routine of petty uniform acts. The stronger the passion is, the more + regular are these habits, and the more uniform are these acts. It may be + said that it is the vehemence of their desires which makes the Americans + so methodical; it perturbs their minds, but it disciplines their lives. + </p> + <p> + The remark I here apply to America may indeed be addressed to almost all + our contemporaries. Variety is disappearing from the human race; the same + ways of acting, thinking, and feeling are to be met with all over the + world. This is not only because nations work more upon each other, and are + more faithful in their mutual imitation; but as the men of each country + relinquish more and more the peculiar opinions and feelings of a caste, a + profession, or a family, they simultaneously arrive at something nearer to + the constitution of man, which is everywhere the same. Thus they become + more alike, even without having imitated each other. Like travellers + scattered about some large wood, which is intersected by paths converging + to one point, if all of them keep, their eyes fixed upon that point and + advance towards it, they insensibly draw nearer together—though they + seek not, though they see not, though they know not each other; and they + will be surprised at length to find themselves all collected on the same + spot. All the nations which take, not any particular man, but man himself, + as the object of their researches and their imitations, are tending in the + end to a similar state of society, like these travellers converging to the + central plot of the forest. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0059" id="link2HCH0059"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XVIII: Of Honor In The United States And In Democratic Communities + </h2> + <p> + It would seem that men employ two very distinct methods in the public + estimation *a of the actions of their fellowmen; at one time they judge + them by those simple notions of right and wrong which are diffused all + over the world; at another they refer their decision to a few very special + notions which belong exclusively to some particular age and country. It + often happens that these two rules differ; they sometimes conflict: but + they are never either entirely identified or entirely annulled by one + another. Honor, at the periods of its greatest power, sways the will more + than the belief of men; and even whilst they yield without hesitation and + without a murmur to its dictates, they feel notwithstanding, by a dim but + mighty instinct, the existence of a more general, more ancient, and more + holy law, which they sometimes disobey although they cease not to + acknowledge it. Some actions have been held to be at the same time + virtuous and dishonorable—a refusal to fight a duel is a case in + point. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ The word "honor" is not always used in the same sense either in + French or English. I. It first signifies the dignity, glory, or reverence + which a man receives from his kind; and in this sense a man is said to + acquire honor. 2. Honor signifies the aggregate of those rules by the + assistance of which this dignity, glory, or reverence is obtained. Thus we + say that a man has always strictly obeyed the laws of honor; or a man has + violated his honor. In this chapter the word is always used in the latter + sense.] + </p> + <p> + I think these peculiarities may be otherwise explained than by the mere + caprices of certain individuals and nations, as has hitherto been the + customary mode of reasoning on the subject. Mankind is subject to general + and lasting wants that have engendered moral laws, to the neglect of which + men have ever and in all places attached the notion of censure and shame: + to infringe them was "to do ill"—"to do well" was to conform to + them. Within the bosom of this vast association of the human race, lesser + associations have been formed which are called nations; and amidst these + nations further subdivisions have assumed the names of classes or castes. + Each of these associations forms, as it were, a separate species of the + human race; and though it has no essential difference from the mass of + mankind, to a certain extent it stands apart and has certain wants + peculiar to itself. To these special wants must be attributed the + modifications which affect in various degrees and in different countries + the mode of considering human actions, and the estimate which ought to be + formed of them. It is the general and permanent interest of mankind that + men should not kill each other: but it may happen to be the peculiar and + temporary interest of a people or a class to justify, or even to honor, + homicide. + </p> + <p> + Honor is simply that peculiar rule, founded upon a peculiar state of + society, by the application of which a people or a class allot praise or + blame. Nothing is more unproductive to the mind than an abstract idea; I + therefore hasten to call in the aid of facts and examples to illustrate my + meaning. + </p> + <p> + I select the most extraordinary kind of honor which was ever known in the + world, and that which we are best acquainted with, viz., aristocratic + honor springing out of feudal society. I shall explain it by means of the + principle already laid down, and I shall explain the principle by means of + the illustration. I am not here led to inquire when and how the + aristocracy of the Middle Ages came into existence, why it was so deeply + severed from the remainder of the nation, or what founded and consolidated + its power. I take its existence as an established fact, and I am + endeavoring to account for the peculiar view which it took of the greater + part of human actions. The first thing that strikes me is, that in the + feudal world actions were not always praised or blamed with reference to + their intrinsic worth, but that they were sometimes appreciated + exclusively with reference to the person who was the actor or the object + of them, which is repugnant to the general conscience of mankind. Thus + some of the actions which were indifferent on the part of a man in humble + life, dishonored a noble; others changed their whole character according + as the person aggrieved by them belonged or did not belong to the + aristocracy. When these different notions first arose, the nobility formed + a distinct body amidst the people, which it commanded from the + inaccessible heights where it was ensconced. To maintain this peculiar + position, which constituted its strength, it not only required political + privileges, but it required a standard of right and wrong for its own + especial use. That some particular virtue or vice belonged to the nobility + rather than to the humble classes—that certain actions were + guiltless when they affected the villain, which were criminal when they + touched the noble—these were often arbitrary matters; but that honor + or shame should be attached to a man's actions according to his condition, + was a result of the internal constitution of an aristocratic community. + This has been actually the case in all the countries which have had an + aristocracy; as long as a trace of the principle remains, these + peculiarities will still exist; to debauch a woman of color scarcely + injures the reputation of an American—to marry her dishonors him. + </p> + <p> + In some cases feudal honor enjoined revenge, and stigmatized the + forgiveness of insults; in others it imperiously commanded men to conquer + their own passions, and imposed forgetfulness of self. It did not make + humanity or kindness its law, but it extolled generosity; it set more + store on liberality than on benevolence; it allowed men to enrich + themselves by gambling or by war, but not by labor; it preferred great + crimes to small earnings; cupidity was less distasteful to it than + avarice; violence it often sanctioned, but cunning and treachery it + invariably reprobated as contemptible. These fantastical notions did not + proceed exclusively from the caprices of those who entertained them. A + class which has succeeded in placing itself at the head of and above all + others, and which makes perpetual exertions to maintain this lofty + position, must especially honor those virtues which are conspicuous for + their dignity and splendor, and which may be easily combined with pride + and the love of power. Such men would not hesitate to invert the natural + order of the conscience in order to give those virtues precedence before + all others. It may even be conceived that some of the more bold and + brilliant vices would readily be set above the quiet, unpretending + virtues. The very existence of such a class in society renders these + things unavoidable. + </p> + <p> + The nobles of the Middle Ages placed military courage foremost amongst + virtues, and in lieu of many of them. This was again a peculiar opinion + which arose necessarily from the peculiarity of the state of society. + Feudal aristocracy existed by war and for war; its power had been founded + by arms, and by arms that power was maintained; it therefore required + nothing more than military courage, and that quality was naturally exalted + above all others; whatever denoted it, even at the expense of reason and + humanity, was therefore approved and frequently enjoined by the manners of + the time. Such was the main principle; the caprice of man was only to be + traced in minuter details. That a man should regard a tap on the cheek as + an unbearable insult, and should be obliged to kill in single combat the + person who struck him thus lightly, is an arbitrary rule; but that a noble + could not tranquilly receive an insult, and was dishonored if he allowed + himself to take a blow without fighting, were direct consequences of the + fundamental principles and the wants of military aristocracy. + </p> + <p> + Thus it was true to a certain extent to assert that the laws of honor were + capricious; but these caprices of honor were always confined within + certain necessary limits. The peculiar rule, which was called honor by our + forefathers, is so far from being an arbitrary law in my eyes, that I + would readily engage to ascribe its most incoherent and fantastical + injunctions to a small number of fixed and invariable wants inherent in + feudal society. + </p> + <p> + If I were to trace the notion of feudal honor into the domain of politics, + I should not find it more difficult to explain its dictates. The state of + society and the political institutions of the Middle Ages were such, that + the supreme power of the nation never governed the community directly. + That power did not exist in the eyes of the people: every man looked up to + a certain individual whom he was bound to obey; by that intermediate + personage he was connected with all the others. Thus in feudal society the + whole system of the commonwealth rested upon the sentiment of fidelity to + the person of the lord: to destroy that sentiment was to open the sluices + of anarchy. Fidelity to a political superior was, moreover, a sentiment of + which all the members of the aristocracy had constant opportunities of + estimating the importance; for every one of them was a vassal as well as a + lord, and had to command as well as to obey. To remain faithful to the + lord, to sacrifice one's self for him if called upon, to share his good or + evil fortunes, to stand by him in his undertakings whatever they might be—such + were the first injunctions of feudal honor in relation to the political + institutions of those times. The treachery of a vassal was branded with + extraordinary severity by public opinion, and a name of peculiar infamy + was invented for the offence which was called "felony." + </p> + <p> + On the contrary, few traces are to be found in the Middle Ages of the + passion which constituted the life of the nations of antiquity—I + mean patriotism; the word itself is not of very ancient date in the + language. *b Feudal institutions concealed the country at large from men's + sight, and rendered the love of it less necessary. The nation was + forgotten in the passions which attached men to persons. Hence it was no + part of the strict law of feudal honor to remain faithful to one's + country. Not indeed that the love of their country did not exist in the + hearts of our forefathers; but it constituted a dim and feeble instinct, + which has grown more clear and strong in proportion as aristocratic + classes have been abolished, and the supreme power of the nation + centralized. This may be clearly seen from the contrary judgments which + European nations have passed upon the various events of their histories, + according to the generations by which such judgments have been formed. The + circumstance which most dishonored the Constable de Bourbon in the eyes of + his contemporaries was that he bore arms against his king: that which most + dishonors him in our eyes, is that he made war against his country; we + brand him as deeply as our forefathers did, but for different reasons. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + b <br /> [ Even the word "patrie" was not used by the French writers until + the sixteenth century.] + </p> + <p> + I have chosen the honor of feudal times by way of illustration of my + meaning, because its characteristics are more distinctly marked and more + familiar to us than those of any other period; but I might have taken an + example elsewhere, and I should have reached the same conclusion by a + different road. Although we are less perfectly acquainted with the Romans + than with our own ancestors, yet we know that certain peculiar notions of + glory and disgrace obtained amongst them, which were not solely derived + from the general principles of right and wrong. Many human actions were + judged differently, according as they affected a Roman citizen or a + stranger, a freeman or a slave; certain vices were blazoned abroad, + certain virtues were extolled above all others. "In that age," says + Plutarch in the life of Coriolanus, "martial prowess was more honored and + prized in Rome than all the other virtues, insomuch that it was called + virtus, the name of virtue itself, by applying the name of the kind to + this particular species; so that virtue in Latin was as much as to say + valor." Can anyone fail to recognize the peculiar want of that singular + community which was formed for the conquest of the world? + </p> + <p> + Any nation would furnish us with similar grounds of observation; for, as I + have already remarked, whenever men collect together as a distinct + community, the notion of honor instantly grows up amongst them; that is to + say, a system of opinions peculiar to themselves as to what is blamable or + commendable; and these peculiar rules always originate in the special + habits and special interests of the community. This is applicable to a + certain extent to democratic communities as well as to others, as we shall + now proceed to prove by the example of the Americans. *c Some loose + notions of the old aristocratic honor of Europe are still to be found + scattered amongst the opinions of the Americans; but these traditional + opinions are few in number, they have but little root in the country, and + but little power. They are like a religion which has still some temples + left standing, though men have ceased to believe in it. But amidst these + half-obliterated notions of exotic honor, some new opinions have sprung + up, which constitute what may be termed in our days American honor. I have + shown how the Americans are constantly driven to engage in commerce and + industry. Their origin, their social condition, their political + institutions, and even the spot they inhabit, urge them irresistibly in + this direction. Their present condition is then that of an almost + exclusively manufacturing and commercial association, placed in the midst + of a new and boundless country, which their principal object is to explore + for purposes of profit. This is the characteristic which most peculiarly + distinguishes the American people from all others at the present time. All + those quiet virtues which tend to give a regular movement to the + community, and to encourage business, will therefore be held in peculiar + honor by that people, and to neglect those virtues will be to incur public + contempt. All the more turbulent virtues, which often dazzle, but more + frequently disturb society, will on the contrary occupy a subordinate rank + in the estimation of this same people: they may be neglected without + forfeiting the esteem of the community—to acquire them would perhaps + be to run a risk of losing it. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + c <br /> [ I speak here of the Americans inhabiting those States where + slavery does not exist; they alone can be said to present a complete + picture of democratic society.] + </p> + <p> + The Americans make a no less arbitrary classification of men's vices. + There are certain propensities which appear censurable to the general + reason and the universal conscience of mankind, but which happen to agree + with the peculiar and temporary wants of the American community: these + propensities are lightly reproved, sometimes even encouraged; for + instance, the love of wealth and the secondary propensities connected with + it may be more particularly cited. To clear, to till, and to transform the + vast uninhabited continent which is his domain, the American requires the + daily support of an energetic passion; that passion can only be the love + of wealth; the passion for wealth is therefore not reprobated in America, + and provided it does not go beyond the bounds assigned to it for public + security, it is held in honor. The American lauds as a noble and + praiseworthy ambition what our own forefathers in the Middle Ages + stigmatized as servile cupidity, just as he treats as a blind and + barbarous frenzy that ardor of conquest and martial temper which bore them + to battle. In the United States fortunes are lost and regained without + difficulty; the country is boundless, and its resources inexhaustible. The + people have all the wants and cravings of a growing creature; and whatever + be their efforts, they are always surrounded by more than they can + appropriate. It is not the ruin of a few individuals which may be soon + repaired, but the inactivity and sloth of the community at large which + would be fatal to such a people. Boldness of enterprise is the foremost + cause of its rapid progress, its strength, and its greatness. Commercial + business is there like a vast lottery, by which a small number of men + continually lose, but the State is always a gainer; such a people ought + therefore to encourage and do honor to boldness in commercial + speculations. But any bold speculation risks the fortune of the speculator + and of all those who put their trust in him. The Americans, who make a + virtue of commercial temerity, have no right in any case to brand with + disgrace those who practise it. Hence arises the strange indulgence which + is shown to bankrupts in the United States; their honor does not suffer by + such an accident. In this respect the Americans differ, not only from the + nations of Europe, but from all the commercial nations of our time, and + accordingly they resemble none of them in their position or their wants. + </p> + <p> + In America all those vices which tend to impair the purity of morals, and + to destroy the conjugal tie, are treated with a degree of severity which + is unknown in the rest of the world. At first sight this seems strangely + at variance with the tolerance shown there on other subjects, and one is + surprised to meet with a morality so relaxed and so austere amongst the + selfsame people. But these things are less incoherent than they seem to + be. Public opinion in the United States very gently represses that love of + wealth which promotes the commercial greatness and the prosperity of the + nation, and it especially condemns that laxity of morals which diverts the + human mind from the pursuit of well-being, and disturbs the internal order + of domestic life which is so necessary to success in business. To earn the + esteem of their countrymen, the Americans are therefore constrained to + adapt themselves to orderly habits—and it may be said in this sense + that they make it a matter of honor to live chastely. + </p> + <p> + On one point American honor accords with the notions of honor acknowledged + in Europe; it places courage as the highest virtue, and treats it as the + greatest of the moral necessities of man; but the notion of courage itself + assumes a different aspect. In the United States martial valor is but + little prized; the courage which is best known and most esteemed is that + which emboldens men to brave the dangers of the ocean, in order to arrive + earlier in port—to support the privations of the wilderness without + complaint, and solitude more cruel than privations—the courage which + renders them almost insensible to the loss of a fortune laboriously + acquired, and instantly prompts to fresh exertions to make another. + Courage of this kind is peculiarly necessary to the maintenance and + prosperity of the American communities, and it is held by them in peculiar + honor and estimation; to betray a want of it is to incur certain disgrace. + </p> + <p> + I have yet another characteristic point which may serve to place the idea + of this chapter in stronger relief. In a democratic society like that of + the United States, where fortunes are scanty and insecure, everybody + works, and work opens a way to everything: this has changed the point of + honor quite round, and has turned it against idleness. I have sometimes + met in America with young men of wealth, personally disinclined to all + laborious exertion, but who had been compelled to embrace a profession. + Their disposition and their fortune allowed them to remain without + employment; public opinion forbade it, too imperiously to be disobeyed. In + the European countries, on the contrary, where aristocracy is still + struggling with the flood which overwhelms it, I have often seen men, + constantly spurred on by their wants and desires, remain in idleness, in + order not to lose the esteem of their equals; and I have known them submit + to ennui and privations rather than to work. No one can fail to perceive + that these opposite obligations are two different rules of conduct, both + nevertheless originating in the notion of honor. + </p> + <p> + What our forefathers designated as honor absolutely was in reality only + one of its forms; they gave a generic name to what was only a species. + Honor therefore is to be found in democratic as well as in aristocratic + ages, but it will not be difficult to show that it assumes a different + aspect in the former. Not only are its injunctions different, but we shall + shortly see that they are less numerous, less precise, and that its + dictates are less rigorously obeyed. The position of a caste is always + much more peculiar than that of a people. Nothing is so much out of the + way of the world as a small community invariably composed of the same + families (as was for instance the aristocracy of the Middle Ages), whose + object is to concentrate and to retain, exclusively and hereditarily, + education, wealth, and power amongst its own members. But the more out of + the way the position of a community happens to be, the more numerous are + its special wants, and the more extensive are its notions of honor + corresponding to those wants. The rules of honor will therefore always be + less numerous amongst a people not divided into castes than amongst any + other. If ever any nations are constituted in which it may even be + difficult to find any peculiar classes of society, the notion of honor + will be confined to a small number of precepts, which will be more and + more in accordance with the moral laws adopted by the mass of mankind. + Thus the laws of honor will be less peculiar and less multifarious amongst + a democratic people than in an aristocracy. They will also be more + obscure; and this is a necessary consequence of what goes before; for as + the distinguishing marks of honor are less numerous and less peculiar, it + must often be difficult to distinguish them. To this, other reasons may be + added. Amongst the aristocratic nations of the Middle Ages, generation + succeeded generation in vain; each family was like a never-dying, + ever-stationary man, and the state of opinions was hardly more changeable + than that of conditions. Everyone then had always the same objects before + his eyes, which he contemplated from the same point; his eyes gradually + detected the smallest details, and his discernment could not fail to + become in the end clear and accurate. Thus not only had the men of feudal + times very extraordinary opinions in matters of honor, but each of those + opinions was present to their minds under a clear and precise form. + </p> + <p> + This can never be the case in America, where all men are in constant + motion; and where society, transformed daily by its own operations, + changes its opinions together with its wants. In such a country men have + glimpses of the rules of honor, but they have seldom time to fix attention + upon them. + </p> + <p> + But even if society were motionless, it would still be difficult to + determine the meaning which ought to be attached to the word "honor." In + the Middle Ages, as each class had its own honor, the same opinion was + never received at the same time by a large number of men; and this + rendered it possible to give it a determined and accurate form, which was + the more easy, as all those by whom it was received, having a perfectly + identical and most peculiar position, were naturally disposed to agree + upon the points of a law which was made for themselves alone. Thus the + code of honor became a complete and detailed system, in which everything + was anticipated and provided for beforehand, and a fixed and always + palpable standard was applied to human actions. Amongst a democratic + nation, like the Americans, in which ranks are identified, and the whole + of society forms one single mass, composed of elements which are all + analogous though not entirely similar, it is impossible ever to agree + beforehand on what shall or shall not be allowed by the laws of honor. + Amongst that people, indeed, some national wants do exist which give rise + to opinions common to the whole nation on points of honor; but these + opinions never occur at the same time, in the same manner, or with the + same intensity to the minds of the whole community; the law of honor + exists, but it has no organs to promulgate it. + </p> + <p> + The confusion is far greater still in a democratic country like France, + where the different classes of which the former fabric of society was + composed, being brought together but not yet mingled, import day by day + into each other's circles various and sometimes conflicting notions of + honor—where every man, at his own will and pleasure, forsakes one + portion of his forefathers' creed, and retains another; so that, amidst so + many arbitrary measures, no common rule can ever be established, and it is + almost impossible to predict which actions will be held in honor and which + will be thought disgraceful. Such times are wretched, but they are of + short duration. + </p> + <p> + As honor, amongst democratic nations, is imperfectly defined, its + influence is of course less powerful; for it is difficult to apply with + certainty and firmness a law which is not distinctly known. Public + opinion, the natural and supreme interpreter of the laws of honor, not + clearly discerning to which side censure or approval ought to lean, can + only pronounce a hesitating judgment. Sometimes the opinion of the public + may contradict itself; more frequently it does not act, and lets things + pass. + </p> + <p> + The weakness of the sense of honor in democracies also arises from several + other causes. In aristocratic countries, the same notions of honor are + always entertained by only a few persons, always limited in number, often + separated from the rest of their fellow-citizens. Honor is easily mingled + and identified in their minds with the idea of all that distinguishes + their own position; it appears to them as the chief characteristic of + their own rank; they apply its different rules with all the warmth of + personal interest, and they feel (if I may use the expression) a passion + for complying with its dictates. This truth is extremely obvious in the + old black-letter lawbooks on the subject of "trial by battel." The nobles, + in their disputes, were bound to use the lance and sword; whereas the + villains used only sticks amongst themselves, "inasmuch as," to use the + words of the old books, "villains have no honor." This did not mean, as it + may be imagined at the present day, that these people were contemptible; + but simply that their actions were not to be judged by the same rules + which were applied to the actions of the aristocracy. + </p> + <p> + It is surprising, at first sight, that when the sense of honor is most + predominant, its injunctions are usually most strange; so that the further + it is removed from common reason the better it is obeyed; whence it has + sometimes been inferred that the laws of honor were strengthened by their + own extravagance. The two things indeed originate from the same source, + but the one is not derived from the other. Honor becomes fantastical in + proportion to the peculiarity of the wants which it denotes, and the + paucity of the men by whom those wants are felt; and it is because it + denotes wants of this kind that its influence is great. Thus the notion of + honor is not the stronger for being fantastical, but it is fantastical and + strong from the selfsame cause. + </p> + <p> + Further, amongst aristocratic nations each rank is different, but all + ranks are fixed; every man occupies a place in his own sphere which he + cannot relinquish, and he lives there amidst other men who are bound by + the same ties. Amongst these nations no man can either hope or fear to + escape being seen; no man is placed so low but that he has a stage of his + own, and none can avoid censure or applause by his obscurity. In + democratic States on the contrary, where all the members of the community + are mingled in the same crowd and in constant agitation, public opinion + has no hold on men; they disappear at every instant, and elude its power. + Consequently the dictates of honor will be there less imperious and less + stringent; for honor acts solely for the public eye—differing in + this respect from mere virtue, which lives upon itself contented with its + own approval. + </p> + <p> + If the reader has distinctly apprehended all that goes before, he will + understand that there is a close and necessary relation between the + inequality of social conditions and what has here been styled honor—a + relation which, if I am not mistaken, had not before been clearly pointed + out. I shall therefore make one more attempt to illustrate it + satisfactorily. Suppose a nation stands apart from the rest of mankind: + independently of certain general wants inherent in the human race, it will + also have wants and interests peculiar to itself: certain opinions of + censure or approbation forthwith arise in the community, which are + peculiar to itself, and which are styled honor by the members of that + community. Now suppose that in this same nation a caste arises, which, in + its turn, stands apart from all the other classes, and contracts certain + peculiar wants, which give rise in their turn to special opinions. The + honor of this caste, composed of a medley of the peculiar notions of the + nation, and the still more peculiar notions of the caste, will be as + remote as it is possible to conceive from the simple and general opinions + of men. + </p> + <p> + Having reached this extreme point of the argument, I now return. When + ranks are commingled and privileges abolished, the men of whom a nation is + composed being once more equal and alike, their interests and wants become + identical, and all the peculiar notions which each caste styled honor + successively disappear: the notion of honor no longer proceeds from any + other source than the wants peculiar to the nation at large, and it + denotes the individual character of that nation to the world. Lastly, if + it be allowable to suppose that all the races of mankind should be + commingled, and that all the peoples of earth should ultimately come to + have the same interests, the same wants, undistinguished from each other + by any characteristic peculiarities, no conventional value whatever would + then be attached to men's actions; they would all be regarded by all in + the same light; the general necessities of mankind, revealed by conscience + to every man, would become the common standard. The simple and general + notions of right and wrong only would then be recognized in the world, to + which, by a natural and necessary tie, the idea of censure or approbation + would be attached. Thus, to comprise all my meaning in a single + proposition, the dissimilarities and inequalities of men gave rise to the + notion of honor; that notion is weakened in proportion as these + differences are obliterated, and with them it would disappear. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0060" id="link2HCH0060"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XIX: Why So Many Ambitious Men And So Little Lofty Ambition Are To + Be Found In The United States + </h2> + <p> + The first thing which strikes a traveller in the United States is the + innumerable multitude of those who seek to throw off their original + condition; and the second is the rarity of lofty ambition to be observed + in the midst of the universally ambitious stir of society. No Americans + are devoid of a yearning desire to rise; but hardly any appear to + entertain hopes of great magnitude, or to drive at very lofty aims. All + are constantly seeking to acquire property, power, and reputation—few + contemplate these things upon a great scale; and this is the more + surprising, as nothing is to be discerned in the manners or laws of + America to limit desire, or to prevent it from spreading its impulses in + every direction. It seems difficult to attribute this singular state of + things to the equality of social conditions; for at the instant when that + same equality was established in France, the flight of ambition became + unbounded. Nevertheless, I think that the principal cause which may be + assigned to this fact is to be found in the social condition and + democratic manners of the Americans. + </p> + <p> + All revolutions enlarge the ambition of men: this proposition is more + peculiarly true of those revolutions which overthrow an aristocracy. When + the former barriers which kept back the multitude from fame and power are + suddenly thrown down, a violent and universal rise takes place towards + that eminence so long coveted and at length to be enjoyed. In this first + burst of triumph nothing seems impossible to anyone: not only are desires + boundless, but the power of satisfying them seems almost boundless, too. + Amidst the general and sudden renewal of laws and customs, in this vast + confusion of all men and all ordinances, the various members of the + community rise and sink again with excessive rapidity; and power passes so + quickly from hand to hand that none need despair of catching it in turn. + It must be recollected, moreover, that the people who destroy an + aristocracy have lived under its laws; they have witnessed its splendor, + and they have unconsciously imbibed the feelings and notions which it + entertained. Thus at the moment when an aristocracy is dissolved, its + spirit still pervades the mass of the community, and its tendencies are + retained long after it has been defeated. Ambition is therefore always + extremely great as long as a democratic revolution lasts, and it will + remain so for some time after the revolution is consummated. The + reminiscence of the extraordinary events which men have witnessed is not + obliterated from their memory in a day. The passions which a revolution + has roused do not disappear at its close. A sense of instability remains + in the midst of re-established order: a notion of easy success survives + the strange vicissitudes which gave it birth; desires still remain + extremely enlarged, when the means of satisfying them are diminished day + by day. The taste for large fortunes subsists, though large fortunes are + rare: and on every side we trace the ravages of inordinate and hapless + ambition kindled in hearts which they consume in secret and in vain. + </p> + <p> + At length, however, the last vestiges of the struggle are effaced; the + remains of aristocracy completely disappear; the great events by which its + fall was attended are forgotten; peace succeeds to war, and the sway of + order is restored in the new realm; desires are again adapted to the means + by which they may be fulfilled; the wants, the opinions, and the feelings + of men cohere once more; the level of the community is permanently + determined, and democratic society established. A democratic nation, + arrived at this permanent and regular state of things, will present a very + different spectacle from that which we have just described; and we may + readily conclude that, if ambition becomes great whilst the conditions of + society are growing equal, it loses that quality when they have grown so. + As wealth is subdivided and knowledge diffused, no one is entirely + destitute of education or of property; the privileges and + disqualifications of caste being abolished, and men having shattered the + bonds which held them fixed, the notion of advancement suggests itself to + every mind, the desire to rise swells in every heart, and all men want to + mount above their station: ambition is the universal feeling. + </p> + <p> + But if the equality of conditions gives some resources to all the members + of the community, it also prevents any of them from having resources of + great extent, which necessarily circumscribes their desires within + somewhat narrow limits. Thus amongst democratic nations ambition is ardent + and continual, but its aim is not habitually lofty; and life is generally + spent in eagerly coveting small objects which are within reach. What + chiefly diverts the men of democracies from lofty ambition is not the + scantiness of their fortunes, but the vehemence of the exertions they + daily make to improve them. They strain their faculties to the utmost to + achieve paltry results, and this cannot fail speedily to limit their + discernment and to circumscribe their powers. They might be much poorer + and still be greater. The small number of opulent citizens who are to be + found amidst a democracy do not constitute an exception to this rule. A + man who raises himself by degrees to wealth and power, contracts, in the + course of this protracted labor, habits of prudence and restraint which he + cannot afterwards shake off. A man cannot enlarge his mind as he would his + house. The same observation is applicable to the sons of such a man; they + are born, it is true, in a lofty position, but their parents were humble; + they have grown up amidst feelings and notions which they cannot + afterwards easily get rid of; and it may be presumed that they will + inherit the propensities of their father as well as his wealth. It may + happen, on the contrary, that the poorest scion of a powerful aristocracy + may display vast ambition, because the traditional opinions of his race + and the general spirit of his order still buoy him up for some time above + his fortune. Another thing which prevents the men of democratic periods + from easily indulging in the pursuit of lofty objects, is the lapse of + time which they foresee must take place before they can be ready to + approach them. "It is a great advantage," says Pascal, "to be a man of + quality, since it brings one man as forward at eighteen or twenty as + another man would be at fifty, which is a clear gain of thirty years." + Those thirty years are commonly wanting to the ambitious characters of + democracies. The principle of equality, which allows every man to arrive + at everything, prevents all men from rapid advancement. + </p> + <p> + In a democratic society, as well as elsewhere, there are only a certain + number of great fortunes to be made; and as the paths which lead to them + are indiscriminately open to all, the progress of all must necessarily be + slackened. As the candidates appear to be nearly alike, and as it is + difficult to make a selection without infringing the principle of + equality, which is the supreme law of democratic societies, the first idea + which suggests itself is to make them all advance at the same rate and + submit to the same probation. Thus in proportion as men become more alike, + and the principle of equality is more peaceably and deeply infused into + the institutions and manners of the country, the rules of advancement + become more inflexible, advancement itself slower, the difficulty of + arriving quickly at a certain height far greater. From hatred of privilege + and from the embarrassment of choosing, all men are at last constrained, + whatever may be their standard, to pass the same ordeal; all are + indiscriminately subjected to a multitude of petty preliminary exercises, + in which their youth is wasted and their imagination quenched, so that + they despair of ever fully attaining what is held out to them; and when at + length they are in a condition to perform any extraordinary acts, the + taste for such things has forsaken them. + </p> + <p> + In China, where the equality of conditions is exceedingly great and very + ancient, no man passes from one public office to another without + undergoing a probationary trial. This probation occurs afresh at every + stage of his career; and the notion is now so rooted in the manners of the + people that I remember to have read a Chinese novel, in which the hero, + after numberless crosses, succeeds at length in touching the heart of his + mistress by taking honors. A lofty ambition breathes with difficulty in + such an atmosphere. + </p> + <p> + The remark I apply to politics extends to everything; equality everywhere + produces the same effects; where the laws of a country do not regulate and + retard the advancement of men by positive enactment, competition attains + the same end. In a well-established democratic community great and rapid + elevation is therefore rare; it forms an exception to the common rule; and + it is the singularity of such occurrences that makes men forget how rarely + they happen. Men living in democracies ultimately discover these things; + they find out at last that the laws of their country open a boundless + field of action before them, but that no one can hope to hasten across it. + Between them and the final object of their desires, they perceive a + multitude of small intermediate impediments, which must be slowly + surmounted: this prospect wearies and discourages their ambition at once. + They therefore give up hopes so doubtful and remote, to search nearer to + themselves for less lofty and more easy enjoyments. Their horizon is not + bounded by the laws but narrowed by themselves. + </p> + <p> + I have remarked that lofty ambitions are more rare in the ages of + democracy than in times of aristocracy: I may add that when, in spite of + these natural obstacles, they do spring into existence, their character is + different. In aristocracies the career of ambition is often wide, but its + boundaries are determined. In democracies ambition commonly ranges in a + narrower field, but if once it gets beyond that, hardly any limits can be + assigned to it. As men are individually weak—as they live asunder, + and in constant motion—as precedents are of little authority and + laws but of short duration, resistance to novelty is languid, and the + fabric of society never appears perfectly erect or firmly consolidated. So + that, when once an ambitious man has the power in his grasp, there is + nothing he may noted are; and when it is gone from him, he meditates the + overthrow of the State to regain it. This gives to great political + ambition a character of revolutionary violence, which it seldom exhibits + to an equal degree in aristocratic communities. The common aspect of + democratic nations will present a great number of small and very rational + objects of ambition, from amongst which a few ill-controlled desires of a + larger growth will at intervals break out: but no such a thing as ambition + conceived and contrived on a vast scale is to be met with there. + </p> + <p> + I have shown elsewhere by what secret influence the principle of equality + makes the passion for physical gratifications and the exclusive love of + the present predominate in the human heart: these different propensities + mingle with the sentiment of ambition, and tinge it, as it were, with + their hues. I believe that ambitious men in democracies are less engrossed + than any others with the interests and the judgment of posterity; the + present moment alone engages and absorbs them. They are more apt to + complete a number of undertakings with rapidity than to raise lasting + monuments of their achievements; and they care much more for success than + for fame. What they most ask of men is obedience—what they most + covet is empire. Their manners have in almost all cases remained below the + height of their station; the consequence is that they frequently carry + very low tastes into their extraordinary fortunes, and that they seem to + have acquired the supreme power only to minister to their coarse or paltry + pleasures. + </p> + <p> + I think that in our time it is very necessary to cleanse, to regulate, and + to adapt the feeling of ambition, but that it would be extremely dangerous + to seek to impoverish and to repress it over-much. We should attempt to + lay down certain extreme limits, which it should never be allowed to + outstep; but its range within those established limits should not be too + much checked. I confess that I apprehend much less for democratic society + from the boldness than from the mediocrity of desires. What appears to me + most to be dreaded is that, in the midst of the small incessant + occupations of private life, ambition should lose its vigor and its + greatness—that the passions of man should abate, but at the same + time be lowered, so that the march of society should every day become more + tranquil and less aspiring. I think then that the leaders of modern + society would be wrong to seek to lull the community by a state of too + uniform and too peaceful happiness; and that it is well to expose it from + time to time to matters of difficulty and danger, in order to raise + ambition and to give it a field of action. Moralists are constantly + complaining that the ruling vice of the present time is pride. This is + true in one sense, for indeed no one thinks that he is not better than his + neighbor, or consents to obey his superior: but it is extremely false in + another; for the same man who cannot endure subordination or equality, has + so contemptible an opinion of himself that he thinks he is only born to + indulge in vulgar pleasures. He willingly takes up with low desires, + without daring to embark in lofty enterprises, of which he scarcely + dreams. Thus, far from thinking that humility ought to be preached to our + contemporaries, I would have endeavors made to give them a more enlarged + idea of themselves and of their kind. Humility is unwholesome to them; + what they most want is, in my opinion, pride. I would willingly exchange + several of our small virtues for this one vice. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0061" id="link2HCH0061"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XX: The Trade Of Place-Hunting In Certain Democratic Countries + </h2> + <p> + In the United States as soon as a man has acquired some education and + pecuniary resources, he either endeavors to get rich by commerce or + industry, or he buys land in the bush and turns pioneer. All that he asks + of the State is not to be disturbed in his toil, and to be secure of his + earnings. Amongst the greater part of European nations, when a man begins + to feel his strength and to extend his desires, the first thing that + occurs to him is to get some public employment. These opposite effects, + originating in the same cause, deserve our passing notice. + </p> + <p> + When public employments are few in number, ill-paid and precarious, whilst + the different lines of business are numerous and lucrative, it is to + business, and not to official duties, that the new and eager desires + engendered by the principle of equality turn from every side. But if, + whilst the ranks of society are becoming more equal, the education of the + people remains incomplete, or their spirit the reverse of bold—if + commerce and industry, checked in their growth, afford only slow and + arduous means of making a fortune—the various members of the + community, despairing of ameliorating their own condition, rush to the + head of the State and demand its assistance. To relieve their own + necessities at the cost of the public treasury, appears to them to be the + easiest and most open, if not the only, way they have to rise above a + condition which no longer contents them; place-hunting becomes the most + generally followed of all trades. This must especially be the case, in + those great centralized monarchies in which the number of paid offices is + immense, and the tenure of them tolerably secure, so that no one despairs + of obtaining a place, and of enjoying it as undisturbedly as a hereditary + fortune. + </p> + <p> + I shall not remark that the universal and inordinate desire for place is a + great social evil; that it destroys the spirit of independence in the + citizen, and diffuses a venal and servile humor throughout the frame of + society; that it stifles the manlier virtues: nor shall I be at the pains + to demonstrate that this kind of traffic only creates an unproductive + activity, which agitates the country without adding to its resources: all + these things are obvious. But I would observe, that a government which + encourages this tendency risks its own tranquillity, and places its very + existence in great jeopardy. I am aware that at a time like our own, when + the love and respect which formerly clung to authority are seen gradually + to decline, it may appear necessary to those in power to lay a closer hold + on every man by his own interest, and it may seem convenient to use his + own passions to keep him in order and in silence; but this cannot be so + long, and what may appear to be a source of strength for a certain time + will assuredly become in the end a great cause of embarrassment and + weakness. + </p> + <p> + Amongst democratic nations, as well as elsewhere, the number of official + appointments has in the end some limits; but amongst those nations, the + number of aspirants is unlimited; it perpetually increases, with a gradual + and irresistible rise in proportion as social conditions become more + equal, and is only checked by the limits of the population. Thus, when + public employments afford the only outlet for ambition, the government + necessarily meets with a permanent opposition at last; for it is tasked to + satisfy with limited means unlimited desires. It is very certain that of + all people in the world the most difficult to restrain and to manage are a + people of solicitants. Whatever endeavors are made by rulers, such a + people can never be contented; and it is always to be apprehended that + they will ultimately overturn the constitution of the country, and change + the aspect of the State, for the sole purpose of making a clearance of + places. The sovereigns of the present age, who strive to fix upon + themselves alone all those novel desires which are aroused by equality, + and to satisfy them, will repent in the end, if I am not mistaken, that + they ever embarked in this policy: they will one day discover that they + have hazarded their own power, by making it so necessary; and that the + more safe and honest course would have been to teach their subjects the + art of providing for themselves. *a + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ As a matter of fact, more recent experience has shown that + place-hunting is quite as intense in the United States as in any country + in Europe. It is regarded by the Americans themselves as one of the great + evils of their social condition, and it powerfully affects their political + institutions. But the American who seeks a place seeks not so much a means + of subsistence as the distinction which office and public employment + confer. In the absence of any true aristocracy, the public service creates + a spurious one, which is as much an object of ambition as the distinctions + of rank in aristocratic countries.—Translator's Note.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0062" id="link2HCH0062"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XXI: Why Great Revolutions Will Become More Rare + </h2> + <p> + A people which has existed for centuries under a system of castes and + classes can only arrive at a democratic state of society by passing + through a long series of more or less critical transformations, + accomplished by violent efforts, and after numerous vicissitudes; in the + course of which, property, opinions, and power are rapidly transferred + from one hand to another. Even after this great revolution is consummated, + the revolutionary habits engendered by it may long be traced, and it will + be followed by deep commotion. As all this takes place at the very time at + which social conditions are becoming more equal, it is inferred that some + concealed relation and secret tie exist between the principle of equality + itself and revolution, insomuch that the one cannot exist without giving + rise to the other. + </p> + <p> + On this point reasoning may seem to lead to the same result as experience. + Amongst a people whose ranks are nearly equal, no ostensible bond connects + men together, or keeps them settled in their station. None of them have + either a permanent right or power to command—none are forced by + their condition to obey; but every man, finding himself possessed of some + education and some resources, may choose his won path and proceed apart + from all his fellow-men. The same causes which make the members of the + community independent of each other, continually impel them to new and + restless desires, and constantly spur them onwards. It therefore seems + natural that, in a democratic community, men, things, and opinions should + be forever changing their form and place, and that democratic ages should + be times of rapid and incessant transformation. + </p> + <p> + But is this really the case? does the equality of social conditions + habitually and permanently lead men to revolution? does that state of + society contain some perturbing principle which prevents the community + from ever subsiding into calm, and disposes the citizens to alter + incessantly their laws, their principles, and their manners? I do not + believe it; and as the subject is important, I beg for the reader's close + attention. Almost all the revolutions which have changed the aspect of + nations have been made to consolidate or to destroy social inequality. + Remove the secondary causes which have produced the great convulsions of + the world, and you will almost always find the principle of inequality at + the bottom. Either the poor have attempted to plunder the rich, or the + rich to enslave the poor. If then a state of society can ever be founded + in which every man shall have something to keep, and little to take from + others, much will have been done for the peace of the world. I am aware + that amongst a great democratic people there will always be some members + of the community in great poverty, and others in great opulence; but the + poor, instead of forming the immense majority of the nation, as is always + the case in aristocratic communities, are comparatively few in number, and + the laws do not bind them together by the ties of irremediable and + hereditary penury. The wealthy, on their side, are scarce and powerless; + they have no privileges which attract public observation; even their + wealth, as it is no longer incorporated and bound up with the soil, is + impalpable, and as it were invisible. As there is no longer a race of poor + men, so there is no longer a race of rich men; the latter spring up daily + from the multitude, and relapse into it again. Hence they do not form a + distinct class, which may be easily marked out and plundered; and, + moreover, as they are connected with the mass of their fellow-citizens by + a thousand secret ties, the people cannot assail them without inflicting + an injury upon itself. Between these two extremes of democratic + communities stand an innumerable multitude of men almost alike, who, + without being exactly either rich or poor, are possessed of sufficient + property to desire the maintenance of order, yet not enough to excite + envy. Such men are the natural enemies of violent commotions: their + stillness keeps all beneath them and above them still, and secures the + balance of the fabric of society. Not indeed that even these men are + contented with what they have gotten, or that they feel a natural + abhorrence for a revolution in which they might share the spoil without + sharing the calamity; on the contrary, they desire, with unexampled ardor, + to get rich, but the difficulty is to know from whom riches can be taken. + The same state of society which constantly prompts desires, restrains + these desires within necessary limits: it gives men more liberty of + changing and less interest in change. + </p> + <p> + Not only are the men of democracies not naturally desirous of revolutions, + but they are afraid of them. All revolutions more or less threaten the + tenure of property: but most of those who live in democratic countries are + possessed of property—not only are they possessed of property, but + they live in the condition of men who set the greatest store upon their + property. If we attentively consider each of the classes of which society + is composed, it is easy to see that the passions engendered by property + are keenest and most tenacious amongst the middle classes. The poor often + care but little for what they possess, because they suffer much more from + the want of what they have not, than they enjoy the little they have. The + rich have many other passions besides that of riches to satisfy; and, + besides, the long and arduous enjoyment of a great fortune sometimes makes + them in the end insensible to its charms. But the men who have a + competency, alike removed from opulence and from penury, attach an + enormous value to their possessions. As they are still almost within the + reach of poverty, they see its privations near at hand, and dread them; + between poverty and themselves there is nothing but a scanty fortune, upon + which they immediately fix their apprehensions and their hopes. Every day + increases the interest they take in it, by the constant cares which it + occasions; and they are the more attached to it by their continual + exertions to increase the amount. The notion of surrendering the smallest + part of it is insupportable to them, and they consider its total loss as + the worst of misfortunes. Now these eager and apprehensive men of small + property constitute the class which is constantly increased by the + equality of conditions. Hence, in democratic communities, the majority of + the people do not clearly see what they have to gain by a revolution, but + they continually and in a thousand ways feel that they might lose by one. + </p> + <p> + I have shown in another part of this work that the equality of conditions + naturally urges men to embark in commercial and industrial pursuits, and + that it tends to increase and to distribute real property: I have also + pointed out the means by which it inspires every man with an eager and + constant desire to increase his welfare. Nothing is more opposed to + revolutionary passions than these things. It may happen that the final + result of a revolution is favorable to commerce and manufactures; but its + first consequence will almost always be the ruin of manufactures and + mercantile men, because it must always change at once the general + principles of consumption, and temporarily upset the existing proportion + between supply and demand. I know of nothing more opposite to + revolutionary manners than commercial manners. Commerce is naturally + adverse to all the violent passions; it loves to temporize, takes delight + in compromise, and studiously avoids irritation. It is patient, + insinuating, flexible, and never has recourse to extreme measures until + obliged by the most absolute necessity. Commerce renders men independent + of each other, gives them a lofty notion of their personal importance, + leads them to seek to conduct their own affairs, and teaches how to + conduct them well; it therefore prepares men for freedom, but preserves + them from revolutions. In a revolution the owners of personal property + have more to fear than all others; for on the one hand their property is + often easy to seize, and on the other it may totally disappear at any + moment—a subject of alarm to which the owners of real property are + less exposed, since, although they may lose the income of their estates, + they may hope to preserve the land itself through the greatest + vicissitudes. Hence the former are much more alarmed at the symptoms of + revolutionary commotion than the latter. Thus nations are less disposed to + make revolutions in proportion as personal property is augmented and + distributed amongst them, and as the number of those possessing it + increases. Moreover, whatever profession men may embrace, and whatever + species of property they may possess, one characteristic is common to them + all. No one is fully contented with his present fortune—all are + perpetually striving in a thousand ways to improve it. Consider any one of + them at any period of his life, and he will be found engaged with some new + project for the purpose of increasing what he has; talk not to him of the + interests and the rights of mankind: this small domestic concern absorbs + for the time all his thoughts, and inclines him to defer political + excitement to some other season. This not only prevents men from making + revolutions, but deters men from desiring them. Violent political passions + have but little hold on those who have devoted all their faculties to the + pursuit of their well-being. The ardor which they display in small matters + calms their zeal for momentous undertakings. + </p> + <p> + From time to time indeed, enterprising and ambitious men will arise in + democratic communities, whose unbounded aspirations cannot be contented by + following the beaten track. Such men like revolutions and hail their + approach; but they have great difficulty in bringing them about, unless + unwonted events come to their assistance. No man can struggle with + advantage against the spirit of his age and country; and, however powerful + he may be supposed to be, he will find it difficult to make his + contemporaries share in feelings and opinions which are repugnant to t all + their feelings and desires. + </p> + <p> + It is a mistake to believe that, when once the equality of conditions has + become the old and uncontested state of society, and has imparted its + characteristics to the manners of a nation, men will easily allow + themselves to be thrust into perilous risks by an imprudent leader or a + bold innovator. Not indeed that they will resist him openly, by + well-contrived schemes, or even by a premeditated plan of resistance. They + will not struggle energetically against him, sometimes they will even + applaud him—but they do not follow him. To his vehemence they + secretly oppose their inertia; to his revolutionary tendencies their + conservative interests; their homely tastes to his adventurous passions; + their good sense to the flights of his genius; to his poetry their prose. + With immense exertion he raises them for an instant, but they speedily + escape from him, and fall back, as it were, by their own weight. He + strains himself to rouse the indifferent and distracted multitude, and + finds at last that he is reduced to impotence, not because he is + conquered, but because he is alone. + </p> + <p> + I do not assert that men living in democratic communities are naturally + stationary; I think, on the contrary, that a perpetual stir prevails in + the bosom of those societies, and that rest is unknown there; but I think + that men bestir themselves within certain limits beyond which they hardly + ever go. They are forever varying, altering, and restoring secondary + matters; but they carefully abstain from touching what is fundamental. + They love change, but they dread revolutions. Although the Americans are + constantly modifying or abrogating some of their laws, they by no means + display revolutionary passions. It may be easily seen, from the + promptitude with which they check and calm themselves when public + excitement begins to grow alarming, and at the very moment when passions + seem most roused, that they dread a revolution as the worst of + misfortunes, and that every one of them is inwardly resolved to make great + sacrifices to avoid such a catastrophe. In no country in the world is the + love of property more active and more anxious than in the United States; + nowhere does the majority display less inclination for those principles + which threaten to alter, in whatever manner, the laws of property. I have + often remarked that theories which are of a revolutionary nature, since + they cannot be put in practice without a complete and sometimes a sudden + change in the state of property and persons, are much less favorably + viewed in the United States than in the great monarchical countries of + Europe: if some men profess them, the bulk of the people reject them with + instinctive abhorrence. I do not hesitate to say that most of the maxims + commonly called democratic in France would be proscribed by the democracy + of the United States. This may easily be understood: in America men have + the opinions and passions of democracy, in Europe we have still the + passions and opinions of revolution. If ever America undergoes great + revolutions, they will be brought about by the presence of the black race + on the soil of the United States—that is to say, they will owe their + origin, not to the equality, but to the inequality, of conditions. + </p> + <p> + When social conditions are equal, every man is apt to live apart, centred + in himself and forgetful of the public. If the rulers of democratic + nations were either to neglect to correct this fatal tendency, or to + encourage it from a notion that it weans men from political passions and + thus wards off revolutions, they might eventually produce the evil they + seek to avoid, and a time might come when the inordinate passions of a few + men, aided by the unintelligent selfishness or the pusillanimity of the + greater number, would ultimately compel society to pass through strange + vicissitudes. In democratic communities revolutions are seldom desired + except by a minority; but a minority may sometimes effect them. I do not + assert that democratic nations are secure from revolutions; I merely say + that the state of society in those nations does not lead to revolutions, + but rather wards them off. A democratic people left to itself will not + easily embark in great hazards; it is only led to revolutions unawares; it + may sometimes undergo them, but it does not make them; and I will add + that, when such a people has been allowed to acquire sufficient knowledge + and experience, it will not suffer them to be made. I am well aware that + it this respect public institutions may themselves do much; they may + encourage or repress the tendencies which originate in the state of + society. I therefore do not maintain, I repeat, that a people is secure + from revolutions simply because conditions are equal in the community; but + I think that, whatever the institutions of such a people may be, great + revolutions will always be far less violent and less frequent than is + supposed; and I can easily discern a state of polity, which, when combined + with the principle of equality, would render society more stationary than + it has ever been in our western apart of the world. + </p> + <p> + The observations I have here made on events may also be applied in part to + opinions. Two things are surprising in the United States—the + mutability of the greater part of human actions, and the singular + stability of certain principles. Men are in constant motion; the mind of + man appears almost unmoved. When once an opinion has spread over the + country and struck root there, it would seem that no power on earth is + strong enough to eradicate it. In the United States, general principles in + religion, philosophy, morality, and even politics, do not vary, or at + least are only modified by a hidden and often an imperceptible process: + even the grossest prejudices are obliterated with incredible slowness, + amidst the continual friction of men and things. I hear it said that it is + in the nature and the habits of democracies to be constantly changing + their opinions and feelings. This may be true of small democratic nations, + like those of the ancient world, in which the whole community could be + assembled in a public place and then excited at will by an orator. But I + saw nothing of the kind amongst the great democratic people which dwells + upon the opposite shores of the Atlantic Ocean. What struck me in the + United States was the difficulty in shaking the majority in an opinion + once conceived, or of drawing it off from a leader once adopted. Neither + speaking nor writing can accomplish it; nothing but experience will avail, + and even experience must be repeated. This is surprising at first sight, + but a more attentive investigation explains the fact. I do not think that + it is as easy as is supposed to uproot the prejudices of a democratic + people—to change its belief—to supersede principles once + established, by new principles in religion, politics, and morals—in + a word, to make great and frequent changes in men's minds. Not that the + human mind is there at rest—it is in constant agitation; but it is + engaged in infinitely varying the consequences of known principles, and in + seeking for new consequences, rather than in seeking for new principles. + Its motion is one of rapid circumvolution, rather than of straightforward + impulse by rapid and direct effort; it extends its orbit by small + continual and hasty movements, but it does not suddenly alter its + position. + </p> + <p> + Men who are equal in rights, in education, in fortune, or, to comprise all + in one word, in their social condition, have necessarily wants, habits, + and tastes which are hardly dissimilar. As they look at objects under the + same aspect, their minds naturally tend to analogous conclusions; and, + though each of them may deviate from his contemporaries and from opinions + of his own, they will involuntarily and unconsciously concur in a certain + number of received opinions. The more attentively I consider the effects + of equality upon the mind, the more am I persuaded that the intellectual + anarchy which we witness about us is not, as many men suppose, the natural + state of democratic nations. I think it is rather to be regarded as an + accident peculiar to their youth, and that it only breaks out at that + period of transition when men have already snapped the former ties which + bound them together, but are still amazingly different in origin, + education, and manners; so that, having retained opinions, propensities + and tastes of great diversity, nothing any longer prevents men from + avowing them openly. The leading opinions of men become similar in + proportion as their conditions assimilate; such appears to me to be the + general and permanent law—the rest is casual and transient. + </p> + <p> + I believe that it will rarely happen to any man amongst a democratic + community, suddenly to frame a system of notions very remote from that + which his contemporaries have adopted; and if some such innovator + appeared, I apprehend that he would have great difficulty in finding + listeners, still more in finding believers. When the conditions of men are + almost equal, they do not easily allow themselves to be persuaded by each + other. As they all live in close intercourse, as they have learned the + same things together, and as they lead the same life, they are not + naturally disposed to take one of themselves for a guide, and to follow + him implicitly. Men seldom take the opinion of their equal, or of a man + like themselves, upon trust. Not only is confidence in the superior + attainments of certain individuals weakened amongst democratic nations, as + I have elsewhere remarked, but the general notion of the intellectual + superiority which any man whatsoever may acquire in relation to the rest + of the community is soon overshadowed. As men grow more like each other, + the doctrine of the equality of the intellect gradually infuses itself + into their opinions; and it becomes more difficult for any innovator to + acquire or to exert much influence over the minds of a people. In such + communities sudden intellectual revolutions will therefore be rare; for, + if we read aright the history of the world, we shall find that great and + rapid changes in human opinions have been produced far less by the force + of reasoning than by the authority of a name. Observe, too, that as the + men who live in democratic societies are not connected with each other by + any tie, each of them must be convinced individually; whilst in + aristocratic society it is enough to convince a few—the rest follow. + If Luther had lived in an age of equality, and had not had princes and + potentates for his audience, he would perhaps have found it more difficult + to change the aspect of Europe. Not indeed that the men of democracies are + naturally strongly persuaded of the certainty of their opinions, or are + unwavering in belief; they frequently entertain doubts which no one, in + their eyes, can remove. It sometimes happens at such times that the human + mind would willingly change its position; but as nothing urges or guides + it forwards, it oscillates to and fro without progressive motion. *a + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ If I inquire what state of society is most favorable to the + great revolutions of the mind, I find that it occurs somewhere between the + complete equality of the whole community and the absolute separation of + ranks. Under a system of castes generations succeed each other without + altering men's positions; some have nothing more, others nothing better, + to hope for. The imagination slumbers amidst this universal silence and + stillness, and the very idea of change fades from the human mind. When + ranks have been abolished and social conditions are almost equalized, all + men are in ceaseless excitement, but each of them stands alone, + independent and weak. This latter state of things is excessively different + from the former one; yet it has one point of analogy—great + revolutions of the human mind seldom occur in it. But between these two + extremes of the history of nations is an intermediate period—a + period as glorious as it is agitated—when the conditions of men are + not sufficiently settled for the mind to be lulled in torpor, when they + are sufficiently unequal for men to exercise a vast power on the minds of + one another, and when some few may modify the convictions of all. It is at + such times that great reformers start up, and new opinions suddenly change + the face of the world.] + </p> + <p> + Even when the reliance of a democratic people has been won, it is still no + easy matter to gain their attention. It is extremely difficult to obtain a + hearing from men living in democracies, unless it be to speak to them of + themselves. They do not attend to the things said to them, because they + are always fully engrossed with the things they are doing. For indeed few + men are idle in democratic nations; life is passed in the midst of noise + and excitement, and men are so engaged in acting that little remains to + them for thinking. I would especially remark that they are not only + employed, but that they are passionately devoted to their employments. + They are always in action, and each of their actions absorbs their + faculties: the zeal which they display in business puts out the enthusiasm + they might otherwise entertain for idea. I think that it is extremely + difficult to excite the enthusiasm of a democratic people for any theory + which has not a palpable, direct, and immediate connection with the daily + occupations of life: therefore they will not easily forsake their old + opinions; for it is enthusiasm which flings the minds of men out of the + beaten track, and effects the great revolutions of the intellect as well + as the great revolutions of the political world. Thus democratic nations + have neither time nor taste to go in search of novel opinions. Even when + those they possess become doubtful, they still retain them, because it + would take too much time and inquiry to change them—they retain + them, not as certain, but as established. + </p> + <p> + There are yet other and more cogent reasons which prevent any great change + from being easily effected in the principles of a democratic people. I + have already adverted to them at the commencement of this part of my work. + If the influence of individuals is weak and hardly perceptible amongst + such a people, the power exercised by the mass upon the mind of each + individual is extremely great—I have already shown for what reasons. + I would now observe that it is wrong to suppose that this depends solely + upon the form of government, and that the majority would lose its + intellectual supremacy if it were to lose its political power. In + aristocracies men have often much greatness and strength of their own: + when they find themselves at variance with the greater number of their + fellow-countrymen, they withdraw to their own circle, where they support + and console themselves. Such is not the case in a democratic country; + there public favor seems as necessary as the air we breathe, and to live + at variance with the multitude is, as it were, not to live. The multitude + requires no laws to coerce those who think not like itself: public + disapprobation is enough; a sense of their loneliness and impotence + overtakes them and drives them to despair. + </p> + <p> + Whenever social conditions are equal, public opinion presses with enormous + weight upon the mind of each individual; it surrounds, directs, and + oppresses him; and this arises from the very constitution of society, much + more than from its political laws. As men grow more alike, each man feels + himself weaker in regard to all the rest; as he discerns nothing by which + he is considerably raised above them, or distinguished from them, he + mistrusts himself as soon as they assail him. Not only does he mistrust + his strength, but he even doubts of his right; and he is very near + acknowledging that he is in the wrong, when the greater number of his + countrymen assert that he is so. The majority do not need to constrain him—they + convince him. In whatever way then the powers of a democratic community + may be organized and balanced, it will always be extremely difficult to + believe what the bulk of the people reject, or to profess what they + condemn. + </p> + <p> + This circumstance is extraordinarily favorable to the stability of + opinions. When an opinion has taken root amongst a democratic people, and + established itself in the minds of the bulk of the community, it + afterwards subsists by itself and is maintained without effort, because no + one attacks it. Those who at first rejected it as false, ultimately + receive it as the general impression; and those who still dispute it in + their hearts, conceal their dissent; they are careful not to engage in a + dangerous and useless conflict. It is true, that when the majority of a + democratic people change their opinions, they may suddenly and arbitrarily + effect strange revolutions in men's minds; but their opinions do not + change without much difficulty, and it is almost as difficult to show that + they are changed. + </p> + <p> + Time, events, or the unaided individual action of the mind, will sometimes + undermine or destroy an opinion, without any outward sign of the change. + It has not been openly assailed, no conspiracy has been formed to make war + on it, but its followers one by one noiselessly secede—day by day a + few of them abandon it, until last it is only professed by a minority. In + this state it will still continue to prevail. As its enemies remain mute, + or only interchange their thoughts by stealth, they are themselves unaware + for a long period that a great revolution has actually been effected; and + in this state of uncertainly they take no steps—they observe each + other and are silent. The majority have ceased to believe what they + believed before; but they still affect to believe, and this empty phantom + of public opinion in strong enough to chill innovators, and to keep them + silent and at respectful distance. We live at a time which has witnessed + the most rapid changes of opinion in the minds of men; nevertheless it may + be that the leading opinions of society will ere long be more settled than + they have been for several centuries in our history: that time is not yet + come, but it may perhaps be approaching. As I examine more closely the + natural wants and tendencies of democratic nations, I grow persuaded that + if ever social equality is generally and permanently established in the + world, great intellectual and political revolutions will become more + difficult and less frequent than is supposed. Because the men of + democracies appear always excited, uncertain, eager, changeable in their + wills and in their positions, it is imagined that they are suddenly to + abrogate their laws, to adopt new opinions, and to assume new manners. But + if the principle of equality predisposes men to change, it also suggests + to them certain interests and tastes which cannot be satisfied without a + settled order of things; equality urges them on, but at the same time it + holds them back; it spurs them, but fastens them to earth;—it + kindles their desires, but limits their powers. This, however, is not + perceived at first; the passions which tend to sever the citizens of a + democracy are obvious enough; but the hidden force which restrains and + unites them is not discernible at a glance. + </p> + <p> + Amidst the ruins which surround me, shall I dare to say that revolutions + are not what I most fear coming generations? If men continue to shut + themselves more closely within the narrow circle of domestic interests and + to live upon that kind of excitement, it is to be apprehended that they + may ultimately become inaccessible to those great and powerful public + emotions which perturb nations—but which enlarge them and recruit + them. When property becomes so fluctuating, and the love of property so + restless and so ardent, I cannot but fear that men may arrive at such a + state as to regard every new theory as a peril, every innovation as an + irksome toil, every social improvement as a stepping-stone to revolution, + and so refuse to move altogether for fear of being moved too far. I dread, + and I confess it, lest they should at last so entirely give way to a + cowardly love of present enjoyment, as to lose sight of the interests of + their future selves and of those of their descendants; and to prefer to + glide along the easy current of life, rather than to make, when it is + necessary, a strong and sudden effort to a higher purpose. It is believed + by some that modern society will be ever changing its aspect; for myself, + I fear that it will ultimately be too invariably fixed in the same + institutions, the same prejudices, the same manners, so that mankind will + be stopped and circumscribed; that the mind will swing backwards and + forwards forever, without begetting fresh ideas; that man will waste his + strength in bootless and solitary trifling; and, though in continual + motion, that humanity will cease to advance. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0063" id="link2HCH0063"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XXII: Why Democratic Nations Are Naturally Desirous Of Peace, And + Democratic Armies Of War + </h2> + <p> + The same interests, the same fears, the same passions which deter + democratic nations from revolutions, deter them also from war; the spirit + of military glory and the spirit of revolution are weakened at the same + time and by the same causes. The ever-increasing numbers of men of + property—lovers of peace, the growth of personal wealth which war so + rapidly consumes, the mildness of manners, the gentleness of heart, those + tendencies to pity which are engendered by the equality of conditions, + that coolness of understanding which renders men comparatively insensible + to the violent and poetical excitement of arms—all these causes + concur to quench the military spirit. I think it may be admitted as a + general and constant rule, that, amongst civilized nations, the warlike + passions will become more rare and less intense in proportion as social + conditions shall be more equal. War is nevertheless an occurrence to which + all nations are subject, democratic nations as well as others. Whatever + taste they may have for peace, they must hold themselves in readiness to + repel aggression, or in other words they must have an army. + </p> + <p> + Fortune, which has conferred so many peculiar benefits upon the + inhabitants of the United States, has placed them in the midst of a + wilderness, where they have, so to speak, no neighbors: a few thousand + soldiers are sufficient for their wants; but this is peculiar to America, + not to democracy. The equality of conditions, and the manners as well as + the institutions resulting from it, do not exempt a democratic people from + the necessity of standing armies, and their armies always exercise a + powerful influence over their fate. It is therefore of singular importance + to inquire what are the natural propensities of the men of whom these + armies are composed. + </p> + <p> + Amongst aristocratic nations, especially amongst those in which birth is + the only source of rank, the same inequality exists in the army as in the + nation; the officer is noble, the soldier is a serf; the one is naturally + called upon to command, the other to obey. In aristocratic armies, the + private soldier's ambition is therefore circumscribed within very narrow + limits. Nor has the ambition of the officer an unlimited range. An + aristocratic body not only forms a part of the scale of ranks in the + nation, but it contains a scale of ranks within itself: the members of + whom it is composed are placed one above another, in a particular and + unvarying manner. Thus one man is born to the command of a regiment, + another to that of a company; when once they have reached the utmost + object of their hopes, they stop of their own accord, and remain contented + with their lot. There is, besides, a strong cause, which, in + aristocracies, weakens the officer's desire of promotion. Amongst + aristocratic nations, an officer, independently of his rank in the army, + also occupies an elevated rank in society; the former is almost always in + his eyes only an appendage to the latter. A nobleman who embraces the + profession of arms follows it less from motives of ambition than from a + sense of the duties imposed on him by his birth. He enters the army in + order to find an honorable employment for the idle years of his youth, and + to be able to bring back to his home and his peers some honorable + recollections of military life; but his principal object is not to obtain + by that profession either property, distinction, or power, for he + possesses these advantages in his own right, and enjoys them without + leaving his home. + </p> + <p> + In democratic armies all the soldiers may become officers, which makes the + desire of promotion general, and immeasurably extends the bounds of + military ambition. The officer, on his part, sees nothing which naturally + and necessarily stops him at one grade more than at another; and each + grade has immense importance in his eyes, because his rank in society + almost always depends on his rank in the army. Amongst democratic nations + it often happens that an officer has no property but his pay, and no + distinction but that of military honors: consequently as often as his + duties change, his fortune changes, and he becomes, as it were, a new man. + What was only an appendage to his position in aristocratic armies, has + thus become the main point, the basis of his whole condition. Under the + old French monarchy officers were always called by their titles of + nobility; they are now always called by the title of their military rank. + This little change in the forms of language suffices to show that a great + revolution has taken place in the constitution of society and in that of + the army. In democratic armies the desire of advancement is almost + universal: it is ardent, tenacious, perpetual; it is strengthened by all + other desires, and only extinguished with life itself. But it is easy to + see, that of all armies in the world, those in which advancement must be + slowest in time of peace are the armies of democratic countries. As the + number of commissions is naturally limited, whilst the number of + competitors is almost unlimited, and as the strict law of equality is over + all alike, none can make rapid progress—many can make no progress at + all. Thus the desire of advancement is greater, and the opportunities of + advancement fewer, there than elsewhere. All the ambitious spirits of a + democratic army are consequently ardently desirous of war, because war + makes vacancies, and warrants the violation of that law of seniority which + is the sole privilege natural to democracy. + </p> + <p> + We thus arrive at this singular consequence, that of all armies those most + ardently desirous of war are democratic armies, and of all nations those + most fond of peace are democratic nations: and, what makes these facts + still more extraordinary, is that these contrary effects are produced at + the same time by the principle of equality. + </p> + <p> + All the members of the community, being alike, constantly harbor the wish, + and discover the possibility, of changing their condition and improving + their welfare: this makes them fond of peace, which is favorable to + industry, and allows every man to pursue his own little undertakings to + their completion. On the other hand, this same equality makes soldiers + dream of fields of battle, by increasing the value of military honors in + the eyes of those who follow the profession of arms, and by rendering + those honors accessible to all. In either case the inquietude of the heart + is the same, the taste for enjoyment as insatiable, the ambition of + success as great—the means of gratifying it are alone different. + </p> + <p> + These opposite tendencies of the nation and the army expose democratic + communities to great dangers. When a military spirit forsakes a people, + the profession of arms immediately ceases to be held in honor, and + military men fall to the lowest rank of the public servants: they are + little esteemed, and no longer understood. The reverse of what takes place + in aristocratic ages then occurs; the men who enter the army are no longer + those of the highest, but of the lowest rank. Military ambition is only + indulged in when no other is possible. Hence arises a circle of cause and + consequence from which it is difficult to escape: the best part of the + nation shuns the military profession because that profession is not + honored, and the profession is not honored because the best part of the + nation has ceased to follow it. It is then no matter of surprise that + democratic armies are often restless, ill-tempered, and dissatisfied with + their lot, although their physical condition is commonly far better, and + their discipline less strict than in other countries. The soldier feels + that he occupies an inferior position, and his wounded pride either + stimulates his taste for hostilities which would render his services + necessary, or gives him a turn for revolutions, during which he may hope + to win by force of arms the political influence and personal importance + now denied him. The composition of democratic armies makes this + last-mentioned danger much to be feared. In democratic communities almost + every man has some property to preserve; but democratic armies are + generally led by men without property, most of whom have little to lose in + civil broils. The bulk of the nation is naturally much more afraid of + revolutions than in the ages of aristocracy, but the leaders of the army + much less so. + </p> + <p> + Moreover, as amongst democratic nations (to repeat what I have just + remarked) the wealthiest, the best educated, and the most able men seldom + adopt the military profession, the army, taken collectively, eventually + forms a small nation by itself, where the mind is less enlarged, and + habits are more rude than in the nation at large. Now, this small + uncivilized nation has arms in its possession, and alone knows how to use + them: for, indeed, the pacific temper of the community increases the + danger to which a democratic people is exposed from the military and + turbulent spirit of the army. Nothing is so dangerous as an army amidst an + unwarlike nation; the excessive love of the whole community for quiet + continually puts its constitution at the mercy of the soldiery. It may + therefore be asserted, generally speaking, that if democratic nations are + naturally prone to peace from their interests and their propensities, they + are constantly drawn to war and revolutions by their armies. Military + revolutions, which are scarcely ever to be apprehended in aristocracies, + are always to be dreaded amongst democratic nations. These perils must be + reckoned amongst the most formidable which beset their future fate, and + the attention of statesmen should be sedulously applied to find a remedy + for the evil. + </p> + <p> + When a nation perceives that it is inwardly affected by the restless + ambition of its army, the first thought which occurs is to give this + inconvenient ambition an object by going to war. I speak no ill of war: + war almost always enlarges the mind of a people, and raises their + character. In some cases it is the only check to the excessive growth of + certain propensities which naturally spring out of the equality of + conditions, and it must be considered as a necessary corrective to certain + inveterate diseases to which democratic communities are liable. War has + great advantages, but we must not flatter ourselves that it can diminish + the danger I have just pointed out. That peril is only suspended by it, to + return more fiercely when the war is over; for armies are much more + impatient of peace after having tasted military exploits. War could only + be a remedy for a people which should always be athirst for military + glory. I foresee that all the military rulers who may rise up in great + democratic nations, will find it easier to conquer with their armies, than + to make their armies live at peace after conquest. There are two things + which a democratic people will always find very difficult—to begin a + war, and to end it. + </p> + <p> + Again, if war has some peculiar advantages for democratic nations, on the + other hand it exposes them to certain dangers which aristocracies have no + cause to dread to an equal extent. I shall only point out two of these. + Although war gratifies the army, it embarrasses and often exasperates that + countless multitude of men whose minor passions every day require peace in + order to be satisfied. Thus there is some risk of its causing, under + another form, the disturbance it is intended to prevent. No protracted war + can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country. Not indeed that + after every victory it is to be apprehended that the victorious generals + will possess themselves by force of the supreme power, after the manner of + Sylla and Caesar: the danger is of another kind. War does not always give + over democratic communities to military government, but it must invariably + and immeasurably increase the powers of civil government; it must almost + compulsorily concentrate the direction of all men and the management of + all things in the hands of the administration. If it lead not to despotism + by sudden violence, it prepares men for it more gently by their habits. + All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought + to know that war is the surest and the shortest means to accomplish it. + This is the first axiom of the science. + </p> + <p> + One remedy, which appears to be obvious when the ambition of soldiers and + officers becomes the subject of alarm, is to augment the number of + commissions to be distributed by increasing the army. This affords + temporary relief, but it plunges the country into deeper difficulties at + some future period. To increase the army may produce a lasting effect in + an aristocratic community, because military ambition is there confined to + one class of men, and the ambition of each individual stops, as it were, + at a certain limit; so that it may be possible to satisfy all who feel its + influence. But nothing is gained by increasing the army amongst a + democratic people, because the number of aspirants always rises in exactly + the same ratio as the army itself. Those whose claims have been satisfied + by the creation of new commissions are instantly succeeded by a fresh + multitude beyond all power of satisfaction; and even those who were but + now satisfied soon begin to crave more advancement; for the same + excitement prevails in the ranks of the army as in the civil classes of + democratic society, and what men want is not to reach a certain grade, but + to have constant promotion. Though these wants may not be very vast, they + are perpetually recurring. Thus a democratic nation, by augmenting its + army, only allays for a time the ambition of the military profession, + which soon becomes even more formidable, because the number of those who + feel it is increased. I am of opinion that a restless and turbulent spirit + is an evil inherent in the very constitution of democratic armies, and + beyond hope of cure. The legislators of democracies must not expect to + devise any military organization capable by its influence of calming and + restraining the military profession: their efforts would exhaust their + powers, before the object is attained. + </p> + <p> + The remedy for the vices of the army is not to be found in the army + itself, but in the country. Democratic nations are naturally afraid of + disturbance and of despotism; the object is to turn these natural + instincts into well-digested, deliberate, and lasting tastes. When men + have at last learned to make a peaceful and profitable use of freedom, and + have felt its blessings—when they have conceived a manly love of + order, and have freely submitted themselves to discipline—these same + men, if they follow the profession of arms, bring into it, unconsciously + and almost against their will, these same habits and manners. The general + spirit of the nation being infused into the spirit peculiar to the army, + tempers the opinions and desires engendered by military life, or represses + them by the mighty force of public opinion. Teach but the citizens to be + educated, orderly, firm, and free, the soldiers will be disciplined and + obedient. Any law which, in repressing the turbulent spirit of the army, + should tend to diminish the spirit of freedom in the nation, and to + overshadow the notion of law and right, would defeat its object: it would + do much more to favor, than to defeat, the establishment of military + tyranny. + </p> + <p> + After all, and in spite of all precautions, a large army amidst a + democratic people will always be a source of great danger; the most + effectual means of diminishing that danger would be to reduce the army, + but this is a remedy which all nations have it not in their power to use. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0064" id="link2HCH0064"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XXIII: Which Is The Most Warlike And Most Revolutionary Class In + Democratic Armies? + </h2> + <p> + It is a part of the essence of a democratic army to be very numerous in + proportion to the people to which it belongs, as I shall hereafter show. + On the other hand, men living in democratic times seldom choose a military + life. Democratic nations are therefore soon led to give up the system of + voluntary recruiting for that of compulsory enlistment. The necessity of + their social condition compels them to resort to the latter means, and it + may easily be foreseen that they will all eventually adopt it. When + military service is compulsory, the burden is indiscriminately and equally + borne by the whole community. This is another necessary consequence of the + social condition of these nations, and of their notions. The government + may do almost whatever it pleases, provided it appeals to the whole + community at once: it is the unequal distribution of the weight, not the + weight itself, which commonly occasions resistance. But as military + service is common to all the citizens, the evident consequence is that + each of them remains but for a few years on active duty. Thus it is in the + nature of things that the soldier in democracies only passes through the + army, whilst among most aristocratic nations the military profession is + one which the soldier adopts, or which is imposed upon him, for life. + </p> + <p> + This has important consequences. Amongst the soldiers of a democratic + army, some acquire a taste for military life, but the majority, being + enlisted against their will, and ever ready to go back to their homes, do + not consider themselves as seriously engaged in the military profession, + and are always thinking of quitting it. Such men do not contract the + wants, and only half partake in the passions, which that mode of life + engenders. They adapt themselves to their military duties, but their minds + are still attached to the interests and the duties which engaged them in + civil life. They do not therefore imbibe the spirit of the army—or + rather, they infuse the spirit of the community at large into the army, + and retain it there. Amongst democratic nations the private soldiers + remain most like civilians: upon them the habits of the nation have the + firmest hold, and public opinion most influence. It is by the + instrumentality of the private soldiers especially that it may be possible + to infuse into a democratic army the love of freedom and the respect of + rights, if these principles have once been successfully inculcated on the + people at large. The reverse happens amongst aristocratic nations, where + the soldiery have eventually nothing in common with their fellow-citizens, + and where they live amongst them as strangers, and often as enemies. In + aristocratic armies the officers are the conservative element, because the + officers alone have retained a strict connection with civil society, and + never forego their purpose of resuming their place in it sooner or later: + in democratic armies the private soldiers stand in this position, and from + the same cause. + </p> + <p> + It often happens, on the contrary, that in these same democratic armies + the officers contract tastes and wants wholly distinct from those of the + nation—a fact which may be thus accounted for. Amongst democratic + nations, the man who becomes an officer severs all the ties which bound + him to civil life; he leaves it forever; he has no interest to resume it. + His true country is the army, since he owes all he has to the rank he has + attained in it; he therefore follows the fortunes of the army, rises or + sinks with it, and henceforward directs all his hopes to that quarter + only. As the wants of an officer are distinct from those of the country, + he may perhaps ardently desire war, or labor to bring about a revolution + at the very moment when the nation is most desirous of stability and + peace. There are, nevertheless, some causes which allay this restless and + warlike spirit. Though ambition is universal and continual amongst + democratic nations, we have seen that it is seldom great. A man who, being + born in the lower classes of the community, has risen from the ranks to be + an officer, has already taken a prodigious step. He has gained a footing + in a sphere above that which he filled in civil life, and he has acquired + rights which most democratic nations will ever consider as inalienable. *a + He is willing to pause after so great an effort, and to enjoy what he has + won. The fear of risking what he has already obtained damps the desire of + acquiring what he has not got. Having conquered the first and greatest + impediment which opposed his advancement, he resigns himself with less + impatience to the slowness of his progress. His ambition will be more and + more cooled in proportion as the increasing distinction of his rank + teaches him that he has more to put in jeopardy. If I am not mistaken, the + least warlike, and also the least revolutionary part, of a democratic + army, will always be its chief commanders. [Footnote a: The position of + officers is indeed much more secure amongst democratic nations than + elsewhere; the lower the personal standing of the man, the greater is the + comparative importance of his military grade, and the more just and + necessary is it that the enjoyment of that rank should be secured by the + laws.] + </p> + <p> + But the remarks I have just made on officers and soldiers are not + applicable to a numerous class which in all armies fills the intermediate + space between them—I mean the class of non-commissioned officers. + This class of non-commissioned officers which have never acted a part in + history until the present century, is henceforward destined, I think, to + play one of some importance. Like the officers, non-commissioned officers + have broken, in their minds, all the ties which bound them to civil life; + like the former, they devote themselves permanently to the service, and + perhaps make it even more exclusively the object of all their desires: but + non-commissioned officers are men who have not yet reached a firm and + lofty post at which they may pause and breathe more freely, ere they can + attain further promotion. By the very nature of his duties, which is + invariable, a non-commissioned officer is doomed to lead an obscure, + confined, comfortless, and precarious existence; as yet he sees nothing of + military life but its dangers; he knows nothing but its privations and its + discipline—more difficult to support than dangers: he suffers the + more from his present miseries, from knowing that the constitution of + society and of the army allow him to rise above them; he may, indeed, at + any time obtain his commission, and enter at once upon command, honors, + independence, rights, and enjoyments. Not only does this object of his + hopes appear to him of immense importance, but he is never sure of + reaching it till it is actually his own; the grade he fills is by no means + irrevocable; he is always entirely abandoned to the arbitrary pleasure of + his commanding officer, for this is imperiously required by the necessity + of discipline: a slight fault, a whim, may always deprive him in an + instant of the fruits of many years of toil and endeavor; until he has + reached the grade to which he aspires he has accomplished nothing; not + till he reaches that grade does his career seem to begin. A desperate + ambition cannot fail to be kindled in a man thus incessantly goaded on by + his youth, his wants, his passions, the spirit of his age, his hopes, and + his age, his hopes, and his fears. Non-commissioned officers are therefore + bent on war—on war always, and at any cost; but if war be denied + them, then they desire revolutions to suspend the authority of established + regulations, and to enable them, aided by the general confusion and the + political passions of the time, to get rid of their superior officers and + to take their places. Nor is it impossible for them to bring about such a + crisis, because their common origin and habits give them much influence + over the soldiers, however different may be their passions and their + desires. + </p> + <p> + It would be an error to suppose that these various characteristics of + officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, belong to any particular + time or country; they will always occur at all times, and amongst all + democratic nations. In every democratic army the non-commissioned officers + will be the worst representatives of the pacific and orderly spirit of the + country, and the private soldiers will be the best. The latter will carry + with them into military life the strength or weakness of the manners of + the nation; they will display a faithful reflection of the community: if + that community is ignorant and weak, they will allow themselves to be + drawn by their leaders into disturbances, either unconsciously or against + their will; if it is enlightened and energetic, the community will itself + keep them within the bounds of order. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0065" id="link2HCH0065"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XXIV: Causes Which Render Democratic Armies Weaker Than Other + Armies At The Outset Of A Campaign, And More Formidable In Protracted + Warfare + </h2> + <p> + Any army is in danger of being conquered at the outset of a campaign, + after a long peace; any army which has long been engaged in warfare has + strong chances of victory: this truth is peculiarly applicable to + democratic armies. In aristocracies the military profession, being a + privileged career, is held in honor even in time of peace. Men of great + talents, great attainments, and great ambition embrace it; the army is in + all respects on a level with the nation, and frequently above it. We have + seen, on the contrary, that amongst a democratic people the choicer minds + of the nation are gradually drawn away from the military profession, to + seek by other paths, distinction, power, and especially wealth. After a + long peace—and in democratic ages the periods of peace are long—the + army is always inferior to the country itself. In this state it is called + into active service; and until war has altered it, there is danger for the + country as well as for the army. + </p> + <p> + I have shown that in democratic armies, and in time of peace, the rule of + seniority is the supreme and inflexible law of advancement. This is not + only a consequence, as I have before observed, of the constitution of + these armies, but of the constitution of the people, and it will always + occur. Again, as amongst these nations the officer derives his position in + the country solely from his position in the army, and as he draws all the + distinction and the competency he enjoys from the same source, he does not + retire from his profession, or is not super-annuated, till towards the + extreme close of life. The consequence of these two causes is, that when a + democratic people goes to war after a long interval of peace all the + leading officers of the army are old men. I speak not only of the + generals, but of the non-commissioned officers, who have most of them been + stationary, or have only advanced step by step. It may be remarked with + surprise, that in a democratic army after a long peace all the soldiers + are mere boys, and all the superior officers in declining years; so that + the former are wanting in experience, the latter in vigor. This is a + strong element of defeat, for the first condition of successful + generalship is youth: I should not have ventured to say so if the greatest + captain of modern times had not made the observation. These two causes do + not act in the same manner upon aristocratic armies: as men are promoted + in them by right of birth much more than by right of seniority, there are + in all ranks a certain number of young men, who bring to their profession + all the early vigor of body and mind. Again, as the men who seek for + military honors amongst an aristocratic people, enjoy a settled position + in civil society, they seldom continue in the army until old age overtakes + them. After having devoted the most vigorous years of youth to the career + of arms, they voluntarily retire, and spend at home the remainder of their + maturer years. + </p> + <p> + A long peace not only fills democratic armies with elderly officers, but + it also gives to all the officers habits both of body and mind which + render them unfit for actual service. The man who has long lived amidst + the calm and lukewarm atmosphere of democratic manners can at first ill + adapt himself to the harder toils and sterner duties of warfare; and if he + has not absolutely lost the taste for arms, at least he has assumed a mode + of life which unfits him for conquest. + </p> + <p> + Amongst aristocratic nations, the ease of civil life exercises less + influence on the manners of the army, because amongst those nations the + aristocracy commands the army: and an aristocracy, however plunged in + luxurious pleasures, has always many other passions besides that of its + own well-being, and to satisfy those passions more thoroughly its + well-being will be readily sacrificed. *a + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ See Appendix V.] + </p> + <p> + I have shown that in democratic armies, in time of peace, promotion is + extremely slow. The officers at first support this state of things with + impatience, they grow excited, restless, exasperated, but in the end most + of them make up their minds to it. Those who have the largest share of + ambition and of resources quit the army; others, adapting their tastes and + their desires to their scanty fortunes, ultimately look upon the military + profession in a civil point of view. The quality they value most in it is + the competency and security which attend it: their whole notion of the + future rests upon the certainty of this little provision, and all they + require is peaceably to enjoy it. Thus not only does a long peace fill an + army with old men, but it is frequently imparts the views of old men to + those who are still in the prime of life. + </p> + <p> + I have also shown that amongst democratic nations in time of peace the + military profession is held in little honor and indifferently followed. + This want of public favor is a heavy discouragement to the army; it weighs + down the minds of the troops, and when war breaks out at last, they cannot + immediately resume their spring and vigor. No similar cause of moral + weakness occurs in aristocratic armies: there the officers are never + lowered either in their own eyes or in those of their countrymen, because, + independently of their military greatness, they are personally great. But + even if the influence of peace operated on the two kinds of armies in the + same manner, the results would still be different. When the officers of an + aristocratic army have lost their warlike spirit and the desire of raising + themselves by service, they still retain a certain respect for the honor + of their class, and an old habit of being foremost to set an example. But + when the officers of a democratic army have no longer the love of war and + the ambition of arms, nothing whatever remains to them. + </p> + <p> + I am therefore of opinion that, when a democratic people engages in a war + after a long peace, it incurs much more risk of defeat than any other + nation; but it ought not easily to be cast down by its reverses, for the + chances of success for such an army are increased by the duration of the + war. When a war has at length, by its long continuance, roused the whole + community from their peaceful occupations and ruined their minor + undertakings, the same passions which made them attach so much importance + to the maintenance of peace will be turned to arms. War, after it has + destroyed all modes of speculation, becomes itself the great and sole + speculation, to which all the ardent and ambitious desires which equality + engenders are exclusively directed. Hence it is that the selfsame + democratic nations which are so reluctant to engage in hostilities, + sometimes perform prodigious achievements when once they have taken the + field. As the war attracts more and more of public attention, and is seen + to create high reputations and great fortunes in a short space of time, + the choicest spirits of the nation enter the military profession: all the + enterprising, proud, and martial minds, no longer of the aristocracy + solely, but of the whole country, are drawn in this direction. As the + number of competitors for military honors is immense, and war drives every + man to his proper level, great generals are always sure to spring up. A + long war produces upon a democratic army the same effects that a + revolution produces upon a people; it breaks through regulations, and + allows extraordinary men to rise above the common level. Those officers + whose bodies and minds have grown old in peace, are removed, or + superannuated, or they die. In their stead a host of young men are + pressing on, whose frames are already hardened, whose desires are extended + and inflamed by active service. They are bent on advancement at all + hazards, and perpetual advancement; they are followed by others with the + same passions and desires, and after these are others yet unlimited by + aught but the size of the army. The principle of equality opens the door + of ambition to all, and death provides chances for ambition. Death is + constantly thinning the ranks, making vacancies, closing and opening the + career of arms. + </p> + <p> + There is moreover a secret connection between the military character and + the character of democracies, which war brings to light. The men of + democracies are naturally passionately eager to acquire what they covet, + and to enjoy it on easy conditions. They for the most part worship chance, + and are much less afraid of death than of difficulty. This is the spirit + which they bring to commerce and manufactures; and this same spirit, + carried with them to the field of battle, induces them willingly to expose + their lives in order to secure in a moment the rewards of victory. No kind + of greatness is more pleasing to the imagination of a democratic people + than military greatness—a greatness of vivid and sudden lustre, + obtained without toil, by nothing but the risk of life. Thus, whilst the + interests and the tastes of the members of a democratic community divert + them from war, their habits of mind fit them for carrying on war well; + they soon make good soldiers, when they are roused from their business and + their enjoyments. If peace is peculiarly hurtful to democratic armies, war + secures to them advantages which no other armies ever possess; and these + advantages, however little felt at first, cannot fail in the end to give + them the victory. An aristocratic nation, which in a contest with a + democratic people does not succeed in ruining the latter at the outset of + the war, always runs a great risk of being conquered by it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0066" id="link2HCH0066"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XXV: Of Discipline In Democratic Armies + </h2> + <p> + It is a very general opinion, especially in aristocratic countries, that + the great social equality which prevails in democracies ultimately renders + the private soldier independent of the officer, and thus destroys the bond + of discipline. This is a mistake, for there are two kinds of discipline, + which it is important not to confound. When the officer is noble and the + soldier a serf—one rich, the other poor—the former educated + and strong, the latter ignorant and weak—the strictest bond of + obedience may easily be established between the two men. The soldier is + broken in to military discipline, as it were, before he enters the army; + or rather, military discipline is nothing but an enhancement of social + servitude. In aristocratic armies the soldier will soon become insensible + to everything but the orders of his superior officers; he acts without + reflection, triumphs without enthusiasm, and dies without complaint: in + this state he is no longer a man, but he is still a most formidable animal + trained for war. + </p> + <p> + A democratic people must despair of ever obtaining from soldiers that + blind, minute, submissive, and invariable obedience which an aristocratic + people may impose on them without difficulty. The state of society does + not prepare them for it, and the nation might be in danger of losing its + natural advantages if it sought artificially to acquire advantages of this + particular kind. Amongst democratic communities, military discipline ought + not to attempt to annihilate the free spring of the faculties; all that + can be done by discipline is to direct it; the obedience thus inculcated + is less exact, but it is more eager and more intelligent. It has its root + in the will of him who obeys: it rests not only on his instinct, but on + his reason; and consequently it will often spontaneously become more + strict as danger requires it. The discipline of an aristocratic army is + apt to be relaxed in war, because that discipline is founded upon habits, + and war disturbs those habits. The discipline of a democratic army on the + contrary is strengthened in sight of the enemy, because every soldier then + clearly perceives that he must be silent and obedient in order to conquer. + </p> + <p> + The nations which have performed the greatest warlike achievements knew no + other discipline than that which I speak of. Amongst the ancients none + were admitted into the armies but freemen and citizens, who differed but + little from one another, and were accustomed to treat each other as + equals. In this respect it may be said that the armies of antiquity were + democratic, although they came out of the bosom of aristocracy; the + consequence was that in those armies a sort of fraternal familiarity + prevailed between the officers and the men. Plutarch's lives of great + commanders furnish convincing instances of the fact: the soldiers were in + the constant habit of freely addressing their general, and the general + listened to and answered whatever the soldiers had to say: they were kept + in order by language and by example, far more than by constraint or + punishment; the general was as much their companion as their chief. I know + not whether the soldiers of Greece and Rome ever carried the minutiae of + military discipline to the same degree of perfection as the Russians have + done; but this did not prevent Alexander from conquering Asia—and + Rome, the world. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0067" id="link2HCH0067"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XXVI: Some Considerations On War In Democratic Communities + </h2> + <p> + When the principle of equality is in growth, not only amongst a single + nation, but amongst several neighboring nations at the same time, as is + now the case in Europe, the inhabitants of these different countries, + notwithstanding the dissimilarity of language, of customs, and of laws, + nevertheless resemble each other in their equal dread of war and their + common love of peace. *a It is in vain that ambition or anger puts arms in + the hands of princes; they are appeased in spite of themselves by a + species of general apathy and goodwill, which makes the sword drop from + their grasp, and wars become more rare. As the spread of equality, taking + place in several countries at once, simultaneously impels their various + inhabitants to follow manufactures and commerce, not only do their tastes + grow alike, but their interests are so mixed and entangled with one + another that no nation can inflict evils on other nations without those + evils falling back upon itself; and all nations ultimately regard war as a + calamity, almost as severe to the conqueror as to the conquered. Thus, on + the one hand, it is extremely difficult in democratic ages to draw nations + into hostilities; but on the other hand, it is almost impossible that any + two of them should go to war without embroiling the rest. The interests of + all are so interlaced, their opinions and their wants so much alike, that + none can remain quiet when the others stir. Wars therefore become more + rare, but when they break out they spread over a larger field. Neighboring + democratic nations not only become alike in some respects, but they + eventually grow to resemble each other in almost all. *b This similitude + of nations has consequences of great importance in relation to war. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that the dread of war + displayed by the nations of Europe is not solely attributable to the + progress made by the principle of equality amongst them; independently of + this permanent cause several other accidental causes of great weight might + be pointed out, and I may mention before all the rest the extreme + lassitude which the wars of the Revolution and the Empire have left behind + them.] + </p> + <p class="foot"> + b <br /> [ This is not only because these nations have the same social + condition, but it arises from the very nature of that social condition + which leads men to imitate and identify themselves with each other. When + the members of a community are divided into castes and classes, they not + only differ from one another, but they have no taste and no desire to be + alike; on the contrary, everyone endeavors, more and more, to keep his own + opinions undisturbed, to retain his own peculiar habits, and to remain + himself. The characteristics of individuals are very strongly marked. When + the state of society amongst a people is democratic—that is to say, + when there are no longer any castes or classes in the community, and all + its members are nearly equal in education and in property—the human + mind follows the opposite direction. Men are much alike, and they are + annoyed, as it were, by any deviation from that likeness: far from seeking + to preserve their own distinguishing singularities, they endeavor to shake + them off, in order to identify themselves with the general mass of the + people, which is the sole representative of right and of might to their + eyes. The characteristics of individuals are nearly obliterated. In the + ages of aristocracy even those who are naturally alike strive to create + imaginary differences between themselves: in the ages of democracy even + those who are not alike seek only to become so, and to copy each other—so + strongly is the mind of every man always carried away by the general + impulse of mankind. Something of the same kind may be observed between + nations: two nations having the same aristocratic social condition, might + remain thoroughly distinct and extremely different, because the spirit of + aristocracy is to retain strong individual characteristics; but if two + neighboring nations have the same democratic social condition, they cannot + fail to adopt similar opinions and manners, because the spirit of + democracy tends to assimilate men to each other.] + </p> + <p> + If I inquire why it is that the Helvetic Confederacy made the greatest and + most powerful nations of Europe tremble in the fifteenth century, whilst + at the present day the power of that country is exactly proportioned to + its population, I perceive that the Swiss are become like all the + surrounding communities, and those surrounding communities like the Swiss: + so that as numerical strength now forms the only difference between them, + victory necessarily attends the largest army. Thus one of the consequences + of the democratic revolution which is going on in Europe is to make + numerical strength preponderate on all fields of battle, and to constrain + all small nations to incorporate themselves with large States, or at least + to adopt the policy of the latter. As numbers are the determining cause of + victory, each people ought of course to strive by all the means in its + power to bring the greatest possible number of men into the field. When it + was possible to enlist a kind of troops superior to all others, such as + the Swiss infantry or the French horse of the sixteenth century, it was + not thought necessary to raise very large armies; but the case is altered + when one soldier is as efficient as another. + </p> + <p> + The same cause which begets this new want also supplies means of + satisfying it; for, as I have already observed, when men are all alike, + they are all weak, and the supreme power of the State is naturally much + stronger amongst democratic nations than elsewhere. Hence, whilst these + nations are desirous of enrolling the whole male population in the ranks + of the army, they have the power of effecting this object: the consequence + is, that in democratic ages armies seem to grow larger in proportion as + the love of war declines. In the same ages, too, the manner of carrying on + war is likewise altered by the same causes. Machiavelli observes in "The + Prince," "that it is much more difficult to subdue a people which has a + prince and his barons for its leaders, than a nation which is commanded by + a prince and his slaves." To avoid offence, let us read public + functionaries for slaves, and this important truth will be strictly + applicable to our own time. + </p> + <p> + A great aristocratic people cannot either conquer its neighbors, or be + conquered by them, without great difficulty. It cannot conquer them, + because all its forces can never be collected and held together for a + considerable period: it cannot be conquered, because an enemy meets at + every step small centres of resistance by which invasion is arrested. War + against an aristocracy may be compared to war in a mountainous country; + the defeated party has constant opportunities of rallying its forces to + make a stand in a new position. Exactly the reverse occurs amongst + democratic nations: they easily bring their whole disposable force into + the field, and when the nation is wealthy and populous it soon becomes + victorious; but if ever it is conquered, and its territory invaded, it has + few resources at command; and if the enemy takes the capital, the nation + is lost. This may very well be explained: as each member of the community + is individually isolated and extremely powerless, no one of the whole body + can either defend himself or present a rallying point to others. Nothing + is strong in a democratic country except the State; as the military + strength of the State is destroyed by the destruction of the army, and its + civil power paralyzed by the capture of the chief city, all that remains + is only a multitude without strength or government, unable to resist the + organized power by which it is assailed. I am aware that this danger may + be lessened by the creation of provincial liberties, and consequently of + provincial powers, but this remedy will always be insufficient. For after + such a catastrophe, not only is the population unable to carry on + hostilities, but it may be apprehended that they will not be inclined to + attempt it. In accordance with the law of nations adopted in civilized + countries, the object of wars is not to seize the property of private + individuals, but simply to get possession of political power. The + destruction of private property is only occasionally resorted to for the + purpose of attaining the latter object. When an aristocratic country is + invaded after the defeat of its army, the nobles, although they are at the + same time the wealthiest members of the community, will continue to defend + themselves individually rather than submit; for if the conqueror remained + master of the country, he would deprive them of their political power, to + which they cling even more closely than to their property. They therefore + prefer fighting to subjection, which is to them the greatest of all + misfortunes; and they readily carry the people along with them because the + people has long been used to follow and obey them, and besides has but + little to risk in the war. Amongst a nation in which equality of + conditions prevails, each citizen, on the contrary, has but slender share + of political power, and often has no share at all; on the other hand, all + are independent, and all have something to lose; so that they are much + less afraid of being conquered, and much more afraid of war, than an + aristocratic people. It will always be extremely difficult to decide a + democratic population to take up arms, when hostilities have reached its + own territory. Hence the necessity of giving to such a people the rights + and the political character which may impart to every citizen some of + those interests that cause the nobles to act for the public welfare in + aristocratic countries. + </p> + <p> + It should never be forgotten by the princes and other leaders of + democratic nations, that nothing but the passion and the habit of freedom + can maintain an advantageous contest with the passion and the habit of + physical well-being. I can conceive nothing better prepared for + subjection, in case of defeat, than a democratic people without free + institutions. + </p> + <p> + Formerly it was customary to take the field with a small body of troops, + to fight in small engagements, and to make long, regular sieges: modern + tactics consist in fighting decisive battles, and, as soon as a line of + march is open before the army, in rushing upon the capital city, in order + to terminate the war at a single blow. Napoleon, it is said, was the + inventor of this new system; but the invention of such a system did not + depend on any individual man, whoever he might be. The mode in which + Napoleon carried on war was suggested to him by the state of society in + his time; that mode was successful, because it was eminently adapted to + that state of society, and because he was the first to employ it. Napoleon + was the first commander who marched at the head of an army from capital to + capital, but the road was opened for him by the ruin of feudal society. It + may fairly be believed that, if that extraordinary man had been born three + hundred years ago, he would not have derived the same results from his + method of warfare, or, rather, that he would have had a different method. + </p> + <p> + I shall add but a few words on civil wars, for fear of exhausting the + patience of the reader. Most of the remarks which I have made respecting + foreign wars are applicable a fortiori to civil wars. Men living in + democracies are not naturally prone to the military character; they + sometimes assume it, when they have been dragged by compulsion to the + field; but to rise in a body and voluntarily to expose themselves to the + horrors of war, and especially of civil war, is a course which the men of + democracies are not apt to adopt. None but the most adventurous members of + the community consent to run into such risks; the bulk of the population + remains motionless. But even if the population were inclined to act, + considerable obstacles would stand in their way; for they can resort to no + old and well-established influence which they are willing to obey—no + well-known leaders to rally the discontented, as well as to discipline and + to lead them—no political powers subordinate to the supreme power of + the nation, which afford an effectual support to the resistance directed + against the government. In democratic countries the moral power of the + majority is immense, and the physical resources which it has at its + command are out of all proportion to the physical resources which may be + combined against it. Therefore the party which occupies the seat of the + majority, which speaks in its name and wields its power, triumphs + instantaneously and irresistibly over all private resistance; it does not + even give such opposition time to exist, but nips it in the bud. Those who + in such nations seek to effect a revolution by force of arms have no other + resource than suddenly to seize upon the whole engine of government as it + stands, which can better be done by a single blow than by a war; for as + soon as there is a regular war, the party which represents the State is + always certain to conquer. The only case in which a civil war could arise + is, if the army should divide itself into two factions, the one raising + the standard of rebellion, the other remaining true to its allegiance. An + army constitutes a small community, very closely united together, endowed + with great powers of vitality, and able to supply its own wants for some + time. Such a war might be bloody, but it could not be long; for either the + rebellious army would gain over the government by the sole display of its + resources, or by its first victory, and then the war would be over; or the + struggle would take place, and then that portion of the army which should + not be supported by the organized powers of the State would speedily + either disband itself or be destroyed. It may therefore be admitted as a + general truth, that in ages of equality civil wars will become much less + frequent and less protracted. *c + </p> + <p class="foot"> + c <br /> [ It should be borne in mind that I speak here of sovereign and + independent democratic nations, not of confederate democracies; in + confederacies, as the preponderating power always resides, in spite of all + political fictions, in the state governments, and not in the federal + government, civil wars are in fact nothing but foreign wars in disguise.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0073" id="link2H_4_0073"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Book Four: Influence Of Democratic Opinions On Political Society + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0068" id="link2HCH0068"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter I: That Equality Naturally Gives Men A Taste For Free Institutions + </h2> + <p> + I should imperfectly fulfil the purpose of this book, if, after having + shown what opinions and sentiments are suggested by the principle of + equality, I did not point out, ere I conclude, the general influence which + these same opinions and sentiments may exercise upon the government of + human societies. To succeed in this object I shall frequently have to + retrace my steps; but I trust the reader will not refuse to follow me + through paths already known to him, which may lead to some new truth. + </p> + <p> + The principle of equality, which makes men independent of each other, + gives them a habit and a taste for following, in their private actions, no + other guide but their own will. This complete independence, which they + constantly enjoy towards their equals and in the intercourse of private + life, tends to make them look upon all authority with a jealous eye, and + speedily suggests to them the notion and the love of political freedom. + Men living at such times have a natural bias to free institutions. Take + any one of them at a venture, and search if you can his most deep-seated + instincts; you will find that of all governments he will soonest conceive + and most highly value that government, whose head he has himself elected, + and whose administration he may control. Of all the political effects + produced by the equality of conditions, this love of independence is the + first to strike the observing, and to alarm the timid; nor can it be said + that their alarm is wholly misplaced, for anarchy has a more formidable + aspect in democratic countries than elsewhere. As the citizens have no + direct influence on each other, as soon as the supreme power of the nation + fails, which kept them all in their several stations, it would seem that + disorder must instantly reach its utmost pitch, and that, every man + drawing aside in a different direction, the fabric of society must at once + crumble away. + </p> + <p> + I am, however, persuaded that anarchy is not the principal evil which + democratic ages have to fear, but the least. For the principle of equality + begets two tendencies; the one leads men straight to independence, and may + suddenly drive them into anarchy; the other conducts them by a longer, + more secret, but more certain road, to servitude. Nations readily discern + the former tendency, and are prepared to resist it; they are led away by + the latter, without perceiving its drift; hence it is peculiarly important + to point it out. For myself, I am so far from urging as a reproach to the + principle of equality that it renders men untractable, that this very + circumstance principally calls forth my approbation. I admire to see how + it deposits in the mind and heart of man the dim conception and + instinctive love of political independence, thus preparing the remedy for + the evil which it engenders; it is on this very account that I am attached + to it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0069" id="link2HCH0069"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter II: That The Notions Of Democratic Nations On Government Are + Naturally Favorable To The Concentration Of Power + </h2> + <p> + The notion of secondary powers, placed between the sovereign and his + subjects, occurred naturally to the imagination of aristocratic nations, + because those communities contained individuals or families raised above + the common level, and apparently destined to command by their birth, their + education, and their wealth. This same notion is naturally wanting in the + minds of men in democratic ages, for converse reasons: it can only be + introduced artificially, it can only be kept there with difficulty; + whereas they conceive, as it were, without thinking upon the subject, the + notion of a sole and central power which governs the whole community by + its direct influence. Moreover in politics, as well as in philosophy and + in religion, the intellect of democratic nations is peculiarly open to + simple and general notions. Complicated systems are repugnant to it, and + its favorite conception is that of a great nation composed of citizens all + resembling the same pattern, and all governed by a single power. + </p> + <p> + The very next notion to that of a sole and central power, which presents + itself to the minds of men in the ages of equality, is the notion of + uniformity of legislation. As every man sees that he differs but little + from those about him, he cannot understand why a rule which is applicable + to one man should not be equally applicable to all others. Hence the + slightest privileges are repugnant to his reason; the faintest + dissimilarities in the political institutions of the same people offend + him, and uniformity of legislation appears to him to be the first + condition of good government. I find, on the contrary, that this same + notion of a uniform rule, equally binding on all the members of the + community, was almost unknown to the human mind in aristocratic ages; it + was either never entertained, or it was rejected. These contrary + tendencies of opinion ultimately turn on either side to such blind + instincts and such ungovernable habits that they still direct the actions + of men, in spite of particular exceptions. Notwithstanding the immense + variety of conditions in the Middle Ages, a certain number of persons + existed at that period in precisely similar circumstances; but this did + not prevent the laws then in force from assigning to each of them distinct + duties and different rights. On the contrary, at the present time all the + powers of government are exerted to impose the same customs and the same + laws on populations which have as yet but few points of resemblance. As + the conditions of men become equal amongst a people, individuals seem of + less importance, and society of greater dimensions; or rather, every + citizen, being assimilated to all the rest, is lost in the crowd, and + nothing stands conspicuous but the great and imposing image of the people + at large. This naturally gives the men of democratic periods a lofty + opinion of the privileges of society, and a very humble notion of the + rights of individuals; they are ready to admit that the interests of the + former are everything, and those of the latter nothing. They are willing + to acknowledge that the power which represents the community has far more + information and wisdom than any of the members of that community; and that + it is the duty, as well as the right, of that power to guide as well as + govern each private citizen. + </p> + <p> + If we closely scrutinize our contemporaries, and penetrate to the root of + their political opinions, we shall detect some of the notions which I have + just pointed out, and we shall perhaps be surprised to find so much + accordance between men who are so often at variance. The Americans hold, + that in every State the supreme power ought to emanate from the people; + but when once that power is constituted, they can conceive, as it were, no + limits to it, and they are ready to admit that it has the right to do + whatever it pleases. They have not the slightest notion of peculiar + privileges granted to cities, families, or persons: their minds appear + never to have foreseen that it might be possible not to apply with strict + uniformity the same laws to every part, and to all the inhabitants. These + same opinions are more and more diffused in Europe; they even insinuate + themselves amongst those nations which most vehemently reject the + principle of the sovereignty of the people. Such nations assign a + different origin to the supreme power, but they ascribe to that power the + same characteristics. Amongst them all, the idea of intermediate powers is + weakened and obliterated: the idea of rights inherent in certain + individuals is rapidly disappearing from the minds of men; the idea of the + omnipotence and sole authority of society at large rises to fill its + place. These ideas take root and spread in proportion as social conditions + become more equal, and men more alike; they are engendered by equality, + and in turn they hasten the progress of equality. + </p> + <p> + In France, where the revolution of which I am speaking has gone further + than in any other European country, these opinions have got complete hold + of the public mind. If we listen attentively to the language of the + various parties in France, we shall find that there is not one which has + not adopted them. Most of these parties censure the conduct of the + government, but they all hold that the government ought perpetually to act + and interfere in everything that is done. Even those which are most at + variance are nevertheless agreed upon this head. The unity, the ubiquity, + the omnipotence of the supreme power, and the uniformity of its rules, + constitute the principal characteristics of all the political systems + which have been put forward in our age. They recur even in the wildest + visions of political regeneration: the human mind pursues them in its + dreams. If these notions spontaneously arise in the minds of private + individuals, they suggest themselves still more forcibly to the minds of + princes. Whilst the ancient fabric of European society is altered and + dissolved, sovereigns acquire new conceptions of their opportunities and + their duties; they learn for the first time that the central power which + they represent may and ought to administer by its own agency, and on a + uniform plan, all the concerns of the whole community. This opinion, + which, I will venture to say, was never conceived before our time by the + monarchs of Europe, now sinks deeply into the minds of kings, and abides + there amidst all the agitation of more unsettled thoughts. + </p> + <p> + Our contemporaries are therefore much less divided than is commonly + supposed; they are constantly disputing as to the hands in which supremacy + is to be vested, but they readily agree upon the duties and the rights of + that supremacy. The notion they all form of government is that of a sole, + simple, providential, and creative power. All secondary opinions in + politics are unsettled; this one remains fixed, invariable, and + consistent. It is adopted by statesmen and political philosophers; it is + eagerly laid hold of by the multitude; those who govern and those who are + governed agree to pursue it with equal ardor: it is the foremost notion of + their minds, it seems inborn. It originates therefore in no caprice of the + human intellect, but it is a necessary condition of the present state of + mankind. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0070" id="link2HCH0070"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter III: That The Sentiments Of Democratic Nations Accord With Their + Opinions In Leading Them To Concentrate Political Power + </h2> + <p> + If it be true that, in ages of equality, men readily adopt the notion of a + great central power, it cannot be doubted on the other hand that their + habits and sentiments predispose them to recognize such a power and to + give it their support. This may be demonstrated in a few words, as the + greater part of the reasons, to which the fact may be attributed, have + been previously stated. *a As the men who inhabit democratic countries + have no superiors, no inferiors, and no habitual or necessary partners in + their undertakings, they readily fall back upon themselves and consider + themselves as beings apart. I had occasion to point this out at + considerable length in treating of individualism. Hence such men can + never, without an effort, tear themselves from their private affairs to + engage in public business; their natural bias leads them to abandon the + latter to the sole visible and permanent representative of the interests + of the community, that is to say, to the State. Not only are they + naturally wanting in a taste for public business, but they have frequently + no time to attend to it. Private life is so busy in democratic periods, so + excited, so full of wishes and of work, that hardly any energy or leisure + remains to each individual for public life. I am the last man to contend + that these propensities are unconquerable, since my chief object in + writing this book has been to combat them. I only maintain that at the + present day a secret power is fostering them in the human heart, and that + if they are not checked they will wholly overgrow it. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ See Appendix W.] + </p> + <p> + I have also had occasion to show how the increasing love of well-being, + and the fluctuating character of property, cause democratic nations to + dread all violent disturbance. The love of public tranquillity is + frequently the only passion which these nations retain, and it becomes + more active and powerful amongst them in proportion as all other passions + droop and die. This naturally disposes the members of the community + constantly to give or to surrender additional rights to the central power, + which alone seems to be interested in defending them by the same means + that it uses to defend itself. As in ages of equality no man is compelled + to lend his assistance to his fellow-men, and none has any right to expect + much support from them, everyone is at once independent and powerless. + These two conditions, which must never be either separately considered or + confounded together, inspire the citizen of a democratic country with very + contrary propensities. His independence fills him with self-reliance and + pride amongst his equals; his debility makes him feel from time to time + the want of some outward assistance, which he cannot expect from any of + them, because they are all impotent and unsympathizing. In this + predicament he naturally turns his eyes to that imposing power which alone + rises above the level of universal depression. Of that power his wants and + especially his desires continually remind him, until he ultimately views + it as the sole and necessary support of his own weakness. *b This may more + completely explain what frequently takes place in democratic countries, + where the very men who are so impatient of superiors patiently submit to a + master, exhibiting at once their pride and their servility. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + b <br /> [ In democratic communities nothing but the central power has any + stability in its position or any permanence in its undertakings. All the + members of society are in ceaseless stir and transformation. Now it is in + the nature of all governments to seek constantly to enlarge their sphere + of action; hence it is almost impossible that such a government should not + ultimately succeed, because it acts with a fixed principle and a constant + will, upon men, whose position, whose notions, and whose desires are in + continual vacillation. It frequently happens that the members of the + community promote the influence of the central power without intending it. + Democratic ages are periods of experiment, innovation, and adventure. At + such times there are always a multitude of men engaged in difficult or + novel undertakings, which they follow alone, without caring for their + fellowmen. Such persons may be ready to admit, as a general principle, + that the public authority ought not to interfere in private concerns; but, + by an exception to that rule, each of them craves for its assistance in + the particular concern on which he is engaged, and seeks to draw upon the + influence of the government for his own benefit, though he would restrict + it on all other occasions. If a large number of men apply this particular + exception to a great variety of different purposes, the sphere of the + central power extends insensibly in all directions, although each of them + wishes it to be circumscribed. Thus a democratic government increases its + power simply by the fact of its permanence. Time is on its side; every + incident befriends it; the passions of individuals unconsciously promote + it; and it may be asserted, that the older a democratic community is, the + more centralized will its government become.] + </p> + <p> + The hatred which men bear to privilege increases in proportion as + privileges become more scarce and less considerable, so that democratic + passions would seem to burn most fiercely at the very time when they have + least fuel. I have already given the reason of this phenomenon. When all + conditions are unequal, no inequality is so great as to offend the eye; + whereas the slightest dissimilarity is odious in the midst of general + uniformity: the more complete is this uniformity, the more insupportable + does the sight of such a difference become. Hence it is natural that the + love of equality should constantly increase together with equality itself, + and that it should grow by what it feeds upon. This never-dying, + ever-kindling hatred, which sets a democratic people against the smallest + privileges, is peculiarly favorable to the gradual concentration of all + political rights in the hands of the representative of the State alone. + The sovereign, being necessarily and incontestably above all the citizens, + excites not their envy, and each of them thinks that he strips his equals + of the prerogative which he concedes to the crown. The man of a democratic + age is extremely reluctant to obey his neighbor who is his equal; he + refuses to acknowledge in such a person ability superior to his own; he + mistrusts his justice, and is jealous of his power; he fears and he + contemns him; and he loves continually to remind him of the common + dependence in which both of them stand to the same master. Every central + power which follows its natural tendencies courts and encourages the + principle of equality; for equality singularly facilitates, extends, and + secures the influence of a central power. + </p> + <p> + In like manner it may be said that every central government worships + uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinite number of + small details which must be attended to if rules were to be adapted to + men, instead of indiscriminately subjecting men to rules: thus the + government likes what the citizens like, and naturally hates what they + hate. These common sentiments, which, in democratic nations, constantly + unite the sovereign and every member of the community in one and the same + conviction, establish a secret and lasting sympathy between them. The + faults of the government are pardoned for the sake of its tastes; public + confidence is only reluctantly withdrawn in the midst even of its excesses + and its errors, and it is restored at the first call. Democratic nations + often hate those in whose hands the central power is vested; but they + always love that power itself. + </p> + <p> + Thus, by two separate paths, I have reached the same conclusion. I have + shown that the principle of equality suggests to men the notion of a sole, + uniform, and strong government: I have now shown that the principle of + equality imparts to them a taste for it. To governments of this kind the + nations of our age are therefore tending. They are drawn thither by the + natural inclination of mind and heart; and in order to reach that result, + it is enough that they do not check themselves in their course. I am of + opinion, that, in the democratic ages which are opening upon us, + individual independence and local liberties will ever be the produce of + artificial contrivance; that centralization will be the natural form of + government. *c + </p> + <p class="foot"> + c <br /> [ See Appendix X.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0071" id="link2HCH0071"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IV: Of Certain Peculiar And Accidental Causes Which Either Lead A + People To Complete Centralization Of Government, Or Which Divert Them From + It + </h2> + <p> + If all democratic nations are instinctively led to the centralization of + government, they tend to this result in an unequal manner. This depends on + the particular circumstances which may promote or prevent the natural + consequences of that state of society—circumstances which are + exceedingly numerous; but I shall only advert to a few of them. Amongst + men who have lived free long before they became equal, the tendencies + derived from free institutions combat, to a certain extent, the + propensities superinduced by the principle of equality; and although the + central power may increase its privileges amongst such a people, the + private members of such a community will never entirely forfeit their + independence. But when the equality of conditions grows up amongst a + people which has never known, or has long ceased to know, what freedom is + (and such is the case upon the Continent of Europe), as the former habits + of the nation are suddenly combined, by some sort of natural attraction, + with the novel habits and principles engendered by the state of society, + all powers seem spontaneously to rush to the centre. These powers + accumulate there with astonishing rapidity, and the State instantly + attains the utmost limits of its strength, whilst private persons allow + themselves to sink as suddenly to the lowest degree of weakness. + </p> + <p> + The English who emigrated three hundred years ago to found a democratic + commonwealth on the shores of the New World, had all learned to take a + part in public affairs in their mother-country; they were conversant with + trial by jury; they were accustomed to liberty of speech and of the press—to + personal freedom, to the notion of rights and the practice of asserting + them. They carried with them to America these free institutions and manly + customs, and these institutions preserved them against the encroachments + of the State. Thus amongst the Americans it is freedom which is old—equality + is of comparatively modern date. The reverse is occurring in Europe, where + equality, introduced by absolute power and under the rule of kings, was + already infused into the habits of nations long before freedom had entered + into their conceptions. + </p> + <p> + I have said that amongst democratic nations the notion of government + naturally presents itself to the mind under the form of a sole and central + power, and that the notion of intermediate powers is not familiar to them. + This is peculiarly applicable to the democratic nations which have + witnessed the triumph of the principle of equality by means of a violent + revolution. As the classes which managed local affairs have been suddenly + swept away by the storm, and as the confused mass which remains has as yet + neither the organization nor the habits which fit it to assume the + administration of these same affairs, the State alone seems capable of + taking upon itself all the details of government, and centralization + becomes, as it were, the unavoidable state of the country. Napoleon + deserves neither praise nor censure for having centred in his own hands + almost all the administrative power of France; for, after the abrupt + disappearance of the nobility and the higher rank of the middle classes, + these powers devolved on him of course: it would have been almost as + difficult for him to reject as to assume them. But no necessity of this + kind has ever been felt by the Americans, who, having passed through no + revolution, and having governed themselves from the first, never had to + call upon the State to act for a time as their guardian. Thus the progress + of centralization amongst a democratic people depends not only on the + progress of equality, but on the manner in which this equality has been + established. + </p> + <p> + At the commencement of a great democratic revolution, when hostilities + have but just broken out between the different classes of society, the + people endeavors to centralize the public administration in the hands of + the government, in order to wrest the management of local affairs from the + aristocracy. Towards the close of such a revolution, on the contrary, it + is usually the conquered aristocracy that endeavors to make over the + management of all affairs to the State, because such an aristocracy dreads + the tyranny of a people which has become its equal, and not unfrequently + its master. Thus it is not always the same class of the community which + strives to increase the prerogative of the government; but as long as the + democratic revolution lasts there is always one class in the nation, + powerful in numbers or in wealth, which is induced, by peculiar passions + or interests, to centralize the public administration, independently of + that hatred of being governed by one's neighbor, which is a general and + permanent feeling amongst democratic nations. It may be remarked, that at + the present day the lower orders in England are striving with all their + might to destroy local independence, and to transfer the administration + from all points of the circumference to the centre; whereas the higher + classes are endeavoring to retain this administration within its ancient + boundaries. I venture to predict that a time will come when the very + reverse will happen. + </p> + <p> + These observations explain why the supreme power is always stronger, and + private individuals weaker, amongst a democratic people which has passed + through a long and arduous struggle to reach a state of equality than + amongst a democratic community in which the citizens have been equal from + the first. The example of the Americans completely demonstrates the fact. + The inhabitants of the United States were never divided by any privileges; + they have never known the mutual relation of master and inferior, and as + they neither dread nor hate each other, they have never known the + necessity of calling in the supreme power to manage their affairs. The lot + of the Americans is singular: they have derived from the aristocracy of + England the notion of private rights and the taste for local freedom; and + they have been able to retain both the one and the other, because they + have had no aristocracy to combat. + </p> + <p> + If at all times education enables men to defend their independence, this + is most especially true in democratic ages. When all men are alike, it is + easy to found a sole and all-powerful government, by the aid of mere + instinct. But men require much intelligence, knowledge, and art to + organize and to maintain secondary powers under similar circumstances, and + to create amidst the independence and individual weakness of the citizens + such free associations as may be in a condition to struggle against + tyranny without destroying public order. + </p> + <p> + Hence the concentration of power and the subjection of individuals will + increase amongst democratic nations, not only in the same proportion as + their equality, but in the same proportion as their ignorance. It is true, + that in ages of imperfect civilization the government is frequently as + wanting in the knowledge required to impose a despotism upon the people as + the people are wanting in the knowledge required to shake it off; but the + effect is not the same on both sides. However rude a democratic people may + be, the central power which rules it is never completely devoid of + cultivation, because it readily draws to its own uses what little + cultivation is to be found in the country, and, if necessary, may seek + assistance elsewhere. Hence, amongst a nation which is ignorant as well as + democratic, an amazing difference cannot fail speedily to arise between + the intellectual capacity of the ruler and that of each of his subjects. + This completes the easy concentration of all power in his hands: the + administrative function of the State is perpetually extended, because the + State alone is competent to administer the affairs of the country. + Aristocratic nations, however unenlightened they may be, never afford the + same spectacle, because in them instruction is nearly equally diffused + between the monarch and the leading members of the community. + </p> + <p> + The pacha who now rules in Egypt found the population of that country + composed of men exceedingly ignorant and equal, and he has borrowed the + science and ability of Europe to govern that people. As the personal + attainments of the sovereign are thus combined with the ignorance and + democratic weakness of his subjects, the utmost centralization has been + established without impediment, and the pacha has made the country his + manufactory, and the inhabitants his workmen. + </p> + <p> + I think that extreme centralization of government ultimately enervates + society, and thus after a length of time weakens the government itself; + but I do not deny that a centralized social power may be able to execute + great undertakings with facility in a given time and on a particular + point. This is more especially true of war, in which success depends much + more on the means of transferring all the resources of a nation to one + single point, than on the extent of those resources. Hence it is chiefly + in war that nations desire and frequently require to increase the powers + of the central government. All men of military genius are fond of + centralization, which increases their strength; and all men of + centralizing genius are fond of war, which compels nations to combine all + their powers in the hands of the government. Thus the democratic tendency + which leads men unceasingly to multiply the privileges of the State, and + to circumscribe the rights of private persons, is much more rapid and + constant amongst those democratic nations which are exposed by their + position to great and frequent wars, than amongst all others. + </p> + <p> + I have shown how the dread of disturbance and the love of well-being + insensibly lead democratic nations to increase the functions of central + government, as the only power which appears to be intrinsically + sufficiently strong, enlightened, and secure, to protect them from + anarchy. I would now add, that all the particular circumstances which tend + to make the state of a democratic community agitated and precarious, + enhance this general propensity, and lead private persons more and more to + sacrifice their rights to their tranquility. A people is therefore never + so disposed to increase the functions of central government as at the + close of a long and bloody revolution, which, after having wrested + property from the hands of its former possessors, has shaken all belief, + and filled the nation with fierce hatreds, conflicting interests, and + contending factions. The love of public tranquillity becomes at such times + an indiscriminating passion, and the members of the community are apt to + conceive a most inordinate devotion to order. + </p> + <p> + I have already examined several of the incidents which may concur to + promote the centralization of power, but the principal cause still remains + to be noticed. The foremost of the incidental causes which may draw the + management of all affairs into the hands of the ruler in democratic + countries, is the origin of that ruler himself, and his own propensities. + Men who live in the ages of equality are naturally fond of central power, + and are willing to extend its privileges; but if it happens that this same + power faithfully represents their own interests, and exactly copies their + own inclinations, the confidence they place in it knows no bounds, and + they think that whatever they bestow upon it is bestowed upon themselves. + </p> + <p> + The attraction of administrative powers to the centre will always be less + easy and less rapid under the reign of kings who are still in some way + connected with the old aristocratic order, than under new princes, the + children of their own achievements, whose birth, prejudices, propensities, + and habits appear to bind them indissolubly to the cause of equality. I do + not mean that princes of aristocratic origin who live in democratic ages + do not attempt to centralize; I believe they apply themselves to that + object as diligently as any others. For them, the sole advantages of + equality lie in that direction; but their opportunities are less great, + because the community, instead of volunteering compliance with their + desires, frequently obeys them with reluctance. In democratic communities + the rule is that centralization must increase in proportion as the + sovereign is less aristocratic. When an ancient race of kings stands at + the head of an aristocracy, as the natural prejudices of the sovereign + perfectly accord with the natural prejudices of the nobility, the vices + inherent in aristocratic communities have a free course, and meet with no + corrective. The reverse is the case when the scion of a feudal stock is + placed at the head of a democratic people. The sovereign is constantly + led, by his education, his habits, and his associations, to adopt + sentiments suggested by the inequality of conditions, and the people tend + as constantly, by their social condition, to those manners which are + engendered by equality. At such times it often happens that the citizens + seek to control the central power far less as a tyrannical than as an + aristocratical power, and that they persist in the firm defence of their + independence, not only because they would remain free, but especially + because they are determined to remain equal. A revolution which overthrows + an ancient regal family, in order to place men of more recent growth at + the head of a democratic people, may temporarily weaken the central power; + but however anarchical such a revolution may appear at first, we need not + hesitate to predict that its final and certain consequence will be to + extend and to secure the prerogatives of that power. The foremost or + indeed the sole condition which is required in order to succeed in + centralizing the supreme power in a democratic community, is to love + equality, or to get men to believe you love it. Thus the science of + despotism, which was once so complex, is simplified, and reduced as it + were to a single principle. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0072" id="link2HCH0072"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter V: That Amongst The European Nations Of Our Time The Power Of + Governments Is Increasing, Although The Persons Who Govern Are Less Stable + </h2> + <p> + On reflecting upon what has already been said, the reader will be startled + and alarmed to find that in Europe everything seems to conduce to the + indefinite extension of the prerogatives of government, and to render all + that enjoyed the rights of private independence more weak, more + subordinate, and more precarious. The democratic nations of Europe have + all the general and permanent tendencies which urge the Americans to the + centralization of government, and they are moreover exposed to a number of + secondary and incidental causes with which the Americans are unacquainted. + It would seem as if every step they make towards equality brings them + nearer to despotism. And indeed if we do but cast our looks around, we + shall be convinced that such is the fact. During the aristocratic ages + which preceded the present time, the sovereigns of Europe had been + deprived of, or had relinquished, many of the rights inherent in their + power. Not a hundred years ago, amongst the greater part of European + nations, numerous private persons and corporations were sufficiently + independent to administer justice, to raise and maintain troops, to levy + taxes, and frequently even to make or interpret the law. The State has + everywhere resumed to itself alone these natural attributes of sovereign + power; in all matters of government the State tolerates no intermediate + agent between itself and the people, and in general business it directs + the people by its own immediate influence. I am far from blaming this + concentration of power, I simply point it out. + </p> + <p> + At the same period a great number of secondary powers existed in Europe, + which represented local interests and administered local affairs. Most of + these local authorities have already disappeared; all are speedily tending + to disappear, or to fall into the most complete dependence. From one end + of Europe to the other the privileges of the nobility, the liberties of + cities, and the powers of provincial bodies, are either destroyed or upon + the verge of destruction. Europe has endured, in the course of the last + half-century, many revolutions and counter-revolutions which have agitated + it in opposite directions: but all these perturbations resemble each other + in one respect—they have all shaken or destroyed the secondary + powers of government. The local privileges which the French did not + abolish in the countries they conquered, have finally succumbed to the + policy of the princes who conquered the French. Those princes rejected all + the innovations of the French Revolution except centralization: that is + the only principle they consented to receive from such a source. My object + is to remark, that all these various rights, which have been successively + wrested, in our time, from classes, corporations, and individuals, have + not served to raise new secondary powers on a more democratic basis, but + have uniformly been concentrated in the hands of the sovereign. Everywhere + the State acquires more and more direct control over the humblest members + of the community, and a more exclusive power of governing each of them in + his smallest concerns. *a Almost all the charitable establishments of + Europe were formerly in the hands of private persons or of corporations; + they are now almost all dependent on the supreme government, and in many + countries are actually administered by that power. The State almost + exclusively undertakes to supply bread to the hungry, assistance and + shelter to the sick, work to the idle, and to act as the sole reliever of + all kinds of misery. Education, as well as charity, is become in most + countries at the present day a national concern. The State receives, and + often takes, the child from the arms of the mother, to hand it over to + official agents: the State undertakes to train the heart and to instruct + the mind of each generation. Uniformity prevails in the courses of public + instruction as in everything else; diversity, as well as freedom, is + disappearing day by day. Nor do I hesitate to affirm, that amongst almost + all the Christian nations of our days, Catholic as well as Protestant, + religion is in danger of falling into the hands of the government. Not + that rulers are over-jealous of the right of settling points of doctrine, + but they get more and more hold upon the will of those by whom doctrines + are expounded; they deprive the clergy of their property, and pay them by + salaries; they divert to their own use the influence of the priesthood, + they make them their own ministers—often their own servants—and + by this alliance with religion they reach the inner depths of the soul of + man. *b + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ This gradual weakening of individuals in relation to society at + large may be traced in a thousand ways. I shall select from amongst these + examples one derived from the law of wills. In aristocracies it is common + to profess the greatest reverence for the last testamentary dispositions + of a man; this feeling sometimes even became superstitious amongst the + older nations of Europe: the power of the State, far from interfering with + the caprices of a dying man, gave full force to the very least of them, + and insured to him a perpetual power. When all living men are enfeebled, + the will of the dead is less respected: it is circumscribed within a + narrow range, beyond which it is annulled or checked by the supreme power + of the laws. In the Middle Ages, testamentary power had, so to speak, no + limits: amongst the French at the present day, a man cannot distribute his + fortune amongst his children without the interference of the State; after + having domineered over a whole life, the law insists upon regulating the + very last act of it.] + </p> + <p class="foot"> + b <br /> [ In proportion as the duties of the central power are augmented, + the number of public officers by whom that power is represented must + increase also. They form a nation in each nation; and as they share the + stability of the government, they more and more fill up the place of an + aristocracy. + </p> + <p> + In almost every part of Europe the government rules in two ways; it rules + one portion of the community by the fear which they entertain of its + agents, and the other by the hope they have of becoming its agents.] + </p> + <p> + But this is as yet only one side of the picture. The authority of + government has not only spread, as we have just seen, throughout the + sphere of all existing powers, till that sphere can no longer contain it, + but it goes further, and invades the domain heretofore reserved to private + independence. A multitude of actions, which were formerly entirely beyond + the control of the public administration, have been subjected to that + control in our time, and the number of them is constantly increasing. + Amongst aristocratic nations the supreme government usually contented + itself with managing and superintending the community in whatever directly + and ostensibly concerned the national honor; but in all other respects the + people were left to work out their own free will. Amongst these nations + the government often seemed to forget that there is a point at which the + faults and the sufferings of private persons involve the general + prosperity, and that to prevent the ruin of a private individual must + sometimes be a matter of public importance. The democratic nations of our + time lean to the opposite extreme. It is evident that most of our rulers + will not content themselves with governing the people collectively: it + would seem as if they thought themselves responsible for the actions and + private condition of their subjects—as if they had undertaken to + guide and to instruct each of them in the various incidents of life, and + to secure their happiness quite independently of their own consent. On the + other hand private individuals grow more and more apt to look upon the + supreme power in the same light; they invoke its assistance in all their + necessities, and they fix their eyes upon the administration as their + mentor or their guide. + </p> + <p> + I assert that there is no country in Europe in which the public + administration has not become, not only more centralized, but more + inquisitive and more minute it everywhere interferes in private concerns + more than it did; it regulates more undertakings, and undertakings of a + lesser kind; and it gains a firmer footing every day about, above, and + around all private persons, to assist, to advise, and to coerce them. + Formerly a sovereign lived upon the income of his lands, or the revenue of + his taxes; this is no longer the case now that his wants have increased as + well as his power. Under the same circumstances which formerly compelled a + prince to put on a new tax, he now has recourse to a loan. Thus the State + gradually becomes the debtor of most of the wealthier members of the + community, and centralizes the largest amounts of capital in its own + hands. Small capital is drawn into its keeping by another method. As men + are intermingled and conditions become more equal, the poor have more + resources, more education, and more desires; they conceive the notion of + bettering their condition, and this teaches them to save. These savings + are daily producing an infinite number of small capitals, the slow and + gradual produce of labor, which are always increasing. But the greater + part of this money would be unproductive if it remained scattered in the + hands of its owners. This circumstance has given rise to a philanthropic + institution, which will soon become, if I am not mistaken, one of our most + important political institutions. Some charitable persons conceived the + notion of collecting the savings of the poor and placing them out at + interest. In some countries these benevolent associations are still + completely distinct from the State; but in almost all they manifestly tend + to identify themselves with the government; and in some of them the + government has superseded them, taking upon itself the enormous task of + centralizing in one place, and putting out at interest on its own + responsibility, the daily savings of many millions of the working classes. + Thus the State draws to itself the wealth of the rich by loans, and has + the poor man's mite at its disposal in the savings banks. The wealth of + the country is perpetually flowing around the government and passing + through its hands; the accumulation increases in the same proportion as + the equality of conditions; for in a democratic country the State alone + inspires private individuals with confidence, because the State alone + appears to be endowed with strength and durability. *c Thus the sovereign + does not confine himself to the management of the public treasury; he + interferes in private money matters; he is the superior, and often the + master, of all the members of the community; and, in addition to this, he + assumes the part of their steward and paymaster. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + c <br /> [ On the one hand the taste for worldly welfare is perpetually + increasing, and on the other the government gets more and more complete + possession of the sources of that welfare. Thus men are following two + separate roads to servitude: the taste for their own welfare withholds + them from taking a part in the government, and their love of that welfare + places them in closer dependence upon those who govern.] + </p> + <p> + The central power not only fulfils of itself the whole of the duties + formerly discharged by various authorities—extending those duties, + and surpassing those authorities—but it performs them with more + alertness, strength, and independence than it displayed before. All the + governments of Europe have in our time singularly improved the science of + administration: they do more things, and they do everything with more + order, more celerity, and at less expense; they seem to be constantly + enriched by all the experience of which they have stripped private + persons. From day to day the princes of Europe hold their subordinate + officers under stricter control, and they invent new methods for guiding + them more closely, and inspecting them with less trouble. Not content with + managing everything by their agents, they undertake to manage the conduct + of their agents in everything; so that the public administration not only + depends upon one and the same power, but it is more and more confined to + one spot and concentrated in the same hands. The government centralizes + its agency whilst it increases its prerogative—hence a twofold + increase of strength. + </p> + <p> + In examining the ancient constitution of the judicial power, amongst most + European nations, two things strike the mind—the independence of + that power, and the extent of its functions. Not only did the courts of + justice decide almost all differences between private persons, but in very + many cases they acted as arbiters between private persons and the State. I + do not here allude to the political and administrative offices which + courts of judicature had in some countries usurped, but the judicial + office common to them all. In most of the countries of Europe, there were, + and there still are, many private rights, connected for the most part with + the general right of property, which stood under the protection of the + courts of justice, and which the State could not violate without their + sanction. It was this semi-political power which mainly distinguished the + European courts of judicature from all others; for all nations have had + judges, but all have not invested their judges with the same privileges. + Upon examining what is now occurring amongst the democratic nations of + Europe which are called free, as well as amongst the others, it will be + observed that new and more dependent courts are everywhere springing up by + the side of the old ones, for the express purpose of deciding, by an + extraordinary jurisdiction, such litigated matters as may arise between + the government and private persons. The elder judicial power retains its + independence, but its jurisdiction is narrowed; and there is a growing + tendency to reduce it to be exclusively the arbiter between private + interests. The number of these special courts of justice is continually + increasing, and their functions increase likewise. Thus the government is + more and more absolved from the necessity of subjecting its policy and its + rights to the sanction of another power. As judges cannot be dispensed + with, at least the State is to select them, and always to hold them under + its control; so that, between the government and private individuals, they + place the effigy of justice rather than justice itself. The State is not + satisfied with drawing all concerns to itself, but it acquires an + ever-increasing power of deciding on them all without restriction and + without appeal. *d + </p> + <p class="foot"> + d <br /> [ A strange sophism has been made on this head in France. When a + suit arises between the government and a private person, it is not to be + tried before an ordinary judge—in order, they say, not to mix the + administrative and the judicial powers; as if it were not to mix those + powers, and to mix them in the most dangerous and oppressive manner, to + invest the government with the office of judging and administering at the + same time.] + </p> + <p> + There exists amongst the modern nations of Europe one great cause, + independent of all those which have already been pointed out, which + perpetually contributes to extend the agency or to strengthen the + prerogative of the supreme power, though it has not been sufficiently + attended to: I mean the growth of manufactures, which is fostered by the + progress of social equality. Manufactures generally collect a multitude of + men of the same spot, amongst whom new and complex relations spring up. + These men are exposed by their calling to great and sudden alternations of + plenty and want, during which public tranquillity is endangered. It may + also happen that these employments sacrifice the health, and even the + life, of those who gain by them, or of those who live by them. Thus the + manufacturing classes require more regulation, superintendence, and + restraint than the other classes of society, and it is natural that the + powers of government should increase in the same proportion as those + classes. + </p> + <p> + This is a truth of general application; what follows more especially + concerns the nations of Europe. In the centuries which preceded that in + which we live, the aristocracy was in possession of the soil, and was + competent to defend it: landed property was therefore surrounded by ample + securities, and its possessors enjoyed great independence. This gave rise + to laws and customs which have been perpetuated, notwithstanding the + subdivision of lands and the ruin of the nobility; and, at the present + time, landowners and agriculturists are still those amongst the community + who must easily escape from the control of the supreme power. In these + same aristocratic ages, in which all the sources of our history are to be + traced, personal property was of small importance, and those who possessed + it were despised and weak: the manufacturing class formed an exception in + the midst of those aristocratic communities; as it had no certain + patronage, it was not outwardly protected, and was often unable to protect + itself. + </p> + <p> + Hence a habit sprung up of considering manufacturing property as something + of a peculiar nature, not entitled to the same deference, and not worthy + of the same securities as property in general; and manufacturers were + looked upon as a small class in the bulk of the people, whose independence + was of small importance, and who might with propriety be abandoned to the + disciplinary passions of princes. On glancing over the codes of the middle + ages, one is surprised to see, in those periods of personal independence, + with what incessant royal regulations manufactures were hampered, even in + their smallest details: on this point centralization was as active and as + minute as it can ever be. Since that time a great revolution has taken + place in the world; manufacturing property, which was then only in the + germ, has spread till it covers Europe: the manufacturing class has been + multiplied and enriched by the remnants of all other ranks; it has grown + and is still perpetually growing in number, in importance, in wealth. + Almost all those who do not belong to it are connected with it at least on + some one point; after having been an exception in society, it threatens to + become the chief, if not the only, class; nevertheless the notions and + political precedents engendered by it of old still cling about it. These + notions and these precedents remain unchanged, because they are old, and + also because they happen to be in perfect accordance with the new notions + and general habits of our contemporaries. Manufacturing property then does + not extend its rights in the same ratio as its importance. The + manufacturing classes do not become less dependent, whilst they become + more numerous; but, on the contrary, it would seem as if despotism lurked + within them, and naturally grew with their growth. *e As a nation becomes + more engaged in manufactures, the want of roads, canals, harbors, and + other works of a semi-public nature, which facilitate the acquisition of + wealth, is more strongly felt; and as a nation becomes more democratic, + private individuals are less able, and the State more able, to execute + works of such magnitude. I do not hesitate to assert that the manifest + tendency of all governments at the present time is to take upon themselves + alone the execution of these undertakings; by which means they daily hold + in closer dependence the population which they govern. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + e <br /> [ I shall quote a few facts in corroboration of this remark. Mines + are the natural sources of manufacturing wealth: as manufactures have + grown up in Europe, as the produce of mines has become of more general + importance, and good mining more difficult from the subdivision of + property which is a consequence of the equality of conditions, most + governments have asserted a right of owning the soil in which the mines + lie, and of inspecting the works; which has never been the case with any + other kind of property. Thus mines, which were private property, liable to + the same obligations and sheltered by the same guarantees as all other + landed property, have fallen under the control of the State. The State + either works them or farms them; the owners of them are mere tenants, + deriving their rights from the State; and, moreover, the State almost + everywhere claims the power of directing their operations: it lays down + rules, enforces the adoption of particular methods, subjects the mining + adventurers to constant superintendence, and, if refractory, they are + ousted by a government court of justice, and the government transfers + their contract to other hands; so that the government not only possesses + the mines, but has all the adventurers in its power. Nevertheless, as + manufactures increase, the working of old mines increases also; new ones + are opened, the mining population extends and grows up; day by day + governments augment their subterranean dominions, and people them with + their agents.] + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, in proportion as the power of a State increases, and + its necessities are augmented, the State consumption of manufactured + produce is always growing larger, and these commodities are generally made + in the arsenals or establishments of the government. Thus, in every + kingdom, the ruler becomes the principal manufacturer; he collects and + retains in his service a vast number of engineers, architects, mechanics, + and handicraftsmen. Not only is he the principal manufacturer, but he + tends more and more to become the chief, or rather the master of all other + manufacturers. As private persons become more powerless by becoming more + equal, they can effect nothing in manufactures without combination; but + the government naturally seeks to place these combinations under its own + control. + </p> + <p> + It must be admitted that these collective beings, which are called + combinations, are stronger and more formidable than a private individual + can ever be, and that they have less of the responsibility of their own + actions; whence it seems reasonable that they should not be allowed to + retain so great an independence of the supreme government as might be + conceded to a private individual. + </p> + <p> + Rulers are the more apt to follow this line of policy, as their own + inclinations invite them to it. Amongst democratic nations it is only by + association that the resistance of the people to the government can ever + display itself: hence the latter always looks with ill-favor on those + associations which are not in its own power; and it is well worthy of + remark, that amongst democratic nations, the people themselves often + entertain a secret feeling of fear and jealousy against these very + associations, which prevents the citizens from defending the institutions + of which they stand so much in need. The power and the duration of these + small private bodies, in the midst of the weakness and instability of the + whole community, astonish and alarm the people; and the free use which + each association makes of its natural powers is almost regarded as a + dangerous privilege. All the associations which spring up in our age are, + moreover, new corporate powers, whose rights have not been sanctioned by + time; they come into existence at a time when the notion of private rights + is weak, and when the power of government is unbounded; hence it is not + surprising that they lose their freedom at their birth. Amongst all + European nations there are some kinds of associations which cannot be + formed until the State has examined their by-laws, and authorized their + existence. In several others, attempts are made to extend this rule to all + associations; the consequences of such a policy, if it were successful, + may easily be foreseen. If once the sovereign had a general right of + authorizing associations of all kinds upon certain conditions, he would + not be long without claiming the right of superintending and managing + them, in order to prevent them from departing from the rules laid down by + himself. In this manner, the State, after having reduced all who are + desirous of forming associations into dependence, would proceed to reduce + into the same condition all who belong to associations already formed—that + is to say, almost all the men who are now in existence. Governments thus + appropriate to themselves, and convert to their own purposes, the greater + part of this new power which manufacturing interests have in our time + brought into the world. Manufacturers govern us—they govern + manufactures. + </p> + <p> + I attach so much importance to all that I have just been saying, that I am + tormented by the fear of having impaired my meaning in seeking to render + it more clear. If the reader thinks that the examples I have adduced to + support my observations are insufficient or ill-chosen—if he + imagines that I have anywhere exaggerated the encroachments of the supreme + power, and, on the other hand, that I have underrated the extent of the + sphere which still remains open to the exertions of individual + independence, I entreat him to lay down the book for a moment, and to turn + his mind to reflect for himself upon the subjects I have attempted to + explain. Let him attentively examine what is taking place in France and in + other countries—let him inquire of those about him—let him + search himself, and I am much mistaken if he does not arrive, without my + guidance, and by other paths, at the point to which I have sought to lead + him. He will perceive that for the last half-century, centralization has + everywhere been growing up in a thousand different ways. Wars, + revolutions, conquests, have served to promote it: all men have labored to + increase it. In the course of the same period, during which men have + succeeded each other with singular rapidity at the head of affairs, their + notions, interests, and passions have been infinitely diversified; but all + have by some means or other sought to centralize. This instinctive + centralization has been the only settled point amidst the extreme + mutability of their lives and of their thoughts. + </p> + <p> + If the reader, after having investigated these details of human affairs, + will seek to survey the wide prospect as a whole, he will be struck by the + result. On the one hand the most settled dynasties shaken or overthrown—the + people everywhere escaping by violence from the sway of their laws—abolishing + or limiting the authority of their rulers or their princes—the + nations, which are not in open revolution, restless at least, and excited—all + of them animated by the same spirit of revolt: and on the other hand, at + this very period of anarchy, and amongst these untractable nations, the + incessant increase of the prerogative of the supreme government, becoming + more centralized, more adventurous, more absolute, more extensive—the + people perpetually falling under the control of the public administration—led + insensibly to surrender to it some further portion of their individual + independence, till the very men, who from time to time upset a throne and + trample on a race of kings, bend more and more obsequiously to the + slightest dictate of a clerk. Thus two contrary revolutions appear in our + days to be going on; the one continually weakening the supreme power, the + other as continually strengthening it: at no other period in our history + has it appeared so weak or so strong. But upon a more attentive + examination of the state of the world, it appears that these two + revolutions are intimately connected together, that they originate in the + same source, and that after having followed a separate course, they lead + men at last to the same result. I may venture once more to repeat what I + have already said or implied in several parts of this book: great care + must be taken not to confound the principle of equality itself with the + revolution which finally establishes that principle in the social + condition and the laws of a nation: here lies the reason of almost all the + phenomena which occasion our astonishment. All the old political powers of + Europe, the greatest as well as the least, were founded in ages of + aristocracy, and they more or less represented or defended the principles + of inequality and of privilege. To make the novel wants and interests, + which the growing principle of equality introduced, preponderate in + government, our contemporaries had to overturn or to coerce the + established powers. This led them to make revolutions, and breathed into + many of them, that fierce love of disturbance and independence, which all + revolutions, whatever be their object, always engender. I do not believe + that there is a single country in Europe in which the progress of equality + has not been preceded or followed by some violent changes in the state of + property and persons; and almost all these changes have been attended with + much anarchy and license, because they have been made by the least + civilized portion of the nation against that which is most civilized. + Hence proceeded the two-fold contrary tendencies which I have just pointed + out. As long as the democratic revolution was glowing with heat, the men + who were bent upon the destruction of old aristocratic powers hostile to + that revolution, displayed a strong spirit of independence; but as the + victory or the principle of equality became more complete, they gradually + surrendered themselves to the propensities natural to that condition of + equality, and they strengthened and centralized their governments. They + had sought to be free in order to make themselves equal; but in proportion + as equality was more established by the aid of freedom, freedom itself was + thereby rendered of more difficult attainment. + </p> + <p> + These two states of a nation have sometimes been contemporaneous: the last + generation in France showed how a people might organize a stupendous + tyranny in the community, at the very time when they were baffling the + authority of the nobility and braving the power of all kings—at once + teaching the world the way to win freedom, and the way to lose it. In our + days men see that constituted powers are dilapidated on every side—they + see all ancient authority gasping away, all ancient barriers tottering to + their fall, and the judgment of the wisest is troubled at the sight: they + attend only to the amazing revolution which is taking place before their + eyes, and they imagine that mankind is about to fall into perpetual + anarchy: if they looked to the final consequences of this revolution, + their fears would perhaps assume a different shape. For myself, I confess + that I put no trust in the spirit of freedom which appears to animate my + contemporaries. I see well enough that the nations of this age are + turbulent, but I do not clearly perceive that they are liberal; and I fear + lest, at the close of those perturbations which rock the base of thrones, + the domination of sovereigns may prove more powerful than it ever was + before. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0073" id="link2HCH0073"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VI: What Sort Of Despotism Democratic Nations Have To Fear + </h2> + <p> + I had remarked during my stay in the United States, that a democratic + state of society, similar to that of the Americans, might offer singular + facilities for the establishment of despotism; and I perceived, upon my + return to Europe, how much use had already been made by most of our + rulers, of the notions, the sentiments, and the wants engendered by this + same social condition, for the purpose of extending the circle of their + power. This led me to think that the nations of Christendom would perhaps + eventually undergo some sort of oppression like that which hung over + several of the nations of the ancient world. A more accurate examination + of the subject, and five years of further meditations, have not diminished + my apprehensions, but they have changed the object of them. No sovereign + ever lived in former ages so absolute or so powerful as to undertake to + administer by his own agency, and without the assistance of intermediate + powers, all the parts of a great empire: none ever attempted to subject + all his subjects indiscriminately to strict uniformity of regulation, and + personally to tutor and direct every member of the community. The notion + of such an undertaking never occurred to the human mind; and if any man + had conceived it, the want of information, the imperfection of the + administrative system, and above all, the natural obstacles caused by the + inequality of conditions, would speedily have checked the execution of so + vast a design. When the Roman emperors were at the height of their power, + the different nations of the empire still preserved manners and customs of + great diversity; although they were subject to the same monarch, most of + the provinces were separately administered; they abounded in powerful and + active municipalities; and although the whole government of the empire was + centred in the hands of the emperor alone, and he always remained, upon + occasions, the supreme arbiter in all matters, yet the details of social + life and private occupations lay for the most part beyond his control. The + emperors possessed, it is true, an immense and unchecked power, which + allowed them to gratify all their whimsical tastes, and to employ for that + purpose the whole strength of the State. They frequently abused that power + arbitrarily to deprive their subjects of property or of life: their + tyranny was extremely onerous to the few, but it did not reach the greater + number; it was fixed to some few main objects, and neglected the rest; it + was violent, but its range was limited. + </p> + <p> + But it would seem that if despotism were to be established amongst the + democratic nations of our days, it might assume a different character; it + would be more extensive and more mild; it would degrade men without + tormenting them. I do not question, that in an age of instruction and + equality like our own, sovereigns might more easily succeed in collecting + all political power into their own hands, and might interfere more + habitually and decidedly within the circle of private interests, than any + sovereign of antiquity could ever do. But this same principle of equality + which facilitates despotism, tempers its rigor. We have seen how the + manners of society become more humane and gentle in proportion as men + become more equal and alike. When no member of the community has much + power or much wealth, tyranny is, as it were, without opportunities and a + field of action. As all fortunes are scanty, the passions of men are + naturally circumscribed—their imagination limited, their pleasures + simple. This universal moderation moderates the sovereign himself, and + checks within certain limits the inordinate extent of his desires. + </p> + <p> + Independently of these reasons drawn from the nature of the state of + society itself, I might add many others arising from causes beyond my + subject; but I shall keep within the limits I have laid down to myself. + Democratic governments may become violent and even cruel at certain + periods of extreme effervescence or of great danger: but these crises will + be rare and brief. When I consider the petty passions of our + contemporaries, the mildness of their manners, the extent of their + education, the purity of their religion, the gentleness of their morality, + their regular and industrious habits, and the restraint which they almost + all observe in their vices no less than in their virtues, I have no fear + that they will meet with tyrants in their rulers, but rather guardians. *a + I think then that the species of oppression by which democratic nations + are menaced is unlike anything which ever before existed in the world: our + contemporaries will find no prototype of it in their memories. I am trying + myself to choose an expression which will accurately convey the whole of + the idea I have formed of it, but in vain; the old words "despotism" and + "tyranny" are inappropriate: the thing itself is new; and since I cannot + name it, I must attempt to define it. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ See Appendix Y.] + </p> + <p> + I seek to trace the novel features under which despotism may appear in the + world. The first thing that strikes the observation is an innumerable + multitude of men all equal and alike, incessantly endeavoring to procure + the petty and paltry pleasures with which they glut their lives. Each of + them, living apart, is as a stranger to the fate of all the rest—his + children and his private friends constitute to him the whole of mankind; + as for the rest of his fellow-citizens, he is close to them, but he sees + them not—he touches them, but he feels them not; he exists but in + himself and for himself alone; and if his kindred still remain to him, he + may be said at any rate to have lost his country. Above this race of men + stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to + secure their gratifications, and to watch over their fate. That power is + absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the + authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object was to prepare + men for manhood; but it seeks on the contrary to keep them in perpetual + childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided + they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government + willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter + of that happiness: it provides for their security, foresees and supplies + their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal + concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and + subdivides their inheritances—what remains, but to spare them all + the care of thinking and all the trouble of living? Thus it every day + renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less + frequent; it circumscribes the will within a narrower range, and gradually + robs a man of all the uses of himself. The principle of equality has + prepared men for these things: it has predisposed men to endure them, and + oftentimes to look on them as benefits. + </p> + <p> + After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its + powerful grasp, and fashioned them at will, the supreme power then extends + its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a + net-work of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the + most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to + rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, + bent, and guided: men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are + constantly restrained from acting: such a power does not destroy, but it + prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, + extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to be + nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the + government is the shepherd. I have always thought that servitude of the + regular, quiet, and gentle kind which I have just described, might be + combined more easily than is commonly believed with some of the outward + forms of freedom; and that it might even establish itself under the wing + of the sovereignty of the people. Our contemporaries are constantly + excited by two conflicting passions; they want to be led, and they wish to + remain free: as they cannot destroy either one or the other of these + contrary propensities, they strive to satisfy them both at once. They + devise a sole, tutelary, and all-powerful form of government, but elected + by the people. They combine the principle of centralization and that of + popular sovereignty; this gives them a respite; they console themselves + for being in tutelage by the reflection that they have chosen their own + guardians. Every man allows himself to be put in leading-strings, because + he sees that it is not a person or a class of persons, but the people at + large that holds the end of his chain. By this system the people shake off + their state of dependence just long enough to select their master, and + then relapse into it again. A great many persons at the present day are + quite contented with this sort of compromise between administrative + despotism and the sovereignty of the people; and they think they have done + enough for the protection of individual freedom when they have surrendered + it to the power of the nation at large. This does not satisfy me: the + nature of him I am to obey signifies less to me than the fact of extorted + obedience. + </p> + <p> + I do not however deny that a constitution of this kind appears to me to be + infinitely preferable to one, which, after having concentrated all the + powers of government, should vest them in the hands of an irresponsible + person or body of persons. Of all the forms which democratic despotism + could assume, the latter would assuredly be the worst. When the sovereign + is elective, or narrowly watched by a legislature which is really elective + and independent, the oppression which he exercises over individuals is + sometimes greater, but it is always less degrading; because every man, + when he is oppressed and disarmed, may still imagine, that whilst he + yields obedience it is to himself he yields it, and that it is to one of + his own inclinations that all the rest give way. In like manner I can + understand that when the sovereign represents the nation, and is dependent + upon the people, the rights and the power of which every citizen is + deprived, not only serve the head of the State, but the State itself; and + that private persons derive some return from the sacrifice of their + independence which they have made to the public. To create a + representation of the people in every centralized country, is therefore, + to diminish the evil which extreme centralization may produce, but not to + get rid of it. I admit that by this means room is left for the + intervention of individuals in the more important affairs; but it is not + the less suppressed in the smaller and more private ones. It must not be + forgotten that it is especially dangerous to enslave men in the minor + details of life. For my own part, I should be inclined to think freedom + less necessary in great things than in little ones, if it were possible to + be secure of the one without possessing the other. Subjection in minor + affairs breaks out every day, and is felt by the whole community + indiscriminately. It does not drive men to resistance, but it crosses them + at every turn, till they are led to surrender the exercise of their will. + Thus their spirit is gradually broken and their character enervated; + whereas that obedience, which is exacted on a few important but rare + occasions, only exhibits servitude at certain intervals, and throws the + burden of it upon a small number of men. It is in vain to summon a people, + which has been rendered so dependent on the central power, to choose from + time to time the representatives of that power; this rare and brief + exercise of their free choice, however important it may be, will not + prevent them from gradually losing the faculties of thinking, feeling, and + acting for themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of + humanity. *b I add that they will soon become incapable of exercising the + great and only privilege which remains to them. The democratic nations + which have introduced freedom into their political constitution, at the + very time when they were augmenting the despotism of their administrative + constitution, have been led into strange paradoxes. To manage those minor + affairs in which good sense is all that is wanted—the people are + held to be unequal to the task, but when the government of the country is + at stake, the people are invested with immense powers; they are + alternately made the playthings of their ruler, and his masters—more + than kings, and less than men. After having exhausted all the different + modes of election, without finding one to suit their purpose, they are + still amazed, and still bent on seeking further; as if the evil they + remark did not originate in the constitution of the country far more than + in that of the electoral body. It is, indeed, difficult to conceive how + men who have entirely given up the habit of self-government should succeed + in making a proper choice of those by whom they are to be governed; and no + one will ever believe that a liberal, wise, and energetic government can + spring from the suffrages of a subservient people. A constitution, which + should be republican in its head and ultra-monarchical in all its other + parts, has ever appeared to me to be a short-lived monster. The vices of + rulers and the ineptitude of the people would speedily bring about its + ruin; and the nation, weary of its representatives and of itself, would + create freer institutions, or soon return to stretch itself at the feet of + a single master. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + b <br /> [ See Appendix Z.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0074" id="link2HCH0074"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VII: Continuation Of The Preceding Chapters + </h2> + <p> + I believe that it is easier to establish an absolute and despotic + government amongst a people in which the conditions of society are equal, + than amongst any other; and I think that if such a government were once + established amongst such a people, it would not only oppress men, but + would eventually strip each of them of several of the highest qualities of + humanity. Despotism therefore appears to me peculiarly to be dreaded in + democratic ages. I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times, but + in the time in which we live I am ready to worship it. On the other hand, + I am persuaded that all who shall attempt, in the ages upon which we are + entering, to base freedom upon aristocratic privilege, will fail—that + all who shall attempt to draw and to retain authority within a single + class, will fail. At the present day no ruler is skilful or strong enough + to found a despotism, by re-establishing permanent distinctions of rank + amongst his subjects: no legislator is wise or powerful enough to preserve + free institutions, if he does not take equality for his first principle + and his watchword. All those of our contemporaries who would establish or + secure the independence and the dignity of their fellow-men, must show + themselves the friends of equality; and the only worthy means of showing + themselves as such, is to be so: upon this depends the success of their + holy enterprise. Thus the question is not how to reconstruct aristocratic + society, but how to make liberty proceed out of that democratic state of + society in which God has placed us. + </p> + <p> + These two truths appear to me simple, clear, and fertile in consequences; + and they naturally lead me to consider what kind of free government can be + established amongst a people in which social conditions are equal. It + results from the very constitution of democratic nations and from their + necessities, that the power of government amongst them must be more + uniform, more centralized, more extensive, more searching, and more + efficient than in other countries. Society at large is naturally stronger + and more active, individuals more subordinate and weak; the former does + more, the latter less; and this is inevitably the case. It is not + therefore to be expected that the range of private independence will ever + be as extensive in democratic as in aristocratic countries—nor is + this to be desired; for, amongst aristocratic nations, the mass is often + sacrificed to the individual, and the prosperity of the greater number to + the greatness of the few. It is both necessary and desirable that the + government of a democratic people should be active and powerful: and our + object should not be to render it weak or indolent, but solely to prevent + it from abusing its aptitude and its strength. + </p> + <p> + The circumstance which most contributed to secure the independence of + private persons in aristocratic ages, was, that the supreme power did not + affect to take upon itself alone the government and administration of the + community; those functions were necessarily partially left to the members + of the aristocracy: so that as the supreme power was always divided, it + never weighed with its whole weight and in the same manner on each + individual. Not only did the government not perform everything by its + immediate agency; but as most of the agents who discharged its duties + derived their power not from the State, but from the circumstance of their + birth, they were not perpetually under its control. The government could + not make or unmake them in an instant, at pleasure, nor bend them in + strict uniformity to its slightest caprice—this was an additional + guarantee of private independence. I readily admit that recourse cannot be + had to the same means at the present time: but I discover certain + democratic expedients which may be substituted for them. Instead of + vesting in the government alone all the administrative powers of which + corporations and nobles have been deprived, a portion of them may be + entrusted to secondary public bodies, temporarily composed of private + citizens: thus the liberty of private persons will be more secure, and + their equality will not be diminished. + </p> + <p> + The Americans, who care less for words than the French, still designate by + the name of "county" the largest of their administrative districts: but + the duties of the count or lord-lieutenant are in part performed by a + provincial assembly. At a period of equality like our own it would be + unjust and unreasonable to institute hereditary officers; but there is + nothing to prevent us from substituting elective public officers to a + certain extent. Election is a democratic expedient which insures the + independence of the public officer in relation to the government, as much + and even more than hereditary rank can insure it amongst aristocratic + nations. Aristocratic countries abound in wealthy and influential persons + who are competent to provide for themselves, and who cannot be easily or + secretly oppressed: such persons restrain a government within general + habits of moderation and reserve. I am very well aware that democratic + countries contain no such persons naturally; but something analogous to + them may be created by artificial means. I firmly believe that an + aristocracy cannot again be founded in the world; but I think that private + citizens, by combining together, may constitute bodies of great wealth, + influence, and strength, corresponding to the persons of an aristocracy. + By this means many of the greatest political advantages of aristocracy + would be obtained without its injustice or its dangers. An association for + political, commercial, or manufacturing purposes, or even for those of + science and literature, is a powerful and enlightened member of the + community, which cannot be disposed of at pleasure, or oppressed without + remonstrance; and which, by defending its own rights against the + encroachments of the government, saves the common liberties of the + country. + </p> + <p> + In periods of aristocracy every man is always bound so closely to many of + his fellow-citizens, that he cannot be assailed without their coming to + his assistance. In ages of equality every man naturally stands alone; he + has no hereditary friends whose co-operation he may demand—no class + upon whose sympathy he may rely: he is easily got rid of, and he is + trampled on with impunity. At the present time, an oppressed member of the + community has therefore only one method of self-defence—he may + appeal to the whole nation; and if the whole nation is deaf to his + complaint, he may appeal to mankind: the only means he has of making this + appeal is by the press. Thus the liberty of the press is infinitely more + valuable amongst democratic nations than amongst all others; it is the + only cure for the evils which equality may produce. Equality sets men + apart and weakens them; but the press places a powerful weapon within + every man's reach, which the weakest and loneliest of them all may use. + Equality deprives a man of the support of his connections; but the press + enables him to summon all his fellow-countrymen and all his fellow-men to + his assistance. Printing has accelerated the progress of equality, and it + is also one of its best correctives. + </p> + <p> + I think that men living in aristocracies may, strictly speaking, do + without the liberty of the press: but such is not the case with those who + live in democratic countries. To protect their personal independence I + trust not to great political assemblies, to parliamentary privilege, or to + the assertion of popular sovereignty. All these things may, to a certain + extent, be reconciled with personal servitude—but that servitude + cannot be complete if the press is free: the press is the chiefest + democratic instrument of freedom. + </p> + <p> + Something analogous may be said of the judicial power. It is a part of the + essence of judicial power to attend to private interests, and to fix + itself with predilection on minute objects submitted to its observation; + another essential quality of judicial power is never to volunteer its + assistance to the oppressed, but always to be at the disposal of the + humblest of those who solicit it; their complaint, however feeble they may + themselves be, will force itself upon the ear of justice and claim + redress, for this is inherent in the very constitution of the courts of + justice. A power of this kind is therefore peculiarly adapted to the wants + of freedom, at a time when the eye and finger of the government are + constantly intruding into the minutest details of human actions, and when + private persons are at once too weak to protect themselves, and too much + isolated for them to reckon upon the assistance of their fellows. The + strength of the courts of law has ever been the greatest security which + can be offered to personal independence; but this is more especially the + case in democratic ages: private rights and interests are in constant + danger, if the judicial power does not grow more extensive and more strong + to keep pace with the growing equality of conditions. + </p> + <p> + Equality awakens in men several propensities extremely dangerous to + freedom, to which the attention of the legislator ought constantly to be + directed. I shall only remind the reader of the most important amongst + them. Men living in democratic ages do not readily comprehend the utility + of forms: they feel an instinctive contempt for them—I have + elsewhere shown for what reasons. Forms excite their contempt and often + their hatred; as they commonly aspire to none but easy and present + gratifications, they rush onwards to the object of their desires, and the + slightest delay exasperates them. This same temper, carried with them into + political life, renders them hostile to forms, which perpetually retard or + arrest them in some of their projects. Yet this objection which the men of + democracies make to forms is the very thing which renders forms so useful + to freedom; for their chief merit is to serve as a barrier between the + strong and the weak, the ruler and the people, to retard the one, and give + the other time to look about him. Forms become more necessary in + proportion as the government becomes more active and more powerful, whilst + private persons are becoming more indolent and more feeble. Thus + democratic nations naturally stand more in need of forms than other + nations, and they naturally respect them less. This deserves most serious + attention. Nothing is more pitiful than the arrogant disdain of most of + our contemporaries for questions of form; for the smallest questions of + form have acquired in our time an importance which they never had before: + many of the greatest interests of mankind depend upon them. I think that + if the statesmen of aristocratic ages could sometimes contemn forms with + impunity, and frequently rise above them, the statesmen to whom the + government of nations is now confided ought to treat the very least among + them with respect, and not neglect them without imperious necessity. In + aristocracies the observance of forms was superstitious; amongst us they + ought to be kept with a deliberate and enlightened deference. + </p> + <p> + Another tendency, which is extremely natural to democratic nations and + extremely dangerous, is that which leads them ta despise and undervalue + the rights of private persons. The attachment which men feel to a right, + and the respect which they display for it, is generally proportioned to + its importance, or to the length of time during which they have enjoyed + it. The rights of private persons amongst democratic nations are commonly + of small importance, of recent growth, and extremely precarious—the + consequence is that they are often sacrificed without regret, and almost + always violated without remorse. But it happens that at the same period + and amongst the same nations in which men conceive a natural contempt for + the rights of private persons, the rights of society at large are + naturally extended and consolidated: in other words, men become less + attached to private rights at the very time at which it would be most + necessary to retain and to defend what little remains of them. It is + therefore most especially in the present democratic ages, that the true + friends of the liberty and the greatness of man ought constantly to be on + the alert to prevent the power of government from lightly sacrificing the + private rights of individuals to the general execution of its designs. At + such times no citizen is so obscure that it is not very dangerous to allow + him to be oppressed—no private rights are so unimportant that they + can be surrendered with impunity to the caprices of a government. The + reason is plain:—if the private right of an individual is violated + at a time when the human mind is fully impressed with the importance and + the sanctity of such rights, the injury done is confined to the individual + whose right is infringed; but to violate such a right, at the present day, + is deeply to corrupt the manners of the nation and to put the whole + community in jeopardy, because the very notion of this kind of right + constantly tends amongst us to be impaired and lost. + </p> + <p> + There are certain habits, certain notions, and certain vices which are + peculiar to a state of revolution, and which a protracted revolution + cannot fail to engender and to propagate, whatever be, in other respects, + its character, its purpose, and the scene on which it takes place. When + any nation has, within a short space of time, repeatedly varied its + rulers, its opinions, and its laws, the men of whom it is composed + eventually contract a taste for change, and grow accustomed to see all + changes effected by sudden violence. Thus they naturally conceive a + contempt for forms which daily prove ineffectual; and they do not support + without impatience the dominion of rules which they have so often seen + infringed. As the ordinary notions of equity and morality no longer + suffice to explain and justify all the innovations daily begotten by a + revolution, the principle of public utility is called in, the doctrine of + political necessity is conjured up, and men accustom themselves to + sacrifice private interests without scruple, and to trample on the rights + of individuals in order more speedily to accomplish any public purpose. + </p> + <p> + These habits and notions, which I shall call revolutionary, because all + revolutions produce them, occur in aristocracies just as much as amongst + democratic nations; but amongst the former they are often less powerful + and always less lasting, because there they meet with habits, notions, + defects, and impediments, which counteract them: they consequently + disappear as soon as the revolution is terminated, and the nation reverts + to its former political courses. This is not always the case in democratic + countries, in which it is ever to be feared that revolutionary tendencies, + becoming more gentle and more regular, without entirely disappearing from + society, will be gradually transformed into habits of subjection to the + administrative authority of the government. I know of no countries in + which revolutions re more dangerous than in democratic countries; because, + independently of the accidental and transient evils which must always + attend them, they may always create some evils which are permanent and + unending. I believe that there are such things as justifiable resistance + and legitimate rebellion: I do not therefore assert, as an absolute + proposition, that the men of democratic ages ought never to make + revolutions; but I think that they have especial reason to hesitate before + they embark in them, and that it is far better to endure many grievances + in their present condition than to have recourse to so perilous a remedy. + </p> + <p> + I shall conclude by one general idea, which comprises not only all the + particular ideas which have been expressed in the present chapter, but + also most of those which it is the object of this book to treat of. In the + ages of aristocracy which preceded our own, there were private persons of + great power, and a social authority of extreme weakness. The outline of + society itself was not easily discernible, and constantly confounded with + the different powers by which the community was ruled. The principal + efforts of the men of those times were required to strengthen, aggrandize, + and secure the supreme power; and on the other hand, to circumscribe + individual independence within narrower limits, and to subject private + interests to the interests of the public. Other perils and other cares + await the men of our age. Amongst the greater part of modern nations, the + government, whatever may be its origin, its constitution, or its name, has + become almost omnipotent, and private persons are falling, more and more, + into the lowest stage of weakness and dependence. In olden society + everything was different; unity and uniformity were nowhere to be met + with. In modern society everything threatens to become so much alike, that + the peculiar characteristics of each individual will soon be entirely lost + in the general aspect of the world. Our forefathers were ever prone to + make an improper use of the notion, that private rights ought to be + respected; and we are naturally prone on the other hand to exaggerate the + idea that the interest of a private individual ought always to bend to the + interest of the many. The political world is metamorphosed: new remedies + must henceforth be sought for new disorders. To lay down extensive, but + distinct and settled limits, to the action of the government; to confer + certain rights on private persons, and to secure to them the undisputed + enjoyment of those rights; to enable individual man to maintain whatever + independence, strength, and original power he still possesses; to raise + him by the side of society at large, and uphold him in that position—these + appear to me the main objects of legislators in the ages upon which we are + now entering. It would seem as if the rulers of our time sought only to + use men in order to make things great; I wish that they would try a little + more to make great men; that they would set less value on the work, and + more upon the workman; that they would never forget that a nation cannot + long remain strong when every man belonging to it is individually weak, + and that no form or combination of social polity has yet been devised, to + make an energetic people out of a community of pusillanimous and enfeebled + citizens. + </p> + <p> + I trace amongst our contemporaries two contrary notions which are equally + injurious. One set of men can perceive nothing in the principle of + equality but the anarchical tendencies which it engenders: they dread + their own free agency—they fear themselves. Other thinkers, less + numerous but more enlightened, take a different view: besides that track + which starts from the principle of equality to terminate in anarchy, they + have at last discovered the road which seems to lead men to inevitable + servitude. They shape their souls beforehand to this necessary condition; + and, despairing of remaining free, they already do obeisance in their + hearts to the master who is soon to appear. The former abandon freedom, + because they think it dangerous; the latter, because they hold it to be + impossible. If I had entertained the latter conviction, I should not have + written this book, but I should have confined myself to deploring in + secret the destiny of mankind. I have sought to point out the dangers to + which the principle of equality exposes the independence of man, because I + firmly believe that these dangers are the most formidable, as well as the + least foreseen, of all those which futurity holds in store: but I do not + think that they are insurmountable. The men who live in the democratic + ages upon which we are entering have naturally a taste for independence: + they are naturally impatient of regulation, and they are wearied by the + permanence even of the condition they themselves prefer. They are fond of + power; but they are prone to despise and hate those who wield it, and they + easily elude its grasp by their own mobility and insignificance. These + propensities will always manifest themselves, because they originate in + the groundwork of society, which will undergo no change: for a long time + they will prevent the establishment of any despotism, and they will + furnish fresh weapons to each succeeding generation which shall struggle + in favor of the liberty of mankind. Let us then look forward to the future + with that salutary fear which makes men keep watch and ward for freedom, + not with that faint and idle terror which depresses and enervates the + heart. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0075" id="link2HCH0075"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VIII: General Survey Of The Subject + </h2> + <p> + Before I close forever the theme that has detained me so long, I would + fain take a parting survey of all the various characteristics of modern + society, and appreciate at last the general influence to be exercised by + the principle of equality upon the fate of mankind; but I am stopped by + the difficulty of the task, and in presence of so great an object my sight + is troubled, and my reason fails. The society of the modern world which I + have sought to delineate, and which I seek to judge, has but just come + into existence. Time has not yet shaped it into perfect form: the great + revolution by which it has been created is not yet over: and amidst the + occurrences of our time, it is almost impossible to discern what will pass + away with the revolution itself, and what will survive its close. The + world which is rising into existence is still half encumbered by the + remains of the world which is waning into decay; and amidst the vast + perplexity of human affairs, none can say how much of ancient institutions + and former manners will remain, or how much will completely disappear. + Although the revolution which is taking place in the social condition, the + laws, the opinions, and the feelings of men, is still very far from being + terminated, yet its results already admit of no comparison with anything + that the world has ever before witnessed. I go back from age to age up to + the remotest antiquity; but I find no parallel to what is occurring before + my eyes: as the past has ceased to throw its light upon the future, the + mind of man wanders in obscurity. Nevertheless, in the midst of a prospect + so wide, so novel and so confused, some of the more prominent + characteristics may already be discerned and pointed out. The good things + and the evils of life are more equally distributed in the world: great + wealth tends to disappear, the number of small fortunes to increase; + desires and gratifications are multiplied, but extraordinary prosperity + and irremediable penury are alike unknown. The sentiment of ambition is + universal, but the scope of ambition is seldom vast. Each individual + stands apart in solitary weakness; but society at large is active, + provident, and powerful: the performances of private persons are + insignificant, those of the State immense. There is little energy of + character; but manners are mild, and laws humane. If there be few + instances of exalted heroism or of virtues of the highest, brightest, and + purest temper, men's habits are regular, violence is rare, and cruelty + almost unknown. Human existence becomes longer, and property more secure: + life is not adorned with brilliant trophies, but it is extremely easy and + tranquil. Few pleasures are either very refined or very coarse; and highly + polished manners are as uncommon as great brutality of tastes. Neither men + of great learning, nor extremely ignorant communities, are to be met with; + genius becomes more rare, information more diffused. The human mind is + impelled by the small efforts of all mankind combined together, not by the + strenuous activity of certain men. There is less perfection, but more + abundance, in all the productions of the arts. The ties of race, of rank, + and of country are relaxed; the great bond of humanity is strengthened. If + I endeavor to find out the most general and the most prominent of all + these different characteristics, I shall have occasion to perceive, that + what is taking place in men's fortunes manifests itself under a thousand + other forms. Almost all extremes are softened or blunted: all that was + most prominent is superseded by some mean term, at once less lofty and + less low, less brilliant and less obscure, than what before existed in the + world. + </p> + <p> + When I survey this countless multitude of beings, shaped in each other's + likeness, amidst whom nothing rises and nothing falls, the sight of such + universal uniformity saddens and chills me, and I am tempted to regret + that state of society which has ceased to be. When the world was full of + men of great importance and extreme insignificance, of great wealth and + extreme poverty, of great learning and extreme ignorance, I turned aside + from the latter to fix my observation on the former alone, who gratified + my sympathies. But I admit that this gratification arose from my own + weakness: it is because I am unable to see at once all that is around me, + that I am allowed thus to select and separate the objects of my + predilection from among so many others. Such is not the case with that + almighty and eternal Being whose gaze necessarily includes the whole of + created things, and who surveys distinctly, though at once, mankind and + man. We may naturally believe that it is not the singular prosperity of + the few, but the greater well-being of all, which is most pleasing in the + sight of the Creator and Preserver of men. What appears to me to be man's + decline, is to His eye advancement; what afflicts me is acceptable to Him. + A state of equality is perhaps less elevated, but it is more just; and its + justice constitutes its greatness and its beauty. I would strive then to + raise myself to this point of the divine contemplation, and thence to view + and to judge the concerns of men. + </p> + <p> + No man, upon the earth, can as yet affirm absolutely and generally, that + the new state of the world is better than its former one; but it is + already easy to perceive that this state is different. Some vices and some + virtues were so inherent in the constitution of an aristocratic nation, + and are so opposite to the character of a modern people, that they can + never be infused into it; some good tendencies and some bad propensities + which were unknown to the former, are natural to the latter; some ideas + suggest themselves spontaneously to the imagination of the one, which are + utterly repugnant to the mind of the other. They are like two distinct + orders of human beings, each of which has its own merits and defects, its + own advantages and its own evils. Care must therefore be taken not to + judge the state of society, which is now coming into existence, by notions + derived from a state of society which no longer exists; for as these + states of society are exceedingly different in their structure, they + cannot be submitted to a just or fair comparison. It would be scarcely + more reasonable to require of our own contemporaries the peculiar virtues + which originated in the social condition of their forefathers, since that + social condition is itself fallen, and has drawn into one promiscuous ruin + the good and evil which belonged to it. + </p> + <p> + But as yet these things are imperfectly understood. I find that a great + number of my contemporaries undertake to make a certain selection from + amongst the institutions, the opinions, and the ideas which originated in + the aristocratic constitution of society as it was: a portion of these + elements they would willingly relinquish, but they would keep the + remainder and transplant them into their new world. I apprehend that such + men are wasting their time and their strength in virtuous but unprofitable + efforts. The object is not to retain the peculiar advantages which the + inequality of conditions bestows upon mankind, but to secure the new + benefits which equality may supply. We have not to seek to make ourselves + like our progenitors, but to strive to work out that species of greatness + and happiness which is our own. For myself, who now look back from this + extreme limit of my task, and discover from afar, but at once, the various + objects which have attracted my more attentive investigation upon my way, + I am full of apprehensions and of hopes. I perceive mighty dangers which + it is possible to ward off—mighty evils which may be avoided or + alleviated; and I cling with a firmer hold to the belief, that for + democratic nations to be virtuous and prosperous they require but to will + it. I am aware that many of my contemporaries maintain that nations are + never their own masters here below, and that they necessarily obey some + insurmountable and unintelligent power, arising from anterior events, from + their race, or from the soil and climate of their country. Such principles + are false and cowardly; such principles can never produce aught but feeble + men and pusillanimous nations. Providence has not created mankind entirely + independent or entirely free. It is true that around every man a fatal + circle is traced, beyond which he cannot pass; but within the wide verge + of that circle he is powerful and free: as it is with man, so with + communities. The nations of our time cannot prevent the conditions of men + from becoming equal; but it depends upon themselves whether the principle + of equality is to lead them to servitude or freedom, to knowledge or + barbarism, to prosperity or to wretchedness. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="linkappendix" id="linkappendix"></a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + APPENDIX TO PARTS I. AND II. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART" id="link2H_PART"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Part I. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEa" id="link2H_APPEa"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix A + </h2> + <p> + For information concerning all the countries of the West which have not + been visited by Europeans, consult the account of two expeditions + undertaken at the expense of Congress by Major Long. This traveller + particularly mentions, on the subject of the great American desert, that a + line may be drawn nearly parallel to the 20th degree of longitude *a + (meridian of Washington), beginning from the Red River and ending at the + River Platte. From this imaginary line to the Rocky Mountains, which bound + the valley of the Mississippi on the west, lie immense plains, which are + almost entirely covered with sand, incapable of cultivation, or scattered + over with masses of granite. In summer, these plains are quite destitute + of water, and nothing is to be seen on them but herds of buffaloes and + wild horses. Some hordes of Indians are also found there, but in no great + numbers. Major Long was told that in travelling northwards from the River + Platte you find the same desert lying constantly on the left; but he was + unable to ascertain the truth of this report. However worthy of confidence + may be the narrative of Major Long, it must be remembered that he only + passed through the country of which he speaks, without deviating widely + from the line which he had traced out for his journey. + </p> + <p class="foot"> + a <br /> [ The 20th degree of longitude, according to the meridian of + Washington, agrees very nearly with the 97th degree on the meridian of + Greenwich.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEb" id="link2H_APPEb"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix B + </h2> + <p> + South America, in the region between the tropics, produces an incredible + profusion of climbing plants, of which the flora of the Antilles alone + presents us with forty different species. Among the most graceful of these + shrubs is the passion-flower, which, according to Descourtiz, grows with + such luxuriance in the Antilles, as to climb trees by means of the + tendrils with which it is provided, and form moving bowers of rich and + elegant festoons, decorated with blue and purple flowers, and fragrant + with perfume. The Mimosa scandens (Acacia a grandes gousses) is a creeper + of enormous and rapid growth, which climbs from tree to tree, and + sometimes covers more than half a league. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEc" id="link2H_APPEc"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix C + </h2> + <p> + The languages which are spoken by the Indians of America, from the Pole to + Cape Horn, are said to be all formed upon the same model, and subject to + the same grammatical rules; whence it may fairly be concluded that all the + Indian nations sprang from the same stock. Each tribe of the American + continent speaks a different dialect; but the number of languages, + properly so called, is very small, a fact which tends to prove that the + nations of the New World had not a very remote origin. Moreover, the + languages of America have a great degree of regularity, from which it + seems probable that the tribes which employ them had not undergone any + great revolutions, or been incorporated voluntarily or by constraint, with + foreign nations. For it is generally the union of several languages into + one which produces grammatical irregularities. It is not long since the + American languages, especially those of the North, first attracted the + serious attention of philologists, when the discovery was made that this + idiom of a barbarous people was the product of a complicated system of + ideas and very learned combinations. These languages were found to be very + rich, and great pains had been taken at their formation to render them + agreeable to the ear. The grammatical system of the Americans differs from + all others in several points, but especially in the following:—Some + nations of Europe, amongst others the Germans, have the power of combining + at pleasure different expressions, and thus giving a complex sense to + certain words. The Indians have given a most surprising extension to this + power, so as to arrive at the means of connecting a great number of ideas + with a single term. This will be easily understood with the help of an + example quoted by Mr. Duponceau, in the "Memoirs of the Philosophical + Society of America": A Delaware woman playing with a cat or a young dog, + says this writer, is heard to pronounce the word kuligatschis, which is + thus composed: k is the sign of the second person, and signifies "thou" or + "thy"; uli is a part of the word wulit, which signifies "beautiful," + "pretty"; gat is another fragment, of the word wichgat, which means "paw"; + and, lastly, schis is a diminutive giving the idea of smallness. Thus in + one word the Indian woman has expressed "Thy pretty little paw." Take + another example of the felicity with which the savages of America have + composed their words. A young man of Delaware is called pilape. This word + is formed from pilsit, "chaste," "innocent"; and lenape, "man"; viz., "man + in his purity and innocence." This facility of combining words is most + remarkable in the strange formation of their verbs. The most complex + action is often expressed by a single verb, which serves to convey all the + shades of an idea by the modification of its construction. Those who may + wish to examine more in detail this subject, which I have only glanced at + superficially, should read:— + </p> + <p> + 1. The correspondence of Mr. Duponceau and the Rev. Mr. Hecwelder relative + to the Indian languages, which is to be found in the first volume of the + "Memoirs of the Philosophical Society of America," published at + Philadelphia, 1819, by Abraham Small; vol. i. p. 356-464. + </p> + <p> + 2. The "Grammar of the Delaware or the Lenape Language," by Geiberger, and + the preface of Mr. Duponceau. All these are in the same collection, vol. + iii. + </p> + <p> + 3. An excellent account of these works, which is at the end of the sixth + volume of the American Encyclopaedia. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEd" id="link2H_APPEd"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix D + </h2> + <p> + See in Charlevoix, vol. i. p. 235, the history of the first war which the + French inhabitants of Canada carried on, in 1610, against the Iroquois. + The latter, armed with bows and arrows, offered a desperate resistance to + the French and their allies. Charlevoix is not a great painter, yet he + exhibits clearly enough, in this narrative, the contrast between the + European manners and those of savages, as well as the different way in + which the two races of men understood the sense of honor. When the French, + says he, seized upon the beaver-skins which covered the Indians who had + fallen, the Hurons, their allies, were greatly offended at this + proceeding; but without hesitation they set to work in their usual manner, + inflicting horrid cruelties upon the prisoners, and devouring one of those + who had been killed, which made the Frenchmen shudder. The barbarians + prided themselves upon a scrupulousness which they were surprised at not + finding in our nation, and could not understand that there was less to + reprehend in the stripping of dead bodies than in the devouring of their + flesh like wild beasts. Charlevoix, in another place (vol. i. p. 230), + thus describes the first torture of which Champlain was an eyewitness, and + the return of the Hurons into their own village. Having proceeded about + eight leagues, says he, our allies halted; and having singled out one of + their captives, they reproached him with all the cruelties which he had + practised upon the warriors of their nation who had fallen into his hands, + and told him that he might expect to be treated in like manner; adding, + that if he had any spirit he would prove it by singing. He immediately + chanted forth his death-song, and then his war-song, and all the songs he + knew, "but in a very mournful strain," says Champlain, who was not then + aware that all savage music has a melancholy character. The tortures which + succeeded, accompanied by all the horrors which we shall mention + hereafter, terrified the French, who made every effort to put a stop to + them, but in vain. The following night, one of the Hurons having dreamt + that they were pursued, the retreat was changed to a real flight, and the + savages never stopped until they were out of the reach of danger. The + moment they perceived the cabins of their own village, they cut themselves + long sticks, to which they fastened the scalps which had fallen to their + share, and carried them in triumph. At this sight, the women swam to the + canoes, where they received the bloody scalps from the hands of their + husbands, and tied them round their necks. The warriors offered one of + these horrible trophies to Champlain; they also presented him with some + bows and arrows—the only spoils of the Iroquois which they had + ventured to seize—entreating him to show them to the King of France. + Champlain lived a whole winter quite alone among these barbarians, without + being under any alarm for his person or property. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEe" id="link2H_APPEe"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix E + </h2> + <p> + Although the Puritanical strictness which presided over the establishment + of the English colonies in America is now much relaxed, remarkable traces + of it are still found in their habits and their laws. In 1792, at the very + time when the anti-Christian republic of France began its ephemeral + existence, the legislative body of Massachusetts promulgated the following + law, to compel the citizens to observe the Sabbath. We give the preamble + and the principal articles of this law, which is worthy of the reader's + attention: "Whereas," says the legislator, "the observation of the Sunday + is an affair of public interest; inasmuch as it produces a necessary + suspension of labor, leads men to reflect upon the duties of life, and the + errors to which human nature is liable, and provides for the public and + private worship of God, the creator and governor of the universe, and for + the performance of such acts of charity as are the ornament and comfort of + Christian societies:—Whereas irreligious or light-minded persons, + forgetting the duties which the Sabbath imposes, and the benefits which + these duties confer on society, are known to profane its sanctity, by + following their pleasures or their affairs; this way of acting being + contrary to their own interest as Christians, and calculated to annoy + those who do not follow their example; being also of great injury to + society at large, by spreading a taste for dissipation and dissolute + manners; Be it enacted and ordained by the Governor, Council, and + Representatives convened in General Court of Assembly, that all and every + person and persons shall on that day carefully apply themselves to the + duties of religion and piety, that no tradesman or labourer shall exercise + his ordinary calling, and that no game or recreation shall be used on the + Lord's Day, upon pain of forfeiting ten shillings. + </p> + <p> + "That no one shall travel on that day, or any part thereof, under pain of + forfeiting twenty shillings; that no vessel shall leave a harbour of the + colony; that no persons shall keep outside the meeting-house during the + time of public worship, or profane the time by playing or talking, on + penalty of five shillings. + </p> + <p> + "Public-houses shall not entertain any other than strangers or lodgers, + under penalty of five shillings for every person found drinking and + abiding therein. + </p> + <p> + "Any person in health, who, without sufficient reason, shall omit to + worship God in public during three months, shall be condemned to a fine of + ten shillings. + </p> + <p> + "Any person guilty of misbehaviour in a place of public worship, shall be + fined from five to forty shillings. + </p> + <p> + "These laws are to be enforced by the tything-men of each township, who + have authority to visit public-houses on the Sunday. The innkeeper who + shall refuse them admittance, shall be fined forty shillings for such + offence. + </p> + <p> + "The tything-men are to stop travellers, and require of them their reason + for being on the road on Sunday; anyone refusing to answer, shall be + sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding five pounds sterling. If the reason + given by the traveller be not deemed by the tything-man sufficient, he may + bring the traveller before the justice of the peace of the district." (Law + of March 8, 1792; General Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 410.) + </p> + <p> + On March 11, 1797, a new law increased the amount of fines, half of which + was to be given to the informer. (Same collection, vol. ii. p. 525.) On + February 16, 1816, a new law confirmed these same measures. (Same + collection, vol. ii. p. 405.) Similar enactments exist in the laws of the + State of New York, revised in 1827 and 1828. (See Revised Statutes, Part + I. chapter 20, p. 675.) In these it is declared that no one is allowed on + the Sabbath to sport, to fish, to play at games, or to frequent houses + where liquor is sold. No one can travel, except in case of necessity. And + this is not the only trace which the religious strictness and austere + manners of the first emigrants have left behind them in the American laws. + In the Revised Statutes of the State of New York, vol. i. p. 662, is the + following clause:— + </p> + <p> + "Whoever shall win or lose in the space of twenty-four hours, by gaming or + betting, the sum of twenty-five dollars, shall be found guilty of a + misdemeanour, and upon conviction shall be condemned to pay a fine equal + to at least five times the value of the sum lost or won; which shall be + paid to the inspector of the poor of the township. He that loses + twenty-five dollars or more may bring an action to recover them; and if he + neglects to do so the inspector of the poor may prosecute the winner, and + oblige him to pay into the poor's box both the sum he has gained and three + times as much besides." + </p> + <p> + The laws we quote from are of recent date; but they are unintelligible + without going back to the very origin of the colonies. I have no doubt + that in our days the penal part of these laws is very rarely applied. Laws + preserve their inflexibility, long after the manners of a nation have + yielded to the influence of time. It is still true, however, that nothing + strikes a foreigner on his arrival in America more forcibly than the + regard paid to the Sabbath. There is one, in particular, of the large + American cities, in which all social movements begin to be suspended even + on Saturday evening. You traverse its streets at the hour at which you + expect men in the middle of life to be engaged in business, and young + people in pleasure; and you meet with solitude and silence. Not only have + all ceased to work, but they appear to have ceased to exist. Neither the + movements of industry are heard, nor the accents of joy, nor even the + confused murmur which arises from the midst of a great city. Chains are + hung across the streets in the neighborhood of the churches; the + half-closed shutters of the houses scarcely admit a ray of sun into the + dwellings of the citizens. Now and then you perceive a solitary individual + who glides silently along the deserted streets and lanes. Next day, at + early dawn, the rolling of carriages, the noise of hammers, the cries of + the population, begin to make themselves heard again. The city is awake. + An eager crowd hastens towards the resort of commerce and industry; + everything around you bespeaks motion, bustle, hurry. A feverish activity + succeeds to the lethargic stupor of yesterday; you might almost suppose + that they had but one day to acquire wealth and to enjoy it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEf" id="link2H_APPEf"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix F + </h2> + <p> + It is unnecessary for me to say, that in the chapter which has just been + read, I have not had the intention of giving a history of America. My only + object was to enable the reader to appreciate the influence which the + opinions and manners of the first emigrants had exercised upon the fate of + the different colonies, and of the Union in general. I have therefore + confined myself to the quotation of a few detached fragments. I do not + know whether I am deceived, but it appears to me that, by pursuing the + path which I have merely pointed out, it would be easy to present such + pictures of the American republics as would not be unworthy the attention + of the public, and could not fail to suggest to the statesman matter for + reflection. Not being able to devote myself to this labor, I am anxious to + render it easy to others; and, for this purpose, I subjoin a short + catalogue and analysis of the works which seem to me the most important to + consult. + </p> + <p> + At the head of the general documents which it would be advantageous to + examine I place the work entitled "An Historical Collection of State + Papers, and other authentic Documents, intended as Materials for a History + of the United States of America," by Ebenezer Hasard. The first volume of + this compilation, which was printed at Philadelphia in 1792, contains a + literal copy of all the charters granted by the Crown of England to the + emigrants, as well as the principal acts of the colonial governments, + during the commencement of their existence. Amongst other authentic + documents, we here find a great many relating to the affairs of New + England and Virginia during this period. The second volume is almost + entirely devoted to the acts of the Confederation of 1643. This federal + compact, which was entered into by the colonies of New England with the + view of resisting the Indians, was the first instance of union afforded by + the Anglo-Americans. There were besides many other confederations of the + same nature, before the famous one of 1776, which brought about the + independence of the colonies. + </p> + <p> + Each colony has, besides, its own historic monuments, some of which are + extremely curious; beginning with Virginia, the State which was first + peopled. The earliest historian of Virginia was its founder, Captain John + Smith. Captain Smith has left us an octavo volume, entitled "The generall + Historie of Virginia and New England, by Captain John Smith, sometymes + Governor in those Countryes, and Admirall of New England"; printed at + London in 1627. The work is adorned with curious maps and engravings of + the time when it appeared; the narrative extends from the year 1584 to + 1626. Smith's work is highly and deservedly esteemed. The author was one + of the most celebrated adventurers of a period of remarkable adventure; + his book breathes that ardor for discovery, that spirit of enterprise, + which characterized the men of his time, when the manners of chivalry were + united to zeal for commerce, and made subservient to the acquisition of + wealth. But Captain Smith is most remarkable for uniting to the virtues + which characterized his contemporaries several qualities to which they + were generally strangers; his style is simple and concise, his narratives + bear the stamp of truth, and his descriptions are free from false + ornament. This author throws most valuable light upon the state and + condition of the Indians at the time when North America was first + discovered. + </p> + <p> + The second historian to consult is Beverley, who commences his narrative + with the year 1585, and ends it with 1700. The first part of his book + contains historical documents, properly so called, relative to the infancy + of the colony. The second affords a most curious picture of the state of + the Indians at this remote period. The third conveys very clear ideas + concerning the manners, social conditions, laws, and political customs of + the Virginians in the author's lifetime. Beverley was a native of + Virginia, which occasions him to say at the beginning of his book, that he + entreats his readers not to exercise their critical severity upon it, + since, having been born in the Indies, he does not aspire to purity of + language. Notwithstanding this colonial modesty, the author shows + throughout his book the impatience with which he endures the supremacy of + the mother-country. In this work of Beverley are also found numerous + traces of that spirit of civil liberty which animated the English colonies + of America at the time when he wrote. He also shows the dissensions which + existed among them, and retarded their independence. Beverley detests his + Catholic neighbors of Maryland even more than he hates the English + government: his style is simple, his narrative interesting, and apparently + trustworthy. + </p> + <p> + I saw in America another work which ought to be consulted, entitled "The + History of Virginia," by William Stith. This book affords some curious + details, but I thought it long and diffuse. The most ancient as well as + the best document to be consulted on the history of Carolina, is a work in + small quarto, entitled "The History of Carolina," by John Lawson, printed + at London in 1718. This work contains, in the first part, a journey of + discovery in the west of Carolina; the account of which, given in the form + of a journal, is in general confused and superficial; but it contains a + very striking description of the mortality caused among the savages of + that time both by the smallpox and the immoderate use of brandy; with a + curious picture of the corruption of manners prevalent amongst them, which + was increased by the presence of Europeans. The second part of Lawson's + book is taken up with a description of the physical condition of Carolina, + and its productions. In the third part, the author gives an interesting + account of the manners, customs, and government of the Indians at that + period. There is a good deal of talent and originality in this part of the + work. Lawson concludes his history with a copy of the charter granted to + the Carolinas in the reign of Charles II. The general tone of this work is + light, and often licentious, forming a perfect contrast to the solemn + style of the works published at the same period in New England. Lawson's + history is extremely scarce in America, and cannot be procured in Europe. + There is, however, a copy of it in the Royal Library at Paris. + </p> + <p> + From the southern extremity of the United States, I pass at once to the + northern limit; as the intermediate space was not peopled till a later + period. I must first point out a very curious compilation, entitled + "Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society," printed for the + first time at Boston in 1792, and reprinted in 1806. The collection of + which I speak, and which is continued to the present day, contains a great + number of very valuable documents relating to the history of the different + States in New England. Among them are letters which have never been + published, and authentic pieces which had been buried in provincial + archives. The whole work of Gookin, concerning the Indians, is inserted + there. + </p> + <p> + I have mentioned several times in the chapter to which this note relates, + the work of Nathaniel Norton entitled "New England's Memorial"; + sufficiently, perhaps, to prove that it deserves the attention of those + who would be conversant with the history of New England. This book is in + octavo, and was reprinted at Boston in 1826. + </p> + <p> + The most valuable and important authority which exists upon the history of + New England, is the work of the Rev. Cotton Mather, entitled "Magnalia + Christi Americana, or the Ecclesiastical History of New England, + 1620-1698, 2 vols. 8vo, reprinted at Hartford, United States, in 1820." *b + The author divided his work into seven books. The first presents the + history of the events which prepared and brought about the establishment + of New England. The second contains the lives of the first governors and + chief magistrates who presided over the country. The third is devoted to + the lives and labors of the evangelical ministers who, during the same + period, had the care of souls. In the fourth the author relates the + institution and progress of the University of Cambridge (Massachusetts). + In the fifth he describes the principles and the discipline of the Church + of New England. The sixth is taken up in retracing certain facts, which, + in the opinion of Mather, prove the merciful interposition of Providence + in behalf of the inhabitants of New England. Lastly, in the seventh, the + author gives an account of the heresies and the troubles to which the + Church of New England was exposed. Cotton Mather was an evangelical + minister who was born at Boston, and passed his life there. His narratives + are distinguished by the same ardor and religious zeal which led to the + foundation of the colonies of New England. Traces of bad taste sometimes + occur in his manner of writing; but he interests, because he is full of + enthusiasm. He is often intolerant, still oftener credulous, but he never + betrays an intention to deceive. Sometimes his book contains fine + passages, and true and profound reflections, such as the following:— + </p> + <p> + "Before the arrival of the Puritans," says he (vol. i. chap. iv.), "there + were more than a few attempts of the English to people and improve the + parts of New England which were to the northward of New Plymouth; but the + designs of those attempts being aimed no higher than the advancement of + some worldly interests, a constant series of disasters has confounded + them, until there was a plantation erected upon the nobler designs of + Christianity: and that plantation though it has had more adversaries than + perhaps any one upon earth, yet, having obtained help from God, it + continues to this day." Mather occasionally relieves the austerity of his + descriptions with images full of tender feeling: after having spoken of an + English lady whose religious ardor had brought her to America with her + husband, and who soon after sank under the fatigues and privations of + exile, he adds, "As for her virtuous husband, Isaac Johnson, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + He tryed + To live without her, liked it not, and dyed." +</pre> + <p class="foot"> + b <br /> [ A folio edition of this work was published in London in 1702.] + </p> + <p> + Mather's work gives an admirable picture of the time and country which he + describes. In his account of the motives which led the Puritans to seek an + asylum beyond seas, he says:—"The God of Heaven served, as it were, + a summons upon the spirits of his people in the English nation, stirring + up the spirits of thousands which never saw the faces of each other, with + a most unanimous inclination to leave all the pleasant accommodations of + their native country, and go over a terrible ocean, into a more terrible + desert, for the pure enjoyment of all his ordinances. It is now reasonable + that, before we pass any further, the reasons of his undertaking should be + more exactly made known unto posterity, especially unto the posterity of + those that were the undertakers, lest they come at length to forget and + neglect the true interest of New England. Wherefore I shall now transcribe + some of them from a manuscript, wherein they were then tendered unto + consideration: + </p> + <p> + "General Considerations for the Plantation of New England + </p> + <p> + "First, It will be a service unto the Church of great consequence, to + carry the Gospel unto those parts of the world, and raise a bulwark + against the kingdom of Antichrist, which the Jesuits labour to rear up in + all parts of the world. + </p> + <p> + "Secondly, All other Churches of Europe have been brought under + desolations; and it may be feared that the like judgments are coming upon + us; and who knows but God hath provided this place to be a refuge for many + whom he means to save out of the general destruction? + </p> + <p> + "Thirdly, The land grows weary of her inhabitants, insomuch that man, + which is the most precious of all creatures, is here more vile and base + than the earth he treads upon; children, neighbours, and friends, + especially the poor, are counted the greatest burdens, which, if things + were right, would be the chiefest of earthly blessings. + </p> + <p> + "Fourthly, We are grown to that intemperance in all excess of riot, as no + mean estate almost will suffice a man to keep sail with his equals, and he + that fails in it must live in scorn and contempt: hence it comes to pass, + that all arts and trades are carried in that deceitful manner and + unrighteous course, as it is almost impossible for a good upright man to + maintain his constant charge and live comfortably in them. + </p> + <p> + "Fifthly, The schools of learning and religion are so corrupted, as + (besides the unsupportable charge of education) most children, even the + best, wittiest, and of the fairest hopes, are perverted, corrupted, and + utterly overthrown by the multitude of evil examples and licentious + behaviours in these seminaries. + </p> + <p> + "Sixthly, The whole earth is the Lord's garden, and he hath given it to + the sons of Adam, to be tilled and improved by them: why, then, should we + stand starving here for places of habitation, and in the meantime suffer + whole countries, as profitable for the use of man, to lie waste without + any improvement? + </p> + <p> + "Seventhly, What can be a better or nobler work, and more worthy of a + Christian, than to erect and support a reformed particular Church in its + infancy, and unite our forces with such a company of faithful people, as + by timely assistance may grow stronger and prosper; but for want of it, + may be put to great hazards, if not be wholly ruined? + </p> + <p> + "Eighthly, If any such as are known to be godly, and live in wealth and + prosperity here, shall forsake all this to join with this reformed Church, + and with it run the hazard of an hard and mean condition, it will be an + example of great use, both for the removing of scandal and to give more + life unto the faith of God's people in their prayers for the plantation, + and also to encourage others to join the more willingly in it." + </p> + <p> + Further on, when he declares the principles of the Church of New England + with respect to morals, Mather inveighs with violence against the custom + of drinking healths at table, which he denounces as a pagan and abominable + practice. He proscribes with the same rigor all ornaments for the hair + used by the female sex, as well as their custom of having the arms and + neck uncovered. In another part of his work he relates several instances + of witchcraft which had alarmed New England. It is plain that the visible + action of the devil in the affairs of this world appeared to him an + incontestable and evident fact. + </p> + <p> + This work of Cotton Mather displays, in many places, the spirit of civil + liberty and political independence which characterized the times in which + he lived. Their principles respecting government are discoverable at every + page. Thus, for instance, the inhabitants of Massachusetts, in the year + 1630, ten years after the foundation of Plymouth, are found to have + devoted Pound 400 sterling to the establishment of the University of + Cambridge. In passing from the general documents relative to the history + of New England to those which describe the several States comprised within + its limits, I ought first to notice "The History of the Colony of + Massachusetts," by Hutchinson, Lieutenant-Governor of the Massachusetts + Province, 2 vols. 8vo. The history of Hutchinson, which I have several + times quoted in the chapter to which this note relates, commences in the + year 1628, and ends in 1750. Throughout the work there is a striking air + of truth and the greatest simplicity of style: it is full of minute + details. The best history to consult concerning Connecticut is that of + Benjamin Trumbull, entitled "A Complete History of Connecticut, Civil and + Ecclesiastical," 1630-1764, 2 vols. 8vo, printed in 1818 at New Haven. + This history contains a clear and calm account of all the events which + happened in Connecticut during the period given in the title. The author + drew from the best sources, and his narrative bears the stamp of truth. + All that he says of the early days of Connecticut is extremely curious. + See especially the Constitution of 1639, vol. i. ch. vi. p. 100; and also + the Penal Laws of Connecticut, vol. i. ch. vii. p. 123. + </p> + <p> + "The History of New Hampshire," by Jeremy Belknap, is a work held in + merited estimation. It was printed at Boston in 1792, in 2 vols. 8vo. The + third chapter of the first volume is particularly worthy of attention for + the valuable details it affords on the political and religious principles + of the Puritans, on the causes of their emigration, and on their laws. The + following curious quotation is given from a sermon delivered in 1663:—"It + concerneth New England always to remember that they are a plantation + religious, not a plantation of trade. The profession of the purity of + doctrine, worship, and discipline, is written upon her forehead. Let + merchants, and such as are increasing cent. per cent., remember this, that + worldly gain was not the end and design of the people of New England, but + religion. And if any man among us make religion as twelve, and the world + as thirteen, such an one hath not the spirit of a true New Englishman." + The reader of Belknap will find in his work more general ideas, and more + strength of thought, than are to be met with in the American historians + even to the present day. + </p> + <p> + Among the Central States which deserve our attention for their remote + origin, New York and Pennsylvania are the foremost. The best history we + have of the former is entitled "A History of New York," by William Smith, + printed at London in 1757. Smith gives us important details of the wars + between the French and English in America. His is the best account of the + famous confederation of the Iroquois. + </p> + <p> + With respect to Pennsylvania, I cannot do better than point out the work + of Proud, entitled "The History of Pennsylvania, from the original + Institution and Settlement of that Province, under the first Proprietor + and Governor, William Penn, in 1681, till after the year 1742," by Robert + Proud, 2 vols. 8vo, printed at Philadelphia in 1797. This work is + deserving of the especial attention of the reader; it contains a mass of + curious documents concerning Penn, the doctrine of the Quakers, and the + character, manners, and customs of the first inhabitants of Pennsylvania. + I need not add that among the most important documents relating to this + State are the works of Penn himself, and those of Franklin. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART2" id="link2H_PART2"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Part II. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEg" id="link2H_APPEg"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix G + </h2> + <h3> + We read in Jefferson's "Memoirs" as follows:— + </h3> + <p> + "At the time of the first settlement of the English in Virginia, when land + was to be had for little or nothing, some provident persons having + obtained large grants of it, and being desirous of maintaining the + splendor of their families, entailed their property upon their + descendants. The transmission of these estates from generation to + generation, to men who bore the same name, had the effect of raising up a + distinct class of families, who, possessing by law the privilege of + perpetuating their wealth, formed by these means a sort of patrician + order, distinguished by the grandeur and luxury of their establishments. + From this order it was that the King usually chose his councillors of + state." *c + </p> + <p class="foot"> + c <br /> [ This passage is extracted and translated from M. Conseil's work + upon the life of Jefferson, entitled "Melanges Politiques et + Philosophiques de Jefferson."] + </p> + <p> + In the United States, the principal clauses of the English law respecting + descent have been universally rejected. The first rule that we follow, + says Mr. Kent, touching inheritance, is the following:—If a man dies + intestate, his property goes to his heirs in a direct line. If he has but + one heir or heiress, he or she succeeds to the whole. If there are several + heirs of the same degree, they divide the inheritance equally amongst + them, without distinction of sex. This rule was prescribed for the first + time in the State of New York by a statute of February 23, 1786. (See + Revised Statutes, vol. iii. Appendix, p. 48.) It has since then been + adopted in the Revised Statutes of the same State. At the present day this + law holds good throughout the whole of the United States, with the + exception of the State of Vermont, where the male heir inherits a double + portion. (Kent's "Commentaries," vol. iv. p. 370.) Mr. Kent, in the same + work, vol. iv. p. 1-22, gives a historical account of American legislation + on the subject of entail: by this we learn that, previous to the + Revolution, the colonies followed the English law of entail. Estates tail + were abolished in Virginia in 1776, on a motion of Mr. Jefferson. They + were suppressed in New York in 1786, and have since been abolished in + North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Missouri. In Vermont, + Indiana, Illinois, South Carolina, and Louisiana, entail was never + introduced. Those States which thought proper to preserve the English law + of entail, modified it in such a way as to deprive it of its most + aristocratic tendencies. "Our general principles on the subject of + government," says Mr. Kent, "tend to favor the free circulation of + property." + </p> + <p> + It cannot fail to strike the French reader who studies the law of + inheritance, that on these questions the French legislation is infinitely + more democratic even than the American. The American law makes an equal + division of the father's property, but only in the case of his will not + being known; "for every man," says the law, "in the State of New York + (Revised Statutes, vol. iii. Appendix, p. 51), has entire liberty, power, + and authority, to dispose of his property by will, to leave it entire, or + divided in favor of any persons he chooses as his heirs, provided he do + not leave it to a political body or any corporation." The French law + obliges the testator to divide his property equally, or nearly so, among + his heirs. Most of the American republics still admit of entails, under + certain restrictions; but the French law prohibits entail in all cases. If + the social condition of the Americans is more democratic than that of the + French, the laws of the latter are the most democratic of the two. This + may be explained more easily than at first appears to be the case. In + France, democracy is still occupied in the work of destruction; in + America, it reigns quietly over the ruins it has made. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEh" id="link2H_APPEh"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix H + </h2> + <p> + Summary Of The Qualifications Of Voters In The United States As They + Existed In 1832 + </p> + <p> + All the States agree in granting the right of voting at the age of + twenty-one. In all of them it is necessary to have resided for a certain + time in the district where the vote is given. This period varies from + three months to two years. + </p> + <p> + As to the qualification: in the State of Massachusetts it is necessary to + have an income of Pound 3 or a capital of Pound 60. In Rhode Island, a man + must possess landed property to the amount of $133. + </p> + <p> + In Connecticut, he must have a property which gives an income of $17. A + year of service in the militia also gives the elective privilege. + </p> + <p> + In New Jersey, an elector must have a property of Pound 50 a year. + </p> + <p> + In South Carolina and Maryland, the elector must possess fifty acres of + land. + </p> + <p> + In Tennessee, he must possess some property. + </p> + <p> + In the States of Mississippi, Ohio, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, + Delaware, New York, the only necessary qualification for voting is that of + paying the taxes; and in most of the States, to serve in the militia is + equivalent to the payment of taxes. In Maine and New Hampshire any man can + vote who is not on the pauper list. + </p> + <p> + Lastly, in the States of Missouri, Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana, Indiana, + Kentucky, and Vermont, the conditions of voting have no reference to the + property of the elector. + </p> + <p> + I believe there is no other State besides that of North Carolina in which + different conditions are applied to the voting for the Senate and the + electing the House of Representatives. The electors of the former, in this + case, should possess in property fifty acres of land; to vote for the + latter, nothing more is required than to pay taxes. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEi" id="link2H_APPEi"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix I + </h2> + <p> + The small number of custom-house officers employed in the United States, + compared with the extent of the coast, renders smuggling very easy; + notwithstanding which, it is less practised than elsewhere, because + everybody endeavors to repress it. In America there is no police for the + prevention of fires, and such accidents are more frequent than in Europe; + but in general they are more speedily extinguished, because the + surrounding population is prompt in lending assistance. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEk" id="link2H_APPEk"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix K + </h2> + <p> + It is incorrect to assert that centralization was produced by the French + Revolution; the revolution brought it to perfection, but did not create + it. The mania for centralization and government regulations dates from the + time when jurists began to take a share in the government, in the time of + Philippele-Bel; ever since which period they have been on the increase. In + the year 1775, M. de Malesherbes, speaking in the name of the Cour des + Aides, said to Louis XIV:— *d + </p> + <p class="foot"> + d <br /> [ See "Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire du Droit Public de la + France en matiere d'impots," p. 654, printed at Brussels in 1779.] + </p> + <p> + ". . . Every corporation and every community of citizens retained the + right of administering its own affairs; a right which not only forms part + of the primitive constitution of the kingdom, but has a still higher + origin; for it is the right of nature, and of reason. Nevertheless, your + subjects, Sire, have been deprived of it; and we cannot refrain from + saying that in this respect your government has fallen into puerile + extremes. From the time when powerful ministers made it a political + principle to prevent the convocation of a national assembly, one + consequence has succeeded another, until the deliberations of the + inhabitants of a village are declared null when they have not been + authorized by the Intendant. Of course, if the community has an expensive + undertaking to carry through, it must remain under the control of the + sub-delegate of the Intendant, and, consequently, follow the plan he + proposes, employ his favorite workmen, pay them according to his pleasure; + and if an action at law is deemed necessary, the Intendant's permission + must be obtained. The cause must be pleaded before this first tribunal, + previous to its being carried into a public court; and if the opinion of + the Intendant is opposed to that of the inhabitants, or if their adversary + enjoys his favor, the community is deprived of the power of defending its + rights. Such are the means, Sire, which have been exerted to extinguish + the municipal spirit in France; and to stifle, if possible, the opinions + of the citizens. The nation may be said to lie under an interdict, and to + be in wardship under guardians." What could be said more to the purpose at + the present day, when the Revolution has achieved what are called its + victories in centralization? + </p> + <p> + In 1789, Jefferson wrote from Paris to one of his friends:—"There is + no country where the mania for over-governing has taken deeper root than + in France, or been the source of greater mischief." (Letter to Madison, + August 28, 1789.) The fact is, that for several centuries past the central + power of France has done everything it could to extend central + administration; it has acknowledged no other limits than its own strength. + The central power to which the Revolution gave birth made more rapid + advances than any of its predecessors, because it was stronger and wiser + than they had been; Louis XIV committed the welfare of such communities to + the caprice of an intendant; Napoleon left them to that of the Minister. + The same principle governed both, though its consequences were more or + less remote. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEl" id="link2H_APPEl"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix L + </h2> + <p> + The immutability of the constitution of France is a necessary consequence + of the laws of that country. To begin with the most important of all the + laws, that which decides the order of succession to the throne; what can + be more immutable in its principle than a political order founded upon the + natural succession of father to son? In 1814, Louis XVIII had established + the perpetual law of hereditary succession in favor of his own family. The + individuals who regulated the consequences of the Revolution of 1830 + followed his example; they merely established the perpetuity of the law in + favor of another family. In this respect they imitated the Chancellor + Meaupou, who, when he erected the new Parliament upon the ruins of the + old, took care to declare in the same ordinance that the rights of the new + magistrates should be as inalienable as those of their predecessors had + been. The laws of 1830, like those of 1814, point out no way of changing + the constitution: and it is evident that the ordinary means of legislation + are insufficient for this purpose. As the King, the Peers, and the + Deputies, all derive their authority from the constitution, these three + powers united cannot alter a law by virtue of which alone they govern. Out + of the pale of the constitution they are nothing: where, when, could they + take their stand to effect a change in its provisions? The alternative is + clear: either their efforts are powerless against the charter, which + continues to exist in spite of them, in which case they only reign in the + name of the charter; or they succeed in changing the charter, and then, + the law by which they existed being annulled, they themselves cease to exist. + By destroying the charter, they destroy themselves. This is much more + evident in the laws of 1830 than in those of 1814. In 1814, the royal + prerogative took its stand above and beyond the constitution; but in 1830, + it was avowedly created by, and dependent on, the constitution. A part, + therefore, of the French constitution is immutable, because it is united + to the destiny of a family; and the body of the constitution is equally + immutable, because there appear to be no legal means of changing it. These + remarks are not applicable to England. That country having no written + constitution, who can assert when its constitution is changed? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEm" id="link2H_APPEm"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix M + </h2> + <p> + The most esteemed authors who have written upon the English Constitution + agree with each other in establishing the omnipotence of the Parliament. + Delolme says: "It is a fundamental principle with the English lawyers, + that Parliament can do everything except making a woman a man, or a man a + woman." Blackstone expresses himself more in detail, if not more + energetically, than Delolme, in the following terms:—"The power and + jurisdiction of Parliament, says Sir Edward Coke (4 Inst. 36), 'is so + transcendent and absolute that it cannot be confined, either for causes or + persons, within any bounds.' And of this High Court, he adds, may be truly + said, 'Si antiquitatem spectes, est vetustissima; si dignitatem, est + honoratissima; si jurisdictionem, est capacissima.' It hath sovereign and + uncontrollable authority in the making, confirming, enlarging, + restraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and expounding of laws, + concerning matters of all possible denominations; ecclesiastical or + temporal; civil, military, maritime, or criminal; this being the place + where that absolute despotic power which must, in all governments, reside + somewhere, is intrusted by the constitution of these kingdoms. All + mischiefs and grievances, operations and remedies, that transcend the + ordinary course of the laws, are within the reach of this extraordinary + tribunal. It can regulate or new-model the succession to the Crown; as was + done in the reign of Henry VIII and William III. It can alter the + established religion of the land; as was done in a variety of instances in + the reigns of King Henry VIII and his three children. It can change and + create afresh even the constitution of the kingdom, and of parliaments + themselves; as was done by the Act of Union and the several statutes for + triennial and septennial elections. It can, in short, do everything that + is not naturally impossible to be done; and, therefore some have not + scrupled to call its power, by a figure rather too bold, the omnipotence + of Parliament." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEn" id="link2H_APPEn"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix N + </h2> + <p> + There is no question upon which the American constitutions agree more + fully than upon that of political jurisdiction. All the constitutions + which take cognizance of this matter, give to the House of Delegates the + exclusive right of impeachment; excepting only the constitution of North + Carolina, which grants the same privilege to grand juries. (Article 23.) + Almost all the constitutions give the exclusive right of pronouncing + sentence to the Senate, or to the Assembly which occupies its place. + </p> + <p> + The only punishments which the political tribunals can inflict are + removal, or the interdiction of public functions for the future. There is + no other constitution but that of Virginia (p. 152), which enables them to + inflict every kind of punishment. The crimes which are subject to + political jurisdiction are, in the federal constitution (Section 4, Art. + 1); in that of Indiana (Art. 3, paragraphs 23 and 24); of New York (Art. + 5); of Delaware (Art. 5), high treason, bribery, and other high crimes or + offences. In the Constitution of Massachusetts (Chap. I, Section 2); that + of North Carolina (Art. 23); of Virginia (p. 252), misconduct and + maladministration. In the constitution of New Hampshire (p. 105), + corruption, intrigue, and maladministration. In Vermont (Chap. 2, Art. + 24), maladministration. In South Carolina (Art. 5); Kentucky (Art. 5); + Tennessee (Art. 4); Ohio (Art. 1, 23, 24); Louisiana (Art. 5); Mississippi + (Art. 5); Alabama (Art. 6); Pennsylvania (Art. 4), crimes committed in the + non-performance of official duties. In the States of Illinois, Georgia, + Maine, and Connecticut, no particular offences are specified. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEo" id="link2H_APPEo"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix O + </h2> + <p> + It is true that the powers of Europe may carry on maritime wars with the + Union; but there is always greater facility and less danger in supporting + a maritime than a continental war. Maritime warfare only requires one + species of effort. A commercial people which consents to furnish its + government with the necessary funds, is sure to possess a fleet. And it is + far easier to induce a nation to part with its money, almost + unconsciously, than to reconcile it to sacrifices of men and personal + efforts. Moreover, defeat by sea rarely compromises the existence or + independence of the people which endures it. As for continental wars, it + is evident that the nations of Europe cannot be formidable in this way to + the American Union. It would be very difficult to transport and maintain + in America more than 25,000 soldiers; an army which may be considered to + represent a nation of about 2,000,000 of men. The most populous nation of + Europe contending in this way against the Union, is in the position of a + nation of 2,000,000 of inhabitants at war with one of 12,000,000. Add to + this, that America has all its resources within reach, whilst the European + is at 4,000 miles distance from his; and that the immensity of the + American continent would of itself present an insurmountable obstacle to + its conquest. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEp" id="link2H_APPEp"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix P + </h2> + <p> + The first American journal appeared in April, 1704, and was published at + Boston. See "Collection of the Historical Society of Massachusetts," vol. + vi. p. 66. It would be a mistake to suppose that the periodical press has + always been entirely free in the American colonies: an attempt was made to + establish something analogous to a censorship and preliminary security. + Consult the Legislative Documents of Massachusetts of January 14, 1722. + The Committee appointed by the General Assembly (the legislative body of + the province) for the purpose of examining into circumstances connected + with a paper entitled "The New England Courier," expresses its opinion + that "the tendency of the said journal is to turn religion into derision + and bring it into contempt; that it mentions the sacred writers in a + profane and irreligious manner; that it puts malicious interpretations + upon the conduct of the ministers of the Gospel; and that the Government + of his Majesty is insulted, and the peace and tranquillity of the province + disturbed by the said journal. The Committee is consequently of opinion + that the printer and publisher, James Franklin, should be forbidden to + print and publish the said journal or any other work in future, without + having previously submitted it to the Secretary of the province; and that + the justices of the peace for the county of Suffolk should be commissioned + to require bail of the said James Franklin for his good conduct during the + ensuing year." The suggestion of the Committee was adopted and passed into + a law, but the effect of it was null, for the journal eluded the + prohibition by putting the name of Benjamin Franklin instead of James + Franklin at the bottom of its columns, and this manoeuvre was supported by + public opinion. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEq" id="link2H_APPEq"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix Q + </h2> + <p> + The Federal Constitution has introduced the jury into the tribunals of the + Union in the same way as the States had introduced it into their own + several courts; but as it has not established any fixed rules for the + choice of jurors, the federal courts select them from the ordinary jury + list which each State makes for itself. The laws of the States must + therefore be examined for the theory of the formation of juries. See + Story's "Commentaries on the Constitution," B. iii. chap. 38, p. 654-659; + Sergeant's "Constitutional Law," p. 165. See also the Federal Laws of the + years 1789, 1800, and 1802, upon the subject. For the purpose of + thoroughly understanding the American principles with respect to the + formation of juries, I examined the laws of States at a distance from one + another, and the following observations were the result of my inquiries. + In America, all the citizens who exercise the elective franchise have the + right of serving upon a jury. The great State of New York, however, has + made a slight difference between the two privileges, but in a spirit quite + contrary to that of the laws of France; for in the State of New York there + are fewer persons eligible as jurymen than there are electors. It may be + said in general that the right of forming part of a jury, like the right + of electing representatives, is open to all the citizens: the exercise of + this right, however, is not put indiscriminately into any hands. Every + year a body of municipal or county magistrates—called "selectmen" in + New England, "supervisors" in New York, "trustees" in Ohio, and "sheriffs + of the parish" in Louisiana—choose for each county a certain number + of citizens who have the right of serving as jurymen, and who are supposed + to be capable of exercising their functions. These magistrates, being + themselves elective, excite no distrust; their powers, like those of most + republican magistrates, are very extensive and very arbitrary, and they + frequently make use of them to remove unworthy or incompetent jurymen. The + names of the jurymen thus chosen are transmitted to the County Court; and + the jury who have to decide any affair are drawn by lot from the whole + list of names. The Americans have contrived in every way to make the + common people eligible to the jury, and to render the service as little + onerous as possible. The sessions are held in the chief town of every + county, and the jury are indemnified for their attendance either by the + State or the parties concerned. They receive in general a dollar per day, + besides their travelling expenses. In America, the being placed upon the + jury is looked upon as a burden, but it is a burden which is very + supportable. See Brevard's "Digest of the Public Statute Law of South + Carolina," vol. i. pp. 446 and 454, vol. ii. pp. 218 and 338; "The General + Laws of Massachusetts, revised and published by authority of the + Legislature," vol. ii. pp. 187 and 331; "The Revised Statutes of the State + of New York," vol. ii. pp. 411, 643, 717, 720; "The Statute Law of the + State of Tennessee," vol. i. p. 209; "Acts of the State of Ohio," pp. 95 + and 210; and "Digeste general des Actes de la Legislature de la + Louisiane." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEr" id="link2H_APPEr"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix R + </h2> + <p> + If we attentively examine the constitution of the jury as introduced into + civil proceedings in England, we shall readily perceive that the jurors + are under the immediate control of the judge. It is true that the verdict + of the jury, in civil as well as in criminal cases, comprises the question + of fact and the question of right in the same reply; thus—a house is + claimed by Peter as having been purchased by him: this is the fact to be + decided. The defendant puts in a plea of incompetency on the part of the + vendor: this is the legal question to be resolved. But the jury do not + enjoy the same character of infallibility in civil cases, according to the + practice of the English courts, as they do in criminal cases. The judge + may refuse to receive the verdict; and even after the first trial has + taken place, a second or new trial may be awarded by the Court. See + Blackstone's "Commentaries," book iii. ch. 24. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEs" id="link2H_APPEs"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix S + </h2> + <p> + I find in my travelling journal a passage which may serve to convey a more + complete notion of the trials to which the women of America, who consent + to follow their husbands into the wilds, are often subjected. This + description has nothing to recommend it to the reader but its strict + accuracy: + </p> + <p> + ". . . From time to time we come to fresh clearings; all these places are + alike; I shall describe the one at which we have halted to-night, for it + will serve to remind me of all the others. + </p> + <p> + "The bell which the pioneers hang round the necks of their cattle, in + order to find them again in the woods, announced our approach to a + clearing, when we were yet a long way off; and we soon afterwards heard + the stroke of the hatchet, hewing down the trees of the forest. As we came + nearer, traces of destruction marked the presence of civilized man; the + road was strewn with shattered boughs; trunks of trees, half consumed by + fire, or cleft by the wedge, were still standing in the track we were + following. We continued to proceed till we reached a wood in which all the + trees seemed to have been suddenly struck dead; in the height of summer + their boughs were as leafless as in winter; and upon closer examination we + found that a deep circle had been cut round the bark, which, by stopping + the circulation of the sap, soon kills the tree. We were informed that + this is commonly the first thing a pioneer does; as he cannot in the first + year cut down all the trees which cover his new parcel of land, he sows + Indian corn under their branches, and puts the trees to death in order to + prevent them from injuring his crop. Beyond this field, at present + imperfectly traced out, we suddenly came upon the cabin of its owner, + situated in the centre of a plot of ground more carefully cultivated than + the rest, but where man was still waging unequal warfare with the forest; + there the trees were cut down, but their roots were not removed, and the + trunks still encumbered the ground which they so recently shaded. Around + these dry blocks, wheat, suckers of trees, and plants of every kind, grow + and intertwine in all the luxuriance of wild, untutored nature. Amidst + this vigorous and various vegetation stands the house of the pioneer, or, + as they call it, the log house. Like the ground about it, this rustic + dwelling bore marks of recent and hasty labor; its length seemed not to + exceed thirty feet, its height fifteen; the walls as well as the roof were + formed of rough trunks of trees, between which a little moss and clay had + been inserted to keep out the cold and rain. + </p> + <p> + "As night was coming on, we determined to ask the master of the log house + for a lodging. At the sound of our footsteps, the children who were + playing amongst the scattered branches sprang up and ran towards the + house, as if they were frightened at the sight of man; whilst two large + dogs, almost wild, with ears erect and outstretched nose, came growling + out of their hut, to cover the retreat of their young masters. The pioneer + himself made his appearance at the door of his dwelling; he looked at us + with a rapid and inquisitive glance, made a sign to the dogs to go into + the house, and set them the example, without betraying either curiosity or + apprehension at our arrival. + </p> + <p> + "We entered the log house: the inside is quite unlike that of the cottages + of the peasantry of Europe: it contains more than is superfluous, less + than is necessary. A single window with a muslin blind; on a hearth of + trodden clay an immense fire, which lights the whole structure; above the + hearth a good rifle, a deer's skin, and plumes of eagles' feathers; on the + right hand of the chimney a map of the United States, raised and shaken by + the wind through the crannies in the wall; near the map, upon a shelf + formed of a roughly hewn plank, a few volumes of books—a Bible, the + six first books of Milton, and two of Shakespeare's plays; along the wall, + trunks instead of closets; in the centre of the room a rude table, with + legs of green wood, and with the bark still upon them, looking as if they + grew out of the ground on which they stood; but on this table a tea-pot of + British ware, silver spoons, cracked tea-cups, and some newspapers. + </p> + <p> + "The master of this dwelling has the strong angular features and lank + limbs peculiar to the native of New England. It is evident that this man + was not born in the solitude in which we have met with him: his physical + constitution suffices to show that his earlier years were spent in the + midst of civilized society, and that he belongs to that restless, + calculating, and adventurous race of men, who do with the utmost coolness + things only to be accounted for by the ardor of the passions, and who + endure the life of savages for a time, in order to conquer and civilize + the backwoods. + </p> + <p> + "When the pioneer perceived that we were crossing his threshold, he came + to meet us and shake hands, as is their custom; but his face was quite + unmoved; he opened the conversation by inquiring what was going on in the + world; and when his curiosity was satisfied, he held his peace, as if he + were tired by the noise and importunity of mankind. When we questioned him + in our turn, he gave us all the information we required; he then attended + sedulously, but without eagerness, to our personal wants. Whilst he was + engaged in providing thus kindly for us, how came it that in spit of + ourselves we felt our gratitude die upon our lips? It is that our host + whilst he performs the duties of hospitality, seems to be obeying an + irksome necessity of his condition: he treats it as a duty imposed upon + him by his situation, not as a pleasure. By the side of the hearth sits a + woman with a baby on her lap: she nods to us without disturbing herself. + Like the pioneer, this woman is in the prime of life; her appearance would + seem superior to her condition, and her apparel even betrays a lingering + taste for dress; but her delicate limbs appear shrunken, her features are + drawn in, her eye is mild and melancholy; her whole physiognomy bears + marks of a degree of religious resignation, a deep quiet of all passions, + and some sort of natural and tranquil firmness, ready to meet all the ills + of life, without fearing and without braving them. Her children cluster + about her, full of health, turbulence, and energy: they are true children + of the wilderness; their mother watches them from time to time with + mingled melancholy and joy: to look at their strength and her languor, one + might imagine that the life she has given them has exhausted her own, and + still she regrets not what they have cost her. The house inhabited by + these emigrants has no internal partition or loft. In the one chamber of + which it consists, the whole family is gathered for the night. The + dwelling is itself a little world—an ark of civilization amidst an + ocean of foliage: a hundred steps beyond it the primeval forest spreads + its shades, and solitude resumes its sway." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEt" id="link2H_APPEt"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix T + </h2> + <p> + It is not the equality of conditions which makes men immoral and + irreligious; but when men, being equal, are at the same time immoral and + irreligious, the effects of immorality and irreligion easily manifest + themselves outwardly, because men have but little influence upon each + other, and no class exists which can undertake to keep society in order. + Equality of conditions never engenders profligacy of morals, but it + sometimes allows that profligacy to show itself. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEu" id="link2H_APPEu"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix U + </h2> + <p> + Setting aside all those who do not think at all, and those who dare not + say what they think, the immense majority of the Americans will still be + found to appear satisfied with the political institutions by which they + are governed; and, I believe, really to be so. I look upon this state of + public opinion as an indication, but not as a demonstration, of the + absolute excellence of American laws. The pride of a nation, the + gratification of certain ruling passions by the law, a concourse of + circumstances, defects which escape notice, and more than all the rest, + the influence of a majority which shuts the mouth of all cavillers, may + long perpetuate the delusions of a people as well as those of a man. Look + at England throughout the eighteenth century. No nation was ever more + prodigal of self-applause, no people was ever more self-satisfied; then + every part of its constitution was right—everything, even to its + most obvious defects, was irreproachable: at the present day a vast number + of Englishmen seem to have nothing better to do than to prove that this + constitution was faulty in many respects. Which was right?—the + English people of the last century, or the English people of the present + day? + </p> + <p> + The same thing has occurred in France. It is certain that during the reign + of Louis XIV the great bulk of the nation was devotedly attached to the + form of government which, at that time, governed the community. But it is + a vast error to suppose that there was anything degraded in the character + of the French of that age. There might be some sort of servitude in France + at that time, but assuredly there was no servile spirit among the people. + The writers of that age felt a species of genuine enthusiasm in extolling + the power of their king; and there was no peasant so obscure in his hovel + as not to take a pride in the glory of his sovereign, and to die + cheerfully with the cry "Vive le Roi!" upon his lips. These very same + forms of loyalty are now odious to the French people. Which are wrong?—the + French of the age of Louis XIV, or their descendants of the present day? + </p> + <p> + Our judgment of the laws of a people must not then be founded Future + Condition Of Three Races In The United States exclusively upon its + inclinations, since those inclinations change from age to age; but upon + more elevated principles and a more general experience. The love which a + people may show for its law proves only this:—that we should not be + in too great a hurry to change them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEv" id="link2H_APPEv"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix V + </h2> + <p> + In the chapter to which this note relates I have pointed out one source of + danger: I am now about to point out another kind of peril, more rare + indeed, but far more formidable if it were ever to make its appearance. If + the love of physical gratification and the taste for well-being, which are + naturally suggested to men by a state of equality, were to get entire + possession of the mind of a democratic people, and to fill it completely, + the manners of the nation would become so totally opposed to military + tastes, that perhaps even the army would eventually acquire a love of + peace, in spite of the peculiar interest which leads it to desire war. + Living in the midst of a state of general relaxation, the troops would + ultimately think it better to rise without efforts, by the slow but + commodious advancement of a peace establishment, than to purchase more + rapid promotion at the cost of all the toils and privations of the field. + With these feelings, they would take up arms without enthusiasm, and use + them without energy; they would allow themselves to be led to meet the + foe, instead of marching to attack him. It must not be supposed that this + pacific state of the army would render it adverse to revolutions; for + revolutions, and especially military revolutions, which are generally very + rapid, are attended indeed with great dangers, but not with protracted + toil; they gratify ambition at less cost than war; life only is at stake, + and the men of democracies care less for their lives than for their + comforts. Nothing is more dangerous for the freedom and the tranquillity + of a people than an army afraid of war, because, as such an army no longer + seeks to maintain its importance and its influence on the field of battle, + it seeks to assert them elsewhere. Thus it might happen that the men of + whom a democratic army consists should lose the interests of citizens + without acquiring the virtues of soldiers; and that the army should cease + to be fit for war without ceasing to be turbulent. I shall here repeat + what I have said in the text: the remedy for these dangers is not to be + found in the army, but in the country: a democratic people which has + preserved the manliness of its character will never be at a loss for + military prowess in its soldiers. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEw" id="link2H_APPEw"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix W + </h2> + <p> + Men connect the greatness of their idea of unity with means, God with + ends: hence this idea of greatness, as men conceive it, leads us into + infinite littleness. To compel all men to follow the same course towards + the same object is a human notion;—to introduce infinite variety of + action, but so combined that all these acts lead by a multitude of + different courses to the accomplishment of one great design, is a + conception of the Deity. The human idea of unity is almost always barren; + the divine idea pregnant with abundant results. Men think they manifest + their greatness by simplifying the means they use; but it is the purpose + of God which is simple—his means are infinitely varied. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEx" id="link2H_APPEx"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix X + </h2> + <p> + A democratic people is not only led by its own tastes to centralize its + government, but the passions of all the men by whom it is governed + constantly urge it in the same direction. It may easily be foreseen that + almost all the able and ambitious members of a democratic community will + labor without 2 ceasing to extend the powers of government, because they + all hope at some time or other to wield those powers. It is a waste of + time to attempt to prove to them that extreme centralization may be + injurious to the State, since they are centralizing for their own benefit. + Amongst the public men of democracies there are hardly any but men of + great disinterestedness or extreme mediocrity who seek to oppose the + centralization of government: the former are scarce, the latter powerless. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEy" id="link2H_APPEy"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix Y + </h2> + <p> + I have often asked myself what would happen if, amidst the relaxation of + democratic manners, and as a consequence of the restless spirit of the + army, a military government were ever to be founded amongst any of the + nations of the present age. I think that even such a government would not + differ very much from the outline I have drawn in the chapter to which + this note belongs, and that it would retain none of the fierce + characteristics of a military oligarchy. I am persuaded that, in such a + case, a sort of fusion would take place between the habits of official men + and those of the military service. The administration would assume + something of a military character, and the army some of the usages of the + civil administration. The result would be a regular, clear, exact, and + absolute system of government; the people would become the reflection of + the army, and the community be drilled like a garrison. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEz" id="link2H_APPEz"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix Z + </h2> + <p> + It cannot be absolutely or generally affirmed that the greatest danger of + the present age is license or tyranny, anarchy or despotism. Both are + equally to be feared; and the one may as easily proceed as the other from + the selfsame cause, namely, that "general apathy," which is the + consequence of what I have termed "individualism": it is because this + apathy exists, that the executive government, having mustered a few + troops, is able to commit acts of oppression one day, and the next day a + party, which has mustered some thirty men in its ranks, can also commit + acts of oppression. Neither one nor the other can found anything to last; + and the causes which enable them to succeed easily, prevent them from + succeeding long: they rise because nothing opposes them, and they sink + because nothing supports them. The proper object therefore of our most + strenuous resistance, is far less either anarchy or despotism than the + apathy which may almost indifferently beget either the one or the other. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0110" id="link2H_4_0110"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Constitution Of The United States Of America + </h2> + <p> + We The People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, + establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common + defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty + to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution + for the United States of America: + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0111" id="link2H_4_0111"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Article I + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT11" id="link2H_SECT11"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a + </h2> + <p> + Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House + of Representatives. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT12" id="link2H_SECT12"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members of + </h2> + <p> + chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the + Electors in each States shall have the Qualifications requisite for + Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. + </p> + <p> + No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age + of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, + and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which + he shall be chosen. + </p> + <p> + Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several + States which may be included within this Union, according to their + respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole + Number of free Persons, including those bound to service for a Term of + Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons. + The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first + Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent + Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number + of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but + each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such + enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to + choose three, Massachusetts, eight, Rhode-Island and Providence + Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, + Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North + Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. + </p> + <p> + When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive + Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies. + </p> + <p> + The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other + Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. <a + name="link2H_SECT13" id="link2H_SECT13"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed + </h2> + <p> + of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for + six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. + </p> + <p> + Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first + Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. + The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the + Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the expiration of + the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the expiration of the sixth + Year, so that one-third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies + happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature + of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until + the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies. + </p> + <p> + No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of + thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who + shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall + be chosen. + </p> + <p> + The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, + but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. The Senate shall + choose their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the + Absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the Office of + President of the United States. + </p> + <p> + The Senate shall have the sole power to try all Impeachments. When sitting + for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President + of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no + Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two-thirds of the + Members present. Judgment in cases of Impeachment shall not extend further + than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any + Office of Honor, Trust, or Profit under the United States: but the Party + convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, + Judgment, and Punishment according to Law. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT14" id="link2H_SECT14"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for + </h2> + <p> + Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the + Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter + such Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators. + </p> + <p> + The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting + shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint + a different Day. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT15" id="link2H_SECT15"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns + </h2> + <p> + and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall + constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from + day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of Absent + Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may + provide. + </p> + <p> + Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members + for disorderly Behaviour, and, with a Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a + Member. + </p> + <p> + Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time + publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require + Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any + question shall, at the Desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on + the Journal. + </p> + <p> + Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent + of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place + than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT16" id="link2H_SECT16"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation + </h2> + <p> + for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury + of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, and + Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their attendance at + the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from + the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be + questioned in any other Place. + </p> + <p> + No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was + elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the + United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof + shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any + Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during + his Continuance in Office. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT17" id="link2H_SECT17"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 7. All Bills for Raising Revenue shall originate in the House of + </h2> + <p> + Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as + on other Bills. + </p> + <p> + Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the + Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of + the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall + return it, with his Objections, to that House in which it shall have + originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and + proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two-thirds of that + House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the + Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be + reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become + a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined + by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the + Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any + Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays + excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a + Law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their + Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law. + </p> + <p> + Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate + and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of + Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and + before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being + disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and + House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations + prescribed in the case of a Bill. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT18" id="link2H_SECT18"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 8. The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, + </h2> + <p> + Duties, Imposts, and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common + Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts + and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; + </p> + <h3> + To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; + </h3> + <p> + To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, + and with the Indian Tribes; + </p> + <p> + To establish an Uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the + subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, + regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of + Weights and Measures; + </p> + <p> + To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current + Coin of the United States; + </p> + <p> + To establish Post Offices and Post Roads; + </p> + <p> + To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for + limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their + respective Writings and Discoveries; + </p> + <p> + To constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; To define and + punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences + against the Law of Nations; + </p> + <p> + To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules + concerning Captures on Land and Water; + </p> + <p> + To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use + shall be for a longer Term than two years; + </p> + <p> + To provide and maintain a Navy; + </p> + <p> + To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval + Forces. + </p> + <p> + To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, + suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions. + </p> + <p> + To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for + governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the + United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of + the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the + discipline prescribed by Congress; + </p> + <p> + To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such + District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular + States, and the Acceptance of Congress become the Seat of the Government + of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places + purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same + shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, Dock-Yards, and + other needful Buildings;—And To make all Laws which shall be + necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and + all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the + United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT19" id="link2H_SECT19"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the + </h2> + <p> + States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited + by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, + but a tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten + dollars for each Person. + </p> + <p> + The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless + when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it. + </p> + <p> + No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. No Capitation, + or other direct Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or + Enumeration herein before directed to be taken. + </p> + <p> + No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. + </p> + <p> + No preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to + the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, + or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another. + </p> + <p> + No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of + Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the + Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time + to time. + </p> + <p> + No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person + holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the + Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or + Title of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT110" id="link2H_SECT110"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 10. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or + </h2> + <p> + Confederation; grant Letters of Marque or Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills + of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of + Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the + Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. + </p> + <p> + No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or + Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for + executing its inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and + Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports shall be for the Use of + the Treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to + the Revision and Control of the Congress. + </p> + <p> + No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, + keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or + Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, + unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of + delay. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0121" id="link2H_4_0121"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Article II + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT21" id="link2H_SECT21"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 1. The Executive Power shall be vested in a President of the + </h2> + <p> + United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four + Years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same Term, be + elected as follows: + </p> + <p> + Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may + direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and + Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no + Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit + under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. + </p> + <p> + [The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot + for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the + same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons + voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign + and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the + United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of + the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of + Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be + counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the + President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors + appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have + an equal number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall + immediately choose by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person + have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House + shall in like Manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, + the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State + having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or + Members from two-thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States + shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the + President, the Person having the greatest number of Votes of the Electors + shall be the Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more who + have equal Votes, the Senate shall choose from them by Ballot the + Vice-President.]*d + </p> + <p class="foot"> + *d<br /> [ This clause is superseded by Article XII, Amendments. See page + 396.] + </p> + <p> + The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day + on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same + throughout the United States. + </p> + <p> + No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United + States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be + eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible + to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five + Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. + </p> + <p> + In case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, + Resignation or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said + Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-president, and the Congress may + by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, + both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what Officer shall + then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the + Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. + </p> + <p> + The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a + Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the + Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive + within that period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of + them. + </p> + <p> + Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the + following Oath or Affirmation:—"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that + I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, + and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the + Constitution of the United States." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT22" id="link2H_SECT22"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and + </h2> + <p> + Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when + called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the + Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive + Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective + Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for + Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. + </p> + <p> + He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to + make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he + shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, + shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of + the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose + Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be + established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of + such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in + the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. + </p> + <p> + The President shall have Power to fill up all vacancies that may happen + during the recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall + expire at the End of their next Session. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT23" id="link2H_SECT23"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information + </h2> + <p> + of the state of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such + Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on + extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in + Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of + Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he + shall receive Ambassadors and other Public Ministers; he shall take Care + that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the + Officers of the United States. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT24" id="link2H_SECT24"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 4. The President, Vice-President and all civil Officers of the + </h2> + <p> + United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and + Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0126" id="link2H_4_0126"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Article III + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT31" id="link2H_SECT31"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 1. The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in + </h2> + <p> + one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from + time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the Supreme and + inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and + shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which + shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT32" id="link2H_SECT32"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all cases, in Law and + </h2> + <p> + Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, + and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to + all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;—to + all cases of Admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; to Controversies to + which the United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between + two or more States;—between a State and Citizens of another State; + between Citizens of different States,—between Citizens of the same + State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a + State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects. + </p> + <p> + In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, + and those in which a State shall be Party, the Supreme Court shall have + original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the + Supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, + with such Exceptions and under such Regulations as the Congress shall + make. + </p> + <p> + The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; + and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have + been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall + be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT33" id="link2H_SECT33"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only in + </h2> + <p> + levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid + and Comfort. No person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the + Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open + Court. + </p> + <p> + The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no + Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood or Forfeiture except + during the life of the person attainted. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0130" id="link2H_4_0130"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Article IV + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT41" id="link2H_SECT41"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the + </h2> + <p> + Public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And + the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, + Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT42" id="link2H_SECT42"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all + </h2> + <p> + Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. A person + charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee + from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the + executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to + be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime. + </p> + <p> + No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, + escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any Law or Regulation + therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered + up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT43" id="link2H_SECT43"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; + </h2> + <p> + but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any + other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more + States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the + States concerned as well as of the Congress. + </p> + <p> + The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and + Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the + United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as + to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_SECT44" id="link2H_SECT44"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this + </h2> + <p> + Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them + against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the + Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic + Violence. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0135" id="link2H_4_0135"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Article V + </h2> + <p> + The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, + shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of + the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a + Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid + to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified + by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by + Conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of + Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment + which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight + shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth + Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, + shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0136" id="link2H_4_0136"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Article VI + </h2> + <p> + All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of + this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this + Constitution, as under the Confederation. + </p> + <p> + This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made + in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under + the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; + and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the + Constitution or Laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. + </p> + <p> + The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the + several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both + of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or + Affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever + be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the + United States. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0137" id="link2H_4_0137"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Article VII + </h2> + <p> + The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be sufficient for + the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the + Same. + </p> + <p> + Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the + Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of Our Lord One thousand seven + hundred and eighty-seven and of the Independence of the United States of + America the Twelfth. In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our + Names, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Geo. Washington + Presidt. and deputy from Virginia. + + New Hampshire + John Langdon + Nicholas Gilman + + Massachusetts + Nathaniel Gorham + Rufus King + + Connecticut + Wm. Saml. Johnson + Roger Sherman + + New York + Alexander Hamilton + + New Jersey + Wil. Livingston. + David Brearley. + Wm. Paterson. + Jona. Dayton + + Pennsylvania + B Franklin + Thomas Mifflin + Robt. Morris. + Geo. Clymer + Thos. Fitzsimons + Jared Ingersoll + James Wilson + Gouv. Morris + + Delaware + Geo. Read + Gunning Bedford Jun + John Dickinson + Richard Bassett + Jaco. Broom + + Maryland + James McHenry + Dan of St Thos. Jenifer + Danl. Carroll + + Virginia + John Blair— + James Madison Jr. + + North Carolina + Wm. Blount + Richd. Dobbs Spaight + Hu. Williamson + + South Carolina + J. Rutledge + Charles Cotesworth Pinckney + Charles Pinckney + Peirce Butler. + + Georgia + William Few + Abr. Baldwin + + Attest. William Jackson, Secretary +</pre> + <p> + The Word 'the,' being interlined between the seventh and eighth Lines of + the first Page, The word 'Thirty' being partly written on an Erasure in + the fifteenth Line of the first Page, The Words 'is tried' being + interlined between the thirty-second and thirty-third Lines of the first + Page, and the Word 'the' being interlined between the forty-third and + forty-fourth Lines of the second page. + </p> + <p> + [Note by the Department of State.—The foregoing explanation in the + original instrument is placed on the left of the paragraph beginning with + the words, 'Done in Convention,' and therefore precedes the signatures. + The interlined and rewritten words, mentioned in it, are in this edition + printed in their proper places in the text.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0138" id="link2H_4_0138"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Bill Of Rights + </h2> + <p> + In addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution of the United States of + America, proposed by Congress and ratified by the Legislatures of the + several States, pursuant to the Fifth Article of the original Constitution + </p> + <p> + Article I + </p> + <p> + Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or + prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, + or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to + petition the Government for a redress of grievances. + </p> + <p> + Article II + </p> + <p> + A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, + the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. + </p> + <p> + Article III + </p> + <p> + No Soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the + consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed + by law. + </p> + <p> + Article IV + </p> + <p> + The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and + effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be + violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported + by Oath or Affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be + searched, and the persons or things to be seized. + </p> + <p> + Article V + </p> + <p> + No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous + crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in + cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in + actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be + subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; + nor shall be compelled in any Criminal Case to be a witness against + himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due + process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, + without just compensation. + </p> + <p> + Article VI + </p> + <p> + In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a + speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district + wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have + been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and + cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; + to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to + have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. + </p> + <p> + Article VII + </p> + <p> + In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty + dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried + by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United + States, than according to the rules of the common law. + </p> + <p> + Article VIII + </p> + <p> + Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor + cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. + </p> + <p> + Article IX + </p> + <p> + The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be + construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. + </p> + <p> + Article X + </p> + <p> + The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor + prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, + or to the people. + </p> + <p> + Article XI + </p> + <p> + The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend + to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the + United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of + any Foreign State. + </p> + <p> + Article XII + </p> + <p> + The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for + President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an + inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their + ballots the person voted for as President; and in distinct ballots the + person voted for as Vice-President; and they shall make distinct lists of + all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice + President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall + sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the + United States, directed to the President of the Senate;—The + President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of + Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be + counted;—The person having the greatest number of votes for + President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the + whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, + then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on + the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives + shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the + President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from + each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a + member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the + States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives + shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve + upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the + Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or + other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the + greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, + if such a number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, + and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the + list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose + shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a + majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person + constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible + to that of Vice-President of the United States. + </p> + <p> + Article XIII + </p> + <p> + Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a + punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, + shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their + jurisdiction.<br /><br /> Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce + this article by appropriate legislation. + </p> + <p> + Article XIV + </p> + <p> + Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and + subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and + of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law + which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United + States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or + property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its + jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.<br /><br /> Section 2. + Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to + their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each + State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any + election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of + the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial + officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied + to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of + age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for + participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation + therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male + citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years + of age in such State.<br /><br /> Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or + Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or + hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any + State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or + as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State + legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to + support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in + insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the + enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, + remove such disability.<br /><br /> Section 4. The validity of the public + debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for + payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection + or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor + any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of + insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the + loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and + claims shall be held illegal and void.<br /><br /> Section 5. The Congress + shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of + this article. + </p> + <p> + Article XV + </p> + <p> + Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be + denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of + race, colour, or previous condition of servitude.<br /><br /> Section 2. The + Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate + legislation. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Democracy In America, Volume 2 (of 2), by +Alexis de Toqueville + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, V2 *** + +***** This file should be named 816-h.htm or 816-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/1/816/ + +Produced by David Reed and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Democracy In America, Volume 2 (of 2) + +Author: Alexis de Toqueville + +Translator: Henry Reeve + +Release Date: January 21, 2006 [EBook #816] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, V2 *** + + + + +Produced by David Reed and David Widger + + + + + +DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA + +By Alexis De Tocqueville + + +Translated by Henry Reeve + + + + + +Book Two: Influence Of Democracy On Progress Of Opinion In +the United States. + + + + + +De Tocqueville's Preface To The Second Part + +The Americans live in a democratic state of society, which has naturally +suggested to them certain laws and a certain political character. This +same state of society has, moreover, engendered amongst them a +multitude of feelings and opinions which were unknown amongst the elder +aristocratic communities of Europe: it has destroyed or modified all the +relations which before existed, and established others of a novel kind. +The--aspect of civil society has been no less affected by these changes +than that of the political world. The former subject has been treated +of in the work on the Democracy of America, which I published five years +ago; to examine the latter is the object of the present book; but these +two parts complete each other, and form one and the same work. + +I must at once warn the reader against an error which would be extremely +prejudicial to me. When he finds that I attribute so many different +consequences to the principle of equality, he may thence infer that I +consider that principle to be the sole cause of all that takes place in +the present age: but this would be to impute to me a very narrow view. A +multitude of opinions, feelings, and propensities are now in existence, +which owe their origin to circumstances unconnected with or even +contrary to the principle of equality. Thus if I were to select the +United States as an example, I could easily prove that the nature of the +country, the origin of its inhabitants, the religion of its founders, +their acquired knowledge, and their former habits, have exercised, and +still exercise, independently of democracy, a vast influence upon the +thoughts and feelings of that people. Different causes, but no less +distinct from the circumstance of the equality of conditions, might be +traced in Europe, and would explain a great portion of the occurrences +taking place amongst us. + +I acknowledge the existence of all these different causes, and their +power, but my subject does not lead me to treat of them. I have not +undertaken to unfold the reason of all our inclinations and all our +notions: my only object is to show in what respects the principle of +equality has modified both the former and the latter. + +Some readers may perhaps be astonished that--firmly persuaded as I +am that the democratic revolution which we are witnessing is an +irresistible fact against which it would be neither desirable nor wise +to struggle--I should often have had occasion in this book to address +language of such severity to those democratic communities which this +revolution has brought into being. My answer is simply, that it is +because I am not an adversary of democracy, that I have sought to speak +of democracy in all sincerity. + +Men will not accept truth at the hands of their enemies, and truth is +seldom offered to them by their friends: for this reason I have spoken +it. I was persuaded that many would take upon themselves to announce the +new blessings which the principle of equality promises to mankind, but +that few would dare to point out from afar the dangers with which +it threatens them. To those perils therefore I have turned my chief +attention, and believing that I had discovered them clearly, I have not +had the cowardice to leave them untold. + +I trust that my readers will find in this Second Part that impartiality +which seems to have been remarked in the former work. Placed as I am in +the midst of the conflicting opinions between which we are divided, +I have endeavored to suppress within me for a time the favorable +sympathies or the adverse emotions with which each of them inspires +me. If those who read this book can find a single sentence intended to +flatter any of the great parties which have agitated my country, or any +of those petty factions which now harass and weaken it, let such readers +raise their voices to accuse me. + +The subject I have sought to embrace is immense, for it includes the +greater part of the feelings and opinions to which the new state of +society has given birth. Such a subject is doubtless above my strength, +and in treating it I have not succeeded in satisfying myself. But, if +I have not been able to reach the goal which I had in view, my readers +will at least do me the justice to acknowledge that I have conceived and +followed up my undertaking in a spirit not unworthy of success. + +A. De T. + +March, 1840 + + + + +Section I: Influence of Democracy on the Action of Intellect in The +United States. + + + + +Chapter I: Philosophical Method Among the Americans + +I think that in no country in the civilized world is less attention +paid to philosophy than in the United States. The Americans have no +philosophical school of their own; and they care but little for all +the schools into which Europe is divided, the very names of which are +scarcely known to them. Nevertheless it is easy to perceive that almost +all the inhabitants of the United States conduct their understanding in +the same manner, and govern it by the same rules; that is to say, +that without ever having taken the trouble to define the rules of a +philosophical method, they are in possession of one, common to the whole +people. To evade the bondage of system and habit, of family maxims, +class opinions, and, in some degree, of national prejudices; to accept +tradition only as a means of information, and existing facts only as a +lesson used in doing otherwise, and doing better; to seek the reason +of things for one's self, and in one's self alone; to tend to results +without being bound to means, and to aim at the substance through the +form;--such are the principal characteristics of what I shall call the +philosophical method of the Americans. But if I go further, and if I +seek amongst these characteristics that which predominates over and +includes almost all the rest, I discover that in most of the operations +of the mind, each American appeals to the individual exercise of his own +understanding alone. America is therefore one of the countries in the +world where philosophy is least studied, and where the precepts of +Descartes are best applied. Nor is this surprising. The Americans do not +read the works of Descartes, because their social condition deters them +from speculative studies; but they follow his maxims because this very +social condition naturally disposes their understanding to adopt them. +In the midst of the continual movement which agitates a democratic +community, the tie which unites one generation to another is relaxed +or broken; every man readily loses the trace of the ideas of his +forefathers or takes no care about them. Nor can men living in this +state of society derive their belief from the opinions of the class to +which they belong, for, so to speak, there are no longer any classes, or +those which still exist are composed of such mobile elements, that +their body can never exercise a real control over its members. As to the +influence which the intelligence of one man has on that of another, it +must necessarily be very limited in a country where the citizens, placed +on the footing of a general similitude, are all closely seen by each +other; and where, as no signs of incontestable greatness or superiority +are perceived in any one of them, they are constantly brought back to +their own reason as the most obvious and proximate source of truth. It +is not only confidence in this or that man which is then destroyed, but +the taste for trusting the ipse dixit of any man whatsoever. Everyone +shuts himself up in his own breast, and affects from that point to judge +the world. + +The practice which obtains amongst the Americans of fixing the standard +of their judgment in themselves alone, leads them to other habits of +mind. As they perceive that they succeed in resolving without assistance +all the little difficulties which their practical life presents, they +readily conclude that everything in the world may be explained, and that +nothing in it transcends the limits of the understanding. Thus they fall +to denying what they cannot comprehend; which leaves them but little +faith for whatever is extraordinary, and an almost insurmountable +distaste for whatever is supernatural. As it is on their own testimony +that they are accustomed to rely, they like to discern the object which +engages their attention with extreme clearness; they therefore strip off +as much as possible all that covers it, they rid themselves of whatever +separates them from it, they remove whatever conceals it from sight, +in order to view it more closely and in the broad light of day. This +disposition of the mind soon leads them to contemn forms, which they +regard as useless and inconvenient veils placed between them and the +truth. + +The Americans then have not required to extract their philosophical +method from books; they have found it in themselves. The same thing may +be remarked in what has taken place in Europe. This same method has +only been established and made popular in Europe in proportion as the +condition of society has become more equal, and men have grown more like +each other. Let us consider for a moment the connection of the periods +in which this change may be traced. In the sixteenth century the +Reformers subjected some of the dogmas of the ancient faith to the +scrutiny of private judgment; but they still withheld from it the +judgment of all the rest. In the seventeenth century, Bacon in the +natural sciences, and Descartes in the study of philosophy in the strict +sense of the term, abolished recognized formulas, destroyed the +empire of tradition, and overthrew the authority of the schools. The +philosophers of the eighteenth century, generalizing at length the same +principle, undertook to submit to the private judgment of each man all +the objects of his belief. + +Who does not perceive that Luther, Descartes, and Voltaire employed +the same method, and that they differed only in the greater or less use +which they professed should be made of it? Why did the Reformers confine +themselves so closely within the circle of religious ideas? Why did +Descartes, choosing only to apply his method to certain matters, though +he had made it fit to be applied to all, declare that men might judge +for themselves in matters philosophical but not in matters political? +How happened it that in the eighteenth century those general +applications were all at once drawn from this same method, which +Descartes and his predecessors had either not perceived or had rejected? +To what, lastly, is the fact to be attributed, that at this period +the method we are speaking of suddenly emerged from the schools, to +penetrate into society and become the common standard of intelligence; +and that, after it had become popular among the French, it has been +ostensibly adopted or secretly followed by all the nations of Europe? + +The philosophical method here designated may have been engendered in +the sixteenth century--it may have been more accurately defined and more +extensively applied in the seventeenth; but neither in the one nor in +the other could it be commonly adopted. Political laws, the condition +of society, and the habits of mind which are derived from these causes, +were as yet opposed to it. It was discovered at a time when men were +beginning to equalize and assimilate their conditions. It could only be +generally followed in ages when those conditions had at length become +nearly equal, and men nearly alike. + +The philosophical method of the eighteenth century is then not only +French, but it is democratic; and this explains why it was so readily +admitted throughout Europe, where it has contributed so powerfully to +change the face of society. It is not because the French have changed +their former opinions, and altered their former manners, that they have +convulsed the world; but because they were the first to generalize and +bring to light a philosophical method, by the assistance of which it +became easy to attack all that was old, and to open a path to all that +was new. + +If it be asked why, at the present day, this same method is more +rigorously followed and more frequently applied by the French than by +the Americans, although the principle of equality be no less complete, +and of more ancient date, amongst the latter people, the fact may be +attributed to two circumstances, which it is essential to have clearly +understood in the first instance. It must never be forgotten that +religion gave birth to Anglo-American society. In the United States +religion is therefore commingled with all the habits of the nation and +all the feelings of patriotism; whence it derives a peculiar force. +To this powerful reason another of no less intensity may be added: in +American religion has, as it were, laid down its own limits. Religious +institutions have remained wholly distinct from political institutions, +so that former laws have been easily changed whilst former belief has +remained unshaken. Christianity has therefore retained a strong hold on +the public mind in America; and, I would more particularly remark, that +its sway is not only that of a philosophical doctrine which has been +adopted upon inquiry, but of a religion which is believed without +discussion. In the United States Christian sects are infinitely +diversified and perpetually modified; but Christianity itself is a fact +so irresistibly established, that no one undertakes either to attack or +to defend it. The Americans, having admitted the principal doctrines of +the Christian religion without inquiry, are obliged to accept in like +manner a great number of moral truths originating in it and connected +with it. Hence the activity of individual analysis is restrained within +narrow limits, and many of the most important of human opinions are +removed from the range of its influence. + +The second circumstance to which I have alluded is the following: the +social condition and the constitution of the Americans are democratic, +but they have not had a democratic revolution. They arrived upon the +soil they occupy in nearly the condition in which we see them at the +present day; and this is of very considerable importance. + +There are no revolutions which do not shake existing belief, enervate +authority, and throw doubts over commonly received ideas. The effect of +all revolutions is therefore, more or less, to surrender men to their +own guidance, and to open to the mind of every man a void and almost +unlimited range of speculation. When equality of conditions succeeds +a protracted conflict between the different classes of which the elder +society was composed, envy, hatred, and uncharitableness, pride, and +exaggerated self-confidence are apt to seize upon the human heart, +and plant their sway there for a time. This, independently of equality +itself, tends powerfully to divide men--to lead them to mistrust the +judgment of others, and to seek the light of truth nowhere but in their +own understandings. Everyone then attempts to be his own sufficient +guide, and makes it his boast to form his own opinions on all subjects. +Men are no longer bound together by ideas, but by interests; and it +would seem as if human opinions were reduced to a sort of intellectual +dust, scattered on every side, unable to collect, unable to cohere. + +Thus, that independence of mind which equality supposes to exist, is +never so great, nor ever appears so excessive, as at the time when +equality is beginning to establish itself, and in the course of that +painful labor by which it is established. That sort of intellectual +freedom which equality may give ought, therefore, to be very carefully +distinguished from the anarchy which revolution brings. Each of these +two things must be severally considered, in order not to conceive +exaggerated hopes or fears of the future. + +I believe that the men who will live under the new forms of society will +make frequent use of their private judgment; but I am far from thinking +that they will often abuse it. This is attributable to a cause of more +general application to all democratic countries, and which, in the +long run, must needs restrain in them the independence of individual +speculation within fixed, and sometimes narrow, limits. I shall proceed +to point out this cause in the next chapter. + + + + +Chapter II: Of The Principal Source Of Belief Among Democratic Nations + +At different periods dogmatical belief is more or less abundant. It +arises in different ways, and it may change its object or its form; but +under no circumstances will dogmatical belief cease to exist, or, in +other words, men will never cease to entertain some implicit opinions +without trying them by actual discussion. If everyone undertook to form +his own opinions and to seek for truth by isolated paths struck out by +himself alone, it is not to be supposed that any considerable number of +men would ever unite in any common belief. But obviously without such +common belief no society can prosper--say rather no society can subsist; +for without ideas held in common, there is no common action, and without +common action, there may still be men, but there is no social body. In +order that society should exist, and, a fortiori, that a society should +prosper, it is required that all the minds of the citizens should be +rallied and held together by certain predominant ideas; and this cannot +be the case, unless each of them sometimes draws his opinions from the +common source, and consents to accept certain matters of belief at the +hands of the community. + +If I now consider man in his isolated capacity, I find that dogmatical +belief is not less indispensable to him in order to live alone, than it +is to enable him to co-operate with his fellow-creatures. If man were +forced to demonstrate to himself all the truths of which he makes +daily use, his task would never end. He would exhaust his strength +in preparatory exercises, without advancing beyond them. As, from the +shortness of his life, he has not the time, nor, from the limits of his +intelligence, the capacity, to accomplish this, he is reduced to take +upon trust a number of facts and opinions which he has not had either +the time or the power to verify himself, but which men of greater +ability have sought out, or which the world adopts. On this groundwork +he raises for himself the structure of his own thoughts; nor is he led +to proceed in this manner by choice so much as he is constrained by the +inflexible law of his condition. There is no philosopher of such great +parts in the world, but that he believes a million of things on the +faith of other people, and supposes a great many more truths than he +demonstrates. This is not only necessary but desirable. A man who should +undertake to inquire into everything for himself, could devote to each +thing but little time and attention. His task would keep his mind in +perpetual unrest, which would prevent him from penetrating to the depth +of any truth, or of grappling his mind indissolubly to any conviction. +His intellect would be at once independent and powerless. He must +therefore make his choice from amongst the various objects of human +belief, and he must adopt many opinions without discussion, in order +to search the better into that smaller number which he sets apart for +investigation. It is true that whoever receives an opinion on the word +of another, does so far enslave his mind; but it is a salutary servitude +which allows him to make a good use of freedom. + +A principle of authority must then always occur, under all +circumstances, in some part or other of the moral and intellectual +world. Its place is variable, but a place it necessarily has. The +independence of individual minds may be greater, or it may be less: +unbounded it cannot be. Thus the question is, not to know whether any +intellectual authority exists in the ages of democracy, but simply where +it resides and by what standard it is to be measured. + +I have shown in the preceding chapter how the equality of conditions +leads men to entertain a sort of instinctive incredulity of the +supernatural, and a very lofty and often exaggerated opinion of the +human understanding. The men who live at a period of social equality are +not therefore easily led to place that intellectual authority to which +they bow either beyond or above humanity. They commonly seek for the +sources of truth in themselves, or in those who are like themselves. +This would be enough to prove that at such periods no new religion could +be established, and that all schemes for such a purpose would be not +only impious but absurd and irrational. It may be foreseen that a +democratic people will not easily give credence to divine missions; that +they will turn modern prophets to a ready jest; and they that will seek +to discover the chief arbiter of their belief within, and not beyond, +the limits of their kind. + +When the ranks of society are unequal, and men unlike each other in +condition, there are some individuals invested with all the power of +superior intelligence, learning, and enlightenment, whilst the multitude +is sunk in ignorance and prejudice. Men living at these aristocratic +periods are therefore naturally induced to shape their opinions by the +superior standard of a person or a class of persons, whilst they are +averse to recognize the infallibility of the mass of the people. + +The contrary takes place in ages of equality. The nearer the citizens +are drawn to the common level of an equal and similar condition, the +less prone does each man become to place implicit faith in a certain man +or a certain class of men. But his readiness to believe the multitude +increases, and opinion is more than ever mistress of the world. Not only +is common opinion the only guide which private judgment retains amongst +a democratic people, but amongst such a people it possesses a power +infinitely beyond what it has elsewhere. At periods of equality men have +no faith in one another, by reason of their common resemblance; but this +very resemblance gives them almost unbounded confidence in the judgment +of the public; for it would not seem probable, as they are all endowed +with equal means of judging, but that the greater truth should go with +the greater number. + +When the inhabitant of a democratic country compares himself +individually with all those about him, he feels with pride that he is +the equal of any one of them; but when he comes to survey the totality +of his fellows, and to place himself in contrast to so huge a body, +he is instantly overwhelmed by the sense of his own insignificance and +weakness. The same equality which renders him independent of each of his +fellow-citizens taken severally, exposes him alone and unprotected to +the influence of the greater number. The public has therefore among a +democratic people a singular power, of which aristocratic nations could +never so much as conceive an idea; for it does not persuade to certain +opinions, but it enforces them, and infuses them into the faculties by a +sort of enormous pressure of the minds of all upon the reason of each. + +In the United States the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of +ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved +from the necessity of forming opinions of their own. Everybody there +adopts great numbers of theories, on philosophy, morals, and politics, +without inquiry, upon public trust; and if we look to it very narrowly, +it will be perceived that religion herself holds her sway there, much +less as a doctrine of revelation than as a commonly received opinion. +The fact that the political laws of the Americans are such that the +majority rules the community with sovereign sway, materially increases +the power which that majority naturally exercises over the mind. For +nothing is more customary in man than to recognize superior wisdom in +the person of his oppressor. This political omnipotence of the majority +in the United States doubtless augments the influence which public +opinion would obtain without it over the mind of each member of the +community; but the foundations of that influence do not rest upon it. +They must be sought for in the principle of equality itself, not in the +more or less popular institutions which men living under that condition +may give themselves. The intellectual dominion of the greater number +would probably be less absolute amongst a democratic people governed +by a king than in the sphere of a pure democracy, but it will always be +extremely absolute; and by whatever political laws men are governed in +the ages of equality, it may be foreseen that faith in public +opinion will become a species of religion there, and the majority its +ministering prophet. + +Thus intellectual authority will be different, but it will not be +diminished; and far from thinking that it will disappear, I augur that +it may readily acquire too much preponderance, and confine the action +of private judgment within narrower limits than are suited either to +the greatness or the happiness of the human race. In the principle of +equality I very clearly discern two tendencies; the one leading the mind +of every man to untried thoughts, the other inclined to prohibit him +from thinking at all. And I perceive how, under the dominion of certain +laws, democracy would extinguish that liberty of the mind to which a +democratic social condition is favorable; so that, after having broken +all the bondage once imposed on it by ranks or by men, the human mind +would be closely fettered to the general will of the greatest number. + +If the absolute power of the majority were to be substituted by +democratic nations, for all the different powers which checked or +retarded overmuch the energy of individual minds, the evil would +only have changed its symptoms. Men would not have found the means of +independent life; they would simply have invented (no easy task) a new +dress for servitude. There is--and I cannot repeat it too often--there +is in this matter for profound reflection for those who look on freedom +as a holy thing, and who hate not only the despot, but despotism. For +myself, when I feel the hand of power lie heavy on my brow, I care but +little to know who oppresses me; and I am not the more disposed to pass +beneath the yoke, because it is held out to me by the arms of a million +of men. + + + + +Chapter III: Why The Americans Display More Readiness And More Taste For +General Ideas Than Their Forefathers, The English. + +The Deity does not regard the human race collectively. He surveys at one +glance and severally all the beings of whom mankind is composed, and he +discerns in each man the resemblances which assimilate him to all his +fellows, and the differences which distinguish him from them. God, +therefore, stands in no need of general ideas; that is to say, he is +never sensible of the necessity of collecting a considerable number +of analogous objects under the same form for greater convenience in +thinking. Such is, however, not the case with man. If the human mind +were to attempt to examine and pass a judgment on all the individual +cases before it, the immensity of detail would soon lead it astray +and bewilder its discernment: in this strait, man has recourse to +an imperfect but necessary expedient, which at once assists and +demonstrates his weakness. Having superficially considered a certain +number of objects, and remarked their resemblance, he assigns to them a +common name, sets them apart, and proceeds onwards. + +General ideas are no proof of the strength, but rather of the +insufficiency of the human intellect; for there are in nature no +beings exactly alike, no things precisely identical, nor any rules +indiscriminately and alike applicable to several objects at once. The +chief merit of general ideas is, that they enable the human mind to +pass a rapid judgment on a great many objects at once; but, on the other +hand, the notions they convey are never otherwise than incomplete, and +they always cause the mind to lose as much in accuracy as it gains +in comprehensiveness. As social bodies advance in civilization, they +acquire the knowledge of new facts, and they daily lay hold almost +unconsciously of some particular truths. The more truths of this kind a +man apprehends, the more general ideas is he naturally led to conceive. +A multitude of particular facts cannot be seen separately, without at +last discovering the common tie which connects them. Several individuals +lead to the perception of the species; several species to that of the +genus. Hence the habit and the taste for general ideas will always +be greatest amongst a people of ancient cultivation and extensive +knowledge. + +But there are other reasons which impel men to generalize their ideas, +or which restrain them from it. + +The Americans are much more addicted to the use of general ideas than +the English, and entertain a much greater relish for them: this appears +very singular at first sight, when it is remembered that the two nations +have the same origin, that they lived for centuries under the same laws, +and that they still incessantly interchange their opinions and their +manners. This contrast becomes much more striking still, if we fix our +eyes on our own part of the world, and compare together the two most +enlightened nations which inhabit it. It would seem as if the mind of +the English could only tear itself reluctantly and painfully away from +the observation of particular facts, to rise from them to their causes; +and that it only generalizes in spite of itself. Amongst the French, on +the contrary, the taste for general ideas would seem to have grown to +so ardent a passion, that it must be satisfied on every occasion. I am +informed, every morning when I wake, that some general and eternal law +has just been discovered, which I never heard mentioned before. There is +not a mediocre scribbler who does not try his hand at discovering truths +applicable to a great kingdom, and who is very ill pleased with himself +if he does not succeed in compressing the human race into the compass +of an article. So great a dissimilarity between two very enlightened +nations surprises me. If I again turn my attention to England, and +observe the events which have occurred there in the last half-century, +I think I may affirm that a taste for general ideas increases in that +country in proportion as its ancient constitution is weakened. + +The state of civilization is therefore insufficient by itself to explain +what suggests to the human mind the love of general ideas, or diverts it +from them. When the conditions of men are very unequal, and inequality +itself is the permanent state of society, individual men gradually +become so dissimilar that each class assumes the aspect of a distinct +race: only one of these classes is ever in view at the same instant; and +losing sight of that general tie which binds them all within the vast +bosom of mankind, the observation invariably rests not on man, but on +certain men. Those who live in this aristocratic state of society never, +therefore, conceive very general ideas respecting themselves, and that +is enough to imbue them with an habitual distrust of such ideas, and +an instinctive aversion of them. He, on the contrary, who inhabits a +democratic country, sees around him, one very hand, men differing but +little from each other; he cannot turn his mind to any one portion of +mankind, without expanding and dilating his thought till it embrace the +whole. All the truths which are applicable to himself, appear to him +equally and similarly applicable to each of his fellow-citizens and +fellow-men. Having contracted the habit of generalizing his ideas in +the study which engages him most, and interests him more than others, +he transfers the same habit to all his pursuits; and thus it is that +the craving to discover general laws in everything, to include a great +number of objects under the same formula, and to explain a mass of facts +by a single cause, becomes an ardent, and sometimes an undiscerning, +passion in the human mind. + +Nothing shows the truth of this proposition more clearly than the +opinions of the ancients respecting their slaves. The most profound and +capacious minds of Rome and Greece were never able to reach the idea, at +once so general and so simple, of the common likeness of men, and of the +common birthright of each to freedom: they strove to prove that slavery +was in the order of nature, and that it would always exist. Nay, more, +everything shows that those of the ancients who had passed from the +servile to the free condition, many of whom have left us excellent +writings, did themselves regard servitude in no other light. + +All the great writers of antiquity belonged to the aristocracy +of masters, or at least they saw that aristocracy established and +uncontested before their eyes. Their mind, after it had expanded itself +in several directions, was barred from further progress in this one; and +the advent of Jesus Christ upon earth was required to teach that all the +members of the human race are by nature equal and alike. + +In the ages of equality all men are independent of each other, isolated +and weak. The movements of the multitude are not permanently guided +by the will of any individuals; at such times humanity seems always to +advance of itself. In order, therefore, to explain what is passing in +the world, man is driven to seek for some great causes, which, acting +in the same manner on all our fellow-creatures, thus impel them all +involuntarily to pursue the same track. This again naturally leads the +human mind to conceive general ideas, and superinduces a taste for them. + +I have already shown in what way the equality of conditions leads every +man to investigate truths for himself. It may readily be perceived that +a method of this kind must insensibly beget a tendency to general ideas +in the human mind. When I repudiate the traditions of rank, profession, +and birth; when I escape from the authority of example, to seek out, by +the single effort of my reason, the path to be followed, I am inclined +to derive the motives of my opinions from human nature itself; which +leads me necessarily, and almost unconsciously, to adopt a great number +of very general notions. + +All that I have here said explains the reasons for which the English +display much less readiness and taste or the generalization of ideas +than their American progeny, and still less again than their French +neighbors; and likewise the reason for which the English of the present +day display more of these qualities than their forefathers did. The +English have long been a very enlightened and a very aristocratic +nation; their enlightened condition urged them constantly to generalize, +and their aristocratic habits confined them to particularize. Hence +arose that philosophy, at once bold and timid, broad and narrow, +which has hitherto prevailed in England, and which still obstructs and +stagnates in so many minds in that country. + +Independently of the causes I have pointed out in what goes before, +others may be discerned less apparent, but no less efficacious, which +engender amongst almost every democratic people a taste, and frequently +a passion, for general ideas. An accurate distinction must be taken +between ideas of this kind. Some are the result of slow, minute, and +conscientious labor of the mind, and these extend the sphere of human +knowledge; others spring up at once from the first rapid exercise of the +wits, and beget none but very superficial and very uncertain notions. +Men who live in ages of equality have a great deal of curiosity and very +little leisure; their life is so practical, so confused, so excited, so +active, that but little time remains to them for thought. Such men are +prone to general ideas because they spare them the trouble of studying +particulars; they contain, if I may so speak, a great deal in a little +compass, and give, in a little time, a great return. If then, upon a +brief and inattentive investigation, a common relation is thought to be +detected between certain obtects, inquiry is not pushed any further; and +without examining in detail how far these different objects differ or +agree, they are hastily arranged under one formulary, in order to pass +to another subject. + +One of the distinguishing characteristics of a democratic period is the +taste all men have at such ties for easy success and present enjoyment. +This occurs in the pursuits of the intellect as well as in all others. +Most of those who live at a time of equality are full of an ambition at +once aspiring and relaxed: they would fain succeed brilliantly and at +once, but they would be dispensed from great efforts to obtain success. +These conflicting tendencies lead straight to the research of general +ideas, by aid of which they flatter themselves that they can figure very +importantly at a small expense, and draw the attention of the public +with very little trouble. And I know not whether they be wrong in +thinking thus. For their readers are as much averse to investigating +anything to the bottom as they can be themselves; and what is generally +sought in the productions of the mind is easy pleasure and information +without labor. + +If aristocratic nations do not make sufficient use of general ideas, +and frequently treat them with inconsiderate disdain, it is true, on +the other hand, that a democratic people is ever ready to carry ideas of +this kind to excess, and to espouse the with injudicious warmth. + + + + +Chapter IV: Why The Americans Have Never Been So Eager As The French For +General Ideas In Political Matters + +I observed in the last chapter, that the Americans show a less decided +taste for general ideas than the French; this is more especially true in +political matters. Although the Americans infuse into their legislation +infinitely more general ideas than the English, and although they pay +much more attention than the latter people to the adjustment of the +practice of affairs to theory, no political bodies in the United +States have ever shown so warm an attachment to general ideas as the +Constituent Assembly and the Convention in France. At no time has the +American people laid hold on ideas of this kind with the passionate +energy of the French people in the eighteenth century, or displayed the +same blind confidence in the value and absolute truth of any theory. +This difference between the Americans and the French originates in +several causes, but principally in the following one. The Americans form +a democratic people, which has always itself directed public affairs. +The French are a democratic people, who, for a long time, could only +speculate on the best manner of conducting them. The social condition of +France led that people to conceive very general ideas on the subject +of government, whilst its political constitution prevented it from +correcting those ideas by experiment, and from gradually detecting their +insufficiency; whereas in America the two things constantly balance and +correct each other. + +It may seem, at first sight, that this is very much opposed to what I +have said before, that democratic nations derive their love of theory +from the excitement of their active life. A more attentive examination +will show that there is nothing contradictory in the proposition. Men +living in democratic countries eagerly lay hold of general ideas because +they have but little leisure, and because these ideas spare them the +trouble of studying particulars. This is true; but it is only to be +understood to apply to those matters which are not the necessary and +habitual subjects of their thoughts. Mercantile men will take up very +eagerly, and without any very close scrutiny, all the general ideas on +philosophy, politics, science, or the arts, which may be presented to +them; but for such as relate to commerce, they will not receive them +without inquiry, or adopt them without reserve. The same thing applies +to statesmen with regard to general ideas in politics. If, then, there +be a subject upon which a democratic people is peculiarly liable to +abandon itself, blindly and extravagantly, to general ideas, the best +corrective that can be used will be to make that subject a part of +the daily practical occupation of that people. The people will then be +compelled to enter upon its details, and the details will teach them the +weak points of the theory. This remedy may frequently be a painful one, +but its effect is certain. + +Thus it happens, that the democratic institutions which compel every +citizen to take a practical part in the government, moderate that +excessive taste for general theories in politics which the principle of +equality suggests. + + + + +Chapter V: Of The Manner In Which Religion In The United States Avails +Itself Of Democratic Tendencies + +I have laid it down in a preceding chapter that men cannot do without +dogmatical belief; and even that it is very much to be desired that such +belief should exist amongst them. I now add, that of all the kinds of +dogmatical belief the most desirable appears to me to be dogmatical +belief in matters of religion; and this is a very clear inference, even +from no higher consideration than the interests of this world. There is +hardly any human action, however particular a character be assigned +to it, which does not originate in some very general idea men have +conceived of the Deity, of his relation to mankind, of the nature of +their own souls, and of their duties to their fellow-creatures. Nor can +anything prevent these ideas from being the common spring from which +everything else emanates. Men are therefore immeasurably interested in +acquiring fixed ideas of God, of the soul, and of their common duties +to their Creator and to their fellow-men; for doubt on these first +principles would abandon all their actions to the impulse of chance, +and would condemn them to live, to a certain extent, powerless and +undisciplined. + +This is then the subject on which it is most important for each of us to +entertain fixed ideas; and unhappily it is also the subject on which +it is most difficult for each of us, left to himself, to settle his +opinions by the sole force of his reason. None but minds singularly free +from the ordinary anxieties of life--minds at once penetrating, subtle, +and trained by thinking--can even with the assistance of much time and +care, sound the depth of these most necessary truths. And, indeed, we +see that these philosophers are themselves almost always enshrouded in +uncertainties; that at every step the natural light which illuminates +their path grows dimmer and less secure; and that, in spite of all their +efforts, they have as yet only discovered a small number of conflicting +notions, on which the mind of man has been tossed about for thousands of +years, without either laying a firmer grasp on truth, or finding novelty +even in its errors. Studies of this nature are far above the average +capacity of men; and even if the majority of mankind were capable of +such pursuits, it is evident that leisure to cultivate them would still +be wanting. Fixed ideas of God and human nature are indispensable to the +daily practice of men's lives; but the practice of their lives prevents +them from acquiring such ideas. + +The difficulty appears to me to be without a parallel. Amongst the +sciences there are some which are useful to the mass of mankind, and +which are within its reach; others can only be approached by the few, +and are not cultivated by the many, who require nothing beyond their +more remote applications: but the daily practice of the science I speak +of is indispensable to all, although the study of it is inaccessible to +the far greater number. + +General ideas respecting God and human nature are therefore the ideas +above all others which it is most suitable to withdraw from the habitual +action of private judgment, and in which there is most to gain and least +to lose by recognizing a principle of authority. The first object and +one of the principal advantages of religions, is to furnish to each of +these fundamental questions a solution which is at once clear, precise, +intelligible to the mass of mankind, and lasting. There are religions +which are very false and very absurd; but it may be affirmed, that any +religion which remains within the circle I have just traced, without +aspiring to go beyond it (as many religions have attempted to do, for +the purpose of enclosing on every side the free progress of the human +mind), imposes a salutary restraint on the intellect; and it must be +admitted that, if it do not save men in another world, such religion is +at least very conducive to their happiness and their greatness in this. +This is more especially true of men living in free countries. When +the religion of a people is destroyed, doubt gets hold of the highest +portions of the intellect, and half paralyzes all the rest of its +powers. Every man accustoms himself to entertain none but confused +and changing notions on the subjects most interesting to his +fellow-creatures and himself. His opinions are ill-defended and easily +abandoned: and, despairing of ever resolving by himself the hardest +problems of the destiny of man, he ignobly submits to think no more +about them. Such a condition cannot but enervate the soul, relax the +springs of the will, and prepare a people for servitude. Nor does it +only happen, in such a case, that they allow their freedom to be wrested +from them; they frequently themselves surrender it. When there is no +longer any principle of authority in religion any more than in +politics, men are speedily frightened at the aspect of this unbounded +independence. The constant agitation of all surrounding things alarms +and exhausts them. As everything is at sea in the sphere of the +intellect, they determine at least that the mechanism of society should +be firm and fixed; and as they cannot resume their ancient belief, they +assume a master. + +For my own part, I doubt whether man can ever support at the same time +complete religious independence and entire public freedom. And I am +inclined to think, that if faith be wanting in him, he must serve; and +if he be free, he must believe. + +Perhaps, however, this great utility of religions is still more obvious +amongst nations where equality of conditions prevails than amongst +others. It must be acknowledged that equality, which brings great +benefits into the world, nevertheless suggests to men (as will be shown +hereafter) some very dangerous propensities. It tends to isolate them +from each other, to concentrate every man's attention upon himself; and +it lays open the soul to an inordinate love of material gratification. +The greatest advantage of religion is to inspire diametrically contrary +principles. There is no religion which does not place the object of +man's desires above and beyond the treasures of earth, and which does +not naturally raise his soul to regions far above those of the senses. +Nor is there any which does not impose on man some sort of duties to +his kind, and thus draws him at times from the contemplation of himself. +This occurs in religions the most false and dangerous. Religious nations +are therefore naturally strong on the very point on which democratic +nations are weak; which shows of what importance it is for men to +preserve their religion as their conditions become more equal. + +I have neither the right nor the intention of examining the supernatural +means which God employs to infuse religious belief into the heart of +man. I am at this moment considering religions in a purely human point +of view: my object is to inquire by what means they may most easily +retain their sway in the democratic ages upon which we are entering. It +has been shown that, at times of general cultivation and equality, +the human mind does not consent to adopt dogmatical opinions without +reluctance, and feels their necessity acutely in spiritual matters only. +This proves, in the first place, that at such times religions ought, +more cautiously than at any other, to confine themselves within their +own precincts; for in seeking to extend their power beyond religious +matters, they incur a risk of not being believed at all. The circle +within which they seek to bound the human intellect ought therefore to +be carefully traced, and beyond its verge the mind should be left in +entire freedom to its own guidance. Mahommed professed to derive from +Heaven, and he has inserted in the Koran, not only a body of religious +doctrines, but political maxims, civil and criminal laws, and theories +of science. The gospel, on the contrary, only speaks of the general +relations of men to God and to each other--beyond which it inculcates +and imposes no point of faith. This alone, besides a thousand other +reasons, would suffice to prove that the former of these religions will +never long predominate in a cultivated and democratic age, whilst the +latter is destined to retain its sway at these as at all other periods. + +But in continuation of this branch of the subject, I find that in +order for religions to maintain their authority, humanly speaking, in +democratic ages, they must not only confine themselves strictly within +the circle of spiritual matters: their power also depends very much +on the nature of the belief they inculcate, on the external forms they +assume, and on the obligations they impose. The preceding observation, +that equality leads men to very general and very extensive notions, is +principally to be understood as applied to the question of religion. Men +living in a similar and equal condition in the world readily conceive +the idea of the one God, governing every man by the same laws, and +granting to every man future happiness on the same conditions. The idea +of the unity of mankind constantly leads them back to the idea of the +unity of the Creator; whilst, on the contrary, in a state of society +where men are broken up into very unequal ranks, they are apt to devise +as many deities as there are nations, castes, classes, or families, and +to trace a thousand private roads to heaven. + +It cannot be denied that Christianity itself has felt, to a certain +extent, the influence which social and political conditions exercise +on religious opinions. At the epoch at which the Christian religion +appeared upon earth, Providence, by whom the world was doubtless +prepared for its coming, had gathered a large portion of the human race, +like an immense flock, under the sceptre of the Caesars. The men of whom +this multitude was composed were distinguished by numerous differences; +but they had thus much in common, that they all obeyed the same laws, +and that every subject was so weak and insignificant in relation to the +imperial potentate, that all appeared equal when their condition +was contrasted with his. This novel and peculiar state of mankind +necessarily predisposed men to listen to the general truths which +Christianity teaches, and may serve to explain the facility and rapidity +with which they then penetrated into the human mind. The counterpart of +this state of things was exhibited after the destruction of the +empire. The Roman world being then as it were shattered into a thousand +fragments, each nation resumed its pristine individuality. An infinite +scale of ranks very soon grew up in the bosom of these nations; the +different races were more sharply defined, and each nation was divided +by castes into several peoples. In the midst of this common effort, +which seemed to be urging human society to the greatest conceivable +amount of voluntary subdivision, Christianity did not lose sight of +the leading general ideas which it had brought into the world. But it +appeared, nevertheless, to lend itself, as much as was possible, to +those new tendencies to which the fractional distribution of mankind +had given birth. Men continued to worship an only God, the Creator and +Preserver of all things; but every people, every city, and, so to speak, +every man, thought to obtain some distinct privilege, and win the favor +of an especial patron at the foot of the Throne of Grace. Unable +to subdivide the Deity, they multiplied and improperly enhanced the +importance of the divine agents. The homage due to saints and angels +became an almost idolatrous worship amongst the majority of the +Christian world; and apprehensions might be entertained for a moment +lest the religion of Christ should retrograde towards the superstitions +which it had subdued. It seems evident, that the more the barriers are +removed which separate nation from nation amongst mankind, and citizen +from citizen amongst a people, the stronger is the bent of the human +mind, as if by its own impulse, towards the idea of an only and +all-powerful Being, dispensing equal laws in the same manner to every +man. In democratic ages, then, it is more particularly important not +to allow the homage paid to secondary agents to be confounded with the +worship due to the Creator alone. + +Another truth is no less clear--that religions ought to assume fewer +external observances in democratic periods than at any others. In +speaking of philosophical method among the Americans, I have shown that +nothing is more repugnant to the human mind in an age of equality than +the idea of subjection to forms. Men living at such times are impatient +of figures; to their eyes symbols appear to be the puerile artifice +which is used to conceal or to set off truths, which should more +naturally be bared to the light of open day: they are unmoved by +ceremonial observances, and they are predisposed to attach a secondary +importance to the details of public worship. Those whose care it is to +regulate the external forms of religion in a democratic age should pay +a close attention to these natural propensities of the human mind, in +order not unnecessarily to run counter to them. I firmly believe in the +necessity of forms, which fix the human mind in the contemplation of +abstract truths, and stimulate its ardor in the pursuit of them, whilst +they invigorate its powers of retaining them steadfastly. Nor do I +suppose that it is possible to maintain a religion without external +observances; but, on the other hand, I am persuaded that, in the ages +upon which we are entering, it would be peculiarly dangerous to multiply +them beyond measure; and that they ought rather to be limited to as much +as is absolutely necessary to perpetuate the doctrine itself, which is +the substance of religions of which the ritual is only the form. *a +A religion which should become more minute, more peremptory, and more +surcharged with small observances at a time in which men are becoming +more equal, would soon find itself reduced to a band of fanatical +zealots in the midst of an infidel people. + +[Footnote a: In all religions there are some ceremonies which are +inherent in the substance of the faith itself, and in these nothing +should, on any account, be changed. This is especially the case with +Roman Catholicism, in which the doctrine and the form are frequently so +closely united as to form one point of belief.] + +I anticipate the objection, that as all religions have general and +eternal truths for their object, they cannot thus shape themselves +to the shifting spirit of every age without forfeiting their claim +to certainty in the eyes of mankind. To this I reply again, that the +principal opinions which constitute belief, and which theologians +call articles of faith, must be very carefully distinguished from the +accessories connected with them. Religions are obliged to hold fast to +the former, whatever be the peculiar spirit of the age; but they should +take good care not to bind themselves in the same manner to the +latter at a time when everything is in transition, and when the mind, +accustomed to the moving pageant of human affairs, reluctantly endures +the attempt to fix it to any given point. The fixity of external and +secondary things can only afford a chance of duration when civil society +is itself fixed; under any other circumstances I hold it to be perilous. + +We shall have occasion to see that, of all the passions which originate +in, or are fostered by, equality, there is one which it renders +peculiarly intense, and which it infuses at the same time into the heart +of every man: I mean the love of well-being. The taste for well-being +is the prominent and indelible feature of democratic ages. It may be +believed that a religion which should undertake to destroy so deep +seated a passion, would meet its own destruction thence in the end; and +if it attempted to wean men entirely from the contemplation of the good +things of this world, in order to devote their faculties exclusively to +the thought of another, it may be foreseen that the soul would at length +escape from its grasp, to plunge into the exclusive enjoyment of present +and material pleasures. The chief concern of religions is to purify, +to regulate, and to restrain the excessive and exclusive taste for +well-being which men feel at periods of equality; but they would err in +attempting to control it completely or to eradicate it. They will not +succeed in curing men of the love of riches: but they may still persuade +men to enrich themselves by none but honest means. + +This brings me to a final consideration, which comprises, as it were, +all the others. The more the conditions of men are equalized and +assimilated to each other, the more important is it for religions, +whilst they carefully abstain from the daily turmoil of secular affairs, +not needlessly to run counter to the ideas which generally prevail, and +the permanent interests which exist in the mass of the people. For as +public opinion grows to be more and more evidently the first and most +irresistible of existing powers, the religious principle has no external +support strong enough to enable it long to resist its attacks. This +is not less true of a democratic people, ruled by a despot, than in a +republic. In ages of equality, kings may often command obedience, +but the majority always commands belief: to the majority, therefore, +deference is to be paid in whatsoever is not contrary to the faith. + +I showed in my former volumes how the American clergy stand aloof from +secular affairs. This is the most obvious, but it is not the only, +example of their self-restraint. In America religion is a distinct +sphere, in which the priest is sovereign, but out of which he takes +care never to go. Within its limits he is the master of the mind; +beyond them, he leaves men to themselves, and surrenders them to the +independence and instability which belong to their nature and their +age. I have seen no country in which Christianity is clothed with fewer +forms, figures, and observances than in the United States; or where +it presents more distinct, more simple, or more general notions to the +mind. Although the Christians of America are divided into a multitude of +sects, they all look upon their religion in the same light. This applies +to Roman Catholicism as well as to the other forms of belief. There +are no Romish priests who show less taste for the minute individual +observances for extraordinary or peculiar means of salvation, or who +cling more to the spirit, and less to the letter of the law, than the +Roman Catholic priests of the United States. Nowhere is that doctrine of +the Church, which prohibits the worship reserved to God alone from +being offered to the saints, more clearly inculcated or more generally +followed. Yet the Roman Catholics of America are very submissive and +very sincere. + +Another remark is applicable to the clergy of every communion. The +American ministers of the gospel do not attempt to draw or to fix all +the thoughts of man upon the life to come; they are willing to surrender +a portion of his heart to the cares of the present; seeming to consider +the goods of this world as important, although as secondary, objects. +If they take no part themselves in productive labor, they are at least +interested in its progression, and ready to applaud its results; and +whilst they never cease to point to the other world as the great object +of the hopes and fears of the believer, they do not forbid him honestly +to court prosperity in this. Far from attempting to show that these +things are distinct and contrary to one another, they study rather to +find out on what point they are most nearly and closely connected. + +All the American clergy know and respect the intellectual supremacy +exercised by the majority; they never sustain any but necessary +conflicts with it. They take no share in the altercations of parties, +but they readily adopt the general opinions of their country and their +age; and they allow themselves to be borne away without opposition in +the current of feeling and opinion by which everything around them is +carried along. They endeavor to amend their contemporaries, but they do +not quit fellowship with them. Public opinion is therefore never hostile +to them; it rather supports and protects them; and their belief owes its +authority at the same time to the strength which is its own, and to that +which they borrow from the opinions of the majority. Thus it is that, by +respecting all democratic tendencies not absolutely contrary to herself, +and by making use of several of them for her own purposes, religion +sustains an advantageous struggle with that spirit of individual +independence which is her most dangerous antagonist. + + + + +Chapter VI: Of The Progress Of Roman Catholicism In The United States + +America is the most democratic country in the world, and it is at the +same time (according to reports worthy of belief) the country in which +the Roman Catholic religion makes most progress. At first sight this is +surprising. Two things must here be accurately distinguished: equality +inclines men to wish to form their own opinions; but, on the other hand, +it imbues them with the taste and the idea of unity, simplicity, +and impartiality in the power which governs society. Men living in +democratic ages are therefore very prone to shake off all religious +authority; but if they consent to subject themselves to any authority +of this kind, they choose at least that it should be single and uniform. +Religious powers not radiating from a common centre are naturally +repugnant to their minds; and they almost as readily conceive that there +should be no religion, as that there should be several. At the present +time, more than in any preceding one, Roman Catholics are seen to lapse +into infidelity, and Protestants to be converted to Roman Catholicism. +If the Roman Catholic faith be considered within the pale of the church, +it would seem to be losing ground; without that pale, to be gaining it. +Nor is this circumstance difficult of explanation. The men of our +days are naturally disposed to believe; but, as soon as they have any +religion, they immediately find in themselves a latent propensity which +urges them unconsciously towards Catholicism. Many of the doctrines and +the practices of the Romish Church astonish them; but they feel a secret +admiration for its discipline, and its great unity attracts them. +If Catholicism could at length withdraw itself from the political +animosities to which it has given rise, I have hardly any doubt but that +the same spirit of the age, which appears to be so opposed to it, would +become so favorable as to admit of its great and sudden advancement. +One of the most ordinary weaknesses of the human intellect is to seek to +reconcile contrary principles, and to purchase peace at the expense +of logic. Thus there have ever been, and will ever be, men who, after +having submitted some portion of their religious belief to the principle +of authority, will seek to exempt several other parts of their faith +from its influence, and to keep their minds floating at random between +liberty and obedience. But I am inclined to believe that the number of +these thinkers will be less in democratic than in other ages; and that +our posterity will tend more and more to a single division into two +parts--some relinquishing Christianity entirely, and others returning to +the bosom of the Church of Rome. + + + + +Chapter VII: Of The Cause Of A Leaning To Pantheism Amongst Democratic +Nations + +I shall take occasion hereafter to show under what form the +preponderating taste of a democratic people for very general ideas +manifests itself in politics; but I would point out, at the present +stage of my work, its principal effect on philosophy. It cannot be +denied that pantheism has made great progress in our age. The writings +of a part of Europe bear visible marks of it: the Germans introduce it +into philosophy, and the French into literature. Most of the works of +imagination published in France contain some opinions or some tinge +caught from pantheistical doctrines, or they disclose some tendency to +such doctrines in their authors. This appears to me not only to proceed +from an accidental, but from a permanent cause. + +When the conditions of society are becoming more equal, and each +individual man becomes more like all the rest, more weak and more +insignificant, a habit grows up of ceasing to notice the citizens to +consider only the people, and of overlooking individuals to think only +of their kind. At such times the human mind seeks to embrace a multitude +of different objects at once; and it constantly strives to succeed in +connecting a variety of consequences with a single cause. The idea +of unity so possesses itself of man, and is sought for by him so +universally, that if he thinks he has found it, he readily yields +himself up to repose in that belief. Nor does he content himself with +the discovery that nothing is in the world but a creation and a Creator; +still embarrassed by this primary division of things, he seeks to expand +and to simplify his conception by including God and the universe in one +great whole. If there be a philosophical system which teaches that all +things material and immaterial, visible and invisible, which the world +contains, are only to be considered as the several parts of an immense +Being, which alone remains unchanged amidst the continual change and +ceaseless transformation of all that constitutes it, we may readily +infer that such a system, although it destroy the individuality of +man--nay, rather because it destroys that individuality--will have +secret charms for men living in democracies. All their habits of +thought prepare them to conceive it, and predispose them to adopt it. +It naturally attracts and fixes their imagination; it fosters the pride, +whilst it soothes the indolence, of their minds. Amongst the different +systems by whose aid philosophy endeavors to explain the universe, I +believe pantheism to be one of those most fitted to seduce the human +mind in democratic ages. Against it all who abide in their attachment to +the true greatness of man should struggle and combine. + + + + +Chapter VIII: The Principle Of Equality Suggests To The Americans The +Idea Of The Indefinite Perfectibility Of Man + +Equality suggests to the human mind several ideas which would not have +originated from any other source, and it modifies almost all those +previously entertained. I take as an example the idea of human +perfectibility, because it is one of the principal notions that the +intellect can conceive, and because it constitutes of itself a great +philosophical theory, which is every instant to be traced by its +consequences in the practice of human affairs. Although man has many +points of resemblance with the brute creation, one characteristic is +peculiar to himself--he improves: they are incapable of improvement. +Mankind could not fail to discover this difference from its earliest +period. The idea of perfectibility is therefore as old as the world; +equality did not give birth to it, although it has imparted to it a +novel character. + +When the citizens of a community are classed according to their rank, +their profession, or their birth, and when all men are constrained to +follow the career which happens to open before them, everyone thinks +that the utmost limits of human power are to be discerned in proximity +to himself, and none seeks any longer to resist the inevitable law of +his destiny. Not indeed that an aristocratic people absolutely contests +man's faculty of self-improvement, but they do not hold it to be +indefinite; amelioration they conceive, but not change: they imagine +that the future condition of society may be better, but not essentially +different; and whilst they admit that mankind has made vast strides +in improvement, and may still have some to make, they assign to it +beforehand certain impassable limits. Thus they do not presume that they +have arrived at the supreme good or at absolute truth (what people +or what man was ever wild enough to imagine it?) but they cherish a +persuasion that they have pretty nearly reached that degree of greatness +and knowledge which our imperfect nature admits of; and as nothing +moves about them they are willing to fancy that everything is in its fit +place. Then it is that the legislator affects to lay down eternal laws; +that kings and nations will raise none but imperishable monuments; and +that the present generation undertakes to spare generations to come the +care of regulating their destinies. + +In proportion as castes disappear and the classes of society +approximate--as manners, customs, and laws vary, from the tumultuous +intercourse of men--as new facts arise--as new truths are brought +to light--as ancient opinions are dissipated, and others take their +place--the image of an ideal perfection, forever on the wing, presents +itself to the human mind. Continual changes are then every instant +occurring under the observation of every man: the position of some +is rendered worse; and he learns but too well, that no people and +no individual, how enlightened soever they may be, can lay claim to +infallibility;--the condition of others is improved; whence he infers +that man is endowed with an indefinite faculty of improvement. His +reverses teach him that none may hope to have discovered absolute +good--his success stimulates him to the never-ending pursuit of +it. Thus, forever seeking--forever falling, to rise again--often +disappointed, but not discouraged--he tends unceasingly towards that +unmeasured greatness so indistinctly visible at the end of the long +track which humanity has yet to tread. It can hardly be believed +how many facts naturally flow from the philosophical theory of the +indefinite perfectibility of man, or how strong an influence it +exercises even on men who, living entirely for the purposes of action +and not of thought, seem to conform their actions to it, without knowing +anything about it. I accost an American sailor, and I inquire why the +ships of his country are built so as to last but for a short time; +he answers without hesitation that the art of navigation is every day +making such rapid progress, that the finest vessel would become almost +useless if it lasted beyond a certain number of years. In these words, +which fell accidentally and on a particular subject from a man of rude +attainments, I recognize the general and systematic idea upon which a +great people directs all its concerns. + +Aristocratic nations are naturally too apt to narrow the scope of human +perfectibility; democratic nations to expand it beyond compass. + + + + +Chapter IX: The Example Of The Americans Does Not Prove That A +Democratic People Can Have No Aptitude And No Taste For Science, +Literature, Or Art + +It must be acknowledged that amongst few of the civilized nations of +our time have the higher sciences made less progress than in the United +States; and in few have great artists, fine poets, or celebrated writers +been more rare. Many Europeans, struck by this fact, have looked upon it +as a natural and inevitable result of equality; and they have supposed +that if a democratic state of society and democratic institutions were +ever to prevail over the whole earth, the human mind would gradually +find its beacon-lights grow dim, and men would relapse into a period of +darkness. To reason thus is, I think, to confound several ideas which +it is important to divide and to examine separately: it is to mingle, +unintentionally, what is democratic with what is only American. + +The religion professed by the first emigrants, and bequeathed by them +to their descendants, simple in its form of worship, austere and +almost harsh in its principles, and hostile to external symbols and to +ceremonial pomp, is naturally unfavorable to the fine arts, and only +yields a reluctant sufferance to the pleasures of literature. The +Americans are a very old and a very enlightened people, who have fallen +upon a new and unbounded country, where they may extend themselves at +pleasure, and which they may fertilize without difficulty. This state +of things is without a parallel in the history of the world. In America, +then, every one finds facilities, unknown elsewhere, for making or +increasing his fortune. The spirit of gain is always on the stretch, and +the human mind, constantly diverted from the pleasures of imagination +and the labors of the intellect, is there swayed by no impulse but the +pursuit of wealth. Not only are manufacturing and commercial classes to +be found in the United States, as they are in all other countries; but +what never occurred elsewhere, the whole community is simultaneously +engaged in productive industry and commerce. I am convinced that, if +the Americans had been alone in the world, with the freedom and the +knowledge acquired by their forefathers, and the passions which are +their own, they would not have been slow to discover that progress +cannot long be made in the application of the sciences without +cultivating the theory of them; that all the arts are perfected by one +another: and, however absorbed they might have been by the pursuit +of the principal object of their desires, they would speedily have +admitted, that it is necessary to turn aside from it occasionally, in +order the better to attain it in the end. + +The taste for the pleasures of the mind is moreover so natural to the +heart of civilized man, that amongst the polite nations, which are least +disposed to give themselves up to these pursuits, a certain number of +citizens are always to be found who take part in them. This intellectual +craving, when once felt, would very soon have been satisfied. But at the +very time when the Americans were naturally inclined to require nothing +of science but its special applications to the useful arts and the means +of rendering life comfortable, learned and literary Europe was engaged +in exploring the common sources of truth, and in improving at the same +time all that can minister to the pleasures or satisfy the wants of man. +At the head of the enlightened nations of the Old World the inhabitants +of the United States more particularly distinguished one, to which they +were closely united by a common origin and by kindred habits. Amongst +this people they found distinguished men of science, artists of skill, +writers of eminence, and they were enabled to enjoy the treasures of the +intellect without requiring to labor in amassing them. I cannot consent +to separate America from Europe, in spite of the ocean which intervenes. +I consider the people of the United States as that portion of the +English people which is commissioned to explore the wilds of the New +World; whilst the rest of the nation, enjoying more leisure and less +harassed by the drudgery of life, may devote its energies to thought, +and enlarge in all directions the empire of the mind. The position of +the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed +that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one. Their +strictly Puritanical origin--their exclusively commercial habits--even +the country they inhabit, which seems to divert their minds from the +pursuit of science, literature, and the arts--the proximity of Europe, +which allows them to neglect these pursuits without relapsing into +barbarism--a thousand special causes, of which I have only been able to +point out the most important--have singularly concurred to fix the mind +of the American upon purely practical objects. His passions, his wants, +his education, and everything about him seem to unite in drawing the +native of the United States earthward: his religion alone bids him turn, +from time to time, a transient and distracted glance to heaven. Let us +cease then to view all democratic nations under the mask of the American +people, and let us attempt to survey them at length with their own +proper features. + +It is possible to conceive a people not subdivided into any castes or +scale of ranks; in which the law, recognizing no privileges, should +divide inherited property into equal shares; but which, at the same +time, should be without knowledge and without freedom. Nor is this an +empty hypothesis: a despot may find that it is his interest to render +his subjects equal and to leave them ignorant, in order more easily to +keep them slaves. Not only would a democratic people of this kind show +neither aptitude nor taste for science, literature, or art, but it would +probably never arrive at the possession of them. The law of descent +would of itself provide for the destruction of fortunes at each +succeeding generation; and new fortunes would be acquired by none. The +poor man, without either knowledge or freedom, would not so much as +conceive the idea of raising himself to wealth; and the rich man +would allow himself to be degraded to poverty, without a notion of +self-defence. Between these two members of the community complete and +invincible equality would soon be established. + +No one would then have time or taste to devote himself to the pursuits +or pleasures of the intellect; but all men would remain paralyzed by +a state of common ignorance and equal servitude. When I conceive a +democratic society of this kind, I fancy myself in one of those low, +close, and gloomy abodes, where the light which breaks in from without +soon faints and fades away. A sudden heaviness overpowers me, and I +grope through the surrounding darkness, to find the aperture which will +restore me to daylight and the air. + +But all this is not applicable to men already enlightened who retain +their freedom, after having abolished from amongst them those peculiar +and hereditary rights which perpetuated the tenure of property in the +hands of certain individuals or certain bodies. When men living in a +democratic state of society are enlightened, they readily discover that +they are confined and fixed within no limits which constrain them to +take up with their present fortune. They all therefore conceive the idea +of increasing it; if they are free, they all attempt it, but all do +not succeed in the same manner. The legislature, it is true, no +longer grants privileges, but they are bestowed by nature. As natural +inequality is very great, fortunes become unequal as soon as every man +exerts all his faculties to get rich. The law of descent prevents the +establishment of wealthy families; but it does not prevent the existence +of wealthy individuals. It constantly brings back the members of the +community to a common level, from which they as constantly escape: +and the inequality of fortunes augments in proportion as knowledge is +diffused and liberty increased. + +A sect which arose in our time, and was celebrated for its talents and +its extravagance, proposed to concentrate all property into the hands of +a central power, whose function it should afterwards be to parcel it +out to individuals, according to their capacity. This would have been a +method of escaping from that complete and eternal equality which seems +to threaten democratic society. But it would be a simpler and less +dangerous remedy to grant no privilege to any, giving to all equal +cultivation and equal independence, and leaving everyone to determine +his own position. Natural inequality will very soon make way for itself, +and wealth will spontaneously pass into the hands of the most capable. + +Free and democratic communities, then, will always contain a +considerable number of people enjoying opulence or competency. The +wealthy will not be so closely linked to each other as the members of +the former aristocratic class of society: their propensities will be +different, and they will scarcely ever enjoy leisure as secure or as +complete: but they will be far more numerous than those who belonged to +that class of society could ever be. These persons will not be strictly +confined to the cares of practical life, and they will still be able, +though in different degrees, to indulge in the pursuits and pleasures of +the intellect. In those pleasures they will indulge; for if it be true +that the human mind leans on one side to the narrow, the practical, +and the useful, it naturally rises on the other to the infinite, the +spiritual, and the beautiful. Physical wants confine it to the earth; +but, as soon as the tie is loosened, it will unbend itself again. + +Not only will the number of those who can take an interest in the +productions of the mind be enlarged, but the taste for intellectual +enjoyment will descend, step by step, even to those who, in aristocratic +societies, seem to have neither time nor ability to in indulge in them. +When hereditary wealth, the privileges of rank, and the prerogatives of +birth have ceased to be, and when every man derives his strength from +himself alone, it becomes evident that the chief cause of disparity +between the fortunes of men is the mind. Whatever tends to invigorate, +to extend, or to adorn the mind, instantly rises to great value. The +utility of knowledge becomes singularly conspicuous even to the eyes of +the multitude: those who have no taste for its charms set store upon its +results, and make some efforts to acquire it. In free and enlightened +democratic ages, there is nothing to separate men from each other or +to retain them in their peculiar sphere; they rise or sink with extreme +rapidity. All classes live in perpetual intercourse from their great +proximity to each other. They communicate and intermingle every +day--they imitate and envy one other: this suggests to the people many +ideas, notions, and desires which it would never have entertained if the +distinctions of rank had been fixed and society at rest. In such +nations the servant never considers himself as an entire stranger to +the pleasures and toils of his master, nor the poor man to those of the +rich; the rural population assimilates itself to that of the towns, and +the provinces to the capital. No one easily allows himself to be reduced +to the mere material cares of life; and the humblest artisan casts +at times an eager and a furtive glance into the higher regions of the +intellect. People do not read with the same notions or in the same +manner as they do in an aristocratic community; but the circle of +readers is unceasingly expanded, till it includes all the citizens. + +As soon as the multitude begins to take an interest in the labors of the +mind, it finds out that to excel in some of them is a powerful method of +acquiring fame, power, or wealth. The restless ambition which equality +begets instantly takes this direction as it does all others. The number +of those who cultivate science, letters, and the arts, becomes immense. +The intellectual world starts into prodigious activity: everyone +endeavors to open for himself a path there, and to draw the eyes of the +public after him. Something analogous occurs to what happens in society +in the United States, politically considered. What is done is often +imperfect, but the attempts are innumerable; and, although the results +of individual effort are commonly very small, the total amount is always +very large. + +It is therefore not true to assert that men living in democratic ages +are naturally indifferent to science, literature, and the arts: only it +must be acknowledged that they cultivate them after their own +fashion, and bring to the task their own peculiar qualifications and +deficiencies. + + + + +Chapter X: Why The Americans Are More Addicted To Practical Than To +Theoretical Science + +If a democratic state of society and democratic institutions do not +stop the career of the human mind, they incontestably guide it in one +direction in preference to another. Their effects, thus circumscribed, +are still exceedingly great; and I trust I may be pardoned if I pause +for a moment to survey them. We had occasion, in speaking of the +philosophical method of the American people, to make several remarks +which must here be turned to account. + +Equality begets in man the desire of judging of everything for himself: +it gives him, in all things, a taste for the tangible and the real, +a contempt for tradition and for forms. These general tendencies are +principally discernible in the peculiar subject of this chapter. Those +who cultivate the sciences amongst a democratic people are always afraid +of losing their way in visionary speculation. They mistrust systems; +they adhere closely to facts and the study of facts with their own +senses. As they do not easily defer to the mere name of any fellow-man, +they are never inclined to rest upon any man's authority; but, on the +contrary, they are unremitting in their efforts to point out the weaker +points of their neighbors' opinions. Scientific precedents have very +little weight with them; they are never long detained by the subtilty +of the schools, nor ready to accept big words for sterling coin; they +penetrate, as far as they can, into the principal parts of the subject +which engages them, and they expound them in the vernacular tongue. +Scientific pursuits then follow a freer and a safer course, but a less +lofty one. + +The mind may, as it appears to me, divide science into three parts. The +first comprises the most theoretical principles, and those more abstract +notions whose application is either unknown or very remote. The second +is composed of those general truths which still belong to pure theory, +but lead, nevertheless, by a straight and short road to practical +results. Methods of application and means of execution make up the +third. Each of these different portions of science may be separately +cultivated, although reason and experience show that none of them can +prosper long, if it be absolutely cut off from the two others. + +In America the purely practical part of science is admirably understood, +and careful attention is paid to the theoretical portion which is +immediately requisite to application. On this head the Americans always +display a clear, free, original, and inventive power of mind. But +hardly anyone in the United States devotes himself to the essentially +theoretical and abstract portion of human knowledge. In this respect +the Americans carry to excess a tendency which is, I think, discernible, +though in a less degree, amongst all democratic nations. + +Nothing is more necessary to the culture of the higher sciences, or of +the more elevated departments of science, than meditation; and nothing +is less suited to meditation than the structure of democratic society. +We do not find there, as amongst an aristocratic people, one class which +clings to a state of repose because it is well off; and another which +does not venture to stir because it despairs of improving its condition. +Everyone is actively in motion: some in quest of power, others of +gain. In the midst of this universal tumult--this incessant conflict of +jarring interests--this continual stride of men after fortune--where is +that calm to be found which is necessary for the deeper combinations +of the intellect? How can the mind dwell upon any single point, when +everything whirls around it, and man himself is swept and beaten onwards +by the heady current which rolls all things in its course? But the +permanent agitation which subsists in the bosom of a peaceable and +established democracy, must be distinguished from the tumultuous and +revolutionary movements which almost always attend the birth and growth +of democratic society. When a violent revolution occurs amongst a highly +civilized people, it cannot fail to give a sudden impulse to their +feelings and their opinions. This is more particularly true of +democratic revolutions, which stir up all the classes of which a people +is composed, and beget, at the same time, inordinate ambition in the +breast of every member of the community. The French made most surprising +advances in the exact sciences at the very time at which they were +finishing the destruction of the remains of their former feudal society; +yet this sudden fecundity is not to be attributed to democracy, but to +the unexampled revolution which attended its growth. What happened at +that period was a special incident, and it would be unwise to regard +it as the test of a general principle. Great revolutions are not +more common amongst democratic nations than amongst others: I am even +inclined to believe that they are less so. But there prevails amongst +those populations a small distressing motion--a sort of incessant +jostling of men--which annoys and disturbs the mind, without exciting +or elevating it. Men who live in democratic communities not only seldom +indulge in meditation, but they naturally entertain very little esteem +for it. A democratic state of society and democratic institutions plunge +the greater part of men in constant active life; and the habits of +mind which are suited to an active life, are not always suited to a +contemplative one. The man of action is frequently obliged to content +himself with the best he can get, because he would never accomplish +his purpose if he chose to carry every detail to perfection. He has +perpetually occasion to rely on ideas which he has not had leisure +to search to the bottom; for he is much more frequently aided by the +opportunity of an idea than by its strict accuracy; and, in the long +run, he risks less in making use of some false principles, than in +spending his time in establishing all his principles on the basis of +truth. The world is not led by long or learned demonstrations; a rapid +glance at particular incidents, the daily study of the fleeting passions +of the multitude, the accidents of the time, and the art of turning them +to account, decide all its affairs. + +In the ages in which active life is the condition of almost everyone, +men are therefore generally led to attach an excessive value to the +rapid bursts and superficial conceptions of the intellect; and, on +the other hand, to depreciate below their true standard its slower and +deeper labors. This opinion of the public influences the judgment of the +men who cultivate the sciences; they are persuaded that they may succeed +in those pursuits without meditation, or deterred from such pursuits as +demand it. + +There are several methods of studying the sciences. Amongst a multitude +of men you will find a selfish, mercantile, and trading taste for +the discoveries of the mind, which must not be confounded with that +disinterested passion which is kindled in the heart of the few. A desire +to utilize knowledge is one thing; the pure desire to know is another. +I do not doubt that in a few minds and far between, an ardent, +inexhaustible love of truth springs up, self-supported, and living in +ceaseless fruition without ever attaining the satisfaction which it +seeks. This ardent love it is--this proud, disinterested love of what is +true--which raises men to the abstract sources of truth, to draw their +mother-knowledge thence. If Pascal had had nothing in view but some +large gain, or even if he had been stimulated by the love of fame alone, +I cannot conceive that he would ever have been able to rally all the +powers of his mind, as he did, for the better discovery of the most +hidden things of the Creator. When I see him, as it were, tear his soul +from the midst of all the cares of life to devote it wholly to these +researches, and, prematurely snapping the links which bind the frame to +life, die of old age before forty, I stand amazed, and I perceive that +no ordinary cause is at work to produce efforts so extra-ordinary. + +The future will prove whether these passions, at once so rare and so +productive, come into being and into growth as easily in the midst of +democratic as in aristocratic communities. For myself, I confess that +I am slow to believe it. In aristocratic society, the class which gives +the tone to opinion, and has the supreme guidance of affairs, being +permanently and hereditarily placed above the multitude, naturally +conceives a lofty idea of itself and of man. It loves to invent for +him noble pleasures, to carve out splendid objects for his ambition. +Aristocracies often commit very tyrannical and very inhuman actions; +but they rarely entertain grovelling thoughts; and they show a kind of +haughty contempt of little pleasures, even whilst they indulge in +them. The effect is greatly to raise the general pitch of society. In +aristocratic ages vast ideas are commonly entertained of the dignity, +the power, and the greatness of man. These opinions exert their +influence on those who cultivate the sciences, as well as on the rest +of the community. They facilitate the natural impulse of the mind to the +highest regions of thought, and they naturally prepare it to conceive +a sublime--nay, almost a divine--love of truth. Men of science at such +periods are consequently carried away by theory; and it even happens +that they frequently conceive an inconsiderate contempt for the +practical part of learning. "Archimedes," says Plutarch, "was of so +lofty a spirit, that he never condescended to write any treatise on the +manner of constructing all these engines of offence and defence. And as +he held this science of inventing and putting together engines, and all +arts generally speaking which tended to any useful end in practice, to +be vile, low, and mercenary, he spent his talents and his studious hours +in writing of those things only whose beauty and subtilty had in them +no admixture of necessity." Such is the aristocratic aim of science; in +democratic nations it cannot be the same. + +The greater part of the men who constitute these nations are extremely +eager in the pursuit of actual and physical gratification. As they are +always dissatisfied with the position which they occupy, and are always +free to leave it, they think of nothing but the means of changing their +fortune, or of increasing it. To minds thus predisposed, every new +method which leads by a shorter road to wealth, every machine which +spares labor, every instrument which diminishes the cost of production, +every discovery which facilitates pleasures or augments them, seems to +be the grandest effort of the human intellect. It is chiefly from +these motives that a democratic people addicts itself to scientific +pursuits--that it understands, and that it respects them. In +aristocratic ages, science is more particularly called upon to furnish +gratification to the mind; in democracies, to the body. You may be sure +that the more a nation is democratic, enlightened, and free, the greater +will be the number of these interested promoters of scientific genius, +and the more will discoveries immediately applicable to productive +industry confer gain, fame, and even power on their authors. For in +democracies the working class takes a part in public affairs; and public +honors, as well as pecuniary remuneration, may be awarded to those who +deserve them. In a community thus organized it may easily be conceived +that the human mind may be led insensibly to the neglect of theory; and +that it is urged, on the contrary, with unparalleled vehemence to the +applications of science, or at least to that portion of theoretical +science which is necessary to those who make such applications. In vain +will some innate propensity raise the mind towards the loftier spheres +of the intellect; interest draws it down to the middle zone. There it +may develop all its energy and restless activity, there it may engender +all its wonders. These very Americans, who have not discovered one of +the general laws of mechanics, have introduced into navigation an engine +which changes the aspect of the world. + +Assuredly I do not content that the democratic nations of our time are +destined to witness the extinction of the transcendent luminaries of +man's intelligence, nor even that no new lights will ever start into +existence. At the age at which the world has now arrived, and amongst so +many cultivated nations, perpetually excited by the fever of productive +industry, the bonds which connect the different parts of science +together cannot fail to strike the observation; and the taste for +practical science itself, if it be enlightened, ought to lead men not to +neglect theory. In the midst of such numberless attempted applications +of so many experiments, repeated every day, it is almost impossible that +general laws should not frequently be brought to light; so that great +discoveries would be frequent, though great inventors be rare. I +believe, moreover, in the high calling of scientific minds. If the +democratic principle does not, on the one hand, induce men to cultivate +science for its own sake, on the other it enormously increases the +number of those who do cultivate it. Nor is it credible that, from +amongst so great a multitude no speculative genius should from time to +time arise, inflamed by the love of truth alone. Such a one, we may be +sure, would dive into the deepest mysteries of nature, whatever be +the spirit of his country or his age. He requires no assistance in his +course--enough that he be not checked in it. + +All that I mean to say is this:--permanent inequality of conditions +leads men to confine themselves to the arrogant and sterile research +of abstract truths; whilst the social condition and the institutions +of democracy prepare them to seek the immediate and useful practical +results of the sciences. This tendency is natural and inevitable: it is +curious to be acquainted with it, and it may be necessary to point +it out. If those who are called upon to guide the nations of our time +clearly discerned from afar off these new tendencies, which will soon +be irresistible, they would understand that, possessing education +and freedom, men living in democratic ages cannot fail to improve the +industrial part of science; and that henceforward all the efforts of +the constituted authorities ought to be directed to support the highest +branches of learning, and to foster the nobler passion for science +itself. In the present age the human mind must be coerced into +theoretical studies; it runs of its own accord to practical +applications; and, instead of perpetually referring it to the minute +examination of secondary effects, it is well to divert it from them +sometimes, in order to raise it up to the contemplation of primary +causes. Because the civilization of ancient Rome perished in consequence +of the invasion of the barbarians, we are perhaps too apt to think that +civilization cannot perish in any other manner. If the light by which we +are guided is ever extinguished, it will dwindle by degrees, and expire +of itself. By dint of close adherence to mere applications, principles +would be lost sight of; and when the principles were wholly forgotten, +the methods derived from them would be ill-pursued. New methods could +no longer be invented, and men would continue to apply, without +intelligence, and without art, scientific processes no longer +understood. + +When Europeans first arrived in China, three hundred years ago, +they found that almost all the arts had reached a certain degree of +perfection there; and they were surprised that a people which had +attained this point should not have gone beyond it. At a later period +they discovered some traces of the higher branches of science which were +lost. The nation was absorbed in productive industry: the greater part +of its scientific processes had been preserved, but science itself no +longer existed there. This served to explain the strangely motionless +state in which they found the minds of this people. The Chinese, in +following the track of their forefathers, had forgotten the reasons by +which the latter had been guided. They still used the formula, without +asking for its meaning: they retained the instrument, but they no longer +possessed the art of altering or renewing it. The Chinese, then, had +lost the power of change; for them to improve was impossible. They +were compelled, at all times and in all points, to imitate their +predecessors, lest they should stray into utter darkness, by deviating +for an instant from the path already laid down for them. The source of +human knowledge was all but dry; and though the stream still ran on, it +could neither swell its waters nor alter its channel. Notwithstanding +this, China had subsisted peaceably for centuries. The invaders who had +conquered the country assumed the manners of the inhabitants, and +order prevailed there. A sort of physical prosperity was everywhere +discernible: revolutions were rare, and war was, so to speak, unknown. + +It is then a fallacy to flatter ourselves with the reflection that the +barbarians are still far from us; for if there be some nations which +allow civilization to be torn from their grasp, there are others who +trample it themselves under their feet. + + + + +Chapter XI: Of The Spirit In Which The Americans Cultivate The Arts + +It would be to waste the time of my readers and my own if I strove +to demonstrate how the general mediocrity of fortunes, the absence of +superfluous wealth, the universal desire of comfort, and the constant +efforts by which everyone attempts to procure it, make the taste for the +useful predominate over the love of the beautiful in the heart of man. +Democratic nations, amongst which all these things exist, will therefore +cultivate the arts which serve to render life easy, in preference to +those whose object is to adorn it. They will habitually prefer the +useful to the beautiful, and they will require that the beautiful should +be useful. But I propose to go further; and after having pointed out +this first feature, to sketch several others. + +It commonly happens that in the ages of privilege the practice of +almost all the arts becomes a privilege; and that every profession is +a separate walk, upon which it is not allowable for everyone to enter. +Even when productive industry is free, the fixed character which +belongs to aristocratic nations gradually segregates all the persons who +practise the same art, till they form a distinct class, always composed +of the same families, whose members are all known to each other, and +amongst whom a public opinion of their own and a species of corporate +pride soon spring up. In a class or guild of this kind, each artisan has +not only his fortune to make, but his reputation to preserve. He is not +exclusively swayed by his own interest, or even by that of his customer, +but by that of the body to which he belongs; and the interest of that +body is, that each artisan should produce the best possible workmanship. +In aristocratic ages, the object of the arts is therefore to manufacture +as well as possible--not with the greatest despatch, or at the lowest +rate. + +When, on the contrary, every profession is open to all--when a multitude +of persons are constantly embracing and abandoning it--and when its +several members are strangers to each other, indifferent, and from their +numbers hardly seen amongst themselves; the social tie is destroyed, +and each workman, standing alone, endeavors simply to gain the greatest +possible quantity of money at the least possible cost. The will of the +customer is then his only limit. But at the same time a corresponding +revolution takes place in the customer also. In countries in which +riches as well as power are concentrated and retained in the hands of +the few, the use of the greater part of this world's goods belongs to a +small number of individuals, who are always the same. Necessity, public +opinion, or moderate desires exclude all others from the enjoyment +of them. As this aristocratic class remains fixed at the pinnacle of +greatness on which it stands, without diminution or increase, it is +always acted upon by the same wants and affected by them in the same +manner. The men of whom it is composed naturally derive from their +superior and hereditary position a taste for what is extremely well made +and lasting. This affects the general way of thinking of the nation in +relation to the arts. It often occurs, among such a people, that even +the peasant will rather go without the object he covets, than procure it +in a state of imperfection. In aristocracies, then, the handicraftsmen +work for only a limited number of very fastidious customers: the +profit they hope to make depends principally on the perfection of their +workmanship. + +Such is no longer the case when, all privileges being abolished, ranks +are intermingled, and men are forever rising or sinking upon the ladder +of society. Amongst a democratic people a number of citizens always +exist whose patrimony is divided and decreasing. They have contracted, +under more prosperous circumstances, certain wants, which remain after +the means of satisfying such wants are gone; and they are anxiously +looking out for some surreptitious method of providing for them. On the +other hand, there are always in democracies a large number of men whose +fortune is upon the increase, but whose desires grow much faster than +their fortunes: and who gloat upon the gifts of wealth in anticipation, +long before they have means to command them. Such men eager to find some +short cut to these gratifications, already almost within their reach. +From the combination of these causes the result is, that in democracies +there are always a multitude of individuals whose wants are above their +means, and who are very willing to take up with imperfect satisfaction +rather than abandon the object of their desires. + +The artisan readily understands these passions, for he himself partakes +in them: in an aristocracy he would seek to sell his workmanship at a +high price to the few; he now conceives that the more expeditious way of +getting rich is to sell them at a low price to all. But there are only +two ways of lowering the price of commodities. The first is to discover +some better, shorter, and more ingenious method of producing them: the +second is to manufacture a larger quantity of goods, nearly similar, +but of less value. Amongst a democratic population, all the intellectual +faculties of the workman are directed to these two objects: he strives +to invent methods which may enable him not only to work better, but +quicker and cheaper; or, if he cannot succeed in that, to diminish the +intrinsic qualities of the thing he makes, without rendering it wholly +unfit for the use for which it is intended. When none but the wealthy +had watches, they were almost all very good ones: few are now made which +are worth much, but everybody has one in his pocket. Thus the democratic +principle not only tends to direct the human mind to the useful arts, +but it induces the artisan to produce with greater rapidity a quantity +of imperfect commodities, and the consumer to content himself with these +commodities. + +Not that in democracies the arts are incapable of producing very +commendable works, if such be required. This may occasionally be the +case, if customers appear who are ready to pay for time and trouble. +In this rivalry of every kind of industry--in the midst of this immense +competition and these countless experiments, some excellent workmen are +formed who reach the utmost limits of their craft. But they have rarely +an opportunity of displaying what they can do; they are scrupulously +sparing of their powers; they remain in a state of accomplished +mediocrity, which condemns itself, and, though it be very well able +to shoot beyond the mark before it, aims only at what it hits. In +aristocracies, on the contrary, workmen always do all they can; and +when they stop, it is because they have reached the limit of their +attainments. + +When I arrive in a country where I find some of the finest productions +of the arts, I learn from this fact nothing of the social condition or +of the political constitution of the country. But if I perceive that +the productions of the arts are generally of an inferior quality, very +abundant and very cheap, I am convinced that, amongst the people where +this occurs, privilege is on the decline, and that ranks are beginning +to intermingle, and will soon be confounded together. + +The handicraftsmen of democratic ages endeavor not only to bring their +useful productions within the reach of the whole community, but they +strive to give to all their commodities attractive qualities which they +do not in reality possess. In the confusion of all ranks everyone hopes +to appear what he is not, and makes great exertions to succeed in this +object. This sentiment indeed, which is but too natural to the heart of +man, does not originate in the democratic principle; but that principle +applies it to material objects. To mimic virtue is of every age; but the +hypocrisy of luxury belongs more particularly to the ages of democracy. + +To satisfy these new cravings of human vanity the arts have recourse to +every species of imposture: and these devices sometimes go so far as to +defeat their own purpose. Imitation diamonds are now made which may be +easily mistaken for real ones; as soon as the art of fabricating false +diamonds shall have reached so high a degree of perfection that they +cannot be distinguished from real ones, it is probable that both one and +the other will be abandoned, and become mere pebbles again. + +This leads me to speak of those arts which are called the fine arts, by +way of distinction. I do not believe that it is a necessary effect of a +democratic social condition and of democratic institutions to diminish +the number of men who cultivate the fine arts; but these causes exert +a very powerful influence on the manner in which these arts are +cultivated. Many of those who had already contracted a taste for the +fine arts are impoverished: on the other hand, many of those who are not +yet rich begin to conceive that taste, at least by imitation; and the +number of consumers increases, but opulent and fastidious consumers +become more scarce. Something analogous to what I have already +pointed out in the useful arts then takes place in the fine arts; +the productions of artists are more numerous, but the merit of each +production is diminished. No longer able to soar to what is great, they +cultivate what is pretty and elegant; and appearance is more attended +to than reality. In aristocracies a few great pictures are produced; +in democratic countries, a vast number of insignificant ones. In the +former, statues are raised of bronze; in the latter, they are modelled +in plaster. + +When I arrived for the first time at New York, by that part of the +Atlantic Ocean which is called the Narrows, I was surprised to perceive +along the shore, at some distance from the city, a considerable number +of little palaces of white marble, several of which were built after the +models of ancient architecture. When I went the next day to inspect more +closely the building which had particularly attracted my notice, I found +that its walls were of whitewashed brick, and its columns of painted +wood. All the edifices which I had admired the night before were of the +same kind. + +The social condition and the institutions of democracy impart, moreover, +certain peculiar tendencies to all the imitative arts, which it is easy +to point out. They frequently withdraw them from the delineation of the +soul to fix them exclusively on that of the body: and they substitute +the representation of motion and sensation for that of sentiment and +thought: in a word, they put the real in the place of the ideal. I doubt +whether Raphael studied the minutest intricacies of the mechanism of the +human body as thoroughly as the draughtsmen of our own time. He did not +attach the same importance to rigorous accuracy on this point as they +do, because he aspired to surpass nature. He sought to make of man +something which should be superior to man, and to embellish beauty's +self. David and his scholars were, on the contrary, as good anatomists +as they were good painters. They wonderfully depicted the models which +they had before their eyes, but they rarely imagined anything beyond +them: they followed nature with fidelity: whilst Raphael sought for +something better than nature. They have left us an exact portraiture +of man; but he discloses in his works a glimpse of the Divinity. This +remark as to the manner of treating a subject is no less applicable to +the choice of it. The painters of the Middle Ages generally sought far +above themselves, and away from their own time, for mighty subjects, +which left to their imagination an unbounded range. Our painters +frequently employ their talents in the exact imitation of the details +of private life, which they have always before their eyes; and they are +forever copying trivial objects, the originals of which are only too +abundant in nature. + + + + +Chapter XII: Why The Americans Raise Some Monuments So Insignificant, +And Others So Important + +I have just observed, that in democratic ages monuments of the arts tend +to become more numerous and less important. I now hasten to point out +the exception to this rule. In a democratic community individuals are +very powerless; but the State which represents them all, and contains +them all in its grasp, is very powerful. Nowhere do citizens appear so +insignificant as in a democratic nation; nowhere does the nation itself +appear greater, or does the mind more easily take in a wide general +survey of it. In democratic communities the imagination is compressed +when men consider themselves; it expands indefinitely when they think +of the State. Hence it is that the same men who live on a small scale in +narrow dwellings, frequently aspire to gigantic splendor in the erection +of their public monuments. + +The Americans traced out the circuit of an immense city on the site +which they intended to make their capital, but which, up to the present +time, is hardly more densely peopled than Pontoise, though, according +to them, it will one day contain a million of inhabitants. They have +already rooted up trees for ten miles round, lest they should interfere +with the future citizens of this imaginary metropolis. They have erected +a magnificent palace for Congress in the centre of the city, and have +given it the pompous name of the Capitol. The several States of the +Union are every day planning and erecting for themselves prodigious +undertakings, which would astonish the engineers of the great European +nations. Thus democracy not only leads men to a vast number of +inconsiderable productions; it also leads them to raise some monuments +on the largest scale: but between these two extremes there is a blank. +A few scattered remains of enormous buildings can therefore teach us +nothing of the social condition and the institutions of the people by +whom they were raised. I may add, though the remark leads me to step +out of my subject, that they do not make us better acquainted with its +greatness, its civilization, and its real prosperity. Whensoever a power +of any kind shall be able to make a whole people co-operate in a single +undertaking, that power, with a little knowledge and a great deal of +time, will succeed in obtaining something enormous from the co-operation +of efforts so multiplied. But this does not lead to the conclusion that +the people was very happy, very enlightened, or even very strong. + +The Spaniards found the City of Mexico full of magnificent temples +and vast palaces; but that did not prevent Cortes from conquering the +Mexican Empire with 600 foot soldiers and sixteen horses. If the Romans +had been better acquainted with the laws of hydraulics, they would not +have constructed all the aqueducts which surround the ruins of their +cities--they would have made a better use of their power and their +wealth. If they had invented the steam-engine, perhaps they would not +have extended to the extremities of their empire those long artificial +roads which are called Roman roads. These things are at once the +splendid memorials of their ignorance and of their greatness. A people +which should leave no other vestige of its track than a few leaden pipes +in the earth and a few iron rods upon its surface, might have been more +the master of nature than the Romans. + + + + +Chapter XIII: Literary Characteristics Of Democratic Ages + +When a traveller goes into a bookseller's shop in the United States, +and examines the American books upon the shelves, the number of works +appears extremely great; whilst that of known authors appears, on the +contrary, to be extremely small. He will first meet with a number +of elementary treatises, destined to teach the rudiments of human +knowledge. Most of these books are written in Europe; the Americans +reprint them, adapting them to their own country. Next comes an enormous +quantity of religious works, Bibles, sermons, edifying anecdotes, +controversial divinity, and reports of charitable societies; lastly, +appears the long catalogue of political pamphlets. In America, parties +do not write books to combat each others' opinions, but pamphlets which +are circulated for a day with incredible rapidity, and then expire. In +the midst of all these obscure productions of the human brain are to be +found the more remarkable works of that small number of authors, whose +names are, or ought to be, known to Europeans. + +Although America is perhaps in our days the civilized country in +which literature is least attended to, a large number of persons are +nevertheless to be found there who take an interest in the productions +of the mind, and who make them, if not the study of their lives, at +least the charm of their leisure hours. But England supplies these +readers with the larger portion of the books which they require. Almost +all important English books are republished in the United States. The +literary genius of Great Britain still darts its rays into the recesses +of the forests of the New World. There is hardly a pioneer's hut which +does not contain a few odd volumes of Shakespeare. I remember that I +read the feudal play of Henry V for the first time in a loghouse. + +Not only do the Americans constantly draw upon the treasures of English +literature, but it may be said with truth that they find the literature +of England growing on their own soil. The larger part of that small +number of men in the United States who are engaged in the composition of +literary works are English in substance, and still more so in form. +Thus they transport into the midst of democracy the ideas and literary +fashions which are current amongst the aristocratic nation they have +taken for their model. They paint with colors borrowed from foreign +manners; and as they hardly ever represent the country they were born +in as it really is, they are seldom popular there. The citizens of the +United States are themselves so convinced that it is not for them that +books are published, that before they can make up their minds upon the +merit of one of their authors, they generally wait till his fame has +been ratified in England, just as in pictures the author of an original +is held to be entitled to judge of the merit of a copy. The inhabitants +of the United States have then at present, properly speaking, no +literature. The only authors whom I acknowledge as American are the +journalists. They indeed are not great writers, but they speak the +language of their countrymen, and make themselves heard by them. Other +authors are aliens; they are to the Americans what the imitators of the +Greeks and Romans were to us at the revival of learning--an object of +curiosity, not of general sympathy. They amuse the mind, but they do not +act upon the manners of the people. + +I have already said that this state of things is very far from +originating in democracy alone, and that the causes of it must be sought +for in several peculiar circumstances independent of the democratic +principle. If the Americans, retaining the same laws and social +condition, had had a different origin, and had been transported +into another country, I do not question that they would have had +a literature. Even as they now are, I am convinced that they will +ultimately have one; but its character will be different from that which +marks the American literary productions of our time, and that character +will be peculiarly its own. Nor is it impossible to trace this character +beforehand. + +I suppose an aristocratic people amongst whom letters are cultivated; +the labors of the mind, as well as the affairs of state, are conducted +by a ruling class in society. The literary as well as the political +career is almost entirely confined to this class, or to those nearest +to it in rank. These premises suffice to give me a key to all the rest. +When a small number of the same men are engaged at the same time upon +the same objects, they easily concert with one another, and agree upon +certain leading rules which are to govern them each and all. If the +object which attracts the attention of these men is literature, the +productions of the mind will soon be subjected by them to precise +canons, from which it will no longer be allowable to depart. If these +men occupy a hereditary position in the country, they will be naturally +inclined, not only to adopt a certain number of fixed rules for +themselves, but to follow those which their forefathers laid down for +their own guidance; their code will be at once strict and traditional. +As they are not necessarily engrossed by the cares of daily life--as +they have never been so, any more than their fathers were before +them--they have learned to take an interest, for several generations +back, in the labors of the mind. They have learned to understand +literature as an art, to love it in the end for its own sake, and to +feel a scholar-like satisfaction in seeing men conform to its rules. Nor +is this all: the men of whom I speak began and will end their lives in +easy or in affluent circumstances; hence they have naturally conceived +a taste for choice gratifications, and a love of refined and delicate +pleasures. Nay more, a kind of indolence of mind and heart, which they +frequently contract in the midst of this long and peaceful enjoyment +of so much welfare, leads them to put aside, even from their pleasures, +whatever might be too startling or too acute. They had rather be amused +than intensely excited; they wish to be interested, but not to be +carried away. + +Now let us fancy a great number of literary performances executed by the +men, or for the men, whom I have just described, and we shall readily +conceive a style of literature in which everything will be regular and +prearranged. The slightest work will be carefully touched in its least +details; art and labor will be conspicuous in everything; each kind of +writing will have rules of its own, from which it will not be allowed to +swerve, and which distinguish it from all others. Style will be thought +of almost as much importance as thought; and the form will be no less +considered than the matter: the diction will be polished, measured, +and uniform. The tone of the mind will be always dignified, seldom very +animated; and writers will care more to perfect what they produce than +to multiply their productions. It will sometimes happen that the members +of the literary class, always living amongst themselves and writing for +themselves alone, will lose sight of the rest of the world, which will +infect them with a false and labored style; they will lay down minute +literary rules for their exclusive use, which will insensibly lead them +to deviate from common-sense, and finally to transgress the bounds of +nature. By dint of striving after a mode of parlance different from +the vulgar, they will arrive at a sort of aristocratic jargon, which is +hardly less remote from pure language than is the coarse dialect of the +people. Such are the natural perils of literature amongst aristocracies. +Every aristocracy which keeps itself entirely aloof from the people +becomes impotent--a fact which is as true in literature as it is in +politics. *a + +[Footnote a: All this is especially true of the aristocratic countries +which have been long and peacefully subject to a monarchical government. +When liberty prevails in an aristocracy, the higher ranks are constantly +obliged to make use of the lower classes; and when they use, they +approach them. This frequently introduces something of a democratic +spirit into an aristocratic community. There springs up, moreover, in a +privileged body, governing with energy and an habitually bold policy, a +taste for stir and excitement which must infallibly affect all literary +performances.] + +Let us now turn the picture and consider the other side of it; let us +transport ourselves into the midst of a democracy, not unprepared by +ancient traditions and present culture to partake in the pleasures of +the mind. Ranks are there intermingled and confounded; knowledge and +power are both infinitely subdivided, and, if I may use the expression, +scattered on every side. Here then is a motley multitude, whose +intellectual wants are to be supplied. These new votaries of the +pleasures of the mind have not all received the same education; they +do not possess the same degree of culture as their fathers, nor any +resemblance to them--nay, they perpetually differ from themselves, +for they live in a state of incessant change of place, feelings, +and fortunes. The mind of each member of the community is therefore +unattached to that of his fellow-citizens by tradition or by common +habits; and they have never had the power, the inclination, nor the +time to concert together. It is, however, from the bosom of this +heterogeneous and agitated mass that authors spring; and from the same +source their profits and their fame are distributed. I can without +difficulty understand that, under these circumstances, I must expect +to meet in the literature of such a people with but few of those strict +conventional rules which are admitted by readers and by writers in +aristocratic ages. If it should happen that the men of some one period +were agreed upon any such rules, that would prove nothing for the +following period; for amongst democratic nations each new generation is +a new people. Amongst such nations, then, literature will not easily +be subjected to strict rules, and it is impossible that any such rules +should ever be permanent. + +In democracies it is by no means the case that all the men who cultivate +literature have received a literary education; and most of those who +have some tinge of belles-lettres are either engaged in politics, or in +a profession which only allows them to taste occasionally and by stealth +the pleasures of the mind. These pleasures, therefore, do not constitute +the principal charm of their lives; but they are considered as a +transient and necessary recreation amidst the serious labors of life. +Such man can never acquire a sufficiently intimate knowledge of the art +of literature to appreciate its more delicate beauties; and the minor +shades of expression must escape them. As the time they can devote to +letters is very short, they seek to make the best use of the whole of +it. They prefer books which may be easily procured, quickly read, and +which require no learned researches to be understood. They ask for +beauties, self-proffered and easily enjoyed; above all, they must have +what is unexpected and new. Accustomed to the struggle, the crosses, and +the monotony of practical life, they require rapid emotions, startling +passages--truths or errors brilliant enough to rouse them up, and to +plunge them at once, as if by violence, into the midst of a subject. + +Why should I say more? or who does not understand what is about to +follow, before I have expressed it? Taken as a whole, literature +in democratic ages can never present, as it does in the periods of +aristocracy, an aspect of order, regularity, science, and art; its form +will, on the contrary, ordinarily be slighted, sometimes despised. Style +will frequently be fantastic, incorrect, overburdened, and loose--almost +always vehement and bold. Authors will aim at rapidity of execution, +more than at perfection of detail. Small productions will be more +common than bulky books; there will be more wit than erudition, more +imagination than profundity; and literary performances will bear marks +of an untutored and rude vigor of thought--frequently of great variety +and singular fecundity. The object of authors will be to astonish rather +than to please, and to stir the passions more than to charm the taste. +Here and there, indeed, writers will doubtless occur who will choose +a different track, and who will, if they are gifted with superior +abilities, succeed in finding readers, in spite of their defects or +their better qualities; but these exceptions will be rare, and even +the authors who shall so depart from the received practice in the main +subject of their works, will always relapse into it in some lesser +details. + +I have just depicted two extreme conditions: the transition by which a +nation passes from the former to the latter is not sudden but gradual, +and marked with shades of very various intensity. In the passage which +conducts a lettered people from the one to the other, there is almost +always a moment at which the literary genius of democratic nations has +its confluence with that of aristocracies, and both seek to establish +their joint sway over the human mind. Such epochs are transient, but +very brilliant: they are fertile without exuberance, and animated +without confusion. The French literature of the eighteenth century may +serve as an example. + +I should say more than I mean if I were to assert that the literature of +a nation is always subordinate to its social condition and its political +constitution. I am aware that, independently of these causes, there +are several others which confer certain characteristics on literary +productions; but these appear to me to be the chief. The relations which +exist between the social and political condition of a people and the +genius of its authors are always very numerous: whoever knows the one is +never completely ignorant of the other. + + + + +Chapter XIV: The Trade Of Literature + +Democracy not only infuses a taste for letters among the trading +classes, but introduces a trading spirit into literature. In +aristocracies, readers are fastidious and few in number; in democracies, +they are far more numerous and far less difficult to please. The +consequence is, that among aristocratic nations, no one can hope to +succeed without immense exertions, and that these exertions may bestow +a great deal of fame, but can never earn much money; whilst among +democratic nations, a writer may flatter himself that he will obtain at +a cheap rate a meagre reputation and a large fortune. For this +purpose he need not be admired; it is enough that he is liked. The +ever-increasing crowd of readers, and their continual craving for +something new, insure the sale of books which nobody much esteems. + +In democratic periods the public frequently treat authors as kings do +their courtiers; they enrich, and they despise them. What more is needed +by the venal souls which are born in courts, or which are worthy to live +there? Democratic literature is always infested with a tribe of writers +who look upon letters as a mere trade: and for some few great authors +who adorn it you may reckon thousands of idea-mongers. + + + + +Chapter XV: The Study Of Greek And Latin Literature Peculiarly Useful In +Democratic Communities + +What was called the People in the most democratic republics of +antiquity, was very unlike what we designate by that term. In Athens, +all the citizens took part in public affairs; but there were only 20,000 +citizens to more than 350,000 inhabitants. All the rest were slaves, and +discharged the greater part of those duties which belong at the present +day to the lower or even to the middle classes. Athens, then, with her +universal suffrage, was after all merely an aristocratic republic in +which all the nobles had an equal right to the government. The struggle +between the patricians and plebeians of Rome must be considered in +the same light: it was simply an intestine feud between the elder and +younger branches of the same family. All the citizens belonged, in fact, +to the aristocracy, and partook of its character. + +It is moreover to be remarked, that amongst the ancients books were +always scarce and dear; and that very great difficulties impeded their +publication and circulation. These circumstances concentrated literary +tastes and habits amongst a small number of men, who formed a small +literary aristocracy out of the choicer spirits of the great political +aristocracy. Accordingly nothing goes to prove that literature was ever +treated as a trade amongst the Greeks and Romans. + +These peoples, which not only constituted aristocracies, but very +polished and free nations, of course imparted to their literary +productions the defects and the merits which characterize the literature +of aristocratic ages. And indeed a very superficial survey of the +literary remains of the ancients will suffice to convince us, that if +those writers were sometimes deficient in variety, or fertility in their +subjects, or in boldness, vivacity, or power of generalization in +their thoughts, they always displayed exquisite care and skill in their +details. Nothing in their works seems to be done hastily or at random: +every line is written for the eye of the connoisseur, and is shaped +after some conception of ideal beauty. No literature places those fine +qualities, in which the writers of democracies are naturally deficient, +in bolder relief than that of the ancients; no literature, therefore, +ought to be more studied in democratic ages. This study is better suited +than any other to combat the literary defects inherent in those ages; as +for their more praiseworthy literary qualities, they will spring up of +their own accord, without its being necessary to learn to acquire them. + +It is important that this point should be clearly understood. A +particular study may be useful to the literature of a people, without +being appropriate to its social and political wants. If men were to +persist in teaching nothing but the literature of the dead languages in +a community where everyone is habitually led to make vehement exertions +to augment or to maintain his fortune, the result would be a very +polished, but a very dangerous, race of citizens. For as their social +and political condition would give them every day a sense of wants which +their education would never teach them to supply, they would perturb the +State, in the name of the Greeks and Romans, instead of enriching it by +their productive industry. + +It is evident that in democratic communities the interest of +individuals, as well as the security of the commonwealth, demands that +the education of the greater number should be scientific, commercial, +and industrial, rather than literary. Greek and Latin should not be +taught in all schools; but it is important that those who by their +natural disposition or their fortune are destined to cultivate letters +or prepared to relish them, should find schools where a complete +knowledge of ancient literature may be acquired, and where the true +scholar may be formed. A few excellent universities would do more +towards the attainment of this object than a vast number of bad grammar +schools, where superfluous matters, badly learned, stand in the way of +sound instruction in necessary studies. + +All who aspire to literary excellence in democratic nations, ought +frequently to refresh themselves at the springs of ancient literature: +there is no more wholesome course for the mind. Not that I hold the +literary productions of the ancients to be irreproachable; but I +think that they have some especial merits, admirably calculated to +counterbalance our peculiar defects. They are a prop on the side on +which we are in most danger of falling. + + + + +Chapter XVI: The Effect Of Democracy On Language + +If the reader has rightly understood what I have already said on +the subject of literature in general, he will have no difficulty in +comprehending that species of influence which a democratic social +condition and democratic institutions may exercise over language itself, +which is the chief instrument of thought. + +American authors may truly be said to live more in England than in their +own country; since they constantly study the English writers, and take +them every day for their models. But such is not the case with the bulk +of the population, which is more immediately subjected to the peculiar +causes acting upon the United States. It is not then to the written, but +to the spoken language that attention must be paid, if we would detect +the modifications which the idiom of an aristocratic people may undergo +when it becomes the language of a democracy. + +Englishmen of education, and more competent judges than I can be myself +of the nicer shades of expression, have frequently assured me that +the language of the educated classes in the United States is notably +different from that of the educated classes in Great Britain. They +complain not only that the Americans have brought into use a number of +new words--the difference and the distance between the two countries +might suffice to explain that much--but that these new words are more +especially taken from the jargon of parties, the mechanical arts, or the +language of trade. They assert, in addition to this, that old English +words are often used by the Americans in new acceptations; and lastly, +that the inhabitants of the United States frequently intermingle their +phraseology in the strangest manner, and sometimes place words together +which are always kept apart in the language of the mother-country. These +remarks, which were made to me at various times by persons who appeared +to be worthy of credit, led me to reflect upon the subject; and my +reflections brought me, by theoretical reasoning, to the same point at +which my informants had arrived by practical observation. + +In aristocracies, language must naturally partake of that state of +repose in which everything remains. Few new words are coined, because +few new things are made; and even if new things were made, they would +be designated by known words, whose meaning has been determined by +tradition. If it happens that the human mind bestirs itself at length, +or is roused by light breaking in from without, the novel expressions +which are introduced are characterized by a degree of learning, +intelligence, and philosophy, which shows that they do not originate +in a democracy. After the fall of Constantinople had turned the tide of +science and literature towards the west, the French language was almost +immediately invaded by a multitude of new words, which had all Greek +or Latin roots. An erudite neologism then sprang up in France which was +confined to the educated classes, and which produced no sensible effect, +or at least a very gradual one, upon the people. All the nations of +Europe successively exhibited the same change. Milton alone introduced +more than six hundred words into the English language, almost all +derived from the Latin, the Greek, or the Hebrew. The constant agitation +which prevails in a democratic community tends unceasingly, on the +contrary, to change the character of the language, as it does the aspect +of affairs. In the midst of this general stir and competition of minds, +a great number of new ideas are formed, old ideas are lost, or reappear, +or are subdivided into an infinite variety of minor shades. The +consequence is, that many words must fall into desuetude, and others +must be brought into use. + +Democratic nations love change for its own sake; and this is seen in +their language as much as in their politics. Even when they do not +need to change words, they sometimes feel a wish to transform them. The +genius of a democratic people is not only shown by the great number of +words they bring into use, but also by the nature of the ideas these new +words represent. Amongst such a people the majority lays down the law +in language as well as in everything else; its prevailing spirit is as +manifest in that as in other respects. But the majority is more engaged +in business than in study--in political and commercial interests than in +philosophical speculation or literary pursuits. Most of the words coined +or adopted for its use will therefore bear the mark of these habits; +they will mainly serve to express the wants of business, the passions of +party, or the details of the public administration. In these departments +the language will constantly spread, whilst on the other hand it will +gradually lose ground in metaphysics and theology. + +As to the source from which democratic nations are wont to derive their +new expressions, and the manner in which they go to work to coin them, +both may easily be described. Men living in democratic countries know +but little of the language which was spoken at Athens and at Rome, +and they do not care to dive into the lore of antiquity to find the +expression they happen to want. If they have sometimes recourse to +learned etymologies, vanity will induce them to search at the roots of +the dead languages; but erudition does not naturally furnish them with +its resources. The most ignorant, it sometimes happens, will use them +most. The eminently democratic desire to get above their own sphere will +often lead them to seek to dignify a vulgar profession by a Greek or +Latin name. The lower the calling is, and the more remote from learning, +the more pompous and erudite is its appellation. Thus the French +rope-dancers have transformed themselves into acrobates and funambules. + +In the absence of knowledge of the dead languages, democratic +nations are apt to borrow words from living tongues; for their mutual +intercourse becomes perpetual, and the inhabitants of different +countries imitate each other the more readily as they grow more like +each other every day. + +But it is principally upon their own languages that democratic nations +attempt to perpetrate innovations. From time to time they resume +forgotten expressions in their vocabulary, which they restore to use; or +they borrow from some particular class of the community a term peculiar +to it, which they introduce with a figurative meaning into the language +of daily life. Many expressions which originally belonged to the +technical language of a profession or a party, are thus drawn into +general circulation. + +The most common expedient employed by democratic nations to make an +innovation in language consists in giving some unwonted meaning to +an expression already in use. This method is very simple, prompt, and +convenient; no learning is required to use it aright, and ignorance +itself rather facilitates the practice; but that practice is most +dangerous to the language. When a democratic people doubles the meaning +of a word in this way, they sometimes render the signification which it +retains as ambiguous as that which it acquires. An author begins by a +slight deflection of a known expression from its primitive meaning, and +he adapts it, thus modified, as well as he can to his subject. A second +writer twists the sense of the expression in another way; a third takes +possession of it for another purpose; and as there is no common appeal +to the sentence of a permanent tribunal which may definitely settle the +signification of the word, it remains in an ambiguous condition. The +consequence is that writers hardly ever appear to dwell upon a single +thought, but they always seem to point their aim at a knot of ideas, +leaving the reader to judge which of them has been hit. This is a +deplorable consequence of democracy. I had rather that the language +should be made hideous with words imported from the Chinese, the +Tartars, or the Hurons, than that the meaning of a word in our own +language should become indeterminate. Harmony and uniformity are +only secondary beauties in composition; many of these things are +conventional, and, strictly speaking, it is possible to forego them; but +without clear phraseology there is no good language. + +The principle of equality necessarily introduces several other changes +into language. In aristocratic ages, when each nation tends to stand +aloof from all others and likes to have distinct characteristics of its +own, it often happens that several peoples which have a common origin +become nevertheless estranged from each other, so that, without ceasing +to understand the same language, they no longer all speak it in the same +manner. In these ages each nation is divided into a certain number of +classes, which see but little of each other, and do not intermingle. +Each of these classes contracts, and invariably retains, habits of +mind peculiar to itself, and adopts by choice certain words and certain +terms, which afterwards pass from generation to generation, like their +estates. The same idiom then comprises a language of the poor and a +language of the rich--a language of the citizen and a language of the +nobility--a learned language and a vulgar one. The deeper the divisions, +and the more impassable the barriers of society become, the more must +this be the case. I would lay a wager, that amongst the castes of India +there are amazing variations of language, and that there is almost +as much difference between the language of the pariah and that of the +Brahmin as there is in their dress. When, on the contrary, men, being no +longer restrained by ranks, meet on terms of constant intercourse--when +castes are destroyed, and the classes of society are recruited and +intermixed with each other, all the words of a language are mingled. +Those which are unsuitable to the greater number perish; the remainder +form a common store, whence everyone chooses pretty nearly at random. +Almost all the different dialects which divided the idioms of European +nations are manifestly declining; there is no patois in the New World, +and it is disappearing every day from the old countries. + +The influence of this revolution in social conditions is as much felt +in style as it is in phraseology. Not only does everyone use the same +words, but a habit springs up of using them without discrimination. The +rules which style had set up are almost abolished: the line ceases to +be drawn between expressions which seem by their very nature vulgar, and +other which appear to be refined. Persons springing from different ranks +of society carry the terms and expressions they are accustomed to use +with them, into whatever circumstances they may pass; thus the origin +of words is lost like the origin of individuals, and there is as much +confusion in language as there is in society. + +I am aware that in the classification of words there are rules which do +not belong to one form of society any more than to another, but which +are derived from the nature of things. Some expressions and phrases +are vulgar, because the ideas they are meant to express are low in +themselves; others are of a higher character, because the objects they +are intended to designate are naturally elevated. No intermixture of +ranks will ever efface these differences. But the principle of equality +cannot fail to root out whatever is merely conventional and arbitrary +in the forms of thought. Perhaps the necessary classification which +I pointed out in the last sentence will always be less respected by a +democratic people than by any other, because amongst such a people +there are no men who are permanently disposed by education, culture, and +leisure to study the natural laws of language, and who cause those laws +to be respected by their own observance of them. + +I shall not quit this topic without touching on a feature of democratic +languages, which is perhaps more characteristic of them than any other. +It has already been shown that democratic nations have a taste, and +sometimes a passion, for general ideas, and that this arises from their +peculiar merits and defects. This liking for general ideas is displayed +in democratic languages by the continual use of generic terms or +abstract expressions, and by the manner in which they are employed. +This is the great merit and the great imperfection of these languages. +Democratic nations are passionately addicted to generic terms or +abstract expressions, because these modes of speech enlarge thought, +and assist the operations of the mind by enabling it to include several +objects in a small compass. A French democratic writer will be apt +to say capacites in the abstract for men of capacity, and without +particularizing the objects to which their capacity is applied: he will +talk about actualities to designate in one word the things passing +before his eyes at the instant; and he will comprehend under the term +eventualities whatever may happen in the universe, dating from the moment +at which he speaks. Democratic writers are perpetually coining words of +this kind, in which they sublimate into further abstraction the abstract +terms of the language. Nay, more, to render their mode of speech more +succinct, they personify the subject of these abstract terms, and make +it act like a real entity. Thus they would say in French, "La force des +choses veut que les capacites gouvernent." + +I cannot better illustrate what I mean than by my own example. I have +frequently used the word "equality" in an absolute sense--nay, I have +personified equality in several places; thus I have said that equality +does such and such things, or refrains from doing others. It may be +affirmed that the writers of the age of Louis XIV would not have used +these expressions: they would never have thought of using the word +"equality" without applying it to some particular object; and they would +rather have renounced the term altogether than have consented to make a +living personage of it. + +These abstract terms which abound in democratic languages, and which are +used on every occasion without attaching them to any particular fact, +enlarge and obscure the thoughts they are intended to convey; they +render the mode of speech more succinct, and the idea contained in +it less clear. But with regard to language, democratic nations prefer +obscurity to labor. I know not indeed whether this loose style has not +some secret charm for those who speak and write amongst these nations. +As the men who live there are frequently left to the efforts of their +individual powers of mind, they are almost always a prey to doubt; and +as their situation in life is forever changing, they are never held fast +to any of their opinions by the certain tenure of their fortunes. Men +living in democratic countries are, then, apt to entertain unsettled +ideas, and they require loose expressions to convey them. As they never +know whether the idea they express to-day will be appropriate to the new +position they may occupy to-morrow, they naturally acquire a liking for +abstract terms. An abstract term is like a box with a false bottom: you +may put in it what ideas you please, and take them out again without +being observed. + +Amongst all nations, generic and abstract terms form the basis of +language. I do not, therefore, affect to expel these terms from +democratic languages; I simply remark that men have an especial +tendency, in the ages of democracy, to multiply words of this kind--to +take them always by themselves in their most abstract acceptation, and +to use them on all occasions, even when the nature of the discourse does +not require them. + + + + +Chapter XVII: Of Some Of The Sources Of Poetry Amongst Democratic +Nations + +Various different significations have been given to the word "poetry." +It would weary my readers if I were to lead them into a discussion as to +which of these definitions ought to be selected: I prefer telling them +at once that which I have chosen. In my opinion, poetry is the search +and the delineation of the ideal. The poet is he who, by suppressing a +part of what exists, by adding some imaginary touches to the picture, +and by combining certain real circumstances, but which do not in fact +concurrently happen, completes and extends the work of nature. Thus the +object of poetry is not to represent what is true, but to adorn it, +and to present to the mind some loftier imagery. Verse, regarded as the +ideal beauty of language, may be eminently poetical; but verse does not, +of itself, constitute poetry. + +I now proceed to inquire whether, amongst the actions, the sentiments, +and the opinions of democratic nations, there are any which lead to a +conception of ideal beauty, and which may for this reason be +considered as natural sources of poetry. It must in the first place, be +acknowledged that the taste for ideal beauty, and the pleasure derived +from the expression of it, are never so intense or so diffused amongst a +democratic as amongst an aristocratic people. In aristocratic nations it +sometimes happens that the body goes on to act as it were spontaneously, +whilst the higher faculties are bound and burdened by repose. Amongst +these nations the people will very often display poetic tastes, and +sometimes allow their fancy to range beyond and above what surrounds +them. But in democracies the love of physical gratification, the notion +of bettering one's condition, the excitement of competition, the charm +of anticipated success, are so many spurs to urge men onwards in the +active professions they have embraced, without allowing them to deviate +for an instant from the track. The main stress of the faculties is to +this point. The imagination is not extinct; but its chief function is to +devise what may be useful, and to represent what is real. + +The principle of equality not only diverts men from the description of +ideal beauty--it also diminishes the number of objects to be described. +Aristocracy, by maintaining society in a fixed position, is favorable +to the solidity and duration of positive religions, as well as to the +stability of political institutions. It not only keeps the human mind +within a certain sphere of belief, but it predisposes the mind to adopt +one faith rather than another. An aristocratic people will always be +prone to place intermediate powers between God and man. In this respect +it may be said that the aristocratic element is favorable to poetry. +When the universe is peopled with supernatural creatures, not palpable +to the senses but discovered by the mind, the imagination ranges +freely, and poets, finding a thousand subjects to delineate, also find +a countless audience to take an interest in their productions. In +democratic ages it sometimes happens, on the contrary, that men are as +much afloat in matters of belief as they are in their laws. Scepticism +then draws the imagination of poets back to earth, and confines them to +the real and visible world. Even when the principle of equality does +not disturb religious belief, it tends to simplify it, and to divert +attention from secondary agents, to fix it principally on the Supreme +Power. Aristocracy naturally leads the human mind to the contemplation +of the past, and fixes it there. Democracy, on the contrary, gives men +a sort of instinctive distaste for what is ancient. In this respect +aristocracy is far more favorable to poetry; for things commonly grow +larger and more obscure as they are more remote; and for this twofold +reason they are better suited to the delineation of the ideal. + +After having deprived poetry of the past, the principle of equality +robs it in part of the present. Amongst aristocratic nations there are a +certain number of privileged personages, whose situation is, as it were, +without and above the condition of man; to these, power, wealth, fame, +wit, refinement, and distinction in all things appear peculiarly to +belong. The crowd never sees them very closely, or does not watch them +in minute details; and little is needed to make the description of such +men poetical. On the other hand, amongst the same people, you will meet +with classes so ignorant, low, and enslaved, that they are no less fit +objects for poetry from the excess of their rudeness and wretchedness, +than the former are from their greatness and refinement. Besides, as +the different classes of which an aristocratic community is composed +are widely separated, and imperfectly acquainted with each other, the +imagination may always represent them with some addition to, or some +subtraction from, what they really are. In democratic communities, where +men are all insignificant and very much alike, each man instantly sees +all his fellows when he surveys himself. The poets of democratic ages +can never, therefore, take any man in particular as the subject of a +piece; for an object of slender importance, which is distinctly seen +on all sides, will never lend itself to an ideal conception. Thus the +principle of equality; in proportion as it has established itself in +the world, has dried up most of the old springs of poetry. Let us now +attempt to show what new ones it may disclose. + +When scepticism had depopulated heaven, and the progress of equality +had reduced each individual to smaller and better known proportions, the +poets, not yet aware of what they could substitute for the great themes +which were departing together with the aristocracy, turned their eyes +to inanimate nature. As they lost sight of gods and heroes, they set +themselves to describe streams and mountains. Thence originated in +the last century, that kind of poetry which has been called, by way +of distinction, the descriptive. Some have thought that this sort of +delineation, embellished with all the physical and inanimate objects +which cover the earth, was the kind of poetry peculiar to democratic +ages; but I believe this to be an error, and that it only belongs to a +period of transition. + +I am persuaded that in the end democracy diverts the imagination from +all that is external to man, and fixes it on man alone. Democratic +nations may amuse themselves for a while with considering the +productions of nature; but they are only excited in reality by a survey +of themselves. Here, and here alone, the true sources of poetry amongst +such nations are to be found; and it may be believed that the poets who +shall neglect to draw their inspirations hence, will lose all sway over +the minds which they would enchant, and will be left in the end with +none but unimpassioned spectators of their transports. I have shown how +the ideas of progression and of the indefinite perfectibility of the +human race belong to democratic ages. Democratic nations care but little +for what has been, but they are haunted by visions of what will be; in +this direction their unbounded imagination grows and dilates beyond all +measure. Here then is the wildest range open to the genius of poets, +which allows them to remove their performances to a sufficient distance +from the eye. Democracy shuts the past against the poet, but opens +the future before him. As all the citizens who compose a democratic +community are nearly equal and alike, the poet cannot dwell upon any one +of them; but the nation itself invites the exercise of his powers. The +general similitude of individuals, which renders any one of them taken +separately an improper subject of poetry, allows poets to include them +all in the same imagery, and to take a general survey of the people +itself. Democractic nations have a clearer perception than any others of +their own aspect; and an aspect so imposing is admirably fitted to the +delineation of the ideal. + +I readily admit that the Americans have no poets; I cannot allow that +they have no poetic ideas. In Europe people talk a great deal of the +wilds of America, but the Americans themselves never think about them: +they are insensible to the wonders of inanimate nature, and they may be +said not to perceive the mighty forests which surround them till they +fall beneath the hatchet. Their eyes are fixed upon another sight: the +American people views its own march across these wilds--drying swamps, +turning the course of rivers, peopling solitudes, and subduing nature. +This magnificent image of themselves does not meet the gaze of the +Americans at intervals only; it may be said to haunt every one of them +in his least as well as in his most important actions, and to be always +flitting before his mind. Nothing conceivable is so petty, so insipid, +so crowded with paltry interests, in one word so anti-poetic, as the +life of a man in the United States. But amongst the thoughts which it +suggests there is always one which is full of poetry, and that is the +hidden nerve which gives vigor to the frame. + +In aristocratic ages each people, as well as each individual, is prone +to stand separate and aloof from all others. In democratic ages, the +extreme fluctuations of men and the impatience of their desires keep +them perpetually on the move; so that the inhabitants of different +countries intermingle, see, listen to, and borrow from each other's +stores. It is not only then the members of the same community who grow +more alike; communities are themselves assimilated to one another, +and the whole assemblage presents to the eye of the spectator one vast +democracy, each citizen of which is a people. This displays the aspect +of mankind for the first time in the broadest light. All that belongs +to the existence of the human race taken as a whole, to its vicissitudes +and to its future, becomes an abundant mine of poetry. The poets who +lived in aristocratic ages have been eminently successful in their +delineations of certain incidents in the life of a people or a man; +but none of them ever ventured to include within his performances the +destinies of mankind--a task which poets writing in democratic ages may +attempt. At that same time at which every man, raising his eyes above +his country, begins at length to discern mankind at large, the Divinity +is more and more manifest to the human mind in full and entire majesty. +If in democratic ages faith in positive religions be often shaken, and +the belief in intermediate agents, by whatever name they are called, be +overcast; on the other hand men are disposed to conceive a far broader +idea of Providence itself, and its interference in human affairs assumes +a new and more imposing appearance to their eyes. Looking at the human +race as one great whole, they easily conceive that its destinies are +regulated by the same design; and in the actions of every individual +they are led to acknowledge a trace of that universal and eternal plan +on which God rules our race. This consideration may be taken as another +prolific source of poetry which is opened in democratic ages. Democratic +poets will always appear trivial and frigid if they seek to invest gods, +demons, or angels, with corporeal forms, and if they attempt to draw +them down from heaven to dispute the supremacy of earth. But if they +strive to connect the great events they commemorate with the general +providential designs which govern the universe, and, without showing the +finger of the Supreme Governor, reveal the thoughts of the Supreme Mind, +their works will be admired and understood, for the imagination of their +contemporaries takes this direction of its own accord. + +It may be foreseen in the like manner that poets living in democratic +ages will prefer the delineation of passions and ideas to that of +persons and achievements. The language, the dress, and the daily actions +of men in democracies are repugnant to ideal conceptions. These things +are not poetical in themselves; and, if it were otherwise, they would +cease to be so, because they are too familiar to all those to whom the +poet would speak of them. This forces the poet constantly to search +below the external surface which is palpable to the senses, in order to +read the inner soul: and nothing lends itself more to the delineation +of the ideal than the scrutiny of the hidden depths in the immaterial +nature of man. I need not to ramble over earth and sky to discover +a wondrous object woven of contrasts, of greatness and littleness +infinite, of intense gloom and of amazing brightness--capable at once +of exciting pity, admiration, terror, contempt. I find that object in +myself. Man springs out of nothing, crosses time, and disappears forever +in the bosom of God; he is seen but for a moment, staggering on the +verge of the two abysses, and there he is lost. If man were wholly +ignorant of himself, he would have no poetry in him; for it is +impossible to describe what the mind does not conceive. If man clearly +discerned his own nature, his imagination would remain idle, and +would have nothing to add to the picture. But the nature of man is +sufficiently disclosed for him to apprehend something of himself; and +sufficiently obscure for all the rest to be plunged in thick darkness, +in which he gropes forever--and forever in vain--to lay hold on some +completer notion of his being. + +Amongst a democratic people poetry will not be fed with legendary lays +or the memorials of old traditions. The poet will not attempt to people +the universe with supernatural beings in whom his readers and his own +fancy have ceased to believe; nor will he present virtues and vices +in the mask of frigid personification, which are better received under +their own features. All these resources fail him; but Man remains, and +the poet needs no more. The destinies of mankind--man himself, taken +aloof from his age and his country, and standing in the presence of +Nature and of God, with his passions, his doubts, his rare prosperities, +and inconceivable wretchedness--will become the chief, if not the sole +theme of poetry amongst these nations. Experience may confirm this +assertion, if we consider the productions of the greatest poets who have +appeared since the world has been turned to democracy. The authors of +our age who have so admirably delineated the features of Faust, Childe +Harold, Rene, and Jocelyn, did not seek to record the actions of an +individual, but to enlarge and to throw light on some of the obscurer +recesses of the human heart. Such are the poems of democracy. The +principle of equality does not then destroy all the subjects of poetry: +it renders them less numerous, but more vast. + + + + +Chapter XVIII: Of The Inflated Style Of American Writers And Orators + +I have frequently remarked that the Americans, who generally treat +of business in clear, plain language, devoid of all ornament, and so +extremely simple as to be often coarse, are apt to become inflated +as soon as they attempt a more poetical diction. They then vent their +pomposity from one end of a harangue to the other; and to hear them +lavish imagery on every occasion, one might fancy that they never spoke +of anything with simplicity. The English are more rarely given to a +similar failing. The cause of this may be pointed out without much +difficulty. In democratic communities each citizen is habitually engaged +in the contemplation of a very puny object, namely himself. If he ever +raises his looks higher, he then perceives nothing but the immense form +of society at large, or the still more imposing aspect of mankind. His +ideas are all either extremely minute and clear, or extremely general +and vague: what lies between is an open void. When he has been drawn out +of his own sphere, therefore, he always expects that some amazing object +will be offered to his attention; and it is on these terms alone that he +consents to tear himself for an instant from the petty complicated cares +which form the charm and the excitement of his life. This appears to me +sufficiently to explain why men in democracies, whose concerns are in +general so paltry, call upon their poets for conceptions so vast and +descriptions so unlimited. + +The authors, on their part, do not fail to obey a propensity of which +they themselves partake; they perpetually inflate their imaginations, +and expanding them beyond all bounds, they not unfrequently abandon +the great in order to reach the gigantic. By these means they hope to +attract the observation of the multitude, and to fix it easily upon +themselves: nor are their hopes disappointed; for as the multitude +seeks for nothing in poetry but subjects of very vast dimensions, it +has neither the time to measure with accuracy the proportions of all the +subjects set before it, nor a taste sufficiently correct to perceive +at once in what respect they are out of proportion. The author and the +public at once vitiate one another. + +We have just seen that amongst democratic nations, the sources of poetry +are grand, but not abundant. They are soon exhausted: and poets, not +finding the elements of the ideal in what is real and true, abandon +them entirely and create monsters. I do not fear that the poetry of +democratic nations will prove too insipid, or that it will fly too near +the ground; I rather apprehend that it will be forever losing itself in +the clouds, and that it will range at last to purely imaginary regions. +I fear that the productions of democratic poets may often be surcharged +with immense and incoherent imagery, with exaggerated descriptions and +strange creations; and that the fantastic beings of their brain may +sometimes make us regret the world of reality. + + + + +Chapter XIX: Some Observations On The Drama Amongst Democratic Nations + +When the revolution which subverts the social and political state of an +aristocratic people begins to penetrate into literature, it generally +first manifests itself in the drama, and it always remains conspicuous +there. The spectator of a dramatic piece is, to a certain extent, taken +by surprise by the impression it conveys. He has no time to refer to his +memory, or to consult those more able to judge than himself. It does +not occur to him to resist the new literary tendencies which begin to +be felt by him; he yields to them before he knows what they are. Authors +are very prompt in discovering which way the taste of the public is thus +secretly inclined. They shape their productions accordingly; and the +literature of the stage, after having served to indicate the approaching +literary revolution, speedily completes its accomplishment. If you would +judge beforehand of the literature of a people which is lapsing into +democracy, study its dramatic productions. + +The literature of the stage, moreover, even amongst aristocratic +nations, constitutes the most democratic part of their literature. +No kind of literary gratification is so much within the reach of the +multitude as that which is derived from theatrical representations. +Neither preparation nor study is required to enjoy them: they lay hold +on you in the midst of your prejudices and your ignorance. When the yet +untutored love of the pleasures of the mind begins to affect a class +of the community, it instantly draws them to the stage. The theatres +of aristocratic nations have always been filled with spectators not +belonging to the aristocracy. At the theatre alone the higher ranks mix +with the middle and the lower classes; there alone do the former consent +to listen to the opinion of the latter, or at least to allow them +to give an opinion at all. At the theatre, men of cultivation and of +literary attainments have always had more difficulty than elsewhere in +making their taste prevail over that of the people, and in preventing +themselves from being carried away by the latter. The pit has frequently +made laws for the boxes. + +If it be difficult for an aristocracy to prevent the people from getting +the upper hand in the theatre, it will readily be understood that the +people will be supreme there when democratic principles have crept into +the laws and manners--when ranks are intermixed--when minds, as well as +fortunes, are brought more nearly together--and when the upper class +has lost, with its hereditary wealth, its power, its precedents, and its +leisure. The tastes and propensities natural to democratic nations, in +respect to literature, will therefore first be discernible in the drama, +and it may be foreseen that they will break out there with vehemence. In +written productions, the literary canons of aristocracy will be gently, +gradually, and, so to speak, legally modified; at the theatre they +will be riotously overthrown. The drama brings out most of the +good qualities, and almost all the defects, inherent in democratic +literature. Democratic peoples hold erudition very cheap, and care but +little for what occurred at Rome and Athens; they want to hear something +which concerns themselves, and the delineation of the present age is +what they demand. + +When the heroes and the manners of antiquity are frequently brought +upon the stage, and dramatic authors faithfully observe the rules of +antiquated precedent, that is enough to warrant a conclusion that the +democratic classes have not yet got the upper hand of the theatres. +Racine makes a very humble apology in the preface to the "Britannicus" +for having disposed of Junia amongst the Vestals, who, according to +Aulus Gellius, he says, "admitted no one below six years of age nor +above ten." We may be sure that he would neither have accused himself +of the offence, nor defended himself from censure, if he had written for +our contemporaries. A fact of this kind not only illustrates the state +of literature at the time when it occurred, but also that of society +itself. A democratic stage does not prove that the nation is in a state +of democracy, for, as we have just seen, even in aristocracies it may +happen that democratic tastes affect the drama; but when the spirit +of aristocracy reigns exclusively on the stage, the fact irrefragably +demonstrates that the whole of society is aristocratic; and it may be +boldly inferred that the same lettered and learned class which sways the +dramatic writers commands the people and governs the country. + +The refined tastes and the arrogant bearing of an aristocracy will +rarely fail to lead it, when it manages the stage, to make a kind of +selection in human nature. Some of the conditions of society claim +its chief interest; and the scenes which delineate their manners are +preferred upon the stage. Certain virtues, and even certain vices, +are thought more particularly to deserve to figure there; and they are +applauded whilst all others are excluded. Upon the stage, as well +as elsewhere, an aristocratic audience will only meet personages of +quality, and share the emotions of kings. The same thing applies to +style: an aristocracy is apt to impose upon dramatic authors certain +modes of expression which give the key in which everything is to be +delivered. By these means the stage frequently comes to delineate only +one side of man, or sometimes even to represent what is not to be met +with in human nature at all--to rise above nature and to go beyond it. + +In democratic communities the spectators have no such partialities, +and they rarely display any such antipathies: they like to see upon the +stage that medley of conditions, of feelings, and of opinions, which +occurs before their eyes. The drama becomes more striking, more common, +and more true. Sometimes, however, those who write for the stage in +democracies also transgress the bounds of human nature--but it is on +a different side from their predecessors. By seeking to represent in +minute detail the little singularities of the moment and the peculiar +characteristics of certain personages, they forget to portray the +general features of the race. + +When the democratic classes rule the stage, they introduce as much +license in the manner of treating subjects as in the choice of them. +As the love of the drama is, of all literary tastes, that which is most +natural to democratic nations, the number of authors and of spectators, +as well as of theatrical representations, is constantly increasing +amongst these communities. A multitude composed of elements so +different, and scattered in so many different places, cannot acknowledge +the same rules or submit to the same laws. No concurrence is possible +amongst judges so numerous, who know not when they may meet again; and +therefore each pronounces his own sentence on the piece. If the effect +of democracy is generally to question the authority of all literary +rules and conventions, on the stage it abolishes them altogether, and +puts in their place nothing but the whim of each author and of each +public. + +The drama also displays in an especial manner the truth of what I have +said before in speaking more generally of style and art in democratic +literature. In reading the criticisms which were occasioned by the +dramatic productions of the age of Louis XIV, one is surprised to remark +the great stress which the public laid on the probability of the plot, +and the importance which was attached to the perfect consistency of +the characters, and to their doing nothing which could not be easily +explained and understood. The value which was set upon the forms of +language at that period, and the paltry strife about words with which +dramatic authors were assailed, are no less surprising. It would +seem that the men of the age of Louis XIV attached very exaggerated +importance to those details, which may be perceived in the study, but +which escape attention on the stage. For, after all, the principal +object of a dramatic piece is to be performed, and its chief merit is to +affect the audience. But the audience and the readers in that age were +the same: on quitting the theatre they called up the author for judgment +to their own firesides. In democracies, dramatic pieces are listened to, +but not read. Most of those who frequent the amusements of the stage do +not go there to seek the pleasures of the mind, but the keen emotions of +the heart. They do not expect to hear a fine literary work, but to see +a play; and provided the author writes the language of his country +correctly enough to be understood, and that his characters excite +curiosity and awaken sympathy, the audience are satisfied. They ask no +more of fiction, and immediately return to real life. Accuracy of style +is therefore less required, because the attentive observance of its +rules is less perceptible on the stage. As for the probability of the +plot, it is incompatible with perpetual novelty, surprise, and rapidity +of invention. It is therefore neglected, and the public excuses the +neglect. You may be sure that if you succeed in bringing your audience +into the presence of something that affects them, they will not care by +what road you brought them there; and they will never reproach you for +having excited their emotions in spite of dramatic rules. + +The Americans very broadly display all the different propensities which +I have here described when they go to the theatres; but it must be +acknowledged that as yet a very small number of them go to theatres at +all. Although playgoers and plays have prodigiously increased in the +United States in the last forty years, the population indulges in this +kind of amusement with the greatest reserve. This is attributable to +peculiar causes, which the reader is already acquainted with, and of +which a few words will suffice to remind him. The Puritans who founded +the American republics were not only enemies to amusements, but they +professed an especial abhorrence for the stage. They considered it as +an abominable pastime; and as long as their principles prevailed with +undivided sway, scenic performances were wholly unknown amongst them. +These opinions of the first fathers of the colony have left very deep +marks on the minds of their descendants. The extreme regularity of +habits and the great strictness of manners which are observable in the +United States, have as yet opposed additional obstacles to the growth +of dramatic art. There are no dramatic subjects in a country which has +witnessed no great political catastrophes, and in which love invariably +leads by a straight and easy road to matrimony. People who spend every +day in the week in making money, and the Sunday in going to church, have +nothing to invite the muse of Comedy. + +A single fact suffices to show that the stage is not very popular in the +United States. The Americans, whose laws allow of the utmost freedom +and even license of language in all other respects, have nevertheless +subjected their dramatic authors to a sort of censorship. Theatrical +performances can only take place by permission of the municipal +authorities. This may serve to show how much communities are like +individuals; they surrender themselves unscrupulously to their ruling +passions, and afterwards take the greatest care not to yield too much to +the vehemence of tastes which they do not possess. + +No portion of literature is connected by closer or more numerous ties +with the present condition of society than the drama. The drama of one +period can never be suited to the following age, if in the interval an +important revolution has changed the manners and the laws of the nation. +The great authors of a preceding age may be read; but pieces written +for a different public will not be followed. The dramatic authors of the +past live only in books. The traditional taste of certain individuals, +vanity, fashion, or the genius of an actor may sustain or resuscitate +for a time the aristocratic drama amongst a democracy; but it will +speedily fall away of itself--not overthrown, but abandoned. + + + + +Chapter XX: Characteristics Of Historians In Democratic Ages + +Historians who write in aristocratic ages are wont to refer all +occurrences to the particular will or temper of certain individuals; and +they are apt to attribute the most important revolutions to very +slight accidents. They trace out the smallest causes with sagacity, +and frequently leave the greatest unperceived. Historians who live in +democratic ages exhibit precisely opposite characteristics. Most of them +attribute hardly any influence to the individual over the destiny of the +race, nor to citizens over the fate of a people; but, on the other hand, +they assign great general causes to all petty incidents. These contrary +tendencies explain each other. + +When the historian of aristocratic ages surveys the theatre of the +world, he at once perceives a very small number of prominent actors, who +manage the whole piece. These great personages, who occupy the front of +the stage, arrest the observation, and fix it on themselves; and whilst +the historian is bent on penetrating the secret motives which make them +speak and act, the rest escape his memory. The importance of the things +which some men are seen to do, gives him an exaggerated estimate of the +influence which one man may possess; and naturally leads him to think, +that in order to explain the impulses of the multitude, it is necessary +to refer them to the particular influence of some one individual. + +When, on the contrary, all the citizens are independent of one another, +and each of them is individually weak, no one is seen to exert a great, +or still less a lasting power, over the community. At first sight, +individuals appear to be absolutely devoid of any influence over it; +and society would seem to advance alone by the free and voluntary +concurrence of all the men who compose it. This naturally prompts the +mind to search for that general reason which operates upon so many men's +faculties at the same time, and turns them simultaneously in the same +direction. + +I am very well convinced that even amongst democratic nations, the +genius, the vices, or the virtues of certain individuals retard or +accelerate the natural current of a people's history: but causes of +this secondary and fortuitous nature are infinitely more various, more +concealed, more complex, less powerful, and consequently less easy to +trace in periods of equality than in ages of aristocracy, when the task +of the historian is simply to detach from the mass of general events the +particular influences of one man or of a few men. In the former case +the historian is soon wearied by the toil; his mind loses itself in this +labyrinth; and, in his inability clearly to discern or conspicuously to +point out the influence of individuals, he denies their existence. +He prefers talking about the characteristics of race, the physical +conformation of the country, or the genius of civilization, which +abridges his own labors, and satisfies his reader far better at less +cost. + +M. de Lafayette says somewhere in his "Memoirs" that the exaggerated +system of general causes affords surprising consolations to second-rate +statesmen. I will add, that its effects are not less consolatory to +second-rate historians; it can always furnish a few mighty reasons +to extricate them from the most difficult part of their work, and it +indulges the indolence or incapacity of their minds, whilst it confers +upon them the honors of deep thinking. + +For myself, I am of opinion that at all times one great portion of the +events of this world are attributable to general facts, and another to +special influences. These two kinds of cause are always in operation: +their proportion only varies. General facts serve to explain more things +in democratic than in aristocratic ages, and fewer things are then +assignable to special influences. At periods of aristocracy the +reverse takes place: special influences are stronger, general causes +weaker--unless indeed we consider as a general cause the fact itself of +the inequality of conditions, which allows some individuals to baffle +the natural tendencies of all the rest. The historians who seek to +describe what occurs in democratic societies are right, therefore, in +assigning much to general causes, and in devoting their chief attention +to discover them; but they are wrong in wholly denying the special +influence of individuals, because they cannot easily trace or follow it. + +The historians who live in democratic ages are not only prone to assign +a great cause to every incident, but they are also given to connect +incidents together, so as to deduce a system from them. In aristocratic +ages, as the attention of historians is constantly drawn to individuals, +the connection of events escapes them; or rather, they do not believe +in any such connection. To them the clew of history seems every instant +crossed and broken by the step of man. In democratic ages, on the +contrary, as the historian sees much more of actions than of actors, he +may easily establish some kind of sequency and methodical order amongst +the former. Ancient literature, which is so rich in fine historical +compositions, does not contain a single great historical system, whilst +the poorest of modern literatures abound with them. It would appear +that the ancient historians did not make sufficient use of those general +theories which our historical writers are ever ready to carry to excess. + +Those who write in democratic ages have another more dangerous tendency. +When the traces of individual action upon nations are lost, it often +happens that the world goes on to move, though the moving agent is no +longer discoverable. As it becomes extremely difficult to discern and +to analyze the reasons which, acting separately on the volition of each +member of the community, concur in the end to produce movement in the +old mass, men are led to believe that this movement is involuntary, and +that societies unconsciously obey some superior force ruling over them. +But even when the general fact which governs the private volition of all +individuals is supposed to be discovered upon the earth, the principle +of human free-will is not secure. A cause sufficiently extensive to +affect millions of men at once, and sufficiently strong to bend them all +together in the same direction, may well seem irresistible: having seen +that mankind do yield to it, the mind is close upon the inference that +mankind cannot resist it. + +Historians who live in democratic ages, then, not only deny that the few +have any power of acting upon the destiny of a people, but they deprive +the people themselves of the power of modifying their own condition, and +they subject them either to an inflexible Providence, or to some blind +necessity. According to them, each nation is indissolubly bound by its +position, its origin, its precedents, and its character, to a certain +lot which no efforts can ever change. They involve generation in +generation, and thus, going back from age to age, and from necessity +to necessity, up to the origin of the world, they forge a close and +enormous chain, which girds and binds the human race. To their minds it +is not enough to show what events have occurred: they would fain show +that events could not have occurred otherwise. They take a nation +arrived at a certain stage of its history, and they affirm that it could +not but follow the track which brought it thither. It is easier to +make such an assertion than to show by what means the nation might have +adopted a better course. + +In reading the historians of aristocratic ages, and especially those of +antiquity, it would seem that, to be master of his lot, and to govern +his fellow-creatures, man requires only to be master of himself. In +perusing the historical volumes which our age has produced, it would +seem that man is utterly powerless over himself and over all around him. +The historians of antiquity taught how to command: those of our time +teach only how to obey; in their writings the author often appears +great, but humanity is always diminutive. If this doctrine of necessity, +which is so attractive to those who write history in democratic ages, +passes from authors to their readers, till it infects the whole mass +of the community and gets possession of the public mind, it will soon +paralyze the activity of modern society, and reduce Christians to the +level of the Turks. I would moreover observe, that such principles +are peculiarly dangerous at the period at which we are arrived. Our +contemporaries are but too prone to doubt of the human free-will, +because each of them feels himself confined on every side by his own +weakness; but they are still willing to acknowledge the strength and +independence of men united in society. Let not this principle be lost +sight of; for the great object in our time is to raise the faculties of +men, not to complete their prostration. + + + + +Chapter XXI: Of Parliamentary Eloquence In The United States + +Amongst aristocratic nations all the members of the community are +connected with and dependent upon each other; the graduated scale of +different ranks acts as a tie, which keeps everyone in his proper place +and the whole body in subordination. Something of the same kind always +occurs in the political assemblies of these nations. Parties naturally +range themselves under certain leaders, whom they obey by a sort of +instinct, which is only the result of habits contracted elsewhere. They +carry the manners of general society into the lesser assemblage. + +In democratic countries it often happens that a great number of citizens +are tending to the same point; but each one only moves thither, or at +least flatters himself that he moves, of his own accord. Accustomed to +regulate his doings by personal impulse alone, he does not willingly +submit to dictation from without. This taste and habit of independence +accompany him into the councils of the nation. If he consents to connect +himself with other men in the prosecution of the same purpose, at least +he chooses to remain free to contribute to the common success after his +own fashion. Hence it is that in democratic countries parties are so +impatient of control, and are never manageable except in moments of +great public danger. Even then, the authority of leaders, which under +such circumstances may be able to make men act or speak, hardly ever +reaches the extent of making them keep silence. + +Amongst aristocratic nations the members of political assemblies are +at the same time members of the aristocracy. Each of them enjoys high +established rank in his own right, and the position which he occupies +in the assembly is often less important in his eyes than that which +he fills in the country. This consoles him for playing no part in +the discussion of public affairs, and restrains him from too eagerly +attempting to play an insignificant one. + +In America, it generally happens that a Representative only becomes +somebody from his position in the Assembly. He is therefore perpetually +haunted by a craving to acquire importance there, and he feels a +petulant desire to be constantly obtruding his opinions upon the House. +His own vanity is not the only stimulant which urges him on in this +course, but that of his constituents, and the continual necessity +of propitiating them. Amongst aristocratic nations a member of the +legislature is rarely in strict dependence upon his constituents: he is +frequently to them a sort of unavoidable representative; sometimes they +are themselves strictly dependent upon him; and if at length they reject +him, he may easily get elected elsewhere, or, retiring from public life, +he may still enjoy the pleasures of splendid idleness. In a democratic +country like the United States a Representative has hardly ever +a lasting hold on the minds of his constituents. However small an +electoral body may be, the fluctuations of democracy are constantly +changing its aspect; it must, therefore, be courted unceasingly. He +is never sure of his supporters, and, if they forsake him, he is +left without a resource; for his natural position is not sufficiently +elevated for him to be easily known to those not close to him; and, +with the complete state of independence prevailing among the people, he +cannot hope that his friends or the government will send him down to be +returned by an electoral body unacquainted with him. The seeds of his +fortune are, therefore, sown in his own neighborhood; from that nook of +earth he must start, to raise himself to the command of a people and +to influence the destinies of the world. Thus it is natural that in +democratic countries the members of political assemblies think more of +their constituents than of their party, whilst in aristocracies they +think more of their party than of their constituents. + +But what ought to be said to gratify constituents is not always what +ought to be said in order to serve the party to which Representatives +profess to belong. The general interest of a party frequently demands +that members belonging to it should not speak on great questions which +they understand imperfectly; that they should speak but little on those +minor questions which impede the great ones; lastly, and for the most +part, that they should not speak at all. To keep silence is the +most useful service that an indifferent spokesman can render to the +commonwealth. Constituents, however, do not think so. The population of +a district sends a representative to take a part in the government of +a country, because they entertain a very lofty notion of his merits. +As men appear greater in proportion to the littleness of the objects +by which they are surrounded, it may be assumed that the opinion +entertained of the delegate will be so much the higher as talents are +more rare among his constituents. It will therefore frequently happen +that the less constituents have to expect from their representative, the +more they will anticipate from him; and, however incompetent he may be, +they will not fail to call upon him for signal exertions, corresponding +to the rank they have conferred upon him. + +Independently of his position as a legislator of the State, electors +also regard their Representative as the natural patron of the +constituency in the Legislature; they almost consider him as the proxy +of each of his supporters, and they flatter themselves that he will not +be less zealous in defense of their private interests than of those +of the country. Thus electors are well assured beforehand that the +Representative of their choice will be an orator; that he will speak +often if he can, and that in case he is forced to refrain, he will +strive at any rate to compress into his less frequent orations an +inquiry into all the great questions of state, combined with a statement +of all the petty grievances they have themselves to complain to; so +that, though he be not able to come forward frequently, he should on +each occasion prove what he is capable of doing; and that, instead of +perpetually lavishing his powers, he should occasionally condense them +in a small compass, so as to furnish a sort of complete and brilliant +epitome of his constituents and of himself. On these terms they will +vote for him at the next election. These conditions drive worthy men of +humble abilities to despair, who, knowing their own powers, would never +voluntarily have come forward. But thus urged on, the Representative +begins to speak, to the great alarm of his friends; and rushing +imprudently into the midst of the most celebrated orators, he perplexes +the debate and wearies the House. + +All laws which tend to make the Representative more dependent on the +elector, not only affect the conduct of the legislators, as I +have remarked elsewhere, but also their language. They exercise a +simultaneous influence on affairs themselves, and on the manner in which +affairs are discussed. + +There is hardly a member of Congress who can make up his mind to go home +without having despatched at least one speech to his constituents; +nor who will endure any interruption until he has introduced into +his harangue whatever useful suggestions may be made touching the +four-and-twenty States of which the Union is composed, and especially +the district which he represents. He therefore presents to the mind of +his auditors a succession of great general truths (which he himself only +comprehends, and expresses, confusedly), and of petty minutia, which he +is but too able to discover and to point out. The consequence is that +the debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, +and that they seem rather to drag their slow length along than to +advance towards a distinct object. Some such state of things will, I +believe, always arise in the public assemblies of democracies. + +Propitious circumstances and good laws might succeed in drawing to the +legislature of a democratic people men very superior to those who are +returned by the Americans to Congress; but nothing will ever prevent the +men of slender abilities who sit there from obtruding themselves with +complacency, and in all ways, upon the public. The evil does not appear +to me to be susceptible of entire cure, because it not only originates +in the tactics of that assembly, but in its constitution and in that +of the country. The inhabitants of the United States seem themselves to +consider the matter in this light; and they show their long experience +of parliamentary life not by abstaining from making bad speeches, but by +courageously submitting to hear them made. They are resigned to it, as +to an evil which they know to be inevitable. + +We have shown the petty side of political debates in democratic +assemblies--let us now exhibit the more imposing one. The proceedings +within the Parliament of England for the last one hundred and fifty +years have never occasioned any great sensation out of that country; the +opinions and feelings expressed by the speakers have never awakened much +sympathy, even amongst the nations placed nearest to the great arena of +British liberty; whereas Europe was excited by the very first debates +which took place in the small colonial assemblies of America at the +time of the Revolution. This was attributable not only to particular +and fortuitous circumstances, but to general and lasting causes. I can +conceive nothing more admirable or more powerful than a great orator +debating on great questions of state in a democratic assembly. As no +particular class is ever represented there by men commissioned to defend +its own interests, it is always to the whole nation, and in the name of +the whole nation, that the orator speaks. This expands his thoughts, +and heightens his power of language. As precedents have there but +little weight-as there are no longer any privileges attached to certain +property, nor any rights inherent in certain bodies or in certain +individuals, the mind must have recourse to general truths derived from +human nature to resolve the particular question under discussion. Hence +the political debates of a democratic people, however small it may be, +have a degree of breadth which frequently renders them attractive to +mankind. All men are interested by them, because they treat of man, who +is everywhere the same. Amongst the greatest aristocratic nations, on +the contrary, the most general questions are almost always argued on +some special grounds derived from the practice of a particular time, or +the rights of a particular class; which interest that class alone, or at +most the people amongst whom that class happens to exist. It is owing +to this, as much as to the greatness of the French people, and the +favorable disposition of the nations who listen to them, that the great +effect which the French political debates sometimes produce in the +world, must be attributed. The orators of France frequently speak to +mankind, even when they are addressing their countrymen only. + + + + +Section 2: Influence of Democracy on the Feelings of Americans + + + + +Chapter I: Why Democratic Nations Show A More Ardent And Enduring Love +Of Equality Than Of Liberty + +The first and most intense passion which is engendered by the equality +of conditions is, I need hardly say, the love of that same equality. My +readers will therefore not be surprised that I speak of its before +all others. Everybody has remarked that in our time, and especially in +France, this passion for equality is every day gaining ground in the +human heart. It has been said a hundred times that our contemporaries +are far more ardently and tenaciously attached to equality than to +freedom; but as I do not find that the causes of the fact have been +sufficiently analyzed, I shall endeavor to point them out. + +It is possible to imagine an extreme point at which freedom and equality +would meet and be confounded together. Let us suppose that all the +members of the community take a part in the government, and that each of +them has an equal right to take a part in it. As none is different from +his fellows, none can exercise a tyrannical power: men will be perfectly +free, because they will all be entirely equal; and they will all be +perfectly equal, because they will be entirely free. To this ideal state +democratic nations tend. Such is the completest form that equality can +assume upon earth; but there are a thousand others which, without being +equally perfect, are not less cherished by those nations. + +The principle of equality may be established in civil society, without +prevailing in the political world. Equal rights may exist of indulging +in the same pleasures, of entering the same professions, of frequenting +the same places--in a word, of living in the same manner and seeking +wealth by the same means, although all men do not take an equal share +in the government. A kind of equality may even be established in the +political world, though there should be no political freedom there. A +man may be the equal of all his countrymen save one, who is the master +of all without distinction, and who selects equally from among them +all the agents of his power. Several other combinations might be easily +imagined, by which very great equality would be united to institutions +more or less free, or even to institutions wholly without freedom. +Although men cannot become absolutely equal unless they be entirely +free, and consequently equality, pushed to its furthest extent, may be +confounded with freedom, yet there is good reason for distinguishing the +one from the other. The taste which men have for liberty, and that which +they feel for equality, are, in fact, two different things; and I am +not afraid to add that, amongst democratic nations, they are two unequal +things. + +Upon close inspection, it will be seen that there is in every age some +peculiar and preponderating fact with which all others are connected; +this fact almost always gives birth to some pregnant idea or some ruling +passion, which attracts to itself, and bears away in its course, all the +feelings and opinions of the time: it is like a great stream, towards +which each of the surrounding rivulets seems to flow. Freedom has +appeared in the world at different times and under various forms; it +has not been exclusively bound to any social condition, and it is +not confined to democracies. Freedom cannot, therefore, form the +distinguishing characteristic of democratic ages. The peculiar and +preponderating fact which marks those ages as its own is the equality +of conditions; the ruling passion of men in those periods is the love +of this equality. Ask not what singular charm the men of democratic ages +find in being equal, or what special reasons they may have for clinging +so tenaciously to equality rather than to the other advantages which +society holds out to them: equality is the distinguishing characteristic +of the age they live in; that, of itself, is enough to explain that they +prefer it to all the rest. + +But independently of this reason there are several others, which will at +all times habitually lead men to prefer equality to freedom. If a people +could ever succeed in destroying, or even in diminishing, the equality +which prevails in its own body, this could only be accomplished by long +and laborious efforts. Its social condition must be modified, its laws +abolished, its opinions superseded, its habits changed, its manners +corrupted. But political liberty is more easily lost; to neglect to +hold it fast is to allow it to escape. Men therefore not only cling to +equality because it is dear to them; they also adhere to it because they +think it will last forever. + +That political freedom may compromise in its excesses the tranquillity, +the property, the lives of individuals, is obvious to the narrowest +and most unthinking minds. But, on the contrary, none but attentive and +clear-sighted men perceive the perils with which equality threatens us, +and they commonly avoid pointing them out. They know that the calamities +they apprehend are remote, and flatter themselves that they will only +fall upon future generations, for which the present generation takes +but little thought. The evils which freedom sometimes brings with it are +immediate; they are apparent to all, and all are more or less affected +by them. The evils which extreme equality may produce are slowly +disclosed; they creep gradually into the social frame; they are only +seen at intervals, and at the moment at which they become most violent +habit already causes them to be no longer felt. The advantages which +freedom brings are only shown by length of time; and it is always easy +to mistake the cause in which they originate. The advantages of equality +are instantaneous, and they may constantly be traced from their source. +Political liberty bestows exalted pleasures, from time to time, upon a +certain number of citizens. Equality every day confers a number of small +enjoyments on every man. The charms of equality are every instant felt, +and are within the reach of all; the noblest hearts are not insensible +to them, and the most vulgar souls exult in them. The passion which +equality engenders must therefore be at once strong and general. Men +cannot enjoy political liberty unpurchased by some sacrifices, and they +never obtain it without great exertions. But the pleasures of equality +are self-proffered: each of the petty incidents of life seems to +occasion them, and in order to taste them nothing is required but to +live. + +Democratic nations are at all times fond of equality, but there are +certain epochs at which the passion they entertain for it swells to the +height of fury. This occurs at the moment when the old social system, +long menaced, completes its own destruction after a last intestine +struggle, and when the barriers of rank are at length thrown down. At +such times men pounce upon equality as their booty, and they cling to +it as to some precious treasure which they fear to lose. The passion for +equality penetrates on every side into men's hearts, expands there, +and fills them entirely. Tell them not that by this blind surrender of +themselves to an exclusive passion they risk their dearest interests: +they are deaf. Show them not freedom escaping from their grasp, whilst +they are looking another way: they are blind--or rather, they can +discern but one sole object to be desired in the universe. + +What I have said is applicable to all democratic nations: what I am +about to say concerns the French alone. Amongst most modern nations, and +especially amongst all those of the Continent of Europe, the taste and +the idea of freedom only began to exist and to extend themselves at +the time when social conditions were tending to equality, and as +a consequence of that very equality. Absolute kings were the most +efficient levellers of ranks amongst their subjects. Amongst these +nations equality preceded freedom: equality was therefore a fact of some +standing when freedom was still a novelty: the one had already created +customs, opinions, and laws belonging to it, when the other, alone and +for the first time, came into actual existence. Thus the latter was +still only an affair of opinion and of taste, whilst the former had +already crept into the habits of the people, possessed itself of their +manners, and given a particular turn to the smallest actions of their +lives. Can it be wondered that the men of our own time prefer the one to +the other? + +I think that democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom: +left to themselves, they will seek it, cherish it, and view any +privation of it with regret. But for equality, their passion is ardent, +insatiable, incessant, invincible: they call for equality in freedom; +and if they cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery. +They will endure poverty, servitude, barbarism--but they will not endure +aristocracy. This is true at all times, and especially true in our own. +All men and all powers seeking to cope with this irresistible passion, +will be overthrown and destroyed by it. In our age, freedom cannot be +established without it, and despotism itself cannot reign without its +support. + + + + +Chapter II: Of Individualism In Democratic Countries + +I have shown how it is that in ages of equality every man seeks for his +opinions within himself: I am now about to show how it is that, in +the same ages, all his feelings are turned towards himself alone. +Individualism *a is a novel expression, to which a novel idea has given +birth. Our fathers were only acquainted with egotism. Egotism is a +passionate and exaggerated love of self, which leads a man to connect +everything with his own person, and to prefer himself to everything in +the world. Individualism is a mature and calm feeling, which disposes +each member of the community to sever himself from the mass of his +fellow-creatures; and to draw apart with his family and his friends; so +that, after he has thus formed a little circle of his own, he willingly +leaves society at large to itself. Egotism originates in blind instinct: +individualism proceeds from erroneous judgment more than from depraved +feelings; it originates as much in the deficiencies of the mind as in +the perversity of the heart. Egotism blights the germ of all virtue; +individualism, at first, only saps the virtues of public life; but, +in the long run, it attacks and destroys all others, and is at length +absorbed in downright egotism. Egotism is a vice as old as the world, +which does not belong to one form of society more than to another: +individualism is of democratic origin, and it threatens to spread in the +same ratio as the equality of conditions. + +[Footnote a: [I adopt the expression of the original, however strange it +may seem to the English ear, partly because it illustrates the remark +on the introduction of general terms into democratic language which was +made in a preceding chapter, and partly because I know of no English +word exactly equivalent to the expression. The chapter itself defines +the meaning attached to it by the author.--Translator's Note.]] + +Amongst aristocratic nations, as families remain for centuries in the +same condition, often on the same spot, all generations become as it +were contemporaneous. A man almost always knows his forefathers, and +respects them: he thinks he already sees his remote descendants, and he +loves them. He willingly imposes duties on himself towards the +former and the latter; and he will frequently sacrifice his personal +gratifications to those who went before and to those who will come after +him. Aristocratic institutions have, moreover, the effect of closely +binding every man to several of his fellow-citizens. As the classes of +an aristocratic people are strongly marked and permanent, each of +them is regarded by its own members as a sort of lesser country, +more tangible and more cherished than the country at large. As in +aristocratic communities all the citizens occupy fixed positions, one +above the other, the result is that each of them always sees a man above +himself whose patronage is necessary to him, and below himself another +man whose co-operation he may claim. Men living in aristocratic ages +are therefore almost always closely attached to something placed out of +their own sphere, and they are often disposed to forget themselves. It +is true that in those ages the notion of human fellowship is faint, and +that men seldom think of sacrificing themselves for mankind; but they +often sacrifice themselves for other men. In democratic ages, on the +contrary, when the duties of each individual to the race are much more +clear, devoted service to any one man becomes more rare; the bond of +human affection is extended, but it is relaxed. + +Amongst democratic nations new families are constantly springing up, +others are constantly falling away, and all that remain change their +condition; the woof of time is every instant broken, and the track of +generations effaced. Those who went before are soon forgotten; of those +who will come after no one has any idea: the interest of man is confined +to those in close propinquity to himself. As each class approximates +to other classes, and intermingles with them, its members become +indifferent and as strangers to one another. Aristocracy had made a +chain of all the members of the community, from the peasant to the king: +democracy breaks that chain, and severs every link of it. As social +conditions become more equal, the number of persons increases who, +although they are neither rich enough nor powerful enough to exercise +any great influence over their fellow-creatures, have nevertheless +acquired or retained sufficient education and fortune to satisfy their +own wants. They owe nothing to any man, they expect nothing from any +man; they acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing +alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole destiny is in +their own hands. Thus not only does democracy make every man forget +his ancestors, but it hides his descendants, and separates his +contemporaries from him; it throws him back forever upon himself alone, +and threatens in the end to confine him entirely within the solitude of +his own heart. + + + + +Chapter III: Individualism Stronger At The Close Of A Democratic +Revolution Than At Other Periods + +The period when the construction of democratic society upon the ruins of +an aristocracy has just been completed, is especially that at which this +separation of men from one another, and the egotism resulting from it, +most forcibly strike the observation. Democratic communities not only +contain a large number of independent citizens, but they are constantly +filled with men who, having entered but yesterday upon their independent +condition, are intoxicated with their new power. They entertain a +presumptuous confidence in their strength, and as they do not suppose +that they can henceforward ever have occasion to claim the assistance of +their fellow-creatures, they do not scruple to show that they care for +nobody but themselves. + +An aristocracy seldom yields without a protracted struggle, in the +course of which implacable animosities are kindled between the different +classes of society. These passions survive the victory, and traces of +them may be observed in the midst of the democratic confusion which +ensues. Those members of the community who were at the top of the late +gradations of rank cannot immediately forget their former greatness; +they will long regard themselves as aliens in the midst of the newly +composed society. They look upon all those whom this state of society +has made their equals as oppressors, whose destiny can excite no +sympathy; they have lost sight of their former equals, and feel no +longer bound by a common interest to their fate: each of them, standing +aloof, thinks that he is reduced to care for himself alone. Those, on +the contrary, who were formerly at the foot of the social scale, and who +have been brought up to the common level by a sudden revolution, cannot +enjoy their newly acquired independence without secret uneasiness; and +if they meet with some of their former superiors on the same footing as +themselves, they stand aloof from them with an expression of triumph and +of fear. It is, then, commonly at the outset of democratic society that +citizens are most disposed to live apart. Democracy leads men not to +draw near to their fellow-creatures; but democratic revolutions lead +them to shun each other, and perpetuate in a state of equality the +animosities which the state of inequality engendered. The great +advantage of the Americans is that they have arrived at a state of +democracy without having to endure a democratic revolution; and that +they are born equal, instead of becoming so. + + + + +Chapter IV: That The Americans Combat The Effects Of Individualism By +Free Institutions + +Despotism, which is of a very timorous nature, is never more secure of +continuance than when it can keep men asunder; and all is influence +is commonly exerted for that purpose. No vice of the human heart is so +acceptable to it as egotism: a despot easily forgives his subjects for +not loving him, provided they do not love each other. He does not ask +them to assist him in governing the State; it is enough that they do not +aspire to govern it themselves. He stigmatizes as turbulent and +unruly spirits those who would combine their exertions to promote the +prosperity of the community, and, perverting the natural meaning of +words, he applauds as good citizens those who have no sympathy for any +but themselves. Thus the vices which despotism engenders are precisely +those which equality fosters. These two things mutually and perniciously +complete and assist each other. Equality places men side by side, +unconnected by any common tie; despotism raises barriers to keep +them asunder; the former predisposes them not to consider their +fellow-creatures, the latter makes general indifference a sort of public +virtue. + +Despotism then, which is at all times dangerous, is more particularly to +be feared in democratic ages. It is easy to see that in those same ages +men stand most in need of freedom. When the members of a community are +forced to attend to public affairs, they are necessarily drawn from +the circle of their own interests, and snatched at times from +self-observation. As soon as a man begins to treat of public affairs +in public, he begins to perceive that he is not so independent of his +fellow-men as he had at first imagined, and that, in order to obtain +their support, he must often lend them his co-operation. + +When the public is supreme, there is no man who does not feel the value +of public goodwill, or who does not endeavor to court it by drawing to +himself the esteem and affection of those amongst whom he is to live. +Many of the passions which congeal and keep asunder human hearts, +are then obliged to retire and hide below the surface. Pride must be +dissembled; disdain dares not break out; egotism fears its own self. +Under a free government, as most public offices are elective, the men +whose elevated minds or aspiring hopes are too closely circumscribed in +private life, constantly feel that they cannot do without the population +which surrounds them. Men learn at such times to think of their +fellow-men from ambitious motives; and they frequently find it, in a +manner, their interest to forget themselves. + +I may here be met by an objection derived from electioneering intrigues, +the meannesses of candidates, and the calumnies of their opponents. +These are opportunities for animosity which occur the oftener the more +frequent elections become. Such evils are doubtless great, but they are +transient; whereas the benefits which attend them remain. The desire +of being elected may lead some men for a time to violent hostility; but +this same desire leads all men in the long run mutually to support +each other; and if it happens that an election accidentally severs two +friends, the electoral system brings a multitude of citizens permanently +together, who would always have remained unknown to each other. Freedom +engenders private animosities, but despotism gives birth to general +indifference. + +The Americans have combated by free institutions the tendency of +equality to keep men asunder, and they have subdued it. The legislators +of America did not suppose that a general representation of the whole +nation would suffice to ward off a disorder at once so natural to the +frame of democratic society, and so fatal: they also thought that +it would be well to infuse political life into each portion of the +territory, in order to multiply to an infinite extent opportunities of +acting in concert for all the members of the community, and to make them +constantly feel their mutual dependence on each other. The plan was a +wise one. The general affairs of a country only engage the attention of +leading politicians, who assemble from time to time in the same places; +and as they often lose sight of each other afterwards, no lasting ties +are established between them. But if the object be to have the local +affairs of a district conducted by the men who reside there, the same +persons are always in contact, and they are, in a manner, forced to be +acquainted, and to adapt themselves to one another. + +It is difficult to draw a man out of his own circle to interest him in +the destiny of the State, because he does not clearly understand what +influence the destiny of the State can have upon his own lot. But if it +be proposed to make a road cross the end of his estate, he will see at +a glance that there is a connection between this small public affair and +his greatest private affairs; and he will discover, without its being +shown to him, the close tie which unites private to general interest. +Thus, far more may be done by intrusting to the citizens the +administration of minor affairs than by surrendering to them the control +of important ones, towards interesting them in the public welfare, and +convincing them that they constantly stand in need one of the other in +order to provide for it. A brilliant achievement may win for you the +favor of a people at one stroke; but to earn the love and respect of +the population which surrounds you, a long succession of little services +rendered and of obscure good deeds--a constant habit of kindness, and +an established reputation for disinterestedness--will be required. +Local freedom, then, which leads a great number of citizens to value the +affection of their neighbors and of their kindred, perpetually brings +men together, and forces them to help one another, in spite of the +propensities which sever them. + +In the United States the more opulent citizens take great care not to +stand aloof from the people; on the contrary, they constantly keep on +easy terms with the lower classes: they listen to them, they speak to +them every day. They know that the rich in democracies always stand in +need of the poor; and that in democratic ages you attach a poor man to +you more by your manner than by benefits conferred. The magnitude of +such benefits, which sets off the difference of conditions, causes a +secret irritation to those who reap advantage from them; but the charm +of simplicity of manners is almost irresistible: their affability +carries men away, and even their want of polish is not always +displeasing. This truth does not take root at once in the minds of the +rich. They generally resist it as long as the democratic revolution +lasts, and they do not acknowledge it immediately after that revolution +is accomplished. They are very ready to do good to the people, but +they still choose to keep them at arm's length; they think that is +sufficient, but they are mistaken. They might spend fortunes thus +without warming the hearts of the population around them;--that +population does not ask them for the sacrifice of their money, but of +their pride. + +It would seem as if every imagination in the United States were upon +the stretch to invent means of increasing the wealth and satisfying +the wants of the public. The best-informed inhabitants of each district +constantly use their information to discover new truths which may +augment the general prosperity; and if they have made any such +discoveries, they eagerly surrender them to the mass of the people. + +When the vices and weaknesses, frequently exhibited by those who +govern in America, are closely examined, the prosperity of the people +occasions--but improperly occasions--surprise. Elected magistrates do +not make the American democracy flourish; it flourishes because the +magistrates are elective. + +It would be unjust to suppose that the patriotism and the zeal which +every American displays for the welfare of his fellow-citizens are +wholly insincere. Although private interest directs the greater part +of human actions in the United States as well as elsewhere, it does +not regulate them all. I must say that I have often seen Americans make +great and real sacrifices to the public welfare; and I have remarked +a hundred instances in which they hardly ever failed to lend faithful +support to each other. The free institutions which the inhabitants of +the United States possess, and the political rights of which they make +so much use, remind every citizen, and in a thousand ways, that he lives +in society. They every instant impress upon his mind the notion that it +is the duty, as well as the interest of men, to make themselves useful +to their fellow-creatures; and as he sees no particular ground of +animosity to them, since he is never either their master or their slave, +his heart readily leans to the side of kindness. Men attend to the +interests of the public, first by necessity, afterwards by choice: what +was intentional becomes an instinct; and by dint of working for the good +of one's fellow citizens, the habit and the taste for serving them is at +length acquired. + +Many people in France consider equality of conditions as one evil, and +political freedom as a second. When they are obliged to yield to the +former, they strive at least to escape from the latter. But I contend +that in order to combat the evils which equality may produce, there is +only one effectual remedy--namely, political freedom. + + + + +Chapter V: Of The Use Which The Americans Make Of Public Associations In +Civil Life + +I do not propose to speak of those political associations--by the aid of +which men endeavor to defend themselves against the despotic influence +of a majority--or against the aggressions of regal power. That subject I +have already treated. If each citizen did not learn, in proportion as +he individually becomes more feeble, and consequently more incapable +of preserving his freedom single-handed, to combine with his +fellow-citizens for the purpose of defending it, it is clear that +tyranny would unavoidably increase together with equality. + +Those associations only which are formed in civil life, without +reference to political objects, are here adverted to. The political +associations which exist in the United States are only a single feature +in the midst of the immense assemblage of associations in that country. +Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions, constantly +form associations. They have not only commercial and manufacturing +companies, in which all take part, but associations of a thousand other +kinds--religious, moral, serious, futile, extensive, or restricted, +enormous or diminutive. The Americans make associations to give +entertainments, to found establishments for education, to build inns, +to construct churches, to diffuse books, to send missionaries to +the antipodes; and in this manner they found hospitals, prisons, and +schools. If it be proposed to advance some truth, or to foster some +feeling by the encouragement of a great example, they form a society. +Wherever, at the head of some new undertaking, you see the government +in France, or a man of rank in England, in the United States you will be +sure to find an association. I met with several kinds of associations in +America, of which I confess I had no previous notion; and I have often +admired the extreme skill with which the inhabitants of the United +States succeed in proposing a common object to the exertions of a great +many men, and in getting them voluntarily to pursue it. I have since +travelled over England, whence the Americans have taken some of their +laws and many of their customs; and it seemed to me that the principle +of association was by no means so constantly or so adroitly used in +that country. The English often perform great things singly; whereas the +Americans form associations for the smallest undertakings. It is evident +that the former people consider association as a powerful means of +action, but the latter seem to regard it as the only means they have of +acting. + +Thus the most democratic country on the face of the earth is that in +which men have in our time carried to the highest perfection the art of +pursuing in common the object of their common desires, and have applied +this new science to the greatest number of purposes. Is this the result +of accident? or is there in reality any necessary connection between the +principle of association and that of equality? Aristocratic communities +always contain, amongst a multitude of persons who by themselves are +powerless, a small number of powerful and wealthy citizens, each of whom +can achieve great undertakings single-handed. In aristocratic societies +men do not need to combine in order to act, because they are strongly +held together. Every wealthy and powerful citizen constitutes the head +of a permanent and compulsory association, composed of all those who are +dependent upon him, or whom he makes subservient to the execution of his +designs. Amongst democratic nations, on the contrary, all the citizens +are independent and feeble; they can do hardly anything by themselves, +and none of them can oblige his fellow-men to lend him their assistance. +They all, therefore, fall into a state of incapacity, if they do not +learn voluntarily to help each other. If men living in democratic +countries had no right and no inclination to associate for political +purposes, their independence would be in great jeopardy; but they might +long preserve their wealth and their cultivation: whereas if they +never acquired the habit of forming associations in ordinary life, +civilization itself would be endangered. A people amongst which +individuals should lose the power of achieving great things +single-handed, without acquiring the means of producing them by united +exertions, would soon relapse into barbarism. + +Unhappily, the same social condition which renders associations so +necessary to democratic nations, renders their formation more difficult +amongst those nations than amongst all others. When several members of +an aristocracy agree to combine, they easily succeed in doing so; as +each of them brings great strength to the partnership, the number of its +members may be very limited; and when the members of an association +are limited in number, they may easily become mutually acquainted, +understand each other, and establish fixed regulations. The same +opportunities do not occur amongst democratic nations, where the +associated members must always be very numerous for their association to +have any power. + +I am aware that many of my countrymen are not in the least embarrassed +by this difficulty. They contend that the more enfeebled and incompetent +the citizens become, the more able and active the government ought to +be rendered, in order that society at large may execute what individuals +can no longer accomplish. They believe this answers the whole +difficulty, but I think they are mistaken. A government might perform +the part of some of the largest American companies; and several States, +members of the Union, have already attempted it; but what political +power could ever carry on the vast multitude of lesser undertakings +which the American citizens perform every day, with the assistance of +the principle of association? It is easy to foresee that the time is +drawing near when man will be less and less able to produce, of himself +alone, the commonest necessaries of life. The task of the governing +power will therefore perpetually increase, and its very efforts will +extend it every day. The more it stands in the place of associations, +the more will individuals, losing the notion of combining together, +require its assistance: these are causes and effects which unceasingly +engender each other. Will the administration of the country ultimately +assume the management of all the manufacturers, which no single +citizen is able to carry on? And if a time at length arrives, when, in +consequence of the extreme subdivision of landed property, the soil +is split into an infinite number of parcels, so that it can only be +cultivated by companies of husbandmen, will it be necessary that the +head of the government should leave the helm of state to follow the +plough? The morals and the intelligence of a democratic people would be +as much endangered as its business and manufactures, if the government +ever wholly usurped the place of private companies. + +Feelings and opinions are recruited, the heart is enlarged, and the +human mind is developed by no other means than by the reciprocal +influence of men upon each other. I have shown that these influences are +almost null in democratic countries; they must therefore be artificially +created, and this can only be accomplished by associations. + +When the members of an aristocratic community adopt a new opinion, or +conceive a new sentiment, they give it a station, as it were, beside +themselves, upon the lofty platform where they stand; and opinions +or sentiments so conspicuous to the eyes of the multitude are easily +introduced into the minds or hearts of all around. In democratic +countries the governing power alone is naturally in a condition to +act in this manner; but it is easy to see that its action is always +inadequate, and often dangerous. A government can no more be competent +to keep alive and to renew the circulation of opinions and feelings +amongst a great people, than to manage all the speculations of +productive industry. No sooner does a government attempt to go +beyond its political sphere and to enter upon this new track, than +it exercises, even unintentionally, an insupportable tyranny; for a +government can only dictate strict rules, the opinions which it favors +are rigidly enforced, and it is never easy to discriminate between its +advice and its commands. Worse still will be the case if the government +really believes itself interested in preventing all circulation of +ideas; it will then stand motionless, and oppressed by the heaviness of +voluntary torpor. Governments therefore should not be the only active +powers: associations ought, in democratic nations, to stand in lieu of +those powerful private individuals whom the equality of conditions has +swept away. + +As soon as several of the inhabitants of the United States have taken +up an opinion or a feeling which they wish to promote in the world, +they look out for mutual assistance; and as soon as they have found each +other out, they combine. From that moment they are no longer isolated +men, but a power seen from afar, whose actions serve for an example, +and whose language is listened to. The first time I heard in the United +States that 100,000 men had bound themselves publicly to abstain from +spirituous liquors, it appeared to me more like a joke than a serious +engagement; and I did not at once perceive why these temperate citizens +could not content themselves with drinking water by their own firesides. +I at last understood that 300,000 Americans, alarmed by the progress +of drunkenness around them, had made up their minds to patronize +temperance. They acted just in the same way as a man of high rank who +should dress very plainly, in order to inspire the humbler orders with +a contempt of luxury. It is probable that if these 100,000 men had lived +in France, each of them would singly have memorialized the government to +watch the public-houses all over the kingdom. + +Nothing, in my opinion, is more deserving of our attention than the +intellectual and moral associations of America. The political and +industrial associations of that country strike us forcibly; but the +others elude our observation, or if we discover them, we understand them +imperfectly, because we have hardly ever seen anything of the kind. +It must, however, be acknowledged that they are as necessary to the +American people as the former, and perhaps more so. In democratic +countries the science of association is the mother of science; the +progress of all the rest depends upon the progress it has made. Amongst +the laws which rule human societies there is one which seems to be more +precise and clear than all others. If men are to remain civilized, or to +become so, the art of associating together must grow and improve in the +same ratio in which the equality of conditions is increased. + + + + +Chapter VI: Of The Relation Between Public Associations And Newspapers + +When men are no longer united amongst themselves by firm and lasting +ties, it is impossible to obtain the cooperation of any great number of +them, unless you can persuade every man whose concurrence you require +that this private interest obliges him voluntarily to unite his +exertions to the exertions of all the rest. This can only be habitually +and conveniently effected by means of a newspaper; nothing but a +newspaper can drop the same thought into a thousand minds at the same +moment. A newspaper is an adviser who does not require to be sought, but +who comes of his own accord, and talks to you briefly every day of the +common weal, without distracting you from your private affairs. + +Newspapers therefore become more necessary in proportion as men become +more equal, and individualism more to be feared. To suppose that they +only serve to protect freedom would be to diminish their importance: +they maintain civilization. I shall not deny that in democratic +countries newspapers frequently lead the citizens to launch together in +very ill-digested schemes; but if there were no newspapers there would +be no common activity. The evil which they produce is therefore much +less than that which they cure. + +The effect of a newspaper is not only to suggest the same purpose to +a great number of persons, but also to furnish means for executing in +common the designs which they may have singly conceived. The principal +citizens who inhabit an aristocratic country discern each other from +afar; and if they wish to unite their forces, they move towards each +other, drawing a multitude of men after them. It frequently happens, on +the contrary, in democratic countries, that a great number of men who +wish or who want to combine cannot accomplish it, because as they are +very insignificant and lost amidst the crowd, they cannot see, and know +not where to find, one another. A newspaper then takes up the notion or +the feeling which had occurred simultaneously, but singly, to each of +them. All are then immediately guided towards this beacon; and these +wandering minds, which had long sought each other in darkness, at length +meet and unite. + +The newspaper brought them together, and the newspaper is still +necessary to keep them united. In order that an association amongst a +democratic people should have any power, it must be a numerous body. +The persons of whom it is composed are therefore scattered over a wide +extent, and each of them is detained in the place of his domicile by the +narrowness of his income, or by the small unremitting exertions by which +he earns it. Means then must be found to converse every day without +seeing each other, and to take steps in common without having met. Thus +hardly any democratic association can do without newspapers. There is +consequently a necessary connection between public associations +and newspapers: newspapers make associations, and associations make +newspapers; and if it has been correctly advanced that associations will +increase in number as the conditions of men become more equal, it is not +less certain that the number of newspapers increases in proportion to +that of associations. Thus it is in America that we find at the same +time the greatest number of associations and of newspapers. + +This connection between the number of newspapers and that of +associations leads us to the discovery of a further connection between +the state of the periodical press and the form of the administration +in a country; and shows that the number of newspapers must diminish +or increase amongst a democratic people, in proportion as its +administration is more or less centralized. For amongst democratic +nations the exercise of local powers cannot be intrusted to the +principal members of the community as in aristocracies. Those powers +must either be abolished, or placed in the hands of very large +numbers of men, who then in fact constitute an association permanently +established by law for the purpose of administering the affairs of a +certain extent of territory; and they require a journal, to bring +to them every day, in the midst of their own minor concerns, some +intelligence of the state of their public weal. The more numerous local +powers are, the greater is the number of men in whom they are vested by +law; and as this want is hourly felt, the more profusely do newspapers +abound. + +The extraordinary subdivision of administrative power has much more +to do with the enormous number of American newspapers than the great +political freedom of the country and the absolute liberty of the press. +If all the inhabitants of the Union had the suffrage--but a suffrage +which should only extend to the choice of their legislators in +Congress--they would require but few newspapers, because they would only +have to act together on a few very important but very rare occasions. +But within the pale of the great association of the nation, lesser +associations have been established by law in every country, every city, +and indeed in every village, for the purposes of local administration. +The laws of the country thus compel every American to co-operate every +day of his life with some of his fellow-citizens for a common purpose, +and each one of them requires a newspaper to inform him what all the +others are doing. + +I am of opinion that a democratic people, *a without any national +representative assemblies, but with a great number of small local +powers, would have in the end more newspapers than another people +governed by a centralized administration and an elective legislation. +What best explains to me the enormous circulation of the daily press +in the United States, is that amongst the Americans I find the utmost +national freedom combined with local freedom of every kind. There is +a prevailing opinion in France and England that the circulation of +newspapers would be indefinitely increased by removing the taxes which +have been laid upon the press. This is a very exaggerated estimate +of the effects of such a reform. Newspapers increase in numbers, not +according to their cheapness, but according to the more or less frequent +want which a great number of men may feel for intercommunication and +combination. + +[Footnote a: I say a democratic people: the administration of an +aristocratic people may be the reverse of centralized, and yet the want +of newspapers be little felt, because local powers are then vested in +the hands of a very small number of men, who either act apart, or who +know each other and can easily meet and come to an understanding.] + +In like manner I should attribute the increasing influence of the +daily press to causes more general than those by which it is commonly +explained. A newspaper can only subsist on the condition of publishing +sentiments or principles common to a large number of men. A newspaper +therefore always represents an association which is composed of its +habitual readers. This association may be more or less defined, more or +less restricted, more or less numerous; but the fact that the newspaper +keeps alive, is a proof that at least the germ of such an association +exists in the minds of its readers. + +This leads me to a last reflection, with which I shall conclude this +chapter. The more equal the conditions of men become, and the less +strong men individually are, the more easily do they give way to the +current of the multitude, and the more difficult is it for them to +adhere by themselves to an opinion which the multitude discard. A +newspaper represents an association; it may be said to address each of +its readers in the name of all the others, and to exert its influence +over them in proportion to their individual weakness. The power of the +newspaper press must therefore increase as the social conditions of men +become more equal. + + + + +Chapter VII: Connection Of Civil And Political Associations + +There is only one country on the face of the earth where the citizens +enjoy unlimited freedom of association for political purposes. This same +country is the only one in the world where the continual exercise of the +right of association has been introduced into civil life, and where all +the advantages which civilization can confer are procured by means of +it. In all the countries where political associations are prohibited, +civil associations are rare. It is hardly probable that this is the +result of accident; but the inference should rather be, that there is a +natural, and perhaps a necessary, connection between these two kinds +of associations. Certain men happen to have a common interest in some +concern--either a commercial undertaking is to be managed, or some +speculation in manufactures to be tried; they meet, they combine, and +thus by degrees they become familiar with the principle of association. +The greater is the multiplicity of small affairs, the more do men, even +without knowing it, acquire facility in prosecuting great undertakings +in common. Civil associations, therefore, facilitate political +association: but, on the other hand, political association singularly +strengthens and improves associations for civil purposes. In civil life +every man may, strictly speaking, fancy that he can provide for his own +wants; in politics, he can fancy no such thing. When a people, then, +have any knowledge of public life, the notion of association, and the +wish to coalesce, present themselves every day to the minds of the whole +community: whatever natural repugnance may restrain men from acting in +concert, they will always be ready to combine for the sake of a party. +Thus political life makes the love and practice of association more +general; it imparts a desire of union, and teaches the means of +combination to numbers of men who would have always lived apart. + +Politics not only give birth to numerous associations, but to +associations of great extent. In civil life it seldom happens that any +one interest draws a very large number of men to act in concert; much +skill is required to bring such an interest into existence: but in +politics opportunities present themselves every day. Now it is solely +in great associations that the general value of the principle of +association is displayed. Citizens who are individually powerless, +do not very clearly anticipate the strength which they may acquire by +uniting together; it must be shown to them in order to be understood. +Hence it is often easier to collect a multitude for a public purpose +than a few persons; a thousand citizens do not see what interest they +have in combining together--ten thousand will be perfectly aware of it. +In politics men combine for great undertakings; and the use they make +of the principle of association in important affairs practically teaches +them that it is their interest to help each other in those of less +moment. A political association draws a number of individuals at the +same time out of their own circle: however they may be naturally kept +asunder by age, mind, and fortune, it places them nearer together and +brings them into contact. Once met, they can always meet again. + +Men can embark in few civil partnerships without risking a portion of +their possessions; this is the case with all manufacturing and +trading companies. When men are as yet but little versed in the art of +association, and are unacquainted with its principal rules, they +are afraid, when first they combine in this manner, of buying their +experience dear. They therefore prefer depriving themselves of a +powerful instrument of success to running the risks which attend the use +of it. They are, however, less reluctant to join political associations, +which appear to them to be without danger, because they adventure no +money in them. But they cannot belong to these associations for any +length of time without finding out how order is maintained amongst a +large number of men, and by what contrivance they are made to advance, +harmoniously and methodically, to the same object. Thus they learn to +surrender their own will to that of all the rest, and to make their own +exertions subordinate to the common impulse--things which it is not less +necessary to know in civil than in political associations. Political +associations may therefore be considered as large free schools, where +all the members of the community go to learn the general theory of +association. + +But even if political association did not directly contribute to the +progress of civil association, to destroy the former would be to impair +the latter. When citizens can only meet in public for certain purposes, +they regard such meetings as a strange proceeding of rare occurrence, +and they rarely think at all about it. When they are allowed to meet +freely for all purposes, they ultimately look upon public association +as the universal, or in a manner the sole means, which men can employ to +accomplish the different purposes they may have in view. Every new want +instantly revives the notion. The art of association then becomes, as I +have said before, the mother of action, studied and applied by all. + +When some kinds of associations are prohibited and others allowed, it is +difficult to distinguish the former from the latter, beforehand. In this +state of doubt men abstain from them altogether, and a sort of public +opinion passes current which tends to cause any association whatsoever +to be regarded as a bold and almost an illicit enterprise. *a + +[Footnote a: This is more especially true when the executive government +has a discretionary power of allowing or prohibiting associations. When +certain associations are simply prohibited by law, and the courts of +justice have to punish infringements of that law, the evil is far less +considerable. Then every citizen knows beforehand pretty nearly what he +has to expect. He judges himself before he is judged by the law, and, +abstaining from prohibited associations, he embarks in those which are +legally sanctioned. It is by these restrictions that all free nations +have always admitted that the right of association might be limited. +But if the legislature should invest a man with a power of ascertaining +beforehand which associations are dangerous and which are useful, and +should authorize him to destroy all associations in the bud or allow +them to be formed, as nobody would be able to foresee in what cases +associations might be established and in what cases they would be put +down, the spirit of association would be entirely paralyzed. The former +of these laws would only assail certain associations; the latter would +apply to society itself, and inflict an injury upon it. I can conceive +that a regular government may have recourse to the former, but I do not +concede that any government has the right of enacting the latter.] + +It is therefore chimerical to suppose that the spirit of association, +when it is repressed on some one point, will nevertheless display +the same vigor on all others; and that if men be allowed to prosecute +certain undertakings in common, that is quite enough for them eagerly +to set about them. When the members of a community are allowed and +accustomed to combine for all purposes, they will combine as readily for +the lesser as for the more important ones; but if they are only allowed +to combine for small affairs, they will be neither inclined nor able +to effect it. It is in vain that you will leave them entirely free to +prosecute their business on joint-stock account: they will hardly care +to avail themselves of the rights you have granted to them; and, after +having exhausted your strength in vain efforts to put down prohibited +associations, you will be surprised that you cannot persuade men to form +the associations you encourage. + +I do not say that there can be no civil associations in a country where +political association is prohibited; for men can never live in society +without embarking in some common undertakings: but I maintain that in +such a country civil associations will always be few in number, feebly +planned, unskillfully managed, that they will never form any vast +designs, or that they will fail in the execution of them. + +This naturally leads me to think that freedom of association in +political matters is not so dangerous to public tranquillity as is +supposed; and that possibly, after having agitated society for some +time, it may strengthen the State in the end. In democratic countries +political associations are, so to speak, the only powerful persons who +aspire to rule the State. Accordingly, the governments of our time look +upon associations of this kind just as sovereigns in the Middle Ages +regarded the great vassals of the Crown: they entertain a sort of +instinctive abhorrence of them, and they combat them on all occasions. +They bear, on the contrary, a natural goodwill to civil associations, +because they readily discover that, instead of directing the minds of +the community to public affairs, these institutions serve to divert them +from such reflections; and that, by engaging them more and more in the +pursuit of objects which cannot be attained without public tranquillity, +they deter them from revolutions. But these governments do not attend +to the fact that political associations tend amazingly to multiply and +facilitate those of a civil character, and that in avoiding a dangerous +evil they deprive themselves of an efficacious remedy. + +When you see the Americans freely and constantly forming associations +for the purpose of promoting some political principle, of raising one +man to the head of affairs, or of wresting power from another, you +have some difficulty in understanding that men so independent do not +constantly fall into the abuse of freedom. If, on the other hand, you +survey the infinite number of trading companies which are in operation +in the United States, and perceive that the Americans are on every side +unceasingly engaged in the execution of important and difficult plans, +which the slightest revolution would throw into confusion, you will +readily comprehend why people so well employed are by no means tempted +to perturb the State, nor to destroy that public tranquillity by which +they all profit. + +Is it enough to observe these things separately, or should we not +discover the hidden tie which connects them? In their political +associations, the Americans of all conditions, minds, and ages, daily +acquire a general taste for association, and grow accustomed to the use +of it. There they meet together in large numbers, they converse, they +listen to each other, and they are mutually stimulated to all sorts of +undertakings. They afterwards transfer to civil life the notions they +have thus acquired, and make them subservient to a thousand purposes. +Thus it is by the enjoyment of a dangerous freedom that the Americans +learn the art of rendering the dangers of freedom less formidable. + +If a certain moment in the existence of a nation be selected, it is easy +to prove that political associations perturb the State, and paralyze +productive industry; but take the whole life of a people, and it may +perhaps be easy to demonstrate that freedom of association in political +matters is favorable to the prosperity and even to the tranquillity of +the community. + +I said in the former part of this work, "The unrestrained liberty of +political association cannot be entirely assimilated to the liberty of +the press. The one is at the same time less necessary and more dangerous +than the other. A nation may confine it within certain limits without +ceasing to be mistress of itself; and it may sometimes be obliged to do +so in order to maintain its own authority." And further on I added: +"It cannot be denied that the unrestrained liberty of association for +political purposes is the last degree of liberty which a people is fit +for. If it does not throw them into anarchy, it perpetually brings them, +as it were, to the verge of it." Thus I do not think that a nation +is always at liberty to invest its citizens with an absolute right of +association for political purposes; and I doubt whether, in any country +or in any age, it be wise to set no limits to freedom of association. +A certain nation, it is said, could not maintain tranquillity in the +community, cause the laws to be respected, or establish a lasting +government, if the right of association were not confined within narrow +limits. These blessings are doubtless invaluable, and I can imagine +that, to acquire or to preserve them, a nation may impose upon itself +severe temporary restrictions: but still it is well that the nation +should know at what price these blessings are purchased. I can +understand that it may be advisable to cut off a man's arm in order to +save his life; but it would be ridiculous to assert that he will be as +dexterous as he was before he lost it. + + + + +Chapter VIII: The Americans Combat Individualism By The Principle Of +Interest Rightly Understood + +When the world was managed by a few rich and powerful individuals, these +persons loved to entertain a lofty idea of the duties of man. They were +fond of professing that it is praiseworthy to forget one's self, and +that good should be done without hope of reward, as it is by the Deity +himself. Such were the standard opinions of that time in morals. I doubt +whether men were more virtuous in aristocratic ages than in others; but +they were incessantly talking of the beauties of virtue, and its utility +was only studied in secret. But since the imagination takes less lofty +flights and every man's thoughts are centred in himself, moralists are +alarmed by this idea of self-sacrifice, and they no longer venture to +present it to the human mind. They therefore content themselves with +inquiring whether the personal advantage of each member of the community +does not consist in working for the good of all; and when they have hit +upon some point on which private interest and public interest meet and +amalgamate, they are eager to bring it into notice. Observations of this +kind are gradually multiplied: what was only a single remark becomes a +general principle; and it is held as a truth that man serves himself +in serving his fellow-creatures, and that his private interest is to do +good. + +I have already shown, in several parts of this work, by what means the +inhabitants of the United States almost always manage to combine their +own advantage with that of their fellow-citizens: my present purpose is +to point out the general rule which enables them to do so. In the United +States hardly anybody talks of the beauty of virtue; but they maintain +that virtue is useful, and prove it every day. The American moralists +do not profess that men ought to sacrifice themselves for their +fellow-creatures because it is noble to make such sacrifices; but they +boldly aver that such sacrifices are as necessary to him who imposes +them upon himself as to him for whose sake they are made. They have +found out that in their country and their age man is brought home to +himself by an irresistible force; and losing all hope of stopping +that force, they turn all their thoughts to the direction of it. They +therefore do not deny that every man may follow his own interest; +but they endeavor to prove that it is the interest of every man to be +virtuous. I shall not here enter into the reasons they allege, which +would divert me from my subject: suffice it to say that they have +convinced their fellow-countrymen. + +Montaigne said long ago: "Were I not to follow the straight road for its +straightness, I should follow it for having found by experience that in +the end it is commonly the happiest and most useful track." The doctrine +of interest rightly understood is not, then, new, but amongst the +Americans of our time it finds universal acceptance: it has become +popular there; you may trace it at the bottom of all their actions, you +will remark it in all they say. It is as often to be met with on the +lips of the poor man as of the rich. In Europe the principle of interest +is much grosser than it is in America, but at the same time it is +less common, and especially it is less avowed; amongst us, men still +constantly feign great abnegation which they no longer feel. The +Americans, on the contrary, are fond of explaining almost all the +actions of their lives by the principle of interest rightly understood; +they show with complacency how an enlightened regard for themselves +constantly prompts them to assist each other, and inclines them +willingly to sacrifice a portion of their time and property to the +welfare of the State. In this respect I think they frequently fail to +do themselves justice; for in the United States, as well as elsewhere, +people are sometimes seen to give way to those disinterested and +spontaneous impulses which are natural to man; but the Americans seldom +allow that they yield to emotions of this kind; they are more anxious to +do honor to their philosophy than to themselves. + +I might here pause, without attempting to pass a judgment on what I have +described. The extreme difficulty of the subject would be my excuse, +but I shall not avail myself of it; and I had rather that my readers, +clearly perceiving my object, should refuse to follow me than that +I should leave them in suspense. The principle of interest rightly +understood is not a lofty one, but it is clear and sure. It does not aim +at mighty objects, but it attains without excessive exertion all +those at which it aims. As it lies within the reach of all capacities, +everyone can without difficulty apprehend and retain it. By its +admirable conformity to human weaknesses, it easily obtains great +dominion; nor is that dominion precarious, since the principle checks +one personal interest by another, and uses, to direct the passions, +the very same instrument which excites them. The principle of interest +rightly understood produces no great acts of self-sacrifice, but it +suggests daily small acts of self-denial. By itself it cannot suffice to +make a man virtuous, but it disciplines a number of citizens in habits +of regularity, temperance, moderation, foresight, self-command; and, if +it does not lead men straight to virtue by the will, it gradually draws +them in that direction by their habits. If the principle of interest +rightly understood were to sway the whole moral world, extraordinary +virtues would doubtless be more rare; but I think that gross depravity +would then also be less common. The principle of interest rightly +understood perhaps prevents some men from rising far above the level of +mankind; but a great number of other men, who were falling far below it, +are caught and restrained by it. Observe some few individuals, they are +lowered by it; survey mankind, it is raised. I am not afraid to say that +the principle of interest, rightly understood, appears to me the best +suited of all philosophical theories to the wants of the men of our +time, and that I regard it as their chief remaining security against +themselves. Towards it, therefore, the minds of the moralists of our +age should turn; even should they judge it to be incomplete, it must +nevertheless be adopted as necessary. + +I do not think upon the whole that there is more egotism amongst us than +in America; the only difference is, that there it is enlightened--here +it is not. Every American will sacrifice a portion of his private +interests to preserve the rest; we would fain preserve the whole, and +oftentimes the whole is lost. Everybody I see about me seems bent on +teaching his contemporaries, by precept and example, that what is useful +is never wrong. Will nobody undertake to make them understand how what +is right may be useful? No power upon earth can prevent the increasing +equality of conditions from inclining the human mind to seek out what is +useful, or from leading every member of the community to be wrapped up +in himself. It must therefore be expected that personal interest will +become more than ever the principal, if not the sole, spring of men's +actions; but it remains to be seen how each man will understand his +personal interest. If the members of a community, as they become more +equal, become more ignorant and coarse, it is difficult to foresee to +what pitch of stupid excesses their egotism may lead them; and no one +can foretell into what disgrace and wretchedness they would plunge +themselves, lest they should have to sacrifice something of their own +well-being to the prosperity of their fellow-creatures. I do not think +that the system of interest, as it is professed in America, is, in all +its parts, self-evident; but it contains a great number of truths so +evident that men, if they are but educated, cannot fail to see them. +Educate, then, at any rate; for the age of implicit self-sacrifice and +instinctive virtues is already flitting far away from us, and the time +is fast approaching when freedom, public peace, and social order itself +will not be able to exist without education. + + + + +Chapter IX: That The Americans Apply The Principle Of Interest Rightly +Understood To Religious Matters + +If the principle of interest rightly understood had nothing but the +present world in view, it would be very insufficient; for there are many +sacrifices which can only find their recompense in another; and whatever +ingenuity may be put forth to demonstrate the utility of virtue, it will +never be an easy task to make that man live aright who has no thoughts +of dying. It is therefore necessary to ascertain whether the principle +of interest rightly understood is easily compatible with religious +belief. The philosophers who inculcate this system of morals tell men, +that to be happy in this life they must watch their own passions and +steadily control their excess; that lasting happiness can only be +secured by renouncing a thousand transient gratifications; and that a +man must perpetually triumph over himself, in order to secure his own +advantage. The founders of almost all religions have held the same +language. The track they point out to man is the same, only that the +goal is more remote; instead of placing in this world the reward of the +sacrifices they impose, they transport it to another. Nevertheless I +cannot believe that all those who practise virtue from religious motives +are only actuated by the hope of a recompense. I have known zealous +Christians who constantly forgot themselves, to work with greater ardor +for the happiness of their fellow-men; and I have heard them declare +that all they did was only to earn the blessings of a future state. I +cannot but think that they deceive themselves; I respect them too much +to believe them. + +Christianity indeed teaches that a man must prefer his neighbor to +himself, in order to gain eternal life; but Christianity also teaches +that men ought to benefit their fellow-creatures for the love of God. +A sublime expression! Man, searching by his intellect into the divine +conception, and seeing that order is the purpose of God, freely combines +to prosecute the great design; and whilst he sacrifices his personal +interests to this consummate order of all created things, expects no +other recompense than the pleasure of contemplating it. I do not believe +that interest is the sole motive of religious men: but I believe that +interest is the principal means which religions themselves employ to +govern men, and I do not question that this way they strike into the +multitude and become popular. It is not easy clearly to perceive why +the principle of interest rightly understood should keep aloof from +religious opinions; and it seems to me more easy to show why it should +draw men to them. Let it be supposed that, in order to obtain happiness +in this world, a man combats his instinct on all occasions and +deliberately calculates every action of his life; that, instead of +yielding blindly to the impetuosity of first desires, he has learned the +art of resisting them, and that he has accustomed himself to sacrifice +without an effort the pleasure of a moment to the lasting interest +of his whole life. If such a man believes in the religion which he +professes, it will cost him but little to submit to the restrictions it +may impose. Reason herself counsels him to obey, and habit has prepared +him to endure them. If he should have conceived any doubts as to the +object of his hopes, still he will not easily allow himself to be +stopped by them; and he will decide that it is wise to risk some of the +advantages of this world, in order to preserve his rights to the great +inheritance promised him in another. "To be mistaken in believing that +the Christian religion is true," says Pascal, "is no great loss to +anyone; but how dreadful to be mistaken in believing it to be false!" + +The Americans do not affect a brutal indifference to a future state; +they affect no puerile pride in despising perils which they hope to +escape from. They therefore profess their religion without shame and +without weakness; but there generally is, even in their zeal, something +so indescribably tranquil, methodical, and deliberate, that it would +seem as if the head, far more than the heart, brought them to the +foot of the altar. The Americans not only follow their religion from +interest, but they often place in this world the interest which makes +them follow it. In the Middle Ages the clergy spoke of nothing but a +future state; they hardly cared to prove that a sincere Christian may +be a happy man here below. But the American preachers are constantly +referring to the earth; and it is only with great difficulty that they +can divert their attention from it. To touch their congregations, they +always show them how favorable religious opinions are to freedom and +public tranquillity; and it is often difficult to ascertain from their +discourses whether the principal object of religion is to procure +eternal felicity in the other world, or prosperity in this. + + + + +Chapter X: Of The Taste For Physical Well-Being In America + +In America the passion for physical well-being is not always exclusive, +but it is general; and if all do not feel it in the same manner, yet it +is felt by all. Carefully to satisfy all, even the least wants of the +body, and to provide the little conveniences of life, is uppermost +in every mind. Something of an analogous character is more and more +apparent in Europe. Amongst the causes which produce these similar +consequences in both hemispheres, several are so connected with my +subject as to deserve notice. + +When riches are hereditarily fixed in families, there are a great number +of men who enjoy the comforts of life without feeling an exclusive +taste for those comforts. The heart of man is not so much caught by the +undisturbed possession of anything valuable as by the desire, as yet +imperfectly satisfied, of possessing it, and by the incessant dread +of losing it. In aristocratic communities, the wealthy, never having +experienced a condition different from their own, entertain no fear of +changing it; the existence of such conditions hardly occurs to them. The +comforts of life are not to them the end of life, but simply a way of +living; they regard them as existence itself--enjoyed, but scarcely +thought of. As the natural and instinctive taste which all men feel +for being well off is thus satisfied without trouble and without +apprehension, their faculties are turned elsewhere, and cling to more +arduous and more lofty undertakings, which excite and engross their +minds. Hence it is that, in the midst of physical gratifications, the +members of an aristocracy often display a haughty contempt of these very +enjoyments, and exhibit singular powers of endurance under the privation +of them. All the revolutions which have ever shaken or destroyed +aristocracies, have shown how easily men accustomed to superfluous +luxuries can do without the necessaries of life; whereas men who have +toiled to acquire a competency can hardly live after they have lost it. + +If I turn my observation from the upper to the lower classes, I find +analogous effects produced by opposite causes. Amongst a nation where +aristocracy predominates in society, and keeps it stationary, the +people in the end get as much accustomed to poverty as the rich to +their opulence. The latter bestow no anxiety on their physical comforts, +because they enjoy them without an effort; the former do not think +of things which they despair of obtaining, and which they hardly know +enough of to desire them. In communities of this kind, the imagination +of the poor is driven to seek another world; the miseries of real life +inclose it around, but it escapes from their control, and flies to seek +its pleasures far beyond. When, on the contrary, the distinctions +of ranks are confounded together and privileges are destroyed--when +hereditary property is subdivided, and education and freedom widely +diffused, the desire of acquiring the comforts of the world haunts the +imagination of the poor, and the dread of losing them that of the rich. +Many scanty fortunes spring up; those who possess them have a sufficient +share of physical gratifications to conceive a taste for these +pleasures--not enough to satisfy it. They never procure them without +exertion, and they never indulge in them without apprehension. They +are therefore always straining to pursue or to retain gratifications so +delightful, so imperfect, so fugitive. + +If I were to inquire what passion is most natural to men who are +stimulated and circumscribed by the obscurity of their birth or the +mediocrity of their fortune, I could discover none more peculiarly +appropriate to their condition than this love of physical prosperity. +The passion for physical comforts is essentially a passion of the +middle classes: with those classes it grows and spreads, with them it +preponderates. From them it mounts into the higher orders of society, +and descends into the mass of the people. I never met in America with +any citizen so poor as not to cast a glance of hope and envy on the +enjoyments of the rich, or whose imagination did not possess itself by +anticipation of those good things which fate still obstinately withheld +from him. On the other hand, I never perceived amongst the wealthier +inhabitants of the United States that proud contempt of physical +gratifications which is sometimes to be met with even in the most +opulent and dissolute aristocracies. Most of these wealthy persons were +once poor; they have felt the sting of want; they were long a prey to +adverse fortunes; and now that the victory is won, the passions which +accompanied the contest have survived it: their minds are, as it were, +intoxicated by the small enjoyments which they have pursued for forty +years. Not but that in the United States, as elsewhere, there are a +certain number of wealthy persons who, having come into their property +by inheritance, possess, without exertion, an opulence they have not +earned. But even these men are not less devotedly attached to the +pleasures of material life. The love of well-being is now become the +predominant taste of the nation; the great current of man's passions +runs in that channel, and sweeps everything along in its course. + + + + +Chapter XI: Peculiar Effects Of The Love Of Physical Gratifications In +Democratic Ages + +It may be supposed, from what has just been said, that the love +of physical gratifications must constantly urge the Americans to +irregularities in morals, disturb the peace of families, and threaten +the security of society at large. Such is not the case: the passion for +physical gratifications produces in democracies effects very different +from those which it occasions in aristocratic nations. It sometimes +happens that, wearied with public affairs and sated with opulence, +amidst the ruin of religious belief and the decline of the State, the +heart of an aristocracy may by degrees be seduced to the pursuit of +sensual enjoyments only. At other times the power of the monarch or the +weakness of the people, without stripping the nobility of their fortune, +compels them to stand aloof from the administration of affairs, and +whilst the road to mighty enterprise is closed, abandons them to the +inquietude of their own desires; they then fall back heavily upon +themselves, and seek in the pleasures of the body oblivion of their +former greatness. When the members of an aristocratic body are thus +exclusively devoted to the pursuit of physical gratifications, they +commonly concentrate in that direction all the energy which they derive +from their long experience of power. Such men are not satisfied with +the pursuit of comfort; they require sumptuous depravity and splendid +corruption. The worship they pay the senses is a gorgeous one; and they +seem to vie with each other in the art of degrading their own natures. +The stronger, the more famous, and the more free an aristocracy has +been, the more depraved will it then become; and however brilliant +may have been the lustre of its virtues, I dare predict that they will +always be surpassed by the splendor of its vices. + +The taste for physical gratifications leads a democratic people into no +such excesses. The love of well-being is there displayed as a tenacious, +exclusive, universal passion; but its range is confined. To build +enormous palaces, to conquer or to mimic nature, to ransack the world in +order to gratify the passions of a man, is not thought of: but to add +a few roods of land to your field, to plant an orchard, to enlarge a +dwelling, to be always making life more comfortable and convenient, +to avoid trouble, and to satisfy the smallest wants without effort and +almost without cost. These are small objects, but the soul clings to +them; it dwells upon them closely and day by day, till they at last shut +out the rest of the world, and sometimes intervene between itself and +heaven. + +This, it may be said, can only be applicable to those members of the +community who are in humble circumstances; wealthier individuals will +display tastes akin to those which belonged to them in aristocratic +ages. I contest the proposition: in point of physical gratifications, +the most opulent members of a democracy will not display tastes very +different from those of the people; whether it be that, springing from +the people, they really share those tastes, or that they esteem it a +duty to submit to them. In democratic society the sensuality of the +public has taken a moderate and tranquil course, to which all are bound +to conform: it is as difficult to depart from the common rule by one's +vices as by one's virtues. Rich men who live amidst democratic nations +are therefore more intent on providing for their smallest wants than for +their extraordinary enjoyments; they gratify a number of petty desires, +without indulging in any great irregularities of passion: thus they are +more apt to become enervated than debauched. The especial taste which +the men of democratic ages entertain for physical enjoyments is not +naturally opposed to the principles of public order; nay, it often +stands in need of order that it may be gratified. Nor is it adverse to +regularity of morals, for good morals contribute to public tranquillity +and are favorable to industry. It may even be frequently combined with a +species of religious morality: men wish to be as well off as they can +in this world, without foregoing their chance of another. Some physical +gratifications cannot be indulged in without crime; from such they +strictly abstain. The enjoyment of others is sanctioned by religion +and morality; to these the heart, the imagination, and life itself are +unreservedly given up; till, in snatching at these lesser gifts, men +lose sight of those more precious possessions which constitute the glory +and the greatness of mankind. The reproach I address to the principle +of equality, is not that it leads men away in the pursuit of forbidden +enjoyments, but that it absorbs them wholly in quest of those which are +allowed. By these means, a kind of virtuous materialism may ultimately +be established in the world, which would not corrupt, but enervate the +soul, and noiselessly unbend its springs of action. + + + + +Chapter XII: Causes Of Fanatical Enthusiasm In Some Americans + +Although the desire of acquiring the good things of this world is the +prevailing passion of the American people, certain momentary outbreaks +occur, when their souls seem suddenly to burst the bonds of matter by +which they are restrained, and to soar impetuously towards heaven. In +all the States of the Union, but especially in the half-peopled country +of the Far West, wandering preachers may be met with who hawk about the +word of God from place to place. Whole families--old men, women, and +children--cross rough passes and untrodden wilds, coming from a great +distance, to join a camp-meeting, where they totally forget for several +days and nights, in listening to these discourses, the cares of business +and even the most urgent wants of the body. Here and there, in the midst +of American society, you meet with men, full of a fanatical and almost +wild enthusiasm, which hardly exists in Europe. From time to time +strange sects arise, which endeavor to strike out extraordinary paths +to eternal happiness. Religious insanity is very common in the United +States. + +Nor ought these facts to surprise us. It was not man who implanted in +himself the taste for what is infinite and the love of what is immortal: +those lofty instincts are not the offspring of his capricious will; +their steadfast foundation is fixed in human nature, and they exist in +spite of his efforts. He may cross and distort them--destroy them he +cannot. The soul has wants which must be satisfied; and whatever pains +be taken to divert it from itself, it soon grows weary, restless, and +disquieted amidst the enjoyments of sense. If ever the faculties of +the great majority of mankind were exclusively bent upon the pursuit of +material objects, it might be anticipated that an amazing reaction would +take place in the souls of some men. They would drift at large in the +world of spirits, for fear of remaining shackled by the close bondage of +the body. + +It is not then wonderful if, in the midst of a community whose thoughts +tend earthward, a small number of individuals are to be found who turn +their looks to heaven. I should be surprised if mysticism did not soon +make some advance amongst a people solely engaged in promoting its own +worldly welfare. It is said that the deserts of the Thebaid were peopled +by the persecutions of the emperors and the massacres of the Circus; I +should rather say that it was by the luxuries of Rome and the Epicurean +philosophy of Greece. If their social condition, their present +circumstances, and their laws did not confine the minds of the Americans +so closely to the pursuit of worldly welfare, it is probable that they +would display more reserve and more experience whenever their attention +is turned to things immaterial, and that they would check themselves +without difficulty. But they feel imprisoned within bounds which they +will apparently never be allowed to pass. As soon as they have passed +these bounds, their minds know not where to fix themselves, and they +often rush unrestrained beyond the range of common-sense. + + + + +Chapter XIII: Causes Of The Restless Spirit Of Americans In The Midst Of +Their Prosperity + +In certain remote corners of the Old World you may still sometimes +stumble upon a small district which seems to have been forgotten amidst +the general tumult, and to have remained stationary whilst everything +around it was in motion. The inhabitants are for the most part extremely +ignorant and poor; they take no part in the business of the country, and +they are frequently oppressed by the government; yet their countenances +are generally placid, and their spirits light. In America I saw the +freest and most enlightened men, placed in the happiest circumstances +which the world affords: it seemed to me as if a cloud habitually hung +upon their brow, and I thought them serious and almost sad even in their +pleasures. The chief reason of this contrast is that the former do not +think of the ills they endure--the latter are forever brooding over +advantages they do not possess. It is strange to see with what feverish +ardor the Americans pursue their own welfare; and to watch the vague +dread that constantly torments them lest they should not have chosen the +shortest path which may lead to it. A native of the United States clings +to this world's goods as if he were certain never to die; and he is so +hasty in grasping at all within his reach, that one would suppose he was +constantly afraid of not living long enough to enjoy them. He clutches +everything, he holds nothing fast, but soon loosens his grasp to pursue +fresh gratifications. + +In the United States a man builds a house to spend his latter years in +it, and he sells it before the roof is on: he plants a garden, and lets +it just as the trees are coming into bearing: he brings a field into +tillage, and leaves other men to gather the crops: he embraces a +profession, and gives it up: he settles in a place, which he soon +afterwards leaves, to carry his changeable longings elsewhere. If his +private affairs leave him any leisure, he instantly plunges into the +vortex of politics; and if at the end of a year of unremitting labor he +finds he has a few days' vacation, his eager curiosity whirls him over +the vast extent of the United States, and he will travel fifteen +hundred miles in a few days, to shake off his happiness. Death at length +overtakes him, but it is before he is weary of his bootless chase of +that complete felicity which is forever on the wing. + +At first sight there is something surprising in this strange unrest of +so many happy men, restless in the midst of abundance. The spectacle +itself is however as old as the world; the novelty is to see a whole +people furnish an exemplification of it. Their taste for physical +gratifications must be regarded as the original source of that secret +inquietude which the actions of the Americans betray, and of that +inconstancy of which they afford fresh examples every day. He who has +set his heart exclusively upon the pursuit of worldly welfare is always +in a hurry, for he has but a limited time at his disposal to reach it, +to grasp it, and to enjoy it. The recollection of the brevity of life is +a constant spur to him. Besides the good things which he possesses, he +every instant fancies a thousand others which death will prevent him +from trying if he does not try them soon. This thought fills him with +anxiety, fear, and regret, and keeps his mind in ceaseless trepidation, +which leads him perpetually to change his plans and his abode. If in +addition to the taste for physical well-being a social condition be +superadded, in which the laws and customs make no condition permanent, +here is a great additional stimulant to this restlessness of temper. Men +will then be seen continually to change their track, for fear of missing +the shortest cut to happiness. It may readily be conceived that if men, +passionately bent upon physical gratifications, desire eagerly, they are +also easily discouraged: as their ultimate object is to enjoy, the +means to reach that object must be prompt and easy, or the trouble of +acquiring the gratification would be greater than the gratification +itself. Their prevailing frame of mind then is at once ardent and +relaxed, violent and enervated. Death is often less dreaded than +perseverance in continuous efforts to one end. + +The equality of conditions leads by a still straighter road to several +of the effects which I have here described. When all the privileges of +birth and fortune are abolished, when all professions are accessible +to all, and a man's own energies may place him at the top of any one of +them, an easy and unbounded career seems open to his ambition, and he +will readily persuade himself that he is born to no vulgar destinies. +But this is an erroneous notion, which is corrected by daily experience. +The same equality which allows every citizen to conceive these +lofty hopes, renders all the citizens less able to realize them: it +circumscribes their powers on every side, whilst it gives freer scope to +their desires. Not only are they themselves powerless, but they are +met at every step by immense obstacles, which they did not at first +perceive. They have swept away the privileges of some of their +fellow-creatures which stood in their way, but they have opened the door +to universal competition: the barrier has changed its shape rather than +its position. When men are nearly alike, and all follow the same track, +it is very difficult for any one individual to walk quick and cleave +a way through the dense throng which surrounds and presses him. This +constant strife between the propensities springing from the equality +of conditions and the means it supplies to satisfy them, harasses and +wearies the mind. + +It is possible to conceive men arrived at a degree of freedom which +should completely content them; they would then enjoy their independence +without anxiety and without impatience. But men will never establish any +equality with which they can be contented. Whatever efforts a people may +make, they will never succeed in reducing all the conditions of society +to a perfect level; and even if they unhappily attained that absolute +and complete depression, the inequality of minds would still remain, +which, coming directly from the hand of God, will forever escape the +laws of man. However democratic then the social state and the political +constitution of a people may be, it is certain that every member of the +community will always find out several points about him which command +his own position; and we may foresee that his looks will be doggedly +fixed in that direction. When inequality of conditions is the common +law of society, the most marked inequalities do not strike the eye: when +everything is nearly on the same level, the slightest are marked enough +to hurt it. Hence the desire of equality always becomes more insatiable +in proportion as equality is more complete. + +Amongst democratic nations men easily attain a certain equality +of conditions: they can never attain the equality they desire. It +perpetually retires from before them, yet without hiding itself from +their sight, and in retiring draws them on. At every moment they think +they are about to grasp it; it escapes at every moment from their hold. +They are near enough to see its charms, but too far off to enjoy them; +and before they have fully tasted its delights they die. To these causes +must be attributed that strange melancholy which oftentimes will haunt +the inhabitants of democratic countries in the midst of their abundance, +and that disgust at life which sometimes seizes upon them in the midst +of calm and easy circumstances. Complaints are made in France that the +number of suicides increases; in America suicide is rare, but insanity +is said to be more common than anywhere else. These are all different +symptoms of the same disease. The Americans do not put an end to their +lives, however disquieted they may be, because their religion +forbids it; and amongst them materialism may be said hardly to exist, +notwithstanding the general passion for physical gratification. The will +resists--reason frequently gives way. In democratic ages enjoyments are +more intense than in the ages of aristocracy, and especially the number +of those who partake in them is larger: but, on the other hand, it must +be admitted that man's hopes and his desires are oftener blasted, the +soul is more stricken and perturbed, and care itself more keen. + + + + +Chapter XIV: Taste For Physical Gratifications United In America To Love +Of Freedom And Attention To Public Affairs + +When a democratic state turns to absolute monarchy, the activity which +was before directed to public and to private affairs is all at once +centred upon the latter: the immediate consequence is, for some time, +great physical prosperity; but this impulse soon slackens, and the +amount of productive industry is checked. I know not if a single trading +or manufacturing people can be cited, from the Tyrians down to the +Florentines and the English, who were not a free people also. There +is therefore a close bond and necessary relation between these two +elements--freedom and productive industry. This proposition is generally +true of all nations, but especially of democratic nations. I have +already shown that men who live in ages of equality continually require +to form associations in order to procure the things they covet; and, on +the other hand, I have shown how great political freedom improves and +diffuses the art of association. Freedom, in these ages, is therefore +especially favorable to the production of wealth; nor is it difficult +to perceive that despotism is especially adverse to the same result. +The nature of despotic power in democratic ages is not to be fierce or +cruel, but minute and meddling. Despotism of this kind, though it does +not trample on humanity, is directly opposed to the genius of commerce +and the pursuits of industry. + +Thus the men of democratic ages require to be free in order more readily +to procure those physical enjoyments for which they are always longing. +It sometimes happens, however, that the excessive taste they conceive +for these same enjoyments abandons them to the first master who appears. +The passion for worldly welfare then defeats itself, and, without +perceiving it, throws the object of their desires to a greater distance. + +There is, indeed, a most dangerous passage in the history of a +democratic people. When the taste for physical gratifications amongst +such a people has grown more rapidly than their education and their +experience of free institutions, the time will come when men are carried +away, and lose all self-restraint, at the sight of the new possessions +they are about to lay hold upon. In their intense and exclusive anxiety +to make a fortune, they lose sight of the close connection which exists +between the private fortune of each of them and the prosperity of all. +It is not necessary to do violence to such a people in order to strip +them of the rights they enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen +their hold. The discharge of political duties appears to them to be a +troublesome annoyance, which diverts them from their occupations and +business. If they be required to elect representatives, to support the +Government by personal service, to meet on public business, they have no +time--they cannot waste their precious time in useless engagements: such +idle amusements are unsuited to serious men who are engaged with the +more important interests of life. These people think they are following +the principle of self-interest, but the idea they entertain of that +principle is a very rude one; and the better to look after what they +call their business, they neglect their chief business, which is to +remain their own masters. + +As the citizens who work do not care to attend to public business, and +as the class which might devote its leisure to these duties has ceased +to exist, the place of the Government is, as it were, unfilled. If at +that critical moment some able and ambitious man grasps the supreme +power, he will find the road to every kind of usurpation open before +him. If he does but attend for some time to the material prosperity of +the country, no more will be demanded of him. Above all he must insure +public tranquillity: men who are possessed by the passion of physical +gratification generally find out that the turmoil of freedom disturbs +their welfare, before they discover how freedom itself serves to promote +it. If the slightest rumor of public commotion intrudes into the petty +pleasures of private life, they are aroused and alarmed by it. The fear +of anarchy perpetually haunts them, and they are always ready to fling +away their freedom at the first disturbance. + +I readily admit that public tranquillity is a great good; but at the +same time I cannot forget that all nations have been enslaved by being +kept in good order. Certainly it is not to be inferred that nations +ought to despise public tranquillity; but that state ought not to +content them. A nation which asks nothing of its government but the +maintenance of order is already a slave at heart--the slave of its own +well-being, awaiting but the hand that will bind it. By such a nation +the despotism of faction is not less to be dreaded than the despotism +of an individual. When the bulk of the community is engrossed by private +concerns, the smallest parties need not despair of getting the upper +hand in public affairs. At such times it is not rare to see upon +the great stage of the world, as we see at our theatres, a multitude +represented by a few players, who alone speak in the name of an +absent or inattentive crowd: they alone are in action whilst all are +stationary; they regulate everything by their own caprice; they change +the laws, and tyrannize at will over the manners of the country; and +then men wonder to see into how small a number of weak and worthless +hands a great people may fall. + +Hitherto the Americans have fortunately escaped all the perils which I +have just pointed out; and in this respect they are really deserving of +admiration. Perhaps there is no country in the world where fewer idle +men are to be met with than in America, or where all who work are more +eager to promote their own welfare. But if the passion of the +Americans for physical gratifications is vehement, at least it is +not indiscriminating; and reason, though unable to restrain it, still +directs its course. An American attends to his private concerns as if he +were alone in the world, and the next minute he gives himself up to the +common weal as if he had forgotten them. At one time he seems animated +by the most selfish cupidity, at another by the most lively patriotism. +The human heart cannot be thus divided. The inhabitants of the United +States alternately display so strong and so similar a passion for their +own welfare and for their freedom, that it may be supposed that these +passions are united and mingled in some part of their character. And +indeed the Americans believe their freedom to be the best instrument and +surest safeguard of their welfare: they are attached to the one by the +other. They by no means think that they are not called upon to take a +part in the public weal; they believe, on the contrary, that their chief +business is to secure for themselves a government which will allow them +to acquire the things they covet, and which will not debar them from the +peaceful enjoyment of those possessions which they have acquired. + + + + +Chapter XV: That Religious Belief Sometimes Turns The Thoughts Of The +Americans To Immaterial Pleasures + +In the United States, on the seventh day of every week, the trading and +working life of the nation seems suspended; all noises cease; a deep +tranquillity, say rather the solemn calm of meditation, succeeds the +turmoil of the week, and the soul resumes possession and contemplation +of itself. Upon this day the marts of traffic are deserted; every member +of the community, accompanied by his children, goes to church, where he +listens to strange language which would seem unsuited to his ear. He +is told of the countless evils caused by pride and covetousness: he +is reminded of the necessity of checking his desires, of the finer +pleasures which belong to virtue alone, and of the true happiness which +attends it. On his return home, he does not turn to the ledgers of his +calling, but he opens the book of Holy Scripture; there he meets with +sublime or affecting descriptions of the greatness and goodness of the +Creator, of the infinite magnificence of the handiwork of God, of the +lofty destinies of man, of his duties, and of his immortal privileges. +Thus it is that the American at times steals an hour from himself; and +laying aside for a while the petty passions which agitate his life, +and the ephemeral interests which engross it, he strays at once into an +ideal world, where all is great, eternal, and pure. + +I have endeavored to point out in another part of this work the causes +to which the maintenance of the political institutions of the Americans +is attributable; and religion appeared to be one of the most prominent +amongst them. I am now treating of the Americans in an individual +capacity, and I again observe that religion is not less useful to each +citizen than to the whole State. The Americans show, by their practice, +that they feel the high necessity of imparting morality to democratic +communities by means of religion. What they think of themselves in +this respect is a truth of which every democratic nation ought to be +thoroughly persuaded. + +I do not doubt that the social and political constitution of a people +predisposes them to adopt a certain belief and certain tastes, which +afterwards flourish without difficulty amongst them; whilst the same +causes may divert a people from certain opinions and propensities, +without any voluntary effort, and, as it were, without any distinct +consciousness, on their part. The whole art of the legislator +is correctly to discern beforehand these natural inclinations of +communities of men, in order to know whether they should be assisted, or +whether it may not be necessary to check them. For the duties incumbent +on the legislator differ at different times; the goal towards which the +human race ought ever to be tending is alone stationary; the means of +reaching it are perpetually to be varied. + +If I had been born in an aristocratic age, in the midst of a nation +where the hereditary wealth of some, and the irremediable penury of +others, should equally divert men from the idea of bettering their +condition, and hold the soul as it were in a state of torpor fixed on +the contemplation of another world, I should then wish that it were +possible for me to rouse that people to a sense of their wants; I should +seek to discover more rapid and more easy means for satisfying the fresh +desires which I might have awakened; and, directing the most strenuous +efforts of the human mind to physical pursuits, I should endeavor to +stimulate it to promote the well-being of man. If it happened that some +men were immoderately incited to the pursuit of riches, and displayed an +excessive liking for physical gratifications, I should not be alarmed; +these peculiar symptoms would soon be absorbed in the general aspect of +the people. + +The attention of the legislators of democracies is called to other +cares. Give democratic nations education and freedom, and leave them +alone. They will soon learn to draw from this world all the benefits +which it can afford; they will improve each of the useful arts, and will +day by day render life more comfortable, more convenient, and more easy. +Their social condition naturally urges them in this direction; I do not +fear that they will slacken their course. + +But whilst man takes delight in this honest and lawful pursuit of his +wellbeing, it is to be apprehended that he may in the end lose the use +of his sublimest faculties; and that whilst he is busied in improving +all around him, he may at length degrade himself. Here, and here only, +does the peril lie. It should therefore be the unceasing object of the +legislators of democracies, and of all the virtuous and enlightened men +who live there, to raise the souls of their fellow-citizens, and keep +them lifted up towards heaven. It is necessary that all who feel an +interest in the future destinies of democratic society should unite, and +that all should make joint and continual efforts to diffuse the love +of the infinite, a sense of greatness, and a love of pleasures not +of earth. If amongst the opinions of a democratic people any of those +pernicious theories exist which tend to inculcate that all perishes with +the body, let men by whom such theories are professed be marked as the +natural foes of such a people. + +The materialists are offensive to me in many respects; their doctrines +I hold to be pernicious, and I am disgusted at their arrogance. If their +system could be of any utility to man, it would seem to be by giving him +a modest opinion of himself. But these reasoners show that it is not +so; and when they think they have said enough to establish that they are +brutes, they show themselves as proud as if they had demonstrated that +they are gods. Materialism is, amongst all nations, a dangerous disease +of the human mind; but it is more especially to be dreaded amongst a +democratic people, because it readily amalgamates with that vice which +is most familiar to the heart under such circumstances. Democracy +encourages a taste for physical gratification: this taste, if it become +excessive, soon disposes men to believe that all is matter only; and +materialism, in turn, hurries them back with mad impatience to these +same delights: such is the fatal circle within which democratic nations +are driven round. It were well that they should see the danger and hold +back. + +Most religions are only general, simple, and practical means of teaching +men the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. That is the greatest +benefit which a democratic people derives, from its belief, and hence +belief is more necessary to such a people than to all others. When +therefore any religion has struck its roots deep into a democracy, +beware lest you disturb them; but rather watch it carefully, as the most +precious bequest of aristocratic ages. Seek not to supersede the old +religious opinions of men by new ones; lest in the passage from one +faith to another, the soul being left for a while stripped of all +belief, the love of physical gratifications should grow upon it and fill +it wholly. + +The doctrine of metempsychosis is assuredly not more rational than that +of materialism; nevertheless if it were absolutely necessary that a +democracy should choose one of the two, I should not hesitate to decide +that the community would run less risk of being brutalized by believing +that the soul of man will pass into the carcass of a hog, than by +believing that the soul of man is nothing at all. The belief in a +supersensual and immortal principle, united for a time to matter, is +so indispensable to man's greatness, that its effects are striking even +when it is not united to the doctrine of future reward and punishment; +and when it holds no more than that after death the divine principle +contained in man is absorbed in the Deity, or transferred to animate +the frame of some other creature. Men holding so imperfect a belief will +still consider the body as the secondary and inferior portion of +their nature, and they will despise it even whilst they yield to its +influence; whereas they have a natural esteem and secret admiration for +the immaterial part of man, even though they sometimes refuse to submit +to its dominion. That is enough to give a lofty cast to their opinions +and their tastes, and to bid them tend with no interested motive, and as +it were by impulse, to pure feelings and elevated thoughts. + +It is not certain that Socrates and his followers had very fixed +opinions as to what would befall man hereafter; but the sole point +of belief on which they were determined--that the soul has nothing in +common with the body, and survives it--was enough to give the Platonic +philosophy that sublime aspiration by which it is distinguished. It +is clear from the works of Plato, that many philosophical writers, his +predecessors or contemporaries, professed materialism. These writers +have not reached us, or have reached us in mere fragments. The same +thing has happened in almost all ages; the greater part of the most +famous minds in literature adhere to the doctrines of a supersensual +philosophy. The instinct and the taste of the human race maintain those +doctrines; they save them oftentimes in spite of men themselves, and +raise the names of their defenders above the tide of time. It must not +then be supposed that at any period or under any political condition, +the passion for physical gratifications, and the opinions which are +superinduced by that passion, can ever content a whole people. The heart +of man is of a larger mould: it can at once comprise a taste for the +possessions of earth and the love of those of heaven: at times it may +seem to cling devotedly to the one, but it will never be long without +thinking of the other. + +If it be easy to see that it is more particularly important in +democratic ages that spiritual opinions should prevail, it is not easy +to say by what means those who govern democratic nations may make them +predominate. I am no believer in the prosperity, any more than in the +durability, of official philosophies; and as to state religions, I +have always held, that if they be sometimes of momentary service to the +interests of political power, they always, sooner or later, become +fatal to the Church. Nor do I think with those who assert, that to raise +religion in the eyes of the people, and to make them do honor to her +spiritual doctrines, it is desirable indirectly to give her ministers a +political influence which the laws deny them. I am so much alive to +the almost inevitable dangers which beset religious belief whenever +the clergy take part in public affairs, and I am so convinced that +Christianity must be maintained at any cost in the bosom of modern +democracies, that I had rather shut up the priesthood within the +sanctuary than allow them to step beyond it. + +What means then remain in the hands of constituted authorities to bring +men back to spiritual opinions, or to hold them fast to the religion +by which those opinions are suggested? My answer will do me harm in +the eyes of politicians. I believe that the sole effectual means which +governments can employ in order to have the doctrine of the immortality +of the soul duly respected, is ever to act as if they believed in it +themselves; and I think that it is only by scrupulous conformity to +religious morality in great affairs that they can hope to teach the +community at large to know, to love, and to observe it in the lesser +concerns of life. + + + + +Chapter XVI: That Excessive Care Of Worldly Welfare May Impair That +Welfare + +There is a closer tie than is commonly supposed between the improvement +of the soul and the amelioration of what belongs to the body. Man may +leave these two things apart, and consider each of them alternately; but +he cannot sever them entirely without at last losing sight of one and of +the other. The beasts have the same senses as ourselves, and very nearly +the same appetites. We have no sensual passions which are not common +to our race and theirs, and which are not to be found, at least in the +germ, in a dog as well as in a man. Whence is it then that the animals +can only provide for their first and lowest wants, whereas we can +infinitely vary and endlessly increase our enjoyments? + +We are superior to the beasts in this, that we use our souls to find out +those material benefits to which they are only led by instinct. In man, +the angel teaches the brute the art of contenting its desires. It is +because man is capable of rising above the things of the body, and of +contemning life itself, of which the beasts have not the least notion, +that he can multiply these same things of the body to a degree which +inferior races are equally unable to conceive. Whatever elevates, +enlarges, and expands the soul, renders it more capable of succeeding +in those very undertakings which concern it not. Whatever, on the other +hand, enervates or lowers it, weakens it for all purposes, the chiefest, +as well as the least, and threatens to render it almost equally impotent +for the one and for the other. Hence the soul must remain great and +strong, though it were only to devote its strength and greatness from +time to time to the service of the body. If men were ever to content +themselves with material objects, it is probable that they would lose by +degrees the art of producing them; and they would enjoy them in the end, +like the brutes, without discernment and without improvement. + + + + +Chapter XVII: That In Times Marked By Equality Of Conditions And +Sceptical Opinions, It Is Important To Remove To A Distance The Objects +Of Human Actions + +In the ages of faith the final end of life is placed beyond life. The +men of those ages therefore naturally, and in a manner involuntarily, +accustom themselves to fix their gaze for a long course of years on some +immovable object, towards which they are constantly tending; and they +learn by insensible degrees to repress a multitude of petty passing +desires, in order to be the better able to content that great and +lasting desire which possesses them. When these same men engage in the +affairs of this world, the same habits may be traced in their conduct. +They are apt to set up some general and certain aim and end to their +actions here below, towards which all their efforts are directed: they +do not turn from day to day to chase some novel object of desire, but +they have settled designs which they are never weary of pursuing. This +explains why religious nations have so often achieved such lasting +results: for whilst they were thinking only of the other world, they +had found out the great secret of success in this. Religions give men a +general habit of conducting themselves with a view to futurity: in +this respect they are not less useful to happiness in this life than +to felicity hereafter; and this is one of their chief political +characteristics. + +But in proportion as the light of faith grows dim, the range of man's +sight is circumscribed, as if the end and aim of human actions appeared +every day to be more within his reach. When men have once allowed +themselves to think no more of what is to befall them after life, they +readily lapse into that complete and brutal indifference to futurity, +which is but too conformable to some propensities of mankind. As soon +as they have lost the habit of placing their chief hopes upon remote +events, they naturally seek to gratify without delay their smallest +desires; and no sooner do they despair of living forever, than they +are disposed to act as if they were to exist but for a single day. +In sceptical ages it is always therefore to be feared that men may +perpetually give way to their daily casual desires; and that, wholly +renouncing whatever cannot be acquired without protracted effort, they +may establish nothing great, permanent, and calm. + +If the social condition of a people, under these circumstances, becomes +democratic, the danger which I here point out is thereby increased. When +everyone is constantly striving to change his position--when an immense +field for competition is thrown open to all--when wealth is amassed or +dissipated in the shortest possible space of time amidst the turmoil +of democracy, visions of sudden and easy fortunes--of great possessions +easily won and lost--of chance, under all its forms--haunt the mind. The +instability of society itself fosters the natural instability of man's +desires. In the midst of these perpetual fluctuations of his lot, the +present grows upon his mind, until it conceals futurity from his sight, +and his looks go no further than the morrow. + +In those countries in which unhappily irreligion and democracy coexist, +the most important duty of philosophers and of those in power is to be +always striving to place the objects of human actions far beyond man's +immediate range. Circumscribed by the character of his country and +his age, the moralist must learn to vindicate his principles in that +position. He must constantly endeavor to show his contemporaries, that, +even in the midst of the perpetual commotion around them, it is easier +than they think to conceive and to execute protracted undertakings. He +must teach them that, although the aspect of mankind may have changed, +the methods by which men may provide for their prosperity in this world +are still the same; and that amongst democratic nations, as well as +elsewhere, it is only by resisting a thousand petty selfish passions of +the hour that the general and unquenchable passion for happiness can be +satisfied. + +The task of those in power is not less clearly marked out. At all times +it is important that those who govern nations should act with a view to +the future: but this is even more necessary in democratic and sceptical +ages than in any others. By acting thus, the leading men of democracies +not only make public affairs prosperous, but they also teach private +individuals, by their example, the art of managing private concerns. +Above all they must strive as much as possible to banish chance from the +sphere of politics. The sudden and undeserved promotion of a courtier +produces only a transient impression in an aristocratic country, because +the aggregate institutions and opinions of the nation habitually compel +men to advance slowly in tracks which they cannot get out of. But +nothing is more pernicious than similar instances of favor exhibited +to the eyes of a democratic people: they give the last impulse to the +public mind in a direction where everything hurries it onwards. At times +of scepticism and equality more especially, the favor of the people or +of the prince, which chance may confer or chance withhold, ought never +to stand in lieu of attainments or services. It is desirable that every +advancement should there appear to be the result of some effort; so that +no greatness should be of too easy acquirement, and that ambition should +be obliged to fix its gaze long upon an object before it is gratified. +Governments must apply themselves to restore to men that love of the +future with which religion and the state of society no longer inspire +them; and, without saying so, they must practically teach the community +day by day that wealth, fame, and power are the rewards of labor--that +great success stands at the utmost range of long desires, and that +nothing lasting is obtained but what is obtained by toil. When men have +accustomed themselves to foresee from afar what is likely to befall in +the world and to feed upon hopes, they can hardly confine their minds +within the precise circumference of life, and they are ready to break +the boundary and cast their looks beyond. I do not doubt that, by +training the members of a community to think of their future condition +in this world, they would be gradually and unconsciously brought nearer +to religious convictions. Thus the means which allow men, up to a +certain point, to go without religion, are perhaps after all the +only means we still possess for bringing mankind back by a long and +roundabout path to a state of faith. + + + + +Chapter XVIII: That Amongst The Americans All Honest Callings Are +Honorable + +Amongst a democratic people, where there is no hereditary wealth, every +man works to earn a living, or has worked, or is born of parents who +have worked. The notion of labor is therefore presented to the mind +on every side as the necessary, natural, and honest condition of human +existence. Not only is labor not dishonorable amongst such a people, but +it is held in honor: the prejudice is not against it, but in its favor. +In the United States a wealthy man thinks that he owes it to public +opinion to devote his leisure to some kind of industrial or commercial +pursuit, or to public business. He would think himself in bad repute if +he employed his life solely in living. It is for the purpose of escaping +this obligation to work, that so many rich Americans come to Europe, +where they find some scattered remains of aristocratic society, amongst +which idleness is still held in honor. + +Equality of conditions not only ennobles the notion of labor in men's +estimation, but it raises the notion of labor as a source of profit. In +aristocracies it is not exactly labor that is despised, but labor with +a view to profit. Labor is honorific in itself, when it is undertaken at +the sole bidding of ambition or of virtue. Yet in aristocratic society +it constantly happens that he who works for honor is not insensible to +the attractions of profit. But these two desires only intermingle in +the innermost depths of his soul: he carefully hides from every eye +the point at which they join; he would fain conceal it from himself. In +aristocratic countries there are few public officers who do not affect +to serve their country without interested motives. Their salary is an +incident of which they think but little, and of which they always affect +not to think at all. Thus the notion of profit is kept distinct from +that of labor; however they may be united in point of fact, they are not +thought of together. + +In democratic communities these two notions are, on the contrary, always +palpably united. As the desire of well-being is universal--as fortunes +are slender or fluctuating--as everyone wants either to increase his +own resources, or to provide fresh ones for his progeny, men clearly see +that it is profit which, if not wholly, at least partially, leads them +to work. Even those who are principally actuated by the love of fame are +necessarily made familiar with the thought that they are not exclusively +actuated by that motive; and they discover that the desire of getting +a living is mingled in their minds with the desire of making life +illustrious. + +As soon as, on the one hand, labor is held by the whole community to be +an honorable necessity of man's condition, and, on the other, as soon as +labor is always ostensibly performed, wholly or in part, for the purpose +of earning remuneration, the immense interval which separated different +callings in aristocratic societies disappears. If all are not alike, all +at least have one feature in common. No profession exists in which men +do not work for money; and the remuneration which is common to them +all gives them all an air of resemblance. This serves to explain +the opinions which the Americans entertain with respect to different +callings. In America no one is degraded because he works, for everyone +about him works also; nor is anyone humiliated by the notion of +receiving pay, for the President of the United States also works for +pay. He is paid for commanding, other men for obeying orders. In the +United States professions are more or less laborious, more or less +profitable; but they are never either high or low: every honest calling +is honorable. + + + + +Chapter XIX: That Almost All The Americans Follow Industrial Callings + +Agriculture is, perhaps, of all the useful arts that which improves most +slowly amongst democratic nations. Frequently, indeed, it would seem +to be stationary, because other arts are making rapid strides towards +perfection. On the other hand, almost all the tastes and habits which +the equality of condition engenders naturally lead men to commercial and +industrial occupations. + +Suppose an active, enlightened, and free man, enjoying a competency, but +full of desires: he is too poor to live in idleness; he is rich enough +to feel himself protected from the immediate fear of want, and he thinks +how he can better his condition. This man has conceived a taste for +physical gratifications, which thousands of his fellow-men indulge in +around him; he has himself begun to enjoy these pleasures, and he is +eager to increase his means of satisfying these tastes more completely. +But life is slipping away, time is urgent--to what is he to turn? The +cultivation of the ground promises an almost certain result to his +exertions, but a slow one; men are not enriched by it without patience +and toil. Agriculture is therefore only suited to those who have already +large, superfluous wealth, or to those whose penury bids them only seek +a bare subsistence. The choice of such a man as we have supposed is soon +made; he sells his plot of ground, leaves his dwelling, and embarks in +some hazardous but lucrative calling. Democratic communities abound +in men of this kind; and in proportion as the equality of conditions +becomes greater, their multitude increases. Thus democracy not only +swells the number of workingmen, but it leads men to prefer one kind +of labor to another; and whilst it diverts them from agriculture, it +encourages their taste for commerce and manufactures. *a + +[Footnote a: It has often been remarked that manufacturers and +mercantile men are inordinately addicted to physical gratifications, and +this has been attributed to commerce and manufactures; but that is, +I apprehend, to take the effect for the cause. The taste for physical +gratifications is not imparted to men by commerce or manufactures, +but it is rather this taste which leads men to embark in commerce and +manufactures, as a means by which they hope to satisfy themselves more +promptly and more completely. If commerce and manufactures increase the +desire of well-being, it is because every passion gathers strength in +proportion as it is cultivated, and is increased by all the efforts made +to satiate it. All the causes which make the love of worldly welfare +predominate in the heart of man are favorable to the growth of commerce +and manufactures. Equality of conditions is one of those causes; it +encourages trade, not directly by giving men a taste for business, but +indirectly by strengthening and expanding in their minds a taste for +prosperity.] + +This spirit may be observed even amongst the richest members of the +community. In democratic countries, however opulent a man is supposed to +be, he is almost always discontented with his fortune, because he finds +that he is less rich than his father was, and he fears that his sons +will be less rich than himself. Most rich men in democracies are +therefore constantly haunted by the desire of obtaining wealth, and they +naturally turn their attention to trade and manufactures, which appear +to offer the readiest and most powerful means of success. In this +respect they share the instincts of the poor, without feeling the +same necessities; say rather, they feel the most imperious of all +necessities, that of not sinking in the world. + +In aristocracies the rich are at the same time those who govern. The +attention which they unceasingly devote to important public affairs +diverts them from the lesser cares which trade and manufactures +demand. If the will of an individual happens, nevertheless, to turn his +attention to business, the will of the body to which he belongs will +immediately debar him from pursuing it; for however men may declaim +against the rule of numbers, they cannot wholly escape their sway; and +even amongst those aristocratic bodies which most obstinately refuse to +acknowledge the rights of the majority of the nation, a private majority +is formed which governs the rest. *b + +[Footnote b: Some aristocracies, however, have devoted themselves +eagerly to commerce, and have cultivated manufactures with success. The +history of the world might furnish several conspicuous examples. But, +generally speaking, it may be affirmed that the aristocratic principle +is not favorable to the growth of trade and manufactures. Moneyed +aristocracies are the only exception to the rule. Amongst such +aristocracies there are hardly any desires which do not require wealth +to satisfy them; the love of riches becomes, so to speak, the high road +of human passions, which is crossed by or connected with all lesser +tracks. The love of money and the thirst for that distinction which +attaches to power, are then so closely intermixed in the same souls, +that it becomes difficult to discover whether men grow covetous from +ambition, or whether they are ambitious from covetousness. This is +the case in England, where men seek to get rich in order to arrive at +distinction, and seek distinctions as a manifestation of their wealth. +The mind is then seized by both ends, and hurried into trade and +manufactures, which are the shortest roads that lead to opulence. + +This, however, strikes me as an exceptional and transitory circumstance. +When wealth is become the only symbol of aristocracy, it is very +difficult for the wealthy to maintain sole possession of political +power, to the exclusion of all other men. The aristocracy of birth and +pure democracy are at the two extremes of the social and political state +of nations: between them moneyed aristocracy finds its place. The latter +approximates to the aristocracy of birth by conferring great privileges +on a small number of persons; it so far belongs to the democratic +element, that these privileges may be successively acquired by all. It +frequently forms a natural transition between these two conditions +of society, and it is difficult to say whether it closes the reign of +aristocratic institutions, or whether it already opens the new era of +democracy.] + +In democratic countries, where money does not lead those who possess it +to political power, but often removes them from it, the rich do not +know how to spend their leisure. They are driven into active life by the +inquietude and the greatness of their desires, by the extent of their +resources, and by the taste for what is extraordinary, which is almost +always felt by those who rise, by whatsoever means, above the crowd. +Trade is the only road open to them. In democracies nothing is more +great or more brilliant than commerce: it attracts the attention of +the public, and fills the imagination of the multitude; all energetic +passions are directed towards it. Neither their own prejudices, nor +those of anybody else, can prevent the rich from devoting themselves +to it. The wealthy members of democracies never form a body which has +manners and regulations of its own; the opinions peculiar to their class +do not restrain them, and the common opinions of their country urge them +on. Moreover, as all the large fortunes which are to be met with in a +democratic community are of commercial growth, many generations must +succeed each other before their possessors can have entirely laid aside +their habits of business. + +Circumscribed within the narrow space which politics leave them, rich +men in democracies eagerly embark in commercial enterprise: there they +can extend and employ their natural advantages; and indeed it is even by +the boldness and the magnitude of their industrial speculations that we +may measure the slight esteem in which productive industry would have +been held by them, if they had been born amidst an aristocracy. + +A similar observation is likewise applicable to all men living in +democracies, whether they be poor or rich. Those who live in the midst +of democratic fluctuations have always before their eyes the phantom of +chance; and they end by liking all undertakings in which chance plays a +part. They are therefore all led to engage in commerce, not only for +the sake of the profit it holds out to them, but for the love of the +constant excitement occasioned by that pursuit. + +The United States of America have only been emancipated for half a +century [in 1840] from the state of colonial dependence in which they +stood to Great Britain; the number of large fortunes there is small, and +capital is still scarce. Yet no people in the world has made such rapid +progress in trade and manufactures as the Americans: they constitute at +the present day the second maritime nation in the world; and although +their manufactures have to struggle with almost insurmountable natural +impediments, they are not prevented from making great and daily +advances. In the United States the greatest undertakings and +speculations are executed without difficulty, because the whole +population is engaged in productive industry, and because the poorest +as well as the most opulent members of the commonwealth are ready to +combine their efforts for these purposes. The consequence is, that a +stranger is constantly amazed by the immense public works executed by a +nation which contains, so to speak, no rich men. The Americans arrived +but as yesterday on the territory which they inhabit, and they have +already changed the whole order of nature for their own advantage. They +have joined the Hudson to the Mississippi, and made the Atlantic Ocean +communicate with the Gulf of Mexico, across a continent of more than +five hundred leagues in extent which separates the two seas. The longest +railroads which have been constructed up to the present time are in +America. But what most astonishes me in the United States, is not so +much the marvellous grandeur of some undertakings, as the innumerable +multitude of small ones. Almost all the farmers of the United States +combine some trade with agriculture; most of them make agriculture +itself a trade. It seldom happens that an American farmer settles for +good upon the land which he occupies: especially in the districts of the +Far West he brings land into tillage in order to sell it again, and not +to farm it: he builds a farmhouse on the speculation that, as the state +of the country will soon be changed by the increase of population, a +good price will be gotten for it. Every year a swarm of the inhabitants +of the North arrive in the Southern States, and settle in the parts +where the cotton plant and the sugar-cane grow. These men cultivate the +soil in order to make it produce in a few years enough to enrich them; +and they already look forward to the time when they may return home +to enjoy the competency thus acquired. Thus the Americans carry their +business-like qualities into agriculture; and their trading passions are +displayed in that as in their other pursuits. + +The Americans make immense progress in productive industry, because they +all devote themselves to it at once; and for this same reason they are +exposed to very unexpected and formidable embarrassments. As they are +all engaged in commerce, their commercial affairs are affected by +such various and complex causes that it is impossible to foresee +what difficulties may arise. As they are all more or less engaged in +productive industry, at the least shock given to business all private +fortunes are put in jeopardy at the same time, and the State is shaken. +I believe that the return of these commercial panics is an endemic +disease of the democratic nations of our age. It may be rendered less +dangerous, but it cannot be cured; because it does not originate in +accidental circumstances, but in the temperament of these nations. + + + + +Chapter XX: That Aristocracy May Be Engendered By Manufactures + +I have shown that democracy is favorable to the growth of manufactures, +and that it increases without limit the numbers of the manufacturing +classes: we shall now see by what side road manufacturers may possibly +in their turn bring men back to aristocracy. It is acknowledged that +when a workman is engaged every day upon the same detail, the whole +commodity is produced with greater ease, promptitude, and economy. It +is likewise acknowledged that the cost of the production of manufactured +goods is diminished by the extent of the establishment in which they are +made, and by the amount of capital employed or of credit. These truths +had long been imperfectly discerned, but in our time they have been +demonstrated. They have been already applied to many very important +kinds of manufactures, and the humblest will gradually be governed by +them. I know of nothing in politics which deserves to fix the attention +of the legislator more closely than these two new axioms of the science +of manufactures. + +When a workman is unceasingly and exclusively engaged in the fabrication +of one thing, he ultimately does his work with singular dexterity; but +at the same time he loses the general faculty of applying his mind to +the direction of the work. He every day becomes more adroit and less +industrious; so that it may be said of him, that in proportion as the +workman improves the man is degraded. What can be expected of a man who +has spent twenty years of his life in making heads for pins? and to +what can that mighty human intelligence, which has so often stirred the +world, be applied in him, except it be to investigate the best method of +making pins' heads? When a workman has spent a considerable portion +of his existence in this manner, his thoughts are forever set upon the +object of his daily toil; his body has contracted certain fixed habits, +which it can never shake off: in a word, he no longer belongs to +himself, but to the calling which he has chosen. It is in vain that laws +and manners have been at the pains to level all barriers round such +a man, and to open to him on every side a thousand different paths to +fortune; a theory of manufactures more powerful than manners and laws +binds him to a craft, and frequently to a spot, which he cannot leave: +it assigns to him a certain place in society, beyond which he cannot go: +in the midst of universal movement it has rendered him stationary. + +In proportion as the principle of the division of labor is more +extensively applied, the workman becomes more weak, more narrow-minded, +and more dependent. The art advances, the artisan recedes. On the other +hand, in proportion as it becomes more manifest that the productions of +manufactures are by so much the cheaper and better as the manufacture is +larger and the amount of capital employed more considerable, wealthy +and educated men come forward to embark in manufactures which were +heretofore abandoned to poor or ignorant handicraftsmen. The magnitude +of the efforts required, and the importance of the results to be +obtained, attract them. Thus at the very time at which the science +of manufactures lowers the class of workmen, it raises the class of +masters. + +Whereas the workman concentrates his faculties more and more upon the +study of a single detail, the master surveys a more extensive whole, and +the mind of the latter is enlarged in proportion as that of the former +is narrowed. In a short time the one will require nothing but physical +strength without intelligence; the other stands in need of science, and +almost of genius, to insure success. This man resembles more and more +the administrator of a vast empire--that man, a brute. The master and +the workman have then here no similarity, and their differences increase +every day. They are only connected as the two rings at the extremities +of a long chain. Each of them fills the station which is made for him, +and out of which he does not get: the one is continually, closely, and +necessarily dependent upon the other, and seems as much born to obey as +that other is to command. What is this but aristocracy? + +As the conditions of men constituting the nation become more and more +equal, the demand for manufactured commodities becomes more general and +more extensive; and the cheapness which places these objects within +the reach of slender fortunes becomes a great element of success. Hence +there are every day more men of great opulence and education who devote +their wealth and knowledge to manufactures; and who seek, by opening +large establishments, and by a strict division of labor, to meet the +fresh demands which are made on all sides. Thus, in proportion as the +mass of the nation turns to democracy, that particular class which is +engaged in manufactures becomes more aristocratic. Men grow more alike +in the one--more different in the other; and inequality increases in +the less numerous class in the same ratio in which it decreases in +the community. Hence it would appear, on searching to the bottom, that +aristocracy should naturally spring out of the bosom of democracy. + +But this kind of aristocracy by no means resembles those kinds which +preceded it. It will be observed at once, that as it applies exclusively +to manufactures and to some manufacturing callings, it is a monstrous +exception in the general aspect of society. The small aristocratic +societies which are formed by some manufacturers in the midst of the +immense democracy of our age, contain, like the great aristocratic +societies of former ages, some men who are very opulent, and a multitude +who are wretchedly poor. The poor have few means of escaping from their +condition and becoming rich; but the rich are constantly becoming poor, +or they give up business when they have realized a fortune. Thus the +elements of which the class of the poor is composed are fixed; but the +elements of which the class of the rich is composed are not so. To say +the truth, though there are rich men, the class of rich men does not +exist; for these rich individuals have no feelings or purposes in +common, no mutual traditions or mutual hopes; there are therefore +members, but no body. + +Not only are the rich not compactly united amongst themselves, but there +is no real bond between them and the poor. Their relative position is +not a permanent one; they are constantly drawn together or separated by +their interests. The workman is generally dependent on the master, but +not on any particular master; these two men meet in the factory, but +know not each other elsewhere; and whilst they come into contact on one +point, they stand very wide apart on all others. The manufacturer asks +nothing of the workman but his labor; the workman expects nothing from +him but his wages. The one contracts no obligation to protect, nor the +other to defend; and they are not permanently connected either by habit +or by duty. The aristocracy created by business rarely settles in the +midst of the manufacturing population which it directs; the object +is not to govern that population, but to use it. An aristocracy thus +constituted can have no great hold upon those whom it employs; and even +if it succeed in retaining them at one moment, they escape the next; it +knows not how to will, and it cannot act. The territorial aristocracy of +former ages was either bound by law, or thought itself bound by +usage, to come to the relief of its serving-men, and to succor +their distresses. But the manufacturing aristocracy of our age first +impoverishes and debases the men who serve it, and then abandons them to +be supported by the charity of the public. This is a natural consequence +of what has been said before. Between the workmen and the master there +are frequent relations, but no real partnership. + +I am of opinion, upon the whole, that the manufacturing aristocracy +which is growing up under our eyes is one of the harshest which ever +existed in the world; but at the same time it is one of the most +confined and least dangerous. Nevertheless the friends of democracy +should keep their eyes anxiously fixed in this direction; for if ever a +permanent inequality of conditions and aristocracy again penetrate into +the world, it may be predicted that this is the channel by which they +will enter. + + + + +Book Three: Influence Of Democracy On Manners, Properly So Called + + + + +Chapter I: That Manners Are Softened As Social Conditions Become More +Equal + +We perceive that for several ages social conditions have tended to +equality, and we discover that in the course of the same period the +manners of society have been softened. Are these two things merely +contemporaneous, or does any secret link exist between them, so that the +one cannot go on without making the other advance? Several causes may +concur to render the manners of a people less rude; but, of all +these causes, the most powerful appears to me to be the equality of +conditions. Equality of conditions and growing civility in manners are, +then, in my eyes, not only contemporaneous occurrences, but correlative +facts. When the fabulists seek to interest us in the actions of beasts, +they invest them with human notions and passions; the poets who sing of +spirits and angels do the same; there is no wretchedness so deep, nor +any happiness so pure, as to fill the human mind and touch the heart, +unless we are ourselves held up to our own eyes under other features. + +This is strictly applicable to the subject upon which we are at present +engaged. When all men are irrevocably marshalled in an aristocratic +community, according to their professions, their property, and their +birth, the members of each class, considering themselves as children +of the same family, cherish a constant and lively sympathy towards each +other, which can never be felt in an equal degree by the citizens of +a democracy. But the same feeling does not exist between the several +classes towards each other. Amongst an aristocratic people each caste +has its own opinions, feelings, rights, manners, and modes of living. +Thus the men of whom each caste is composed do not resemble the mass of +their fellow-citizens; they do not think or feel in the same manner, +and they scarcely believe that they belong to the same human race. They +cannot, therefore, thoroughly understand what others feel, nor judge of +others by themselves. Yet they are sometimes eager to lend each other +mutual aid; but this is not contrary to my previous observation. These +aristocratic institutions, which made the beings of one and the same +race so different, nevertheless bound them to each other by close +political ties. Although the serf had no natural interest in the fate of +nobles, he did not the less think himself obliged to devote his person +to the service of that noble who happened to be his lord; and although +the noble held himself to be of a different nature from that of his +serfs, he nevertheless held that his duty and his honor constrained +him to defend, at the risk of his own life, those who dwelt upon his +domains. + +It is evident that these mutual obligations did not originate in the law +of nature, but in the law of society; and that the claim of social duty +was more stringent than that of mere humanity. These services were not +supposed to be due from man to man, but to the vassal or to the lord. +Feudal institutions awakened a lively sympathy for the sufferings of +certain men, but none at all for the miseries of mankind. They infused +generosity rather than mildness into the manners of the time, and +although they prompted men to great acts of self-devotion, they +engendered no real sympathies; for real sympathies can only exist +between those who are alike; and in aristocratic ages men acknowledge +none but the members of their own caste to be like themselves. + +When the chroniclers of the Middle Ages, who all belonged to the +aristocracy by birth or education, relate the tragical end of a noble, +their grief flows apace; whereas they tell you at a breath, and without +wincing, of massacres and tortures inflicted on the common sort of +people. Not that these writers felt habitual hatred or systematic +disdain for the people; war between the several classes of the community +was not yet declared. They were impelled by an instinct rather than by a +passion; as they had formed no clear notion of a poor man's sufferings, +they cared but little for his fate. The same feelings animated the lower +orders whenever the feudal tie was broken. The same ages which witnessed +so many heroic acts of self-devotion on the part of vassals for their +lords, were stained with atrocious barbarities, exercised from time to +time by the lower classes on the higher. It must not be supposed that +this mutual insensibility arose solely from the absence of public +order and education; for traces of it are to be found in the following +centuries, which became tranquil and enlightened whilst they remained +aristocratic. In 1675 the lower classes in Brittany revolted at +the imposition of a new tax. These disturbances were put down with +unexampled atrocity. Observe the language in which Madame de Sevigne, a +witness of these horrors, relates them to her daughter:-- + +"Aux Rochers, 30 Octobre, 1675. + +"Mon Dieu, ma fille, que votre lettre d'Aix est plaisante! Au moins +relisez vos lettres avant que de les envoyer; laissez-vous surpendre a +leur agrement, et consolez-vous par ce plaisir de la peine que vous avez +d'en tant ecrire. Vous avez donc baise toute la Provence? il n'y aurait +pas satisfaction a baiser toute la Bretagne, a moins qu'on n'aimat a +sentir le vin. . . . Voulez-vous savoir des nouvelles de Rennes? On a +fait une taxe de cent mille ecus sur le bourgeois; et si on ne trouve +point cette somme dans vingt-quatre heures, elle sera doublee et +exigible par les soldats. On a chasse et banni toute une grand rue, et +defendu de les recueillir sous peine de la vie; de sorte qu'on voyait +tous ces miserables, veillards, femmes accouchees, enfans, errer en +pleurs au sortir de cette ville sans savoir ou aller. On roua avant-hier +un violon, qui avait commence la danse et la pillerie du papier timbre; +il a ete ecartele apres sa mort, et ses quatre quartiers exposes aux +quatre coins de la ville. On a pris soixante bourgeois, et on commence +demain les punitions. Cette province est un bel exemple pour les autres, +et surtout de respecter les gouverneurs et les gouvernantes, et de ne +point jeter de pierres dans leur jardin." *a + +[Footnote a: To feel the point of this joke the reader should recollect +that Madame de Grignan was Gouvernante de Provence.] "Madame de Tarente +etait hier dans ces bois par un temps enchante: il n'est question ni de +chambre ni de collation; elle entre par la barriere et s'en retourne de +meme. . . ." + +In another letter she adds:-- + +"Vous me parlez bien plaisamment de nos miseres; nous ne sommes plus si +roues; un en huit jours, pour entretenir la justice. Il est vrai que la +penderie me parait maintenant un refraichissement. J'ai une tout autre +idee de la justice, depuis que je suis en ce pays. Vos galeriens me +paraissent une societe d'honnetes gens qui se sont retires du monde pour +mener une vie douce." + +It would be a mistake to suppose that Madame de Sevigne, who wrote these +lines, was a selfish or cruel person; she was passionately attached +to her children, and very ready to sympathize in the sorrows of her +friends; nay, her letters show that she treated her vassals and servants +with kindness and indulgence. But Madame de Sevigne had no clear notion +of suffering in anyone who was not a person of quality. + +In our time the harshest man writing to the most insensible person of +his acquaintance would not venture wantonly to indulge in the cruel +jocularity which I have quoted; and even if his own manners allowed him +to do so, the manners of society at large would forbid it. Whence does +this arise? Have we more sensibility than our forefathers? I know not +that we have; but I am sure that our insensibility is extended to a far +greater range of objects. When all the ranks of a community are nearly +equal, as all men think and feel in nearly the same manner, each of them +may judge in a moment of the sensations of all the others; he casts a +rapid glance upon himself, and that is enough. There is no wretchedness +into which he cannot readily enter, and a secret instinct reveals to him +its extent. It signifies not that strangers or foes be the sufferers; +imagination puts him in their place; something like a personal feeling +is mingled with his pity, and makes himself suffer whilst the body +of his fellow-creature is in torture. In democratic ages men rarely +sacrifice themselves for one another; but they display general +compassion for the members of the human race. They inflict no useless +ills; and they are happy to relieve the griefs of others, when they can +do so without much hurting themselves; they are not disinterested, but +they are humane. + +Although the Americans have, in a manner, reduced egotism to a social +and philosophical theory, they are nevertheless extremely open to +compassion. In no country is criminal justice administered with more +mildness than in the United States. Whilst the English seem disposed +carefully to retain the bloody traces of the dark ages in their penal +legislation, the Americans have almost expunged capital punishment from +their codes. North America is, I think, the only one country upon earth +in which the life of no one citizen has been taken for a political +offence in the course of the last fifty years. The circumstance which +conclusively shows that this singular mildness of the Americans arises +chiefly from their social condition, is the manner in which they treat +their slaves. Perhaps there is not, upon the whole, a single European +colony in the New World in which the physical condition of the blacks +is less severe than in the United States; yet the slaves still endure +horrid sufferings there, and are constantly exposed to barbarous +punishments. It is easy to perceive that the lot of these unhappy beings +inspires their masters with but little compassion, and that they look +upon slavery, not only as an institution which is profitable to them, +but as an evil which does not affect them. Thus the same man who is full +of humanity towards his fellow-creatures when they are at the same time +his equals, becomes insensible to their afflictions as soon as that +equality ceases. His mildness should therefore be attributed to the +equality of conditions, rather than to civilization and education. + +What I have here remarked of individuals is, to a certain extent, +applicable to nations. When each nation has its distinct opinions, +belief, laws, and customs, it looks upon itself as the whole of mankind, +and is moved by no sorrows but its own. Should war break out between +two nations animated by this feeling, it is sure to be waged with great +cruelty. At the time of their highest culture, the Romans slaughtered +the generals of their enemies, after having dragged them in triumph +behind a car; and they flung their prisoners to the beasts of the Circus +for the amusement of the people. Cicero, who declaimed so vehemently at +the notion of crucifying a Roman citizen, had not a word to say against +these horrible abuses of victory. It is evident that in his eyes a +barbarian did not belong to the same human race as a Roman. On the +contrary, in proportion as nations become more like each other, they +become reciprocally more compassionate, and the law of nations is +mitigated. + + + + +Chapter II: That Democracy Renders The Habitual Intercourse Of The +Americans Simple And Easy + +Democracy does not attach men strongly to each other; but it places +their habitual intercourse upon an easier footing. If two Englishmen +chance to meet at the Antipodes, where they are surrounded by strangers +whose language and manners are almost unknown to them, they will first +stare at each other with much curiosity and a kind of secret uneasiness; +they will then turn away, or, if one accosts the other, they will +take care only to converse with a constrained and absent air upon very +unimportant subjects. Yet there is no enmity between these men; they +have never seen each other before, and each believes the other to be a +respectable person. Why then should they stand so cautiously apart? We +must go back to England to learn the reason. + +When it is birth alone, independent of wealth, which classes men in +society, everyone knows exactly what his own position is upon the +social scale; he does not seek to rise, he does not fear to sink. In +a community thus organized, men of different castes communicate very +little with each other; but if accident brings them together, they are +ready to converse without hoping or fearing to lose their own position. +Their intercourse is not upon a footing of equality, but it is not +constrained. When moneyed aristocracy succeeds to aristocracy of birth, +the case is altered. The privileges of some are still extremely great, +but the possibility of acquiring those privileges is open to all: whence +it follows that those who possess them are constantly haunted by the +apprehension of losing them, or of other men's sharing them; those who +do not yet enjoy them long to possess them at any cost, or, if they +fail to appear at least to possess them--which is not impossible. As the +social importance of men is no longer ostensibly and permanently fixed +by blood, and is infinitely varied by wealth, ranks still exist, but it +is not easy clearly to distinguish at a glance those who respectively +belong to them. Secret hostilities then arise in the community; one set +of men endeavor by innumerable artifices to penetrate, or to appear to +penetrate, amongst those who are above them; another set are constantly +in arms against these usurpers of their rights; or rather the same +individual does both at once, and whilst he seeks to raise himself into +a higher circle, he is always on the defensive against the intrusion of +those below him. + +Such is the condition of England at the present time; and I am of +opinion that the peculiarity before adverted to is principally to be +attributed to this cause. As aristocratic pride is still extremely great +amongst the English, and as the limits of aristocracy are ill-defined, +everybody lives in constant dread lest advantage should be taken of his +familiarity. Unable to judge at once of the social position of those +he meets, an Englishman prudently avoids all contact with them. Men +are afraid lest some slight service rendered should draw them into +an unsuitable acquaintance; they dread civilities, and they avoid the +obtrusive gratitude of a stranger quite as much as his hatred. Many +people attribute these singular anti-social propensities, and the +reserved and taciturn bearing of the English, to purely physical causes. +I may admit that there is something of it in their race, but much more +of it is attributable to their social condition, as is proved by the +contrast of the Americans. + +In America, where the privileges of birth never existed, and where +riches confer no peculiar rights on their possessors, men unacquainted +with each other are very ready to frequent the same places, and find +neither peril nor advantage in the free interchange of their thoughts. +If they meet by accident, they neither seek nor avoid intercourse; their +manner is therefore natural, frank, and open: it is easy to see that +they hardly expect or apprehend anything from each other, and that they +do not care to display, any more than to conceal, their position in the +world. If their demeanor is often cold and serious, it is never haughty +or constrained; and if they do not converse, it is because they are +not in a humor to talk, not because they think it their interest to be +silent. In a foreign country two Americans are at once friends, simply +because they are Americans. They are repulsed by no prejudice; they are +attracted by their common country. For two Englishmen the same blood +is not enough; they must be brought together by the same rank. The +Americans remark this unsociable mood of the English as much as the +French do, and they are not less astonished by it. Yet the Americans are +connected with England by their origin, their religion, their language, +and partially by their manners; they only differ in their social +condition. It may therefore be inferred that the reserve of the English +proceeds from the constitution of their country much more than from that +of its inhabitants. + + + + +Chapter III: Why The Americans Show So Little Sensitiveness In Their Own +Country, And Are So Sensitive In Europe + +The temper of the Americans is vindictive, like that of all serious and +reflecting nations. They hardly ever forget an offence, but it is not +easy to offend them; and their resentment is as slow to kindle as it is +to abate. In aristocratic communities where a small number of persons +manage everything, the outward intercourse of men is subject to settled +conventional rules. Everyone then thinks he knows exactly what marks of +respect or of condescension he ought to display, and none are presumed +to be ignorant of the science of etiquette. These usages of the first +class in society afterwards serve as a model to all the others; besides +which each of the latter lays down a code of its own, to which all +its members are bound to conform. Thus the rules of politeness form a +complex system of legislation, which it is difficult to be perfectly +master of, but from which it is dangerous for anyone to deviate; so that +men are constantly exposed involuntarily to inflict or to receive +bitter affronts. But as the distinctions of rank are obliterated, as men +differing in education and in birth meet and mingle in the same places +of resort, it is almost impossible to agree upon the rules of good +breeding. As its laws are uncertain, to disobey them is not a crime, +even in the eyes of those who know what they are; men attach more +importance to intentions than to forms, and they grow less civil, but at +the same time less quarrelsome. There are many little attentions which +an American does not care about; he thinks they are not due to him, or +he presumes that they are not known to be due: he therefore either +does not perceive a rudeness or he forgives it; his manners become less +courteous, and his character more plain and masculine. + +The mutual indulgence which the Americans display, and the manly +confidence with which they treat each other, also result from another +deeper and more general cause, which I have already adverted to in the +preceding chapter. In the United States the distinctions of rank +in civil society are slight, in political society they are null; an +American, therefore, does not think himself bound to pay particular +attentions to any of his fellow-citizens, nor does he require such +attentions from them towards himself. As he does not see that it is his +interest eagerly to seek the company of any of his countrymen, he is +slow to fancy that his own company is declined: despising no one on +account of his station, he does not imagine that anyone can despise him +for that cause; and until he has clearly perceived an insult, he does +not suppose that an affront was intended. The social condition of the +Americans naturally accustoms them not to take offence in small +matters; and, on the other hand, the democratic freedom which they +enjoy transfuses this same mildness of temper into the character of the +nation. The political institutions of the United States constantly bring +citizens of all ranks into contact, and compel them to pursue great +undertakings in concert. People thus engaged have scarcely time to +attend to the details of etiquette, and they are besides too strongly +interested in living harmoniously for them to stick at such things. They +therefore soon acquire a habit of considering the feelings and opinions +of those whom they meet more than their manners, and they do not allow +themselves to be annoyed by trifles. + +I have often remarked in the United States that it is not easy to make +a man understand that his presence may be dispensed with; hints will not +always suffice to shake him off. I contradict an American at every word +he says, to show him that his conversation bores me; he instantly labors +with fresh pertinacity to convince me; I preserve a dogged silence, and +he thinks I am meditating deeply on the truths which he is uttering; at +last I rush from his company, and he supposes that some urgent business +hurries me elsewhere. This man will never understand that he wearies me +to extinction unless I tell him so: and the only way to get rid of him +is to make him my enemy for life. + +It appears surprising at first sight that the same man transported to +Europe suddenly becomes so sensitive and captious, that I often find +it as difficult to avoid offending him here as it was to put him out +of countenance. These two opposite effects proceed from the same cause. +Democratic institutions generally give men a lofty notion of their +country and of themselves. An American leaves his country with a heart +swollen with pride; on arriving in Europe he at once finds out that we +are not so engrossed by the United States and the great people which +inhabits them as he had supposed, and this begins to annoy him. He has +been informed that the conditions of society are not equal in our part +of the globe, and he observes that among the nations of Europe the +traces of rank are not wholly obliterated; that wealth and birth still +retain some indeterminate privileges, which force themselves upon his +notice whilst they elude definition. He is therefore profoundly ignorant +of the place which he ought to occupy in this half-ruined scale of +classes, which are sufficiently distinct to hate and despise each other, +yet sufficiently alike for him to be always confounding them. He is +afraid of ranging himself too high--still more is he afraid of being +ranged too low; this twofold peril keeps his mind constantly on the +stretch, and embarrasses all he says and does. He learns from tradition +that in Europe ceremonial observances were infinitely varied according +to different ranks; this recollection of former times completes his +perplexity, and he is the more afraid of not obtaining those marks of +respect which are due to him, as he does not exactly know in what +they consist. He is like a man surrounded by traps: society is not a +recreation for him, but a serious toil: he weighs your least actions, +interrogates your looks, and scrutinizes all you say, lest there should +be some hidden allusion to affront him. I doubt whether there was ever +a provincial man of quality so punctilious in breeding as he is: he +endeavors to attend to the slightest rules of etiquette, and does not +allow one of them to be waived towards himself: he is full of scruples +and at the same time of pretensions; he wishes to do enough, but fears +to do too much; and as he does not very well know the limits of the one +or of the other, he keeps up a haughty and embarrassed air of reserve. + +But this is not all: here is yet another double of the human heart. An +American is forever talking of the admirable equality which prevails in +the United States; aloud he makes it the boast of his country, but in +secret he deplores it for himself; and he aspires to show that, for his +part, he is an exception to the general state of things which he vaunts. +There is hardly an American to be met with who does not claim some +remote kindred with the first founders of the colonies; and as for the +scions of the noble families of England, America seemed to me to be +covered with them. When an opulent American arrives in Europe, his first +care is to surround himself with all the luxuries of wealth: he is so +afraid of being taken for the plain citizen of a democracy, that he +adopts a hundred distorted ways of bringing some new instance of his +wealth before you every day. His house will be in the most fashionable +part of the town: he will always be surrounded by a host of servants. +I have heard an American complain, that in the best houses of Paris the +society was rather mixed; the taste which prevails there was not pure +enough for him; and he ventured to hint that, in his opinion, there was +a want of elegance of manner; he could not accustom himself to see wit +concealed under such unpretending forms. + +These contrasts ought not to surprise us. If the vestiges of former +aristocratic distinctions were not so completely effaced in the United +States, the Americans would be less simple and less tolerant in their +own country--they would require less, and be less fond of borrowed +manners in ours. + + + + +Chapter IV: Consequences Of The Three Preceding Chapters + +When men feel a natural compassion for their mutual sufferings--when +they are brought together by easy and frequent intercourse, and no +sensitive feelings keep them asunder--it may readily be supposed that +they will lend assistance to one another whenever it is needed. When an +American asks for the co-operation of his fellow-citizens it is seldom +refused, and I have often seen it afforded spontaneously and with great +goodwill. If an accident happens on the highway, everybody hastens to +help the sufferer; if some great and sudden calamity befalls a family, +the purses of a thousand strangers are at once willingly opened, and +small but numerous donations pour in to relieve their distress. It often +happens amongst the most civilized nations of the globe, that a poor +wretch is as friendless in the midst of a crowd as the savage in his +wilds: this is hardly ever the case in the United States. The Americans, +who are always cold and often coarse in their manners, seldom show +insensibility; and if they do not proffer services eagerly, yet they do +not refuse to render them. + +All this is not in contradiction to what I have said before on the +subject of individualism. The two things are so far from combating each +other, that I can see how they agree. Equality of conditions, whilst it +makes men feel their independence, shows them their own weakness: they +are free, but exposed to a thousand accidents; and experience soon +teaches them that, although they do not habitually require the +assistance of others, a time almost always comes when they cannot do +without it. We constantly see in Europe that men of the same profession +are ever ready to assist each other; they are all exposed to the same +ills, and that is enough to teach them to seek mutual preservatives, +however hard-hearted and selfish they may otherwise be. When one of +them falls into danger, from which the others may save him by a slight +transient sacrifice or a sudden effort, they do not fail to make the +attempt. Not that they are deeply interested in his fate; for if, by +chance, their exertions are unavailing, they immediately forget the +object of them, and return to their own business; but a sort of tacit +and almost involuntary agreement has been passed between them, by which +each one owes to the others a temporary support which he may claim for +himself in turn. Extend to a people the remark here applied to a class, +and you will understand my meaning. A similar covenant exists in fact +between all the citizens of a democracy: they all feel themselves +subject to the same weakness and the same dangers; and their interest, +as well as their sympathy, makes it a rule with them to lend each +other mutual assistance when required. The more equal social conditions +become, the more do men display this reciprocal disposition to oblige +each other. In democracies no great benefits are conferred, but good +offices are constantly rendered: a man seldom displays self-devotion, +but all men are ready to be of service to one another. + + + + +Chapter V: How Democracy Affects the Relation Of Masters And Servants + +An American who had travelled for a long time in Europe once said to me, +"The English treat their servants with a stiffness and imperiousness +of manner which surprise us; but on the other hand the French sometimes +treat their attendants with a degree of familiarity or of politeness +which we cannot conceive. It looks as if they were afraid to give +orders: the posture of the superior and the inferior is ill-maintained." +The remark was a just one, and I have often made it myself. I have +always considered England as the country in the world where, in our +time, the bond of domestic service is drawn most tightly, and France as +the country where it is most relaxed. Nowhere have I seen masters stand +so high or so low as in these two countries. Between these two extremes +the Americans are to be placed. Such is the fact as it appears upon the +surface of things: to discover the causes of that fact, it is necessary +to search the matter thoroughly. + +No communities have ever yet existed in which social conditions have +been so equal that there were neither rich nor poor, and consequently +neither masters nor servants. Democracy does not prevent the existence +of these two classes, but it changes their dispositions and modifies +their mutual relations. Amongst aristocratic nations servants form a +distinct class, not more variously composed than that of masters. A +settled order is soon established; in the former as well as in the +latter class a scale is formed, with numerous distinctions or marked +gradations of rank, and generations succeed each other thus without any +change of position. These two communities are superposed one above the +other, always distinct, but regulated by analogous principles. This +aristocratic constitution does not exert a less powerful influence +on the notions and manners of servants than on those of masters; and, +although the effects are different, the same cause may easily be traced. +Both classes constitute small communities in the heart of the nation, +and certain permanent notions of right and wrong are ultimately +engendered amongst them. The different acts of human life are viewed by +one particular and unchanging light. In the society of servants, as in +that of masters, men exercise a great influence over each other: they +acknowledge settled rules, and in the absence of law they are guided by +a sort of public opinion: their habits are settled, and their conduct is +placed under a certain control. + +These men, whose destiny is to obey, certainly do not understand fame, +virtue, honesty, and honor in the same manner as their masters; but they +have a pride, a virtue, and an honesty pertaining to their condition; +and they have a notion, if I may use the expression, of a sort of +servile honor. *a Because a class is mean, it must not be supposed that +all who belong to it are mean-hearted; to think so would be a great +mistake. However lowly it may be, he who is foremost there, and who +has no notion of quitting it, occupies an aristocratic position which +inspires him with lofty feelings, pride, and self-respect, that fit +him for the higher virtues and actions above the common. Amongst +aristocratic nations it was by no means rare to find men of noble and +vigorous minds in the service of the great, who felt not the servitude +they bore, and who submitted to the will of their masters without any +fear of their displeasure. But this was hardly ever the case amongst +the inferior ranks of domestic servants. It may be imagined that he +who occupies the lowest stage of the order of menials stands very low +indeed. The French created a word on purpose to designate the servants +of the aristocracy--they called them lackeys. This word "lackey" +served as the strongest expression, when all others were exhausted, to +designate human meanness. Under the old French monarchy, to denote by +a single expression a low-spirited contemptible fellow, it was usual to +say that he had the "soul of a lackey"; the term was enough to convey +all that was intended. [Footnote a: If the principal opinions by which +men are guided are examined closely and in detail, the analogy appears +still more striking, and one is surprised to find amongst them, just as +much as amongst the haughtiest scions of a feudal race, pride of birth, +respect for their ancestry and their descendants, disdain of their +inferiors, a dread of contact, a taste for etiquette, precedents, and +antiquity.] + +The permanent inequality of conditions not only gives servants certain +peculiar virtues and vices, but it places them in a peculiar relation +with respect to their masters. Amongst aristocratic nations the poor man +is familiarized from his childhood with the notion of being commanded: +to whichever side he turns his eyes the graduated structure of society +and the aspect of obedience meet his view. Hence in those countries the +master readily obtains prompt, complete, respectful, and easy obedience +from his servants, because they revere in him not only their master but +the class of masters. He weighs down their will by the whole weight of +the aristocracy. He orders their actions--to a certain extent he even +directs their thoughts. In aristocracies the master often exercises, +even without being aware of it, an amazing sway over the opinions, the +habits, and the manners of those who obey him, and his influence extends +even further than his authority. + +In aristocratic communities there are not only hereditary families of +servants as well as of masters, but the same families of servants +adhere for several generations to the same families of masters (like two +parallel lines which neither meet nor separate); and this considerably +modifies the mutual relations of these two classes of persons. Thus, +although in aristocratic society the master and servant have no natural +resemblance--although, on the contrary, they are placed at an immense +distance on the scale of human beings by their fortune, education, and +opinions--yet time ultimately binds them together. They are connected +by a long series of common reminiscences, and however different they +may be, they grow alike; whilst in democracies, where they are naturally +almost alike, they always remain strangers to each other. Amongst an +aristocratic people the master gets to look upon his servants as an +inferior and secondary part of himself, and he often takes an interest +in their lot by a last stretch of egotism. + +Servants, on their part, are not averse to regard themselves in the same +light; and they sometimes identify themselves with the person of the +master, so that they become an appendage to him in their own eyes as +well as in his. In aristocracies a servant fills a subordinate position +which he cannot get out of; above him is another man, holding a superior +rank which he cannot lose. On one side are obscurity, poverty, obedience +for life; on the other, and also for life, fame, wealth, and command. +The two conditions are always distinct and always in propinquity; the +tie that connects them is as lasting as they are themselves. In this +predicament the servant ultimately detaches his notion of interest from +his own person; he deserts himself, as it were, or rather he transports +himself into the character of his master, and thus assumes an imaginary +personality. He complacently invests himself with the wealth of those +who command him; he shares their fame, exalts himself by their rank, +and feeds his mind with borrowed greatness, to which he attaches +more importance than those who fully and really possess it. There is +something touching, and at the same time ridiculous, in this strange +confusion of two different states of being. These passions of masters, +when they pass into the souls of menials, assume the natural dimensions +of the place they occupy--they are contracted and lowered. What was +pride in the former becomes puerile vanity and paltry ostentation in the +latter. The servants of a great man are commonly most punctilious as to +the marks of respect due to him, and they attach more importance to his +slightest privileges than he does himself. In France a few of these old +servants of the aristocracy are still to be met with here and there; +they have survived their race, which will soon disappear with them +altogether. In the United States I never saw anyone at all like them. +The Americans are not only unacquainted with the kind of man, but it is +hardly possible to make them understand that such ever existed. It is +scarcely less difficult for them to conceive it, than for us to form a +correct notion of what a slave was amongst the Romans, or a serf in the +Middle Ages. All these men were in fact, though in different degrees, +results of the same cause: they are all retiring from our sight, and +disappearing in the obscurity of the past, together with the social +condition to which they owed their origin. + +Equality of conditions turns servants and masters into new beings, and +places them in new relative positions. When social conditions are nearly +equal, men are constantly changing their situations in life: there is +still a class of menials and a class of masters, but these classes are +not always composed of the same individuals, still less of the same +families; and those who command are not more secure of perpetuity than +those who obey. As servants do not form a separate people, they have +no habits, prejudices, or manners peculiar to themselves; they are not +remarkable for any particular turn of mind or moods of feeling. They +know no vices or virtues of their condition, but they partake of the +education, the opinions, the feelings, the virtues, and the vices of +their contemporaries; and they are honest men or scoundrels in the same +way as their masters are. The conditions of servants are not less equal +than those of masters. As no marked ranks or fixed subordination are to +be found amongst them, they will not display either the meanness or the +greatness which characterizes the aristocracy of menials as well as all +other aristocracies. I never saw a man in the United States who reminded +me of that class of confidential servants of which we still retain a +reminiscence in Europe, neither did I ever meet with such a thing as a +lackey: all traces of the one and of the other have disappeared. + +In democracies servants are not only equal amongst themselves, but it +may be said that they are in some sort the equals of their masters. This +requires explanation in order to be rightly understood. At any moment a +servant may become a master, and he aspires to rise to that condition: +the servant is therefore not a different man from the master. Why +then has the former a right to command, and what compels the latter to +obey?--the free and temporary consent of both their wills. Neither of +them is by nature inferior to the other; they only become so for a time +by covenant. Within the terms of this covenant, the one is a +servant, the other a master; beyond it they are two citizens of the +commonwealth--two men. I beg the reader particularly to observe that +this is not only the notion which servants themselves entertain of their +own condition; domestic service is looked upon by masters in the same +light; and the precise limits of authority and obedience are as clearly +settled in the mind of the one as in that of the other. + +When the greater part of the community have long attained a condition +nearly alike, and when equality is an old and acknowledged fact, the +public mind, which is never affected by exceptions, assigns certain +general limits to the value of man, above or below which no man can +long remain placed. It is in vain that wealth and poverty, authority +and obedience, accidentally interpose great distances between two men; +public opinion, founded upon the usual order of things, draws them to a +common level, and creates a species of imaginary equality between them, +in spite of the real inequality of their conditions. This all-powerful +opinion penetrates at length even into the hearts of those whose +interest might arm them to resist it; it affects their judgment whilst +it subdues their will. In their inmost convictions the master and the +servant no longer perceive any deep-seated difference between them, and +they neither hope nor fear to meet with any such at any time. They are +therefore neither subject to disdain nor to anger, and they discern in +each other neither humility nor pride. The master holds the contract of +service to be the only source of his power, and the servant regards +it as the only cause of his obedience. They do not quarrel about their +reciprocal situations, but each knows his own and keeps it. + +In the French army the common soldier is taken from nearly the same +classes as the officer, and may hold the same commissions; out of the +ranks he considers himself entirely equal to his military superiors, and +in point of fact he is so; but when under arms he does not hesitate to +obey, and his obedience is not the less prompt, precise, and ready, +for being voluntary and defined. This example may give a notion of what +takes place between masters and servants in democratic communities. + +It would be preposterous to suppose that those warm and deep-seated +affections, which are sometimes kindled in the domestic service of +aristocracy, will ever spring up between these two men, or that they +will exhibit strong instances of self-sacrifice. In aristocracies +masters and servants live apart, and frequently their only intercourse +is through a third person; yet they commonly stand firmly by one +another. In democratic countries the master and the servant are close +together; they are in daily personal contact, but their minds do not +intermingle; they have common occupations, hardly ever common interests. +Amongst such a people the servant always considers himself as a +sojourner in the dwelling of his masters. He knew nothing of their +forefathers--he will see nothing of their descendants--he has nothing +lasting to expect from their hand. Why then should he confound his +life with theirs, and whence should so strange a surrender of himself +proceed? The reciprocal position of the two men is changed--their mutual +relations must be so too. + +I would fain illustrate all these reflections by the example of the +Americans; but for this purpose the distinctions of persons and places +must be accurately traced. In the South of the Union, slavery exists; +all that I have just said is consequently inapplicable there. In the +North, the majority of servants are either freedmen or the children +of freedmen; these persons occupy a contested position in the public +estimation; by the laws they are brought up to the level of their +masters--by the manners of the country they are obstinately detruded +from it. They do not themselves clearly know their proper place, and +they are almost always either insolent or craven. But in the Northern +States, especially in New England, there are a certain number of whites, +who agree, for wages, to yield a temporary obedience to the will of +their fellow-citizens. I have heard that these servants commonly perform +the duties of their situation with punctuality and intelligence; and +that without thinking themselves naturally inferior to the person who +orders them, they submit without reluctance to obey him. They appear to +me to carry into service some of those manly habits which independence +and equality engender. Having once selected a hard way of life, they do +not seek to escape from it by indirect means; and they have sufficient +respect for themselves, not to refuse to their master that obedience +which they have freely promised. On their part, masters require nothing +of their servants but the faithful and rigorous performance of the +covenant: they do not ask for marks of respect, they do not claim their +love or devoted attachment; it is enough that, as servants, they +are exact and honest. It would not then be true to assert that, +in democratic society, the relation of servants and masters is +disorganized: it is organized on another footing; the rule is different, +but there is a rule. + +It is not my purpose to inquire whether the new state of things which +I have just described is inferior to that which preceded it, or simply +different. Enough for me that it is fixed and determined: for what is +most important to meet with among men is not any given ordering, but +order. But what shall I say of those sad and troubled times at which +equality is established in the midst of the tumult of revolution--when +democracy, after having been introduced into the state of society, still +struggles with difficulty against the prejudices and manners of the +country? The laws, and partially public opinion, already declare that +no natural or permanent inferiority exists between the servant and +the master. But this new belief has not yet reached the innermost +convictions of the latter, or rather his heart rejects it; in the secret +persuasion of his mind the master thinks that he belongs to a peculiar +and superior race; he dares not say so, but he shudders whilst he allows +himself to be dragged to the same level. His authority over his servants +becomes timid and at the same time harsh: he has already ceased to +entertain for them the feelings of patronizing kindness which long +uncontested power always engenders, and he is surprised that, being +changed himself, his servant changes also. He wants his attendants to +form regular and permanent habits, in a condition of domestic service +which is only temporary: he requires that they should appear contented +with and proud of a servile condition, which they will one day shake +off--that they should sacrifice themselves to a man who can neither +protect nor ruin them--and in short that they should contract an +indissoluble engagement to a being like themselves, and one who will +last no longer than they will. + +Amongst aristocratic nations it often happens that the condition of +domestic service does not degrade the character of those who enter upon +it, because they neither know nor imagine any other; and the amazing +inequality which is manifest between them and their master appears to +be the necessary and unavoidable consequence of some hidden law of +Providence. In democracies the condition of domestic service does not +degrade the character of those who enter upon it, because it is freely +chosen, and adopted for a time only; because it is not stigmatized by +public opinion, and creates no permanent inequality between the servant +and the master. But whilst the transition from one social condition +to another is going on, there is almost always a time when men's +minds fluctuate between the aristocratic notion of subjection and +the democratic notion of obedience. Obedience then loses its moral +importance in the eyes of him who obeys; he no longer considers it as +a species of divine obligation, and he does not yet view it under +its purely human aspect; it has to him no character of sanctity or +of justice, and he submits to it as to a degrading but profitable +condition. At that moment a confused and imperfect phantom of equality +haunts the minds of servants; they do not at once perceive whether the +equality to which they are entitled is to be found within or without +the pale of domestic service; and they rebel in their hearts against a +subordination to which they have subjected themselves, and from which +they derive actual profit. They consent to serve, and they blush to +obey; they like the advantages of service, but not the master; or +rather, they are not sure that they ought not themselves to be masters, +and they are inclined to consider him who orders them as an unjust +usurper of their own rights. Then it is that the dwelling of every +citizen offers a spectacle somewhat analogous to the gloomy aspect of +political society. A secret and intestine warfare is going on there +between powers, ever rivals and suspicious of one another: the master is +ill-natured and weak, the servant ill-natured and intractable; the one +constantly attempts to evade by unfair restrictions his obligation to +protect and to remunerate--the other his obligation to obey. The reins +of domestic government dangle between them, to be snatched at by one +or the other. The lines which divide authority from oppression, liberty +from license, and right from might, are to their eyes so jumbled +together and confused, that no one knows exactly what he is, or what he +may be, or what he ought to be. Such a condition is not democracy, but +revolution. + + + + +Chapter VI: That Democratic Institutions And Manners Tend To Raise Rents +And Shorten The Terms Of Leases + +What has been said of servants and masters is applicable, to a certain +extent, to landowners and farming tenants; but this subject deserves +to be considered by itself. In America there are, properly speaking, no +tenant farmers; every man owns the ground he tills. It must be admitted +that democratic laws tend greatly to increase the number of landowners, +and to diminish that of farming tenants. Yet what takes place in the +United States is much less attributable to the institutions of the +country than to the country itself. In America land is cheap, and anyone +may easily become a landowner; its returns are small, and its produce +cannot well be divided between a landowner and a farmer. America +therefore stands alone in this as well as in many other respects, and it +would be a mistake to take it as an example. + +I believe that in democratic as well as in aristocratic countries there +will be landowners and tenants, but the connection existing between them +will be of a different kind. In aristocracies the hire of a farm is paid +to the landlord, not only in rent, but in respect, regard, and duty; +in democracies the whole is paid in cash. When estates are divided and +passed from hand to hand, and the permanent connection which existed +between families and the soil is dissolved, the landowner and the tenant +are only casually brought into contact. They meet for a moment to settle +the conditions of the agreement, and then lose sight of each other; they +are two strangers brought together by a common interest, and who keenly +talk over a matter of business, the sole object of which is to make +money. + +In proportion as property is subdivided and wealth distributed over the +country, the community is filled with people whose former opulence is +declining, and with others whose fortunes are of recent growth and whose +wants increase more rapidly than their resources. For all such persons +the smallest pecuniary profit is a matter of importance, and none of +them feel disposed to waive any of their claims, or to lose any portion +of their income. As ranks are intermingled, and as very large as well +as very scanty fortunes become more rare, every day brings the social +condition of the landowner nearer to that of the farmer; the one has not +naturally any uncontested superiority over the other; between two men +who are equal, and not at ease in their circumstances, the contract of +hire is exclusively an affair of money. A man whose estate extends over +a whole district, and who owns a hundred farms, is well aware of the +importance of gaining at the same time the affections of some thousands +of men; this object appears to call for his exertions, and to attain it +he will readily make considerable sacrifices. But he who owns a hundred +acres is insensible to similar considerations, and he cares but little +to win the private regard of his tenant. + +An aristocracy does not expire like a man in a single day; the +aristocratic principle is slowly undermined in men's opinion, before it +is attacked in their laws. Long before open war is declared against it, +the tie which had hitherto united the higher classes to the lower may be +seen to be gradually relaxed. Indifference and contempt are betrayed by +one class, jealousy and hatred by the others; the intercourse between +rich and poor becomes less frequent and less kind, and rents are raised. +This is not the consequence of a democratic revolution, but its certain +harbinger; for an aristocracy which has lost the affections of the +people, once and forever, is like a tree dead at the root, which is the +more easily torn up by the winds the higher its branches have spread. + +In the course of the last fifty years the rents of farms have amazingly +increased, not only in France but throughout the greater part of Europe. +The remarkable improvements which have taken place in agriculture and +manufactures within the same period do not suffice in my opinion to +explain this fact; recourse must be had to another cause more powerful +and more concealed. I believe that cause is to be found in the +democratic institutions which several European nations have adopted, and +in the democratic passions which more or less agitate all the rest. I +have frequently heard great English landowners congratulate themselves +that, at the present day, they derive a much larger income from their +estates than their fathers did. They have perhaps good reasons to be +glad; but most assuredly they know not what they are glad of. They think +they are making a clear gain, when it is in reality only an exchange; +their influence is what they are parting with for cash; and what they +gain in money will ere long be lost in power. + +There is yet another sign by which it is easy to know that a great +democratic revolution is going on or approaching. In the Middle Ages +almost all lands were leased for lives, or for very long terms; the +domestic economy of that period shows that leases for ninety-nine years +were more frequent then than leases for twelve years are now. Men then +believed that families were immortal; men's conditions seemed settled +forever, and the whole of society appeared to be so fixed, that it +was not supposed that anything would ever be stirred or shaken in its +structure. In ages of equality, the human mind takes a different bent; +the prevailing notion is that nothing abides, and man is haunted by +the thought of mutability. Under this impression the landowner and +the tenant himself are instinctively averse to protracted terms of +obligation; they are afraid of being tied up to-morrow by the contract +which benefits them today. They have vague anticipations of some sudden +and unforeseen change in their conditions; they mistrust themselves; +they fear lest their taste should change, and lest they should lament +that they cannot rid themselves of what they coveted; nor are such fears +unfounded, for in democratic ages that which is most fluctuating amidst +the fluctuation of all around is the heart of man. + + + + +Chapter VII: Influence Of Democracy On Wages + +Most of the remarks which I have already made in speaking of servants +and masters, may be applied to masters and workmen. As the gradations +of the social scale come to be less observed, whilst the great sink the +humble rise, and as poverty as well as opulence ceases to be hereditary, +the distance both in reality and in opinion, which heretofore separated +the workman from the master, is lessened every day. The workman +conceives a more lofty opinion of his rights, of his future, of himself; +he is filled with new ambition and with new desires, he is harassed by +new wants. Every instant he views with longing eyes the profits of his +employer; and in order to share them, he strives to dispose of his labor +at a higher rate, and he generally succeeds at length in the attempt. +In democratic countries, as well as elsewhere, most of the branches +of productive industry are carried on at a small cost, by men little +removed by their wealth or education above the level of those whom they +employ. These manufacturing speculators are extremely numerous; their +interests differ; they cannot therefore easily concert or combine their +exertions. On the other hand the workmen have almost always some sure +resources, which enable them to refuse to work when they cannot get +what they conceive to be the fair price of their labor. In the constant +struggle for wages which is going on between these two classes, their +strength is divided, and success alternates from one to the other. It +is even probable that in the end the interest of the working class must +prevail; for the high wages which they have already obtained make +them every day less dependent on their masters; and as they grow more +independent, they have greater facilities for obtaining a further +increase of wages. + +I shall take for example that branch of productive industry which is +still at the present day the most generally followed in France, and in +almost all the countries of the world--I mean the cultivation of the +soil. In France most of those who labor for hire in agriculture, are +themselves owners of certain plots of ground, which just enable them +to subsist without working for anyone else. When these laborers come to +offer their services to a neighboring landowner or farmer, if he refuses +them a certain rate of wages, they retire to their own small property +and await another opportunity. + +I think that, upon the whole, it may be asserted that a slow and gradual +rise of wages is one of the general laws of democratic communities. In +proportion as social conditions become more equal, wages rise; and as +wages are higher, social conditions become more equal. But a great and +gloomy exception occurs in our own time. I have shown in a preceding +chapter that aristocracy, expelled from political society, has +taken refuge in certain departments of productive industry, and has +established its sway there under another form; this powerfully affects +the rate of wages. As a large capital is required to embark in the great +manufacturing speculations to which I allude, the number of persons who +enter upon them is exceedingly limited: as their number is small, they +can easily concert together, and fix the rate of wages as they please. +Their workmen on the contrary are exceedingly numerous, and the number +of them is always increasing; for, from time to time, an extraordinary +run of business takes place, during which wages are inordinately high, +and they attract the surrounding population to the factories. But, when +once men have embraced that line of life, we have already seen that they +cannot quit it again, because they soon contract habits of body and mind +which unfit them for any other sort of toil. These men have generally +but little education and industry, with but few resources; they stand +therefore almost at the mercy of the master. When competition, or other +fortuitous circumstances, lessen his profits, he can reduce the wages of +his workmen almost at pleasure, and make from them what he loses by the +chances of business. Should the workmen strike, the master, who is a +rich man, can very well wait without being ruined until necessity brings +them back to him; but they must work day by day or they die, for their +only property is in their hands. They have long been impoverished by +oppression, and the poorer they become the more easily may they be +oppressed: they can never escape from this fatal circle of cause +and consequence. It is not then surprising that wages, after having +sometimes suddenly risen, are permanently lowered in this branch of +industry; whereas in other callings the price of labor, which generally +increases but little, is nevertheless constantly augmented. + +This state of dependence and wretchedness, in which a part of the +manufacturing population of our time lives, forms an exception to the +general rule, contrary to the state of all the rest of the community; +but, for this very reason, no circumstance is more important or more +deserving of the especial consideration of the legislator; for when the +whole of society is in motion, it is difficult to keep any one class +stationary; and when the greater number of men are opening new paths to +fortune, it is no less difficult to make the few support in peace their +wants and their desires. + + + + +Chapter VIII: Influence Of Democracy On Kindred + +I have just examined the changes which the equality of conditions +produces in the mutual relations of the several members of the community +amongst democratic nations, and amongst the Americans in particular. +I would now go deeper, and inquire into the closer ties of kindred: my +object here is not to seek for new truths, but to show in what manner +facts already known are connected with my subject. + +It has been universally remarked, that in our time the several members +of a family stand upon an entirely new footing towards each other; that +the distance which formerly separated a father from his sons has been +lessened; and that paternal authority, if not destroyed, is at least +impaired. Something analogous to this, but even more striking, may be +observed in the United States. In America the family, in the Roman and +aristocratic signification of the word, does not exist. All that remains +of it are a few vestiges in the first years of childhood, when the +father exercises, without opposition, that absolute domestic authority, +which the feebleness of his children renders necessary, and which their +interest, as well as his own incontestable superiority, warrants. But +as soon as the young American approaches manhood, the ties of filial +obedience are relaxed day by day: master of his thoughts, he is soon +master of his conduct. In America there is, strictly speaking, no +adolescence: at the close of boyhood the man appears, and begins to +trace out his own path. It would be an error to suppose that this is +preceded by a domestic struggle, in which the son has obtained by a +sort of moral violence the liberty that his father refused him. The +same habits, the same principles which impel the one to assert +his independence, predispose the other to consider the use of that +independence as an incontestable right. The former does not exhibit any +of those rancorous or irregular passions which disturb men long after +they have shaken off an established authority; the latter feels none of +that bitter and angry regret which is apt to survive a bygone power. The +father foresees the limits of his authority long beforehand, and when +the time arrives he surrenders it without a struggle: the son looks +forward to the exact period at which he will be his own master; and he +enters upon his freedom without precipitation and without effort, as a +possession which is his own and which no one seeks to wrest from him. *a + +[Footnote a: The Americans, however, have not yet thought fit to strip +the parent, as has been done in France, of one of the chief elements of +parental authority, by depriving him of the power of disposing of his +property at his death. In the United States there are no restrictions on +the powers of a testator. In this respect, as in almost all others, it +is easy to perceive, that if the political legislation of the Americans +is much more democratic than that of the French, the civil legislation +of the latter is infinitely more democratic than that of the former. +This may easily be accounted for. The civil legislation of France +was the work of a man who saw that it was his interest to satisfy the +democratic passions of his contemporaries in all that was not directly +and immediately hostile to his own power. He was willing to allow some +popular principles to regulate the distribution of property and the +government of families, provided they were not to be introduced into +the administration of public affairs. Whilst the torrent of democracy +overwhelmed the civil laws of the country, he hoped to find an easy +shelter behind its political institutions. This policy was at once both +adroit and selfish; but a compromise of this kind could not last; for +in the end political institutions never fail to become the image and +expression of civil society; and in this sense it may be said that +nothing is more political in a nation than its civil legislation.] + +It may perhaps not be without utility to show how these changes which +take place in family relations, are closely connected with the social +and political revolution which is approaching its consummation under +our own observation. There are certain great social principles, which a +people either introduces everywhere, or tolerates nowhere. In countries +which are aristocratically constituted with all the gradations of rank, +the government never makes a direct appeal to the mass of the governed: +as men are united together, it is enough to lead the foremost, the +rest will follow. This is equally applicable to the family, as to all +aristocracies which have a head. Amongst aristocratic nations, social +institutions recognize, in truth, no one in the family but the father; +children are received by society at his hands; society governs him, +he governs them. Thus the parent has not only a natural right, but he +acquires a political right, to command them: he is the author and +the support of his family; but he is also its constituted ruler. In +democracies, where the government picks out every individual singly from +the mass, to make him subservient to the general laws of the community, +no such intermediate person is required: a father is there, in the eye +of the law, only a member of the community, older and richer than his +sons. + +When most of the conditions of life are extremely unequal, and the +inequality of these conditions is permanent, the notion of a superior +grows upon the imaginations of men: if the law invested him with no +privileges, custom and public opinion would concede them. When, on +the contrary, men differ but little from each other, and do not always +remain in dissimilar conditions of life, the general notion of a +superior becomes weaker and less distinct: it is vain for legislation +to strive to place him who obeys very much beneath him who commands; the +manners of the time bring the two men nearer to one another, and draw +them daily towards the same level. Although the legislation of an +aristocratic people should grant no peculiar privileges to the heads +of families; I shall not be the less convinced that their power is +more respected and more extensive than in a democracy; for I know that, +whatsoever the laws may be, superiors always appear higher and inferiors +lower in aristocracies than amongst democratic nations. + + +When men live more for the remembrance of what has been than for the +care of what is, and when they are more given to attend to what their +ancestors thought than to think themselves, the father is the natural +and necessary tie between the past and the present--the link by which +the ends of these two chains are connected. In aristocracies, then, the +father is not only the civil head of the family, but the oracle of its +traditions, the expounder of its customs, the arbiter of its manners. +He is listened to with deference, he is addressed with respect, and +the love which is felt for him is always tempered with fear. When the +condition of society becomes democratic, and men adopt as their general +principle that it is good and lawful to judge of all things for one's +self, using former points of belief not as a rule of faith but simply +as a means of information, the power which the opinions of a father +exercise over those of his sons diminishes as well as his legal power. + +Perhaps the subdivision of estates which democracy brings with it +contributes more than anything else to change the relations existing +between a father and his children. When the property of the father of a +family is scanty, his son and himself constantly live in the same place, +and share the same occupations: habit and necessity bring them +together, and force them to hold constant communication: the inevitable +consequence is a sort of familiar intimacy, which renders authority less +absolute, and which can ill be reconciled with the external forms +of respect. Now in democratic countries the class of those who are +possessed of small fortunes is precisely that which gives strength +to the notions, and a particular direction to the manners, of the +community. That class makes its opinions preponderate as universally as +its will, and even those who are most inclined to resist its commands +are carried away in the end by its example. I have known eager opponents +of democracy who allowed their children to address them with perfect +colloquial equality. + +Thus, at the same time that the power of aristocracy is declining, the +austere, the conventional, and the legal part of parental authority +vanishes, and a species of equality prevails around the domestic hearth. +I know not, upon the whole, whether society loses by the change, but I +am inclined to believe that man individually is a gainer by it. I think +that, in proportion as manners and laws become more democratic, the +relation of father and son becomes more intimate and more affectionate; +rules and authority are less talked of; confidence and tenderness are +oftentimes increased, and it would seem that the natural bond is drawn +closer in proportion as the social bond is loosened. In a democratic +family the father exercises no other power than that with which men +love to invest the affection and the experience of age; his orders would +perhaps be disobeyed, but his advice is for the most part authoritative. +Though he be not hedged in with ceremonial respect, his sons at least +accost him with confidence; no settled form of speech is appropriated +to the mode of addressing him, but they speak to him constantly, and are +ready to consult him day by day; the master and the constituted ruler +have vanished--the father remains. Nothing more is needed, in order +to judge of the difference between the two states of society in this +respect, than to peruse the family correspondence of aristocratic ages. +The style is always correct, ceremonious, stiff, and so cold that the +natural warmth of the heart can hardly be felt in the language. +The language, on the contrary, addressed by a son to his father in +democratic countries is always marked by mingled freedom, familiarity +and affection, which at once show that new relations have sprung up in +the bosom of the family. + +A similar revolution takes place in the mutual relations of children. In +aristocratic families, as well as in aristocratic society, every place +is marked out beforehand. Not only does the father occupy a separate +rank, in which he enjoys extensive privileges, but even the children +are not equal amongst themselves. The age and sex of each irrevocably +determine his rank, and secure to him certain privileges: most of these +distinctions are abolished or diminished by democracy. In aristocratic +families the eldest son, inheriting the greater part of the property, +and almost all the rights of the family, becomes the chief, and, to a +certain extent, the master, of his brothers. Greatness and power are for +him--for them, mediocrity and dependence. Nevertheless it would be wrong +to suppose that, amongst aristocratic nations, the privileges of the +eldest son are advantageous to himself alone, or that they excite +nothing but envy and hatred in those around him. The eldest son commonly +endeavors to procure wealth and power for his brothers, because the +general splendor of the house is reflected back on him who represents +it; the younger sons seek to back the elder brother in all his +undertakings, because the greatness and power of the head of the family +better enable him to provide for all its branches. The different members +of an aristocratic family are therefore very closely bound together; +their interests are connected, their minds agree, but their hearts are +seldom in harmony. + +Democracy also binds brothers to each other, but by very different +means. Under democratic laws all the children are perfectly equal, and +consequently independent; nothing brings them forcibly together, but +nothing keeps them apart; and as they have the same origin, as they are +trained under the same roof, as they are treated with the same care, and +as no peculiar privilege distinguishes or divides them, the affectionate +and youthful intimacy of early years easily springs up between them. +Scarcely any opportunities occur to break the tie thus formed at the +outset of life; for their brotherhood brings them daily together, +without embarrassing them. It is not, then, by interest, but by common +associations and by the free sympathy of opinion and of taste, that +democracy unites brothers to each other. It divides their inheritance, +but it allows their hearts and minds to mingle together. Such is +the charm of these democratic manners, that even the partisans of +aristocracy are caught by it; and after having experienced it for some +time, they are by no means tempted to revert to the respectful and +frigid observance of aristocratic families. They would be glad to retain +the domestic habits of democracy, if they might throw off its social +conditions and its laws; but these elements are indissolubly united, and +it is impossible to enjoy the former without enduring the latter. +The remarks I have made on filial love and fraternal affection are +applicable to all the passions which emanate spontaneously from human +nature itself. If a certain mode of thought or feeling is the result of +some peculiar condition of life, when that condition is altered nothing +whatever remains of the thought or feeling. Thus a law may bind two +members of the community very closely to one another; but that law being +abolished, they stand asunder. Nothing was more strict than the tie +which united the vassal to the lord under the feudal system; at the +present day the two men know not each other; the fear, the gratitude, +and the affection which formerly connected them have vanished, and not +a vestige of the tie remains. Such, however, is not the case with those +feelings which are natural to mankind. Whenever a law attempts to tutor +these feelings in any particular manner, it seldom fails to weaken them; +by attempting to add to their intensity, it robs them of some of their +elements, for they are never stronger than when left to themselves. + +Democracy, which destroys or obscures almost all the old conventional +rules of society, and which prevents men from readily assenting to new +ones, entirely effaces most of the feelings to which these conventional +rules have given rise; but it only modifies some others, and frequently +imparts to them a degree of energy and sweetness unknown before. Perhaps +it is not impossible to condense into a single proposition the whole +meaning of this chapter, and of several others that preceded it. +Democracy loosens social ties, but it draws the ties of nature more +tight; it brings kindred more closely together, whilst it places the +various members of the community more widely apart. + + + + +Chapter IX: Education Of Young Women In The United States + +No free communities ever existed without morals; and, as I observed +in the former part of this work, morals are the work of woman. +Consequently, whatever affects the condition of women, their habits +and their opinions, has great political importance in my eyes. Amongst +almost all Protestant nations young women are far more the mistresses of +their own actions than they are in Catholic countries. This independence +is still greater in Protestant countries, like England, which have +retained or acquired the right of self-government; the spirit of freedom +is then infused into the domestic circle by political habits and by +religious opinions. In the United States the doctrines of Protestantism +are combined with great political freedom and a most democratic state +of society; and nowhere are young women surrendered so early or so +completely to their own guidance. Long before an American girl arrives +at the age of marriage, her emancipation from maternal control begins; +she has scarcely ceased to be a child when she already thinks for +herself, speaks with freedom, and acts on her own impulse. The great +scene of the world is constantly open to her view; far from seeking +concealment, it is every day disclosed to her more completely, and she +is taught to survey it with a firm and calm gaze. Thus the vices and +dangers of society are early revealed to her; as she sees them clearly, +she views them without illusions, and braves them without fear; for she +is full of reliance on her own strength, and her reliance seems to be +shared by all who are about her. An American girl scarcely ever displays +that virginal bloom in the midst of young desires, or that innocent +and ingenuous grace which usually attends the European woman in the +transition from girlhood to youth. It is rarely that an American woman +at any age displays childish timidity or ignorance. Like the young women +of Europe, she seeks to please, but she knows precisely the cost of +pleasing. If she does not abandon herself to evil, at least she knows +that it exists; and she is remarkable rather for purity of manners +than for chastity of mind. I have been frequently surprised, and almost +frightened, at the singular address and happy boldness with which young +women in America contrive to manage their thoughts and their language +amidst all the difficulties of stimulating conversation; a philosopher +would have stumbled at every step along the narrow path which they trod +without accidents and without effort. It is easy indeed to perceive +that, even amidst the independence of early youth, an American woman +is always mistress of herself; she indulges in all permitted pleasures, +without yielding herself up to any of them; and her reason never allows +the reins of self-guidance to drop, though it often seems to hold them +loosely. + +In France, where remnants of every age are still so strangely mingled +in the opinions and tastes of the people, women commonly receive a +reserved, retired, and almost cloistral education, as they did in +aristocratic times; and then they are suddenly abandoned, without a +guide and without assistance, in the midst of all the irregularities +inseparable from democratic society. The Americans are more consistent. +They have found out that in a democracy the independence of individuals +cannot fail to be very great, youth premature, tastes ill-restrained, +customs fleeting, public opinion often unsettled and powerless, +paternal authority weak, and marital authority contested. Under these +circumstances, believing that they had little chance of repressing in +woman the most vehement passions of the human heart, they held that +the surer way was to teach her the art of combating those passions for +herself. As they could not prevent her virtue from being exposed to +frequent danger, they determined that she should know how best to defend +it; and more reliance was placed on the free vigor of her will than +on safeguards which have been shaken or overthrown. Instead, then, of +inculcating mistrust of herself, they constantly seek to enhance their +confidence in her own strength of character. As it is neither possible +nor desirable to keep a young woman in perpetual or complete ignorance, +they hasten to give her a precocious knowledge on all subjects. Far +from hiding the corruptions of the world from her, they prefer that she +should see them at once and train herself to shun them; and they hold it +of more importance to protect her conduct than to be over-scrupulous of +her innocence. + +Although the Americans are a very religious people, they do not rely +on religion alone to defend the virtue of woman; they seek to arm her +reason also. In this they have followed the same method as in several +other respects; they first make the most vigorous efforts to bring +individual independence to exercise a proper control over itself, and +they do not call in the aid of religion until they have reached the +utmost limits of human strength. I am aware that an education of this +kind is not without danger; I am sensible that it tends to invigorate +the judgment at the expense of the imagination, and to make cold and +virtuous women instead of affectionate wives and agreeable companions +to man. Society may be more tranquil and better regulated, but domestic +life has often fewer charms. These, however, are secondary evils, which +may be braved for the sake of higher interests. At the stage at which we +are now arrived the time for choosing is no longer within our control; a +democratic education is indispensable to protect women from the dangers +with which democratic institutions and manners surround them. + + + + +Chapter X: The Young Woman In The Character Of A Wife + +In America the independence of woman is irrevocably lost in the bonds +of matrimony: if an unmarried woman is less constrained there than +elsewhere, a wife is subjected to stricter obligations. The former makes +her father's house an abode of freedom and of pleasure; the latter +lives in the home of her husband as if it were a cloister. Yet these +two different conditions of life are perhaps not so contrary as may be +supposed, and it is natural that the American women should pass through +the one to arrive at the other. + +Religious peoples and trading nations entertain peculiarly serious +notions of marriage: the former consider the regularity of woman's life +as the best pledge and most certain sign of the purity of her morals; +the latter regard it as the highest security for the order and +prosperity of the household. The Americans are at the same time a +puritanical people and a commercial nation: their religious opinions, +as well as their trading habits, consequently lead them to require +much abnegation on the part of woman, and a constant sacrifice of her +pleasures to her duties which is seldom demanded of her in Europe. Thus +in the United States the inexorable opinion of the public carefully +circumscribes woman within the narrow circle of domestic interest and +duties, and forbids her to step beyond it. + +Upon her entrance into the world a young American woman finds these +notions firmly established; she sees the rules which are derived from +them; she is not slow to perceive that she cannot depart for an instant +from the established usages of her contemporaries, without putting in +jeopardy her peace of mind, her honor, nay even her social existence; +and she finds the energy required for such an act of submission in +the firmness of her understanding and in the virile habits which her +education has given her. It may be said that she has learned by the use +of her independence to surrender it without a struggle and without a +murmur when the time comes for making the sacrifice. But no American +woman falls into the toils of matrimony as into a snare held out to +her simplicity and ignorance. She has been taught beforehand what is +expected of her, and voluntarily and freely does she enter upon this +engagement. She supports her new condition with courage, because she +chose it. As in America paternal discipline is very relaxed and the +conjugal tie very strict, a young woman does not contract the latter +without considerable circumspection and apprehension. Precocious +marriages are rare. Thus American women do not marry until their +understandings are exercised and ripened; whereas in other countries +most women generally only begin to exercise and to ripen their +understandings after marriage. + +I by no means suppose, however, that the great change which takes place +in all the habits of women in the United States, as soon as they are +married, ought solely to be attributed to the constraint of public +opinion: it is frequently imposed upon themselves by the sole effort of +their own will. When the time for choosing a husband is arrived, that +cold and stern reasoning power which has been educated and invigorated +by the free observation of the world, teaches an American woman that a +spirit of levity and independence in the bonds of marriage is a constant +subject of annoyance, not of pleasure; it tells her that the amusements +of the girl cannot become the recreations of the wife, and that the +sources of a married woman's happiness are in the home of her husband. +As she clearly discerns beforehand the only road which can lead to +domestic happiness, she enters upon it at once, and follows it to the +end without seeking to turn back. + +The same strength of purpose which the young wives of America display, +in bending themselves at once and without repining to the austere duties +of their new condition, is no less manifest in all the great trials +of their lives. In no country in the world are private fortunes more +precarious than in the United States. It is not uncommon for the same +man, in the course of his life, to rise and sink again through all the +grades which lead from opulence to poverty. American women support these +vicissitudes with calm and unquenchable energy: it would seem that their +desires contract, as easily as they expand, with their fortunes. *a + +[Footnote a: See Appendix S.] + +The greater part of the adventurers who migrate every year to people the +western wilds, belong, as I observed in the former part of this work, to +the old Anglo-American race of the Northern States. Many of these men, +who rush so boldly onwards in pursuit of wealth, were already in the +enjoyment of a competency in their own part of the country. They take +their wives along with them, and make them share the countless +perils and privations which always attend the commencement of these +expeditions. I have often met, even on the verge of the wilderness, with +young women, who after having been brought up amidst all the comforts +of the large towns of New England, had passed, almost without any +intermediate stage, from the wealthy abode of their parents to a +comfortless hovel in a forest. Fever, solitude, and a tedious life had +not broken the springs of their courage. Their features were impaired +and faded, but their looks were firm: they appeared to be at once +sad and resolute. I do not doubt that these young American women had +amassed, in the education of their early years, that inward strength +which they displayed under these circumstances. The early culture of +the girl may still therefore be traced, in the United States, under the +aspect of marriage: her part is changed, her habits are different, but +her character is the same. + + + + +Chapter XI: That The Equality Of Conditions Contributes To The +Maintenance Of Good Morals In America + +Some philosophers and historians have said, or have hinted, that the +strictness of female morality was increased or diminished simply by the +distance of a country from the equator. This solution of the difficulty +was an easy one; and nothing was required but a globe and a pair of +compasses to settle in an instant one of the most difficult problems in +the condition of mankind. But I am not aware that this principle of the +materialists is supported by facts. The same nations have been chaste or +dissolute at different periods of their history; the strictness or the +laxity of their morals depended therefore on some variable cause, not +only on the natural qualities of their country, which were invariable. +I do not deny that in certain climates the passions which are occasioned +by the mutual attraction of the sexes are peculiarly intense; but I +am of opinion that this natural intensity may always be excited or +restrained by the condition of society and by political institutions. + +Although the travellers who have visited North America differ on a great +number of points, they all agree in remarking that morals are far +more strict there than elsewhere. It is evident that on this point +the Americans are very superior to their progenitors the English. +A superficial glance at the two nations will establish the fact. +In England, as in all other countries of Europe, public malice is +constantly attacking the frailties of women. Philosophers and statesmen +are heard to deplore that morals are not sufficiently strict, and the +literary productions of the country constantly lead one to suppose so. +In America all books, novels not excepted, suppose women to be chaste, +and no one thinks of relating affairs of gallantry. No doubt this great +regularity of American morals originates partly in the country, in the +race of the people, and in their religion: but all these causes, which +operate elsewhere, do not suffice to account for it; recourse must +be had to some special reason. This reason appears to me to be the +principle of equality and the institutions derived from it. Equality +of conditions does not of itself engender regularity of morals, but +it unquestionably facilitates and increases it. *a [Footnote a: See +Appendix T.] + +Amongst aristocratic nations birth and fortune frequently make two such +different beings of man and woman, that they can never be united to each +other. Their passions draw them together, but the condition of society, +and the notions suggested by it, prevent them from contracting a +permanent and ostensible tie. The necessary consequence is a great +number of transient and clandestine connections. Nature secretly avenges +herself for the constraint imposed upon her by the laws of man. This is +not so much the case when the equality of conditions has swept away all +the imaginary, or the real, barriers which separated man from woman. No +girl then believes that she cannot become the wife of the man who loves +her; and this renders all breaches of morality before marriage very +uncommon: for, whatever be the credulity of the passions, a woman will +hardly be able to persuade herself that she is beloved, when her lover +is perfectly free to marry her and does not. + +The same cause operates, though more indirectly, on married life. +Nothing better serves to justify an illicit passion, either to the minds +of those who have conceived it or to the world which looks on, than +compulsory or accidental marriages. *b In a country in which a woman is +always free to exercise her power of choosing, and in which education +has prepared her to choose rightly, public opinion is inexorable to her +faults. The rigor of the Americans arises in part from this cause. +They consider marriages as a covenant which is often onerous, but every +condition of which the parties are strictly bound to fulfil, because +they knew all those conditions beforehand, and were perfectly free not +to have contracted them. + +[Footnote b: The literature of Europe sufficiently corroborates this +remark. When a European author wishes to depict in a work of imagination +any of these great catastrophes in matrimony which so frequently occur +amongst us, he takes care to bespeak the compassion of the reader by +bringing before him ill-assorted or compulsory marriages. Although +habitual tolerance has long since relaxed our morals, an author could +hardly succeed in interesting us in the misfortunes of his characters, +if he did not first palliate their faults. This artifice seldom fails: +the daily scenes we witness prepare us long beforehand to be indulgent. +But American writers could never render these palliations probable to +their readers; their customs and laws are opposed to it; and as they +despair of rendering levity of conduct pleasing, they cease to depict +it. This is one of the causes to which must be attributed the small +number of novels published in the United States.] + +The very circumstances which render matrimonial fidelity more obligatory +also render it more easy. In aristocratic countries the object of +marriage is rather to unite property than persons; hence the husband is +sometimes at school and the wife at nurse when they are betrothed. It +cannot be wondered at if the conjugal tie which holds the fortunes of +the pair united allows their hearts to rove; this is the natural result +of the nature of the contract. When, on the contrary, a man always +chooses a wife for himself, without any external coercion or even +guidance, it is generally a conformity of tastes and opinions which +brings a man and a woman together, and this same conformity keeps and +fixes them in close habits of intimacy. + +Our forefathers had conceived a very strange notion on the subject of +marriage: as they had remarked that the small number of love-matches +which occurred in their time almost always turned out ill, they +resolutely inferred that it was exceedingly dangerous to listen to the +dictates of the heart on the subject. Accident appeared to them to be a +better guide than choice. Yet it was not very difficult to perceive that +the examples which they witnessed did in fact prove nothing at all. For +in the first place, if democratic nations leave a woman at liberty +to choose her husband, they take care to give her mind sufficient +knowledge, and her will sufficient strength, to make so important a +choice: whereas the young women who, amongst aristocratic nations, +furtively elope from the authority of their parents to throw themselves +of their own accord into the arms of men whom they have had neither time +to know, nor ability to judge of, are totally without those securities. +It is not surprising that they make a bad use of their freedom of action +the first time they avail themselves of it; nor that they fall into such +cruel mistakes, when, not having received a democratic education, they +choose to marry in conformity to democratic customs. But this is +not all. When a man and woman are bent upon marriage in spite of the +differences of an aristocratic state of society, the difficulties to +be overcome are enormous. Having broken or relaxed the bonds of filial +obedience, they have then to emancipate themselves by a final effort +from the sway of custom and the tyranny of opinion; and when at length +they have succeeded in this arduous task, they stand estranged from +their natural friends and kinsmen: the prejudice they have crossed +separates them from all, and places them in a situation which soon +breaks their courage and sours their hearts. If, then, a couple married +in this manner are first unhappy and afterwards criminal, it ought not +to be attributed to the freedom of their choice, but rather to their +living in a community in which this freedom of choice is not admitted. + +Moreover it should not be forgotten that the same effort which makes a +man violently shake off a prevailing error, commonly impels him beyond +the bounds of reason; that, to dare to declare war, in however just +a cause, against the opinion of one's age and country, a violent and +adventurous spirit is required, and that men of this character seldom +arrive at happiness or virtue, whatever be the path they follow. And +this, it may be observed by the way, is the reason why in the most +necessary and righteous revolutions, it is so rare to meet with virtuous +or moderate revolutionary characters. There is then no just ground +for surprise if a man, who in an age of aristocracy chooses to consult +nothing but his own opinion and his own taste in the choice of a wife, +soon finds that infractions of morality and domestic wretchedness invade +his household: but when this same line of action is in the natural and +ordinary course of things, when it is sanctioned by parental authority +and backed by public opinion, it cannot be doubted that the internal +peace of families will be increased by it, and conjugal fidelity more +rigidly observed. + +Almost all men in democracies are engaged in public or professional +life; and on the other hand the limited extent of common incomes obliges +a wife to confine herself to the house, in order to watch in person and +very closely over the details of domestic economy. All these distinct +and compulsory occupations are so many natural barriers, which, by +keeping the two sexes asunder, render the solicitations of the one less +frequent and less ardent--the resistance of the other more easy. + +Not indeed that the equality of conditions can ever succeed in making +men chaste, but it may impart a less dangerous character to their +breaches of morality. As no one has then either sufficient time or +opportunity to assail a virtue armed in self-defence, there will be +at the same time a great number of courtesans and a great number +of virtuous women. This state of things causes lamentable cases of +individual hardship, but it does not prevent the body of society from +being strong and alert: it does not destroy family ties, or enervate the +morals of the nation. Society is endangered not by the great profligacy +of a few, but by laxity of morals amongst all. In the eyes of a +legislator, prostitution is less to be dreaded than intrigue. + +The tumultuous and constantly harassed life which equality makes men +lead, not only distracts them from the passion of love, by denying +them time to indulge in it, but it diverts them from it by another more +secret but more certain road. All men who live in democratic ages more +or less contract the ways of thinking of the manufacturing and trading +classes; their minds take a serious, deliberate, and positive turn; they +are apt to relinquish the ideal, in order to pursue some visible and +proximate object, which appears to be the natural and necessary aim +of their desires. Thus the principle of equality does not destroy the +imagination, but lowers its flight to the level of the earth. No men are +less addicted to reverie than the citizens of a democracy; and few of +them are ever known to give way to those idle and solitary meditations +which commonly precede and produce the great emotions of the heart. It +is true they attach great importance to procuring for themselves that +sort of deep, regular, and quiet affection which constitutes the charm +and safeguard of life, but they are not apt to run after those violent +and capricious sources of excitement which disturb and abridge it. + +I am aware that all this is only applicable in its full extent to +America, and cannot at present be extended to Europe. In the course of +the last half-century, whilst laws and customs have impelled several +European nations with unexampled force towards democracy, we have not +had occasion to observe that the relations of man and woman have become +more orderly or more chaste. In some places the very reverse may be +detected: some classes are more strict--the general morality of the +people appears to be more lax. I do not hesitate to make the remark, for +I am as little disposed to flatter my contemporaries as to malign them. +This fact must distress, but it ought not to surprise us. The propitious +influence which a democratic state of society may exercise upon orderly +habits, is one of those tendencies which can only be discovered after +a time. If the equality of conditions is favorable to purity of morals, +the social commotion by which conditions are rendered equal is adverse +to it. In the last fifty years, during which France has been undergoing +this transformation, that country has rarely had freedom, always +disturbance. Amidst this universal confusion of notions and this general +stir of opinions--amidst this incoherent mixture of the just and unjust, +of truth and falsehood, of right and might--public virtue has become +doubtful, and private morality wavering. But all revolutions, whatever +may have been their object or their agents, have at first produced +similar consequences; even those which have in the end drawn the bonds +of morality more tightly began by loosening them. The violations of +morality which the French frequently witness do not appear to me to have +a permanent character; and this is already betokened by some curious +signs of the times. + +Nothing is more wretchedly corrupt than an aristocracy which retains its +wealth when it has lost its power, and which still enjoys a vast deal +of leisure after it is reduced to mere vulgar pastimes. The energetic +passions and great conceptions which animated it heretofore, leave it +then; and nothing remains to it but a host of petty consuming vices, +which cling about it like worms upon a carcass. No one denies that the +French aristocracy of the last century was extremely dissolute; whereas +established habits and ancient belief still preserved some respect for +morality amongst the other classes of society. Nor will it be contested +that at the present day the remnants of that same aristocracy exhibit +a certain severity of morals; whilst laxity of morals appears to have +spread amongst the middle and lower ranks. So that the same families +which were most profligate fifty years ago are nowadays the most +exemplary, and democracy seems only to have strengthened the morality +of the aristocratic classes. The French Revolution, by dividing the +fortunes of the nobility, by forcing them to attend assiduously to their +affairs and to their families, by making them live under the same roof +with their children, and in short by giving a more rational and serious +turn to their minds, has imparted to them, almost without their being +aware of it, a reverence for religious belief, a love of order, of +tranquil pleasures, of domestic endearments, and of comfort; whereas the +rest of the nation, which had naturally these same tastes, was carried +away into excesses by the effort which was required to overthrow the +laws and political habits of the country. The old French aristocracy has +undergone the consequences of the Revolution, but it neither felt the +revolutionary passions nor shared in the anarchical excitement which +produced that crisis; it may easily be conceived that this aristocracy +feels the salutary influence of the Revolution in its manners, before +those who achieve it. It may therefore be said, though at first it seems +paradoxical, that, at the present day, the most anti-democratic classes +of the nation principally exhibit the kind of morality which may +reasonably be anticipated from democracy. I cannot but think that when +we shall have obtained all the effects of this democratic Revolution, +after having got rid of the tumult it has caused, the observations which +are now only applicable to the few will gradually become true of the +whole community. + + + + +Chapter XII: How The Americans Understand The Equality Of The Sexes + +I Have shown how democracy destroys or modifies the different +inequalities which originate in society; but is this all? or does it +not ultimately affect that great inequality of man and woman which has +seemed, up to the present day, to be eternally based in human nature? I +believe that the social changes which bring nearer to the same level +the father and son, the master and servant, and superiors and inferiors +generally speaking, will raise woman and make her more and more the +equal of man. But here, more than ever, I feel the necessity of making +myself clearly understood; for there is no subject on which the coarse +and lawless fancies of our age have taken a freer range. + +There are people in Europe who, confounding together the different +characteristics of the sexes, would make of man and woman beings not +only equal but alike. They would give to both the same functions, impose +on both the same duties, and grant to both the same rights; they would +mix them in all things--their occupations, their pleasures, their +business. It may readily be conceived, that by thus attempting to make +one sex equal to the other, both are degraded; and from so preposterous +a medley of the works of nature nothing could ever result but weak men +and disorderly women. It is not thus that the Americans understand that +species of democratic equality which may be established between the +sexes. They admit, that as nature has appointed such wide differences +between the physical and moral constitution of man and woman, her +manifest design was to give a distinct employment to their various +faculties; and they hold that improvement does not consist in making +beings so dissimilar do pretty nearly the same things, but in getting +each of them to fulfil their respective tasks in the best possible +manner. The Americans have applied to the sexes the great principle +of political economy which governs the manufactures of our age, by +carefully dividing the duties of man from those of woman, in order that +the great work of society may be the better carried on. + +In no country has such constant care been taken as in America to trace +two clearly distinct lines of action for the two sexes, and to make +them keep pace one with the other, but in two pathways which are always +different. American women never manage the outward concerns of the +family, or conduct a business, or take a part in political life; nor are +they, on the other hand, ever compelled to perform the rough labor of +the fields, or to make any of those laborious exertions which demand +the exertion of physical strength. No families are so poor as to form +an exception to this rule. If on the one hand an American woman cannot +escape from the quiet circle of domestic employments, on the other +hand she is never forced to go beyond it. Hence it is that the women of +America, who often exhibit a masculine strength of understanding and a +manly energy, generally preserve great delicacy of personal appearance +and always retain the manners of women, although they sometimes show +that they have the hearts and minds of men. + +Nor have the Americans ever supposed that one consequence of democratic +principles is the subversion of marital power, of the confusion of the +natural authorities in families. They hold that every association must +have a head in order to accomplish its object, and that the natural head +of the conjugal association is man. They do not therefore deny him the +right of directing his partner; and they maintain, that in the smaller +association of husband and wife, as well as in the great social +community, the object of democracy is to regulate and legalize the +powers which are necessary, not to subvert all power. This opinion is +not peculiar to one sex, and contested by the other: I never observed +that the women of America consider conjugal authority as a fortunate +usurpation of their rights, nor that they thought themselves degraded by +submitting to it. It appeared to me, on the contrary, that they attach a +sort of pride to the voluntary surrender of their own will, and make it +their boast to bend themselves to the yoke, not to shake it off. Such +at least is the feeling expressed by the most virtuous of their sex; the +others are silent; and in the United States it is not the practice for +a guilty wife to clamor for the rights of women, whilst she is trampling +on her holiest duties. + +It has often been remarked that in Europe a certain degree of contempt +lurks even in the flattery which men lavish upon women: although a +European frequently affects to be the slave of woman, it may be seen +that he never sincerely thinks her his equal. In the United States men +seldom compliment women, but they daily show how much they esteem them. +They constantly display an entire confidence in the understanding of a +wife, and a profound respect for her freedom; they have decided that her +mind is just as fitted as that of a man to discover the plain truth, and +her heart as firm to embrace it; and they have never sought to place her +virtue, any more than his, under the shelter of prejudice, ignorance, +and fear. It would seem that in Europe, where man so easily submits to +the despotic sway of women, they are nevertheless curtailed of some of +the greatest qualities of the human species, and considered as seductive +but imperfect beings; and (what may well provoke astonishment) women +ultimately look upon themselves in the same light, and almost consider +it as a privilege that they are entitled to show themselves futile, +feeble, and timid. The women of America claim no such privileges. + +Again, it may be said that in our morals we have reserved strange +immunities to man; so that there is, as it were, one virtue for his use, +and another for the guidance of his partner; and that, according to the +opinion of the public, the very same act may be punished alternately +as a crime or only as a fault. The Americans know not this iniquitous +division of duties and rights; amongst them the seducer is as much +dishonored as his victim. It is true that the Americans rarely lavish +upon women those eager attentions which are commonly paid them in +Europe; but their conduct to women always implies that they suppose them +to be virtuous and refined; and such is the respect entertained for +the moral freedom of the sex, that in the presence of a woman the +most guarded language is used, lest her ear should be offended by an +expression. In America a young unmarried woman may, alone and without +fear, undertake a long journey. + +The legislators of the United States, who have mitigated almost all the +penalties of criminal law, still make rape a capital offence, and no +crime is visited with more inexorable severity by public opinion. +This may be accounted for; as the Americans can conceive nothing more +precious than a woman's honor, and nothing which ought so much to be +respected as her independence, they hold that no punishment is too +severe for the man who deprives her of them against her will. In France, +where the same offence is visited with far milder penalties, it is +frequently difficult to get a verdict from a jury against the prisoner. +Is this a consequence of contempt of decency or contempt of women? I +cannot but believe that it is a contempt of one and of the other. + +Thus the Americans do not think that man and woman have either the duty +or the right to perform the same offices, but they show an equal regard +for both their respective parts; and though their lot is different, they +consider both of them as beings of equal value. They do not give to the +courage of woman the same form or the same direction as to that of man; +but they never doubt her courage: and if they hold that man and his +partner ought not always to exercise their intellect and understanding +in the same manner, they at least believe the understanding of the one +to be as sound as that of the other, and her intellect to be as clear. +Thus, then, whilst they have allowed the social inferiority of woman +to subsist, they have done all they could to raise her morally and +intellectually to the level of man; and in this respect they appear +to me to have excellently understood the true principle of democratic +improvement. As for myself, I do not hesitate to avow that, although +the women of the United States are confined within the narrow circle of +domestic life, and their situation is in some respects one of extreme +dependence, I have nowhere seen woman occupying a loftier position; and +if I were asked, now that I am drawing to the close of this work, in +which I have spoken of so many important things done by the Americans, +to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people +ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply--to the superiority of +their women. + + + + +Chapter XIII: That The Principle Of Equality Naturally Divides The +Americans Into A Number Of Small Private Circles + +It may probably be supposed that the final consequence and necessary +effect of democratic institutions is to confound together all the +members of the community in private as well as in public life, and to +compel them all to live in common; but this would be to ascribe a +very coarse and oppressive form to the equality which originates in +democracy. No state of society or laws can render men so much alike, +but that education, fortune, and tastes will interpose some differences +between them; and, though different men may sometimes find it their +interest to combine for the same purposes, they will never make it their +pleasure. They will therefore always tend to evade the provisions of +legislation, whatever they may be; and departing in some one respect +from the circle within which they were to be bounded, they will set up, +close by the great political community, small private circles, united +together by the similitude of their conditions, habits, and manners. + +In the United States the citizens have no sort of pre-eminence over each +other; they owe each other no mutual obedience or respect; they all meet +for the administration of justice, for the government of the State, and +in general to treat of the affairs which concern their common welfare; +but I never heard that attempts have been made to bring them all to +follow the same diversions, or to amuse themselves promiscuously in the +same places of recreation. The Americans, who mingle so readily in their +political assemblies and courts of justice, are wont on the contrary +carefully to separate into small distinct circles, in order to indulge +by themselves in the enjoyments of private life. Each of them is willing +to acknowledge all his fellow-citizens as his equals, but he will only +receive a very limited number of them amongst his friends or his guests. +This appears to me to be very natural. In proportion as the circle of +public society is extended, it may be anticipated that the sphere of +private intercourse will be contracted; far from supposing that the +members of modern society will ultimately live in common, I am afraid +that they may end by forming nothing but small coteries. + +Amongst aristocratic nations the different classes are like vast +chambers, out of which it is impossible to get, into which it is +impossible to enter. These classes have no communication with each +other, but within their pale men necessarily live in daily contact; +even though they would not naturally suit, the general conformity of a +similar condition brings them nearer together. But when neither law nor +custom professes to establish frequent and habitual relations between +certain men, their intercourse originates in the accidental analogy +of opinions and tastes; hence private society is infinitely varied. In +democracies, where the members of the community never differ much from +each other, and naturally stand in such propinquity that they may all +at any time be confounded in one general mass, numerous artificial and +arbitrary distinctions spring up, by means of which every man hopes to +keep himself aloof, lest he should be carried away in the crowd against +his will. This can never fail to be the case; for human institutions +may be changed, but not man: whatever may be the general endeavor of a +community to render its members equal and alike, the personal pride +of individuals will always seek to rise above the line, and to form +somewhere an inequality to their own advantage. + +In aristocracies men are separated from each other by lofty stationary +barriers; in democracies they are divided by a number of small and +almost invisible threads, which are constantly broken or moved from +place to place. Thus, whatever may be the progress of equality, in +democratic nations a great number of small private communities will +always be formed within the general pale of political society; but none +of them will bear any resemblance in its manners to the highest class in +aristocracies. + + + + +Chapter XIV: Some Reflections On American Manners + +Nothing seems at first sight less important than the outward form of +human actions, yet there is nothing upon which men set more store: they +grow used to everything except to living in a society which has not +their own manners. The influence of the social and political state of +a country upon manners is therefore deserving of serious examination. +Manners are, generally, the product of the very basis of the character +of a people, but they are also sometimes the result of an arbitrary +convention between certain men; thus they are at once natural and +acquired. When certain men perceive that they are the foremost persons +in society, without contestation and without effort--when they are +constantly engaged on large objects, leaving the more minute details to +others--and when they live in the enjoyment of wealth which they did not +amass and which they do not fear to lose, it may be supposed that they +feel a kind of haughty disdain of the petty interests and practical +cares of life, and that their thoughts assume a natural greatness, which +their language and their manners denote. In democratic countries manners +are generally devoid of dignity, because private life is there extremely +petty in its character; and they are frequently low, because the mind +has few opportunities of rising above the engrossing cares of domestic +interests. True dignity in manners consists in always taking one's +proper station, neither too high nor too low; and this is as much within +the reach of a peasant as of a prince. In democracies all stations +appear doubtful; hence it is that the manners of democracies, though +often full of arrogance, are commonly wanting in dignity, and, moreover, +they are never either well disciplined or accomplished. + +The men who live in democracies are too fluctuating for a certain number +of them ever to succeed in laying down a code of good breeding, and in +forcing people to follow it. Every man therefore behaves after his own +fashion, and there is always a certain incoherence in the manners of +such times, because they are moulded upon the feelings and notions of +each individual, rather than upon an ideal model proposed for general +imitation. This, however, is much more perceptible at the time when +an aristocracy has just been overthrown than after it has long been +destroyed. New political institutions and new social elements then bring +to the same places of resort, and frequently compel to live in common, +men whose education and habits are still amazingly dissimilar, and +this renders the motley composition of society peculiarly visible. The +existence of a former strict code of good breeding is still remembered, +but what it contained or where it is to be found is already forgotten. +Men have lost the common law of manners, and they have not yet made up +their minds to do without it; but everyone endeavors to make to himself +some sort of arbitrary and variable rule, from the remnant of former +usages; so that manners have neither the regularity and the dignity +which they often display amongst aristocratic nations, nor the +simplicity and freedom which they sometimes assume in democracies; they +are at once constrained and without constraint. + +This, however, is not the normal state of things. When the equality of +conditions is long established and complete, as all men entertain nearly +the same notions and do nearly the same things, they do not require to +agree or to copy from one another in order to speak or act in the same +manner: their manners are constantly characterized by a number of lesser +diversities, but not by any great differences. They are never perfectly +alike, because they do not copy from the same pattern; they are never +very unlike, because their social condition is the same. At first sight +a traveller would observe that the manners of all the Americans +are exactly similar; it is only upon close examination that the +peculiarities in which they differ may be detected. + +The English make game of the manners of the Americans; but it is +singular that most of the writers who have drawn these ludicrous +delineations belonged themselves to the middle classes in England, to +whom the same delineations are exceedingly applicable: so that these +pitiless censors for the most part furnish an example of the very thing +they blame in the United States; they do not perceive that they are +deriding themselves, to the great amusement of the aristocracy of their +own country. + +Nothing is more prejudicial to democracy than its outward forms of +behavior: many men would willingly endure its vices, who cannot support +its manners. I cannot, however, admit that there is nothing commendable +in the manners of a democratic people. Amongst aristocratic nations, all +who live within reach of the first class in society commonly strain to +be like it, which gives rise to ridiculous and insipid imitations. As a +democratic people does not possess any models of high breeding, at least +it escapes the daily necessity of seeing wretched copies of them. +In democracies manners are never so refined as amongst aristocratic +nations, but on the other hand they are never so coarse. Neither the +coarse oaths of the populace, nor the elegant and choice expressions +of the nobility are to be heard there: the manners of such a people +are often vulgar, but they are neither brutal nor mean. I have already +observed that in democracies no such thing as a regular code of good +breeding can be laid down; this has some inconveniences and some +advantages. In aristocracies the rules of propriety impose the same +demeanor on everyone; they make all the members of the same class appear +alike, in spite of their private inclinations; they adorn and they +conceal the natural man. Amongst a democratic people manners are neither +so tutored nor so uniform, but they are frequently more sincere. They +form, as it were, a light and loosely woven veil, through which the real +feelings and private opinions of each individual are easily discernible. +The form and the substance of human actions often, therefore, stand +in closer relation; and if the great picture of human life be less +embellished, it is more true. Thus it may be said, in one sense, that +the effect of democracy is not exactly to give men any particular +manners, but to prevent them from having manners at all. + +The feelings, the passions, the virtues, and the vices of an aristocracy +may sometimes reappear in a democracy, but not its manners; they are +lost, and vanish forever, as soon as the democratic revolution is +completed. It would seem that nothing is more lasting than the manners +of an aristocratic class, for they are preserved by that class for some +time after it has lost its wealth and its power--nor so fleeting, for +no sooner have they disappeared than not a trace of them is to be found; +and it is scarcely possible to say what they have been as soon as they +have ceased to be. A change in the state of society works this +miracle, and a few generations suffice to consummate it. The principal +characteristics of aristocracy are handed down by history after an +aristocracy is destroyed, but the light and exquisite touches of manners +are effaced from men's memories almost immediately after its fall. Men +can no longer conceive what these manners were when they have ceased to +witness them; they are gone, and their departure was unseen, unfelt; for +in order to feel that refined enjoyment which is derived from choice and +distinguished manners, habit and education must have prepared the heart, +and the taste for them is lost almost as easily as the practice of them. +Thus not only a democratic people cannot have aristocratic manners, but +they neither comprehend nor desire them; and as they never have thought +of them, it is to their minds as if such things had never been. Too +much importance should not be attached to this loss, but it may well be +regretted. + +I am aware that it has not unfrequently happened that the same men have +had very high-bred manners and very low-born feelings: the interior of +courts has sufficiently shown what imposing externals may conceal the +meanest hearts. But though the manners of aristocracy did not constitute +virtue, they sometimes embellish virtue itself. It was no ordinary sight +to see a numerous and powerful class of men, whose every outward action +seemed constantly to be dictated by a natural elevation of thought +and feeling, by delicacy and regularity of taste, and by urbanity +of manners. Those manners threw a pleasing illusory charm over human +nature; and though the picture was often a false one, it could not be +viewed without a noble satisfaction. + + + + +Chapter XV: Of The Gravity Of The Americans, And Why It Does Not Prevent +Them From Often Committing Inconsiderate Actions + +Men who live in democratic countries do not value the simple, turbulent, +or coarse diversions in which the people indulge in aristocratic +communities: such diversions are thought by them to be puerile or +insipid. Nor have they a greater inclination for the intellectual and +refined amusements of the aristocratic classes. They want something +productive and substantial in their pleasures; they want to mix actual +fruition with their joy. In aristocratic communities the people readily +give themselves up to bursts of tumultuous and boisterous gayety, which +shake off at once the recollection of their privations: the natives of +democracies are not fond of being thus violently broken in upon, and +they never lose sight of their own selves without regret. They prefer to +these frivolous delights those more serious and silent amusements which +are like business, and which do not drive business wholly from their +minds. An American, instead of going in a leisure hour to dance merrily +at some place of public resort, as the fellows of his calling continue +to do throughout the greater part of Europe, shuts himself up at home +to drink. He thus enjoys two pleasures; he can go on thinking of his +business, and he can get drunk decently by his own fireside. + +I thought that the English constituted the most serious nation on the +face of the earth, but I have since seen the Americans and have changed +my opinion. I do not mean to say that temperament has not a great deal +to do with the character of the inhabitants of the United States, but +I think that their political institutions are a still more influential +cause. I believe the seriousness of the Americans arises partly from +their pride. In democratic countries even poor men entertain a lofty +notion of their personal importance: they look upon themselves with +complacency, and are apt to suppose that others are looking at them, +too. With this disposition they watch their language and their actions +with care, and do not lay themselves open so as to betray their +deficiencies; to preserve their dignity they think it necessary to +retain their gravity. + +But I detect another more deep-seated and powerful cause which +instinctively produces amongst the Americans this astonishing gravity. +Under a despotism communities give way at times to bursts of vehement +joy; but they are generally gloomy and moody, because they are afraid. +Under absolute monarchies tempered by the customs and manners of the +country, their spirits are often cheerful and even, because as they have +some freedom and a good deal of security, they are exempted from the +most important cares of life; but all free peoples are serious, because +their minds are habitually absorbed by the contemplation of some +dangerous or difficult purpose. This is more especially the case amongst +those free nations which form democratic communities. Then there are +in all classes a very large number of men constantly occupied with the +serious affairs of the government; and those whose thoughts are not +engaged in the direction of the commonwealth are wholly engrossed by +the acquisition of a private fortune. Amongst such a people a serious +demeanor ceases to be peculiar to certain men, and becomes a habit of +the nation. + +We are told of small democracies in the days of antiquity, in which the +citizens met upon the public places with garlands of roses, and spent +almost all their time in dancing and theatrical amusements. I do not +believe in such republics any more than in that of Plato; or, if the +things we read of really happened, I do not hesitate to affirm that +these supposed democracies were composed of very different elements from +ours, and that they had nothing in common with the latter except their +name. But it must not be supposed that, in the midst of all their toils, +the people who live in democracies think themselves to be pitied; the +contrary is remarked to be the case. No men are fonder of their own +condition. Life would have no relish for them if they were delivered +from the anxieties which harass them, and they show more attachment to +their cares than aristocratic nations to their pleasures. + +I am next led to inquire how it is that these same democratic nations, +which are so serious, sometimes act in so inconsiderate a manner. The +Americans, who almost always preserve a staid demeanor and a frigid air, +nevertheless frequently allow themselves to be borne away, far beyond +the bound of reason, by a sudden passion or a hasty opinion, and they +sometimes gravely commit strange absurdities. This contrast ought not to +surprise us. There is one sort of ignorance which originates in extreme +publicity. In despotic States men know not how to act, because they are +told nothing; in democratic nations they often act at random, because +nothing is to be left untold. The former do not know--the latter +forget; and the chief features of each picture are lost to them in a +bewilderment of details. + +It is astonishing what imprudent language a public man may sometimes use +in free countries, and especially in democratic States, without being +compromised; whereas in absolute monarchies a few words dropped by +accident are enough to unmask him forever, and ruin him without hope of +redemption. This is explained by what goes before. When a man speaks +in the midst of a great crowd, many of his words are not heard, or are +forthwith obliterated from the memories of those who hear them; but +amidst the silence of a mute and motionless throng the slightest whisper +strikes the ear. + +In democracies men are never stationary; a thousand chances waft them +to and fro, and their life is always the sport of unforeseen or (so to +speak) extemporaneous circumstances. Thus they are often obliged to +do things which they have imperfectly learned, to say things they +imperfectly understand, and to devote themselves to work for which they +are unprepared by long apprenticeship. In aristocracies every man has +one sole object which he unceasingly pursues, but amongst democratic +nations the existence of man is more complex; the same mind will almost +always embrace several objects at the same time, and these objects are +frequently wholly foreign to each other: as it cannot know them all +well, the mind is readily satisfied with imperfect notions of each. + +When the inhabitant of democracies is not urged by his wants, he is so +at least by his desires; for of all the possessions which he sees around +him, none are wholly beyond his reach. He therefore does everything in a +hurry, he is always satisfied with "pretty well," and never pauses more +than an instant to consider what he has been doing. His curiosity is at +once insatiable and cheaply satisfied; for he cares more to know a great +deal quickly than to know anything well: he has no time and but little +taste to search things to the bottom. Thus then democratic peoples are +grave, because their social and political condition constantly leads +them to engage in serious occupations; and they act inconsiderately, +because they give but little time and attention to each of these +occupations. The habit of inattention must be considered as the greatest +bane of the democratic character. + + + + +Chapter XVI: Why The National Vanity Of The Americans Is More Restless +And Captious Than That Of The English + +All free nations are vainglorious, but national pride is not displayed +by all in the same manner. The Americans in their intercourse with +strangers appear impatient of the smallest censure and insatiable +of praise. The most slender eulogium is acceptable to them; the most +exalted seldom contents them; they unceasingly harass you to extort +praise, and if you resist their entreaties they fall to praising +themselves. It would seem as if, doubting their own merit, they wished +to have it constantly exhibited before their eyes. Their vanity is not +only greedy, but restless and jealous; it will grant nothing, whilst it +demands everything, but is ready to beg and to quarrel at the same time. +If I say to an American that the country he lives in is a fine one, +"Ay," he replies, "there is not its fellow in the world." If I applaud +the freedom which its inhabitants enjoy, he answers, "Freedom is a fine +thing, but few nations are worthy to enjoy it." If I remark the purity +of morals which distinguishes the United States, "I can imagine," says +he, "that a stranger, who has been struck by the corruption of all other +nations, is astonished at the difference." At length I leave him to the +contemplation of himself; but he returns to the charge, and does not +desist till he has got me to repeat all I had just been saying. It is +impossible to conceive a more troublesome or more garrulous patriotism; +it wearies even those who are disposed to respect it. *a + +[Footnote a: See Appendix U.] + +Such is not the case with the English. An Englishman calmly enjoys the +real or imaginary advantages which in his opinion his country possesses. +If he grants nothing to other nations, neither does he solicit anything +for his own. The censure of foreigners does not affect him, and their +praise hardly flatters him; his position with regard to the rest of the +world is one of disdainful and ignorant reserve: his pride requires no +sustenance, it nourishes itself. It is remarkable that two nations, +so recently sprung from the same stock, should be so opposite to one +another in their manner of feeling and conversing. + +In aristocratic countries the great possess immense privileges, upon +which their pride rests, without seeking to rely upon the lesser +advantages which accrue to them. As these privileges came to them by +inheritance, they regard them in some sort as a portion of themselves, +or at least as a natural right inherent in their own persons. They +therefore entertain a calm sense of their superiority; they do not dream +of vaunting privileges which everyone perceives and no one contests, +and these things are not sufficiently new to them to be made topics +of conversation. They stand unmoved in their solitary greatness, well +assured that they are seen of all the world without any effort to show +themselves off, and that no one will attempt to drive them from that +position. When an aristocracy carries on the public affairs, its +national pride naturally assumes this reserved, indifferent, and haughty +form, which is imitated by all the other classes of the nation. + +When, on the contrary, social conditions differ but little, the +slightest privileges are of some importance; as every man sees around +himself a million of people enjoying precisely similar or analogous +advantages, his pride becomes craving and jealous, he clings to mere +trifles, and doggedly defends them. In democracies, as the conditions of +life are very fluctuating, men have almost always recently acquired the +advantages which they possess; the consequence is that they feel extreme +pleasure in exhibiting them, to show others and convince themselves that +they really enjoy them. As at any instant these same advantages may be +lost, their possessors are constantly on the alert, and make a point +of showing that they still retain them. Men living in democracies love +their country just as they love themselves, and they transfer the habits +of their private vanity to their vanity as a nation. The restless and +insatiable vanity of a democratic people originates so entirely in the +equality and precariousness of social conditions, that the members of +the haughtiest nobility display the very same passion in those lesser +portions of their existence in which there is anything fluctuating or +contested. An aristocratic class always differs greatly from the other +classes of the nation, by the extent and perpetuity of its privileges; +but it often happens that the only differences between the members who +belong to it consist in small transient advantages, which may any day be +lost or acquired. The members of a powerful aristocracy, collected in +a capital or a court, have been known to contest with virulence those +frivolous privileges which depend on the caprice of fashion or the +will of their master. These persons then displayed towards each +other precisely the same puerile jealousies which animate the men of +democracies, the same eagerness to snatch the smallest advantages which +their equals contested, and the same desire to parade ostentatiously +those of which they were in possession. If national pride ever entered +into the minds of courtiers, I do not question that they would display +it in the same manner as the members of a democratic community. + + + + +Chapter XVII: That The Aspect Of Society In The United States Is At Once +Excited And Monotonous + +It would seem that nothing can be more adapted to stimulate and to feed +curiosity than the aspect of the United States. Fortunes, opinions, +and laws are there in ceaseless variation: it is as if immutable nature +herself were mutable, such are the changes worked upon her by the hand +of man. Yet in the end the sight of this excited community becomes +monotonous, and after having watched the moving pageant for a time the +spectator is tired of it. Amongst aristocratic nations every man is +pretty nearly stationary in his own sphere; but men are astonishingly +unlike each other--their passions, their notions, their habits, and +their tastes are essentially different: nothing changey, but everything +differs. In democracies, on the contrary, all men are alike and do +things pretty nearly alike. It is true that they are subject to great +and frequent vicissitudes; but as the same events of good or adverse +fortune are continually recurring, the name of the actors only is +changed, the piece is always the same. The aspect of American society +is animated, because men and things are always changing; but it is +monotonous, because all these changes are alike. + +Men living in democratic ages have many passions, but most of their +passions either end in the love of riches or proceed from it. The cause +of this is, not that their souls are narrower, but that the importance +of money is really greater at such times. When all the members of +a community are independent of or indifferent to each other, the +co-operation of each of them can only be obtained by paying for it: this +infinitely multiplies the purposes to which wealth may be applied, and +increases its value. When the reverence which belonged to what is old +has vanished, birth, condition, and profession no longer distinguish +men, or scarcely distinguish them at all: hardly anything but money +remains to create strongly marked differences between them, and to raise +some of them above the common level. The distinction originating in +wealth is increased by the disappearance and diminution of all other +distinctions. Amongst aristocratic nations money only reaches to a few +points on the vast circle of man's desires--in democracies it seems to +lead to all. The love of wealth is therefore to be traced, either as +a principal or an accessory motive, at the bottom of all that the +Americans do: this gives to all their passions a sort of family +likeness, and soon renders the survey of them exceedingly wearisome. +This perpetual recurrence of the same passion is monotonous; the +peculiar methods by which this passion seeks its own gratification are +no less so. + +In an orderly and constituted democracy like the United States, where +men cannot enrich themselves by war, by public office, or by political +confiscation, the love of wealth mainly drives them into business and +manufactures. Although these pursuits often bring about great commotions +and disasters, they cannot prosper without strictly regular habits and +a long routine of petty uniform acts. The stronger the passion is, the +more regular are these habits, and the more uniform are these acts. It +may be said that it is the vehemence of their desires which makes the +Americans so methodical; it perturbs their minds, but it disciplines +their lives. + +The remark I here apply to America may indeed be addressed to almost +all our contemporaries. Variety is disappearing from the human race; the +same ways of acting, thinking, and feeling are to be met with all over +the world. This is not only because nations work more upon each other, +and are more faithful in their mutual imitation; but as the men of each +country relinquish more and more the peculiar opinions and feelings of +a caste, a profession, or a family, they simultaneously arrive at +something nearer to the constitution of man, which is everywhere the +same. Thus they become more alike, even without having imitated each +other. Like travellers scattered about some large wood, which is +intersected by paths converging to one point, if all of them keep, their +eyes fixed upon that point and advance towards it, they insensibly draw +nearer together--though they seek not, though they see not, though +they know not each other; and they will be surprised at length to find +themselves all collected on the same spot. All the nations which +take, not any particular man, but man himself, as the object of their +researches and their imitations, are tending in the end to a similar +state of society, like these travellers converging to the central plot +of the forest. + + + + +Chapter XVIII: Of Honor In The United States And In Democratic +Communities + +It would seem that men employ two very distinct methods in the public +estimation *a of the actions of their fellowmen; at one time they judge +them by those simple notions of right and wrong which are diffused +all over the world; at another they refer their decision to a few very +special notions which belong exclusively to some particular age and +country. It often happens that these two rules differ; they sometimes +conflict: but they are never either entirely identified or entirely +annulled by one another. Honor, at the periods of its greatest power, +sways the will more than the belief of men; and even whilst they yield +without hesitation and without a murmur to its dictates, they feel +notwithstanding, by a dim but mighty instinct, the existence of a more +general, more ancient, and more holy law, which they sometimes disobey +although they cease not to acknowledge it. Some actions have been held +to be at the same time virtuous and dishonorable--a refusal to fight a +duel is a case in point. + +[Footnote a: The word "honor" is not always used in the same sense +either in French or English. I. It first signifies the dignity, glory, +or reverence which a man receives from his kind; and in this sense a +man is said to acquire honor. 2. Honor signifies the aggregate of those +rules by the assistance of which this dignity, glory, or reverence is +obtained. Thus we say that a man has always strictly obeyed the laws +of honor; or a man has violated his honor. In this chapter the word is +always used in the latter sense.] + +I think these peculiarities may be otherwise explained than by the mere +caprices of certain individuals and nations, as has hitherto been +the customary mode of reasoning on the subject. Mankind is subject +to general and lasting wants that have engendered moral laws, to the +neglect of which men have ever and in all places attached the notion of +censure and shame: to infringe them was "to do ill"--"to do well" was to +conform to them. Within the bosom of this vast association of the human +race, lesser associations have been formed which are called nations; +and amidst these nations further subdivisions have assumed the names +of classes or castes. Each of these associations forms, as it were, +a separate species of the human race; and though it has no essential +difference from the mass of mankind, to a certain extent it stands apart +and has certain wants peculiar to itself. To these special wants must +be attributed the modifications which affect in various degrees and +in different countries the mode of considering human actions, and +the estimate which ought to be formed of them. It is the general and +permanent interest of mankind that men should not kill each other: but +it may happen to be the peculiar and temporary interest of a people or a +class to justify, or even to honor, homicide. + +Honor is simply that peculiar rule, founded upon a peculiar state of +society, by the application of which a people or a class allot praise or +blame. Nothing is more unproductive to the mind than an abstract idea; I +therefore hasten to call in the aid of facts and examples to illustrate +my meaning. + +I select the most extraordinary kind of honor which was ever known +in the world, and that which we are best acquainted with, viz., +aristocratic honor springing out of feudal society. I shall explain it +by means of the principle already laid down, and I shall explain the +principle by means of the illustration. I am not here led to inquire +when and how the aristocracy of the Middle Ages came into existence, +why it was so deeply severed from the remainder of the nation, or +what founded and consolidated its power. I take its existence as an +established fact, and I am endeavoring to account for the peculiar view +which it took of the greater part of human actions. The first thing that +strikes me is, that in the feudal world actions were not always praised +or blamed with reference to their intrinsic worth, but that they were +sometimes appreciated exclusively with reference to the person who +was the actor or the object of them, which is repugnant to the general +conscience of mankind. Thus some of the actions which were indifferent +on the part of a man in humble life, dishonored a noble; others changed +their whole character according as the person aggrieved by them belonged +or did not belong to the aristocracy. When these different notions first +arose, the nobility formed a distinct body amidst the people, which +it commanded from the inaccessible heights where it was ensconced. To +maintain this peculiar position, which constituted its strength, it not +only required political privileges, but it required a standard of right +and wrong for its own especial use. That some particular virtue or vice +belonged to the nobility rather than to the humble classes--that certain +actions were guiltless when they affected the villain, which were +criminal when they touched the noble--these were often arbitrary +matters; but that honor or shame should be attached to a man's actions +according to his condition, was a result of the internal constitution +of an aristocratic community. This has been actually the case in all +the countries which have had an aristocracy; as long as a trace of the +principle remains, these peculiarities will still exist; to debauch a +woman of color scarcely injures the reputation of an American--to marry +her dishonors him. + +In some cases feudal honor enjoined revenge, and stigmatized the +forgiveness of insults; in others it imperiously commanded men to +conquer their own passions, and imposed forgetfulness of self. It did +not make humanity or kindness its law, but it extolled generosity; it +set more store on liberality than on benevolence; it allowed men to +enrich themselves by gambling or by war, but not by labor; it preferred +great crimes to small earnings; cupidity was less distasteful to it +than avarice; violence it often sanctioned, but cunning and treachery it +invariably reprobated as contemptible. These fantastical notions did not +proceed exclusively from the caprices of those who entertained them. A +class which has succeeded in placing itself at the head of and above +all others, and which makes perpetual exertions to maintain this lofty +position, must especially honor those virtues which are conspicuous for +their dignity and splendor, and which may be easily combined with pride +and the love of power. Such men would not hesitate to invert the natural +order of the conscience in order to give those virtues precedence before +all others. It may even be conceived that some of the more bold and +brilliant vices would readily be set above the quiet, unpretending +virtues. The very existence of such a class in society renders these +things unavoidable. + +The nobles of the Middle Ages placed military courage foremost amongst +virtues, and in lieu of many of them. This was again a peculiar opinion +which arose necessarily from the peculiarity of the state of society. +Feudal aristocracy existed by war and for war; its power had been +founded by arms, and by arms that power was maintained; it therefore +required nothing more than military courage, and that quality was +naturally exalted above all others; whatever denoted it, even at the +expense of reason and humanity, was therefore approved and frequently +enjoined by the manners of the time. Such was the main principle; the +caprice of man was only to be traced in minuter details. That a man +should regard a tap on the cheek as an unbearable insult, and should be +obliged to kill in single combat the person who struck him thus lightly, +is an arbitrary rule; but that a noble could not tranquilly receive an +insult, and was dishonored if he allowed himself to take a blow without +fighting, were direct consequences of the fundamental principles and the +wants of military aristocracy. + +Thus it was true to a certain extent to assert that the laws of honor +were capricious; but these caprices of honor were always confined within +certain necessary limits. The peculiar rule, which was called honor by +our forefathers, is so far from being an arbitrary law in my eyes, that +I would readily engage to ascribe its most incoherent and fantastical +injunctions to a small number of fixed and invariable wants inherent in +feudal society. + +If I were to trace the notion of feudal honor into the domain of +politics, I should not find it more difficult to explain its dictates. +The state of society and the political institutions of the Middle Ages +were such, that the supreme power of the nation never governed the +community directly. That power did not exist in the eyes of the people: +every man looked up to a certain individual whom he was bound to obey; +by that intermediate personage he was connected with all the others. +Thus in feudal society the whole system of the commonwealth rested upon +the sentiment of fidelity to the person of the lord: to destroy that +sentiment was to open the sluices of anarchy. Fidelity to a political +superior was, moreover, a sentiment of which all the members of the +aristocracy had constant opportunities of estimating the importance; for +every one of them was a vassal as well as a lord, and had to command as +well as to obey. To remain faithful to the lord, to sacrifice one's self +for him if called upon, to share his good or evil fortunes, to stand +by him in his undertakings whatever they might be--such were the first +injunctions of feudal honor in relation to the political institutions +of those times. The treachery of a vassal was branded with extraordinary +severity by public opinion, and a name of peculiar infamy was invented +for the offence which was called "felony." + +On the contrary, few traces are to be found in the Middle Ages of the +passion which constituted the life of the nations of antiquity--I mean +patriotism; the word itself is not of very ancient date in the language. +*b Feudal institutions concealed the country at large from men's sight, +and rendered the love of it less necessary. The nation was forgotten in +the passions which attached men to persons. Hence it was no part of +the strict law of feudal honor to remain faithful to one's country. Not +indeed that the love of their country did not exist in the hearts of +our forefathers; but it constituted a dim and feeble instinct, which has +grown more clear and strong in proportion as aristocratic classes have +been abolished, and the supreme power of the nation centralized. This +may be clearly seen from the contrary judgments which European nations +have passed upon the various events of their histories, according to the +generations by which such judgments have been formed. The circumstance +which most dishonored the Constable de Bourbon in the eyes of his +contemporaries was that he bore arms against his king: that which most +dishonors him in our eyes, is that he made war against his country; we +brand him as deeply as our forefathers did, but for different reasons. + +[Footnote b: Even the word "patrie" was not used by the French writers +until the sixteenth century.] + +I have chosen the honor of feudal times by way of illustration of my +meaning, because its characteristics are more distinctly marked and more +familiar to us than those of any other period; but I might have taken +an example elsewhere, and I should have reached the same conclusion by +a different road. Although we are less perfectly acquainted with the +Romans than with our own ancestors, yet we know that certain peculiar +notions of glory and disgrace obtained amongst them, which were not +solely derived from the general principles of right and wrong. Many +human actions were judged differently, according as they affected a +Roman citizen or a stranger, a freeman or a slave; certain vices were +blazoned abroad, certain virtues were extolled above all others. "In +that age," says Plutarch in the life of Coriolanus, "martial prowess +was more honored and prized in Rome than all the other virtues, insomuch +that it was called virtus, the name of virtue itself, by applying the +name of the kind to this particular species; so that virtue in Latin was +as much as to say valor." Can anyone fail to recognize the peculiar +want of that singular community which was formed for the conquest of the +world? + +Any nation would furnish us with similar grounds of observation; for, +as I have already remarked, whenever men collect together as a distinct +community, the notion of honor instantly grows up amongst them; that +is to say, a system of opinions peculiar to themselves as to what is +blamable or commendable; and these peculiar rules always originate +in the special habits and special interests of the community. This is +applicable to a certain extent to democratic communities as well as +to others, as we shall now proceed to prove by the example of the +Americans. *c Some loose notions of the old aristocratic honor of Europe +are still to be found scattered amongst the opinions of the Americans; +but these traditional opinions are few in number, they have but little +root in the country, and but little power. They are like a religion +which has still some temples left standing, though men have ceased +to believe in it. But amidst these half-obliterated notions of exotic +honor, some new opinions have sprung up, which constitute what may be +termed in our days American honor. I have shown how the Americans are +constantly driven to engage in commerce and industry. Their origin, +their social condition, their political institutions, and even the spot +they inhabit, urge them irresistibly in this direction. Their present +condition is then that of an almost exclusively manufacturing and +commercial association, placed in the midst of a new and boundless +country, which their principal object is to explore for purposes of +profit. This is the characteristic which most peculiarly distinguishes +the American people from all others at the present time. All those quiet +virtues which tend to give a regular movement to the community, and to +encourage business, will therefore be held in peculiar honor by that +people, and to neglect those virtues will be to incur public contempt. +All the more turbulent virtues, which often dazzle, but more frequently +disturb society, will on the contrary occupy a subordinate rank in the +estimation of this same people: they may be neglected without forfeiting +the esteem of the community--to acquire them would perhaps be to run a +risk of losing it. + +[Footnote c: I speak here of the Americans inhabiting those States where +slavery does not exist; they alone can be said to present a complete +picture of democratic society.] + +The Americans make a no less arbitrary classification of men's vices. +There are certain propensities which appear censurable to the general +reason and the universal conscience of mankind, but which happen to +agree with the peculiar and temporary wants of the American community: +these propensities are lightly reproved, sometimes even encouraged; for +instance, the love of wealth and the secondary propensities connected +with it may be more particularly cited. To clear, to till, and to +transform the vast uninhabited continent which is his domain, the +American requires the daily support of an energetic passion; that +passion can only be the love of wealth; the passion for wealth is +therefore not reprobated in America, and provided it does not go beyond +the bounds assigned to it for public security, it is held in honor. +The American lauds as a noble and praiseworthy ambition what our own +forefathers in the Middle Ages stigmatized as servile cupidity, just +as he treats as a blind and barbarous frenzy that ardor of conquest and +martial temper which bore them to battle. In the United States fortunes +are lost and regained without difficulty; the country is boundless, and +its resources inexhaustible. The people have all the wants and cravings +of a growing creature; and whatever be their efforts, they are always +surrounded by more than they can appropriate. It is not the ruin of a +few individuals which may be soon repaired, but the inactivity and +sloth of the community at large which would be fatal to such a people. +Boldness of enterprise is the foremost cause of its rapid progress, its +strength, and its greatness. Commercial business is there like a vast +lottery, by which a small number of men continually lose, but the State +is always a gainer; such a people ought therefore to encourage and do +honor to boldness in commercial speculations. But any bold speculation +risks the fortune of the speculator and of all those who put their trust +in him. The Americans, who make a virtue of commercial temerity, have +no right in any case to brand with disgrace those who practise it. Hence +arises the strange indulgence which is shown to bankrupts in the United +States; their honor does not suffer by such an accident. In this respect +the Americans differ, not only from the nations of Europe, but from all +the commercial nations of our time, and accordingly they resemble none +of them in their position or their wants. + +In America all those vices which tend to impair the purity of morals, +and to destroy the conjugal tie, are treated with a degree of severity +which is unknown in the rest of the world. At first sight this seems +strangely at variance with the tolerance shown there on other subjects, +and one is surprised to meet with a morality so relaxed and so austere +amongst the selfsame people. But these things are less incoherent +than they seem to be. Public opinion in the United States very gently +represses that love of wealth which promotes the commercial greatness +and the prosperity of the nation, and it especially condemns that laxity +of morals which diverts the human mind from the pursuit of well-being, +and disturbs the internal order of domestic life which is so necessary +to success in business. To earn the esteem of their countrymen, the +Americans are therefore constrained to adapt themselves to orderly +habits--and it may be said in this sense that they make it a matter of +honor to live chastely. + +On one point American honor accords with the notions of honor +acknowledged in Europe; it places courage as the highest virtue, and +treats it as the greatest of the moral necessities of man; but the +notion of courage itself assumes a different aspect. In the United +States martial valor is but little prized; the courage which is best +known and most esteemed is that which emboldens men to brave the +dangers of the ocean, in order to arrive earlier in port--to support the +privations of the wilderness without complaint, and solitude more cruel +than privations--the courage which renders them almost insensible to the +loss of a fortune laboriously acquired, and instantly prompts to fresh +exertions to make another. Courage of this kind is peculiarly necessary +to the maintenance and prosperity of the American communities, and it is +held by them in peculiar honor and estimation; to betray a want of it is +to incur certain disgrace. + +I have yet another characteristic point which may serve to place the +idea of this chapter in stronger relief. In a democratic society like +that of the United States, where fortunes are scanty and insecure, +everybody works, and work opens a way to everything: this has changed +the point of honor quite round, and has turned it against idleness. +I have sometimes met in America with young men of wealth, personally +disinclined to all laborious exertion, but who had been compelled to +embrace a profession. Their disposition and their fortune allowed them +to remain without employment; public opinion forbade it, too imperiously +to be disobeyed. In the European countries, on the contrary, where +aristocracy is still struggling with the flood which overwhelms it, I +have often seen men, constantly spurred on by their wants and desires, +remain in idleness, in order not to lose the esteem of their equals; and +I have known them submit to ennui and privations rather than to work. +No one can fail to perceive that these opposite obligations are two +different rules of conduct, both nevertheless originating in the notion +of honor. + +What our forefathers designated as honor absolutely was in reality only +one of its forms; they gave a generic name to what was only a species. +Honor therefore is to be found in democratic as well as in aristocratic +ages, but it will not be difficult to show that it assumes a different +aspect in the former. Not only are its injunctions different, but we +shall shortly see that they are less numerous, less precise, and that +its dictates are less rigorously obeyed. The position of a caste is +always much more peculiar than that of a people. Nothing is so much out +of the way of the world as a small community invariably composed of the +same families (as was for instance the aristocracy of the Middle +Ages), whose object is to concentrate and to retain, exclusively and +hereditarily, education, wealth, and power amongst its own members. But +the more out of the way the position of a community happens to be, the +more numerous are its special wants, and the more extensive are its +notions of honor corresponding to those wants. The rules of honor will +therefore always be less numerous amongst a people not divided into +castes than amongst any other. If ever any nations are constituted in +which it may even be difficult to find any peculiar classes of society, +the notion of honor will be confined to a small number of precepts, +which will be more and more in accordance with the moral laws adopted +by the mass of mankind. Thus the laws of honor will be less peculiar and +less multifarious amongst a democratic people than in an aristocracy. +They will also be more obscure; and this is a necessary consequence +of what goes before; for as the distinguishing marks of honor are less +numerous and less peculiar, it must often be difficult to distinguish +them. To this, other reasons may be added. Amongst the aristocratic +nations of the Middle Ages, generation succeeded generation in vain; +each family was like a never-dying, ever-stationary man, and the state +of opinions was hardly more changeable than that of conditions. Everyone +then had always the same objects before his eyes, which he contemplated +from the same point; his eyes gradually detected the smallest details, +and his discernment could not fail to become in the end clear and +accurate. Thus not only had the men of feudal times very extraordinary +opinions in matters of honor, but each of those opinions was present to +their minds under a clear and precise form. + +This can never be the case in America, where all men are in constant +motion; and where society, transformed daily by its own operations, +changes its opinions together with its wants. In such a country men +have glimpses of the rules of honor, but they have seldom time to fix +attention upon them. + +But even if society were motionless, it would still be difficult to +determine the meaning which ought to be attached to the word "honor." In +the Middle Ages, as each class had its own honor, the same opinion +was never received at the same time by a large number of men; and this +rendered it possible to give it a determined and accurate form, which +was the more easy, as all those by whom it was received, having a +perfectly identical and most peculiar position, were naturally disposed +to agree upon the points of a law which was made for themselves alone. +Thus the code of honor became a complete and detailed system, in which +everything was anticipated and provided for beforehand, and a fixed +and always palpable standard was applied to human actions. Amongst a +democratic nation, like the Americans, in which ranks are identified, +and the whole of society forms one single mass, composed of elements +which are all analogous though not entirely similar, it is impossible +ever to agree beforehand on what shall or shall not be allowed by the +laws of honor. Amongst that people, indeed, some national wants do exist +which give rise to opinions common to the whole nation on points of +honor; but these opinions never occur at the same time, in the same +manner, or with the same intensity to the minds of the whole community; +the law of honor exists, but it has no organs to promulgate it. + +The confusion is far greater still in a democratic country like France, +where the different classes of which the former fabric of society was +composed, being brought together but not yet mingled, import day by day +into each other's circles various and sometimes conflicting notions +of honor--where every man, at his own will and pleasure, forsakes one +portion of his forefathers' creed, and retains another; so that, amidst +so many arbitrary measures, no common rule can ever be established, and +it is almost impossible to predict which actions will be held in honor +and which will be thought disgraceful. Such times are wretched, but they +are of short duration. + +As honor, amongst democratic nations, is imperfectly defined, its +influence is of course less powerful; for it is difficult to apply +with certainty and firmness a law which is not distinctly known. Public +opinion, the natural and supreme interpreter of the laws of honor, not +clearly discerning to which side censure or approval ought to lean, +can only pronounce a hesitating judgment. Sometimes the opinion of the +public may contradict itself; more frequently it does not act, and lets +things pass. + +The weakness of the sense of honor in democracies also arises from +several other causes. In aristocratic countries, the same notions of +honor are always entertained by only a few persons, always limited in +number, often separated from the rest of their fellow-citizens. Honor is +easily mingled and identified in their minds with the idea of all +that distinguishes their own position; it appears to them as the chief +characteristic of their own rank; they apply its different rules with +all the warmth of personal interest, and they feel (if I may use the +expression) a passion for complying with its dictates. This truth is +extremely obvious in the old black-letter lawbooks on the subject of +"trial by battel." The nobles, in their disputes, were bound to use +the lance and sword; whereas the villains used only sticks amongst +themselves, "inasmuch as," to use the words of the old books, "villains +have no honor." This did not mean, as it may be imagined at the present +day, that these people were contemptible; but simply that their actions +were not to be judged by the same rules which were applied to the +actions of the aristocracy. + +It is surprising, at first sight, that when the sense of honor is most +predominant, its injunctions are usually most strange; so that the +further it is removed from common reason the better it is obeyed; whence +it has sometimes been inferred that the laws of honor were strengthened +by their own extravagance. The two things indeed originate from the +same source, but the one is not derived from the other. Honor becomes +fantastical in proportion to the peculiarity of the wants which it +denotes, and the paucity of the men by whom those wants are felt; and +it is because it denotes wants of this kind that its influence is great. +Thus the notion of honor is not the stronger for being fantastical, but +it is fantastical and strong from the selfsame cause. + +Further, amongst aristocratic nations each rank is different, but all +ranks are fixed; every man occupies a place in his own sphere which he +cannot relinquish, and he lives there amidst other men who are bound by +the same ties. Amongst these nations no man can either hope or fear to +escape being seen; no man is placed so low but that he has a stage of +his own, and none can avoid censure or applause by his obscurity. +In democratic States on the contrary, where all the members of the +community are mingled in the same crowd and in constant agitation, +public opinion has no hold on men; they disappear at every instant, and +elude its power. Consequently the dictates of honor will be there less +imperious and less stringent; for honor acts solely for the public +eye--differing in this respect from mere virtue, which lives upon itself +contented with its own approval. + +If the reader has distinctly apprehended all that goes before, he will +understand that there is a close and necessary relation between the +inequality of social conditions and what has here been styled honor--a +relation which, if I am not mistaken, had not before been clearly +pointed out. I shall therefore make one more attempt to illustrate it +satisfactorily. Suppose a nation stands apart from the rest of mankind: +independently of certain general wants inherent in the human race, it +will also have wants and interests peculiar to itself: certain opinions +of censure or approbation forthwith arise in the community, which are +peculiar to itself, and which are styled honor by the members of that +community. Now suppose that in this same nation a caste arises, which, +in its turn, stands apart from all the other classes, and contracts +certain peculiar wants, which give rise in their turn to special +opinions. The honor of this caste, composed of a medley of the peculiar +notions of the nation, and the still more peculiar notions of the caste, +will be as remote as it is possible to conceive from the simple and +general opinions of men. + +Having reached this extreme point of the argument, I now return. When +ranks are commingled and privileges abolished, the men of whom a nation +is composed being once more equal and alike, their interests and wants +become identical, and all the peculiar notions which each caste styled +honor successively disappear: the notion of honor no longer proceeds +from any other source than the wants peculiar to the nation at large, +and it denotes the individual character of that nation to the world. +Lastly, if it be allowable to suppose that all the races of mankind +should be commingled, and that all the peoples of earth should +ultimately come to have the same interests, the same wants, +undistinguished from each other by any characteristic peculiarities, +no conventional value whatever would then be attached to men's actions; +they would all be regarded by all in the same light; the general +necessities of mankind, revealed by conscience to every man, would +become the common standard. The simple and general notions of right and +wrong only would then be recognized in the world, to which, by a natural +and necessary tie, the idea of censure or approbation would be +attached. Thus, to comprise all my meaning in a single proposition, +the dissimilarities and inequalities of men gave rise to the notion of +honor; that notion is weakened in proportion as these differences are +obliterated, and with them it would disappear. + + + + +Chapter XIX: Why So Many Ambitious Men And So Little Lofty Ambition Are +To Be Found In The United States + +The first thing which strikes a traveller in the United States is the +innumerable multitude of those who seek to throw off their original +condition; and the second is the rarity of lofty ambition to be observed +in the midst of the universally ambitious stir of society. No Americans +are devoid of a yearning desire to rise; but hardly any appear to +entertain hopes of great magnitude, or to drive at very lofty aims. All +are constantly seeking to acquire property, power, and reputation--few +contemplate these things upon a great scale; and this is the more +surprising, as nothing is to be discerned in the manners or laws of +America to limit desire, or to prevent it from spreading its impulses in +every direction. It seems difficult to attribute this singular state +of things to the equality of social conditions; for at the instant when +that same equality was established in France, the flight of ambition +became unbounded. Nevertheless, I think that the principal cause which +may be assigned to this fact is to be found in the social condition and +democratic manners of the Americans. + +All revolutions enlarge the ambition of men: this proposition is more +peculiarly true of those revolutions which overthrow an aristocracy. +When the former barriers which kept back the multitude from fame and +power are suddenly thrown down, a violent and universal rise takes place +towards that eminence so long coveted and at length to be enjoyed. In +this first burst of triumph nothing seems impossible to anyone: not only +are desires boundless, but the power of satisfying them seems almost +boundless, too. Amidst the general and sudden renewal of laws and +customs, in this vast confusion of all men and all ordinances, the +various members of the community rise and sink again with excessive +rapidity; and power passes so quickly from hand to hand that none need +despair of catching it in turn. It must be recollected, moreover, that +the people who destroy an aristocracy have lived under its laws; they +have witnessed its splendor, and they have unconsciously imbibed the +feelings and notions which it entertained. Thus at the moment when an +aristocracy is dissolved, its spirit still pervades the mass of the +community, and its tendencies are retained long after it has been +defeated. Ambition is therefore always extremely great as long as a +democratic revolution lasts, and it will remain so for some time after +the revolution is consummated. The reminiscence of the extraordinary +events which men have witnessed is not obliterated from their memory in +a day. The passions which a revolution has roused do not disappear at +its close. A sense of instability remains in the midst of re-established +order: a notion of easy success survives the strange vicissitudes which +gave it birth; desires still remain extremely enlarged, when the means +of satisfying them are diminished day by day. The taste for large +fortunes subsists, though large fortunes are rare: and on every side we +trace the ravages of inordinate and hapless ambition kindled in hearts +which they consume in secret and in vain. + +At length, however, the last vestiges of the struggle are effaced; the +remains of aristocracy completely disappear; the great events by which +its fall was attended are forgotten; peace succeeds to war, and the sway +of order is restored in the new realm; desires are again adapted to the +means by which they may be fulfilled; the wants, the opinions, and +the feelings of men cohere once more; the level of the community is +permanently determined, and democratic society established. A democratic +nation, arrived at this permanent and regular state of things, will +present a very different spectacle from that which we have just +described; and we may readily conclude that, if ambition becomes great +whilst the conditions of society are growing equal, it loses that +quality when they have grown so. As wealth is subdivided and knowledge +diffused, no one is entirely destitute of education or of property; +the privileges and disqualifications of caste being abolished, and +men having shattered the bonds which held them fixed, the notion of +advancement suggests itself to every mind, the desire to rise swells in +every heart, and all men want to mount above their station: ambition is +the universal feeling. + +But if the equality of conditions gives some resources to all the +members of the community, it also prevents any of them from having +resources of great extent, which necessarily circumscribes their desires +within somewhat narrow limits. Thus amongst democratic nations ambition +is ardent and continual, but its aim is not habitually lofty; and life +is generally spent in eagerly coveting small objects which are within +reach. What chiefly diverts the men of democracies from lofty ambition +is not the scantiness of their fortunes, but the vehemence of the +exertions they daily make to improve them. They strain their faculties +to the utmost to achieve paltry results, and this cannot fail speedily +to limit their discernment and to circumscribe their powers. They +might be much poorer and still be greater. The small number of opulent +citizens who are to be found amidst a democracy do not constitute an +exception to this rule. A man who raises himself by degrees to wealth +and power, contracts, in the course of this protracted labor, habits +of prudence and restraint which he cannot afterwards shake off. A man +cannot enlarge his mind as he would his house. The same observation is +applicable to the sons of such a man; they are born, it is true, in a +lofty position, but their parents were humble; they have grown up amidst +feelings and notions which they cannot afterwards easily get rid of; +and it may be presumed that they will inherit the propensities of their +father as well as his wealth. It may happen, on the contrary, that +the poorest scion of a powerful aristocracy may display vast ambition, +because the traditional opinions of his race and the general spirit of +his order still buoy him up for some time above his fortune. Another +thing which prevents the men of democratic periods from easily indulging +in the pursuit of lofty objects, is the lapse of time which they foresee +must take place before they can be ready to approach them. "It is a +great advantage," says Pascal, "to be a man of quality, since it brings +one man as forward at eighteen or twenty as another man would be at +fifty, which is a clear gain of thirty years." Those thirty years +are commonly wanting to the ambitious characters of democracies. The +principle of equality, which allows every man to arrive at everything, +prevents all men from rapid advancement. + +In a democratic society, as well as elsewhere, there are only a certain +number of great fortunes to be made; and as the paths which lead to them +are indiscriminately open to all, the progress of all must necessarily +be slackened. As the candidates appear to be nearly alike, and as it +is difficult to make a selection without infringing the principle of +equality, which is the supreme law of democratic societies, the first +idea which suggests itself is to make them all advance at the same rate +and submit to the same probation. Thus in proportion as men become +more alike, and the principle of equality is more peaceably and deeply +infused into the institutions and manners of the country, the rules +of advancement become more inflexible, advancement itself slower, the +difficulty of arriving quickly at a certain height far greater. From +hatred of privilege and from the embarrassment of choosing, all men are +at last constrained, whatever may be their standard, to pass the same +ordeal; all are indiscriminately subjected to a multitude of petty +preliminary exercises, in which their youth is wasted and their +imagination quenched, so that they despair of ever fully attaining +what is held out to them; and when at length they are in a condition to +perform any extraordinary acts, the taste for such things has forsaken +them. + +In China, where the equality of conditions is exceedingly great and +very ancient, no man passes from one public office to another without +undergoing a probationary trial. This probation occurs afresh at every +stage of his career; and the notion is now so rooted in the manners of +the people that I remember to have read a Chinese novel, in which the +hero, after numberless crosses, succeeds at length in touching the +heart of his mistress by taking honors. A lofty ambition breathes with +difficulty in such an atmosphere. + +The remark I apply to politics extends to everything; equality +everywhere produces the same effects; where the laws of a country do +not regulate and retard the advancement of men by positive enactment, +competition attains the same end. In a well-established democratic +community great and rapid elevation is therefore rare; it forms +an exception to the common rule; and it is the singularity of such +occurrences that makes men forget how rarely they happen. Men living in +democracies ultimately discover these things; they find out at last that +the laws of their country open a boundless field of action before them, +but that no one can hope to hasten across it. Between them and the final +object of their desires, they perceive a multitude of small intermediate +impediments, which must be slowly surmounted: this prospect wearies +and discourages their ambition at once. They therefore give up hopes so +doubtful and remote, to search nearer to themselves for less lofty +and more easy enjoyments. Their horizon is not bounded by the laws but +narrowed by themselves. + +I have remarked that lofty ambitions are more rare in the ages of +democracy than in times of aristocracy: I may add that when, in spite of +these natural obstacles, they do spring into existence, their character +is different. In aristocracies the career of ambition is often wide, but +its boundaries are determined. In democracies ambition commonly ranges +in a narrower field, but if once it gets beyond that, hardly any limits +can be assigned to it. As men are individually weak--as they live +asunder, and in constant motion--as precedents are of little authority +and laws but of short duration, resistance to novelty is languid, +and the fabric of society never appears perfectly erect or firmly +consolidated. So that, when once an ambitious man has the power in his +grasp, there is nothing he may noted are; and when it is gone from him, +he meditates the overthrow of the State to regain it. This gives to +great political ambition a character of revolutionary violence, which +it seldom exhibits to an equal degree in aristocratic communities. The +common aspect of democratic nations will present a great number of +small and very rational objects of ambition, from amongst which a few +ill-controlled desires of a larger growth will at intervals break out: +but no such a thing as ambition conceived and contrived on a vast scale +is to be met with there. + +I have shown elsewhere by what secret influence the principle of +equality makes the passion for physical gratifications and the exclusive +love of the present predominate in the human heart: these different +propensities mingle with the sentiment of ambition, and tinge it, as it +were, with their hues. I believe that ambitious men in democracies are +less engrossed than any others with the interests and the judgment of +posterity; the present moment alone engages and absorbs them. They are +more apt to complete a number of undertakings with rapidity than to +raise lasting monuments of their achievements; and they care much more +for success than for fame. What they most ask of men is obedience--what +they most covet is empire. Their manners have in almost all cases +remained below the height of their station; the consequence is that they +frequently carry very low tastes into their extraordinary fortunes, and +that they seem to have acquired the supreme power only to minister to +their coarse or paltry pleasures. + +I think that in our time it is very necessary to cleanse, to regulate, +and to adapt the feeling of ambition, but that it would be extremely +dangerous to seek to impoverish and to repress it over-much. We should +attempt to lay down certain extreme limits, which it should never be +allowed to outstep; but its range within those established limits +should not be too much checked. I confess that I apprehend much less +for democratic society from the boldness than from the mediocrity of +desires. What appears to me most to be dreaded is that, in the midst of +the small incessant occupations of private life, ambition should lose +its vigor and its greatness--that the passions of man should abate, but +at the same time be lowered, so that the march of society should every +day become more tranquil and less aspiring. I think then that the +leaders of modern society would be wrong to seek to lull the community +by a state of too uniform and too peaceful happiness; and that it is +well to expose it from time to time to matters of difficulty and danger, +in order to raise ambition and to give it a field of action. Moralists +are constantly complaining that the ruling vice of the present time is +pride. This is true in one sense, for indeed no one thinks that he is +not better than his neighbor, or consents to obey his superior: but +it is extremely false in another; for the same man who cannot endure +subordination or equality, has so contemptible an opinion of himself +that he thinks he is only born to indulge in vulgar pleasures. He +willingly takes up with low desires, without daring to embark in lofty +enterprises, of which he scarcely dreams. Thus, far from thinking +that humility ought to be preached to our contemporaries, I would have +endeavors made to give them a more enlarged idea of themselves and of +their kind. Humility is unwholesome to them; what they most want is, +in my opinion, pride. I would willingly exchange several of our small +virtues for this one vice. + + + + +Chapter XX: The Trade Of Place-Hunting In Certain Democratic Countries + +In the United States as soon as a man has acquired some education and +pecuniary resources, he either endeavors to get rich by commerce or +industry, or he buys land in the bush and turns pioneer. All that he +asks of the State is not to be disturbed in his toil, and to be secure +of his earnings. Amongst the greater part of European nations, when a +man begins to feel his strength and to extend his desires, the first +thing that occurs to him is to get some public employment. These +opposite effects, originating in the same cause, deserve our passing +notice. + +When public employments are few in number, ill-paid and precarious, +whilst the different lines of business are numerous and lucrative, it is +to business, and not to official duties, that the new and eager desires +engendered by the principle of equality turn from every side. But if, +whilst the ranks of society are becoming more equal, the education of +the people remains incomplete, or their spirit the reverse of bold--if +commerce and industry, checked in their growth, afford only slow and +arduous means of making a fortune--the various members of the community, +despairing of ameliorating their own condition, rush to the head of the +State and demand its assistance. To relieve their own necessities at the +cost of the public treasury, appears to them to be the easiest and most +open, if not the only, way they have to rise above a condition which no +longer contents them; place-hunting becomes the most generally followed +of all trades. This must especially be the case, in those great +centralized monarchies in which the number of paid offices is immense, +and the tenure of them tolerably secure, so that no one despairs of +obtaining a place, and of enjoying it as undisturbedly as a hereditary +fortune. + +I shall not remark that the universal and inordinate desire for place is +a great social evil; that it destroys the spirit of independence in the +citizen, and diffuses a venal and servile humor throughout the frame +of society; that it stifles the manlier virtues: nor shall I be at +the pains to demonstrate that this kind of traffic only creates an +unproductive activity, which agitates the country without adding to its +resources: all these things are obvious. But I would observe, that a +government which encourages this tendency risks its own tranquillity, +and places its very existence in great jeopardy. I am aware that at a +time like our own, when the love and respect which formerly clung to +authority are seen gradually to decline, it may appear necessary to +those in power to lay a closer hold on every man by his own interest, +and it may seem convenient to use his own passions to keep him in order +and in silence; but this cannot be so long, and what may appear to be a +source of strength for a certain time will assuredly become in the end a +great cause of embarrassment and weakness. + +Amongst democratic nations, as well as elsewhere, the number of official +appointments has in the end some limits; but amongst those nations, +the number of aspirants is unlimited; it perpetually increases, with a +gradual and irresistible rise in proportion as social conditions become +more equal, and is only checked by the limits of the population. +Thus, when public employments afford the only outlet for ambition, the +government necessarily meets with a permanent opposition at last; for +it is tasked to satisfy with limited means unlimited desires. It is very +certain that of all people in the world the most difficult to restrain +and to manage are a people of solicitants. Whatever endeavors are made +by rulers, such a people can never be contented; and it is always to be +apprehended that they will ultimately overturn the constitution of the +country, and change the aspect of the State, for the sole purpose of +making a clearance of places. The sovereigns of the present age, who +strive to fix upon themselves alone all those novel desires which are +aroused by equality, and to satisfy them, will repent in the end, if I +am not mistaken, that they ever embarked in this policy: they will one +day discover that they have hazarded their own power, by making it so +necessary; and that the more safe and honest course would have been to +teach their subjects the art of providing for themselves. *a + +[Footnote a: As a matter of fact, more recent experience has shown that +place-hunting is quite as intense in the United States as in any country +in Europe. It is regarded by the Americans themselves as one of the +great evils of their social condition, and it powerfully affects their +political institutions. But the American who seeks a place seeks not so +much a means of subsistence as the distinction which office and public +employment confer. In the absence of any true aristocracy, the public +service creates a spurious one, which is as much an object of ambition +as the distinctions of rank in aristocratic countries.--Translator's +Note.] + + + + +Chapter XXI: Why Great Revolutions Will Become More Rare + +A people which has existed for centuries under a system of castes and +classes can only arrive at a democratic state of society by passing +through a long series of more or less critical transformations, +accomplished by violent efforts, and after numerous vicissitudes; in the +course of which, property, opinions, and power are rapidly transferred +from one hand to another. Even after this great revolution is +consummated, the revolutionary habits engendered by it may long be +traced, and it will be followed by deep commotion. As all this takes +place at the very time at which social conditions are becoming more +equal, it is inferred that some concealed relation and secret tie exist +between the principle of equality itself and revolution, insomuch that +the one cannot exist without giving rise to the other. + +On this point reasoning may seem to lead to the same result as +experience. Amongst a people whose ranks are nearly equal, no ostensible +bond connects men together, or keeps them settled in their station. +None of them have either a permanent right or power to command--none +are forced by their condition to obey; but every man, finding himself +possessed of some education and some resources, may choose his won path +and proceed apart from all his fellow-men. The same causes which make +the members of the community independent of each other, continually +impel them to new and restless desires, and constantly spur them +onwards. It therefore seems natural that, in a democratic community, +men, things, and opinions should be forever changing their form and +place, and that democratic ages should be times of rapid and incessant +transformation. + +But is this really the case? does the equality of social conditions +habitually and permanently lead men to revolution? does that state of +society contain some perturbing principle which prevents the community +from ever subsiding into calm, and disposes the citizens to alter +incessantly their laws, their principles, and their manners? I do not +believe it; and as the subject is important, I beg for the reader's +close attention. Almost all the revolutions which have changed the +aspect of nations have been made to consolidate or to destroy social +inequality. Remove the secondary causes which have produced the great +convulsions of the world, and you will almost always find the principle +of inequality at the bottom. Either the poor have attempted to plunder +the rich, or the rich to enslave the poor. If then a state of society +can ever be founded in which every man shall have something to keep, and +little to take from others, much will have been done for the peace of +the world. I am aware that amongst a great democratic people there will +always be some members of the community in great poverty, and others in +great opulence; but the poor, instead of forming the immense majority +of the nation, as is always the case in aristocratic communities, are +comparatively few in number, and the laws do not bind them together by +the ties of irremediable and hereditary penury. The wealthy, on their +side, are scarce and powerless; they have no privileges which attract +public observation; even their wealth, as it is no longer incorporated +and bound up with the soil, is impalpable, and as it were invisible. As +there is no longer a race of poor men, so there is no longer a race of +rich men; the latter spring up daily from the multitude, and relapse +into it again. Hence they do not form a distinct class, which may be +easily marked out and plundered; and, moreover, as they are connected +with the mass of their fellow-citizens by a thousand secret ties, the +people cannot assail them without inflicting an injury upon itself. +Between these two extremes of democratic communities stand an +innumerable multitude of men almost alike, who, without being exactly +either rich or poor, are possessed of sufficient property to desire the +maintenance of order, yet not enough to excite envy. Such men are the +natural enemies of violent commotions: their stillness keeps all beneath +them and above them still, and secures the balance of the fabric of +society. Not indeed that even these men are contented with what they +have gotten, or that they feel a natural abhorrence for a revolution in +which they might share the spoil without sharing the calamity; on the +contrary, they desire, with unexampled ardor, to get rich, but the +difficulty is to know from whom riches can be taken. The same state of +society which constantly prompts desires, restrains these desires +within necessary limits: it gives men more liberty of changing and less +interest in change. + +Not only are the men of democracies not naturally desirous of +revolutions, but they are afraid of them. All revolutions more or +less threaten the tenure of property: but most of those who live in +democratic countries are possessed of property--not only are they +possessed of property, but they live in the condition of men who set the +greatest store upon their property. If we attentively consider each of +the classes of which society is composed, it is easy to see that the +passions engendered by property are keenest and most tenacious amongst +the middle classes. The poor often care but little for what they +possess, because they suffer much more from the want of what they have +not, than they enjoy the little they have. The rich have many other +passions besides that of riches to satisfy; and, besides, the long and +arduous enjoyment of a great fortune sometimes makes them in the end +insensible to its charms. But the men who have a competency, alike +removed from opulence and from penury, attach an enormous value to their +possessions. As they are still almost within the reach of poverty, they +see its privations near at hand, and dread them; between poverty and +themselves there is nothing but a scanty fortune, upon which they +immediately fix their apprehensions and their hopes. Every day increases +the interest they take in it, by the constant cares which it occasions; +and they are the more attached to it by their continual exertions to +increase the amount. The notion of surrendering the smallest part of it +is insupportable to them, and they consider its total loss as the worst +of misfortunes. Now these eager and apprehensive men of small property +constitute the class which is constantly increased by the equality of +conditions. Hence, in democratic communities, the majority of the people +do not clearly see what they have to gain by a revolution, but they +continually and in a thousand ways feel that they might lose by one. + +I have shown in another part of this work that the equality of +conditions naturally urges men to embark in commercial and industrial +pursuits, and that it tends to increase and to distribute real property: +I have also pointed out the means by which it inspires every man with +an eager and constant desire to increase his welfare. Nothing is more +opposed to revolutionary passions than these things. It may happen +that the final result of a revolution is favorable to commerce and +manufactures; but its first consequence will almost always be the ruin +of manufactures and mercantile men, because it must always change at +once the general principles of consumption, and temporarily upset the +existing proportion between supply and demand. I know of nothing more +opposite to revolutionary manners than commercial manners. Commerce is +naturally adverse to all the violent passions; it loves to temporize, +takes delight in compromise, and studiously avoids irritation. It +is patient, insinuating, flexible, and never has recourse to extreme +measures until obliged by the most absolute necessity. Commerce renders +men independent of each other, gives them a lofty notion of their +personal importance, leads them to seek to conduct their own affairs, +and teaches how to conduct them well; it therefore prepares men for +freedom, but preserves them from revolutions. In a revolution the owners +of personal property have more to fear than all others; for on the one +hand their property is often easy to seize, and on the other it may +totally disappear at any moment--a subject of alarm to which the owners +of real property are less exposed, since, although they may lose the +income of their estates, they may hope to preserve the land itself +through the greatest vicissitudes. Hence the former are much more +alarmed at the symptoms of revolutionary commotion than the latter. Thus +nations are less disposed to make revolutions in proportion as personal +property is augmented and distributed amongst them, and as the number +of those possessing it increases. Moreover, whatever profession men +may embrace, and whatever species of property they may possess, one +characteristic is common to them all. No one is fully contented with +his present fortune--all are perpetually striving in a thousand ways to +improve it. Consider any one of them at any period of his life, and +he will be found engaged with some new project for the purpose of +increasing what he has; talk not to him of the interests and the rights +of mankind: this small domestic concern absorbs for the time all his +thoughts, and inclines him to defer political excitement to some other +season. This not only prevents men from making revolutions, but deters +men from desiring them. Violent political passions have but little hold +on those who have devoted all their faculties to the pursuit of their +well-being. The ardor which they display in small matters calms their +zeal for momentous undertakings. + +From time to time indeed, enterprising and ambitious men will arise in +democratic communities, whose unbounded aspirations cannot be contented +by following the beaten track. Such men like revolutions and hail their +approach; but they have great difficulty in bringing them about, unless +unwonted events come to their assistance. No man can struggle with +advantage against the spirit of his age and country; and, however +powerful he may be supposed to be, he will find it difficult to make his +contemporaries share in feelings and opinions which are repugnant to t +all their feelings and desires. + +It is a mistake to believe that, when once the equality of conditions +has become the old and uncontested state of society, and has imparted +its characteristics to the manners of a nation, men will easily allow +themselves to be thrust into perilous risks by an imprudent leader or +a bold innovator. Not indeed that they will resist him openly, by +well-contrived schemes, or even by a premeditated plan of resistance. +They will not struggle energetically against him, sometimes they will +even applaud him--but they do not follow him. To his vehemence they +secretly oppose their inertia; to his revolutionary tendencies their +conservative interests; their homely tastes to his adventurous passions; +their good sense to the flights of his genius; to his poetry their +prose. With immense exertion he raises them for an instant, but they +speedily escape from him, and fall back, as it were, by their own +weight. He strains himself to rouse the indifferent and distracted +multitude, and finds at last that he is reduced to impotence, not +because he is conquered, but because he is alone. + +I do not assert that men living in democratic communities are naturally +stationary; I think, on the contrary, that a perpetual stir prevails +in the bosom of those societies, and that rest is unknown there; but I +think that men bestir themselves within certain limits beyond which +they hardly ever go. They are forever varying, altering, and restoring +secondary matters; but they carefully abstain from touching what is +fundamental. They love change, but they dread revolutions. Although the +Americans are constantly modifying or abrogating some of their laws, +they by no means display revolutionary passions. It may be easily seen, +from the promptitude with which they check and calm themselves when +public excitement begins to grow alarming, and at the very moment when +passions seem most roused, that they dread a revolution as the worst +of misfortunes, and that every one of them is inwardly resolved to make +great sacrifices to avoid such a catastrophe. In no country in the world +is the love of property more active and more anxious than in the United +States; nowhere does the majority display less inclination for those +principles which threaten to alter, in whatever manner, the laws +of property. I have often remarked that theories which are of a +revolutionary nature, since they cannot be put in practice without a +complete and sometimes a sudden change in the state of property and +persons, are much less favorably viewed in the United States than in +the great monarchical countries of Europe: if some men profess them, +the bulk of the people reject them with instinctive abhorrence. I do not +hesitate to say that most of the maxims commonly called democratic in +France would be proscribed by the democracy of the United States. This +may easily be understood: in America men have the opinions and passions +of democracy, in Europe we have still the passions and opinions of +revolution. If ever America undergoes great revolutions, they will +be brought about by the presence of the black race on the soil of the +United States--that is to say, they will owe their origin, not to the +equality, but to the inequality, of conditions. + +When social conditions are equal, every man is apt to live apart, +centred in himself and forgetful of the public. If the rulers of +democratic nations were either to neglect to correct this fatal +tendency, or to encourage it from a notion that it weans men from +political passions and thus wards off revolutions, they might eventually +produce the evil they seek to avoid, and a time might come when the +inordinate passions of a few men, aided by the unintelligent selfishness +or the pusillanimity of the greater number, would ultimately compel +society to pass through strange vicissitudes. In democratic communities +revolutions are seldom desired except by a minority; but a minority +may sometimes effect them. I do not assert that democratic nations are +secure from revolutions; I merely say that the state of society in +those nations does not lead to revolutions, but rather wards them off. +A democratic people left to itself will not easily embark in great +hazards; it is only led to revolutions unawares; it may sometimes +undergo them, but it does not make them; and I will add that, when +such a people has been allowed to acquire sufficient knowledge and +experience, it will not suffer them to be made. I am well aware that +it this respect public institutions may themselves do much; they may +encourage or repress the tendencies which originate in the state of +society. I therefore do not maintain, I repeat, that a people is secure +from revolutions simply because conditions are equal in the community; +but I think that, whatever the institutions of such a people may be, +great revolutions will always be far less violent and less frequent than +is supposed; and I can easily discern a state of polity, which, when +combined with the principle of equality, would render society more +stationary than it has ever been in our western apart of the world. + +The observations I have here made on events may also be applied in +part to opinions. Two things are surprising in the United States--the +mutability of the greater part of human actions, and the singular +stability of certain principles. Men are in constant motion; the mind +of man appears almost unmoved. When once an opinion has spread over the +country and struck root there, it would seem that no power on earth is +strong enough to eradicate it. In the United States, general principles +in religion, philosophy, morality, and even politics, do not vary, or at +least are only modified by a hidden and often an imperceptible process: +even the grossest prejudices are obliterated with incredible slowness, +amidst the continual friction of men and things. I hear it said that it +is in the nature and the habits of democracies to be constantly changing +their opinions and feelings. This may be true of small democratic +nations, like those of the ancient world, in which the whole community +could be assembled in a public place and then excited at will by an +orator. But I saw nothing of the kind amongst the great democratic +people which dwells upon the opposite shores of the Atlantic Ocean. +What struck me in the United States was the difficulty in shaking the +majority in an opinion once conceived, or of drawing it off from a +leader once adopted. Neither speaking nor writing can accomplish it; +nothing but experience will avail, and even experience must be repeated. +This is surprising at first sight, but a more attentive investigation +explains the fact. I do not think that it is as easy as is supposed to +uproot the prejudices of a democratic people--to change its belief--to +supersede principles once established, by new principles in religion, +politics, and morals--in a word, to make great and frequent changes in +men's minds. Not that the human mind is there at rest--it is in constant +agitation; but it is engaged in infinitely varying the consequences of +known principles, and in seeking for new consequences, rather than in +seeking for new principles. Its motion is one of rapid circumvolution, +rather than of straightforward impulse by rapid and direct effort; it +extends its orbit by small continual and hasty movements, but it does +not suddenly alter its position. + +Men who are equal in rights, in education, in fortune, or, to comprise +all in one word, in their social condition, have necessarily wants, +habits, and tastes which are hardly dissimilar. As they look at +objects under the same aspect, their minds naturally tend to +analogous conclusions; and, though each of them may deviate from his +contemporaries and from opinions of his own, they will involuntarily and +unconsciously concur in a certain number of received opinions. The more +attentively I consider the effects of equality upon the mind, the more +am I persuaded that the intellectual anarchy which we witness about us +is not, as many men suppose, the natural state of democratic nations. +I think it is rather to be regarded as an accident peculiar to their +youth, and that it only breaks out at that period of transition when men +have already snapped the former ties which bound them together, but are +still amazingly different in origin, education, and manners; so that, +having retained opinions, propensities and tastes of great diversity, +nothing any longer prevents men from avowing them openly. The leading +opinions of men become similar in proportion as their conditions +assimilate; such appears to me to be the general and permanent law--the +rest is casual and transient. + +I believe that it will rarely happen to any man amongst a democratic +community, suddenly to frame a system of notions very remote from +that which his contemporaries have adopted; and if some such innovator +appeared, I apprehend that he would have great difficulty in finding +listeners, still more in finding believers. When the conditions of men +are almost equal, they do not easily allow themselves to be persuaded by +each other. As they all live in close intercourse, as they have learned +the same things together, and as they lead the same life, they are not +naturally disposed to take one of themselves for a guide, and to follow +him implicitly. Men seldom take the opinion of their equal, or of a +man like themselves, upon trust. Not only is confidence in the superior +attainments of certain individuals weakened amongst democratic nations, +as I have elsewhere remarked, but the general notion of the intellectual +superiority which any man whatsoever may acquire in relation to the rest +of the community is soon overshadowed. As men grow more like each other, +the doctrine of the equality of the intellect gradually infuses itself +into their opinions; and it becomes more difficult for any innovator to +acquire or to exert much influence over the minds of a people. In such +communities sudden intellectual revolutions will therefore be rare; for, +if we read aright the history of the world, we shall find that great and +rapid changes in human opinions have been produced far less by the force +of reasoning than by the authority of a name. Observe, too, that as the +men who live in democratic societies are not connected with each other +by any tie, each of them must be convinced individually; whilst in +aristocratic society it is enough to convince a few--the rest follow. +If Luther had lived in an age of equality, and had not had princes +and potentates for his audience, he would perhaps have found it more +difficult to change the aspect of Europe. Not indeed that the men of +democracies are naturally strongly persuaded of the certainty of their +opinions, or are unwavering in belief; they frequently entertain doubts +which no one, in their eyes, can remove. It sometimes happens at such +times that the human mind would willingly change its position; but as +nothing urges or guides it forwards, it oscillates to and fro without +progressive motion. *a + +[Footnote a: If I inquire what state of society is most favorable to the +great revolutions of the mind, I find that it occurs somewhere between +the complete equality of the whole community and the absolute separation +of ranks. Under a system of castes generations succeed each other +without altering men's positions; some have nothing more, others nothing +better, to hope for. The imagination slumbers amidst this universal +silence and stillness, and the very idea of change fades from the human +mind. When ranks have been abolished and social conditions are almost +equalized, all men are in ceaseless excitement, but each of them stands +alone, independent and weak. This latter state of things is excessively +different from the former one; yet it has one point of analogy--great +revolutions of the human mind seldom occur in it. But between these two +extremes of the history of nations is an intermediate period--a period +as glorious as it is agitated--when the conditions of men are not +sufficiently settled for the mind to be lulled in torpor, when they are +sufficiently unequal for men to exercise a vast power on the minds of +one another, and when some few may modify the convictions of all. It is +at such times that great reformers start up, and new opinions suddenly +change the face of the world.] + +Even when the reliance of a democratic people has been won, it is still +no easy matter to gain their attention. It is extremely difficult to +obtain a hearing from men living in democracies, unless it be to speak +to them of themselves. They do not attend to the things said to them, +because they are always fully engrossed with the things they are doing. +For indeed few men are idle in democratic nations; life is passed in +the midst of noise and excitement, and men are so engaged in acting that +little remains to them for thinking. I would especially remark that they +are not only employed, but that they are passionately devoted to their +employments. They are always in action, and each of their actions +absorbs their faculties: the zeal which they display in business puts +out the enthusiasm they might otherwise entertain for idea. I think +that it is extremely difficult to excite the enthusiasm of a democratic +people for any theory which has not a palpable, direct, and immediate +connection with the daily occupations of life: therefore they will not +easily forsake their old opinions; for it is enthusiasm which flings the +minds of men out of the beaten track, and effects the great revolutions +of the intellect as well as the great revolutions of the political +world. Thus democratic nations have neither time nor taste to go in +search of novel opinions. Even when those they possess become doubtful, +they still retain them, because it would take too much time and inquiry +to change them--they retain them, not as certain, but as established. + +There are yet other and more cogent reasons which prevent any great +change from being easily effected in the principles of a democratic +people. I have already adverted to them at the commencement of this +part of my work. If the influence of individuals is weak and hardly +perceptible amongst such a people, the power exercised by the mass upon +the mind of each individual is extremely great--I have already shown for +what reasons. I would now observe that it is wrong to suppose that this +depends solely upon the form of government, and that the majority would +lose its intellectual supremacy if it were to lose its political power. +In aristocracies men have often much greatness and strength of their +own: when they find themselves at variance with the greater number of +their fellow-countrymen, they withdraw to their own circle, where they +support and console themselves. Such is not the case in a democratic +country; there public favor seems as necessary as the air we breathe, +and to live at variance with the multitude is, as it were, not to +live. The multitude requires no laws to coerce those who think not like +itself: public disapprobation is enough; a sense of their loneliness and +impotence overtakes them and drives them to despair. + +Whenever social conditions are equal, public opinion presses with +enormous weight upon the mind of each individual; it surrounds, directs, +and oppresses him; and this arises from the very constitution of +society, much more than from its political laws. As men grow more alike, +each man feels himself weaker in regard to all the rest; as he discerns +nothing by which he is considerably raised above them, or distinguished +from them, he mistrusts himself as soon as they assail him. Not only +does he mistrust his strength, but he even doubts of his right; and he +is very near acknowledging that he is in the wrong, when the greater +number of his countrymen assert that he is so. The majority do not need +to constrain him--they convince him. In whatever way then the powers of +a democratic community may be organized and balanced, it will always be +extremely difficult to believe what the bulk of the people reject, or to +profess what they condemn. + +This circumstance is extraordinarily favorable to the stability of +opinions. When an opinion has taken root amongst a democratic people, +and established itself in the minds of the bulk of the community, it +afterwards subsists by itself and is maintained without effort, because +no one attacks it. Those who at first rejected it as false, ultimately +receive it as the general impression; and those who still dispute it in +their hearts, conceal their dissent; they are careful not to engage in a +dangerous and useless conflict. It is true, that when the majority of +a democratic people change their opinions, they may suddenly and +arbitrarily effect strange revolutions in men's minds; but their +opinions do not change without much difficulty, and it is almost as +difficult to show that they are changed. + +Time, events, or the unaided individual action of the mind, will +sometimes undermine or destroy an opinion, without any outward sign +of the change. It has not been openly assailed, no conspiracy has been +formed to make war on it, but its followers one by one noiselessly +secede--day by day a few of them abandon it, until last it is only +professed by a minority. In this state it will still continue to +prevail. As its enemies remain mute, or only interchange their thoughts +by stealth, they are themselves unaware for a long period that a great +revolution has actually been effected; and in this state of uncertainly +they take no steps--they observe each other and are silent. The majority +have ceased to believe what they believed before; but they still affect +to believe, and this empty phantom of public opinion in strong enough to +chill innovators, and to keep them silent and at respectful distance. We +live at a time which has witnessed the most rapid changes of opinion in +the minds of men; nevertheless it may be that the leading opinions of +society will ere long be more settled than they have been for several +centuries in our history: that time is not yet come, but it may +perhaps be approaching. As I examine more closely the natural wants and +tendencies of democratic nations, I grow persuaded that if ever social +equality is generally and permanently established in the world, great +intellectual and political revolutions will become more difficult and +less frequent than is supposed. Because the men of democracies appear +always excited, uncertain, eager, changeable in their wills and in their +positions, it is imagined that they are suddenly to abrogate their laws, +to adopt new opinions, and to assume new manners. But if the principle +of equality predisposes men to change, it also suggests to them certain +interests and tastes which cannot be satisfied without a settled order +of things; equality urges them on, but at the same time it holds them +back; it spurs them, but fastens them to earth;--it kindles their +desires, but limits their powers. This, however, is not perceived at +first; the passions which tend to sever the citizens of a democracy are +obvious enough; but the hidden force which restrains and unites them is +not discernible at a glance. + +Amidst the ruins which surround me, shall I dare to say that revolutions +are not what I most fear coming generations? If men continue to shut +themselves more closely within the narrow circle of domestic interests +and to live upon that kind of excitement, it is to be apprehended that +they may ultimately become inaccessible to those great and powerful +public emotions which perturb nations--but which enlarge them and +recruit them. When property becomes so fluctuating, and the love of +property so restless and so ardent, I cannot but fear that men may +arrive at such a state as to regard every new theory as a peril, +every innovation as an irksome toil, every social improvement as a +stepping-stone to revolution, and so refuse to move altogether for fear +of being moved too far. I dread, and I confess it, lest they should at +last so entirely give way to a cowardly love of present enjoyment, as to +lose sight of the interests of their future selves and of those of their +descendants; and to prefer to glide along the easy current of life, +rather than to make, when it is necessary, a strong and sudden effort +to a higher purpose. It is believed by some that modern society will be +ever changing its aspect; for myself, I fear that it will ultimately be +too invariably fixed in the same institutions, the same prejudices, the +same manners, so that mankind will be stopped and circumscribed; that +the mind will swing backwards and forwards forever, without begetting +fresh ideas; that man will waste his strength in bootless and solitary +trifling; and, though in continual motion, that humanity will cease to +advance. + + + + +Chapter XXII: Why Democratic Nations Are Naturally Desirous Of Peace, +And Democratic Armies Of War + +The same interests, the same fears, the same passions which deter +democratic nations from revolutions, deter them also from war; the +spirit of military glory and the spirit of revolution are weakened at +the same time and by the same causes. The ever-increasing numbers of men +of property--lovers of peace, the growth of personal wealth which war +so rapidly consumes, the mildness of manners, the gentleness of heart, +those tendencies to pity which are engendered by the equality +of conditions, that coolness of understanding which renders men +comparatively insensible to the violent and poetical excitement of +arms--all these causes concur to quench the military spirit. I think it +may be admitted as a general and constant rule, that, amongst civilized +nations, the warlike passions will become more rare and less intense in +proportion as social conditions shall be more equal. War is nevertheless +an occurrence to which all nations are subject, democratic nations as +well as others. Whatever taste they may have for peace, they must hold +themselves in readiness to repel aggression, or in other words they must +have an army. + +Fortune, which has conferred so many peculiar benefits upon the +inhabitants of the United States, has placed them in the midst of a +wilderness, where they have, so to speak, no neighbors: a few thousand +soldiers are sufficient for their wants; but this is peculiar to +America, not to democracy. The equality of conditions, and the +manners as well as the institutions resulting from it, do not exempt +a democratic people from the necessity of standing armies, and their +armies always exercise a powerful influence over their fate. It is +therefore of singular importance to inquire what are the natural +propensities of the men of whom these armies are composed. + +Amongst aristocratic nations, especially amongst those in which birth +is the only source of rank, the same inequality exists in the army as +in the nation; the officer is noble, the soldier is a serf; the one is +naturally called upon to command, the other to obey. In aristocratic +armies, the private soldier's ambition is therefore circumscribed within +very narrow limits. Nor has the ambition of the officer an unlimited +range. An aristocratic body not only forms a part of the scale of ranks +in the nation, but it contains a scale of ranks within itself: the +members of whom it is composed are placed one above another, in a +particular and unvarying manner. Thus one man is born to the command of +a regiment, another to that of a company; when once they have reached +the utmost object of their hopes, they stop of their own accord, and +remain contented with their lot. There is, besides, a strong cause, +which, in aristocracies, weakens the officer's desire of promotion. +Amongst aristocratic nations, an officer, independently of his rank +in the army, also occupies an elevated rank in society; the former is +almost always in his eyes only an appendage to the latter. A nobleman +who embraces the profession of arms follows it less from motives of +ambition than from a sense of the duties imposed on him by his birth. +He enters the army in order to find an honorable employment for the idle +years of his youth, and to be able to bring back to his home and his +peers some honorable recollections of military life; but his principal +object is not to obtain by that profession either property, distinction, +or power, for he possesses these advantages in his own right, and enjoys +them without leaving his home. + +In democratic armies all the soldiers may become officers, which makes +the desire of promotion general, and immeasurably extends the bounds +of military ambition. The officer, on his part, sees nothing which +naturally and necessarily stops him at one grade more than at another; +and each grade has immense importance in his eyes, because his rank +in society almost always depends on his rank in the army. Amongst +democratic nations it often happens that an officer has no property but +his pay, and no distinction but that of military honors: consequently as +often as his duties change, his fortune changes, and he becomes, as +it were, a new man. What was only an appendage to his position in +aristocratic armies, has thus become the main point, the basis of his +whole condition. Under the old French monarchy officers were always +called by their titles of nobility; they are now always called by +the title of their military rank. This little change in the forms of +language suffices to show that a great revolution has taken place in the +constitution of society and in that of the army. In democratic armies +the desire of advancement is almost universal: it is ardent, +tenacious, perpetual; it is strengthened by all other desires, and only +extinguished with life itself. But it is easy to see, that of all armies +in the world, those in which advancement must be slowest in time +of peace are the armies of democratic countries. As the number of +commissions is naturally limited, whilst the number of competitors is +almost unlimited, and as the strict law of equality is over all alike, +none can make rapid progress--many can make no progress at all. Thus the +desire of advancement is greater, and the opportunities of advancement +fewer, there than elsewhere. All the ambitious spirits of a democratic +army are consequently ardently desirous of war, because war makes +vacancies, and warrants the violation of that law of seniority which is +the sole privilege natural to democracy. + +We thus arrive at this singular consequence, that of all armies those +most ardently desirous of war are democratic armies, and of all nations +those most fond of peace are democratic nations: and, what makes these +facts still more extraordinary, is that these contrary effects are +produced at the same time by the principle of equality. + +All the members of the community, being alike, constantly harbor the +wish, and discover the possibility, of changing their condition and +improving their welfare: this makes them fond of peace, which is +favorable to industry, and allows every man to pursue his own little +undertakings to their completion. On the other hand, this same equality +makes soldiers dream of fields of battle, by increasing the value of +military honors in the eyes of those who follow the profession of arms, +and by rendering those honors accessible to all. In either case +the inquietude of the heart is the same, the taste for enjoyment as +insatiable, the ambition of success as great--the means of gratifying it +are alone different. + +These opposite tendencies of the nation and the army expose democratic +communities to great dangers. When a military spirit forsakes a people, +the profession of arms immediately ceases to be held in honor, and +military men fall to the lowest rank of the public servants: they are +little esteemed, and no longer understood. The reverse of what takes +place in aristocratic ages then occurs; the men who enter the army +are no longer those of the highest, but of the lowest rank. Military +ambition is only indulged in when no other is possible. Hence arises a +circle of cause and consequence from which it is difficult to escape: +the best part of the nation shuns the military profession because that +profession is not honored, and the profession is not honored because the +best part of the nation has ceased to follow it. It is then no matter +of surprise that democratic armies are often restless, ill-tempered, +and dissatisfied with their lot, although their physical condition is +commonly far better, and their discipline less strict than in other +countries. The soldier feels that he occupies an inferior position, +and his wounded pride either stimulates his taste for hostilities +which would render his services necessary, or gives him a turn for +revolutions, during which he may hope to win by force of arms the +political influence and personal importance now denied him. The +composition of democratic armies makes this last-mentioned danger +much to be feared. In democratic communities almost every man has some +property to preserve; but democratic armies are generally led by men +without property, most of whom have little to lose in civil broils. The +bulk of the nation is naturally much more afraid of revolutions than in +the ages of aristocracy, but the leaders of the army much less so. + +Moreover, as amongst democratic nations (to repeat what I have just +remarked) the wealthiest, the best educated, and the most able men +seldom adopt the military profession, the army, taken collectively, +eventually forms a small nation by itself, where the mind is less +enlarged, and habits are more rude than in the nation at large. Now, +this small uncivilized nation has arms in its possession, and alone +knows how to use them: for, indeed, the pacific temper of the community +increases the danger to which a democratic people is exposed from the +military and turbulent spirit of the army. Nothing is so dangerous as +an army amidst an unwarlike nation; the excessive love of the whole +community for quiet continually puts its constitution at the mercy of +the soldiery. It may therefore be asserted, generally speaking, that if +democratic nations are naturally prone to peace from their interests and +their propensities, they are constantly drawn to war and revolutions +by their armies. Military revolutions, which are scarcely ever to +be apprehended in aristocracies, are always to be dreaded amongst +democratic nations. These perils must be reckoned amongst the most +formidable which beset their future fate, and the attention of statesmen +should be sedulously applied to find a remedy for the evil. + +When a nation perceives that it is inwardly affected by the restless +ambition of its army, the first thought which occurs is to give this +inconvenient ambition an object by going to war. I speak no ill of +war: war almost always enlarges the mind of a people, and raises their +character. In some cases it is the only check to the excessive growth +of certain propensities which naturally spring out of the equality +of conditions, and it must be considered as a necessary corrective to +certain inveterate diseases to which democratic communities are liable. +War has great advantages, but we must not flatter ourselves that it +can diminish the danger I have just pointed out. That peril is only +suspended by it, to return more fiercely when the war is over; for +armies are much more impatient of peace after having tasted military +exploits. War could only be a remedy for a people which should always be +athirst for military glory. I foresee that all the military rulers who +may rise up in great democratic nations, will find it easier to conquer +with their armies, than to make their armies live at peace after +conquest. There are two things which a democratic people will always +find very difficult--to begin a war, and to end it. + +Again, if war has some peculiar advantages for democratic nations, on +the other hand it exposes them to certain dangers which aristocracies +have no cause to dread to an equal extent. I shall only point out two +of these. Although war gratifies the army, it embarrasses and often +exasperates that countless multitude of men whose minor passions every +day require peace in order to be satisfied. Thus there is some risk +of its causing, under another form, the disturbance it is intended +to prevent. No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a +democratic country. Not indeed that after every victory it is to be +apprehended that the victorious generals will possess themselves by +force of the supreme power, after the manner of Sylla and Caesar: the +danger is of another kind. War does not always give over democratic +communities to military government, but it must invariably and +immeasurably increase the powers of civil government; it must almost +compulsorily concentrate the direction of all men and the management +of all things in the hands of the administration. If it lead not to +despotism by sudden violence, it prepares men for it more gently +by their habits. All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a +democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and the shortest +means to accomplish it. This is the first axiom of the science. + +One remedy, which appears to be obvious when the ambition of soldiers +and officers becomes the subject of alarm, is to augment the number +of commissions to be distributed by increasing the army. This affords +temporary relief, but it plunges the country into deeper difficulties at +some future period. To increase the army may produce a lasting effect in +an aristocratic community, because military ambition is there confined +to one class of men, and the ambition of each individual stops, as it +were, at a certain limit; so that it may be possible to satisfy all who +feel its influence. But nothing is gained by increasing the army amongst +a democratic people, because the number of aspirants always rises in +exactly the same ratio as the army itself. Those whose claims have been +satisfied by the creation of new commissions are instantly succeeded by +a fresh multitude beyond all power of satisfaction; and even those who +were but now satisfied soon begin to crave more advancement; for the +same excitement prevails in the ranks of the army as in the civil +classes of democratic society, and what men want is not to reach a +certain grade, but to have constant promotion. Though these wants may +not be very vast, they are perpetually recurring. Thus a democratic +nation, by augmenting its army, only allays for a time the ambition +of the military profession, which soon becomes even more formidable, +because the number of those who feel it is increased. I am of opinion +that a restless and turbulent spirit is an evil inherent in the +very constitution of democratic armies, and beyond hope of cure. The +legislators of democracies must not expect to devise any military +organization capable by its influence of calming and restraining the +military profession: their efforts would exhaust their powers, before +the object is attained. + +The remedy for the vices of the army is not to be found in the army +itself, but in the country. Democratic nations are naturally afraid +of disturbance and of despotism; the object is to turn these natural +instincts into well-digested, deliberate, and lasting tastes. When men +have at last learned to make a peaceful and profitable use of freedom, +and have felt its blessings--when they have conceived a manly love of +order, and have freely submitted themselves to discipline--these same +men, if they follow the profession of arms, bring into it, unconsciously +and almost against their will, these same habits and manners. The +general spirit of the nation being infused into the spirit peculiar to +the army, tempers the opinions and desires engendered by military life, +or represses them by the mighty force of public opinion. Teach but the +citizens to be educated, orderly, firm, and free, the soldiers will be +disciplined and obedient. Any law which, in repressing the turbulent +spirit of the army, should tend to diminish the spirit of freedom in the +nation, and to overshadow the notion of law and right, would defeat +its object: it would do much more to favor, than to defeat, the +establishment of military tyranny. + +After all, and in spite of all precautions, a large army amidst a +democratic people will always be a source of great danger; the most +effectual means of diminishing that danger would be to reduce the army, +but this is a remedy which all nations have it not in their power to +use. + + + + +Chapter XXIII: Which Is The Most Warlike And Most Revolutionary Class In +Democratic Armies? + +It is a part of the essence of a democratic army to be very numerous in +proportion to the people to which it belongs, as I shall hereafter +show. On the other hand, men living in democratic times seldom choose a +military life. Democratic nations are therefore soon led to give up the +system of voluntary recruiting for that of compulsory enlistment. The +necessity of their social condition compels them to resort to the latter +means, and it may easily be foreseen that they will all eventually adopt +it. When military service is compulsory, the burden is indiscriminately +and equally borne by the whole community. This is another necessary +consequence of the social condition of these nations, and of their +notions. The government may do almost whatever it pleases, provided it +appeals to the whole community at once: it is the unequal distribution +of the weight, not the weight itself, which commonly occasions +resistance. But as military service is common to all the citizens, the +evident consequence is that each of them remains but for a few years +on active duty. Thus it is in the nature of things that the soldier in +democracies only passes through the army, whilst among most aristocratic +nations the military profession is one which the soldier adopts, or +which is imposed upon him, for life. + +This has important consequences. Amongst the soldiers of a democratic +army, some acquire a taste for military life, but the majority, being +enlisted against their will, and ever ready to go back to their +homes, do not consider themselves as seriously engaged in the military +profession, and are always thinking of quitting it. Such men do not +contract the wants, and only half partake in the passions, which that +mode of life engenders. They adapt themselves to their military duties, +but their minds are still attached to the interests and the duties which +engaged them in civil life. They do not therefore imbibe the spirit of +the army--or rather, they infuse the spirit of the community at large +into the army, and retain it there. Amongst democratic nations the +private soldiers remain most like civilians: upon them the habits of the +nation have the firmest hold, and public opinion most influence. It is +by the instrumentality of the private soldiers especially that it may +be possible to infuse into a democratic army the love of freedom and +the respect of rights, if these principles have once been successfully +inculcated on the people at large. The reverse happens amongst +aristocratic nations, where the soldiery have eventually nothing in +common with their fellow-citizens, and where they live amongst them as +strangers, and often as enemies. In aristocratic armies the officers +are the conservative element, because the officers alone have retained a +strict connection with civil society, and never forego their purpose +of resuming their place in it sooner or later: in democratic armies the +private soldiers stand in this position, and from the same cause. + +It often happens, on the contrary, that in these same democratic armies +the officers contract tastes and wants wholly distinct from those of +the nation--a fact which may be thus accounted for. Amongst democratic +nations, the man who becomes an officer severs all the ties which bound +him to civil life; he leaves it forever; he has no interest to resume +it. His true country is the army, since he owes all he has to the rank +he has attained in it; he therefore follows the fortunes of the army, +rises or sinks with it, and henceforward directs all his hopes to that +quarter only. As the wants of an officer are distinct from those of the +country, he may perhaps ardently desire war, or labor to bring about +a revolution at the very moment when the nation is most desirous of +stability and peace. There are, nevertheless, some causes which allay +this restless and warlike spirit. Though ambition is universal and +continual amongst democratic nations, we have seen that it is seldom +great. A man who, being born in the lower classes of the community, has +risen from the ranks to be an officer, has already taken a prodigious +step. He has gained a footing in a sphere above that which he filled +in civil life, and he has acquired rights which most democratic nations +will ever consider as inalienable. *a He is willing to pause after so +great an effort, and to enjoy what he has won. The fear of risking what +he has already obtained damps the desire of acquiring what he has not +got. Having conquered the first and greatest impediment which opposed +his advancement, he resigns himself with less impatience to the slowness +of his progress. His ambition will be more and more cooled in proportion +as the increasing distinction of his rank teaches him that he has more +to put in jeopardy. If I am not mistaken, the least warlike, and also +the least revolutionary part, of a democratic army, will always be its +chief commanders. [Footnote a: The position of officers is indeed much +more secure amongst democratic nations than elsewhere; the lower the +personal standing of the man, the greater is the comparative importance +of his military grade, and the more just and necessary is it that the +enjoyment of that rank should be secured by the laws.] + +But the remarks I have just made on officers and soldiers are +not applicable to a numerous class which in all armies fills the +intermediate space between them--I mean the class of non-commissioned +officers. This class of non-commissioned officers which have never acted +a part in history until the present century, is henceforward destined, +I think, to play one of some importance. Like the officers, +non-commissioned officers have broken, in their minds, all the ties +which bound them to civil life; like the former, they devote themselves +permanently to the service, and perhaps make it even more exclusively +the object of all their desires: but non-commissioned officers are men +who have not yet reached a firm and lofty post at which they may pause +and breathe more freely, ere they can attain further promotion. By +the very nature of his duties, which is invariable, a non-commissioned +officer is doomed to lead an obscure, confined, comfortless, and +precarious existence; as yet he sees nothing of military life but its +dangers; he knows nothing but its privations and its discipline--more +difficult to support than dangers: he suffers the more from his present +miseries, from knowing that the constitution of society and of the army +allow him to rise above them; he may, indeed, at any time obtain his +commission, and enter at once upon command, honors, independence, +rights, and enjoyments. Not only does this object of his hopes appear to +him of immense importance, but he is never sure of reaching it till it +is actually his own; the grade he fills is by no means irrevocable; he +is always entirely abandoned to the arbitrary pleasure of his +commanding officer, for this is imperiously required by the necessity of +discipline: a slight fault, a whim, may always deprive him in an instant +of the fruits of many years of toil and endeavor; until he has reached +the grade to which he aspires he has accomplished nothing; not till he +reaches that grade does his career seem to begin. A desperate ambition +cannot fail to be kindled in a man thus incessantly goaded on by his +youth, his wants, his passions, the spirit of his age, his hopes, +and his age, his hopes, and his fears. Non-commissioned officers are +therefore bent on war--on war always, and at any cost; but if war be +denied them, then they desire revolutions to suspend the authority +of established regulations, and to enable them, aided by the general +confusion and the political passions of the time, to get rid of their +superior officers and to take their places. Nor is it impossible for +them to bring about such a crisis, because their common origin and +habits give them much influence over the soldiers, however different may +be their passions and their desires. + +It would be an error to suppose that these various characteristics of +officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, belong to any particular +time or country; they will always occur at all times, and amongst +all democratic nations. In every democratic army the non-commissioned +officers will be the worst representatives of the pacific and orderly +spirit of the country, and the private soldiers will be the best. The +latter will carry with them into military life the strength or weakness +of the manners of the nation; they will display a faithful reflection of +the community: if that community is ignorant and weak, they will allow +themselves to be drawn by their leaders into disturbances, either +unconsciously or against their will; if it is enlightened and energetic, +the community will itself keep them within the bounds of order. + + + + +Chapter XXIV: Causes Which Render Democratic Armies Weaker Than Other +Armies At The Outset Of A Campaign, And More Formidable In Protracted +Warfare + +Any army is in danger of being conquered at the outset of a campaign, +after a long peace; any army which has long been engaged in warfare +has strong chances of victory: this truth is peculiarly applicable to +democratic armies. In aristocracies the military profession, being a +privileged career, is held in honor even in time of peace. Men of great +talents, great attainments, and great ambition embrace it; the army is +in all respects on a level with the nation, and frequently above it. We +have seen, on the contrary, that amongst a democratic people the +choicer minds of the nation are gradually drawn away from the military +profession, to seek by other paths, distinction, power, and especially +wealth. After a long peace--and in democratic ages the periods of peace +are long--the army is always inferior to the country itself. In this +state it is called into active service; and until war has altered it, +there is danger for the country as well as for the army. + +I have shown that in democratic armies, and in time of peace, the rule +of seniority is the supreme and inflexible law of advancement. This is +not only a consequence, as I have before observed, of the constitution +of these armies, but of the constitution of the people, and it will +always occur. Again, as amongst these nations the officer derives his +position in the country solely from his position in the army, and as +he draws all the distinction and the competency he enjoys from the +same source, he does not retire from his profession, or is not +super-annuated, till towards the extreme close of life. The consequence +of these two causes is, that when a democratic people goes to war after +a long interval of peace all the leading officers of the army are old +men. I speak not only of the generals, but of the non-commissioned +officers, who have most of them been stationary, or have only advanced +step by step. It may be remarked with surprise, that in a democratic +army after a long peace all the soldiers are mere boys, and all the +superior officers in declining years; so that the former are wanting in +experience, the latter in vigor. This is a strong element of defeat, +for the first condition of successful generalship is youth: I should not +have ventured to say so if the greatest captain of modern times had not +made the observation. These two causes do not act in the same manner +upon aristocratic armies: as men are promoted in them by right of birth +much more than by right of seniority, there are in all ranks a certain +number of young men, who bring to their profession all the early vigor +of body and mind. Again, as the men who seek for military honors amongst +an aristocratic people, enjoy a settled position in civil society, they +seldom continue in the army until old age overtakes them. After having +devoted the most vigorous years of youth to the career of arms, they +voluntarily retire, and spend at home the remainder of their maturer +years. + +A long peace not only fills democratic armies with elderly officers, +but it also gives to all the officers habits both of body and mind which +render them unfit for actual service. The man who has long lived amidst +the calm and lukewarm atmosphere of democratic manners can at first ill +adapt himself to the harder toils and sterner duties of warfare; and if +he has not absolutely lost the taste for arms, at least he has assumed a +mode of life which unfits him for conquest. + +Amongst aristocratic nations, the ease of civil life exercises less +influence on the manners of the army, because amongst those nations the +aristocracy commands the army: and an aristocracy, however plunged in +luxurious pleasures, has always many other passions besides that of +its own well-being, and to satisfy those passions more thoroughly its +well-being will be readily sacrificed. *a + +[Footnote a: See Appendix V.] + +I have shown that in democratic armies, in time of peace, promotion is +extremely slow. The officers at first support this state of things with +impatience, they grow excited, restless, exasperated, but in the end +most of them make up their minds to it. Those who have the largest +share of ambition and of resources quit the army; others, adapting their +tastes and their desires to their scanty fortunes, ultimately look upon +the military profession in a civil point of view. The quality they value +most in it is the competency and security which attend it: their whole +notion of the future rests upon the certainty of this little provision, +and all they require is peaceably to enjoy it. Thus not only does a long +peace fill an army with old men, but it is frequently imparts the views +of old men to those who are still in the prime of life. + +I have also shown that amongst democratic nations in time of peace the +military profession is held in little honor and indifferently followed. +This want of public favor is a heavy discouragement to the army; it +weighs down the minds of the troops, and when war breaks out at last, +they cannot immediately resume their spring and vigor. No similar cause +of moral weakness occurs in aristocratic armies: there the officers are +never lowered either in their own eyes or in those of their countrymen, +because, independently of their military greatness, they are personally +great. But even if the influence of peace operated on the two kinds of +armies in the same manner, the results would still be different. When +the officers of an aristocratic army have lost their warlike spirit and +the desire of raising themselves by service, they still retain a certain +respect for the honor of their class, and an old habit of being foremost +to set an example. But when the officers of a democratic army have +no longer the love of war and the ambition of arms, nothing whatever +remains to them. + +I am therefore of opinion that, when a democratic people engages in +a war after a long peace, it incurs much more risk of defeat than any +other nation; but it ought not easily to be cast down by its reverses, +for the chances of success for such an army are increased by the +duration of the war. When a war has at length, by its long continuance, +roused the whole community from their peaceful occupations and ruined +their minor undertakings, the same passions which made them attach so +much importance to the maintenance of peace will be turned to arms. +War, after it has destroyed all modes of speculation, becomes itself +the great and sole speculation, to which all the ardent and ambitious +desires which equality engenders are exclusively directed. Hence it is +that the selfsame democratic nations which are so reluctant to engage +in hostilities, sometimes perform prodigious achievements when once +they have taken the field. As the war attracts more and more of public +attention, and is seen to create high reputations and great fortunes +in a short space of time, the choicest spirits of the nation enter the +military profession: all the enterprising, proud, and martial minds, no +longer of the aristocracy solely, but of the whole country, are drawn +in this direction. As the number of competitors for military honors is +immense, and war drives every man to his proper level, great generals +are always sure to spring up. A long war produces upon a democratic army +the same effects that a revolution produces upon a people; it breaks +through regulations, and allows extraordinary men to rise above the +common level. Those officers whose bodies and minds have grown old in +peace, are removed, or superannuated, or they die. In their stead a host +of young men are pressing on, whose frames are already hardened, whose +desires are extended and inflamed by active service. They are bent on +advancement at all hazards, and perpetual advancement; they are followed +by others with the same passions and desires, and after these are +others yet unlimited by aught but the size of the army. The principle of +equality opens the door of ambition to all, and death provides chances +for ambition. Death is constantly thinning the ranks, making vacancies, +closing and opening the career of arms. + +There is moreover a secret connection between the military character +and the character of democracies, which war brings to light. The men of +democracies are naturally passionately eager to acquire what they covet, +and to enjoy it on easy conditions. They for the most part worship +chance, and are much less afraid of death than of difficulty. This is +the spirit which they bring to commerce and manufactures; and this same +spirit, carried with them to the field of battle, induces them willingly +to expose their lives in order to secure in a moment the rewards of +victory. No kind of greatness is more pleasing to the imagination of +a democratic people than military greatness--a greatness of vivid and +sudden lustre, obtained without toil, by nothing but the risk of life. +Thus, whilst the interests and the tastes of the members of a democratic +community divert them from war, their habits of mind fit them for +carrying on war well; they soon make good soldiers, when they are roused +from their business and their enjoyments. If peace is peculiarly hurtful +to democratic armies, war secures to them advantages which no other +armies ever possess; and these advantages, however little felt at first, +cannot fail in the end to give them the victory. An aristocratic nation, +which in a contest with a democratic people does not succeed in ruining +the latter at the outset of the war, always runs a great risk of being +conquered by it. + + + + +Chapter XXV: Of Discipline In Democratic Armies + +It is a very general opinion, especially in aristocratic countries, +that the great social equality which prevails in democracies ultimately +renders the private soldier independent of the officer, and thus +destroys the bond of discipline. This is a mistake, for there are two +kinds of discipline, which it is important not to confound. When the +officer is noble and the soldier a serf--one rich, the other poor--the +former educated and strong, the latter ignorant and weak--the strictest +bond of obedience may easily be established between the two men. The +soldier is broken in to military discipline, as it were, before he +enters the army; or rather, military discipline is nothing but an +enhancement of social servitude. In aristocratic armies the soldier +will soon become insensible to everything but the orders of his superior +officers; he acts without reflection, triumphs without enthusiasm, and +dies without complaint: in this state he is no longer a man, but he is +still a most formidable animal trained for war. + +A democratic people must despair of ever obtaining from soldiers +that blind, minute, submissive, and invariable obedience which an +aristocratic people may impose on them without difficulty. The state of +society does not prepare them for it, and the nation might be in danger +of losing its natural advantages if it sought artificially to acquire +advantages of this particular kind. Amongst democratic communities, +military discipline ought not to attempt to annihilate the free spring +of the faculties; all that can be done by discipline is to direct it; +the obedience thus inculcated is less exact, but it is more eager and +more intelligent. It has its root in the will of him who obeys: it rests +not only on his instinct, but on his reason; and consequently it will +often spontaneously become more strict as danger requires it. The +discipline of an aristocratic army is apt to be relaxed in war, because +that discipline is founded upon habits, and war disturbs those habits. +The discipline of a democratic army on the contrary is strengthened in +sight of the enemy, because every soldier then clearly perceives that he +must be silent and obedient in order to conquer. + +The nations which have performed the greatest warlike achievements knew +no other discipline than that which I speak of. Amongst the ancients +none were admitted into the armies but freemen and citizens, who +differed but little from one another, and were accustomed to treat +each other as equals. In this respect it may be said that the armies +of antiquity were democratic, although they came out of the bosom +of aristocracy; the consequence was that in those armies a sort of +fraternal familiarity prevailed between the officers and the men. +Plutarch's lives of great commanders furnish convincing instances of the +fact: the soldiers were in the constant habit of freely addressing their +general, and the general listened to and answered whatever the soldiers +had to say: they were kept in order by language and by example, far +more than by constraint or punishment; the general was as much their +companion as their chief. I know not whether the soldiers of Greece and +Rome ever carried the minutiae of military discipline to the same +degree of perfection as the Russians have done; but this did not prevent +Alexander from conquering Asia--and Rome, the world. + + + + +Chapter XXVI: Some Considerations On War In Democratic Communities + +When the principle of equality is in growth, not only amongst a single +nation, but amongst several neighboring nations at the same time, as is +now the case in Europe, the inhabitants of these different countries, +notwithstanding the dissimilarity of language, of customs, and of laws, +nevertheless resemble each other in their equal dread of war and their +common love of peace. *a It is in vain that ambition or anger puts arms +in the hands of princes; they are appeased in spite of themselves by a +species of general apathy and goodwill, which makes the sword drop +from their grasp, and wars become more rare. As the spread of equality, +taking place in several countries at once, simultaneously impels their +various inhabitants to follow manufactures and commerce, not only do +their tastes grow alike, but their interests are so mixed and entangled +with one another that no nation can inflict evils on other nations +without those evils falling back upon itself; and all nations ultimately +regard war as a calamity, almost as severe to the conqueror as to +the conquered. Thus, on the one hand, it is extremely difficult in +democratic ages to draw nations into hostilities; but on the other hand, +it is almost impossible that any two of them should go to war without +embroiling the rest. The interests of all are so interlaced, their +opinions and their wants so much alike, that none can remain quiet when +the others stir. Wars therefore become more rare, but when they break +out they spread over a larger field. Neighboring democratic nations not +only become alike in some respects, but they eventually grow to resemble +each other in almost all. *b This similitude of nations has consequences +of great importance in relation to war. + +[Footnote a: It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that the dread +of war displayed by the nations of Europe is not solely attributable +to the progress made by the principle of equality amongst them; +independently of this permanent cause several other accidental causes of +great weight might be pointed out, and I may mention before all the rest +the extreme lassitude which the wars of the Revolution and the Empire +have left behind them.] + +[Footnote b: This is not only because these nations have the same social +condition, but it arises from the very nature of that social condition +which leads men to imitate and identify themselves with each other. When +the members of a community are divided into castes and classes, they not +only differ from one another, but they have no taste and no desire to be +alike; on the contrary, everyone endeavors, more and more, to keep his +own opinions undisturbed, to retain his own peculiar habits, and to +remain himself. The characteristics of individuals are very strongly +marked. When the state of society amongst a people is democratic--that +is to say, when there are no longer any castes or classes in the +community, and all its members are nearly equal in education and in +property--the human mind follows the opposite direction. Men are much +alike, and they are annoyed, as it were, by any deviation from that +likeness: far from seeking to preserve their own distinguishing +singularities, they endeavor to shake them off, in order to identify +themselves with the general mass of the people, which is the sole +representative of right and of might to their eyes. The characteristics +of individuals are nearly obliterated. In the ages of aristocracy even +those who are naturally alike strive to create imaginary differences +between themselves: in the ages of democracy even those who are not +alike seek only to become so, and to copy each other--so strongly is the +mind of every man always carried away by the general impulse of mankind. +Something of the same kind may be observed between nations: two nations +having the same aristocratic social condition, might remain thoroughly +distinct and extremely different, because the spirit of aristocracy +is to retain strong individual characteristics; but if two neighboring +nations have the same democratic social condition, they cannot fail +to adopt similar opinions and manners, because the spirit of democracy +tends to assimilate men to each other.] + +If I inquire why it is that the Helvetic Confederacy made the greatest +and most powerful nations of Europe tremble in the fifteenth century, +whilst at the present day the power of that country is exactly +proportioned to its population, I perceive that the Swiss are become +like all the surrounding communities, and those surrounding communities +like the Swiss: so that as numerical strength now forms the only +difference between them, victory necessarily attends the largest army. +Thus one of the consequences of the democratic revolution which is going +on in Europe is to make numerical strength preponderate on all fields +of battle, and to constrain all small nations to incorporate themselves +with large States, or at least to adopt the policy of the latter. As +numbers are the determining cause of victory, each people ought of +course to strive by all the means in its power to bring the greatest +possible number of men into the field. When it was possible to enlist a +kind of troops superior to all others, such as the Swiss infantry or the +French horse of the sixteenth century, it was not thought necessary to +raise very large armies; but the case is altered when one soldier is as +efficient as another. + +The same cause which begets this new want also supplies means of +satisfying it; for, as I have already observed, when men are all alike, +they are all weak, and the supreme power of the State is naturally much +stronger amongst democratic nations than elsewhere. Hence, whilst these +nations are desirous of enrolling the whole male population in the +ranks of the army, they have the power of effecting this object: the +consequence is, that in democratic ages armies seem to grow larger +in proportion as the love of war declines. In the same ages, too, +the manner of carrying on war is likewise altered by the same causes. +Machiavelli observes in "The Prince," "that it is much more difficult to +subdue a people which has a prince and his barons for its leaders, +than a nation which is commanded by a prince and his slaves." To avoid +offence, let us read public functionaries for slaves, and this important +truth will be strictly applicable to our own time. + +A great aristocratic people cannot either conquer its neighbors, or be +conquered by them, without great difficulty. It cannot conquer them, +because all its forces can never be collected and held together for a +considerable period: it cannot be conquered, because an enemy meets at +every step small centres of resistance by which invasion is arrested. +War against an aristocracy may be compared to war in a mountainous +country; the defeated party has constant opportunities of rallying its +forces to make a stand in a new position. Exactly the reverse occurs +amongst democratic nations: they easily bring their whole disposable +force into the field, and when the nation is wealthy and populous it +soon becomes victorious; but if ever it is conquered, and its territory +invaded, it has few resources at command; and if the enemy takes the +capital, the nation is lost. This may very well be explained: as +each member of the community is individually isolated and extremely +powerless, no one of the whole body can either defend himself or present +a rallying point to others. Nothing is strong in a democratic country +except the State; as the military strength of the State is destroyed +by the destruction of the army, and its civil power paralyzed by the +capture of the chief city, all that remains is only a multitude without +strength or government, unable to resist the organized power by which it +is assailed. I am aware that this danger may be lessened by the creation +of provincial liberties, and consequently of provincial powers, but this +remedy will always be insufficient. For after such a catastrophe, not +only is the population unable to carry on hostilities, but it may be +apprehended that they will not be inclined to attempt it. In accordance +with the law of nations adopted in civilized countries, the object of +wars is not to seize the property of private individuals, but simply to +get possession of political power. The destruction of private property +is only occasionally resorted to for the purpose of attaining the latter +object. When an aristocratic country is invaded after the defeat of +its army, the nobles, although they are at the same time the +wealthiest members of the community, will continue to defend themselves +individually rather than submit; for if the conqueror remained master +of the country, he would deprive them of their political power, to which +they cling even more closely than to their property. They therefore +prefer fighting to subjection, which is to them the greatest of all +misfortunes; and they readily carry the people along with them because +the people has long been used to follow and obey them, and besides has +but little to risk in the war. Amongst a nation in which equality of +conditions prevails, each citizen, on the contrary, has but slender +share of political power, and often has no share at all; on the other +hand, all are independent, and all have something to lose; so that they +are much less afraid of being conquered, and much more afraid of war, +than an aristocratic people. It will always be extremely difficult to +decide a democratic population to take up arms, when hostilities have +reached its own territory. Hence the necessity of giving to such a +people the rights and the political character which may impart to every +citizen some of those interests that cause the nobles to act for the +public welfare in aristocratic countries. + +It should never be forgotten by the princes and other leaders of +democratic nations, that nothing but the passion and the habit of +freedom can maintain an advantageous contest with the passion and the +habit of physical well-being. I can conceive nothing better prepared +for subjection, in case of defeat, than a democratic people without free +institutions. + +Formerly it was customary to take the field with a small body of troops, +to fight in small engagements, and to make long, regular sieges: modern +tactics consist in fighting decisive battles, and, as soon as a line +of march is open before the army, in rushing upon the capital city, in +order to terminate the war at a single blow. Napoleon, it is said, was +the inventor of this new system; but the invention of such a system did +not depend on any individual man, whoever he might be. The mode in which +Napoleon carried on war was suggested to him by the state of society in +his time; that mode was successful, because it was eminently adapted +to that state of society, and because he was the first to employ it. +Napoleon was the first commander who marched at the head of an army +from capital to capital, but the road was opened for him by the ruin of +feudal society. It may fairly be believed that, if that extraordinary +man had been born three hundred years ago, he would not have derived the +same results from his method of warfare, or, rather, that he would have +had a different method. + +I shall add but a few words on civil wars, for fear of exhausting the +patience of the reader. Most of the remarks which I have made respecting +foreign wars are applicable a fortiori to civil wars. Men living in +democracies are not naturally prone to the military character; they +sometimes assume it, when they have been dragged by compulsion to the +field; but to rise in a body and voluntarily to expose themselves to the +horrors of war, and especially of civil war, is a course which the +men of democracies are not apt to adopt. None but the most adventurous +members of the community consent to run into such risks; the bulk of the +population remains motionless. But even if the population were inclined +to act, considerable obstacles would stand in their way; for they can +resort to no old and well-established influence which they are willing +to obey--no well-known leaders to rally the discontented, as well as +to discipline and to lead them--no political powers subordinate to the +supreme power of the nation, which afford an effectual support to the +resistance directed against the government. In democratic countries the +moral power of the majority is immense, and the physical resources +which it has at its command are out of all proportion to the physical +resources which may be combined against it. Therefore the party which +occupies the seat of the majority, which speaks in its name and wields +its power, triumphs instantaneously and irresistibly over all private +resistance; it does not even give such opposition time to exist, +but nips it in the bud. Those who in such nations seek to effect a +revolution by force of arms have no other resource than suddenly to +seize upon the whole engine of government as it stands, which can +better be done by a single blow than by a war; for as soon as there is +a regular war, the party which represents the State is always certain to +conquer. The only case in which a civil war could arise is, if the army +should divide itself into two factions, the one raising the standard +of rebellion, the other remaining true to its allegiance. An army +constitutes a small community, very closely united together, endowed +with great powers of vitality, and able to supply its own wants for some +time. Such a war might be bloody, but it could not be long; for either +the rebellious army would gain over the government by the sole display +of its resources, or by its first victory, and then the war would be +over; or the struggle would take place, and then that portion of the +army which should not be supported by the organized powers of the State +would speedily either disband itself or be destroyed. It may therefore +be admitted as a general truth, that in ages of equality civil wars will +become much less frequent and less protracted. *c + +[Footnote c: It should be borne in mind that I speak here of sovereign +and independent democratic nations, not of confederate democracies; in +confederacies, as the preponderating power always resides, in spite of +all political fictions, in the state governments, and not in the +federal government, civil wars are in fact nothing but foreign wars in +disguise.] + + + + +Book Four: Influence Of Democratic Opinions On Political Society + + + + +Chapter I: That Equality Naturally Gives Men A Taste For Free +Institutions + +I should imperfectly fulfil the purpose of this book, if, after having +shown what opinions and sentiments are suggested by the principle of +equality, I did not point out, ere I conclude, the general influence +which these same opinions and sentiments may exercise upon the +government of human societies. To succeed in this object I shall +frequently have to retrace my steps; but I trust the reader will not +refuse to follow me through paths already known to him, which may lead +to some new truth. + +The principle of equality, which makes men independent of each other, +gives them a habit and a taste for following, in their private actions, +no other guide but their own will. This complete independence, which +they constantly enjoy towards their equals and in the intercourse of +private life, tends to make them look upon all authority with a jealous +eye, and speedily suggests to them the notion and the love of +political freedom. Men living at such times have a natural bias to free +institutions. Take any one of them at a venture, and search if you can +his most deep-seated instincts; you will find that of all governments he +will soonest conceive and most highly value that government, whose head +he has himself elected, and whose administration he may control. Of all +the political effects produced by the equality of conditions, this love +of independence is the first to strike the observing, and to alarm the +timid; nor can it be said that their alarm is wholly misplaced, for +anarchy has a more formidable aspect in democratic countries than +elsewhere. As the citizens have no direct influence on each other, as +soon as the supreme power of the nation fails, which kept them all in +their several stations, it would seem that disorder must instantly +reach its utmost pitch, and that, every man drawing aside in a different +direction, the fabric of society must at once crumble away. + +I am, however, persuaded that anarchy is not the principal evil which +democratic ages have to fear, but the least. For the principle +of equality begets two tendencies; the one leads men straight to +independence, and may suddenly drive them into anarchy; the other +conducts them by a longer, more secret, but more certain road, to +servitude. Nations readily discern the former tendency, and are prepared +to resist it; they are led away by the latter, without perceiving its +drift; hence it is peculiarly important to point it out. For myself, I +am so far from urging as a reproach to the principle of equality that it +renders men untractable, that this very circumstance principally calls +forth my approbation. I admire to see how it deposits in the mind +and heart of man the dim conception and instinctive love of political +independence, thus preparing the remedy for the evil which it engenders; +it is on this very account that I am attached to it. + + + + +Chapter II: That The Notions Of Democratic Nations On Government Are +Naturally Favorable To The Concentration Of Power + +The notion of secondary powers, placed between the sovereign and his +subjects, occurred naturally to the imagination of aristocratic nations, +because those communities contained individuals or families raised above +the common level, and apparently destined to command by their birth, +their education, and their wealth. This same notion is naturally wanting +in the minds of men in democratic ages, for converse reasons: it +can only be introduced artificially, it can only be kept there with +difficulty; whereas they conceive, as it were, without thinking upon the +subject, the notion of a sole and central power which governs the whole +community by its direct influence. Moreover in politics, as well as +in philosophy and in religion, the intellect of democratic nations is +peculiarly open to simple and general notions. Complicated systems are +repugnant to it, and its favorite conception is that of a great nation +composed of citizens all resembling the same pattern, and all governed +by a single power. + +The very next notion to that of a sole and central power, which presents +itself to the minds of men in the ages of equality, is the notion of +uniformity of legislation. As every man sees that he differs but +little from those about him, he cannot understand why a rule which is +applicable to one man should not be equally applicable to all others. +Hence the slightest privileges are repugnant to his reason; the faintest +dissimilarities in the political institutions of the same people offend +him, and uniformity of legislation appears to him to be the first +condition of good government. I find, on the contrary, that this same +notion of a uniform rule, equally binding on all the members of the +community, was almost unknown to the human mind in aristocratic ages; +it was either never entertained, or it was rejected. These contrary +tendencies of opinion ultimately turn on either side to such blind +instincts and such ungovernable habits that they still direct the +actions of men, in spite of particular exceptions. Notwithstanding the +immense variety of conditions in the Middle Ages, a certain number of +persons existed at that period in precisely similar circumstances; but +this did not prevent the laws then in force from assigning to each +of them distinct duties and different rights. On the contrary, at the +present time all the powers of government are exerted to impose the +same customs and the same laws on populations which have as yet but few +points of resemblance. As the conditions of men become equal amongst +a people, individuals seem of less importance, and society of greater +dimensions; or rather, every citizen, being assimilated to all the rest, +is lost in the crowd, and nothing stands conspicuous but the great and +imposing image of the people at large. This naturally gives the men of +democratic periods a lofty opinion of the privileges of society, and a +very humble notion of the rights of individuals; they are ready to admit +that the interests of the former are everything, and those of the latter +nothing. They are willing to acknowledge that the power which represents +the community has far more information and wisdom than any of the +members of that community; and that it is the duty, as well as the +right, of that power to guide as well as govern each private citizen. + +If we closely scrutinize our contemporaries, and penetrate to the root +of their political opinions, we shall detect some of the notions which I +have just pointed out, and we shall perhaps be surprised to find so much +accordance between men who are so often at variance. The Americans hold, +that in every State the supreme power ought to emanate from the people; +but when once that power is constituted, they can conceive, as it were, +no limits to it, and they are ready to admit that it has the right to +do whatever it pleases. They have not the slightest notion of peculiar +privileges granted to cities, families, or persons: their minds appear +never to have foreseen that it might be possible not to apply +with strict uniformity the same laws to every part, and to all the +inhabitants. These same opinions are more and more diffused in Europe; +they even insinuate themselves amongst those nations which most +vehemently reject the principle of the sovereignty of the people. Such +nations assign a different origin to the supreme power, but they ascribe +to that power the same characteristics. Amongst them all, the idea of +intermediate powers is weakened and obliterated: the idea of rights +inherent in certain individuals is rapidly disappearing from the minds +of men; the idea of the omnipotence and sole authority of society at +large rises to fill its place. These ideas take root and spread in +proportion as social conditions become more equal, and men more alike; +they are engendered by equality, and in turn they hasten the progress of +equality. + +In France, where the revolution of which I am speaking has gone further +than in any other European country, these opinions have got complete +hold of the public mind. If we listen attentively to the language of the +various parties in France, we shall find that there is not one which +has not adopted them. Most of these parties censure the conduct of the +government, but they all hold that the government ought perpetually to +act and interfere in everything that is done. Even those which are +most at variance are nevertheless agreed upon this head. The unity, the +ubiquity, the omnipotence of the supreme power, and the uniformity of +its rules, constitute the principal characteristics of all the political +systems which have been put forward in our age. They recur even in the +wildest visions of political regeneration: the human mind pursues them +in its dreams. If these notions spontaneously arise in the minds of +private individuals, they suggest themselves still more forcibly to +the minds of princes. Whilst the ancient fabric of European society +is altered and dissolved, sovereigns acquire new conceptions of their +opportunities and their duties; they learn for the first time that the +central power which they represent may and ought to administer by +its own agency, and on a uniform plan, all the concerns of the whole +community. This opinion, which, I will venture to say, was never +conceived before our time by the monarchs of Europe, now sinks deeply +into the minds of kings, and abides there amidst all the agitation of +more unsettled thoughts. + +Our contemporaries are therefore much less divided than is commonly +supposed; they are constantly disputing as to the hands in which +supremacy is to be vested, but they readily agree upon the duties and +the rights of that supremacy. The notion they all form of government is +that of a sole, simple, providential, and creative power. All secondary +opinions in politics are unsettled; this one remains fixed, invariable, +and consistent. It is adopted by statesmen and political philosophers; +it is eagerly laid hold of by the multitude; those who govern and those +who are governed agree to pursue it with equal ardor: it is the foremost +notion of their minds, it seems inborn. It originates therefore in no +caprice of the human intellect, but it is a necessary condition of the +present state of mankind. + + + + +Chapter III: That The Sentiments Of Democratic Nations Accord With Their +Opinions In Leading Them To Concentrate Political Power + +If it be true that, in ages of equality, men readily adopt the notion of +a great central power, it cannot be doubted on the other hand that their +habits and sentiments predispose them to recognize such a power and to +give it their support. This may be demonstrated in a few words, as the +greater part of the reasons, to which the fact may be attributed, have +been previously stated. *a As the men who inhabit democratic countries +have no superiors, no inferiors, and no habitual or necessary partners +in their undertakings, they readily fall back upon themselves and +consider themselves as beings apart. I had occasion to point this out +at considerable length in treating of individualism. Hence such men can +never, without an effort, tear themselves from their private affairs to +engage in public business; their natural bias leads them to abandon the +latter to the sole visible and permanent representative of the interests +of the community, that is to say, to the State. Not only are they +naturally wanting in a taste for public business, but they have +frequently no time to attend to it. Private life is so busy in +democratic periods, so excited, so full of wishes and of work, that +hardly any energy or leisure remains to each individual for public life. +I am the last man to contend that these propensities are unconquerable, +since my chief object in writing this book has been to combat them. I +only maintain that at the present day a secret power is fostering them +in the human heart, and that if they are not checked they will wholly +overgrow it. + +[Footnote a: See Appendix W.] + +I have also had occasion to show how the increasing love of well-being, +and the fluctuating character of property, cause democratic nations +to dread all violent disturbance. The love of public tranquillity is +frequently the only passion which these nations retain, and it becomes +more active and powerful amongst them in proportion as all other +passions droop and die. This naturally disposes the members of the +community constantly to give or to surrender additional rights to the +central power, which alone seems to be interested in defending them by +the same means that it uses to defend itself. As in ages of equality no +man is compelled to lend his assistance to his fellow-men, and none +has any right to expect much support from them, everyone is at once +independent and powerless. These two conditions, which must never be +either separately considered or confounded together, inspire the +citizen of a democratic country with very contrary propensities. His +independence fills him with self-reliance and pride amongst his equals; +his debility makes him feel from time to time the want of some outward +assistance, which he cannot expect from any of them, because they are +all impotent and unsympathizing. In this predicament he naturally turns +his eyes to that imposing power which alone rises above the level of +universal depression. Of that power his wants and especially his desires +continually remind him, until he ultimately views it as the sole and +necessary support of his own weakness. *b This may more completely +explain what frequently takes place in democratic countries, where the +very men who are so impatient of superiors patiently submit to a master, +exhibiting at once their pride and their servility. + +[Footnote b: In democratic communities nothing but the central power has +any stability in its position or any permanence in its undertakings. All +the members of society are in ceaseless stir and transformation. Now it +is in the nature of all governments to seek constantly to enlarge their +sphere of action; hence it is almost impossible that such a government +should not ultimately succeed, because it acts with a fixed principle +and a constant will, upon men, whose position, whose notions, and whose +desires are in continual vacillation. It frequently happens that the +members of the community promote the influence of the central power +without intending it. Democratic ages are periods of experiment, +innovation, and adventure. At such times there are always a multitude of +men engaged in difficult or novel undertakings, which they follow alone, +without caring for their fellowmen. Such persons may be ready to admit, +as a general principle, that the public authority ought not to interfere +in private concerns; but, by an exception to that rule, each of them +craves for its assistance in the particular concern on which he is +engaged, and seeks to draw upon the influence of the government for his +own benefit, though he would restrict it on all other occasions. If a +large number of men apply this particular exception to a great +variety of different purposes, the sphere of the central power extends +insensibly in all directions, although each of them wishes it to be +circumscribed. Thus a democratic government increases its power simply +by the fact of its permanence. Time is on its side; every incident +befriends it; the passions of individuals unconsciously promote it; and +it may be asserted, that the older a democratic community is, the more +centralized will its government become.] + +The hatred which men bear to privilege increases in proportion as +privileges become more scarce and less considerable, so that democratic +passions would seem to burn most fiercely at the very time when they +have least fuel. I have already given the reason of this phenomenon. +When all conditions are unequal, no inequality is so great as to offend +the eye; whereas the slightest dissimilarity is odious in the midst +of general uniformity: the more complete is this uniformity, the more +insupportable does the sight of such a difference become. Hence it is +natural that the love of equality should constantly increase together +with equality itself, and that it should grow by what it feeds upon. +This never-dying, ever-kindling hatred, which sets a democratic people +against the smallest privileges, is peculiarly favorable to the gradual +concentration of all political rights in the hands of the representative +of the State alone. The sovereign, being necessarily and incontestably +above all the citizens, excites not their envy, and each of them thinks +that he strips his equals of the prerogative which he concedes to the +crown. The man of a democratic age is extremely reluctant to obey his +neighbor who is his equal; he refuses to acknowledge in such a person +ability superior to his own; he mistrusts his justice, and is jealous +of his power; he fears and he contemns him; and he loves continually to +remind him of the common dependence in which both of them stand to the +same master. Every central power which follows its natural tendencies +courts and encourages the principle of equality; for equality singularly +facilitates, extends, and secures the influence of a central power. + +In like manner it may be said that every central government worships +uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinite number +of small details which must be attended to if rules were to be adapted +to men, instead of indiscriminately subjecting men to rules: thus the +government likes what the citizens like, and naturally hates what they +hate. These common sentiments, which, in democratic nations, constantly +unite the sovereign and every member of the community in one and the +same conviction, establish a secret and lasting sympathy between them. +The faults of the government are pardoned for the sake of its tastes; +public confidence is only reluctantly withdrawn in the midst even of +its excesses and its errors, and it is restored at the first call. +Democratic nations often hate those in whose hands the central power is +vested; but they always love that power itself. + +Thus, by two separate paths, I have reached the same conclusion. I have +shown that the principle of equality suggests to men the notion of +a sole, uniform, and strong government: I have now shown that the +principle of equality imparts to them a taste for it. To governments of +this kind the nations of our age are therefore tending. They are drawn +thither by the natural inclination of mind and heart; and in order to +reach that result, it is enough that they do not check themselves in +their course. I am of opinion, that, in the democratic ages which are +opening upon us, individual independence and local liberties will ever +be the produce of artificial contrivance; that centralization will be +the natural form of government. *c + +[Footnote c: See Appendix X.] + + + + +Chapter IV: Of Certain Peculiar And Accidental Causes Which Either Lead +A People To Complete Centralization Of Government, Or Which Divert Them +From It + +If all democratic nations are instinctively led to the centralization of +government, they tend to this result in an unequal manner. This depends +on the particular circumstances which may promote or prevent the +natural consequences of that state of society--circumstances which are +exceedingly numerous; but I shall only advert to a few of them. Amongst +men who have lived free long before they became equal, the tendencies +derived from free institutions combat, to a certain extent, the +propensities superinduced by the principle of equality; and although +the central power may increase its privileges amongst such a people, the +private members of such a community will never entirely forfeit their +independence. But when the equality of conditions grows up amongst a +people which has never known, or has long ceased to know, what freedom +is (and such is the case upon the Continent of Europe), as the former +habits of the nation are suddenly combined, by some sort of natural +attraction, with the novel habits and principles engendered by the state +of society, all powers seem spontaneously to rush to the centre. +These powers accumulate there with astonishing rapidity, and the State +instantly attains the utmost limits of its strength, whilst private +persons allow themselves to sink as suddenly to the lowest degree of +weakness. + +The English who emigrated three hundred years ago to found a democratic +commonwealth on the shores of the New World, had all learned to take +a part in public affairs in their mother-country; they were conversant +with trial by jury; they were accustomed to liberty of speech and of the +press--to personal freedom, to the notion of rights and the practice +of asserting them. They carried with them to America these free +institutions and manly customs, and these institutions preserved them +against the encroachments of the State. Thus amongst the Americans it +is freedom which is old--equality is of comparatively modern date. The +reverse is occurring in Europe, where equality, introduced by absolute +power and under the rule of kings, was already infused into the habits +of nations long before freedom had entered into their conceptions. + +I have said that amongst democratic nations the notion of government +naturally presents itself to the mind under the form of a sole and +central power, and that the notion of intermediate powers is not +familiar to them. This is peculiarly applicable to the democratic +nations which have witnessed the triumph of the principle of equality +by means of a violent revolution. As the classes which managed local +affairs have been suddenly swept away by the storm, and as the confused +mass which remains has as yet neither the organization nor the habits +which fit it to assume the administration of these same affairs, the +State alone seems capable of taking upon itself all the details of +government, and centralization becomes, as it were, the unavoidable +state of the country. Napoleon deserves neither praise nor censure for +having centred in his own hands almost all the administrative power +of France; for, after the abrupt disappearance of the nobility and +the higher rank of the middle classes, these powers devolved on him of +course: it would have been almost as difficult for him to reject as to +assume them. But no necessity of this kind has ever been felt by the +Americans, who, having passed through no revolution, and having governed +themselves from the first, never had to call upon the State to act for +a time as their guardian. Thus the progress of centralization amongst a +democratic people depends not only on the progress of equality, but on +the manner in which this equality has been established. + +At the commencement of a great democratic revolution, when hostilities +have but just broken out between the different classes of society, the +people endeavors to centralize the public administration in the hands of +the government, in order to wrest the management of local affairs +from the aristocracy. Towards the close of such a revolution, on the +contrary, it is usually the conquered aristocracy that endeavors to +make over the management of all affairs to the State, because such an +aristocracy dreads the tyranny of a people which has become its equal, +and not unfrequently its master. Thus it is not always the same class +of the community which strives to increase the prerogative of the +government; but as long as the democratic revolution lasts there is +always one class in the nation, powerful in numbers or in wealth, which +is induced, by peculiar passions or interests, to centralize the public +administration, independently of that hatred of being governed by one's +neighbor, which is a general and permanent feeling amongst democratic +nations. It may be remarked, that at the present day the lower orders in +England are striving with all their might to destroy local independence, +and to transfer the administration from all points of the circumference +to the centre; whereas the higher classes are endeavoring to retain this +administration within its ancient boundaries. I venture to predict that +a time will come when the very reverse will happen. + +These observations explain why the supreme power is always stronger, and +private individuals weaker, amongst a democratic people which has passed +through a long and arduous struggle to reach a state of equality than +amongst a democratic community in which the citizens have been equal +from the first. The example of the Americans completely demonstrates +the fact. The inhabitants of the United States were never divided by +any privileges; they have never known the mutual relation of master and +inferior, and as they neither dread nor hate each other, they have never +known the necessity of calling in the supreme power to manage their +affairs. The lot of the Americans is singular: they have derived from +the aristocracy of England the notion of private rights and the taste +for local freedom; and they have been able to retain both the one and +the other, because they have had no aristocracy to combat. + +If at all times education enables men to defend their independence, this +is most especially true in democratic ages. When all men are alike, it +is easy to found a sole and all-powerful government, by the aid of +mere instinct. But men require much intelligence, knowledge, and art to +organize and to maintain secondary powers under similar circumstances, +and to create amidst the independence and individual weakness of the +citizens such free associations as may be in a condition to struggle +against tyranny without destroying public order. + +Hence the concentration of power and the subjection of individuals will +increase amongst democratic nations, not only in the same proportion +as their equality, but in the same proportion as their ignorance. It +is true, that in ages of imperfect civilization the government is +frequently as wanting in the knowledge required to impose a despotism +upon the people as the people are wanting in the knowledge required to +shake it off; but the effect is not the same on both sides. However rude +a democratic people may be, the central power which rules it is never +completely devoid of cultivation, because it readily draws to its own +uses what little cultivation is to be found in the country, and, if +necessary, may seek assistance elsewhere. Hence, amongst a nation which +is ignorant as well as democratic, an amazing difference cannot fail +speedily to arise between the intellectual capacity of the ruler and +that of each of his subjects. This completes the easy concentration +of all power in his hands: the administrative function of the State is +perpetually extended, because the State alone is competent to administer +the affairs of the country. Aristocratic nations, however unenlightened +they may be, never afford the same spectacle, because in them +instruction is nearly equally diffused between the monarch and the +leading members of the community. + +The pacha who now rules in Egypt found the population of that country +composed of men exceedingly ignorant and equal, and he has borrowed the +science and ability of Europe to govern that people. As the personal +attainments of the sovereign are thus combined with the ignorance and +democratic weakness of his subjects, the utmost centralization has been +established without impediment, and the pacha has made the country his +manufactory, and the inhabitants his workmen. + +I think that extreme centralization of government ultimately enervates +society, and thus after a length of time weakens the government itself; +but I do not deny that a centralized social power may be able to execute +great undertakings with facility in a given time and on a particular +point. This is more especially true of war, in which success depends +much more on the means of transferring all the resources of a nation +to one single point, than on the extent of those resources. Hence it is +chiefly in war that nations desire and frequently require to increase +the powers of the central government. All men of military genius are +fond of centralization, which increases their strength; and all men of +centralizing genius are fond of war, which compels nations to combine +all their powers in the hands of the government. Thus the democratic +tendency which leads men unceasingly to multiply the privileges of the +State, and to circumscribe the rights of private persons, is much more +rapid and constant amongst those democratic nations which are exposed by +their position to great and frequent wars, than amongst all others. + +I have shown how the dread of disturbance and the love of well-being +insensibly lead democratic nations to increase the functions of +central government, as the only power which appears to be intrinsically +sufficiently strong, enlightened, and secure, to protect them from +anarchy. I would now add, that all the particular circumstances +which tend to make the state of a democratic community agitated and +precarious, enhance this general propensity, and lead private persons +more and more to sacrifice their rights to their tranquility. A people +is therefore never so disposed to increase the functions of central +government as at the close of a long and bloody revolution, which, after +having wrested property from the hands of its former possessors, +has shaken all belief, and filled the nation with fierce hatreds, +conflicting interests, and contending factions. The love of public +tranquillity becomes at such times an indiscriminating passion, and the +members of the community are apt to conceive a most inordinate devotion +to order. + +I have already examined several of the incidents which may concur to +promote the centralization of power, but the principal cause still +remains to be noticed. The foremost of the incidental causes which +may draw the management of all affairs into the hands of the ruler in +democratic countries, is the origin of that ruler himself, and his own +propensities. Men who live in the ages of equality are naturally fond +of central power, and are willing to extend its privileges; but if it +happens that this same power faithfully represents their own interests, +and exactly copies their own inclinations, the confidence they place in +it knows no bounds, and they think that whatever they bestow upon it is +bestowed upon themselves. + +The attraction of administrative powers to the centre will always be +less easy and less rapid under the reign of kings who are still in some +way connected with the old aristocratic order, than under new princes, +the children of their own achievements, whose birth, prejudices, +propensities, and habits appear to bind them indissolubly to the cause +of equality. I do not mean that princes of aristocratic origin who live +in democratic ages do not attempt to centralize; I believe they apply +themselves to that object as diligently as any others. For them, +the sole advantages of equality lie in that direction; but their +opportunities are less great, because the community, instead of +volunteering compliance with their desires, frequently obeys them with +reluctance. In democratic communities the rule is that centralization +must increase in proportion as the sovereign is less aristocratic. When +an ancient race of kings stands at the head of an aristocracy, as the +natural prejudices of the sovereign perfectly accord with the natural +prejudices of the nobility, the vices inherent in aristocratic +communities have a free course, and meet with no corrective. The reverse +is the case when the scion of a feudal stock is placed at the head of +a democratic people. The sovereign is constantly led, by his education, +his habits, and his associations, to adopt sentiments suggested by the +inequality of conditions, and the people tend as constantly, by their +social condition, to those manners which are engendered by equality. +At such times it often happens that the citizens seek to control the +central power far less as a tyrannical than as an aristocratical power, +and that they persist in the firm defence of their independence, not +only because they would remain free, but especially because they are +determined to remain equal. A revolution which overthrows an ancient +regal family, in order to place men of more recent growth at the head +of a democratic people, may temporarily weaken the central power; but +however anarchical such a revolution may appear at first, we need not +hesitate to predict that its final and certain consequence will be to +extend and to secure the prerogatives of that power. The foremost or +indeed the sole condition which is required in order to succeed in +centralizing the supreme power in a democratic community, is to love +equality, or to get men to believe you love it. Thus the science of +despotism, which was once so complex, is simplified, and reduced as it +were to a single principle. + + + + +Chapter V: That Amongst The European Nations Of Our Time The Power Of +Governments Is Increasing, Although The Persons Who Govern Are Less +Stable + +On reflecting upon what has already been said, the reader will be +startled and alarmed to find that in Europe everything seems to conduce +to the indefinite extension of the prerogatives of government, and to +render all that enjoyed the rights of private independence more weak, +more subordinate, and more precarious. The democratic nations of Europe +have all the general and permanent tendencies which urge the Americans +to the centralization of government, and they are moreover exposed to a +number of secondary and incidental causes with which the Americans are +unacquainted. It would seem as if every step they make towards equality +brings them nearer to despotism. And indeed if we do but cast our +looks around, we shall be convinced that such is the fact. During the +aristocratic ages which preceded the present time, the sovereigns of +Europe had been deprived of, or had relinquished, many of the rights +inherent in their power. Not a hundred years ago, amongst the greater +part of European nations, numerous private persons and corporations were +sufficiently independent to administer justice, to raise and maintain +troops, to levy taxes, and frequently even to make or interpret the +law. The State has everywhere resumed to itself alone these natural +attributes of sovereign power; in all matters of government the State +tolerates no intermediate agent between itself and the people, and in +general business it directs the people by its own immediate influence. I +am far from blaming this concentration of power, I simply point it out. + +At the same period a great number of secondary powers existed in Europe, +which represented local interests and administered local affairs. Most +of these local authorities have already disappeared; all are speedily +tending to disappear, or to fall into the most complete dependence. +From one end of Europe to the other the privileges of the nobility, the +liberties of cities, and the powers of provincial bodies, are either +destroyed or upon the verge of destruction. Europe has endured, in +the course of the last half-century, many revolutions and +counter-revolutions which have agitated it in opposite directions: but +all these perturbations resemble each other in one respect--they have +all shaken or destroyed the secondary powers of government. The local +privileges which the French did not abolish in the countries they +conquered, have finally succumbed to the policy of the princes who +conquered the French. Those princes rejected all the innovations of the +French Revolution except centralization: that is the only principle they +consented to receive from such a source. My object is to remark, that +all these various rights, which have been successively wrested, in our +time, from classes, corporations, and individuals, have not served +to raise new secondary powers on a more democratic basis, but have +uniformly been concentrated in the hands of the sovereign. Everywhere +the State acquires more and more direct control over the humblest +members of the community, and a more exclusive power of governing +each of them in his smallest concerns. *a Almost all the charitable +establishments of Europe were formerly in the hands of private persons +or of corporations; they are now almost all dependent on the supreme +government, and in many countries are actually administered by that +power. The State almost exclusively undertakes to supply bread to the +hungry, assistance and shelter to the sick, work to the idle, and to +act as the sole reliever of all kinds of misery. Education, as well +as charity, is become in most countries at the present day a national +concern. The State receives, and often takes, the child from the arms of +the mother, to hand it over to official agents: the State undertakes to +train the heart and to instruct the mind of each generation. Uniformity +prevails in the courses of public instruction as in everything else; +diversity, as well as freedom, is disappearing day by day. Nor do I +hesitate to affirm, that amongst almost all the Christian nations of our +days, Catholic as well as Protestant, religion is in danger of falling +into the hands of the government. Not that rulers are over-jealous of +the right of settling points of doctrine, but they get more and more +hold upon the will of those by whom doctrines are expounded; they +deprive the clergy of their property, and pay them by salaries; they +divert to their own use the influence of the priesthood, they make them +their own ministers--often their own servants--and by this alliance with +religion they reach the inner depths of the soul of man. *b + +[Footnote a: This gradual weakening of individuals in relation to +society at large may be traced in a thousand ways. I shall select +from amongst these examples one derived from the law of wills. In +aristocracies it is common to profess the greatest reverence for the +last testamentary dispositions of a man; this feeling sometimes even +became superstitious amongst the older nations of Europe: the power of +the State, far from interfering with the caprices of a dying man, gave +full force to the very least of them, and insured to him a perpetual +power. When all living men are enfeebled, the will of the dead is less +respected: it is circumscribed within a narrow range, beyond which it +is annulled or checked by the supreme power of the laws. In the Middle +Ages, testamentary power had, so to speak, no limits: amongst the French +at the present day, a man cannot distribute his fortune amongst his +children without the interference of the State; after having domineered +over a whole life, the law insists upon regulating the very last act of +it.] + +[Footnote b: In proportion as the duties of the central power are +augmented, the number of public officers by whom that power is +represented must increase also. They form a nation in each nation; and +as they share the stability of the government, they more and more fill +up the place of an aristocracy. + +In almost every part of Europe the government rules in two ways; it +rules one portion of the community by the fear which they entertain of +its agents, and the other by the hope they have of becoming its agents.] + +But this is as yet only one side of the picture. The authority of +government has not only spread, as we have just seen, throughout the +sphere of all existing powers, till that sphere can no longer contain +it, but it goes further, and invades the domain heretofore reserved +to private independence. A multitude of actions, which were formerly +entirely beyond the control of the public administration, have been +subjected to that control in our time, and the number of them is +constantly increasing. Amongst aristocratic nations the supreme +government usually contented itself with managing and superintending +the community in whatever directly and ostensibly concerned the national +honor; but in all other respects the people were left to work out their +own free will. Amongst these nations the government often seemed to +forget that there is a point at which the faults and the sufferings of +private persons involve the general prosperity, and that to prevent +the ruin of a private individual must sometimes be a matter of public +importance. The democratic nations of our time lean to the opposite +extreme. It is evident that most of our rulers will not content +themselves with governing the people collectively: it would seem as +if they thought themselves responsible for the actions and private +condition of their subjects--as if they had undertaken to guide and to +instruct each of them in the various incidents of life, and to secure +their happiness quite independently of their own consent. On the other +hand private individuals grow more and more apt to look upon the +supreme power in the same light; they invoke its assistance in all their +necessities, and they fix their eyes upon the administration as their +mentor or their guide. + +I assert that there is no country in Europe in which the public +administration has not become, not only more centralized, but more +inquisitive and more minute it everywhere interferes in private concerns +more than it did; it regulates more undertakings, and undertakings of a +lesser kind; and it gains a firmer footing every day about, above, and +around all private persons, to assist, to advise, and to coerce them. +Formerly a sovereign lived upon the income of his lands, or the revenue +of his taxes; this is no longer the case now that his wants have +increased as well as his power. Under the same circumstances which +formerly compelled a prince to put on a new tax, he now has recourse +to a loan. Thus the State gradually becomes the debtor of most of the +wealthier members of the community, and centralizes the largest amounts +of capital in its own hands. Small capital is drawn into its keeping +by another method. As men are intermingled and conditions become more +equal, the poor have more resources, more education, and more desires; +they conceive the notion of bettering their condition, and this teaches +them to save. These savings are daily producing an infinite number of +small capitals, the slow and gradual produce of labor, which are always +increasing. But the greater part of this money would be unproductive if +it remained scattered in the hands of its owners. This circumstance has +given rise to a philanthropic institution, which will soon become, if I +am not mistaken, one of our most important political institutions. Some +charitable persons conceived the notion of collecting the savings of +the poor and placing them out at interest. In some countries these +benevolent associations are still completely distinct from the State; +but in almost all they manifestly tend to identify themselves with the +government; and in some of them the government has superseded them, +taking upon itself the enormous task of centralizing in one place, and +putting out at interest on its own responsibility, the daily savings of +many millions of the working classes. Thus the State draws to itself the +wealth of the rich by loans, and has the poor man's mite at its disposal +in the savings banks. The wealth of the country is perpetually flowing +around the government and passing through its hands; the accumulation +increases in the same proportion as the equality of conditions; for in +a democratic country the State alone inspires private individuals with +confidence, because the State alone appears to be endowed with strength +and durability. *c Thus the sovereign does not confine himself to +the management of the public treasury; he interferes in private money +matters; he is the superior, and often the master, of all the members +of the community; and, in addition to this, he assumes the part of their +steward and paymaster. + +[Footnote c: On the one hand the taste for worldly welfare is +perpetually increasing, and on the other the government gets more and +more complete possession of the sources of that welfare. Thus men are +following two separate roads to servitude: the taste for their own +welfare withholds them from taking a part in the government, and their +love of that welfare places them in closer dependence upon those who +govern.] + +The central power not only fulfils of itself the whole of the duties +formerly discharged by various authorities--extending those duties, and +surpassing those authorities--but it performs them with more alertness, +strength, and independence than it displayed before. All the governments +of Europe have in our time singularly improved the science of +administration: they do more things, and they do everything with more +order, more celerity, and at less expense; they seem to be constantly +enriched by all the experience of which they have stripped private +persons. From day to day the princes of Europe hold their subordinate +officers under stricter control, and they invent new methods for guiding +them more closely, and inspecting them with less trouble. Not content +with managing everything by their agents, they undertake to manage the +conduct of their agents in everything; so that the public administration +not only depends upon one and the same power, but it is more and more +confined to one spot and concentrated in the same hands. The government +centralizes its agency whilst it increases its prerogative--hence a +twofold increase of strength. + +In examining the ancient constitution of the judicial power, amongst +most European nations, two things strike the mind--the independence of +that power, and the extent of its functions. Not only did the courts of +justice decide almost all differences between private persons, but in +very many cases they acted as arbiters between private persons and the +State. I do not here allude to the political and administrative offices +which courts of judicature had in some countries usurped, but the +judicial office common to them all. In most of the countries of Europe, +there were, and there still are, many private rights, connected for +the most part with the general right of property, which stood under +the protection of the courts of justice, and which the State could not +violate without their sanction. It was this semi-political power which +mainly distinguished the European courts of judicature from all others; +for all nations have had judges, but all have not invested their judges +with the same privileges. Upon examining what is now occurring amongst +the democratic nations of Europe which are called free, as well as +amongst the others, it will be observed that new and more dependent +courts are everywhere springing up by the side of the old ones, for +the express purpose of deciding, by an extraordinary jurisdiction, +such litigated matters as may arise between the government and private +persons. The elder judicial power retains its independence, but its +jurisdiction is narrowed; and there is a growing tendency to reduce it +to be exclusively the arbiter between private interests. The number of +these special courts of justice is continually increasing, and their +functions increase likewise. Thus the government is more and more +absolved from the necessity of subjecting its policy and its rights to +the sanction of another power. As judges cannot be dispensed with, at +least the State is to select them, and always to hold them under its +control; so that, between the government and private individuals, they +place the effigy of justice rather than justice itself. The State is +not satisfied with drawing all concerns to itself, but it acquires an +ever-increasing power of deciding on them all without restriction and +without appeal. *d + +[Footnote d: A strange sophism has been made on this head in France. +When a suit arises between the government and a private person, it is +not to be tried before an ordinary judge--in order, they say, not to +mix the administrative and the judicial powers; as if it were not to +mix those powers, and to mix them in the most dangerous and oppressive +manner, to invest the government with the office of judging and +administering at the same time.] + +There exists amongst the modern nations of Europe one great cause, +independent of all those which have already been pointed out, which +perpetually contributes to extend the agency or to strengthen the +prerogative of the supreme power, though it has not been sufficiently +attended to: I mean the growth of manufactures, which is fostered by the +progress of social equality. Manufactures generally collect a multitude +of men of the same spot, amongst whom new and complex relations +spring up. These men are exposed by their calling to great and sudden +alternations of plenty and want, during which public tranquillity is +endangered. It may also happen that these employments sacrifice the +health, and even the life, of those who gain by them, or of those who +live by them. Thus the manufacturing classes require more regulation, +superintendence, and restraint than the other classes of society, and +it is natural that the powers of government should increase in the same +proportion as those classes. + +This is a truth of general application; what follows more especially +concerns the nations of Europe. In the centuries which preceded that in +which we live, the aristocracy was in possession of the soil, and was +competent to defend it: landed property was therefore surrounded by +ample securities, and its possessors enjoyed great independence. +This gave rise to laws and customs which have been perpetuated, +notwithstanding the subdivision of lands and the ruin of the nobility; +and, at the present time, landowners and agriculturists are still those +amongst the community who must easily escape from the control of the +supreme power. In these same aristocratic ages, in which all the +sources of our history are to be traced, personal property was of small +importance, and those who possessed it were despised and weak: +the manufacturing class formed an exception in the midst of those +aristocratic communities; as it had no certain patronage, it was not +outwardly protected, and was often unable to protect itself. + +Hence a habit sprung up of considering manufacturing property as +something of a peculiar nature, not entitled to the same deference, +and not worthy of the same securities as property in general; and +manufacturers were looked upon as a small class in the bulk of the +people, whose independence was of small importance, and who might with +propriety be abandoned to the disciplinary passions of princes. On +glancing over the codes of the middle ages, one is surprised to see, +in those periods of personal independence, with what incessant royal +regulations manufactures were hampered, even in their smallest details: +on this point centralization was as active and as minute as it can ever +be. Since that time a great revolution has taken place in the world; +manufacturing property, which was then only in the germ, has spread +till it covers Europe: the manufacturing class has been multiplied and +enriched by the remnants of all other ranks; it has grown and is still +perpetually growing in number, in importance, in wealth. Almost all +those who do not belong to it are connected with it at least on some one +point; after having been an exception in society, it threatens to +become the chief, if not the only, class; nevertheless the notions and +political precedents engendered by it of old still cling about it. These +notions and these precedents remain unchanged, because they are old, +and also because they happen to be in perfect accordance with the new +notions and general habits of our contemporaries. Manufacturing property +then does not extend its rights in the same ratio as its importance. The +manufacturing classes do not become less dependent, whilst they become +more numerous; but, on the contrary, it would seem as if despotism +lurked within them, and naturally grew with their growth. *e As a +nation becomes more engaged in manufactures, the want of roads, canals, +harbors, and other works of a semi-public nature, which facilitate the +acquisition of wealth, is more strongly felt; and as a nation becomes +more democratic, private individuals are less able, and the State more +able, to execute works of such magnitude. I do not hesitate to assert +that the manifest tendency of all governments at the present time is to +take upon themselves alone the execution of these undertakings; by which +means they daily hold in closer dependence the population which they +govern. + +[Footnote e: I shall quote a few facts in corroboration of this remark. +Mines are the natural sources of manufacturing wealth: as manufactures +have grown up in Europe, as the produce of mines has become of more +general importance, and good mining more difficult from the subdivision +of property which is a consequence of the equality of conditions, most +governments have asserted a right of owning the soil in which the mines +lie, and of inspecting the works; which has never been the case with any +other kind of property. Thus mines, which were private property, liable +to the same obligations and sheltered by the same guarantees as all +other landed property, have fallen under the control of the State. +The State either works them or farms them; the owners of them are mere +tenants, deriving their rights from the State; and, moreover, the State +almost everywhere claims the power of directing their operations: it +lays down rules, enforces the adoption of particular methods, subjects +the mining adventurers to constant superintendence, and, if refractory, +they are ousted by a government court of justice, and the government +transfers their contract to other hands; so that the government not +only possesses the mines, but has all the adventurers in its power. +Nevertheless, as manufactures increase, the working of old mines +increases also; new ones are opened, the mining population extends and +grows up; day by day governments augment their subterranean dominions, +and people them with their agents.] + +On the other hand, in proportion as the power of a State increases, and +its necessities are augmented, the State consumption of manufactured +produce is always growing larger, and these commodities are generally +made in the arsenals or establishments of the government. Thus, in every +kingdom, the ruler becomes the principal manufacturer; he collects +and retains in his service a vast number of engineers, architects, +mechanics, and handicraftsmen. Not only is he the principal +manufacturer, but he tends more and more to become the chief, or rather +the master of all other manufacturers. As private persons become +more powerless by becoming more equal, they can effect nothing in +manufactures without combination; but the government naturally seeks to +place these combinations under its own control. + +It must be admitted that these collective beings, which are called +combinations, are stronger and more formidable than a private individual +can ever be, and that they have less of the responsibility of their own +actions; whence it seems reasonable that they should not be allowed to +retain so great an independence of the supreme government as might be +conceded to a private individual. + +Rulers are the more apt to follow this line of policy, as their own +inclinations invite them to it. Amongst democratic nations it is only by +association that the resistance of the people to the government can ever +display itself: hence the latter always looks with ill-favor on those +associations which are not in its own power; and it is well worthy of +remark, that amongst democratic nations, the people themselves often +entertain a secret feeling of fear and jealousy against these +very associations, which prevents the citizens from defending the +institutions of which they stand so much in need. The power and the +duration of these small private bodies, in the midst of the weakness and +instability of the whole community, astonish and alarm the people; +and the free use which each association makes of its natural powers is +almost regarded as a dangerous privilege. All the associations which +spring up in our age are, moreover, new corporate powers, whose rights +have not been sanctioned by time; they come into existence at a +time when the notion of private rights is weak, and when the power of +government is unbounded; hence it is not surprising that they lose their +freedom at their birth. Amongst all European nations there are some +kinds of associations which cannot be formed until the State has +examined their by-laws, and authorized their existence. In several +others, attempts are made to extend this rule to all associations; the +consequences of such a policy, if it were successful, may easily be +foreseen. If once the sovereign had a general right of authorizing +associations of all kinds upon certain conditions, he would not be long +without claiming the right of superintending and managing them, in order +to prevent them from departing from the rules laid down by himself. In +this manner, the State, after having reduced all who are desirous of +forming associations into dependence, would proceed to reduce into the +same condition all who belong to associations already formed--that is +to say, almost all the men who are now in existence. Governments thus +appropriate to themselves, and convert to their own purposes, the +greater part of this new power which manufacturing interests have in +our time brought into the world. Manufacturers govern us--they govern +manufactures. + +I attach so much importance to all that I have just been saying, that +I am tormented by the fear of having impaired my meaning in seeking +to render it more clear. If the reader thinks that the examples I have +adduced to support my observations are insufficient or ill-chosen--if +he imagines that I have anywhere exaggerated the encroachments of the +supreme power, and, on the other hand, that I have underrated the extent +of the sphere which still remains open to the exertions of individual +independence, I entreat him to lay down the book for a moment, and to +turn his mind to reflect for himself upon the subjects I have attempted +to explain. Let him attentively examine what is taking place in France +and in other countries--let him inquire of those about him--let him +search himself, and I am much mistaken if he does not arrive, without +my guidance, and by other paths, at the point to which I have sought +to lead him. He will perceive that for the last half-century, +centralization has everywhere been growing up in a thousand different +ways. Wars, revolutions, conquests, have served to promote it: all men +have labored to increase it. In the course of the same period, during +which men have succeeded each other with singular rapidity at the head +of affairs, their notions, interests, and passions have been infinitely +diversified; but all have by some means or other sought to centralize. +This instinctive centralization has been the only settled point amidst +the extreme mutability of their lives and of their thoughts. + +If the reader, after having investigated these details of human affairs, +will seek to survey the wide prospect as a whole, he will be struck +by the result. On the one hand the most settled dynasties shaken or +overthrown--the people everywhere escaping by violence from the sway +of their laws--abolishing or limiting the authority of their rulers or +their princes--the nations, which are not in open revolution, restless +at least, and excited--all of them animated by the same spirit of +revolt: and on the other hand, at this very period of anarchy, and +amongst these untractable nations, the incessant increase of the +prerogative of the supreme government, becoming more centralized, more +adventurous, more absolute, more extensive--the people perpetually +falling under the control of the public administration--led +insensibly to surrender to it some further portion of their individual +independence, till the very men, who from time to time upset a throne +and trample on a race of kings, bend more and more obsequiously to the +slightest dictate of a clerk. Thus two contrary revolutions appear +in our days to be going on; the one continually weakening the supreme +power, the other as continually strengthening it: at no other period +in our history has it appeared so weak or so strong. But upon a more +attentive examination of the state of the world, it appears that these +two revolutions are intimately connected together, that they originate +in the same source, and that after having followed a separate course, +they lead men at last to the same result. I may venture once more to +repeat what I have already said or implied in several parts of this +book: great care must be taken not to confound the principle of equality +itself with the revolution which finally establishes that principle in +the social condition and the laws of a nation: here lies the reason of +almost all the phenomena which occasion our astonishment. All the old +political powers of Europe, the greatest as well as the least, were +founded in ages of aristocracy, and they more or less represented or +defended the principles of inequality and of privilege. To make the +novel wants and interests, which the growing principle of equality +introduced, preponderate in government, our contemporaries had to +overturn or to coerce the established powers. This led them to make +revolutions, and breathed into many of them, that fierce love of +disturbance and independence, which all revolutions, whatever be their +object, always engender. I do not believe that there is a single country +in Europe in which the progress of equality has not been preceded or +followed by some violent changes in the state of property and persons; +and almost all these changes have been attended with much anarchy and +license, because they have been made by the least civilized portion of +the nation against that which is most civilized. Hence proceeded the +two-fold contrary tendencies which I have just pointed out. As long as +the democratic revolution was glowing with heat, the men who were +bent upon the destruction of old aristocratic powers hostile to that +revolution, displayed a strong spirit of independence; but as the +victory or the principle of equality became more complete, they +gradually surrendered themselves to the propensities natural to that +condition of equality, and they strengthened and centralized their +governments. They had sought to be free in order to make themselves +equal; but in proportion as equality was more established by the aid +of freedom, freedom itself was thereby rendered of more difficult +attainment. + +These two states of a nation have sometimes been contemporaneous: +the last generation in France showed how a people might organize a +stupendous tyranny in the community, at the very time when they were +baffling the authority of the nobility and braving the power of all +kings--at once teaching the world the way to win freedom, and the way to +lose it. In our days men see that constituted powers are dilapidated +on every side--they see all ancient authority gasping away, all ancient +barriers tottering to their fall, and the judgment of the wisest is +troubled at the sight: they attend only to the amazing revolution which +is taking place before their eyes, and they imagine that mankind is +about to fall into perpetual anarchy: if they looked to the final +consequences of this revolution, their fears would perhaps assume a +different shape. For myself, I confess that I put no trust in the spirit +of freedom which appears to animate my contemporaries. I see well +enough that the nations of this age are turbulent, but I do not clearly +perceive that they are liberal; and I fear lest, at the close of +those perturbations which rock the base of thrones, the domination of +sovereigns may prove more powerful than it ever was before. + + + + +Chapter VI: What Sort Of Despotism Democratic Nations Have To Fear + +I had remarked during my stay in the United States, that a democratic +state of society, similar to that of the Americans, might offer singular +facilities for the establishment of despotism; and I perceived, upon +my return to Europe, how much use had already been made by most of our +rulers, of the notions, the sentiments, and the wants engendered by this +same social condition, for the purpose of extending the circle of +their power. This led me to think that the nations of Christendom would +perhaps eventually undergo some sort of oppression like that which +hung over several of the nations of the ancient world. A more accurate +examination of the subject, and five years of further meditations, have +not diminished my apprehensions, but they have changed the object of +them. No sovereign ever lived in former ages so absolute or so powerful +as to undertake to administer by his own agency, and without the +assistance of intermediate powers, all the parts of a great empire: none +ever attempted to subject all his subjects indiscriminately to strict +uniformity of regulation, and personally to tutor and direct every +member of the community. The notion of such an undertaking never +occurred to the human mind; and if any man had conceived it, the want +of information, the imperfection of the administrative system, and above +all, the natural obstacles caused by the inequality of conditions, would +speedily have checked the execution of so vast a design. When the Roman +emperors were at the height of their power, the different nations of the +empire still preserved manners and customs of great diversity; although +they were subject to the same monarch, most of the provinces were +separately administered; they abounded in powerful and active +municipalities; and although the whole government of the empire was +centred in the hands of the emperor alone, and he always remained, upon +occasions, the supreme arbiter in all matters, yet the details of social +life and private occupations lay for the most part beyond his control. +The emperors possessed, it is true, an immense and unchecked power, +which allowed them to gratify all their whimsical tastes, and to employ +for that purpose the whole strength of the State. They frequently abused +that power arbitrarily to deprive their subjects of property or of life: +their tyranny was extremely onerous to the few, but it did not reach the +greater number; it was fixed to some few main objects, and neglected the +rest; it was violent, but its range was limited. + +But it would seem that if despotism were to be established amongst the +democratic nations of our days, it might assume a different character; +it would be more extensive and more mild; it would degrade men without +tormenting them. I do not question, that in an age of instruction +and equality like our own, sovereigns might more easily succeed in +collecting all political power into their own hands, and might interfere +more habitually and decidedly within the circle of private interests, +than any sovereign of antiquity could ever do. But this same principle +of equality which facilitates despotism, tempers its rigor. We have seen +how the manners of society become more humane and gentle in proportion +as men become more equal and alike. When no member of the community has +much power or much wealth, tyranny is, as it were, without opportunities +and a field of action. As all fortunes are scanty, the passions of men +are naturally circumscribed--their imagination limited, their pleasures +simple. This universal moderation moderates the sovereign himself, and +checks within certain limits the inordinate extent of his desires. + +Independently of these reasons drawn from the nature of the state of +society itself, I might add many others arising from causes beyond my +subject; but I shall keep within the limits I have laid down to myself. +Democratic governments may become violent and even cruel at certain +periods of extreme effervescence or of great danger: but these crises +will be rare and brief. When I consider the petty passions of our +contemporaries, the mildness of their manners, the extent of their +education, the purity of their religion, the gentleness of their +morality, their regular and industrious habits, and the restraint which +they almost all observe in their vices no less than in their virtues, +I have no fear that they will meet with tyrants in their rulers, but +rather guardians. *a I think then that the species of oppression by +which democratic nations are menaced is unlike anything which ever +before existed in the world: our contemporaries will find no prototype +of it in their memories. I am trying myself to choose an expression +which will accurately convey the whole of the idea I have formed of it, +but in vain; the old words "despotism" and "tyranny" are inappropriate: +the thing itself is new; and since I cannot name it, I must attempt to +define it. + +[Footnote a: See Appendix Y.] + +I seek to trace the novel features under which despotism may appear +in the world. The first thing that strikes the observation is +an innumerable multitude of men all equal and alike, incessantly +endeavoring to procure the petty and paltry pleasures with which they +glut their lives. Each of them, living apart, is as a stranger to the +fate of all the rest--his children and his private friends constitute to +him the whole of mankind; as for the rest of his fellow-citizens, he is +close to them, but he sees them not--he touches them, but he feels them +not; he exists but in himself and for himself alone; and if his kindred +still remain to him, he may be said at any rate to have lost his +country. Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, +which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications, and +to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, +provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent, if, +like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it +seeks on the contrary to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well +content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing +but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, +but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that +happiness: it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their +necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal +concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and +subdivides their inheritances--what remains, but to spare them all +the care of thinking and all the trouble of living? Thus it every day +renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less +frequent; it circumscribes the will within a narrower range, and +gradually robs a man of all the uses of himself. The principle of +equality has prepared men for these things: it has predisposed men to +endure them, and oftentimes to look on them as benefits. + +After having thus successively taken each member of the community in +its powerful grasp, and fashioned them at will, the supreme power then +extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of +society with a net-work of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, +through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters +cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not +shattered, but softened, bent, and guided: men are seldom forced by it +to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting: such a power +does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but +it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till +each nation is reduced to be nothing better than a flock of timid and +industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd. I have +always thought that servitude of the regular, quiet, and gentle kind +which I have just described, might be combined more easily than is +commonly believed with some of the outward forms of freedom; and that +it might even establish itself under the wing of the sovereignty of the +people. Our contemporaries are constantly excited by two conflicting +passions; they want to be led, and they wish to remain free: as they +cannot destroy either one or the other of these contrary propensities, +they strive to satisfy them both at once. They devise a sole, tutelary, +and all-powerful form of government, but elected by the people. They +combine the principle of centralization and that of popular sovereignty; +this gives them a respite; they console themselves for being in tutelage +by the reflection that they have chosen their own guardians. Every man +allows himself to be put in leading-strings, because he sees that it is +not a person or a class of persons, but the people at large that holds +the end of his chain. By this system the people shake off their state +of dependence just long enough to select their master, and then relapse +into it again. A great many persons at the present day are quite +contented with this sort of compromise between administrative despotism +and the sovereignty of the people; and they think they have done enough +for the protection of individual freedom when they have surrendered +it to the power of the nation at large. This does not satisfy me: +the nature of him I am to obey signifies less to me than the fact of +extorted obedience. + +I do not however deny that a constitution of this kind appears to me to +be infinitely preferable to one, which, after having concentrated +all the powers of government, should vest them in the hands of an +irresponsible person or body of persons. Of all the forms which +democratic despotism could assume, the latter would assuredly be +the worst. When the sovereign is elective, or narrowly watched by a +legislature which is really elective and independent, the oppression +which he exercises over individuals is sometimes greater, but it is +always less degrading; because every man, when he is oppressed and +disarmed, may still imagine, that whilst he yields obedience it is to +himself he yields it, and that it is to one of his own inclinations that +all the rest give way. In like manner I can understand that when the +sovereign represents the nation, and is dependent upon the people, the +rights and the power of which every citizen is deprived, not only serve +the head of the State, but the State itself; and that private persons +derive some return from the sacrifice of their independence which they +have made to the public. To create a representation of the people in +every centralized country, is therefore, to diminish the evil which +extreme centralization may produce, but not to get rid of it. I admit +that by this means room is left for the intervention of individuals in +the more important affairs; but it is not the less suppressed in the +smaller and more private ones. It must not be forgotten that it is +especially dangerous to enslave men in the minor details of life. For my +own part, I should be inclined to think freedom less necessary in great +things than in little ones, if it were possible to be secure of the one +without possessing the other. Subjection in minor affairs breaks out +every day, and is felt by the whole community indiscriminately. It does +not drive men to resistance, but it crosses them at every turn, till +they are led to surrender the exercise of their will. Thus their +spirit is gradually broken and their character enervated; whereas that +obedience, which is exacted on a few important but rare occasions, only +exhibits servitude at certain intervals, and throws the burden of it +upon a small number of men. It is in vain to summon a people, which has +been rendered so dependent on the central power, to choose from time to +time the representatives of that power; this rare and brief exercise of +their free choice, however important it may be, will not prevent them +from gradually losing the faculties of thinking, feeling, and acting for +themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of humanity. *b +I add that they will soon become incapable of exercising the great and +only privilege which remains to them. The democratic nations which have +introduced freedom into their political constitution, at the very +time when they were augmenting the despotism of their administrative +constitution, have been led into strange paradoxes. To manage those +minor affairs in which good sense is all that is wanted--the people are +held to be unequal to the task, but when the government of the country +is at stake, the people are invested with immense powers; they are +alternately made the playthings of their ruler, and his masters--more +than kings, and less than men. After having exhausted all the different +modes of election, without finding one to suit their purpose, they are +still amazed, and still bent on seeking further; as if the evil they +remark did not originate in the constitution of the country far more +than in that of the electoral body. It is, indeed, difficult to conceive +how men who have entirely given up the habit of self-government should +succeed in making a proper choice of those by whom they are to be +governed; and no one will ever believe that a liberal, wise, and +energetic government can spring from the suffrages of a subservient +people. A constitution, which should be republican in its head and +ultra-monarchical in all its other parts, has ever appeared to me to +be a short-lived monster. The vices of rulers and the ineptitude of the +people would speedily bring about its ruin; and the nation, weary of its +representatives and of itself, would create freer institutions, or soon +return to stretch itself at the feet of a single master. + +[Footnote b: See Appendix Z.] + + + + +Chapter VII: Continuation Of The Preceding Chapters + +I believe that it is easier to establish an absolute and despotic +government amongst a people in which the conditions of society are +equal, than amongst any other; and I think that if such a government +were once established amongst such a people, it would not only oppress +men, but would eventually strip each of them of several of the highest +qualities of humanity. Despotism therefore appears to me peculiarly to +be dreaded in democratic ages. I should have loved freedom, I believe, +at all times, but in the time in which we live I am ready to worship +it. On the other hand, I am persuaded that all who shall attempt, in +the ages upon which we are entering, to base freedom upon aristocratic +privilege, will fail--that all who shall attempt to draw and to retain +authority within a single class, will fail. At the present day no ruler +is skilful or strong enough to found a despotism, by re-establishing +permanent distinctions of rank amongst his subjects: no legislator is +wise or powerful enough to preserve free institutions, if he does not +take equality for his first principle and his watchword. All those of +our contemporaries who would establish or secure the independence and +the dignity of their fellow-men, must show themselves the friends of +equality; and the only worthy means of showing themselves as such, is to +be so: upon this depends the success of their holy enterprise. Thus the +question is not how to reconstruct aristocratic society, but how to make +liberty proceed out of that democratic state of society in which God has +placed us. + +These two truths appear to me simple, clear, and fertile in +consequences; and they naturally lead me to consider what kind of +free government can be established amongst a people in which social +conditions are equal. It results from the very constitution of +democratic nations and from their necessities, that the power of +government amongst them must be more uniform, more centralized, more +extensive, more searching, and more efficient than in other countries. +Society at large is naturally stronger and more active, individuals more +subordinate and weak; the former does more, the latter less; and this is +inevitably the case. It is not therefore to be expected that the range +of private independence will ever be as extensive in democratic as +in aristocratic countries--nor is this to be desired; for, amongst +aristocratic nations, the mass is often sacrificed to the individual, +and the prosperity of the greater number to the greatness of the few. +It is both necessary and desirable that the government of a democratic +people should be active and powerful: and our object should not be to +render it weak or indolent, but solely to prevent it from abusing its +aptitude and its strength. + +The circumstance which most contributed to secure the independence of +private persons in aristocratic ages, was, that the supreme power did +not affect to take upon itself alone the government and administration +of the community; those functions were necessarily partially left to +the members of the aristocracy: so that as the supreme power was always +divided, it never weighed with its whole weight and in the same manner +on each individual. Not only did the government not perform everything +by its immediate agency; but as most of the agents who discharged its +duties derived their power not from the State, but from the circumstance +of their birth, they were not perpetually under its control. The +government could not make or unmake them in an instant, at pleasure, +nor bend them in strict uniformity to its slightest caprice--this was +an additional guarantee of private independence. I readily admit that +recourse cannot be had to the same means at the present time: but I +discover certain democratic expedients which may be substituted for +them. Instead of vesting in the government alone all the administrative +powers of which corporations and nobles have been deprived, a portion of +them may be entrusted to secondary public bodies, temporarily composed +of private citizens: thus the liberty of private persons will be more +secure, and their equality will not be diminished. + +The Americans, who care less for words than the French, still designate +by the name of "county" the largest of their administrative districts: +but the duties of the count or lord-lieutenant are in part performed by +a provincial assembly. At a period of equality like our own it would be +unjust and unreasonable to institute hereditary officers; but there is +nothing to prevent us from substituting elective public officers to a +certain extent. Election is a democratic expedient which insures the +independence of the public officer in relation to the government, +as much and even more than hereditary rank can insure it amongst +aristocratic nations. Aristocratic countries abound in wealthy and +influential persons who are competent to provide for themselves, and +who cannot be easily or secretly oppressed: such persons restrain a +government within general habits of moderation and reserve. I am very +well aware that democratic countries contain no such persons naturally; +but something analogous to them may be created by artificial means. I +firmly believe that an aristocracy cannot again be founded in the world; +but I think that private citizens, by combining together, may constitute +bodies of great wealth, influence, and strength, corresponding to the +persons of an aristocracy. By this means many of the greatest political +advantages of aristocracy would be obtained without its injustice or +its dangers. An association for political, commercial, or manufacturing +purposes, or even for those of science and literature, is a powerful +and enlightened member of the community, which cannot be disposed of at +pleasure, or oppressed without remonstrance; and which, by defending its +own rights against the encroachments of the government, saves the common +liberties of the country. + +In periods of aristocracy every man is always bound so closely to many +of his fellow-citizens, that he cannot be assailed without their coming +to his assistance. In ages of equality every man naturally stands alone; +he has no hereditary friends whose co-operation he may demand--no class +upon whose sympathy he may rely: he is easily got rid of, and he is +trampled on with impunity. At the present time, an oppressed member +of the community has therefore only one method of self-defence--he +may appeal to the whole nation; and if the whole nation is deaf to his +complaint, he may appeal to mankind: the only means he has of making +this appeal is by the press. Thus the liberty of the press is infinitely +more valuable amongst democratic nations than amongst all others; it is +the only cure for the evils which equality may produce. Equality sets +men apart and weakens them; but the press places a powerful weapon +within every man's reach, which the weakest and loneliest of them all +may use. Equality deprives a man of the support of his connections; but +the press enables him to summon all his fellow-countrymen and all his +fellow-men to his assistance. Printing has accelerated the progress of +equality, and it is also one of its best correctives. + +I think that men living in aristocracies may, strictly speaking, do +without the liberty of the press: but such is not the case with those +who live in democratic countries. To protect their personal independence +I trust not to great political assemblies, to parliamentary privilege, +or to the assertion of popular sovereignty. All these things may, to +a certain extent, be reconciled with personal servitude--but that +servitude cannot be complete if the press is free: the press is the +chiefest democratic instrument of freedom. + +Something analogous may be said of the judicial power. It is a part of +the essence of judicial power to attend to private interests, and to fix +itself with predilection on minute objects submitted to its observation; +another essential quality of judicial power is never to volunteer its +assistance to the oppressed, but always to be at the disposal of the +humblest of those who solicit it; their complaint, however feeble they +may themselves be, will force itself upon the ear of justice and claim +redress, for this is inherent in the very constitution of the courts +of justice. A power of this kind is therefore peculiarly adapted to the +wants of freedom, at a time when the eye and finger of the government +are constantly intruding into the minutest details of human actions, and +when private persons are at once too weak to protect themselves, and too +much isolated for them to reckon upon the assistance of their fellows. +The strength of the courts of law has ever been the greatest security +which can be offered to personal independence; but this is more +especially the case in democratic ages: private rights and interests are +in constant danger, if the judicial power does not grow more extensive +and more strong to keep pace with the growing equality of conditions. + +Equality awakens in men several propensities extremely dangerous to +freedom, to which the attention of the legislator ought constantly to be +directed. I shall only remind the reader of the most important amongst +them. Men living in democratic ages do not readily comprehend the +utility of forms: they feel an instinctive contempt for them--I have +elsewhere shown for what reasons. Forms excite their contempt and often +their hatred; as they commonly aspire to none but easy and present +gratifications, they rush onwards to the object of their desires, and +the slightest delay exasperates them. This same temper, carried +with them into political life, renders them hostile to forms, which +perpetually retard or arrest them in some of their projects. Yet this +objection which the men of democracies make to forms is the very thing +which renders forms so useful to freedom; for their chief merit is to +serve as a barrier between the strong and the weak, the ruler and the +people, to retard the one, and give the other time to look about him. +Forms become more necessary in proportion as the government becomes +more active and more powerful, whilst private persons are becoming more +indolent and more feeble. Thus democratic nations naturally stand more +in need of forms than other nations, and they naturally respect them +less. This deserves most serious attention. Nothing is more pitiful +than the arrogant disdain of most of our contemporaries for questions +of form; for the smallest questions of form have acquired in our time an +importance which they never had before: many of the greatest interests +of mankind depend upon them. I think that if the statesmen of +aristocratic ages could sometimes contemn forms with impunity, and +frequently rise above them, the statesmen to whom the government of +nations is now confided ought to treat the very least among them +with respect, and not neglect them without imperious necessity. In +aristocracies the observance of forms was superstitious; amongst us they +ought to be kept with a deliberate and enlightened deference. + +Another tendency, which is extremely natural to democratic nations and +extremely dangerous, is that which leads them ta despise and undervalue +the rights of private persons. The attachment which men feel to a right, +and the respect which they display for it, is generally proportioned to +its importance, or to the length of time during which they have enjoyed +it. The rights of private persons amongst democratic nations are +commonly of small importance, of recent growth, and extremely +precarious--the consequence is that they are often sacrificed without +regret, and almost always violated without remorse. But it happens that +at the same period and amongst the same nations in which men conceive +a natural contempt for the rights of private persons, the rights of +society at large are naturally extended and consolidated: in other +words, men become less attached to private rights at the very time at +which it would be most necessary to retain and to defend what little +remains of them. It is therefore most especially in the present +democratic ages, that the true friends of the liberty and the greatness +of man ought constantly to be on the alert to prevent the power of +government from lightly sacrificing the private rights of individuals +to the general execution of its designs. At such times no citizen is so +obscure that it is not very dangerous to allow him to be oppressed--no +private rights are so unimportant that they can be surrendered with +impunity to the caprices of a government. The reason is plain:--if the +private right of an individual is violated at a time when the human mind +is fully impressed with the importance and the sanctity of such rights, +the injury done is confined to the individual whose right is infringed; +but to violate such a right, at the present day, is deeply to corrupt +the manners of the nation and to put the whole community in jeopardy, +because the very notion of this kind of right constantly tends amongst +us to be impaired and lost. + +There are certain habits, certain notions, and certain vices which are +peculiar to a state of revolution, and which a protracted revolution +cannot fail to engender and to propagate, whatever be, in other +respects, its character, its purpose, and the scene on which it takes +place. When any nation has, within a short space of time, repeatedly +varied its rulers, its opinions, and its laws, the men of whom it is +composed eventually contract a taste for change, and grow accustomed +to see all changes effected by sudden violence. Thus they naturally +conceive a contempt for forms which daily prove ineffectual; and they do +not support without impatience the dominion of rules which they have so +often seen infringed. As the ordinary notions of equity and morality no +longer suffice to explain and justify all the innovations daily begotten +by a revolution, the principle of public utility is called in, the +doctrine of political necessity is conjured up, and men accustom +themselves to sacrifice private interests without scruple, and +to trample on the rights of individuals in order more speedily to +accomplish any public purpose. + +These habits and notions, which I shall call revolutionary, because all +revolutions produce them, occur in aristocracies just as much as amongst +democratic nations; but amongst the former they are often less powerful +and always less lasting, because there they meet with habits, notions, +defects, and impediments, which counteract them: they consequently +disappear as soon as the revolution is terminated, and the nation +reverts to its former political courses. This is not always the case +in democratic countries, in which it is ever to be feared that +revolutionary tendencies, becoming more gentle and more regular, without +entirely disappearing from society, will be gradually transformed into +habits of subjection to the administrative authority of the government. +I know of no countries in which revolutions re more dangerous than +in democratic countries; because, independently of the accidental and +transient evils which must always attend them, they may always create +some evils which are permanent and unending. I believe that there are +such things as justifiable resistance and legitimate rebellion: I do not +therefore assert, as an absolute proposition, that the men of democratic +ages ought never to make revolutions; but I think that they have +especial reason to hesitate before they embark in them, and that it is +far better to endure many grievances in their present condition than to +have recourse to so perilous a remedy. + +I shall conclude by one general idea, which comprises not only all the +particular ideas which have been expressed in the present chapter, but +also most of those which it is the object of this book to treat of. +In the ages of aristocracy which preceded our own, there were private +persons of great power, and a social authority of extreme weakness. The +outline of society itself was not easily discernible, and constantly +confounded with the different powers by which the community was ruled. +The principal efforts of the men of those times were required to +strengthen, aggrandize, and secure the supreme power; and on the other +hand, to circumscribe individual independence within narrower limits, +and to subject private interests to the interests of the public. Other +perils and other cares await the men of our age. Amongst the greater +part of modern nations, the government, whatever may be its origin, its +constitution, or its name, has become almost omnipotent, and private +persons are falling, more and more, into the lowest stage of weakness +and dependence. In olden society everything was different; unity and +uniformity were nowhere to be met with. In modern society everything +threatens to become so much alike, that the peculiar characteristics of +each individual will soon be entirely lost in the general aspect of the +world. Our forefathers were ever prone to make an improper use of the +notion, that private rights ought to be respected; and we are naturally +prone on the other hand to exaggerate the idea that the interest of a +private individual ought always to bend to the interest of the many. The +political world is metamorphosed: new remedies must henceforth be sought +for new disorders. To lay down extensive, but distinct and settled +limits, to the action of the government; to confer certain rights on +private persons, and to secure to them the undisputed enjoyment of those +rights; to enable individual man to maintain whatever independence, +strength, and original power he still possesses; to raise him by the +side of society at large, and uphold him in that position--these appear +to me the main objects of legislators in the ages upon which we are now +entering. It would seem as if the rulers of our time sought only to use +men in order to make things great; I wish that they would try a little +more to make great men; that they would set less value on the work, and +more upon the workman; that they would never forget that a nation cannot +long remain strong when every man belonging to it is individually weak, +and that no form or combination of social polity has yet been devised, +to make an energetic people out of a community of pusillanimous and +enfeebled citizens. + +I trace amongst our contemporaries two contrary notions which are +equally injurious. One set of men can perceive nothing in the principle +of equality but the anarchical tendencies which it engenders: they +dread their own free agency--they fear themselves. Other thinkers, less +numerous but more enlightened, take a different view: besides that track +which starts from the principle of equality to terminate in anarchy, +they have at last discovered the road which seems to lead men to +inevitable servitude. They shape their souls beforehand to this +necessary condition; and, despairing of remaining free, they already +do obeisance in their hearts to the master who is soon to appear. The +former abandon freedom, because they think it dangerous; the latter, +because they hold it to be impossible. If I had entertained the latter +conviction, I should not have written this book, but I should have +confined myself to deploring in secret the destiny of mankind. I have +sought to point out the dangers to which the principle of equality +exposes the independence of man, because I firmly believe that these +dangers are the most formidable, as well as the least foreseen, of all +those which futurity holds in store: but I do not think that they are +insurmountable. The men who live in the democratic ages upon which we +are entering have naturally a taste for independence: they are naturally +impatient of regulation, and they are wearied by the permanence even of +the condition they themselves prefer. They are fond of power; but they +are prone to despise and hate those who wield it, and they easily elude +its grasp by their own mobility and insignificance. These propensities +will always manifest themselves, because they originate in the +groundwork of society, which will undergo no change: for a long time +they will prevent the establishment of any despotism, and they will +furnish fresh weapons to each succeeding generation which shall struggle +in favor of the liberty of mankind. Let us then look forward to the +future with that salutary fear which makes men keep watch and ward +for freedom, not with that faint and idle terror which depresses and +enervates the heart. + + + + +Chapter VIII: General Survey Of The Subject + +Before I close forever the theme that has detained me so long, I would +fain take a parting survey of all the various characteristics of modern +society, and appreciate at last the general influence to be exercised by +the principle of equality upon the fate of mankind; but I am stopped +by the difficulty of the task, and in presence of so great an object my +sight is troubled, and my reason fails. The society of the modern world +which I have sought to delineate, and which I seek to judge, has but +just come into existence. Time has not yet shaped it into perfect form: +the great revolution by which it has been created is not yet over: and +amidst the occurrences of our time, it is almost impossible to discern +what will pass away with the revolution itself, and what will survive +its close. The world which is rising into existence is still half +encumbered by the remains of the world which is waning into decay; and +amidst the vast perplexity of human affairs, none can say how much of +ancient institutions and former manners will remain, or how much will +completely disappear. Although the revolution which is taking place in +the social condition, the laws, the opinions, and the feelings of men, +is still very far from being terminated, yet its results already admit +of no comparison with anything that the world has ever before witnessed. +I go back from age to age up to the remotest antiquity; but I find no +parallel to what is occurring before my eyes: as the past has ceased to +throw its light upon the future, the mind of man wanders in obscurity. +Nevertheless, in the midst of a prospect so wide, so novel and so +confused, some of the more prominent characteristics may already be +discerned and pointed out. The good things and the evils of life are +more equally distributed in the world: great wealth tends to disappear, +the number of small fortunes to increase; desires and gratifications +are multiplied, but extraordinary prosperity and irremediable penury are +alike unknown. The sentiment of ambition is universal, but the scope +of ambition is seldom vast. Each individual stands apart in solitary +weakness; but society at large is active, provident, and powerful: the +performances of private persons are insignificant, those of the State +immense. There is little energy of character; but manners are mild, and +laws humane. If there be few instances of exalted heroism or of virtues +of the highest, brightest, and purest temper, men's habits are regular, +violence is rare, and cruelty almost unknown. Human existence becomes +longer, and property more secure: life is not adorned with brilliant +trophies, but it is extremely easy and tranquil. Few pleasures are +either very refined or very coarse; and highly polished manners are as +uncommon as great brutality of tastes. Neither men of great learning, +nor extremely ignorant communities, are to be met with; genius becomes +more rare, information more diffused. The human mind is impelled by the +small efforts of all mankind combined together, not by the strenuous +activity of certain men. There is less perfection, but more abundance, +in all the productions of the arts. The ties of race, of rank, and of +country are relaxed; the great bond of humanity is strengthened. If +I endeavor to find out the most general and the most prominent of all +these different characteristics, I shall have occasion to perceive, that +what is taking place in men's fortunes manifests itself under a thousand +other forms. Almost all extremes are softened or blunted: all that was +most prominent is superseded by some mean term, at once less lofty and +less low, less brilliant and less obscure, than what before existed in +the world. + +When I survey this countless multitude of beings, shaped in each other's +likeness, amidst whom nothing rises and nothing falls, the sight of such +universal uniformity saddens and chills me, and I am tempted to regret +that state of society which has ceased to be. When the world was full of +men of great importance and extreme insignificance, of great wealth and +extreme poverty, of great learning and extreme ignorance, I turned aside +from the latter to fix my observation on the former alone, who gratified +my sympathies. But I admit that this gratification arose from my own +weakness: it is because I am unable to see at once all that is around +me, that I am allowed thus to select and separate the objects of my +predilection from among so many others. Such is not the case with that +almighty and eternal Being whose gaze necessarily includes the whole of +created things, and who surveys distinctly, though at once, mankind and +man. We may naturally believe that it is not the singular prosperity of +the few, but the greater well-being of all, which is most pleasing in +the sight of the Creator and Preserver of men. What appears to me to be +man's decline, is to His eye advancement; what afflicts me is acceptable +to Him. A state of equality is perhaps less elevated, but it is more +just; and its justice constitutes its greatness and its beauty. I would +strive then to raise myself to this point of the divine contemplation, +and thence to view and to judge the concerns of men. + +No man, upon the earth, can as yet affirm absolutely and generally, +that the new state of the world is better than its former one; but it +is already easy to perceive that this state is different. Some vices +and some virtues were so inherent in the constitution of an aristocratic +nation, and are so opposite to the character of a modern people, that +they can never be infused into it; some good tendencies and some bad +propensities which were unknown to the former, are natural to the +latter; some ideas suggest themselves spontaneously to the imagination +of the one, which are utterly repugnant to the mind of the other. They +are like two distinct orders of human beings, each of which has its +own merits and defects, its own advantages and its own evils. Care +must therefore be taken not to judge the state of society, which is now +coming into existence, by notions derived from a state of society +which no longer exists; for as these states of society are exceedingly +different in their structure, they cannot be submitted to a just or fair +comparison. It would be scarcely more reasonable to require of our +own contemporaries the peculiar virtues which originated in the social +condition of their forefathers, since that social condition is itself +fallen, and has drawn into one promiscuous ruin the good and evil which +belonged to it. + +But as yet these things are imperfectly understood. I find that a great +number of my contemporaries undertake to make a certain selection from +amongst the institutions, the opinions, and the ideas which originated +in the aristocratic constitution of society as it was: a portion of +these elements they would willingly relinquish, but they would keep the +remainder and transplant them into their new world. I apprehend that +such men are wasting their time and their strength in virtuous +but unprofitable efforts. The object is not to retain the peculiar +advantages which the inequality of conditions bestows upon mankind, but +to secure the new benefits which equality may supply. We have not to +seek to make ourselves like our progenitors, but to strive to work out +that species of greatness and happiness which is our own. For myself, +who now look back from this extreme limit of my task, and discover from +afar, but at once, the various objects which have attracted my more +attentive investigation upon my way, I am full of apprehensions and +of hopes. I perceive mighty dangers which it is possible to ward +off--mighty evils which may be avoided or alleviated; and I cling with +a firmer hold to the belief, that for democratic nations to be virtuous +and prosperous they require but to will it. I am aware that many of my +contemporaries maintain that nations are never their own masters +here below, and that they necessarily obey some insurmountable and +unintelligent power, arising from anterior events, from their race, or +from the soil and climate of their country. Such principles are false +and cowardly; such principles can never produce aught but feeble men +and pusillanimous nations. Providence has not created mankind entirely +independent or entirely free. It is true that around every man a fatal +circle is traced, beyond which he cannot pass; but within the wide +verge of that circle he is powerful and free: as it is with man, so with +communities. The nations of our time cannot prevent the conditions of +men from becoming equal; but it depends upon themselves whether the +principle of equality is to lead them to servitude or freedom, to +knowledge or barbarism, to prosperity or to wretchedness. + + + + +Part I. + + + + +Appendix A + +For information concerning all the countries of the West which have +not been visited by Europeans, consult the account of two expeditions +undertaken at the expense of Congress by Major Long. This traveller +particularly mentions, on the subject of the great American desert, that +a line may be drawn nearly parallel to the 20th degree of longitude *a +(meridian of Washington), beginning from the Red River and ending at +the River Platte. From this imaginary line to the Rocky Mountains, which +bound the valley of the Mississippi on the west, lie immense plains, +which are almost entirely covered with sand, incapable of cultivation, +or scattered over with masses of granite. In summer, these plains are +quite destitute of water, and nothing is to be seen on them but herds of +buffaloes and wild horses. Some hordes of Indians are also found +there, but in no great numbers. Major Long was told that in travelling +northwards from the River Platte you find the same desert lying +constantly on the left; but he was unable to ascertain the truth of this +report. However worthy of confidence may be the narrative of Major Long, +it must be remembered that he only passed through the country of which +he speaks, without deviating widely from the line which he had traced +out for his journey. + +[Footnote a: The 20th degree of longitude, according to the meridian of +Washington, agrees very nearly with the 97th degree on the meridian of +Greenwich.] + + + + +Appendix B + +South America, in the region between the tropics, produces an incredible +profusion of climbing plants, of which the flora of the Antilles alone +presents us with forty different species. Among the most graceful of +these shrubs is the passion-flower, which, according to Descourtiz, +grows with such luxuriance in the Antilles, as to climb trees by means +of the tendrils with which it is provided, and form moving bowers of +rich and elegant festoons, decorated with blue and purple flowers, and +fragrant with perfume. The Mimosa scandens (Acacia a grandes gousses) is +a creeper of enormous and rapid growth, which climbs from tree to tree, +and sometimes covers more than half a league. + + + + +Appendix C + +The languages which are spoken by the Indians of America, from the Pole +to Cape Horn, are said to be all formed upon the same model, and subject +to the same grammatical rules; whence it may fairly be concluded that +all the Indian nations sprang from the same stock. Each tribe of +the American continent speaks a different dialect; but the number of +languages, properly so called, is very small, a fact which tends to +prove that the nations of the New World had not a very remote origin. +Moreover, the languages of America have a great degree of regularity, +from which it seems probable that the tribes which employ them had not +undergone any great revolutions, or been incorporated voluntarily or +by constraint, with foreign nations. For it is generally the union of +several languages into one which produces grammatical irregularities. It +is not long since the American languages, especially those of the +North, first attracted the serious attention of philologists, when the +discovery was made that this idiom of a barbarous people was the product +of a complicated system of ideas and very learned combinations. These +languages were found to be very rich, and great pains had been taken +at their formation to render them agreeable to the ear. The grammatical +system of the Americans differs from all others in several points, but +especially in the following:--Some nations of Europe, amongst +others the Germans, have the power of combining at pleasure different +expressions, and thus giving a complex sense to certain words. The +Indians have given a most surprising extension to this power, so as to +arrive at the means of connecting a great number of ideas with a single +term. This will be easily understood with the help of an example quoted +by Mr. Duponceau, in the "Memoirs of the Philosophical Society of +America": A Delaware woman playing with a cat or a young dog, says +this writer, is heard to pronounce the word kuligatschis, which is thus +composed: k is the sign of the second person, and signifies "thou" or +"thy"; uli is a part of the word wulit, which signifies "beautiful," +"pretty"; gat is another fragment, of the word wichgat, which means +"paw"; and, lastly, schis is a diminutive giving the idea of smallness. +Thus in one word the Indian woman has expressed "Thy pretty little paw." +Take another example of the felicity with which the savages of America +have composed their words. A young man of Delaware is called pilape. +This word is formed from pilsit, "chaste," "innocent"; and lenape, +"man"; viz., "man in his purity and innocence." This facility of +combining words is most remarkable in the strange formation of their +verbs. The most complex action is often expressed by a single verb, +which serves to convey all the shades of an idea by the modification +of its construction. Those who may wish to examine more in detail this +subject, which I have only glanced at superficially, should read:-- + +1. The correspondence of Mr. Duponceau and the Rev. Mr. Hecwelder +relative to the Indian languages, which is to be found in the first +volume of the "Memoirs of the Philosophical Society of America," +published at Philadelphia, 1819, by Abraham Small; vol. i. p. 356-464. + +2. The "Grammar of the Delaware or the Lenape Language," by Geiberger, +and the preface of Mr. Duponceau. All these are in the same collection, +vol. iii. + +3. An excellent account of these works, which is at the end of the sixth +volume of the American Encyclopaedia. + + + + +Appendix D + +See in Charlevoix, vol. i. p. 235, the history of the first war which +the French inhabitants of Canada carried on, in 1610, against the +Iroquois. The latter, armed with bows and arrows, offered a desperate +resistance to the French and their allies. Charlevoix is not a great +painter, yet he exhibits clearly enough, in this narrative, the contrast +between the European manners and those of savages, as well as the +different way in which the two races of men understood the sense of +honor. When the French, says he, seized upon the beaver-skins which +covered the Indians who had fallen, the Hurons, their allies, were +greatly offended at this proceeding; but without hesitation they set +to work in their usual manner, inflicting horrid cruelties upon the +prisoners, and devouring one of those who had been killed, which +made the Frenchmen shudder. The barbarians prided themselves upon a +scrupulousness which they were surprised at not finding in our nation, +and could not understand that there was less to reprehend in the +stripping of dead bodies than in the devouring of their flesh like wild +beasts. Charlevoix, in another place (vol. i. p. 230), thus describes +the first torture of which Champlain was an eyewitness, and the return +of the Hurons into their own village. Having proceeded about eight +leagues, says he, our allies halted; and having singled out one of +their captives, they reproached him with all the cruelties which he +had practised upon the warriors of their nation who had fallen into his +hands, and told him that he might expect to be treated in like manner; +adding, that if he had any spirit he would prove it by singing. He +immediately chanted forth his death-song, and then his war-song, and all +the songs he knew, "but in a very mournful strain," says Champlain, who +was not then aware that all savage music has a melancholy character. The +tortures which succeeded, accompanied by all the horrors which we shall +mention hereafter, terrified the French, who made every effort to put a +stop to them, but in vain. The following night, one of the Hurons having +dreamt that they were pursued, the retreat was changed to a real flight, +and the savages never stopped until they were out of the reach of +danger. The moment they perceived the cabins of their own village, they +cut themselves long sticks, to which they fastened the scalps which had +fallen to their share, and carried them in triumph. At this sight, the +women swam to the canoes, where they received the bloody scalps from the +hands of their husbands, and tied them round their necks. The warriors +offered one of these horrible trophies to Champlain; they also presented +him with some bows and arrows--the only spoils of the Iroquois which +they had ventured to seize--entreating him to show them to the King +of France. Champlain lived a whole winter quite alone among these +barbarians, without being under any alarm for his person or property. + + + + +Appendix E + +Although the Puritanical strictness which presided over the +establishment of the English colonies in America is now much relaxed, +remarkable traces of it are still found in their habits and their laws. +In 1792, at the very time when the anti-Christian republic of France +began its ephemeral existence, the legislative body of Massachusetts +promulgated the following law, to compel the citizens to observe the +Sabbath. We give the preamble and the principal articles of this +law, which is worthy of the reader's attention: "Whereas," says the +legislator, "the observation of the Sunday is an affair of public +interest; inasmuch as it produces a necessary suspension of labor, leads +men to reflect upon the duties of life, and the errors to which human +nature is liable, and provides for the public and private worship of +God, the creator and governor of the universe, and for the performance +of such acts of charity as are the ornament and comfort of Christian +societies:--Whereas irreligious or light-minded persons, forgetting the +duties which the Sabbath imposes, and the benefits which these duties +confer on society, are known to profane its sanctity, by following their +pleasures or their affairs; this way of acting being contrary to their +own interest as Christians, and calculated to annoy those who do not +follow their example; being also of great injury to society at large, by +spreading a taste for dissipation and dissolute manners; Be it enacted +and ordained by the Governor, Council, and Representatives convened in +General Court of Assembly, that all and every person and persons shall +on that day carefully apply themselves to the duties of religion +and piety, that no tradesman or labourer shall exercise his ordinary +calling, and that no game or recreation shall be used on the Lord's Day, +upon pain of forfeiting ten shillings. + +"That no one shall travel on that day, or any part thereof, under pain +of forfeiting twenty shillings; that no vessel shall leave a harbour of +the colony; that no persons shall keep outside the meeting-house during +the time of public worship, or profane the time by playing or talking, +on penalty of five shillings. + +"Public-houses shall not entertain any other than strangers or lodgers, +under penalty of five shillings for every person found drinking and +abiding therein. + +"Any person in health, who, without sufficient reason, shall omit to +worship God in public during three months, shall be condemned to a fine +of ten shillings. + +"Any person guilty of misbehaviour in a place of public worship, shall +be fined from five to forty shillings. + +"These laws are to be enforced by the tything-men of each township, who +have authority to visit public-houses on the Sunday. The innkeeper who +shall refuse them admittance, shall be fined forty shillings for such +offence. + +"The tything-men are to stop travellers, and require of them their +reason for being on the road on Sunday; anyone refusing to answer, shall +be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding five pounds sterling. If +the reason given by the traveller be not deemed by the tything-man +sufficient, he may bring the traveller before the justice of the peace +of the district." (Law of March 8, 1792; General Laws of Massachusetts, +vol. i. p. 410.) + +On March 11, 1797, a new law increased the amount of fines, half of +which was to be given to the informer. (Same collection, vol. ii. p. +525.) On February 16, 1816, a new law confirmed these same measures. +(Same collection, vol. ii. p. 405.) Similar enactments exist in the +laws of the State of New York, revised in 1827 and 1828. (See Revised +Statutes, Part I. chapter 20, p. 675.) In these it is declared that no +one is allowed on the Sabbath to sport, to fish, to play at games, or to +frequent houses where liquor is sold. No one can travel, except in +case of necessity. And this is not the only trace which the religious +strictness and austere manners of the first emigrants have left behind +them in the American laws. In the Revised Statutes of the State of New +York, vol. i. p. 662, is the following clause:-- + +"Whoever shall win or lose in the space of twenty-four hours, by gaming +or betting, the sum of twenty-five dollars, shall be found guilty of a +misdemeanour, and upon conviction shall be condemned to pay a fine equal +to at least five times the value of the sum lost or won; which shall +be paid to the inspector of the poor of the township. He that loses +twenty-five dollars or more may bring an action to recover them; and if +he neglects to do so the inspector of the poor may prosecute the winner, +and oblige him to pay into the poor's box both the sum he has gained and +three times as much besides." + +The laws we quote from are of recent date; but they are unintelligible +without going back to the very origin of the colonies. I have no doubt +that in our days the penal part of these laws is very rarely applied. +Laws preserve their inflexibility, long after the manners of a nation +have yielded to the influence of time. It is still true, however, that +nothing strikes a foreigner on his arrival in America more forcibly +than the regard paid to the Sabbath. There is one, in particular, of +the large American cities, in which all social movements begin to be +suspended even on Saturday evening. You traverse its streets at the hour +at which you expect men in the middle of life to be engaged in business, +and young people in pleasure; and you meet with solitude and silence. +Not only have all ceased to work, but they appear to have ceased to +exist. Neither the movements of industry are heard, nor the accents of +joy, nor even the confused murmur which arises from the midst of a great +city. Chains are hung across the streets in the neighborhood of the +churches; the half-closed shutters of the houses scarcely admit a ray +of sun into the dwellings of the citizens. Now and then you perceive a +solitary individual who glides silently along the deserted streets and +lanes. Next day, at early dawn, the rolling of carriages, the noise of +hammers, the cries of the population, begin to make themselves heard +again. The city is awake. An eager crowd hastens towards the resort of +commerce and industry; everything around you bespeaks motion, bustle, +hurry. A feverish activity succeeds to the lethargic stupor of +yesterday; you might almost suppose that they had but one day to acquire +wealth and to enjoy it. + + + + +Appendix F + +It is unnecessary for me to say, that in the chapter which has just been +read, I have not had the intention of giving a history of America. My +only object was to enable the reader to appreciate the influence which +the opinions and manners of the first emigrants had exercised upon the +fate of the different colonies, and of the Union in general. I have +therefore confined myself to the quotation of a few detached fragments. +I do not know whether I am deceived, but it appears to me that, by +pursuing the path which I have merely pointed out, it would be easy to +present such pictures of the American republics as would not be unworthy +the attention of the public, and could not fail to suggest to the +statesman matter for reflection. Not being able to devote myself to this +labor, I am anxious to render it easy to others; and, for this purpose, +I subjoin a short catalogue and analysis of the works which seem to me +the most important to consult. + +At the head of the general documents which it would be advantageous to +examine I place the work entitled "An Historical Collection of State +Papers, and other authentic Documents, intended as Materials for a +History of the United States of America," by Ebenezer Hasard. The first +volume of this compilation, which was printed at Philadelphia in 1792, +contains a literal copy of all the charters granted by the Crown of +England to the emigrants, as well as the principal acts of the colonial +governments, during the commencement of their existence. Amongst other +authentic documents, we here find a great many relating to the affairs +of New England and Virginia during this period. The second volume is +almost entirely devoted to the acts of the Confederation of 1643. This +federal compact, which was entered into by the colonies of New England +with the view of resisting the Indians, was the first instance of +union afforded by the Anglo-Americans. There were besides many other +confederations of the same nature, before the famous one of 1776, which +brought about the independence of the colonies. + +Each colony has, besides, its own historic monuments, some of which are +extremely curious; beginning with Virginia, the State which was first +peopled. The earliest historian of Virginia was its founder, Captain +John Smith. Captain Smith has left us an octavo volume, entitled "The +generall Historie of Virginia and New England, by Captain John Smith, +sometymes Governor in those Countryes, and Admirall of New England"; +printed at London in 1627. The work is adorned with curious maps and +engravings of the time when it appeared; the narrative extends from the +year 1584 to 1626. Smith's work is highly and deservedly esteemed. +The author was one of the most celebrated adventurers of a period of +remarkable adventure; his book breathes that ardor for discovery, that +spirit of enterprise, which characterized the men of his time, when +the manners of chivalry were united to zeal for commerce, and made +subservient to the acquisition of wealth. But Captain Smith is +most remarkable for uniting to the virtues which characterized his +contemporaries several qualities to which they were generally strangers; +his style is simple and concise, his narratives bear the stamp of truth, +and his descriptions are free from false ornament. This author throws +most valuable light upon the state and condition of the Indians at the +time when North America was first discovered. + +The second historian to consult is Beverley, who commences his narrative +with the year 1585, and ends it with 1700. The first part of his book +contains historical documents, properly so called, relative to the +infancy of the colony. The second affords a most curious picture of the +state of the Indians at this remote period. The third conveys very clear +ideas concerning the manners, social conditions, laws, and political +customs of the Virginians in the author's lifetime. Beverley was a +native of Virginia, which occasions him to say at the beginning of +his book, that he entreats his readers not to exercise their critical +severity upon it, since, having been born in the Indies, he does not +aspire to purity of language. Notwithstanding this colonial modesty, the +author shows throughout his book the impatience with which he endures +the supremacy of the mother-country. In this work of Beverley are also +found numerous traces of that spirit of civil liberty which animated the +English colonies of America at the time when he wrote. He also shows the +dissensions which existed among them, and retarded their independence. +Beverley detests his Catholic neighbors of Maryland even more than +he hates the English government: his style is simple, his narrative +interesting, and apparently trustworthy. + +I saw in America another work which ought to be consulted, entitled "The +History of Virginia," by William Stith. This book affords some curious +details, but I thought it long and diffuse. The most ancient as well as +the best document to be consulted on the history of Carolina, is a work +in small quarto, entitled "The History of Carolina," by John Lawson, +printed at London in 1718. This work contains, in the first part, a +journey of discovery in the west of Carolina; the account of which, +given in the form of a journal, is in general confused and superficial; +but it contains a very striking description of the mortality caused +among the savages of that time both by the smallpox and the immoderate +use of brandy; with a curious picture of the corruption of manners +prevalent amongst them, which was increased by the presence of +Europeans. The second part of Lawson's book is taken up with a +description of the physical condition of Carolina, and its productions. +In the third part, the author gives an interesting account of the +manners, customs, and government of the Indians at that period. There is +a good deal of talent and originality in this part of the work. +Lawson concludes his history with a copy of the charter granted to the +Carolinas in the reign of Charles II. The general tone of this work is +light, and often licentious, forming a perfect contrast to the solemn +style of the works published at the same period in New England. Lawson's +history is extremely scarce in America, and cannot be procured in +Europe. There is, however, a copy of it in the Royal Library at Paris. + +From the southern extremity of the United States, I pass at once to the +northern limit; as the intermediate space was not peopled till a later +period. I must first point out a very curious compilation, entitled +"Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society," printed for the +first time at Boston in 1792, and reprinted in 1806. The collection of +which I speak, and which is continued to the present day, contains a +great number of very valuable documents relating to the history of the +different States in New England. Among them are letters which have never +been published, and authentic pieces which had been buried in provincial +archives. The whole work of Gookin, concerning the Indians, is inserted +there. + +I have mentioned several times in the chapter to which this note +relates, the work of Nathaniel Norton entitled "New England's Memorial"; +sufficiently, perhaps, to prove that it deserves the attention of those +who would be conversant with the history of New England. This book is in +octavo, and was reprinted at Boston in 1826. + +The most valuable and important authority which exists upon the +history of New England, is the work of the Rev. Cotton Mather, entitled +"Magnalia Christi Americana, or the Ecclesiastical History of New +England, 1620-1698, 2 vols. 8vo, reprinted at Hartford, United States, +in 1820." *b The author divided his work into seven books. The first +presents the history of the events which prepared and brought about the +establishment of New England. The second contains the lives of the first +governors and chief magistrates who presided over the country. The third +is devoted to the lives and labors of the evangelical ministers who, +during the same period, had the care of souls. In the fourth the author +relates the institution and progress of the University of Cambridge +(Massachusetts). In the fifth he describes the principles and the +discipline of the Church of New England. The sixth is taken up in +retracing certain facts, which, in the opinion of Mather, prove the +merciful interposition of Providence in behalf of the inhabitants of +New England. Lastly, in the seventh, the author gives an account of +the heresies and the troubles to which the Church of New England was +exposed. Cotton Mather was an evangelical minister who was born at +Boston, and passed his life there. His narratives are distinguished by +the same ardor and religious zeal which led to the foundation of the +colonies of New England. Traces of bad taste sometimes occur in his +manner of writing; but he interests, because he is full of enthusiasm. +He is often intolerant, still oftener credulous, but he never betrays +an intention to deceive. Sometimes his book contains fine passages, and +true and profound reflections, such as the following:-- + +"Before the arrival of the Puritans," says he (vol. i. chap. iv.), +"there were more than a few attempts of the English to people and +improve the parts of New England which were to the northward of New +Plymouth; but the designs of those attempts being aimed no higher +than the advancement of some worldly interests, a constant series of +disasters has confounded them, until there was a plantation erected upon +the nobler designs of Christianity: and that plantation though it +has had more adversaries than perhaps any one upon earth, yet, having +obtained help from God, it continues to this day." Mather occasionally +relieves the austerity of his descriptions with images full of tender +feeling: after having spoken of an English lady whose religious ardor +had brought her to America with her husband, and who soon after sank +under the fatigues and privations of exile, he adds, "As for her +virtuous husband, Isaac Johnson, + + He tryed + To live without her, liked it not, and dyed." + +[Footnote b: A folio edition of this work was published in London in +1702.] + +Mather's work gives an admirable picture of the time and country which +he describes. In his account of the motives which led the Puritans to +seek an asylum beyond seas, he says:--"The God of Heaven served, as it +were, a summons upon the spirits of his people in the English nation, +stirring up the spirits of thousands which never saw the faces of each +other, with a most unanimous inclination to leave all the pleasant +accommodations of their native country, and go over a terrible +ocean, into a more terrible desert, for the pure enjoyment of all his +ordinances. It is now reasonable that, before we pass any further, +the reasons of his undertaking should be more exactly made known +unto posterity, especially unto the posterity of those that were the +undertakers, lest they come at length to forget and neglect the true +interest of New England. Wherefore I shall now transcribe some of them +from a manuscript, wherein they were then tendered unto consideration: + +"General Considerations for the Plantation of New England + +"First, It will be a service unto the Church of great consequence, to +carry the Gospel unto those parts of the world, and raise a bulwark +against the kingdom of Antichrist, which the Jesuits labour to rear up +in all parts of the world. + +"Secondly, All other Churches of Europe have been brought under +desolations; and it may be feared that the like judgments are coming +upon us; and who knows but God hath provided this place to be a refuge +for many whom he means to save out of the general destruction? + +"Thirdly, The land grows weary of her inhabitants, insomuch that man, +which is the most precious of all creatures, is here more vile and +base than the earth he treads upon; children, neighbours, and friends, +especially the poor, are counted the greatest burdens, which, if things +were right, would be the chiefest of earthly blessings. + +"Fourthly, We are grown to that intemperance in all excess of riot, as +no mean estate almost will suffice a man to keep sail with his equals, +and he that fails in it must live in scorn and contempt: hence it comes +to pass, that all arts and trades are carried in that deceitful manner +and unrighteous course, as it is almost impossible for a good upright +man to maintain his constant charge and live comfortably in them. + +"Fifthly, The schools of learning and religion are so corrupted, as +(besides the unsupportable charge of education) most children, even the +best, wittiest, and of the fairest hopes, are perverted, corrupted, +and utterly overthrown by the multitude of evil examples and licentious +behaviours in these seminaries. + +"Sixthly, The whole earth is the Lord's garden, and he hath given it to +the sons of Adam, to be tilled and improved by them: why, then, should +we stand starving here for places of habitation, and in the meantime +suffer whole countries, as profitable for the use of man, to lie waste +without any improvement? + +"Seventhly, What can be a better or nobler work, and more worthy of a +Christian, than to erect and support a reformed particular Church in its +infancy, and unite our forces with such a company of faithful people, as +by timely assistance may grow stronger and prosper; but for want of it, +may be put to great hazards, if not be wholly ruined? + +"Eighthly, If any such as are known to be godly, and live in wealth +and prosperity here, shall forsake all this to join with this reformed +Church, and with it run the hazard of an hard and mean condition, it +will be an example of great use, both for the removing of scandal and to +give more life unto the faith of God's people in their prayers for the +plantation, and also to encourage others to join the more willingly in +it." + +Further on, when he declares the principles of the Church of New England +with respect to morals, Mather inveighs with violence against the +custom of drinking healths at table, which he denounces as a pagan and +abominable practice. He proscribes with the same rigor all ornaments for +the hair used by the female sex, as well as their custom of having the +arms and neck uncovered. In another part of his work he relates several +instances of witchcraft which had alarmed New England. It is plain that +the visible action of the devil in the affairs of this world appeared to +him an incontestable and evident fact. + +This work of Cotton Mather displays, in many places, the spirit of civil +liberty and political independence which characterized the times in +which he lived. Their principles respecting government are discoverable +at every page. Thus, for instance, the inhabitants of Massachusetts, in +the year 1630, ten years after the foundation of Plymouth, are found to +have devoted Pound 400 sterling to the establishment of the University +of Cambridge. In passing from the general documents relative to the +history of New England to those which describe the several States +comprised within its limits, I ought first to notice "The History of +the Colony of Massachusetts," by Hutchinson, Lieutenant-Governor of the +Massachusetts Province, 2 vols. 8vo. The history of Hutchinson, which +I have several times quoted in the chapter to which this note relates, +commences in the year 1628, and ends in 1750. Throughout the work there +is a striking air of truth and the greatest simplicity of style: it +is full of minute details. The best history to consult concerning +Connecticut is that of Benjamin Trumbull, entitled "A Complete History +of Connecticut, Civil and Ecclesiastical," 1630-1764, 2 vols. 8vo, +printed in 1818 at New Haven. This history contains a clear and calm +account of all the events which happened in Connecticut during the +period given in the title. The author drew from the best sources, and +his narrative bears the stamp of truth. All that he says of the +early days of Connecticut is extremely curious. See especially the +Constitution of 1639, vol. i. ch. vi. p. 100; and also the Penal Laws of +Connecticut, vol. i. ch. vii. p. 123. + +"The History of New Hampshire," by Jeremy Belknap, is a work held in +merited estimation. It was printed at Boston in 1792, in 2 vols. +8vo. The third chapter of the first volume is particularly worthy of +attention for the valuable details it affords on the political and +religious principles of the Puritans, on the causes of their emigration, +and on their laws. The following curious quotation is given from a +sermon delivered in 1663:--"It concerneth New England always to remember +that they are a plantation religious, not a plantation of trade. The +profession of the purity of doctrine, worship, and discipline, is +written upon her forehead. Let merchants, and such as are increasing +cent. per cent., remember this, that worldly gain was not the end and +design of the people of New England, but religion. And if any man among +us make religion as twelve, and the world as thirteen, such an one hath +not the spirit of a true New Englishman." The reader of Belknap will +find in his work more general ideas, and more strength of thought, than +are to be met with in the American historians even to the present day. + +Among the Central States which deserve our attention for their remote +origin, New York and Pennsylvania are the foremost. The best history +we have of the former is entitled "A History of New York," by William +Smith, printed at London in 1757. Smith gives us important details of +the wars between the French and English in America. His is the best +account of the famous confederation of the Iroquois. + +With respect to Pennsylvania, I cannot do better than point out the +work of Proud, entitled "The History of Pennsylvania, from the original +Institution and Settlement of that Province, under the first Proprietor +and Governor, William Penn, in 1681, till after the year 1742," by +Robert Proud, 2 vols. 8vo, printed at Philadelphia in 1797. This work is +deserving of the especial attention of the reader; it contains a mass of +curious documents concerning Penn, the doctrine of the Quakers, and +the character, manners, and customs of the first inhabitants of +Pennsylvania. I need not add that among the most important documents +relating to this State are the works of Penn himself, and those of +Franklin. + + + + +Part II. + + + + +Appendix G + +We read in Jefferson's "Memoirs" as follows:-- + +"At the time of the first settlement of the English in Virginia, when +land was to be had for little or nothing, some provident persons having +obtained large grants of it, and being desirous of maintaining +the splendor of their families, entailed their property upon their +descendants. The transmission of these estates from generation to +generation, to men who bore the same name, had the effect of raising up +a distinct class of families, who, possessing by law the privilege of +perpetuating their wealth, formed by these means a sort of patrician +order, distinguished by the grandeur and luxury of their establishments. +From this order it was that the King usually chose his councillors of +state." *c + +[Footnote c: This passage is extracted and translated from M. Conseil's +work upon the life of Jefferson, entitled "Melanges Politiques et +Philosophiques de Jefferson."] + +In the United States, the principal clauses of the English law +respecting descent have been universally rejected. The first rule that +we follow, says Mr. Kent, touching inheritance, is the following:--If a +man dies intestate, his property goes to his heirs in a direct line. +If he has but one heir or heiress, he or she succeeds to the whole. If +there are several heirs of the same degree, they divide the inheritance +equally amongst them, without distinction of sex. This rule was +prescribed for the first time in the State of New York by a statute of +February 23, 1786. (See Revised Statutes, vol. iii. Appendix, p. 48.) It +has since then been adopted in the Revised Statutes of the same State. +At the present day this law holds good throughout the whole of the +United States, with the exception of the State of Vermont, where the +male heir inherits a double portion. (Kent's "Commentaries," vol. iv. p. +370.) Mr. Kent, in the same work, vol. iv. p. 1-22, gives a historical +account of American legislation on the subject of entail: by this +we learn that, previous to the Revolution, the colonies followed the +English law of entail. Estates tail were abolished in Virginia in 1776, +on a motion of Mr. Jefferson. They were suppressed in New York in 1786, +and have since been abolished in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, +Georgia, and Missouri. In Vermont, Indiana, Illinois, South Carolina, +and Louisiana, entail was never introduced. Those States which thought +proper to preserve the English law of entail, modified it in such a +way as to deprive it of its most aristocratic tendencies. "Our general +principles on the subject of government," says Mr. Kent, "tend to favor +the free circulation of property." + +It cannot fail to strike the French reader who studies the law +of inheritance, that on these questions the French legislation is +infinitely more democratic even than the American. The American law +makes an equal division of the father's property, but only in the case +of his will not being known; "for every man," says the law, "in the +State of New York (Revised Statutes, vol. iii. Appendix, p. 51), has +entire liberty, power, and authority, to dispose of his property by +will, to leave it entire, or divided in favor of any persons he chooses +as his heirs, provided he do not leave it to a political body or any +corporation." The French law obliges the testator to divide his property +equally, or nearly so, among his heirs. Most of the American republics +still admit of entails, under certain restrictions; but the French law +prohibits entail in all cases. If the social condition of the Americans +is more democratic than that of the French, the laws of the latter are +the most democratic of the two. This may be explained more easily than +at first appears to be the case. In France, democracy is still occupied +in the work of destruction; in America, it reigns quietly over the ruins +it has made. + + + + +Appendix H + +Summary Of The Qualifications Of Voters In The United States As They +Existed In 1832 + +All the States agree in granting the right of voting at the age of +twenty-one. In all of them it is necessary to have resided for a certain +time in the district where the vote is given. This period varies from +three months to two years. + +As to the qualification: in the State of Massachusetts it is necessary +to have an income of Pound 3 or a capital of Pound 60. In Rhode Island, +a man must possess landed property to the amount of $133. + +In Connecticut, he must have a property which gives an income of $17. A +year of service in the militia also gives the elective privilege. + +In New Jersey, an elector must have a property of Pound 50 a year. + +In South Carolina and Maryland, the elector must possess fifty acres of +land. + +In Tennessee, he must possess some property. + +In the States of Mississippi, Ohio, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, +Delaware, New York, the only necessary qualification for voting is that +of paying the taxes; and in most of the States, to serve in the militia +is equivalent to the payment of taxes. In Maine and New Hampshire any +man can vote who is not on the pauper list. + +Lastly, in the States of Missouri, Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana, +Indiana, Kentucky, and Vermont, the conditions of voting have no +reference to the property of the elector. + +I believe there is no other State besides that of North Carolina in +which different conditions are applied to the voting for the Senate and +the electing the House of Representatives. The electors of the former, +in this case, should possess in property fifty acres of land; to vote +for the latter, nothing more is required than to pay taxes. + + + + +Appendix I + +The small number of custom-house officers employed in the United States, +compared with the extent of the coast, renders smuggling very easy; +notwithstanding which, it is less practised than elsewhere, because +everybody endeavors to repress it. In America there is no police for +the prevention of fires, and such accidents are more frequent than in +Europe; but in general they are more speedily extinguished, because the +surrounding population is prompt in lending assistance. + + + + +Appendix K + +It is incorrect to assert that centralization was produced by the French +Revolution; the revolution brought it to perfection, but did not create +it. The mania for centralization and government regulations dates from +the time when jurists began to take a share in the government, in the +time of Philippele-Bel; ever since which period they have been on the +increase. In the year 1775, M. de Malesherbes, speaking in the name of +the Cour des Aides, said to Louis XIV:-- *d + +[Footnote d: See "Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire du Droit Public de +la France en matiere d'impots," p. 654, printed at Brussels in 1779.] + +". . . Every corporation and every community of citizens retained the +right of administering its own affairs; a right which not only forms +part of the primitive constitution of the kingdom, but has a +still higher origin; for it is the right of nature, and of reason. +Nevertheless, your subjects, Sire, have been deprived of it; and we +cannot refrain from saying that in this respect your government has +fallen into puerile extremes. From the time when powerful ministers +made it a political principle to prevent the convocation of a national +assembly, one consequence has succeeded another, until the deliberations +of the inhabitants of a village are declared null when they have not +been authorized by the Intendant. Of course, if the community has an +expensive undertaking to carry through, it must remain under the control +of the sub-delegate of the Intendant, and, consequently, follow the +plan he proposes, employ his favorite workmen, pay them according to his +pleasure; and if an action at law is deemed necessary, the Intendant's +permission must be obtained. The cause must be pleaded before this first +tribunal, previous to its being carried into a public court; and if the +opinion of the Intendant is opposed to that of the inhabitants, or if +their adversary enjoys his favor, the community is deprived of the +power of defending its rights. Such are the means, Sire, which have been +exerted to extinguish the municipal spirit in France; and to stifle, if +possible, the opinions of the citizens. The nation may be said to lie +under an interdict, and to be in wardship under guardians." What could +be said more to the purpose at the present day, when the Revolution has +achieved what are called its victories in centralization? + +In 1789, Jefferson wrote from Paris to one of his friends:--"There is +no country where the mania for over-governing has taken deeper root than +in France, or been the source of greater mischief." (Letter to Madison, +August 28, 1789.) The fact is, that for several centuries past the +central power of France has done everything it could to extend central +administration; it has acknowledged no other limits than its own +strength. The central power to which the Revolution gave birth made more +rapid advances than any of its predecessors, because it was stronger +and wiser than they had been; Louis XIV committed the welfare of such +communities to the caprice of an intendant; Napoleon left them to +that of the Minister. The same principle governed both, though its +consequences were more or less remote. + + + + +Appendix L + +The immutability of the constitution of France is a necessary +consequence of the laws of that country. To begin with the most +important of all the laws, that which decides the order of succession to +the throne; what can be more immutable in its principle than a political +order founded upon the natural succession of father to son? In 1814, +Louis XVIII had established the perpetual law of hereditary succession +in favor of his own family. The individuals who regulated the +consequences of the Revolution of 1830 followed his example; they merely +established the perpetuity of the law in favor of another family. In +this respect they imitated the Chancellor Meaupou, who, when he erected +the new Parliament upon the ruins of the old, took care to declare in +the same ordinance that the rights of the new magistrates should be as +inalienable as those of their predecessors had been. The laws of 1830, +like those of 1814, point out no way of changing the constitution: and +it is evident that the ordinary means of legislation are insufficient +for this purpose. As the King, the Peers, and the Deputies, all derive +their authority from the constitution, these three powers united cannot +alter a law by virtue of which alone they govern. Out of the pale of the +constitution they are nothing: where, when, could they take their stand +to effect a change in its provisions? The alternative is clear: either +their efforts are powerless against the charter, which continues to +exist in spite of them, in which case they only reign in the name of the +charter; or they succeed in changing the charter, and then, the law by +which they existed being annulled, they themselves cease to exist. +By destroying the charter, they destroy themselves. This is much more +evident in the laws of 1830 than in those of 1814. In 1814, the royal +prerogative took its stand above and beyond the constitution; but in +1830, it was avowedly created by, and dependent on, the constitution. A +part, therefore, of the French constitution is immutable, because it is +united to the destiny of a family; and the body of the constitution is +equally immutable, because there appear to be no legal means of changing +it. These remarks are not applicable to England. That country having no +written constitution, who can assert when its constitution is changed? + + + + +Appendix M + +The most esteemed authors who have written upon the English Constitution +agree with each other in establishing the omnipotence of the Parliament. +Delolme says: "It is a fundamental principle with the English lawyers, +that Parliament can do everything except making a woman a man, or a +man a woman." Blackstone expresses himself more in detail, if not more +energetically, than Delolme, in the following terms:--"The power and +jurisdiction of Parliament, says Sir Edward Coke (4 Inst. 36), 'is so +transcendent and absolute that it cannot be confined, either for causes +or persons, within any bounds.' And of this High Court, he adds, may be +truly said, 'Si antiquitatem spectes, est vetustissima; si dignitatem, +est honoratissima; si jurisdictionem, est capacissima.' It hath +sovereign and uncontrollable authority in the making, confirming, +enlarging, restraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and +expounding of laws, concerning matters of all possible denominations; +ecclesiastical or temporal; civil, military, maritime, or criminal; this +being the place where that absolute despotic power which must, in all +governments, reside somewhere, is intrusted by the constitution of these +kingdoms. All mischiefs and grievances, operations and remedies, that +transcend the ordinary course of the laws, are within the reach of this +extraordinary tribunal. It can regulate or new-model the succession to +the Crown; as was done in the reign of Henry VIII and William III. It +can alter the established religion of the land; as was done in a variety +of instances in the reigns of King Henry VIII and his three children. It +can change and create afresh even the constitution of the kingdom, +and of parliaments themselves; as was done by the Act of Union and the +several statutes for triennial and septennial elections. It can, in +short, do everything that is not naturally impossible to be done; and, +therefore some have not scrupled to call its power, by a figure rather +too bold, the omnipotence of Parliament." + + + + +Appendix N + +There is no question upon which the American constitutions agree more +fully than upon that of political jurisdiction. All the constitutions +which take cognizance of this matter, give to the House of Delegates the +exclusive right of impeachment; excepting only the constitution of North +Carolina, which grants the same privilege to grand juries. (Article 23.) +Almost all the constitutions give the exclusive right of pronouncing +sentence to the Senate, or to the Assembly which occupies its place. + +The only punishments which the political tribunals can inflict are +removal, or the interdiction of public functions for the future. There +is no other constitution but that of Virginia (p. 152), which enables +them to inflict every kind of punishment. The crimes which are subject +to political jurisdiction are, in the federal constitution (Section 4, +Art. 1); in that of Indiana (Art. 3, paragraphs 23 and 24); of New York +(Art. 5); of Delaware (Art. 5), high treason, bribery, and other high +crimes or offences. In the Constitution of Massachusetts (Chap. I, +Section 2); that of North Carolina (Art. 23); of Virginia (p. 252), +misconduct and maladministration. In the constitution of New Hampshire +(p. 105), corruption, intrigue, and maladministration. In Vermont (Chap. +2, Art. 24), maladministration. In South Carolina (Art. 5); Kentucky +(Art. 5); Tennessee (Art. 4); Ohio (Art. 1, 23, 24); Louisiana (Art. +5); Mississippi (Art. 5); Alabama (Art. 6); Pennsylvania (Art. 4), +crimes committed in the non-performance of official duties. In the +States of Illinois, Georgia, Maine, and Connecticut, no particular +offences are specified. + + + + +Appendix O + +It is true that the powers of Europe may carry on maritime wars with +the Union; but there is always greater facility and less danger in +supporting a maritime than a continental war. Maritime warfare only +requires one species of effort. A commercial people which consents to +furnish its government with the necessary funds, is sure to possess a +fleet. And it is far easier to induce a nation to part with its money, +almost unconsciously, than to reconcile it to sacrifices of men and +personal efforts. Moreover, defeat by sea rarely compromises the +existence or independence of the people which endures it. As for +continental wars, it is evident that the nations of Europe cannot be +formidable in this way to the American Union. It would be very difficult +to transport and maintain in America more than 25,000 soldiers; an army +which may be considered to represent a nation of about 2,000,000 of men. +The most populous nation of Europe contending in this way against the +Union, is in the position of a nation of 2,000,000 of inhabitants at war +with one of 12,000,000. Add to this, that America has all its resources +within reach, whilst the European is at 4,000 miles distance from his; +and that the immensity of the American continent would of itself present +an insurmountable obstacle to its conquest. + + + + +Appendix P + +The first American journal appeared in April, 1704, and was published +at Boston. See "Collection of the Historical Society of Massachusetts," +vol. vi. p. 66. It would be a mistake to suppose that the periodical +press has always been entirely free in the American colonies: an +attempt was made to establish something analogous to a censorship and +preliminary security. Consult the Legislative Documents of Massachusetts +of January 14, 1722. The Committee appointed by the General Assembly +(the legislative body of the province) for the purpose of examining into +circumstances connected with a paper entitled "The New England Courier," +expresses its opinion that "the tendency of the said journal is to turn +religion into derision and bring it into contempt; that it mentions +the sacred writers in a profane and irreligious manner; that it puts +malicious interpretations upon the conduct of the ministers of the +Gospel; and that the Government of his Majesty is insulted, and the +peace and tranquillity of the province disturbed by the said journal. +The Committee is consequently of opinion that the printer and publisher, +James Franklin, should be forbidden to print and publish the said +journal or any other work in future, without having previously submitted +it to the Secretary of the province; and that the justices of the peace +for the county of Suffolk should be commissioned to require bail of the +said James Franklin for his good conduct during the ensuing year." The +suggestion of the Committee was adopted and passed into a law, but the +effect of it was null, for the journal eluded the prohibition by putting +the name of Benjamin Franklin instead of James Franklin at the bottom of +its columns, and this manoeuvre was supported by public opinion. + + + + +Appendix Q + +The Federal Constitution has introduced the jury into the tribunals of +the Union in the same way as the States had introduced it into their own +several courts; but as it has not established any fixed rules for the +choice of jurors, the federal courts select them from the ordinary jury +list which each State makes for itself. The laws of the States must +therefore be examined for the theory of the formation of juries. +See Story's "Commentaries on the Constitution," B. iii. chap. 38, p. +654-659; Sergeant's "Constitutional Law," p. 165. See also the Federal +Laws of the years 1789, 1800, and 1802, upon the subject. For the +purpose of thoroughly understanding the American principles with respect +to the formation of juries, I examined the laws of States at a distance +from one another, and the following observations were the result of +my inquiries. In America, all the citizens who exercise the elective +franchise have the right of serving upon a jury. The great State of New +York, however, has made a slight difference between the two privileges, +but in a spirit quite contrary to that of the laws of France; for in the +State of New York there are fewer persons eligible as jurymen than there +are electors. It may be said in general that the right of forming part +of a jury, like the right of electing representatives, is open to +all the citizens: the exercise of this right, however, is not put +indiscriminately into any hands. Every year a body of municipal or +county magistrates--called "selectmen" in New England, "supervisors" +in New York, "trustees" in Ohio, and "sheriffs of the parish" in +Louisiana--choose for each county a certain number of citizens who have +the right of serving as jurymen, and who are supposed to be capable +of exercising their functions. These magistrates, being themselves +elective, excite no distrust; their powers, like those of most +republican magistrates, are very extensive and very arbitrary, and they +frequently make use of them to remove unworthy or incompetent jurymen. +The names of the jurymen thus chosen are transmitted to the County +Court; and the jury who have to decide any affair are drawn by lot from +the whole list of names. The Americans have contrived in every way to +make the common people eligible to the jury, and to render the service +as little onerous as possible. The sessions are held in the chief town +of every county, and the jury are indemnified for their attendance +either by the State or the parties concerned. They receive in general a +dollar per day, besides their travelling expenses. In America, the being +placed upon the jury is looked upon as a burden, but it is a burden +which is very supportable. See Brevard's "Digest of the Public Statute +Law of South Carolina," vol. i. pp. 446 and 454, vol. ii. pp. 218 +and 338; "The General Laws of Massachusetts, revised and published by +authority of the Legislature," vol. ii. pp. 187 and 331; "The Revised +Statutes of the State of New York," vol. ii. pp. 411, 643, 717, 720; +"The Statute Law of the State of Tennessee," vol. i. p. 209; "Acts of +the State of Ohio," pp. 95 and 210; and "Digeste general des Actes de la +Legislature de la Louisiane." + + + + +Appendix R + +If we attentively examine the constitution of the jury as introduced +into civil proceedings in England, we shall readily perceive that the +jurors are under the immediate control of the judge. It is true that the +verdict of the jury, in civil as well as in criminal cases, comprises +the question of fact and the question of right in the same reply; +thus--a house is claimed by Peter as having been purchased by him: this +is the fact to be decided. The defendant puts in a plea of incompetency +on the part of the vendor: this is the legal question to be resolved. +But the jury do not enjoy the same character of infallibility in civil +cases, according to the practice of the English courts, as they do in +criminal cases. The judge may refuse to receive the verdict; and even +after the first trial has taken place, a second or new trial may be +awarded by the Court. See Blackstone's "Commentaries," book iii. ch. 24. + + + + +Appendix S + +I find in my travelling journal a passage which may serve to convey a +more complete notion of the trials to which the women of America, who +consent to follow their husbands into the wilds, are often subjected. +This description has nothing to recommend it to the reader but its +strict accuracy: + +". . . From time to time we come to fresh clearings; all these places +are alike; I shall describe the one at which we have halted to-night, +for it will serve to remind me of all the others. + +"The bell which the pioneers hang round the necks of their cattle, +in order to find them again in the woods, announced our approach to a +clearing, when we were yet a long way off; and we soon afterwards heard +the stroke of the hatchet, hewing down the trees of the forest. As we +came nearer, traces of destruction marked the presence of civilized +man; the road was strewn with shattered boughs; trunks of trees, half +consumed by fire, or cleft by the wedge, were still standing in the +track we were following. We continued to proceed till we reached a wood +in which all the trees seemed to have been suddenly struck dead; in the +height of summer their boughs were as leafless as in winter; and upon +closer examination we found that a deep circle had been cut round the +bark, which, by stopping the circulation of the sap, soon kills the +tree. We were informed that this is commonly the first thing a pioneer +does; as he cannot in the first year cut down all the trees which cover +his new parcel of land, he sows Indian corn under their branches, and +puts the trees to death in order to prevent them from injuring his crop. +Beyond this field, at present imperfectly traced out, we suddenly came +upon the cabin of its owner, situated in the centre of a plot of ground +more carefully cultivated than the rest, but where man was still waging +unequal warfare with the forest; there the trees were cut down, but +their roots were not removed, and the trunks still encumbered the ground +which they so recently shaded. Around these dry blocks, wheat, suckers +of trees, and plants of every kind, grow and intertwine in all the +luxuriance of wild, untutored nature. Amidst this vigorous and various +vegetation stands the house of the pioneer, or, as they call it, the +log house. Like the ground about it, this rustic dwelling bore marks of +recent and hasty labor; its length seemed not to exceed thirty feet, +its height fifteen; the walls as well as the roof were formed of rough +trunks of trees, between which a little moss and clay had been inserted +to keep out the cold and rain. + +"As night was coming on, we determined to ask the master of the log +house for a lodging. At the sound of our footsteps, the children who +were playing amongst the scattered branches sprang up and ran towards +the house, as if they were frightened at the sight of man; whilst two +large dogs, almost wild, with ears erect and outstretched nose, came +growling out of their hut, to cover the retreat of their young masters. +The pioneer himself made his appearance at the door of his dwelling; +he looked at us with a rapid and inquisitive glance, made a sign to the +dogs to go into the house, and set them the example, without betraying +either curiosity or apprehension at our arrival. + +"We entered the log house: the inside is quite unlike that of +the cottages of the peasantry of Europe: it contains more than is +superfluous, less than is necessary. A single window with a muslin +blind; on a hearth of trodden clay an immense fire, which lights the +whole structure; above the hearth a good rifle, a deer's skin, and +plumes of eagles' feathers; on the right hand of the chimney a map of +the United States, raised and shaken by the wind through the crannies in +the wall; near the map, upon a shelf formed of a roughly hewn plank, a +few volumes of books--a Bible, the six first books of Milton, and two of +Shakespeare's plays; along the wall, trunks instead of closets; in the +centre of the room a rude table, with legs of green wood, and with the +bark still upon them, looking as if they grew out of the ground on which +they stood; but on this table a tea-pot of British ware, silver spoons, +cracked tea-cups, and some newspapers. + +"The master of this dwelling has the strong angular features and lank +limbs peculiar to the native of New England. It is evident that this man +was not born in the solitude in which we have met with him: his physical +constitution suffices to show that his earlier years were spent in +the midst of civilized society, and that he belongs to that restless, +calculating, and adventurous race of men, who do with the utmost +coolness things only to be accounted for by the ardor of the passions, +and who endure the life of savages for a time, in order to conquer and +civilize the backwoods. + +"When the pioneer perceived that we were crossing his threshold, he came +to meet us and shake hands, as is their custom; but his face was quite +unmoved; he opened the conversation by inquiring what was going on in +the world; and when his curiosity was satisfied, he held his peace, +as if he were tired by the noise and importunity of mankind. When we +questioned him in our turn, he gave us all the information we required; +he then attended sedulously, but without eagerness, to our personal +wants. Whilst he was engaged in providing thus kindly for us, how came +it that in spit of ourselves we felt our gratitude die upon our lips? It +is that our host whilst he performs the duties of hospitality, seems to +be obeying an irksome necessity of his condition: he treats it as a duty +imposed upon him by his situation, not as a pleasure. By the side of +the hearth sits a woman with a baby on her lap: she nods to us without +disturbing herself. Like the pioneer, this woman is in the prime of +life; her appearance would seem superior to her condition, and her +apparel even betrays a lingering taste for dress; but her delicate +limbs appear shrunken, her features are drawn in, her eye is mild and +melancholy; her whole physiognomy bears marks of a degree of religious +resignation, a deep quiet of all passions, and some sort of natural and +tranquil firmness, ready to meet all the ills of life, without fearing +and without braving them. Her children cluster about her, full +of health, turbulence, and energy: they are true children of the +wilderness; their mother watches them from time to time with mingled +melancholy and joy: to look at their strength and her languor, one might +imagine that the life she has given them has exhausted her own, and +still she regrets not what they have cost her. The house inhabited by +these emigrants has no internal partition or loft. In the one chamber +of which it consists, the whole family is gathered for the night. The +dwelling is itself a little world--an ark of civilization amidst an +ocean of foliage: a hundred steps beyond it the primeval forest spreads +its shades, and solitude resumes its sway." + + + + +Appendix T + +It is not the equality of conditions which makes men immoral and +irreligious; but when men, being equal, are at the same time immoral and +irreligious, the effects of immorality and irreligion easily manifest +themselves outwardly, because men have but little influence upon each +other, and no class exists which can undertake to keep society in order. +Equality of conditions never engenders profligacy of morals, but it +sometimes allows that profligacy to show itself. + + + + +Appendix U + +Setting aside all those who do not think at all, and those who dare not +say what they think, the immense majority of the Americans will still be +found to appear satisfied with the political institutions by which they +are governed; and, I believe, really to be so. I look upon this state +of public opinion as an indication, but not as a demonstration, of +the absolute excellence of American laws. The pride of a nation, the +gratification of certain ruling passions by the law, a concourse of +circumstances, defects which escape notice, and more than all the rest, +the influence of a majority which shuts the mouth of all cavillers, may +long perpetuate the delusions of a people as well as those of a man. +Look at England throughout the eighteenth century. No nation was ever +more prodigal of self-applause, no people was ever more self-satisfied; +then every part of its constitution was right--everything, even to its +most obvious defects, was irreproachable: at the present day a vast +number of Englishmen seem to have nothing better to do than to +prove that this constitution was faulty in many respects. Which was +right?--the English people of the last century, or the English people of +the present day? + +The same thing has occurred in France. It is certain that during the +reign of Louis XIV the great bulk of the nation was devotedly attached +to the form of government which, at that time, governed the community. +But it is a vast error to suppose that there was anything degraded in +the character of the French of that age. There might be some sort of +servitude in France at that time, but assuredly there was no servile +spirit among the people. The writers of that age felt a species of +genuine enthusiasm in extolling the power of their king; and there was +no peasant so obscure in his hovel as not to take a pride in the glory +of his sovereign, and to die cheerfully with the cry "Vive le Roi!" upon +his lips. These very same forms of loyalty are now odious to the French +people. Which are wrong?--the French of the age of Louis XIV, or their +descendants of the present day? + +Our judgment of the laws of a people must not then be founded Future +Condition Of Three Races In The United States exclusively upon its +inclinations, since those inclinations change from age to age; but upon +more elevated principles and a more general experience. The love which a +people may show for its law proves only this:--that we should not be in +too great a hurry to change them. + + + + +Appendix V + +In the chapter to which this note relates I have pointed out one source +of danger: I am now about to point out another kind of peril, more rare +indeed, but far more formidable if it were ever to make its appearance. +If the love of physical gratification and the taste for well-being, +which are naturally suggested to men by a state of equality, were to +get entire possession of the mind of a democratic people, and to fill it +completely, the manners of the nation would become so totally opposed to +military tastes, that perhaps even the army would eventually acquire +a love of peace, in spite of the peculiar interest which leads it to +desire war. Living in the midst of a state of general relaxation, the +troops would ultimately think it better to rise without efforts, by +the slow but commodious advancement of a peace establishment, than +to purchase more rapid promotion at the cost of all the toils and +privations of the field. With these feelings, they would take up arms +without enthusiasm, and use them without energy; they would allow +themselves to be led to meet the foe, instead of marching to attack him. +It must not be supposed that this pacific state of the army would render +it adverse to revolutions; for revolutions, and especially military +revolutions, which are generally very rapid, are attended indeed with +great dangers, but not with protracted toil; they gratify ambition at +less cost than war; life only is at stake, and the men of democracies +care less for their lives than for their comforts. Nothing is more +dangerous for the freedom and the tranquillity of a people than an army +afraid of war, because, as such an army no longer seeks to maintain its +importance and its influence on the field of battle, it seeks to assert +them elsewhere. Thus it might happen that the men of whom a democratic +army consists should lose the interests of citizens without acquiring +the virtues of soldiers; and that the army should cease to be fit for +war without ceasing to be turbulent. I shall here repeat what I have +said in the text: the remedy for these dangers is not to be found in the +army, but in the country: a democratic people which has preserved the +manliness of its character will never be at a loss for military prowess +in its soldiers. + + + + +Appendix W + +Men connect the greatness of their idea of unity with means, God with +ends: hence this idea of greatness, as men conceive it, leads us into +infinite littleness. To compel all men to follow the same course towards +the same object is a human notion;--to introduce infinite variety of +action, but so combined that all these acts lead by a multitude of +different courses to the accomplishment of one great design, is a +conception of the Deity. The human idea of unity is almost always +barren; the divine idea pregnant with abundant results. Men think they +manifest their greatness by simplifying the means they use; but it is +the purpose of God which is simple--his means are infinitely varied. + + + + +Appendix X + +A democratic people is not only led by its own tastes to centralize +its government, but the passions of all the men by whom it is governed +constantly urge it in the same direction. It may easily be foreseen that +almost all the able and ambitious members of a democratic community will +labor without 2 ceasing to extend the powers of government, because they +all hope at some time or other to wield those powers. It is a waste +of time to attempt to prove to them that extreme centralization may +be injurious to the State, since they are centralizing for their own +benefit. Amongst the public men of democracies there are hardly any but +men of great disinterestedness or extreme mediocrity who seek to oppose +the centralization of government: the former are scarce, the latter +powerless. + + + + +Appendix Y + +I have often asked myself what would happen if, amidst the relaxation of +democratic manners, and as a consequence of the restless spirit of the +army, a military government were ever to be founded amongst any of the +nations of the present age. I think that even such a government would +not differ very much from the outline I have drawn in the chapter to +which this note belongs, and that it would retain none of the fierce +characteristics of a military oligarchy. I am persuaded that, in such a +case, a sort of fusion would take place between the habits of official +men and those of the military service. The administration would assume +something of a military character, and the army some of the usages of +the civil administration. The result would be a regular, clear, +exact, and absolute system of government; the people would become the +reflection of the army, and the community be drilled like a garrison. + + + + +Appendix Z + +It cannot be absolutely or generally affirmed that the greatest danger +of the present age is license or tyranny, anarchy or despotism. Both +are equally to be feared; and the one may as easily proceed as the other +from the selfsame cause, namely, that "general apathy," which is the +consequence of what I have termed "individualism": it is because this +apathy exists, that the executive government, having mustered a few +troops, is able to commit acts of oppression one day, and the next day a +party, which has mustered some thirty men in its ranks, can also commit +acts of oppression. Neither one nor the other can found anything to +last; and the causes which enable them to succeed easily, prevent them +from succeeding long: they rise because nothing opposes them, and they +sink because nothing supports them. The proper object therefore of our +most strenuous resistance, is far less either anarchy or despotism than +the apathy which may almost indifferently beget either the one or the +other. + + + + +Constitution Of The United States Of America + +We The People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect +Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the +common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings +of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this +Constitution for the United States of America: + + + + +Article I + +Section 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a +Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House +of Representatives. + +Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members of +chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the +Electors in each States shall have the Qualifications requisite for +Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. + +No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the +Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United +States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State +in which he shall be chosen. + +Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several +States which may be included within this Union, according to their +respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole +Number of free Persons, including those bound to service for a Term +of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other +Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after +the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within +every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law +direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every +thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; +and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire +shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts, eight, Rhode-Island +and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New +Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia +ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. + +When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the +Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such +Vacancies. + +The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other +Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. Section 3. The +Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from +each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each +Senator shall have one Vote. + +Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first +Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. +The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the +Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the expiration of +the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the expiration of the +sixth Year, so that one-third may be chosen every second Year; and if +Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of +the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary +Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then +fill such Vacancies. + +No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of +thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and +who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he +shall be chosen. + +The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the +Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. The +Senate shall choose their other Officers, and also a President pro +tempore, in the Absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise +the Office of President of the United States. + +The Senate shall have the sole power to try all Impeachments. When +sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When +the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall +preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of +two-thirds of the Members present. Judgment in cases of Impeachment +shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and +disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of Honor, Trust, or Profit +under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless +be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment, and Punishment +according to Law. + +Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for +Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the +Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or +alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators. + +The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such +Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by +Law appoint a different Day. + +Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns +and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall +constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn +from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of +Absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House +may provide. + +Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its +Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with a Concurrence of two-thirds, +expel a Member. + +Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to +time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment +require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House +on any question shall, at the Desire of one-fifth of those present, be +entered on the Journal. + +Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the +Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other +Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. + +Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation +for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the +Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, +Felony, and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their +attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to +and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either +House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. + +No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was +elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the +United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof +shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any +Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during +his Continuance in Office. + +Section 7. All Bills for Raising Revenue shall originate in the House of +Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as +on other Bills. + +Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the +Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of +the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall +return it, with his Objections, to that House in which it shall have +originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, +and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two-thirds +of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together +with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise +be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall +become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be +determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for +and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House +respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within +ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, +the Same shall be a Law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless +the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it +shall not be a Law. + +Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate +and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of +Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; +and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or +being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate +and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations +prescribed in the case of a Bill. + +Section 8. The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, +Duties, Imposts, and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the +common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, +Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; + +To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; + +To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, +and with the Indian Tribes; + +To establish an Uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the +subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, +regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of +Weights and Measures; + +To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and +current Coin of the United States; + +To establish Post Offices and Post Roads; + +To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for +limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their +respective Writings and Discoveries; + +To constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; To define and +punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences +against the Law of Nations; + +To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules +concerning Captures on Land and Water; + +To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use +shall be for a longer Term than two years; + +To provide and maintain a Navy; + +To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval +Forces. + +To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the +Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions. + +To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and +for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the +United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of +the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the +discipline prescribed by Congress; + +To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over +such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of +particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress become the Seat of the +Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all +Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in +which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, +Dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And To make all Laws which +shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing +Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the +Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer +thereof. + +Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the +States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited +by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, +but a tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten +dollars for each Person. + +The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, +unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may +require it. + +No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. No +Capitation, or other direct Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to +the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken. + +No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. + +No preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue +to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound +to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in +another. + +No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of +Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the +Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from +time to time. + +No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no +Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without +the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, +or Title of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. + +Section 10. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or +Confederation; grant Letters of Marque or Reprisal; coin Money; emit +Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in +Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law +impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. + +No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or +Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary +for executing its inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and +Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports shall be for the Use of +the Treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to +the Revision and Control of the Congress. + +No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of +Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any +Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or +engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as +will not admit of delay. + + + + +Article II + +Section 1. The Executive Power shall be vested in a President of the +United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of +four Years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same +Term, be elected as follows: + +Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may +direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and +Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but +no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or +Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. + +[The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot +for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of +the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the +Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List +they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the +Government of the United States, directed to the President of the +Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate +and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes +shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes +shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number +of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such +Majority, and have an equal number of Votes, then the House of +Representatives shall immediately choose by Ballot one of them for +President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest +on the List the said House shall in like Manner choose the President. +But in choosing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, +the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this +Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two-thirds of the +States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. +In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the +greatest number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice-President. +But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate +shall choose from them by Ballot the Vice-President.]*d + +[Footnote *d: This clause is superseded by Article XII, Amendments. See +page 396.] + +The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the +Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same +throughout the United States. + +No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United +States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be +eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be +eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of +thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United +States. + +In case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, +Resignation or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said +Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-president, and the Congress +may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or +Inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what +Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act +accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be +elected. + +The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a +Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the +Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive +within that period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of +them. + +Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the +following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that +I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, +and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the +Constitution of the United States." + +Section 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and +Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, +when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may +require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the +executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their +respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and +Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of +Impeachment. + +He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, +to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; +and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the +Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, +Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United +States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and +which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest +the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the +President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. + +The President shall have Power to fill up all vacancies that may happen +during the recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall +expire at the End of their next Session. + +Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information +of the state of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration +such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on +extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and +in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of +Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; +he shall receive Ambassadors and other Public Ministers; he shall take +Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the +Officers of the United States. + +Section 4. The President, Vice-President and all civil Officers of the +United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and +Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors. + + + + +Article III + +Section 1. The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in +one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from +time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the Supreme and +inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and +shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, +which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office. + +Section 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all cases, in Law and +Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, +and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;--to +all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;--to +all cases of Admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; to Controversies to +which the United States shall be a Party;--to Controversies between two +or more States;--between a State and Citizens of another State; between +Citizens of different States,--between Citizens of the same State +claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or +the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects. + +In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, +and those in which a State shall be Party, the Supreme Court shall have +original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the +Supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and +Fact, with such Exceptions and under such Regulations as the Congress +shall make. + +The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by +Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes +shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the +Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have +directed. + +Section 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only in +levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them +Aid and Comfort. No person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the +Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in +open Court. + +The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but +no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood or Forfeiture +except during the life of the person attainted. + + + + +Article IV + +Section 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the +Public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. +And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such +Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof. + +Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all +Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. A person +charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall +flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the +executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to +be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime. + +No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws +thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any Law or +Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall +be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may +be due. + +Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; +but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of +any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more +States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of +the States concerned as well as of the Congress. + +The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules +and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging +to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so +construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any +particular State. + +Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this +Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them +against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the +Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic +Violence. + + + + +Article V + +The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it +necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the +Application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, +shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either +Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this +Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the +several States, or by Conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the +one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; +Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One +thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first +and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that +no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage +in the Senate. + + + + +Article VI + +All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption +of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under +this Constitution, as under the Confederation. + +This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made +in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, +under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of +the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, +any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the contrary +notwithstanding. + +The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of +the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, +both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by +Oath or Affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test +shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust +under the United States. + + + + +Article VII + +The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be sufficient +for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so +ratifying the Same. + +Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the +Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of Our Lord One thousand seven +hundred and eighty-seven and of the Independence of the United States of +America the Twelfth. In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our +Names, + + Geo. Washington + Presidt. and deputy from Virginia. + + New Hampshire + John Langdon + Nicholas Gilman + + Massachusetts + Nathaniel Gorham + Rufus King + + Connecticut + Wm. Saml. Johnson + Roger Sherman + + New York + Alexander Hamilton + + New Jersey + Wil. Livingston. + David Brearley. + Wm. Paterson. + Jona. Dayton + + Pennsylvania + B Franklin + Thomas Mifflin + Robt. Morris. + Geo. Clymer + Thos. Fitzsimons + Jared Ingersoll + James Wilson + Gouv. Morris + + Delaware + Geo. Read + Gunning Bedford Jun + John Dickinson + Richard Bassett + Jaco. Broom + + Maryland + James McHenry + Dan of St Thos. Jenifer + Danl. Carroll + + Virginia + John Blair-- + James Madison Jr. + + North Carolina + Wm. Blount + Richd. Dobbs Spaight + Hu. Williamson + + South Carolina + J. Rutledge + Charles Cotesworth Pinckney + Charles Pinckney + Peirce Butler. + + Georgia + William Few + Abr. Baldwin + + Attest. William Jackson, Secretary + +The Word 'the,' being interlined between the seventh and eighth Lines of +the first Page, The word 'Thirty' being partly written on an Erasure +in the fifteenth Line of the first Page, The Words 'is tried' being +interlined between the thirty-second and thirty-third Lines of the first +Page, and the Word 'the' being interlined between the forty-third and +forty-fourth Lines of the second page. + +[Note by the Department of State.--The foregoing explanation in the +original instrument is placed on the left of the paragraph beginning +with the words, 'Done in Convention,' and therefore precedes the +signatures. The interlined and rewritten words, mentioned in it, are in +this edition printed in their proper places in the text.] + + + + +Bill Of Rights + +In addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution of the United States +of America, proposed by Congress and ratified by the Legislatures of +the several States, pursuant to the Fifth Article of the original +Constitution + +Article I + +Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, +or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom +of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to +assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. + +Article II + +A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free +State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be +infringed. + +Article III + +No Soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without +the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be +prescribed by law. + +Article IV + +The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, +and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not +be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, +supported by Oath or Affirmation, and particularly describing the place +to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. + +Article V + +No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous +crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in +cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in +actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person +be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life +or limb; nor shall be compelled in any Criminal Case to be a witness +against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without +due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, +without just compensation. + +Article VI + +In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a +speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district +wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have +been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature +and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against +him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, +and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. + +Article VII + +In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed +twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no +fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the +United States, than according to the rules of the common law. + +Article VIII + +Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor +cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. + +Article IX + +The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be +construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. + +Article X + +The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor +prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, +or to the people. + +Article XI + +The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend +to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the +United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects +of any Foreign State. + +Article XII + +The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot +for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an +inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their +ballots the person voted for as President; and in distinct ballots the +person voted for as Vice-President; and they shall make distinct lists +of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as +Vice President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists +they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the +government of the United States, directed to the President of the +Senate;--The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the +Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the +votes shall then be counted;--The person having the greatest number +of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a +majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person +have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not +exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of +Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. +But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, +the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this +purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the +States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a +choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President +whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth +day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act +as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional +disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of +votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such a number +be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no +person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, +the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose +shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a +majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no +person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be +eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. + +Article XIII + +Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a +punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, +shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their +jurisdiction. + +Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by +appropriate legislation. + +Article XIV + +Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and +subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States +and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any +law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the +United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, +or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within +its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. + +Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States +according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of +persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right +to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and +Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, +the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the +Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such +State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, +or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other +crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the +proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the +whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. + +Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, +or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil +or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having +previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of +the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an +executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution +of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion +against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. +But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such +disability. + +Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, +authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and +bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall +not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall +assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection +or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or +emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims +shall be held illegal and void. + +Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate +legislation, the provisions of this article. + +Article XV + +Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not +be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of +race, colour, or previous condition of servitude. + +Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by +appropriate legislation. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Democracy In America, Volume 2 (of 2), by +Alexis de Toqueville + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, V2 *** + +***** This file should be named 816.txt or 816.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/1/816/ + +Produced by David Reed and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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If you notice an error, please let me know, +identifying by chapter and paragraph where the mistake occurs. + +David Reed, haradda@aol.com or davidr@inconnect.com + + + + + +Democracy In America +Alexis De Tocqueville +Translator - Henry Reeve + + + + + +Book Two + + + + + +A request to all readers: +I have tried to catch as many actual errors as I could, but I am +sure others exist. If you notice an error, please let me know, +identifying by chapter and paragraph where the mistake occurs. +David Reed, haradda@aol.com or davidr@inconnect.com + + + + + +Influence Of Democracy On Progress Of Opinion In US + +De Tocqueville's Preface To The Second Part + +The Americans live in a democratic state of society, which +has naturally suggested to them certain laws and a certain +political character. This same state of society has, moreover, +engendered amongst them a multitude of feelings and opinions +which were unknown amongst the elder aristocratic communities of +Europe: it has destroyed or modified all the relations which +before existed, and established others of a novel kind. The +aspect of civil society has been no less affected by these +changes than that of the political world. The former subject has +been treated of in the work on the Democracy of America, which I +published five years ago; to examine the latter is the object of +the present book; but these two parts complete each other, and +form one and the same work. + +I must at once warn the reader against an error which would +be extremely prejudicial to me. When he finds that I attribute +so many different consequences to the principle of equality, he +may thence infer that I consider that principle to be the sole +cause of all that takes place in the present age: but this would +be to impute to me a very narrow view. A multitude of opinions, +feelings, and propensities are now in existence, which owe their +origin to circumstances unconnected with or even contrary to the +principle of equality. Thus if I were to select the United +States as an example, I could easily prove that the nature of the +country, the origin of its inhabitants, the religion of its +founders, their acquired knowledge, and their former habits, have +exercised, and still exercise, independently of democracy, a vast +influence upon the thoughts and feelings of that people. +Different causes, but no less distinct from the circumstance of +the equality of conditions, might be traced in Europe, and would +explain a great portion of the occurrences taking place amongst +us. + +I acknowledge the existence of all these different causes, +and their power, but my subject does not lead me to treat of +them. I have not undertaken to unfold the reason of all our +inclinations and all our notions: my only object is to show in +what respects the principle of equality has modified both the +former and the latter. + +Some readers may perhaps be astonished that - firmly +persuaded as I am that the democratic revolution which we are +witnessing is an irresistible fact against which it would be +neither desirable nor wise to struggle - I should often have had +occasion in this book to address language of such severity to +those democratic communities which this revolution has brought +into being. My answer is simply, that it is because I am not an +adversary of democracy, that I have sought to speak of democracy +in all sincerity. + +Men will not accept truth at the hands of their enemies, and +truth is seldom offered to them by their friends: for this reason +I have spoken it. I was persuaded that many would take upon +themselves to announce the new blessings which the principle of +equality promises to mankind, but that few would dare to point +out from afar the dangers with which it threatens them. To those +perils therefore I have turned my chief attention, and believing +that I had discovered them clearly, I have not had the cowardice +to leave them untold. + +I trust that my readers will find in this Second Part that +impartiality which seems to have been remarked in the former +work. Placed as I am in the midst of the conflicting opinions +between which we are divided, I have endeavored to suppress +within me for a time the favorable sympathies or the adverse +emotions with which each of them inspires me. If those who read +this book can find a single sentence intended to flatter any of +the great parties which have agitated my country, or any of those +petty factions which now harass and weaken it, let such readers +raise their voices to accuse me. + +The subject I have sought to embrace is immense, for it +includes the greater part of the feelings and opinions to which +the new state of society has given birth. Such a subject is +doubtless above my strength, and in treating it I have not +succeeded in satisfying myself. But, if I have not been able to +reach the goal which I had in view, my readers will at least do +me the justice to acknowledge that I have conceived and followed +up my undertaking in a spirit not unworthy of success. + +A. De T. + +March, 1840 + +Chapter I: Philosophical Method Among the Americans + +I think that in no country in the civilized world is less +attention paid to philosophy than in the United States. The +Americans have no philosophical school of their own; and they +care but little for all the schools into which Europe is divided, +the very names of which are scarcely known to them. Nevertheless +it is easy to perceive that almost all the inhabitants of the +United States conduct their understanding in the same manner, and +govern it by the same rules; that is to say, that without ever +having taken the trouble to define the rules of a philosophical +method, they are in possession of one, common to the whole +people. To evade the bondage of system and habit, of family +maxims, class opinions, and, in some degree, of national +prejudices; to accept tradition only as a means of information, +and existing facts only as a lesson used in doing otherwise, and +doing better; to seek the reason of things for one's self, and in +one's self alone; to tend to results without being bound to +means, and to aim at the substance through the form; - such are +the principal characteristics of what I shall call the +philosophical method of the Americans. But if I go further, and +if I seek amongst these characteristics that which predominates +over and includes almost all the rest, I discover that in most of +the operations of the mind, each American appeals to the +individual exercise of his own understanding alone. America is +therefore one of the countries in the world where philosophy is +least studied, and where the precepts of Descartes are best +applied. Nor is this surprising. The Americans do not read the +works of Descartes, because their social condition deters them +from speculative studies; but they follow his maxims because this +very social condition naturally disposes their understanding to +adopt them. In the midst of the continual movement which agitates +a democratic community, the tie which unites one generation to +another is relaxed or broken; every man readily loses the trace +of the ideas of his forefathers or takes no care about them. Nor +can men living in this state of society derive their belief from +the opinions of the class to which they belong, for, so to speak, +there are no longer any classes, or those which still exist are +composed of such mobile elements, that their body can never +exercise a real control over its members. As to the influence +which the intelligence of one man has on that of another, it must +necessarily be very limited in a country where the citizens, +placed on the footing of a general similitude, are all closely +seen by each other; and where, as no signs of incontestable +greatness or superiority are perceived in any one of them, they +are constantly brought back to their own reason as the most +obvious and proximate source of truth. It is not only confidence +in this or that man which is then destroyed, but the taste for +trusting the ipse dixit of any man whatsoever. Everyone shuts +himself up in his own breast, and affects from that point to +judge the world. + +The practice which obtains amongst the Americans of fixing +the standard of their judgment in themselves alone, leads them to +other habits of mind. As they perceive that they succeed in +resolving without assistance all the little difficulties which +their practical life presents, they readily conclude that +everything in the world may be explained, and that nothing in it +transcends the limits of the understanding. Thus they fall to +denying what they cannot comprehend; which leaves them but little +faith for whatever is extraordinary, and an almost insurmountable +distaste for whatever is supernatural. As it is on their own +testimony that they are accustomed to rely, they like to discern +the object which engages their attention with extreme clearness; +they therefore strip off as much as possible all that covers it, +they rid themselves of whatever separates them from it, they +remove whatever conceals it from sight, in order to view it more +closely and in the broad light of day. This disposition of the +mind soon leads them to contemn forms, which they regard as +useless and inconvenient veils placed between them and the truth. + +The Americans then have not required to extract their +philosophical method from books; they have found it in +themselves. The same thing may be remarked in what has taken +place in Europe. This same method has only been established and +made popular in Europe in proportion as the condition of society +has become more equal, and men have grown more like each other. +Let us consider for a moment the connection of the periods in +which this change may be traced. In the sixteenth century the +Reformers subjected some of the dogmas of the ancient faith to +the scrutiny of private judgment; but they still withheld from it +the judgment of all the rest. In the seventeenth century, Bacon +in the natural sciences, and Descartes in the study of philosophy +in the strict sense of the term, abolished recognized formulas, +destroyed the empire of tradition, and overthrew the authority of +the schools. The philosophers of the eighteenth century, +generalizing at length the same principle, undertook to submit to +the private judgment of each man all the objects of his belief. + +Who does not perceive that Luther, Descartes, and Voltaire +employed the same method, and that they differed only in the +greater or less use which they professed should be made of it? +Why did the Reformers confine themselves so closely within the +circle of religious ideas? Why did Descartes, choosing only to +apply his method to certain matters, though he had made it fit to +be applied to all, declare that men might judge for themselves in +matters philosophical but not in matters political? How happened +it that in the eighteenth century those general applications were +all at once drawn from this same method, which Descartes and his +predecessors had either not perceived or had rejected? To what, +lastly, is the fact to be attributed, that at this period the +method we are speaking of suddenly emerged from the schools, to +penetrate into society and become the common standard of +intelligence; and that, after it had become popular among the +French, it has been ostensibly adopted or secretly followed by +all the nations of Europe? + +The philosophical method here designated may have been +engendered in the sixteenth century - it may have been more +accurately defined and more extensively applied in the +seventeenth; but neither in the one nor in the other could it be +commonly adopted. Political laws, the condition of society, and +the habits of mind which are derived from these causes, were as +yet opposed to it. It was discovered at a time when men were +beginning to equalize and assimilate their conditions. It could +only be generally followed in ages when those conditions had at +length become nearly equal, and men nearly alike. + +The philosophical method of the eighteenth century is then +not only French, but it is democratic; and this explains why it +was so readily admitted throughout Europe, where it has +contributed so powerfully to change the face of society. It is +not because the French have changed their former opinions, and +altered their former manners, that they have convulsed the world; +but because they were the first to generalize and bring to light +a philosophical method, by the assistance of which it became easy +to attack all that was old, and to open a path to all that was +new. + +If it be asked why, at the present day, this same method is +more rigorously followed and more frequently applied by the +French than by the Americans, although the principle of equality +be no less complete, and of more ancient date, amongst the latter +people, the fact may be attributed to two circumstances, which it +is essential to have clearly understood in the first instance. +It must never be forgotten that religion gave birth to +Anglo-American society. In the United States religion is +therefore commingled with all the habits of the nation and all +the feelings of patriotism; whence it derives a peculiar force. +To this powerful reason another of no less intensity may be +added: in American religion has, as it were, laid down its own +limits. Religious institutions have remained wholly distinct from +political institutions, so that former laws have been easily +changed whilst former belief has remained unshaken. Christianity +has therefore retained a strong hold on the public mind in +America; and, I would more particularly remark, that its sway is +not only that of a philosophical doctrine which has been adopted +upon inquiry, but of a religion which is believed without +discussion. In the United States Christian sects are infinitely +diversified and perpetually modified; but Christianity itself is +a fact so irresistibly established, that no one undertakes either +to attack or to defend it. The Americans, having admitted the +principal doctrines of the Christian religion without inquiry, +are obliged to accept in like manner a great number of moral +truths originating in it and connected with it. Hence the +activity of individual analysis is restrained within narrow +limits, and many of the most important of human opinions are +removed from the range of its influence. + +The second circumstance to which I have alluded is the +following: the social condition and the constitution of the +Americans are democratic, but they have not had a democratic +revolution. They arrived upon the soil they occupy in nearly the +condition in which we see them at the present day; and this is of +very considerable importance. + +There are no revolutions which do not shake existing belief, +enervate authority, and throw doubts over commonly received +ideas. The effect of all revolutions is therefore, more or less, +to surrender men to their own guidance, and to open to the mind +of every man a void and almost unlimited range of speculation. +When equality of conditions succeeds a protracted conflict +between the different classes of which the elder society was +composed, envy, hatred, and uncharitableness, pride, and +exaggerated self- confidence are apt to seize upon the human +heart, and plant their sway there for a time. This, +independently of equality itself, tends powerfully to divide men +- to lead them to mistrust the judgment of others, and to seek +the light of truth nowhere but in their own understandings. +Everyone then attempts to be his own sufficient guide, and makes +it his boast to form his own opinions on all subjects. Men are +no longer bound together by ideas, but by interests; and it would +seem as if human opinions were reduced to a sort of intellectual +dust, scattered on every side, unable to collect, unable to +cohere. + +Thus, that independence of mind which equality supposes to +exist, is never so great, nor ever appears so excessive, as at +the time when equality is beginning to establish itself, and in +the course of that painful labor by which it is established. +That sort of intellectual freedom which equality may give ought, +therefore, to be very carefully distinguished from the anarchy +which revolution brings. Each of these two things must be +severally considered, in order not to conceive exaggerated hopes +or fears of the future. + +I believe that the men who will live under the new forms of +society will make frequent use of their private judgment; but I +am far from thinking that they will often abuse it. This is +attributable to a cause of more general application to all +democratic countries, and which, in the long run, must needs +restrain in them the independence of individual speculation +within fixed, and sometimes narrow, limits. I shall proceed to +point out this cause in the next chapter. + +Chapter II: Of The Principal Source Of Belief Among Democratic +Nations + +At different periods dogmatical belief is more or less +abundant. It arises in different ways, and it may change its +object or its form; but under no circumstances will dogmatical +belief cease to exist, or, in other words, men will never cease +to entertain some implicit opinions without trying them by actual +discussion. If everyone undertook to form his own opinions and +to seek for truth by isolated paths struck out by himself alone, +it is not to be supposed that any considerable number of men +would ever unite in any common belief. But obviously without +such common belief no society can prosper - say rather no society +can subsist; for without ideas held in common, there is no common +action, and without common action, there may still be men, but +there is no social body. In order that society should exist, +and, a fortiori, that a society should prosper, it is required +that all the minds of the citizens should be rallied and held +together by certain predominant ideas; and this cannot be the +case, unless each of them sometimes draws his opinions from the +common source, and consents to accept certain matters of belief +at the hands of the community. + +If I now consider man in his isolated capacity, I find that +dogmatical belief is not less indispensable to him in order to +live alone, than it is to enable him to co-operate with his +fellow- creatures. If man were forced to demonstrate to himself +all the truths of which he makes daily use, his task would never +end. He would exhaust his strength in preparatory exercises, +without advancing beyond them. As, from the shortness of his +life, he has not the time, nor, from the limits of his +intelligence, the capacity, to accomplish this, he is reduced to +take upon trust a number of facts and opinions which he has not +had either the time or the power to verify himself, but which men +of greater ability have sought out, or which the world adopts. On +this groundwork he raises for himself the structure of his own +thoughts; nor is he led to proceed in this manner by choice so +much as he is constrainsd by the inflexible law of his condition. +There is no philosopher of such great parts in the world, but +that he believes a million of things on the faith of other +people, and supposes a great many more truths than he +demonstrates. This is not only necessary but desirable. A man +who should undertake to inquire into everything for himself, +could devote to each thing but little time and attention. His +task would keep his mind in perpetual unrest, which would prevent +him from penetrating to the depth of any truth, or of grappling +his mind indissolubly to any conviction. His intellect would be +at once independent and powerless. He must therefore make his +choice from amongst the various objects of human belief, and he +must adopt many opinions without discussion, in order to search +the better into that smaller number which he sets apart for +investigation. It is true that whoever receives an opinion on +the word of another, does so far enslave his mind; but it is a +salutary servitude which allows him to make a good use of +freedom. + +A principle of authority must then always occur, under all +circumstances, in some part or other of the moral and +intellectual world. Its place is variable, but a place it +necessarily has. The independence of individual minds may be +greater, or it may be less: unbounded it cannot be. Thus the +question is, not to know whether any intellectual authority +exists in the ages of democracy, but simply where it resides and +by what standard it is to be measured. + +I have shown in the preceding chapter how the equality of +conditions leads men to entertain a sort of instinctive +incredulity of the supernatural, and a very lofty and often +exaggerated opinion of the human understanding. The men who live +at a period of social equality are not therefore easily led to +place that intellectual authority to which they bow either beyond +or above humanity. They commonly seek for the sources of truth +in themselves, or in those who are like themselves. This would +be enough to prove that at such periods no new religion could be +established, and that all schemes for such a purpose would be not +only impious but absurd and irrational. It may be foreseen that +a democratic people will not easily give credence to divine +missions; that they will turn modern prophets to a ready jest; +and they that will seek to discover the chief arbiter of their +belief within, and not beyond, the limits of their kind. + +When the ranks of society are unequal, and men unlike each +other in condition, there are some individuals invested with all +the power of superior intelligence, learning, and enlightenment, +whilst the multitude is sunk in ignorance and prejudice. Men +living at these aristocratic periods are therefore naturally +induced to shape their opinions by the superior standard of a +person or a class of persons, whilst they are averse to recognize +the infallibility of the mass of the people. + +The contrary takes place in ages of equality. The nearer +the citizens are drawn to the common level of an equal and +similar condition, the less prone does each man become to place +implicit faith in a certain man or a certain class of men. But +his readiness to believe the multitude increases, and opinion is +more than ever mistress of the world. Not only is common opinion +the only guide which private judgment retains amongst a +democratic people, but amongst such a people it possesses a power +infinitely beyond what it has elsewhere. At periods of equality +men have no faith in one another, by reason of their common +resemblance; but this very resemblance gives them almost +unbounded confidence in the judgment of the public; for it would +not seem probable, as they are all endowed with equal means of +judging, but that the greater truth should go with the greater +number. + +When the inhabitant of a democratic country compares himself +individually with all those about him, he feels with pride that +he is the equal of any one of them; but when he comes to survey +the totality of his fellows, and to place himself in contrast to +so huge a body, he is instantly overwhelmed by the sense of his +own insignificance and weakness. The same equality which renders +him independent of each of his fellow-citizens taken severally, +exposes him alone and unprotected to the influence of the greater +number. The public has therefore among a democratic people a +singular power, of which aristocratic nations could never so much +as conceive an idea; for it does not persuade to certain +opinions, but it enforces them, and infuses them into the +faculties by a sort of enormous pressure of the minds of all upon +the reason of each. + +In the United States the majority undertakes to supply a +multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who +are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their +own. Everybody there adopts great numbers of theories, on +philosophy, morals, and politics, without inquiry, upon public +trust; and if we look to it very narrowly, it will be perceived +that religion herself holds her sway there, much less as a +doctrine of revelation than as a commonly received opinion. The +fact that the political laws of the Americans are such that the +majority rules the community with sovereign sway, materially +increases the power which that majority naturally exercises over +the mind. For nothing is more customary in man than to recognize +superior wisdom in the person of his oppressor. This political +omnipotence of the majority in the United States doubtless +augments the influence which public opinion would obtain without +it over the mind of each member of the community; but the +foundations of that influence do not rest upon it. They must be +sought for in the principle of equality itself, not in the more +or less popular institutions which men living under that +condition may give themselves. The intellectual dominion of the +greater number would probably be less absolute amongst a +democratic people governed by a king than in the sphere of a pure +democracy, but it will always be extremely absolute; and by +whatever political laws men are governed in the ages of equality, +it may be foreseen that faith in public opinion will become a +species of religion there, and the majority its ministering +prophet. + +Thus intellectual authority will be different, but it will +not be diminished; and far from thinking that it will disappear, +I augur that it may readily acquire too much preponderance, and +confine the action of private judgment within narrower limits +than are suited either to the greatness or the happiness of the +human race. In the principle of equality I very clearly discern +two tendencies; the one leading the mind of every man to untried +thoughts, the other inclined to prohibit him from thinking at +all. And I perceive how, under the dominion of certain laws, +democracy would extinguish that liberty of the mind to which a +democratic social condition is favorable; so that, after having +broken all the bondage once imposed on it by ranks or by men, the +human mind would be closely fettered to the general will of the +greatest number. + +If the absolute power of the majority were to be substituted +by democratic nations, for all the different powers which checked +or retarded overmuch the energy of individual minds, the evil +would only have changed its symptoms. Men would not have found +the means of independent life; they would simply have invented +(no easy task) a new dress for servitude. There is - and I +cannot repeat it too often - there is in this matter for profound +reflection for those who look on freedom as a holy thing, and who +hate not only the despot, but despotism. For myself, when I feel +the hand of power lie heavy on my brow, I care but little to know +who oppresses me; and I am not the more disposed to pass beneath +the yoke, because it is held out to me by the arms of a million +of men. + + +Book One - Chapters III-V + +Chapter III: Why The Americans Display More Readiness And More +Taste For General Ideas Than Their Forefathers, The English +The Deity does not regard the human race collectively. He +surveys at one glance and severally all the beings of whom +mankind is composed, and he discerns in each man the resemblances +which assimilate him to all his fellows, and the differences +which distinguish him from them. God, therefore, stands in no +need of general ideas; that is to say, he is never sensible of +the necessity of collecting a considerable number of analogous +objects under the same form for greater convenience in thinking. +Such is, however, not the case with man. If the human mind were +to attempt to examine and pass a judgment on all the individual +cases before it, the immensity of detail would soon lead it +astray and bewilder its discernment: in this strait, man has +recourse to an imperfect but necessary expedient, which at once +assists and demonstrates his weakness. Having superficially +considered a certain number of objects, and remarked their +resemblance, he assigns to them a common name, sets them apart, +and proceeds onwards. + +General ideas are no proof of the strength, but rather of +the insufficiency of the human intellect; for there are in nature +no beings exactly alike, no things precisely identical, nor any +rules indiscriminately and alike applicable to several objects at +once. The chief merit of general ideas is, that they enable the +human mind to pass a rapid judgment on a great many objects at +once; but, on the other hand, the notions they convey are never +otherwise than incomplete, and they always cause the mind to lose +as much in accuracy as it gains in comprehensiveness. As social +bodies advance in civilization, they acquire the knowledge of new +facts, and they daily lay hold almost unconsciously of some +particular truths. The more truths of this kind a man +apprehends, the more general ideas is he naturally led to +conceive. A multitude of particular facts cannot be seen +separately, without at last discovering the common tie which +connects them. Several individuals lead to the perception of the +species; several species to that of the genus. Hence the habit +and the taste for general ideas will always be greatest amongst a +people of ancient cultivation and extensive knowledge. + +But there are other reasons which impel men to generalize +their ideas, or which restrain them from it. + +The Americans are much more addicted to the use of general +ideas than the English, and entertain a much greater relish for +them: this appears very singular at first sight, when it is +remembered that the two nations have the same origin, that they +lived for centuries under the same laws, and that they still +incessantly interchange their opinions and their manners. This +contrast becomes much more striking still, if we fix our eyes on +our own part of the world, and compare together the two most +enlightened nations which inhabit it. It would seem as if the +mind of the English could only tear itself reluctantly and +painfully away from the observation of particular facts, to rise +from them to their causes; and that it only generalizes in spite +of itself. Amongst the French, on the contrary, the taste for +general ideas would seem to have grown to so ardent a passion, +that it must be satisfied on every occasion. I am informed, +every morning when I wake, that some general and eternal law has +just been discovered, which I never heard mentioned before. +There is not a mediocre scribbler who does not try his hand at +discovering truths applicable to a great kingdom, and who is very +ill pleased with himself if he does not succeed in compressing +the human race into the compass of an article. So great a +dissimilarity between two very enlightened nations surprises me. +If I again turn my attention to England, and observe the events +which have occurred there in the last half-century, I think I may +affirm that a taste for general ideas increases in that country +in proportion as its ancient constitution is weakened. + +The state of civilization is therefore insufficient by +itself to explain what suggests to the human mind the love of +general ideas, or diverts it from them. When the conditions of +men are very unequal, and inequality itself is the permanent +state of society, individual men gradually become so dissimilar +that each class assumes the aspect of a distinct race: only one +of these classes is ever in view at the same instant; and losing +sight of that general tie which binds them all within the vast +bosom of mankind, the observation invariably rests not on man, +but on certain men. Those who live in this aristocratic state of +society never, therefore, conceive very general ideas respecting +themselves, and that is enough to imbue them with an habitual +distrust of such ideas, and an instinctive aversion of them. +He, on the contrary, who inhabits a democratic country, sees +around him, one very hand, men differing but little from each +other; he cannot turn his mind to any one portion of mankind, +without expanding and dilating his thought till it embrace the +whole. All the truths which are applicable to himself, appear to +him equally and similarly applicable to each of his +fellow-citizens and fellow-men. Having contracted the habit of +generalizing his ideas in the study which engages him most, and +interests him more than others, he transfers the same habit to +all his pursuits; and thus it is that the craving to discover +general laws in everything, to include a great number of objects +under the same formula, and to explain a mass of facts by a +single cause, becomes an ardent, and sometimes an undiscerning, +passion in the human mind. + +Nothing shows the truth of this proposition more clearly +than the opinions of the ancients respecting their slaves. The +most profound and capacious minds of Rome and Greece were never +able to reach the idea, at once so general and so simple, of the +common likeness of men, and of the common birthright of each to +freedom: they strove to prove that slavery was in the order of +nature, and that it would always exist. Nay, more, everything +shows that those of the ancients who had passed from the servile +to the free condition, many of whom have left us excellent +writings, did themselves regard servitude in no other light. + +All the great writers of antiquity belonged to the +aristocracy of masters, or at least they saw that aristocracy +established and uncontested before their eyes. Their mind, after +it had expanded itself in several directions, was barred from +further progress in this one; and the advent of Jesus Christ upon +earth was required to teach that all the members of the human +race are by nature equal and alike. + +In the ages of equality all men are independent of each +other, isolated and weak. The movements of the multitude are not +permanently guided by the will of any individuals; at such times +humanity seems always to advance of itself. In order, therefore, +to explain what is passing in the world, man is driven to seek +for some great causes, which, acting in the same manner on all +our fellow-creatures, thus impel them all involuntarily to pursue +the same track. This again naturally leads the human mind to +conceive general ideas, and superinduces a taste for them. + +I have already shown in what way the equality of conditions +leads every man to investigate truths for himself. It may +readily be perceived that a method of this kind must insensibly +beget a tendency to general ideas in the human mind. When I +repudiate the traditions of rank, profession, and birth; when I +escape from the authority of example, to seek out, by the single +effort of my reason, the path to be followed, I am inclined to +derive the motives of my opinions from human nature itself; which +leads me necessarily, and almost unconsciously, to adopt a great +number of very general notions. + +All that I have here said explains the reasons for which the +English display much less readiness and taste or the +generalization of ideas than their American progeny, and still +less again than their French neighbors; and likewise the reason +for which the English of the present day display more of these +qualities than their forefathers did. The English have long been +a very enlightened and a very aristocratic nation; their +enlightened condition urged them constantly to generalize, and +their aristocratic habits confined them to particularize. Hence +arose that philosophy, at once bold and timid, broad and narrow, +which has hitherto prevailed in England, and which still +obstructs and stagnates in so many minds in that country. + +Independently of the causes I have pointed out in what goes +before, others may be discerned less apparent, but no less +efficacious, which engender amongst almost every democratic +people a taste, and frequently a passion, for general ideas. An +accurate distinction must be taken between ideas of this kind. +Some are the result of slow, minute, and conscientious labor of +the mind, and these extend the sphere of human knowledge; others +spring up at once from the first rapid exercise of the wits, and +beget none but very superficial and very uncertain notions. Men +who live in ages of equality have a great deal of curiosity and +very little leisure; their life is so practical, so confused, so +excited, so active, that but little time remains to them for +thought. Such men are prone to general ideas because they spare +them the trouble of studying particulars; they contain, if I may +so speak, a great deal in a little compass, and give, in a little +time, a great return. If then, upon a brief and inattentive +investigation, a common relation is thought to be detected +between certain obtects, inquiry is not pushed any further; and +without examining in detail how far these different objects +differ or agree, they are hastily arranged under one formulary, +in order to pass to another subject. + +One of the distinguishing characteristics of a democratic +period is the taste all men have at such ties for easy success +and present enjoyment. This occurs in the pursuits of the +intellect as well as in all others. Most of those who live at a +time of equality are full of an ambition at once aspiring and +relaxed: they would fain succeed brilliantly and at once, but +they would be dispensed from great efforts to obtain success. +These conflicting tendencies lead straight to the research of +general ideas, by aid of which they flatter themselves that they +can figure very importantly at a small expense, and draw the +attention of the public with very little trouble. And I know not +whether they be wrong in thinking thus. For their readers are as +much averse to investigating anything to the bottom as they can +be themselves; and what is generally sought in the productions of +the mind is easy pleasure and information without labor. + +If aristocratic nations do not make sufficient use of +general ideas, and frequently treat them with inconsiderate +disdain, it is true, on the other hand, that a democratic people +is ever ready to carry ideas of this kind to excess, and to +espouse the with injudicious warmth. + +Chapter IV: Why The Americans Have Never Been So Eager As The +French For General Ideas In Political Matters + +I observed in the last chapter, that the Americans show a +less decided taste for general ideas than the French; this is +more especially true in political matters. Although the +Americans infuse into their legislation infinitely more general +ideas than the English, and although they pay much more attention +than the latter people to the adjustment of the practice of +affairs to theory, no political bodies in the United States have +ever shown so warm an attachment to general ideas as the +Constituent Assembly and the Convention in France. At no time +has the American people laid hold on ideas of this kind with the +passionate energy of the French people in the eighteenth century, +or displayed the same blind confidence in the value and absolute +truth of any theory. This difference between the Americans and +the French originates in several causes, but principally in the +following one. The Americans form a democratic people, which has +always itself directed public affairs. The French are a +democratic people, who, for a long time, could only speculate on +the best manner of conducting them. The social condition of +France led that people to conceive very general ideas on the +subject of government, whilst its political constitution +prevented it from correcting those ideas by experiment,and from +gradually detecting their insufficiency; whereas in America the +two things constantly balance and correct each other. + +It may seem, at first sight, that this is very much opposed +to what I have said before, that democratic nations derive their +love of theory from the excitement of their active life. A more +attentive examination will show that there is nothing +contradictory in the proposition. Men living in democratic +countries eagerly lay hold of general ideas because they have but +little leisure, and because these ideas spare them the trouble of +studying particulars. This is true; but it is only to be +understood to apply to those matters which are not the necessary +and habitual subjects of their thoughts. Mercantile men will take +up very eagerly, and without any very close scrutiny, all the +general ideas on philosophy, politics, science, or the arts, +which may be presented to them; but for such as relate to +commerce, they will not receive them without inquiry, or adopt +them without reserve. The same thing applies to statesmen with +regard to general ideas in politics. If, then, there be a subject +upon which a democratic people is peculiarly liable to abandon +itself, blindly and extravagantly, to general ideas, the best +corrective that can be used will be to make that subject a part +of the daily practical occupation of that people. The people +will then be compelled to enter upon its details, and the details +will teach them the weak points of the theory. This remedy may +frequently be a painful one, but its effect is certain. + +Thus it happens, that the democratic institutions which +compel every citizen to take a practical part in the government, +moderate that excessive taste for general theories in politics +which the principle of equality suggests. + +Chapter V: Of The Manner In Which Religion In The United States +Avails Itself Of Democratic Tendencies + +I have laid it down in a preceding chapter that men cannot +do without dogmatical belief; and even that it is very much to be +desired that such belief should exist amongst them. I now add, +that of all the kinds of dogmatical belief the most desirable +appears to me to be dogmatical belief in matters of religion; and +this is a very clear inference, even from no higher consideration +than the interests of this world. There is hardly any human +action, however particular a character be assigned to it, which +does not originate in some very general idea men have conceived +of the Deity, of his relation to mankind, of the nature of their +own souls, and of their duties to their fellow-creatures. Nor +can anything prevent these ideas from being the common spring +from which everything else emanates. Men are therefore +immeasurably interested in acquiring fixed ideas of God, of the +soul, and of their common duties to their Creator and to their +fellow-men; for doubt on these first principles would abandon all +their actions to the impulse of chance, and would condemn them to +live, to a certain extent, powerless and undisciplined. + +This is then the subject on which it is most important for +each of us to entertain fixed ideas; and unhappily it is also the +subject on which it is most difficult for each of us, left to +himself, to settle his opinions by the sole force of his reason. +None but minds singularly free from the ordinary anxieties of +life - minds at once penetrating, subtle, and trained by thinking +- can even with the assistance of much time and care, sound the +depth of these most necessary truths. And, indeed, we see that +these philosophers are themselves almost always enshrouded in +uncertainties; that at every step the natural light which +illuminates their path grows dimmer and less secure; and that, in +spite of all their efforts, they have as yet only discovered a +small number of conflicting notions, on which the mind of man has +been tossed about for thousands of years, without either laying a +firmer grasp on truth, or finding novelty even in its errors. +Studies of this nature are far above the average capacity of men; +and even if the majority of mankind were capable of such +pursuits, it is evident that leisure to cultivate them would +still be wanting. Fixed ideas of God and human nature are +indispensable to the daily practice of men's lives; but the +practice of their lives prevents them from acquiring such ideas. + +The difficulty appears to me to be without a parallel. +Amongst the sciences there are some which are useful to the mass +of mankind, and which are within its reach; others can only be +approached by the few, and are not cultivated by the many, who +require nothing beyond their more remote applications: but the +daily practice of the science I speak of is indispensable to all, +although the study of it is inaccessible to the far greater +number. + +General ideas respecting God and human nature are therefore +the ideas above all others which it is most suitable to withdraw +from the habitual action of private judgment, and in which there +is most to gain and least to lose by recognizing a principle of +authority. The first object and one of the principal advantages +of religions, is to furnish to each of these fundamental +questions a solution which is at once clear, precise, +intelligible to the mass of mankind, and lasting. There are +religions which are very false and very absurd; but it may be +affirmed, that any religion which remains within the circle I +have just traced, without aspiring to go beyond it (as many +religions have attempted to do, for the purpose of enclosing on +every side the free progress of the human mind), imposes a +salutary restraint on the intellect; and it must be admitted +that, if it do not save men in another world, such religion is at +least very conducive to their happiness and their greatness in +this. This is more especially true of men living in free +countries. When the religion of a people is destroyed, doubt +gets hold of the highest portions of the intellect, and half +paralyzes all the rest of its powers. Every man accustoms +himself to entertain none but confused and changing notions on +the subjects most interesting to his fellow-creatures and +himself. His opinions are ill-defended and easily abandoned: +and, despairing of ever resolving by himself the hardest problems +of the destiny of man, he ignobly submits to think no more about +them. Such a condition cannot but enervate the soul, relax the +springs of the will, and prepare a people for servitude. Nor +does it only happen, in such a case, that they allow their +freedom to be wrested from them; they frequently themselves +surrender it. When there is no longer any principle of authority +in religion any more than in politics, men are speedily +frightened at the aspect of this unbounded independence. The +constant agitation of all surrounding things alarms and exhausts +them. As everything is at sea in the sphere of the intellect, +they determine at least that the mechanism of society should be +firm and fixed; and as they cannot resume their ancient belief, +they assume a master. + +For my own part, I doubt whether man can ever support at the +same time complete religious independence and entire public +freedom. And I am inclined to think, that if faith be wanting in +him, he must serve; and if he be free, he must believe. + +Perhaps, however, this great utility of religions is still +more obvious amongst nations where equality of conditions +prevails than amongst others. It must be acknowledged that +equality, which brings great benefits into the world, +nevertheless suggests to men (as will be shown hereafter) some +very dangerous propensities. It tends to isolate them from each +other, to concentrate every man's attention upon himself; and it +lays open the soul to an inordinate love of material +gratification. The greatest advantage of religion is to inspire +diametrically contrary principles. There is no religion which +does not place the object of man's desires above and beyond the +treasures of earth, and which does not naturally raise his soul +to regions far above those of the senses. Nor is there any which +does not impose on man some sort of duties to his kind, and thus +draws him at times from the contemplation of himself. This +occurs in religions the most false and dangerous. Religious +nations are therefore naturally strong on the very point on which +democratic nations are weak; which shows of what importance it is +for men to preserve their religion as their conditions become +more equal. + +I have neither the right nor the intention of examining the +supernatural means which God employs to infuse religious belief +into the heart of man. I am at this moment considering religions +in a purely human point of view: my object is to inquire by what +means they may most easily retain their sway in the democratic +ages upon which we are entering. It has been shown that, at +times of general cultivation and equality, the human mind does +not consent to adopt dogmatical opinions without reluctance, and +feels their necessity acutely in spiritual matters only. This +proves, in the first place, that at such times religions ought, +more cautiously than at any other, to confine themselves within +their own precincts; for in seeking to extend their power beyond +religious matters, they incur a risk of not being believed at +all. The circle within which they seek to bound the human +intellect ought therefore to be carefully traced, and beyond its +verge the mind should be left in entire freedom to its own +guidance. Mahommed professed to derive from Heaven, and he has +inserted in the Koran, not only a body of religious doctrines, +but political maxims, civil and criminal laws, and theories of +science. The gospel, on the contrary, only speaks of the general +relations of men to God and to each other - beyond which it +inculcates and imposes no point of faith. This alone, besides a +thousand other reasons, would suffice to prove that the former of +these religions will never long predominate in a cultivated and +democratic age, whilst the latter is destined to retain its sway +at these as at all other periods. + +But in continuation of this branch of the subject, I find +that in order for religions to maintain their authority, humanly +speaking, in democratic ages, they must not only confine +themselves strictly within the circle of spiritual matters: their +power also depends very much on the nature of the belief they +inculcate, on the external forms they assume, and on the +obligations they impose. The preceding observation, that +equality leads men to very general and very extensive notions, is +principally to be understood as applied to the question of +religion. Men living in a similar and equal condition in the +world readily conceive the idea of the one God, governing every +man by the same laws, and granting to every man future happiness +on the same conditions. The idea of the unity of mankind +constantly leads them back to the idea of the unity of the +Creator; whilst, on the contrary, in a state of society where men +are broken up into very unequal ranks, they are apt to devise as +many deities as there are nations, castes, classes, or families, +and to trace a thousand private roads to heaven. + +It cannot be denied that Christianity itself has felt, to a +certain extent, the influence which social and political +conditions exercise on religious opinions. At the epoch at which +the Christian religion appeared upon earth, Providence, by whom +the world was doubtless prepared for its coming, had gathered a +large portion of the human race, like an immense flock, under the +sceptre of the Caesars. The men of whom this multitude was +composed were distinguished by numerous differences; but they had +thus much in common, that they all obeyed the same laws, and that +every subject was so weak and insignificant in relation to the +imperial potentate, that all appeared equal when their condition +was contrasted with his. This novel and peculiar state of +mankind necessarily predisposed men to listen to the general +truths which Christianity teaches, and may serve to explain the +facility and rapidity with which they then penetrated into the +human mind. The counterpart of this state of things was +exhibited after the destruction of the empire. The Roman world +being then as it were shattered into a thousand fragments, each +nation resumed its pristine individuality. An infinite scale of +ranks very soon grew up in the bosom of these nations; the +different races were more sharply defined, and each nation was +divided by castes into several peoples. In the midst of this +common effort, which seemed to be urging human society to the +greatest conceivable amount of voluntary subdivision, +Christianity did not lose sight of the leading general ideas +which it had brought into the world. But it appeared, +nevertheless, to lend itself, as much as was possible, to those +new tendencies to which the fractional distribution of mankind +had given birth. Men continued to worship an only God, the +Creator and Preserver of all things; but every people, every +city, and, so to speak, every man, thought to obtain some +distinct privilege, and win the favor of an especial +patron at the foot of the Throne of Grace. Unable to subdivide +the Deity, they multiplied and improperly enhanced the importance +of the divine agents. The homage due to saints and angels became +an almost idolatrous worship amongst the majority of the +Christian world; and apprehensions might be entertained for a +moment lest the religion of Christ should retrograde towards the +superstitions which it had subdued. It seems evident, that the +more the barriers are removed which separate nation from nation +amongst mankind, and citizen from citizen amongst a people, the +stronger is the bent of the human mind, as if by its own impulse, +towards the idea of an only and all-powerful Being, dispensing +equal laws in the same manner to every man. In democratic ages, +then, it is more particularly important not to allow the homage +paid to secondary agents to be confounded with the worship due to +the Creator alone. + +Another truth is no less clear - that religions ought to +assume fewer external observances in democratic periods than at +any others. In speaking of philosophical method among the +Americans, I have shown that nothing is more repugnant to the +human mind in an age of equality than the idea of subjection to +forms. Men living at such times are impatient of figures; to +their eyes symbols appear to be the puerile artifice which is +used to conceal or to set off truths, which should more naturally +be bared to the light of open day: they are unmoved by ceremonial +observances, and they are predisposed to attach a secondary +importance to the details of public worship. Those whose care it +is to regulate the external forms of religion in a democratic age +should pay a close attention to these natural propensities of the +human mind, in order not unnecessarily to run counter to them. I +firmly believe in the necessity of forms, which fix the human +mind in the contemplation of abstract truths, and stimulate its +ardor in the pursuit of them, whilst they invigorate its powers +of retaining them steadfastly. Nor do I suppose that it is +possible to maintain a religion without external observances; +but, on the other hand, I am persuaded that, in the ages upon +which we are entering, it would be peculiarly dangerous to +multiply them beyond measure; and that they ought rather to be +limited to as much as is absolutely necessary to perpetuate the +doctrine itself, which is the substance of religions of which the +ritual is only the form. *a A religion which should become more +minute, more peremptory, and more surcharged with small +observances at a time in which men are becoming more equal, would +soon find itself reduced to a band of fanatical zealots in the +midst of an infidel people. + +[Footnote a: In all religions there are some ceremonies which are +inherent in the substance of the faith itself, and in these +nothing should, on any account, be changed. This is especially +the case with Roman Catholicism, in which the doctrine and the +form are frequently so closely united as to form one point of +belief.] + +I anticipate the objection, that as all religions have +general and eternal truths for their object, they cannot thus +shape themselves to the shifting spirit of every age without +forfeiting their claim to certainty in the eyes of mankind. To +this I reply again, that the principal opinions which constitute +belief, and which theologians call articles of faith, must be +very carefully distinguished from the accessories connected with +them. Religions are obliged to hold fast to the former, whatever +be the peculiar spirit of the age; but they should take good care +not to bind themselves in the same manner to the latter at a time +when everything is in transition, and when the mind, accustomed +to the moving pageant of human affairs, reluctantly endures the +attempt to fix it to any given point. The fixity of external and +secondary things can only afford a chance of duration when civil +society is itself fixed; under any other circumstances I hold it +to be perilous. + +We shall have occasion to see that, of all the passions +which originate in, or are fostered by, equality, there is one +which it renders peculiarly intense, and which it infuses at the +same time into the heart of every man: I mean the love of +well-being. The taste for well-being is the prominent and +indelible feature of democratic ages. It may be believed that a +religion which should undertake to destroy so deep seated a +passion, would meet its own destruction thence in the end; and if +it attempted to wean men entirely from the contemplation of the +good things of this world, in order to devote their faculties +exclusively to the thought of another, it may be foreseen that +the soul would at length escape from its grasp, to plunge into +the exclusive enjoyment of present and material pleasures. The +chief concern of religions is to purify, to regulate, and to +restrain the excessive and exclusive taste for well-being which +men feel at periods of equality; but they would err in attempting +to control it completely or to eradicate it. They will not +succeed in curing men of the love of riches: but they may still +persuade men to enrich themselves by none but honest means. + +This brings me to a final consideration, which comprises, as +it were, all the others. The more the conditions of men are +equalized and assimilated to each other, the more important is it +for religions, whilst they carefully abstain from the daily +turmoil of secular affairs, not needlessly to run counter to the +ideas which generally prevail, and the permanent interests which +exist in the mass of the people. For as public opinion grows to +be more and more evidently the first and most irresistible of +existing powers, the religious principle has no external support +strong enough to enable it long to resist its attacks. This is +not less true of a democratic people, ruled by a despot, than in +a republic. In ages of equality, kings may often command +obedience, but the majority always commands belief: to the +majority, therefore, deference is to be paid in whatsoever is not +contrary to the faith. + +I showed in my former volumes how the American clergy stand +aloof from secular affairs. This is the most obvious, but it is +not the only, example of their self-restraint. In America +religion is a distinct sphere, in which the priest is sovereign, +but out of which he takes care never to go. Within its limits he +is the master of the mind; beyond them, he leaves men to +themselves, and surrenders them to the independence and +instability which belong to their nature and their age. I have +seen no country in which Christianity is clothed with fewer +forms, figures, and observances than in the United States; or +where it presents more distinct, more simple, or more general +notions to the mind. Although the Christians of America are +divided into a multitude of sects, they all look upon their +religion in the same light. This applies to Roman Catholicism as +well as to the other forms of belief. There are no Romish +priests who show less taste for the minute individual observances +for extraordinary or peculiar means of salvation, or who cling +more to the spirit, and less to the letter of the law, than the +Roman Catholic priests of the United States. Nowhere is that +doctrine of the Church, which prohibits the worship reserved to +God alone from being offered to the saints, more clearly +inculcated or more generally followed. Yet the Roman Catholics +of America are very submissive and very sincere. + +Another remark is applicable to the clergy of every +communion. The American ministers of the gospel do not attempt +to draw or to fix all the thoughts of man upon the life to come; +they are willing to surrender a portion of his heart to the cares +of the present; seeming to consider the goods of this world as +important, although as secondary, objects. If they take no part +themselves in productive labor, they are at least interested in +its progression, and ready to applaud its results; and whilst +they never cease to point to the other world as the great object +of the hopes and fears of the believer, they do not forbid him +honestly to court prosperity in this. Far from attempting to show +that these things are distinct and contrary to one another, they +study rather to find out on what point they are most nearly and +closely connected. + +All the American clergy know and respect the intellectual +supremacy exercised by the majority; they never sustain any but +necessary conflicts with it. They take no share in the +altercations of parties, but they readily adopt the general +opinions of their country and their age; and they allow +themselves to be borne away without opposition in the current of +feeling and opinion by which everything around them is carried +along. They endeavor to amend their contemporaries, but they do +not quit fellowship with them. Public opinion is therefore never +hostile to them; it rather supports and protects them; and their +belief owes its authority at the same time to the strength which +is its own, and to that which they borrow from the opinions of +the majority. Thus it is that, by respecting all democratic +tendencies not absolutely contrary to herself, and by making use +of several of them for her own purposes, religion sustains an +advantageous struggle with that spirit of individual independence +which is her most dangerous antagonist. + + +Book One - Chapters VI-IX + +Chapter VI: Of The Progress Of Roman Catholicism In The United +States + +America is the most democratic country in the world, and it +is at the same time (according to reports worthy of belief) the +country in which the Roman Catholic religion makes most progress. +At first sight this is surprising. Two things must here be +accurately distinguished: equality inclines men to wish to form +their own opinions; but, on the other hand, it imbues them with +the taste and the idea of unity, simplicity, and impartiality in +the power which governs society. Men living in democratic ages +are therefore very prone to shake off all religious authority; +but if they consent to subject themselves to any authority of +this kind, they choose at least that it should be single and +uniform. Religious powers not radiating from a common centre are +naturally repugnant to their minds; and they almost as readily +conceive that there should be no religion, as that there should +be several. At the present time, more than in any preceding one, +Roman Catholics are seen to lapse into infidelity, and +Protestants to be converted to Roman Catholicism. If the Roman +Catholic faith be considered within the pale of the church, it +would seem to be losing ground; without that pale, to be gaining +it. Nor is this circumstance difficult of explanation. The men +of our days are naturally disposed to believe; but, as soon as +they have any religion, they immediately find in themselves a +latent propensity which urges them unconsciously towards +Catholicism. Many of the doctrines and the practices of the +Romish Church astonish them; but they feel a secret admiration +for its discipline, and its great unity attracts them. If +Catholicism could at length withdraw itself from the political +animosities to which it has given rise, I have hardly any doubt +but that the same spirit of the age, which appears to be so +opposed to it, would become so favorable as to admit of its great +and sudden advancement. One of the most ordinary weaknesses of +the human intellect is to seek to reconcile contrary principles, +and to purchase peace at the expense of logic. Thus there have +ever been, and will ever be, men who, after having submitted some +portion of their religious belief to the principle of authority, +will seek to exempt several other parts of their faith from its +influence, and to keep their minds floating at random between +liberty and obedience. But I am inclined to believe that the +number of these thinkers will be less in democratic than in other +ages; and that our posterity will tend more and more to a single +division into two parts - some relinquishing Christianity +entirely, and others returning to the bosom of the Church of +Rome. + +Chapter VII: Of The Cause Of A Leaning To Pantheism Amongst +Democratic Nations + +I shall take occasion hereafter to show under what form the +preponderating taste of a democratic people for very general +ideas manifests itself in politics; but I would point out, at the +present stage of my work, its principal effect on philosophy. It +cannot be denied that pantheism has made great progress in our +age. The writings of a part of Europe bear visible marks of it: +the Germans introduce it into philosophy, and the French into +literature. Most of the works of imagination published in France +contain some opinions or some tinge caught from pantheistical +doctrines, or they disclose some tendency to such doctrines in +their authors. This appears to me not only to proceed from an +accidental, but from a permanent cause. + +When the conditions of society are becoming more equal, and +each individual man becomes more like all the rest, more weak and +more insignificant, a habit grows up of ceasing to notice the +citizens to consider only the people, and of overlooking +individuals to think only of their kind. At such times the human +mind seeks to embrace a multitude of different objects at once; +and it constantly strives to succeed in connecting a variety of +consequences with a single cause. The idea of unity so possesses +itself of man, and is sought for by him so universally, that if +he thinks he has found it, he readily yields himself up to repose +in that belief. Nor does he content himself with the discovery +that nothing is in the world but a creation and a Creator; still +embarrassed by this primary division of things, he seeks to +expand and to simplify his conception by including God and the +universe in one great whole. If there be a philosophical system +which teaches that all things material and immaterial, visible +and invisible, which the world contains, are only to be +considered as the several parts of an immense Being, which alone +remains unchanged amidst the continual change and ceaseless +transformation of all that constitutes it, we may readily infer +that such a system, although it destroy the individuality of man +- nay, rather because it destroys that individuality - will have +secret charms for men living in democracies. All their habits of +thought prepare them to conceive it, and predispose them to adopt +it. It naturally attracts and fixes their imagination; it +fosters the pride, whilst it soothes the indolence, of their +minds. Amongst the different systems by whose aid philosophy +endeavors to explain the universe, I believe pantheism to be one +of those most fitted to seduce the human mind in democratic ages. +Against it all who abide in their attachment to the true +greatness of man should struggle and combine. + +Chapter VIII: The Principle Of Equality Suggests To The Americans +The Idea Of The Indefinite Perfectibility Of Man + +Equality suggests to the human mind several ideas which +would not have originated from any other source, and it modifies +almost all those previously entertained. I take as an example +the idea of human perfectibility, because it is one of the +principal notions that the intellect can conceive, and because it +constitutes of itself a great philosophical theory, which is +every instant to be traced by its consequences in the practice of +human affairs. Although man has many points of resemblance with +the brute creation, one characteristic is peculiar to himself - +he improves: they are incapable of improvement. Mankind could +not fail to discover this difference from its earliest period. +The idea of perfectibility is therefore as old as the world; +equality did not give birth to it, although it has imparted to it +a novel character. + +When the citizens of a community are classed according to +their rank, their profession, or their birth, and when all men +are constrained to follow the career which happens to open before +them, everyone thinks that the utmost limits of human power are +to be discerned in proximity to himself, and none seeks any +longer to resist the inevitable law of his destiny. Not indeed +that an aristocratic people absolutely contests man's faculty of +self- improvement, but they do not hold it to be indefinite; +amelioration they conceive, but not change: they imagine that the +future condition of society may be better, but not essentially +different; and whilst they admit that mankind has made vast +strides in improvement, and may still have some to make, they +assign to it beforehand certain impassable limits. Thus they do +not presume that they have arrived at the supreme good or at +absolute truth (what people or what man was ever wild enough to +imagine it?) but they cherish a persuasion that they have pretty +nearly reached that degree of greatness and knowledge which our +imperfect nature admits of; and as nothing moves about them they +are willing to fancy that everything is in its fit place. Then it +is that the legislator affects to lay down eternal laws; that +kings and nations will raise none but imperishable monuments; and +that the present generation undertakes to spare generations to +come the care of regulating their destinies. + +In proportion as castes disappear and the classes of society +approximate - as manners, customs, and laws vary, from the +tumultuous intercourse of men -as new facts arise - as new truths +are brought to light - as ancient opinions are dissipated, and +others take their place -the image of an ideal perfection, +forever on the wing, presents itself to the human mind. Continual +changes are then every instant occurring under the observation of +every man: the position of some is rendered worse; and he learns +but too well, that no people and no individual, how enlightened +soever they may be, can lay claim to infallibility; - the +condition of others is improved; whence he infers that man is +endowed with an indefinite faculty of improvement. His reverses +teach him that none may hope to have discovered absolute good - +his success stimulates him to the never-ending pursuit of it. +Thus, forever seeking -forever falling, to rise again - often +disappointed, but not discouraged - he tends unceasingly towards +that unmeasured greatness so indistinctly visible at the end of +the long track which humanity has yet to tread. It can hardly be +believed how many facts naturally flow from the philosophical +theory of the indefinite perfectibility of man, or how strong an +influence it exercises even on men who, living entirely for the +purposes of action and not of thought, seem to conform their +actions to it, without knowing anything about it. I accost an +American sailor, and I inquire why the ships of his country are +built so as to last but for a short time; he answers without +hesitation that the art of navigation is every day making such +rapid progress, that the finest vessel would become almost +useless if it lasted beyond a certain number of years. In these +words, which fell accidentally and on a particular subject from a +man of rude attainments, I recognize the general and systematic +idea upon which a great people directs all its concerns. + +Aristocratic nations are naturally too apt to narrow the +scope of human perfectibility; democratic nations to expand it +beyond compass. + +Chapter IX: The Example Of The Americans Does Not Prove That A +Democratic People Can Have No Aptitude And No Taste For Science, +Literature, Or Art + +It must be acknowledged that amongst few of the civilized +nations of our time have the higher sciences made less progress +than in the United States; and in few have great artists, fine +poets, or celebrated writers been more rare. Many Europeans, +struck by this fact, have looked upon it as a natural and +inevitable result of equality; and they have supposed that if a +democratic state of society and democratic institutions were ever +to prevail over the whole earth, the human mind would gradually +find its beacon-lights grow dim, and men would relapse into a +period of darkness. To reason thus is, I think, to confound +several ideas which it is important to divide and to examine +separately: it is to mingle, unintentionally, what is democratic +with what is only American. + +The religion professed by the first emigrants, and +bequeathed by them to their descendants, simple in its form of +worship, austere and almost harsh in its principles, and hostile +to external symbols and to ceremonial pomp, is naturally +unfavorable to the fine arts, and only yields a reluctant +sufferance to the pleasures of literature. The Americans are a +very old and a very enlightened people, who have fallen upon a +new and unbounded country, where they may extend themselves at +pleasure, and which they may fertilize without difficulty. This +state of things is without a parallel in the history of the +world. In America, then, every one finds facilities, unknown +elsewhere, for making or increasing his fortune. The spirit of +gain is always on the stretch, and the human mind, constantly +diverted from the pleasures of imagination and the labors of the +intellect, is there swayed by no impulse but the pursuit of +wealth. Not only are manufacturing and commercial classes to be +found in the United States, as they are in all other countries; +but what never occurred elsewhere, the whole community is +simultaneously engaged in productive industry and commerce. I am +convinced that, if the Americans had been alone in the world, +with the freedom and the knowledge acquired by their forefathers, +and the passions which are their own, they would not have been +slow to discover that progress cannot long be made in the +application of the sciences without cultivating the theory of +them; that all the arts are perfected by one another: and, +however absorbed they might have been by the pursuit of the +principal object of their desires, they would speedily have +admitted, that it is necessary to turn aside from it +occasionally, in order the better to attain it in the end. + +The taste for the pleasures of the mind is moreover so +natural to the heart of civilized man, that amongst the polite +nations, which are least disposed to give themselves up to these +pursuits, a certain number of citizens are always to be found who +take part in them. This intellectual craving, when once felt, +would very soon have been satisfied. But at the very time when +the Americans were naturally inclined to require nothing of +science but its special applications to the useful arts and the +means of rendering life comfortable, learned and literary Europe +was engaged in exploring the common sources of truth, and in +improving at the same time all that can minister to the pleasures +or satisfy the wants of man. At the head of the enlightened +nations of the Old World the inhabitants of the United States +more particularly distinguished one, to which they were closely +united by a common origin and by kindred habits. Amongst this +people they found distinguished men of science, artists of skill, +writers of eminence, and they were enabled to enjoy the treasures +of the intellect without requiring to labor in amassing them. I +cannot consent to separate America from Europe, in spite of the +ocean which intervenes. I consider the people of the United +States as that portion of the English people which is +commissioned to explore the wilds of the New World; whilst the +rest of the nation, enjoying more leisure and less harassed by +the drudgery of life, may devote its energies to thought, and +enlarge in all directions the empire of the mind. +The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and +it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed +in a similar one. Their strictly Puritanical origin - their +exclusively commercial habits - even the country they inhabit, +which seems to divert their minds from the pursuit of science, +literature, and the arts - the proximity of Europe, which allows +them to neglect these pursuits without relapsing into barbarism - +a thousand special causes, of which I have only been able to +point out the most important - have singularly concurred to fix +the mind of the American upon purely practical objects. His +passions, his wants, his education, and everything about him seem +to unite in drawing the native of the United States earthward: +his religion alone bids him turn, from time to time, a transient +and distracted glance to heaven. Let us cease then to view all +democratic nations under the mask of the American people, and let +us attempt to survey them at length with their own proper +features. + +It is possible to conceive a people not subdivided into any +castes or scale of ranks; in which the law, recognizing no +privileges, should divide inherited property into equal shares; +but which, at the same time, should be without knowledge and +without freedom. Nor is this an empty hypothesis: a despot may +find that it is his interest to render his subjects equal and to +leave them ignorant, in order more easily to keep them slaves. +Not only would a democratic people of this kind show neither +aptitude nor taste for science, literature, or art, but it would +probably never arrive at the possession of them. The law of +descent would of itself provide for the destruction of fortunes +at each succeeding generation; and new fortunes would be acquired +by none. The poor man, without either knowledge or freedom, +would not so much as conceive the idea of raising himself to +wealth; and the rich man would allow himself to be degraded to +poverty, without a notion of self-defence. Between these two +members of the community complete and invincible equality would +soon be established. + +No one would then have time or taste to devote himself to +the pursuits or pleasures of the intellect; but all men would +remain paralyzed by a state of common ignorance and equal +servitude. When I conceive a democratic society of this kind, I +fancy myself in one of those low, close, and gloomy abodes, where +the light which breaks in from without soon faints and fades +away. A sudden heaviness overpowers me, and I grope through the +surrounding darkness, to find the aperture which will restore me +to daylight and the air. + +But all this is not applicable to men already enlightened +who retain their freedom, after having abolished from amongst +them those peculiar and hereditary rights which perpetuated the +tenure of property in the hands of certain individuals or certain +bodies. When men living in a democratic state of society are +enlightened, they readily discover that they are confined and +fixed within no limits which constrain them to take up with their +present fortune. They all therefore conceive the idea of +increasing it; if they are free, they all attempt it, but all do +not succeed in the same manner. The legislature, it is true, no +longer grants privileges, but they are bestowed by nature. As +natural inequality is very great, fortunes become unequal as soon +as every man exerts all his faculties to get rich. The law of +descent prevents the establishment of wealthy families; but it +does not prevent the existence of wealthy individuals. It +constantly brings back the members of the community to a common +level, from which they as constantly escape: and the inequality +of fortunes augments in proportion as knowledge is diffused and +liberty increased. + +A sect which arose in our time, and was celebrated for its +talents and its extravagance, proposed to concentrate all +property into the hands of a central power, whose function it +should afterwards be to parcel it out to individuals, according +to their capacity. This would have been a method of escaping +from that complete and eternal equality which seems to threaten +democratic society. But it would be a simpler and less dangerous +remedy to grant no privilege to any, giving to all equal +cultivation and equal independence, and leaving everyone to +determine his own position. Natural inequality will very soon +make way for itself, and wealth will spontaneously pass into the +hands of the most capable. + +Free and democratic communities, then, will always contain a +considerable number of people enjoying opulence or competency. +The wealthy will not be so closely linked to each other as the +members of the former aristocratic class of society: their +propensities will be different, and they will scarcely ever enjoy +leisure as secure or as complete: but they will be far more +numerous than those who belonged to that class of society could +ever be. These persons will not be strictly confined to the +cares of practical life, and they will still be able, though in +different degrees, to indulge in the pursuits and pleasures of +the intellect. In those pleasures they will indulge; for if it +be true that the human mind leans on one side to the narrow, the +practical, and the useful, it naturally rises on the other to the +infinite, the spiritual, and the beautiful. Physical wants +confine it to the earth; but, as soon as the tie is loosened, it +will unbend itself again. + +Not only will the number of those who can take an interest +in the productions of the mind be enlarged, but the taste for +intellectual enjoyment will descend, step by step, even to those +who, in aristocratic societies, seem to have neither time nor +ability to in indulge in them. When hereditary wealth, the +privileges of rank, and the prerogatives of birth have ceased to +be, and when every man derives his strength from himself alone, +it becomes evident that the chief cause of disparity between the +fortunes of men is the mind. Whatever tends to invigorate, to +extend, or to adorn the mind, instantly rises to great value. +The utility of knowledge becomes singularly conspicuous even to +the eyes of the multitude: those who have no taste for its charms +set store upon its results, and make some efforts to acquire it. +In free and enlightened democratic ages, there is nothing to +separate men from each other or to retain them in their peculiar +sphere; they rise or sink with extreme rapidity. All classes +live in perpetual intercourse from their great proximity to each +other. They communicate and intermingle every day -they imitate +and envy one other: this suggests to the people many ideas, +notions, and desires which it would never have entertained if the +distinctions of rank had been fixed and society at rest. In such +nations the servant never considers himself as an entire stranger +to the pleasures and toils of his master, nor the poor man to +those of the rich; the rural population assimilates itself to +that of the towns, and the provinces to the capital. No one +easily allows himself to be reduced to the mere material cares of +life; and the humblest artisan casts at times an eager and a +furtive glance into the higher regions of the intellect. People +do not read with the same notions or in the same manner as they +do in an aristocratic community; but the circle of readers is +unceasingly expanded, till it includes all the citizens. + +As soon as the multitude begins to take an interest in the +labors of the mind, it finds out that to excel in some of them is +a powerful method of acquiring fame, power, or wealth. The +restless ambition which equality begets instantly takes this +direction as it does all others. The number of those who +cultivate science, letters, and the arts, becomes immense. The +intellectual world starts into prodigious activity: everyone +endeavors to open for himself a path there, and to draw the eyes +of the public after him. Something analogous occurs to what +happens in society in the United States, politically considered. +What is done is often imperfect, but the attempts are +innumerable; and, although the results of individual effort are +commonly very small, the total amount is always very large. + +It is therefore not true to assert that men living in +democratic ages are naturally indifferent to science, literature, +and the arts: only it must be acknowledged that they cultivate +them after their own fashion, and bring to the task their own +peculiar qualifications and deficiencies. + + +Book One - Chapters X-XII + +Chapter X: Why The Americans Are More Addicted To Practical Than +To Theoretical Science + +If a democratic state of society and democratic institutions +do not stop the career of the human mind, they incontestably +guide it in one direction in preference to another. Their +effects, thus circumscribed, are still exceedingly great; and I +trust I may be pardoned if I pause for a moment to survey them. +We had occasion, in speaking of the philosophical method of the +American people, to make several remarks which must here be +turned to account. + +Equality begets in man the desire of judging of everything +for himself: it gives him, in all things, a taste for the +tangible and the real, a contempt for tradition and for forms. +These general tendencies are principally discernible in the +peculiar subject of this chapter. Those who cultivate the +sciences amongst a democratic people are always afraid of losing +their way in visionary speculation. They mistrust systems; they +adhere closely to facts and the study of facts with their own +senses. As they do not easily defer to the mere name of any +fellow-man, they are never inclined to rest upon any man's +authority; but, on the contrary, they are unremitting in their +efforts to point out the weaker points of their neighbors' +opinions. Scientific precedents have very little weight with +them; they are never long detained by the subtility of the +schools, nor ready to accept big words for sterling coin; they +penetrate, as far as they can, into the principal parts of the +subject which engages them, and they expound them in the +vernacular tongue. Scientific pursuits then follow a freer and a +safer course, but a less lofty one. + +The mind may, as it appears to me, divide science into three +parts. The first comprises the most theoretical principles, and +those more abstract notions whose application is either unknown +or very remote. The second is composed of those general truths +which still belong to pure theory, but lead, nevertheless, by a +straight and short road to practical results. Methods of +application and means of execution make up the third. Each of +these different portions of science may be separately cultivated, +although reason and experience show that none of them can prosper +long, if it be absolutely cut off from the two others. + +In America the purely practical part of science is admirably +understood, and careful attention is paid to the theoretical +portion which is immediately requisite to application. On this +head the Americans always display a clear, free, original, and +inventive power of mind. But hardly anyone in the United States +devotes himself to the essentially theoretical and abstract +portion of human knowledge. In this respect the Americans carry +to excess a tendency which is, I think, discernible, though in a +less degree, amongst all democratic nations. + +Nothing is more necessary to the culture of the higher +sciences, or of the more elevated departments of science, than +meditation; and nothing is less suited to meditation than the +structure of democratic society. We do not find there, as +amongst an aristocratic people, one class which clings to a state +of repose because it is well off; and another which does not +venture to stir because it despairs of improving its condition. +Everyone is actively in motion: some in quest of power, others of +gain. In the midst of this universal tumult - this incessant +conflict of jarring interests - this continual stride of men +after fortune - where is that calm to be found which is necessary +for the deeper combinations of the intellect? How can the mind +dwell upon any single point, when everything whirls around it, +and man himself is swept and beaten onwards by the heady current +which rolls all things in its course? But the permanent +agitation which subsists in the bosom of a peaceable and +established democracy, must be distinguished from the tumultuous +and revolutionary movements which almost always attend the birth +and growth of democratic society. When a violent revolution +occurs amongst a highly civilized people, it cannot fail to give +a sudden impulse to their feelings and their opinions. This is +more particularly true of democratic revolutions, which stir up +all the classes of which a people is composed, and beget, at the +same time, inordinate ambition in the breast of every member of +the community. The French made most surprising advances in the +exact sciences at the very time at which they were finishing the +destruction of the remains of their former feudal society; yet +this sudden fecundity is not to be attributed to democracy, but +to the unexampled revolution which attended its growth. What +happened at that period was a special incident, and it would be +unwise to regard it as the test of a general principle. +Great revolutions are not more common amongst democratic +nations than amongst others: I am even inclined to believe that +they are less so. But there prevails amongst those populations a +small distressing motion -a sort of incessant jostling of men - +which annoys and disturbs the mind, without exciting or elevating +it. Men who live in democratic communities not only seldom +indulge in meditation, but they naturally entertain very little +esteem for it. A democratic state of society and democratic +institutions plunge the greater part of men in constant active +life; and the habits of mind which are suited to an active life, +are not always suited to a contemplative one. The man of action +is frequently obliged to content himself with the best he can +get, because he would never accomplish his purpose if he chose to +carry every detail to perfection. He has perpetually occasion to +rely on ideas which he has not had leisure to search to the +bottom; for he is much more frequently aided by the opportunity +of an idea than by its strict accuracy; and, in the long run, he +risks less in making use of some false principles, than in +spending his time in establishing all his principles on the basis +of truth. The world is not led by long or learned demonstrations; +a rapid glance at particular incidents, the daily study of the +fleeting passions of the multitude, the accidents of the time, +and the art of turning them to account, decide all its affairs. + +In the ages in which active life is the condition of almost +everyone, men are therefore generally led to attach an excessive +value to the rapid bursts and superficial conceptions of the +intellect; and, on the other hand, to depreciate below their true +standard its slower and deeper labors. This opinion of the +public influences the judgment of the men who cultivate the +sciences; they are persuaded that they may succeed in those +pursuits without meditation, or deterred from such pursuits as +demand it. + +There are several methods of studying the sciences. Amongst +a multitude of men you will find a selfish, mercantile, and +trading taste for the discoveries of the mind, which must not be +confounded with that disinterested passion which is kindled in +the heart of the few. A desire to utilize knowledge is one +thing; the pure desire to know is another. I do not doubt that +in a few minds and far between, an ardent, inexhaustible love of +truth springs up, self-supported, and living in ceaseless +fruition without ever attaining the satisfaction which it seeks. +This ardent love it is - this proud, disinterested love of what +is true - which raises men to the abstract sources of truth, to +draw their mother-knowledge thence. If Pascal had had nothing in +view but some large gain, or even if he had been stimulated by +the love of fame alone, I cannot conceive that he would ever have +been able to rally all the powers of his mind, as he did, for the +better discovery of the most hidden things of the Creator. When +I see him, as it were, tear his soul from the midst of all the +cares of life to devote it wholly to these researches, and, +prematurely snapping the links which bind the frame to life, die +of old age before forty, I stand amazed, and I perceive that no +ordinary cause is at work to produce efforts so extra-ordinary. + +The future will prove whether these passions, at once so +rare and so productive, come into being and into growth as easily +in the midst of democratic as in aristocratic communities. For +myself, I confess that I am slow to believe it. In aristocratic +society, the class which gives the tone to opinion, and has the +supreme guidance of affairs, being permanently and hereditarily +placed above the multitude, naturally conceives a lofty idea of +itself and of man. It loves to invent for him noble pleasures, +to carve out splendid objects for his ambition. Aristocracies +often commit very tyrannical and very inhuman actions; but they +rarely entertain grovelling thoughts; and they show a kind of +haughty contempt of little pleasures, even whilst they indulge in +them. The effect is greatly to raise the general pitch of +society. In aristocratic ages vast ideas are commonly entertained +of the dignity, the power, and the greatness of man. These +opinions exert their influence on those who cultivate the +sciences, as well as on the rest of the community. They +facilitate the natural impulse of the mind to the highest regions +of thought, and they naturally prepare it to conceive a sublime - +nay, almost a divine - love of truth. Men of science at such +periods are consequently carried away by theory; and it even +happens that they frequently conceive an inconsiderate contempt +for the practical part of learning. "Archimedes," says Plutarch, +"was of so lofty a spirit, that he never condescended to write +any treatise on the manner of constructing all these engines of +offence and defence. And as he held this science of inventing +and putting together engines, and all arts generally speaking +which tended to any usetul end in practice, to be vile, low, and +mercenary, he spent his talents and his studious hours in writing +of those things only whose beauty and subtilty had in them no +admixture of necessity." Such is the aristocratic aim of science; +in democratic nations it cannot be the same. + +The greater part of the men who constitute these nations are +extremely eager in the pursuit of actual and physical +gratification. As they are always dissatisfied with the position +which they occupy, and are always free to leave it, they think of +nothing but the means of changing their fortune, or of increasing +it. To minds thus predisposed, every new method which leads by a +shorter road to wealth, every machine which spares labor, every +instrument which diminishes the cost of production, every +discovery which facilitates pleasures or augments them, seems to +be the grandest effort of the human intellect. It is chiefly +from these motives that a democratic people addicts itself to +scientific pursuits - that it understands, and that it respects +them. In aristocratic ages, science is more particularly called +upon to furnish gratification to the mind; in democracies, to the +body. You may be sure that the more a nation is democratic, +enlightened, and free, the greater will be the number of these +interested promoters of scientific genius, and the more will +discoveries immediately applicable to productive industry confer +gain, fame, and even power on their authors. For in democracies +the working class takes a part in public affairs; and public +honors, as well as pecuniary remuneration, may be awarded to +those who deserve them. In a community thus organized it may +easily be conceived that the human mind may be led insensibly to +the neglect of theory; and that it is urged, on the contrary, +with unparalleled vehemence to the applications of science, or at +least to that portion of theoretical science which is necessary +to those who make such applications. In vain will some innate +propensity raise the mind towards the loftier spheres of the +intellect; interest draws it down to the middle zone. There it +may develop all its energy and restless activity, there it may +engender all its wonders. These very Americans, who have not +discovered one of the general laws of mechanics, have introduced +into navigation an engine which changes the aspect of the world. + +Assuredly I do not content that the democratic nations of +our time are destined to witness the extinction of the +transcendent luminaries of man's intelligence, nor even that no +new lights will ever start into existence. At the age at which +the world has now arrived, and amongst so many cultivated +nations, perpetually excited by the fever of productive industry, +the bonds which connect the different parts of science together +cannot fail to strike the observation; and the taste for +practical science itself, if it be enlightened, ought to lead men +not to neglect theory. In the midst of such numberless attempted +applications of so many experiments, repeated every day, it is +almost impossible that general laws should not frequently be +brought to light; so that great discoveries would be frequent, +though great inventors be rare. I believe, moreover, in the high +calling of scientific minds. If the democratic principle does +not, on the one hand, induce men to cultivate science for its own +sake, on the other it enormously increases the number of those +who do cultivate it. Nor is it credible that, from amongst so +great a multitude no speculative genius should from time to time +arise, inflamed by the love of truth alone. Such a one, we may +be sure, would dive into the deepest mysteries of nature, +whatever be the spirit of his country or his age. He requires no +assistance in his course - enough that he be not checked in it. + +All that I mean to say is this: - permanent inequality of +conditions leads men to confine themselves to the arrogant and +sterile research of abstract truths; whilst the social condition +and the institutions of democracy prepare them to seek the +immediate and useful practical results of the sciences. This +tendency is natural and inevitable: it is curious to be +acquainted with it, and it may be necessary to point it out. If +those who are called upon to guide the nations of our time +clearly discerned from afar off these new tendencies, which will +soon be irresistible, they would understand that, possessing +education and freedom, men living in democratic ages cannot fail +to improve the industrial part of science; and that henceforward +all the efforts of the constituted authorities ought to be +directed to support the highest branches of learning, and to +foster the nobler passion for science itself. In the present age +the human mind must be coerced into theoretical studies; it runs +of its own accord to practical applications; and, instead of +perpetually referring it to the minute examination of secondary +effects, it is well to divert it from them sometimes, in order to +raise it up to the contemplation of primary causes. Because the +civilization of ancient Rome perished in consequence of the +invasion of the barbarians, we are perhaps too apt to think that +civilization cannot perish in any other manner. If the light by +which we are guided is ever extinguished, it will dwindle by +degrees, and expire of itself. By dint of close adherence to +mere applications, principles would be lost sight of; and when +the principles were wholly forgotten, the methods derived from +them would be ill-pursued. New methods could no longer be +invented, and men would continue to apply, without intelligence, +and without art, scientific processes no longer understood. + +When Europeans first arrived in China, three hundred years +ago, they found that almost all the arts had reached a certain +degree of perfection there; and they were surprised that a people +which had attained this point should not have gone beyond it. At +a later period they discovered some traces of the higher branches +of science which were lost. The nation was absorbed in +productive industry: the greater part of its scientific processes +had been preserved, but science itself no longer existed there. +This served to explain the strangely motionless state in which +they found the minds of this people. The Chinese, in following +the track of their forefathers, had forgotten the reasons by +which the latter had been guided. They still used the formula, +without asking for its meaning: they retained the instrument, but +they no longer possessed the art of altering or renewing it. The +Chinese, then, had lost the power of change; for them to improve +was impossible. They were compelled, at all times and in all +points, to imitate their predecessors, lest they should stray +into utter darkness, by deviating for an instant from the path +already laid down for them. The source of human knowledge was +all but dry; and though the stream still ran on, it could neither +swell its waters nor alter its channel. Notwithstanding this, +China had subsisted peaceably for centuries. The invaders who +had conquered the country assumed the manners of the inhabitants, +and order prevailed there. A sort of physical prosperity was +everywhere discernible: revolutions were rare, and war was, so to +speak, unknown. + +It is then a fallacy to flatter ourselves with the +reflection that the barbarians are still far from us; for if +there be some nations which allow civilization to be torn from +their grasp, there are others who trample it themselves under +their feet. + +Chapter XI: Of The Spirit In Which The Americans Cultivate The +Arts + +It would be to waste the time of my readers and my own if I +strove to demonstrate how the general mediocrity of fortunes, the +absence of superfluous wealth, the universal desire of comfort, +and the constant efforts by which everyone attempts to procure +it, make the taste for the useful predominate over the love of +the beautiful in the heart of man. Democratic nations, amongst +which all these things exist, will therefore cultivate the arts +which serve to render life easy, in preference to those whose +object is to adorn it. They will habitually prefer the useful to +the beautiful, and they will require that the beautiful should be +useful. But I propose to go further; and after having pointed +out this first feature, to sketch several others. + +It commonly happens that in the ages of privilege the +practice of almost all the arts becomes a privilege; and that +every profession is a separate walk, upon which it is not +allowable for everyone to enter. Even when productive industry +is free, the fixed character which belongs to aristocratic +nations gradually segregates all the persons who practise the +same art, till they form a distinct class, always composed of the +same families, whose members are all known to each other, and +amongst whom a public opinion of their own and a species of +corporate pride soon spring up. In a class or guild of this kind, +each artisan has not only his fortune to make, but his reputation +to preserve. He is not exclusively swayed by his own interest, +or even by that of his customer, but by that of the body to which +he belongs; and the interest of that body is, that each artisan +should produce the best possible workmanship. In aristocratic +ages, the object of the arts is therefore to manufacture as well +as possible - not with the greatest despatch, or at the lowest +rate. + +When, on the contrary, every profession is open to all - +when a multitude of persons are constantly embracing and +abandoning it - and when its several members are strangers to +each other, indifferent, and from their numbers hardly seen +amongst themselves; the social tie is destroyed, and each +workman, standing alone, endeavors simply to gain the greatest +possible quantity of money at the least possible cost. The will +of the customer is then his only limit. But at the same time a +corresponding revolution takes place in the customer also. In +countries in which riches as well as power are concentrated and +retained in the hands of the few, the use of the greater part of +this world's goods belongs to a small number of individuals, who +are always the same. Necessity, public opinion, or moderate +desires exclude all others from the enjoyment of them. As this +aristocratic class remains fixed at the pinnacle of greatness on +which it stands, without diminution or increase, it is always +acted upon by the same wants and affected by them in the same +manner. The men of whom it is composed naturally derive from +their superior and hereditary position a taste for what is +extremely well made and lasting. This affects the general way of +thinking of the nation in relation to the arts. It often occurs, +among such a people, that even the peasant will rather go without +the object he covets, than procure it in a state of imperfection. +In aristocracies, then, the handicraftsmen work for only a +limited number of very fastidious customers: the profit they hope +to make depends principally on the perfection of their +workmanship. + +Such is no longer the case when, all privileges being +abolished, ranks are intermingled, and men are forever rising or +sinking upon the ladder of society. Amongst a democratic people +a number of citizens always exist whose patrimony is divided and +decreasing. They have contracted, under more prosperous +circumstances, certain wants, which remain after the means of +satisfying such wants are gone; and they are anxiously looking +out for some surreptitious method of providing for them. On the +other hand, there are always in democracies a large number of men +whose fortune is upon the increase, but whose desires grow much +faster than their fortunes: and who gloat upon the gifts of +wealth in anticipation, long before they have means to command +them. Such men eager to find some short cut to these +gratifications, already almost within their reach. From the +combination of these causes the result is, that in democracies +there are always a multitude of individuals whose wants are above +their means, and who are very willing to take up with imperfect +satisfaction rather than abandon the object of their desires. + +The artisan readily understands these passions, for he +himself partakes in them: in an aristocracy he would seek to sell +his workmanship at a high price to the few; he now conceives that +the more expeditious way of getting rich is to sell them at a low +price to all. But there are only two ways of lowering the price +of commodities. The first is to discover some better, shorter, +and more ingenious method of producing them: the second is to +manufacture a larger quantity of goods, nearly similar, but of +less value. Amongst a democratic population, all the intellectual +faculties of the workman are directed to these two objects: he +strives to invent methods which may enable him not only to work +better, but quicker and cheaper; or, if he cannot succeed in +that, to diminish the intrinsic qualities of the thing he makes, +without rendering it wholly unfit for the use for which it is +intended. When none but the wealthy had watches, they were +almost all very good ones: few are now made which are worth much, +but everybody has one in his pocket. Thus the democratic +principle not only tends to direct the human mind to the useful +arts, but it induces the artisan to produce with greater rapidity +a quantity of imperfect commodities, and the consumer to content +himself with these commodities. + +Not that in democracies the arts are incapable of producing +very commendable works, if such be required. This may +occasionally be the case, if customers appear who are ready to +pay for time and trouble. In this rivalry of every kind of +industry - in the midst of this immense competition and these +countless experiments, some excellent workmen are formed who +reach the utmost limits of their craft. But they have rarely an +opportunity of displaying what they can do; they are scrupulously +sparing of their powers; they remain in a state of accomplished +mediocrity, which condemns itself, and, though it be very well +able to shoot beyond the mark before it, aims only at what it +hits. In aristocracies, on the contrary, workmen always do all +they can; and when they stop, it is because they have reached the +limit of their attainments. + +When I arrive in a country where I find some of the finest +productions of the arts, I learn from this fact nothing of the +social condition or of the political constitution of the country. +But if I perceive that the productions of the arts are generally +of an inferior quality, very abundant and very cheap, I am +convinced that, amongst the people where this occurs, privilege +is on the decline, and that ranks are beginning to intermingle, +and will soon be confounded together. + +The handicraftsmen of democratic ages endeavor not only to +bring their useful productions within the reach of the whole +community, but they strive to give to all their commodities +attractive qualities which they do not in reality possess. In +the confusion of all ranks everyone hopes to appear what he is +not, and makes great exertions to succeed in this object. This +sentiment indeed, which is but too natural to the heart of man, +does not originate in the democratic principle; but that +principle applies it to material objects. To mimic virtue is of +every age; but the hypocrisy of luxury belongs more particularly +to the ages of democracy. + +To satisfy these new cravings of human vanity the arts have +recourse to every species of imposture: and these devices +sometimes go so far as to defeat their own purpose. Imitation +diamonds are now made which may be easily mistaken for real ones; +as soon as the art of fabricating false diamonds shall have +reached so high a degree of perfection that they cannot be +distinguished from real ones, it is probable that both one and +the other will be abandoned, and become mere pebbles again. + +This leads me to speak of those arts which are called the +fine arts, by way of distinction. I do not believe that it is a +necessary effect of a democratic social condition and of +democratic institutions to diminish the number of men who +cultivate the fine arts; but these causes exert a very powerful +influence on the manner in which these arts are cultivated. Many +of those who had already contracted a taste for the fine arts are +impoverished: on the other hand, many of those who are not yet +rich begin to conceive that taste, at least by imitation; and the +number of consumers increases, but opulent and fastidious +consumers become more scarce. Something analogous to what I have +already pointed out in the useful arts then takes place in the +fine arts; the productions of artists are more numerous, but the +merit of each production is diminished. No longer able to soar +to what is great, they cultivate what is pretty and elegant; and +appearance is more attended to than reality. In aristocracies a +few great pictures are produced; in democratic countries, a vast +number of insignificant ones. In the former, statues are raised +of bronze; in the latter, they are modelled in plaster. + +When I arrived for the first time at New York, by that part +of the Atlantic Ocean which is called the Narrows, I was +surprised to perceive along the shore, at some distance from the +city, a considerable number of little palaces of white marble, +several of which were built after the models of ancient +architecture. When I went the next day to inspect more closely +the building which had particularly attracted my notice, I found +that its walls were of whitewashed brick, and its columns of +painted wood. All the edifices which I had admired the night +before were of the same kind. + +The social condition and the institutions of democracy +impart, moreover, certain peculiar tendencies to all the +imitative arts, which it is easy to point out. They frequently +withdraw them from the delineation of the soul to fix them +exclusively on that of the body: and they substitute the +representation of motion and sensation for that of sentiment and +thought: in a word, they put the real in the place of the ideal. +I doubt whether Raphael studied the minutest intricacies of the +mechanism of the human body as thoroughly as the draughtsmen of +our own time. He did not attach the same importance to rigorous +accuracy on this point as they do, because he aspired to surpass +nature. He sought to make of man something which should be +superior to man, and to embellish beauty's self. David and his +scholars were, on the contrary, as good anatomists as they were +good painters. They wonderfully depicted the models which they +had before their eyes, but they rarely imagined anything beyond +them: they followed nature with fidelity: whilst Raphael sought +for something better than nature. They have left us an exact +portraiture of man; but he discloses in his works a glimpse of +the Divinity. This remark as to the manner of treating a subject +is no less applicable to the choice of it. The painters of the +Middle Ages generally sought far above themselves, and away from +their own time, for mighty subjects, which left to their +imagination an unbounded range. Our painters frequently employ +their talents in the exact imitation of the details of private +life, which they have always before their eyes; and they are +forever copying trivial objects, the originals of which are only +too abundant in nature. + + +Chapter XII: Why The Americans Raise Some Monuments So +Insignificant, And Others So Important + +I have just observed, that in democratic ages monuments of +the arts tend to become more numerous and less important. I now +hasten to point out the exception to this rule. In a democratic +community individuals are very powerless; but the State which +represents them all, and contains them all in its grasp, is very +powerful. Nowhere do citizens appear so insignificant as in a +democratic nation; nowhere does the nation itself appear greater, +or does the mind more easily take in a wide general survey of it. +In democratic communities the imagination is compressed when men +consider themselves; it expands indefinitely when they think of +the State. Hence it is that the same men who live on a small +scale in narrow dwellings, frequently aspire to gigantic splendor +in the erection of their public monuments. + +The Americans traced out the circuit of an immense city on +the site which they intended to make their capital, but which, up +to the present time, is hardly more densely peopled than +Pontoise, though, according to them, it will one day contain a +million of inhabitants. They have already rooted up trees for +ten miles round, lest they should interfere with the future +citizens of this imaginary metropolis. They have erected a +magnificent palace for Congress in the centre of the city, and +have given it the pompous name of the Capitol. The several +States of the Union are every day planning and erecting for +themselves prodigious undertakings, which would astonish the +engineers of the great European nations. Thus democracy not only +leads men to a vast number of inconsiderable productions; it also +leads them to raise some monuments on the largest scale: but +between these two extremes there is a blank. A few scattered +remains of enormous buildings can therefore teach us nothing of +the social condition and the institutions of the people by whom +they were raised. I may add, though the remark leads me to step +out of my subject, that they do not make us better acquainted +with its greatness, its civilization, and its real prosperity. +Whensoever a power of any kind shall be able to make a whole +people co-operate in a single undertaking, that power, with a +little knowledge and a great deal of time, will succeed in +obtaining something enormous from the co-operation of efforts so +multiplied. But this does not lead to the conclusion that the +people was very happy, very enlightened, or even very strong. + +The Spaniards found the City of Mexico full of magnificent +temples and vast palaces; but that did not prevent Cortes from +conquering the Mexican Empire with 600 foot soldiers and sixteen +horses. If the Romans had been better acquainted with the laws +of hydraulics, they would not have constructed all the aqueducts +which surround the ruins of their cities - they would have made a +better use of their power and their wealth. If they had invented +the steam-engine, perhaps they would not have extended to the +extremities of their empire those long artificial roads which are +called Roman roads. These things are at once the splendid +memorials of their ignorance and of their greatness. A people +which should leave no other vestige of its track than a few +leaden pipes in the earth and a few iron rods upon its surface, +might have been more the master of nature than the Romans. + + +Book One - Chapters XIII-XV + +Chapter XIII: Literary Characteristics Of Democratic Ages + +When a traveller goes into a bookseller's shop in the United +States, and examines the American books upon the shelves, the +number of works appears extremely great; whilst that of known +authors appears, on the contrary, to be extremely small. He will +first meet with a number of elementary treatises, destined to +teach the rudiments of human knowledge. Most of these books are +written in Europe; the Americans reprint them, adapting them to +their own country. Next comes an enormous quantity of religious +works, Bibles, sermons, edifying anecdotes, controversial +divinity, and reports of charitable societies; lastly, appears +the long catalogue of political pamphlets. In America, parties +do not write books to combat each others' opinions, but pamphlets +which are circulated for a day with incredible rapidity, and then +expire. In the midst of all these obscure productions of the +human brain are to be found the more remarkable works of that +small number of authors, whose names are, or ought to be, known +to Europeans. + +Although America is perhaps in our days the civilized +country in which literature is least attended to, a large number +of persons are nevertheless to be found there who take an +interest in the productions of the mind, and who make them, if +not the study of their lives, at least the charm of their leisure +hours. But England supplies these readers with the larger +portion of the books which they require. Almost all important +English books are republished in the United States. The literary +genius of Great Britain still darts its rays into the recesses of +the forests of the New World. There is hardly a pioneer's hut +which does not contain a few odd volumes of Shakespeare. I +remember that I read the feudal play of Henry V for the first +time in a loghouse. + +Not only do the Americans constantly draw upon the treasures +of English literature, but it may be said with truth that they +find the literature of England growing on their own soil. The +larger part of that small number of men in the United States who +are engaged in the composition of literary works are English in +substance, and still more so in form. Thus they transport into +the midst of democracy the ideas and literary fashions which are +current amongst the aristocratic nation they have taken for their +model. They paint with colors borrowed from foreign manners; and +as they hardly ever represent the country they were born in as it +really is, they are seldom popular there. The citizens of the +United States are themselves so convinced that it is not for them +that books are published, that before they can make up their +minds upon the merit of one of their authors, they generally wait +till his fame has been ratified in England, just as in pictures +the author of an original is held to be entitled to judge of the +merit of a copy. The inhabitants of the United States have then +at present, properly speaking, no literature. The only authors +whom I acknowledge as American are the journalists. They indeed +are not great writers, but they speak the language of their +countrymen, and make themselves heard by them. Other authors are +aliens; they are to the Americans what the imitators of the +Greeks and Romans were to us at the revival of learning - an +object of curiosity, not of general sympathy. They amuse the +mind, but they do not act upon the manners of the people. + +I have already said that this state of things is very far +from originating in democracy alone, and that the causes of it +must be sought for in several peculiar circumstances independent +of the democratic principle. If the Americans, retaining the same +laws and social condition, had had a different origin, and had +been transported into another country, I do not question that +they would have had a literature. Even as they now are, I am +convinced that they will ultimately have one; but its character +will be different from that which marks the American literary +productions of our time, and that character will be peculiarly +its own. Nor is it impossible to trace this character +beforehand. + +I suppose an aristocratic people amongst whom letters are +cultivated; the labors of the mind, as well as the affairs of +state, are conducted by a ruling class in society. The literary +as well as the political career is almost entirely confined to +this class, or to those nearest to it in rank. These premises +suffice to give me a key to all the rest. When a small number of +the same men are engaged at the same time upon the same objects, +they easily concert with one another, and agree upon certain +leading rules which are to govern them each and all. If the +object which attracts the attention of these men is literature, +the productions of the mind will soon be subjected by them to +precise canons, from which it will no longer be allowable to +depart. If these men occupy a hereditary position in the +country, they will be naturally inclined, not only to adopt a +certain number of fixed rules for themselves, but to follow those +which their forefathers laid down for their own guidance; their +code will be at once strict and traditional. As they are not +necessarily engrossed by the cares of daily life - as they have +never been so, any more than their fathers were before them - +they have learned to take an interest, for several generations +back, in the labors of the mind. They have learned to understand +literature as an art, to love it in the end for its own sake, and +to feel a scholar-like satisfaction in seeing men conform to its +rules. Nor is this all: the men of whom I speak began and will +end their lives in easy or in affluent circumstances; hence they +have naturally conceived a taste for choice gratifications, and a +love of refined and delicate pleasures. Nay more, a kind of +indolence of mind and heart, which they frequently contract in +the midst of this long and peaceful enjoyment of so much welfare, +leads them to put aside, even from their pleasures, whatever +might be too startling or too acute. They had rather be amused +than intensely excited; they wish to be interested, but not to be +carried away. + +Now let us fancy a great number of literary performances +executed by the men, or for the men, whom I have just described, +and we shall readily conceive a style of literature in which +everything will be regular and prearranged. The slightest work +will be carefully touched in its least details; art and labor +will be conspicuous in everything; each kind of writing will have +rules of its own, from which it will not be allowed to swerve, +and which distinguish it from all others. Style will be thought +of almost as much importance as thought; and the form will be no +less considered than the matter: the diction will be polished, +measured, and uniform. The tone of the mind will be always +dignified, seldom very animated; and writers will care more to +perfect what they produce than to multiply their productions. It +will sometimes happen that the members of the literary class, +always living amongst themselves and writing for themselves +alone, will lose sight of the rest of the world, which will +infect them with a false and labored style; they will lay down +minute literary rules for their exclusive use, which will +insensibly lead them to deviate from common-sense, and finally to +transgress the bounds of nature. By dint of striving after a +mode of parlance different from the vulgar, they will arrive at a +sort of aristocratic jargon, which is hardly less remote from +pure language than is the coarse dialect of the people. Such are +the natural perils of literature amongst aristocracies. Every +aristocracy which keeps itself entirely aloof from the people +becomes impotent - a fact which is as true in literature as it is +in politics. *a + +[Footnote a: All this is especially true of the aristocratic +countries which have been long and peacefully subject to a +monarchical government. When liberty prevails in an aristocracy, +the higher ranks are constantly obliged to make use of the lower +classes; and when they use, they approach them. This frequently +introduces something of a democratic spirit into an aristocratic +community. There springs up, moreover, in a privileged body, +governing with energy and an habitually bold policy, a taste for +stir and excitement which must infallibly affect all literary +performances.] + +Let us now turn the picture and consider the other side of +it; let us transport ourselves into the midst of a democracy, not +unprepared by ancient traditions and present culture to partake +in the pleasures of the mind. Ranks are there intermingled and +confounded; knowledge and power are both infinitely subdivided, +and, if I may use the expression, scattered on every side. Here +then is a motley multitude, whose intellectual wants are to be +supplied. These new votaries of the pleasures of the mind have +not all received the same education; they do not possess the same +degree of culture as their fathers, nor any resemblance to them - +nay, they perpetually differ from themselves, for they live in a +state of incessant change of place, feelings, and fortunes. The +mind of each member of the community is therefore unattached to +that of his fellow-citizens by tradition or by common habits; and +they have never had the power, the inclination, nor the time to +concert together. It is, however, from the bosom of this +heterogeneous and agitated mass that authors spring; and from the +same source their profits and their fame are distributed. I can +without difficulty understand that, under these circumstances, I +must expect to meet in the literature of such a people with but +few of those strict conventional rules which are admitted by +readers and by writers in aristocratic ages. If it should happen +that the men of some one period were agreed upon any such rules, +that would prove nothing for the following period; for amongst +democratic nations each new generation is a new people. Amongst +such nations, then, literature will not easily be subjected to +strict rules, and it is impossible that any such rules should +ever be permanent. + +In democracies it is by no means the case that all the men +who cultivate literature have received a literary education; and +most of those who have some tinge of belles-lettres are either +engaged in politics, or in a profession which only allows them to +taste occasionally and by stealth the pleasures of the mind. +These pleasures, therefore, do not constitute the principal charm +of their lives; but they are considered as a transient and +necessary recreation amidst the serious labors of life. Such man +can never acquire a sufficiently intimate knowledge of the art of +literature to appreciate its more delicate beauties; and the +minor shades of expression must escape them. As the time they can +devote to letters is very short, they seek to make the best use +of the whole of it. They prefer books which may be easily +procured, quickly read, and which require no learned researches +to be understood. They ask for beauties, self-proffered and +easily enjoyed; above all, they must have what is unexpected and +new. Accustomed to the struggle, the crosses, and the monotony +of practical life, they require rapid emotions, startling +passages -truths or errors brilliant enough to rouse them up, and +to plunge them at once, as if by violence, into the midst of a +subject. + +Why should I say more? or who does not understand what is +about to follow, before I have expressed it? Taken as a whole, +literature in democratic ages can never present, as it does in +the periods of aristocracy, an aspect of order, regularity, +science, and art; its form will, on the contrary, ordinarily be +slighted, sometimes despised. Style will frequently be +fantastic, incorrect, overburdened, and loose - almost always +vehement and bold. Authors will aim at rapidity of execution, +more than at perfection of detail. Small productions will be +more common than bulky books; there will be more wit than +erudition, more imagination than profundity; and literary +performances will bear marks of an untutored and rude vigor of +thought -frequently of great variety and singular fecundity. The +object of authors will be to astonish rather than to please, and +to stir the passions more than to charm the taste. Here and +there, indeed, writers will doubtless occur who will choose a +different track, and who will, if they are gifted with superior +abilities, succeed in finding readers, in spite of their defects +or their better qualities; but these exceptions will be rare, and +even the authors who shall so depart from the received practice +in the main subject of their works, will always relapse into it +in some lesser details. + +I have just depicted two extreme conditions: the transition +by which a nation passes from the former to the latter is not +sudden but gradual, and marked with shades of very various +intensity. In the passage which conducts a lettered people from +the one to the other, there is almost always a moment at which +the literary genius of democratic nations has its confluence with +that of aristocracies, and both seek to establish their joint +sway over the human mind. Such epochs are transient, but very +brilliant: they are fertile without exuberance, and animated +without confusion. The French literature of the eighteenth +century may serve as an example. + +I should say more than I mean if I were to assert that the +literature of a nation is always subordinate to its social +condition and its political constitution. I am aware that, +independently of these causes, there are several others which +confer certain characteristics on literary productions; but these +appear to me to be the chief. The relations which exist between +the social and political condition of a people and the genius of +its authors are always very numerous: whoever knows the one is +never completely ignorant of the other. + +Chapter XIV: The Trade Of Literature + +Democracy not only infuses a taste for letters among the +trading classes, but introduces a trading spirit into literature. +In aristocracies, readers are fastidious and few in number; in +democracies, they are far more numerous and far less difficult to +please. The consequence is, that among aristocratic nations, no +one can hope to succeed without immense exertions, and that these +exertions may bestow a great deal of fame, but can never earn +much money; whilst among democratic nations, a writer may flatter +himself that he will obtain at a cheap rate a meagre reputation +and a large fortune. For this purpose he need not be admired; it +is enough that he is liked. The ever-increasing crowd of +readers, and their continual craving for something new, insure +the sale of books which nobody much esteems. + +In democratic periods the public frequently treat authors as +kings do their courtiers; they enrich, and they despise them. +What more is needed by the venal souls which are born in courts, +or which are worthy to live there? Democratic literature is +always infested with a tribe of writers who look upon letters as +a mere trade: and for some few great authors who adorn it you may +reckon thousands of idea-mongers. + +Chapter XV: The Study Of Greek And Latin Literature Peculiarly +Useful In Democratic Communities + +What was called the People in the most democratic republics +of antiquity, was very unlike what we designate by that term. In +Athens, all the citizens took part in public affairs; but there +were only 20,000 citizens to more than 350,000 inhabitants. All +the rest were slaves, and discharged the greater part of those +duties which belong at the present day to the lower or even to +the middle classes. Athens, then, with her universal suffrage, +was after all merely an aristocratic republic in which all the +nobles had an equal right to the government. The struggle +between the patricians and plebeians of Rome must be considered +in the same light: it was simply an intestine feud between the +elder and younger branches of the same family. All the citizens +belonged, in fact, to the aristocracy, and partook of its +character. + +It is moreover to be remarked, that amongst the ancients +books were always scarce and dear; and that very great +difficulties impeded their publication and circulation. These +circumstances concentrated literary tastes and habits amongst a +small number of men, who formed a small literary aristocracy out +of the choicer spirits of the great political aristocracy. +Accordingly nothing goes to prove that literature was ever +treated as a trade amongst the Greeks and Romans. + +These peoples, which not only constituted aristocracies, but +very polished and free nations, of course imparted to their +literary productions the defects and the merits which +characterize the literature of aristocratic ages. And indeed a +very superficial survey of the literary remains of the ancients +will suffice to convince us, that if those writers were sometimes +deficient in variety, or fertility in their subjects, or in +boldness, vivacity, or power of generalization in their thoughts, +they always displayed exquisite care and skill in their details. +Nothing in their works seems to be done hastily or at random: +every line is written for the eye of the connoisseur, and is +shaped after some conception of ideal beauty. No literature +places those fine qualities, in which the writers of democracies +are naturally deficient, in bolder relief than that of the +ancients; no literature, therefore, ought to be more studied in +democratic ages. This study is better suited than any other to +combat the literary defects inherent in those ages; as for their +more praiseworthy literary qualities, they will spring up of +their own accord, without its being necessary to learn to acquire +them. + +It is important that this point should be clearly +understood. A particular study may be useful to the literature +of a people, without being appropriate to its social and +political wants. If men were to persist in teaching nothing but +the literature of the dead languages in a community where +everyone is habitually led to make vehement exertions to augment +or to maintain his fortune, the result would be a very polished, +but a very dangerous, race of citizens. For as their social and +political condition would give them every day a sense of wants +which their education would never teach them to supply, they +would perturb the State, in the name of the Greeks and Romans, +instead of enriching it by their productive industry. + +It is evident that in democratic communities the interest of +individuals, as well as the security of the commonwealth, demands +that the education of the greater number should be scientific, +commercial, and industrial, rather than literary. Greek and +Latin should not be taught in all schools; but it is important +that those who by their natural disposition or their fortune are +destined to cultivate letters or prepared to relish them, should +find schools where a complete knowledge of ancient literature may +be acquired, and where the true scholar may be formed. A few +excellent universities would do more towards the attainment of +this object than a vast number of bad grammar schools, where +superfluous matters, badly learned, stand in the way of sound +instruction in necessary studies. + +All who aspire to literary excellence in democratic nations, +ought frequently to refresh themselves at the springs of ancient +literature: there is no more wholesome course for the mind. Not +that I hold the literary productions of the ancients to be +irreproachable; but I think that they have some especial merits, +admirably calculated to counterbalance our peculiar defects. +They are a prop on the side on which we are in most danger of +falling. + +Book One - Chapters XVI-XVIII + +Chapter XVI: The Effect Of Democracy On Language + +If the reader has rightly understood what I have already +said on the subject of literature in general, he will have no +difficulty in comprehending that species of influence which a +democratic social condition and democratic institutions may +exercise over language itself, which is the chief instrument of +thought. + +American authors may truly be said to live more in England +than in their own country; since they constantly study the +English writers, and take them every day for their models. But +such is not the case with the bulk of the population, which is +more immediately subjected to the peculiar causes acting upon the +United States. It is not then to the written, but to the spoken +language that attention must be paid, if we would detect the +modifications which the idiom of an aristocratic people may +undergo when it becomes the language of a democracy. + +Englishmen of education, and more competent judges than I +can be myself of the nicer shades of expression, have frequently +assured me that the language of the educated classes in the +United States is notably different from that of the educated +classes in Great Britain. They complain not only that the +Americans have brought into use a number of new words - the +difference and the distance between the two countries might +suffice to explain that much - but that these new words are more +especially taken from the jargon of parties, the mechanical arts, +or the language of trade. They assert, in addition to this, that +old English words are often used by the Americans in new +acceptations; and lastly, that the inhabitants of the United +States frequently intermingle their phraseology in the strangest +manner, and sometimes place words together which are always kept +apart in the language of the mother- country. These remarks, +which were made to me at various times by persons who appeared to +be worthy of credit, led me to reflect upon the subject; and my +reflections brought me, by theoretical reasoning, to the same +point at which my informants had arrived by practical +observation. + +In aristocracies, language must naturally partake of that +state of repose in which everything remains. Few new words are +coined, because few new things are made; and even if new things +were made, they would be designated by known words, whose meaning +has been determined by tradition. If it happens that the human +mind bestirs itself at length, or is roused by light breaking in +from without, the novel expressions which are introduced are +characterized by a degree of learning, intelligence, and +philosophy, which shows that they do not originate in a +democracy. After the fall of Constantinople had turned the tide +of science and literature towards the west, the French language +was almost immediately invaded by a multitude of new words, which +had all Greek or Latin roots. An erudite neologism then sprang +up in France which was confined to the educated classes, and +which produced no sensible effect, or at least a very gradual +one, upon the people. All the nations of Europe successively +exhibited the same change. Milton alone introduced more than six +hundred words into the English language, almost all derived from +the Latin, the Greek, or the Hebrew. The constant agitation +which prevails in a democratic community tends unceasingly, on +the contrary, to change the character of the language, as it does +the aspect of affairs. In the midst of this general stir and +competition of minds, a great number of new ideas are formed, old +ideas are lost, or reappear, or are subdivided into an infinite +variety of minor shades. The consequence is, that many words +must fall into desuetude, and others must be brought into use. + +Democratic nations love change for its own sake; and this is +seen in their language as much as in their politics. Even when +they do not need to change words, they sometimes feel a wish to +transform them. The genius of a democratic people is not only +shown by the great number of words they bring into use, but also +by the nature of the ideas these new words represent. Amongst +such a people the majority lays down the law in language as well +as in everything else; its prevailing spirit is as manifest in +that as in other respects. But the majority is more engaged in +business than in study - in political and commercial interests +than in philosophical speculation or literary pursuits. Most of +the words coined or adopted for its use will therefore bear the +mark of these habits; they will mainly serve to express the wants +of business, the passions of party, or the details of the public +administration. In these departments the language will +constantly spread, whilst on the other hand it will gradually +lose ground in metaphysics and theology. + +As to the source from which democratic nations are wont to +derive their new expressions, and the manner in which they go to +work to coin them, both may easily be described. Men living in +democratic countries know but little of the language which was +spoken at Athens and at Rome, and they do not care to dive into +the lore of antiquity to find the expression they happen to want. +If they have sometimes recourse to learned etymologies, vanity +will induce them to search at the roots of the dead languages; +but erudition does not naturally furnish them with its resources. +The most ignorant, it sometimes happens, will use them most. The +eminently democratic desire to get above their own sphere will +often lead them to seek to dignify a vulgar profession by a Greek +or Latin name. The lower the calling is, and the more remote +from learning, the more pompous and erudite is its appellation. +Thus the French rope-dancers have transformed themselves into +acrobates and funambules. + +In the absence of knowledge of the dead languages, +democratic nations are apt to borrow words from living tongues; +for their mutual intercourse becomes perpetual, and the +inhabitants of different countries imitate each other the more +readily as they grow more like each other every day. + +But it is principally upon their own languages that +democratic nations attempt to perpetrate innovations. From time +to time they resume forgotten expressions in their vocabulary, +which they restore to use; or they borrow from some particular +class of the community a term peculiar to it, which they +introduce with a figurative meaning into the language of daily +life. Many expressions which originally belonged to the +technical language of a profession or a party, are thus drawn +into general circulation. + +The most common expedient employed by democratic nations to +make an innovation in language consists in giving some unwonted +meaning to an expression already in use. This method is very +simple, prompt, and convenient; no learning is required to use it +aright, and ignorance itself rather facilitates the practice; but +that practice is most dangerous to the language. When a +democratic people doubles the meaning of a word in this way, they +sometimes render the signification which it retains as ambiguous +as that which it acquires. An author begins by a slight +deflection of a known expression from its primitive meaning, and +he adapts it, thus modified, as well as he can to his subject. A +second writer twists the sense of the expression in another way; +a third takes possession of it for another purpose; and as there +is no common appeal to the sentence of a permanent tribunal which +may definitely settle the signification of the word, it remains +in an ambiguous condition. The consequence is that writers +hardly ever appear to dwell upon a single thought, but they +always seem to point their aim at a knot of ideas, leaving the +reader to judge which of them has been hit. This is a deplorable +consequence of democracy. I had rather that the language should +be made hideous with words imported from the Chinese, the +Tartars, or the Hurons, than that the meaning of a word in our +own language should become indeterminate. Harmony and uniformity +are only secondary beauties in composition; many of these things +are conventional, and, strictly speaking, it is possible to +forego them; but without clear phraseology there is no good +language. + +The principle of equality necessarily introduces several +other changes into language. In aristocratic ages, when each +nation tends to stand aloof from all others and likes to have +distinct characteristics of its own, it often happens that +several peoples which have a common origin become nevertheless +estranged from each other, so that, without ceasing to understand +the same language, they no longer all speak it in the same +manner. In these ages each nation is divided into a certain +number of classes, which see but little of each other, and do not +intermingle. Each of these classes contracts, and invariably +retains, habits of mind peculiar to itself, and adopts by choice +certain words and certain terms, which afterwards pass from +generation to generation, like their estates. The same idiom +then comprises a language of the poor and a language of the rich +- a language of the citizen and a language of the nobility - a +learned language and a vulgar one. The deeper the divisions, and +the more impassable the barriers of society become, the more must +this be the case. I would lay a wager, that amongst the castes +of India there are amazing variations of language, and that there +is almost as much difference between the language of the pariah +and that of the Brahmin as there is in their dress. When, on the +contrary, men, being no longer restrained by ranks, meet on terms +of constant intercourse - when castes are destroyed, and the +classes of society are recruited and intermixed with each other, +all the words of a language are mingled. Those which are +unsuitable to the greater number perish; the remainder form a +common store, whence everyone chooses pretty nearly at random. +Almost all the different dialects which divided the idioms of +European nations are manifestly declining; there is no patois in +the New World, and it is disappearing every day from the old +countries. + +The influence of this revolution in social conditions is as +much felt in style as it is in phraseology. Not only does +everyone use the same words, but a habit springs up of using them +without discrimination. The rules which style had set up are +almost abolished: the line ceases to be drawn between expressions +which seem by their very nature vulgar, and other which appear to +be refined. Persons springing from different ranks of society +carry the terms and expressions they are accustomed to use with +them, into whatever circumstances they may pass; thus the origin +of words is lost like the origin of individuals, and there is as +much confusion in language as there is in society. + +I am aware that in the classification of words there are +rules which do not belong to one form of society any more than to +another, but which are derived from the nature of things. Some +expressions and phrases are vulgar, because the ideas they are +meant to express are low in themselves; others are of a higher +character, because the objects they are intended to designate are +naturally elevated. No intermixture of ranks will ever efface +these differences. But the principle of equality cannot fail to +root out whatever is merely conventional and arbitrary in the +forms of thought. Perhaps the necessary classification which I +pointed out in the last sentence will always be less respected by +a democratic people than by any other, because amongst such a +people there are no men who are permanently disposed by +education, culture, and leisure to study the natural laws of +language, and who cause those laws to be respected by their own +observance of them. + +I shall not quit this topic without touching on a feature of +democratic languages, which is perhaps more characteristic of +them than any other. It has already been shown that democratic +nations have a taste, and sometimes a passion, for general ideas, +and that this arises from their peculiar merits and defects. +This liking for general ideas is displayed in democratic +languages by the continual use of generic terms or abstract +expressions, and by the manner in which they are employed. This +is the great merit and the great imperfection of these languages. +Democratic nations are passionately addicted to generic terms or +abstract expressions, because these modes of speech enlarge +thought, and assist the operations of the mind by enabling it to +include several objects in a small compass. A French democratic +writer will be apt to say capacites in the abstract for men of +capacity, and without particularizing the objects to which their +capacity is applied: he will talk about actualites to designate +in one word the things passing before his eyes at the instant; +and he will comprehend under the term eventualites whatever may +happen in the universe, dating from the moment at which he +speaks. Democratic writers are perpetually coining words of this +kind, in which they sublimate into further abstraction the +abstract terms of the language. Nay, more, to render their mode +of speech more succinct, they personify the subject of these +abstract terms, and make it act like a real entity. Thus they +would say in French, "La force des choses veut que les capacites +gouvernent." + +I cannot better illustrate what I mean than by my own +example. I have frequently used the word "equality" in an +absolute sense - nay, I have personified equality in several +places; thus I have said that equality does such and such things, +or refrains from doing others. It may be affirmed that the +writers of the age of Louis XIV would not have used these +expressions: they would never have thought of using the word +"equality" without applying it to some particular object; and +they would rather have renounced the term altogether than have +consented to make a living personage of it. + +These abstract terms which abound in democratic languages, +and which are used on every occasion without attaching them to +any particular fact, enlarge and obscure the thoughts they are +intended to convey; they render the mode of speech more succinct, +and the idea contained in it less clear. But with regard to +language, democratic nations prefer obscurity to labor. I know +not indeed whether this loose style has not some secret charm for +those who speak and write amongst these nations. As the men who +live there are frequently left to the efforts of their individual +powers of mind, they are almost always a prey to doubt; and as +their situation in life is forever changing, they are never held +fast to any of their opinions by the certain tenure of their +fortunes. Men living in democratic countries are, then, apt to +entertain unsettled ideas, and they require loose expressions to +convey them. As they never know whether the idea they express +to-day will be appropriate to the new position they may occupy +to-morrow, they naturally acquire a liking for abstract terms. +An abstract term is like a box with a false bottom: you may put +in it what ideas you please, and take them out again without +being observed. + +Amongst all nations, generic and abstract terms form the +basis of language. I do not, therefore, affect to expel these +terms from democratic languages; I simply remark that men have an +especial tendency, in the ages of democracy, to multiply words of +this kind - to take them always by themselves in their most +abstract acceptation, and to use them on all occasions, even when +the nature of the discourse does not require them. + +Chapter XVII: Of Some Of The Sources Of Poetry Amongst Democratic +Nations + +Various different significations have been given to the word +"poetry." It would weary my readers if I were to lead them into a +discussion as to which of these definitions ought to be selected: +I prefer telling them at once that which I have chosen. In my +opinion, poetry is the search and the delineation of the ideal. +The poet is he who, by suppressing a part of what exists, by +adding some imaginary touches to the picture, and by combining +certain real circumstances, but which do not in fact concurrently +happen, completes and extends the work of nature. Thus the +object of poetry is not to represent what is true, but to adorn +it, and to present to the mind some loftier imagery. Verse, +regarded as the ideal beauty of language, may be eminently +poetical; but verse does not, of itself, constitute poetry. + +I now proceed to inquire whether, amongst the actions, the +sentiments, and the opinions of democratic nations, there are any +which lead to a conception of ideal beauty, and which may for +this reason be considered as natural sources of poetry. It must +in the first place, be acknowledged that the taste for ideal +beauty, and the pleasure derived from the expression of it, are +never so intense or so diffused amongst a democratic as amongst +an aristocratic people. In aristocratic nations it sometimes +happens that the body goes on to act as it were spontaneously, +whilst the higher faculties are bound and burdened by repose. +Amongst these nations the people will very often display poetic +tastes, and sometimes allow their fancy to range beyond and above +what surrounds them. But in democracies the love of physical +gratification, the notion of bettering one's condition, the +excitement of competition, the charm of anticipated success, are +so many spurs to urge men onwards in the active professions they +have embraced, without allowing them to deviate for an instant +from the track. The main stress of the faculties is to this +point. The imagination is not extinct; but its chief function is +to devise what may be useful, and to represent what is real. + +The principle of equality not only diverts men from the +description of ideal beauty - it also diminishes the number of +objects to be described. Aristocracy, by maintaining society in a +fixed position, is favorable to the solidity and duration of +positive religions, as well as to the stability of political +institutions. It not only keeps the human mind within a certain +sphere of belief, but it predisposes the mind to adopt one faith +rather than another. An aristocratic people will always be prone +to place intermediate powers between God and man. In this +respect it may be said that the aristocratic element is favorable +to poetry. When the universe is peopled with supernatural +creatures, not palpable to the senses but discovered by the mind, +the imagination ranges freely, and poets, finding a thousand +subjects to delineate, also find a countless audience to take an +interest in their productions. In democratic ages it sometimes +happens, on the contrary, that men are as much afloat in matters +of belief as they are in their laws. Scepticism then draws the +imagination of poets back to earth, and confines them to the real +and visible world. Even when the principle of equality does not +disturb religious belief, it tends to simplify it, and to divert +attention from secondary agents, to fix it principally on the +Supreme Power. Aristocracy naturally leads the human mind to the +contemplation of the past, and fixes it there. Democracy, on the +contrary, gives men a sort of instinctive distaste for what is +ancient. In this respect aristocracy is far more favorable to +poetry; for things commonly grow larger and more obscure as they +are more remote; and for this twofold reason they are better +suited to the delineation of the ideal. + +After having deprived poetry of the past, the principle of +equality robs it in part of the present. Amongst aristocratic +nations there are a certain number of privileged personages, +whose situation is, as it were, without and above the condition +of man; to these, power, wealth, fame, wit, refinement, and +distinction in all things appear peculiarly to belong. The crowd +never sees them very closely, or does not watch them in minute +details; and little is needed to make the description of such men +poetical. On the other hand, amongst the same people, you will +meet with classes so ignorant, low, and enslaved, that they are +no less fit objects for poetry from the excess of their rudeness +and wretchedness, than the former are from their greatness and +refinement. Besides, as the different classes of which an +aristocratic community is composed are widely separated, and +imperfectly acquainted with each other, the imagination may +always represent them with some addition to, or some subtraction +from, what they really are. In democratic communities, where men +are all insignificant and very much alike, each man instantly +sees all his fellows when he surveys himself. The poets of +democratic ages can never, therefore, take any man in particular +as the subject of a piece; for an object of slender importance, +which is distinctly seen on all sides, will never lend itself to +an ideal conception. Thus the principle of equality; in +proportion as it has established itself in the world, has dried +up most of the old springs of poetry. Let us now attempt to show +what new ones it may disclose. + +When scepticism had depopulated heaven, and the progress of +equality had reduced each individual to smaller and better known +proportions, the poets, not yet aware of what they could +substitute for the great themes which were departing together +with the aristocracy, turned their eyes to inanimate nature. As +they lost sight of gods and heroes, they set themselves to +describe streams and mountains. Thence originated in the last +century, that kind of poetry which has been called, by way of +distinction, the +descriptive. Some have thought that this sort of delineation, +embellished with all the physical and inanimate objects which +cover the earth, was the kind of poetry peculiar to democratic +ages; but I believe this to be an error, and that it only belongs +to a period of transition. + +I am persuaded that in the end democracy diverts the +imagination from all that is external to man, and fixes it on man +alone. Democratic nations may amuse themselves for a while with +considering the productions of nature; but they are only excited +in reality by a survey of themselves. Here, and here alone, the +true sources of poetry amongst such nations are to be found; and +it may be believed that the poets who shall neglect to draw their +inspirations hence, will lose all sway over the minds which they +would enchant, and will be left in the end with none but +unimpassioned spectators of their transports. I have shown how +the ideas of progression and of the indefinite perfectibility of +the human race belong to democratic ages. Democratic nations care +but little for what has been, but they are haunted by visions of +what will be; in this direction their unbounded imagination grows +and dilates beyond all measure. Here then is the wildest range +open to the genius of poets, which allows them to remove their +performances to a sufficient distance from the eye. Democracy +shuts the past against the poet, but opens the future before him. +As all the citizens who compose a democratic community are nearly +equal and alike, the poet cannot dwell upon any one of them; but +the nation itself invites the exercise of his powers. The general +similitude of individuals, which renders any one of them taken +separately an improper subject of poetry, allows poets to include +them all in the same imagery, and to take a general survey of the +people itself. Democractic nations have a clearer perception than +any others of their own aspect; and an aspect so imposing is +admirably fitted to the delineation of the ideal. + +I readily admit that the Americans have no poets; I cannot +allow that they have no poetic ideas. In Europe people talk a +great deal of the wilds of America, but the Americans themselves +never think about them: they are insensible to the wonders of +inanimate nature, and they may be said not to perceive the mighty +forests which surround them till they fall beneath the hatchet. +Their eyes are fixed upon another sight: the American people +views its own march across these wilds - drying swamps, turning +the course of rivers, peopling solitudes, and subduing nature. +This magnificent image of themselves does not meet the gaze of +the Americans at intervals only; it may be said to haunt every +one of them in his least as well as in his most important +actions, and to be always flitting before his mind. Nothing +conceivable is so petty, so insipid, so crowded with paltry +interests, in one word so anti-poetic, as the life of a man in +the United States. But amongst the thoughts which it suggests +there is always one which is full of poetry, and that is the +hidden nerve which gives vigor to the frame. + +In aristocratic ages each people, as well as each +individual, is prone to stand separate and aloof from all others. +In democratic ages, the extreme fluctuations of men and the +impatience of their desires keep them perpetually on the move; so +that the inhabitants of different countries intermingle, see, +listen to, and borrow from each other's stores. It is not only +then the members of the same community who grow more alike; +communities are themselves assimilated to one another, and the +whole assemblage presents to the eye of the spectator one vast +democracy, each citizen of which is a people. This displays the +aspect of mankind for the first time in the broadest light. All +that belongs to the existence of the human race taken as a whole, +to its vicissitudes and to its future, becomes an abundant mine +of poetry. The poets who lived in aristocratic ages have been +eminently successful in their delineations of certain incidents +in the life of a people or a man; but none of them ever ventured +to include within his performances the destinies of mankind - a +task which poets writing in democratic ages may attempt. At that +same time at which every man, raising his eyes above his country, +begins at length to discern mankind at large, the Divinity is +more and more manifest to the human mind in full and entire +majesty. If in democratic ages faith in positive religions be +often shaken, and the belief in intermediate agents, by whatever +name they are called, be overcast; on the other hand men are +disposed to conceive a far broader idea of Providence itself, and +its interference in human affairs assumes a new and more imposing +appearance to their eyes. Looking at the human race as one great +whole, they easily conceive that its destinies are regulated by +the same design; and in the actions of every individual they are +led to acknowledge a trace of that universal and eternal plan on +which God rules our race. This consideration may be taken as +another prolific source of poetry which is opened in democratic +ages. Democratic poets will always appear trivial and frigid if +they seek to invest gods, demons, or angels, with corporeal +forms, and if they attempt to draw them down from heaven to +dispute the supremacy of earth. But if they strive to connect the +great events they commemorate with the general providential +designs which govern the universe, and, without showing the +finger of the Supreme Governor, reveal the thoughts of the +Supreme Mind, their works will be admired and understood, for the +imagination of their contemporaries takes this direction of its +own accord. + +It may be foreseen in the like manner that poets living in +democratic ages will prefer the delineation of passions and ideas +to that of persons and achievements. The language, the dress, +and the daily actions of men in democracies are repugnant to +ideal conceptions. These things are not poetical in themselves; +and, if it were otherwise, they would cease to be so, because +they are too familiar to all those to whom the poet would speak +of them. This forces the poet constantly to search below the +external surface which is palpable to the senses, in order to +read the inner soul: and nothing lends itself more to the +delineation of the ideal than the scrutiny of the hidden depths +in the immaterial nature of man. I need not to ramble over earth +and sky to discover a wondrous object woven of contrasts, of +greatness and littleness infinite, of intense gloom and of +amazing brightness - capable at once of exciting pity, +admiration, terror, contempt. I find that object in myself. Man +springs out of nothing, crosses time, and disappears forever in +the bosom of God; he is seen but for a moment, +staggering on the verge of the two abysses, and there he is lost. +If man were wholly ignorant of himself, he would have no poetry +in him; for it is impossible to describe what the mind does not +conceive. If man clearly discerned his own nature, his +imagination would remain idle, and would have nothing to add to +the picture. But the nature of man is sufficiently disclosed for +him to apprehend something of himself; and sufficiently obscure +for all the rest to be plunged in thick darkness, in which he +gropes forever - and forever in vain - to lay hold on some +completer notion of his being. + +Amongst a democratic people poetry will not be fed with +legendary lays or the memorials of old traditions. The poet will +not attempt to people the universe with supernatural beings in +whom his readers and his own fancy have ceased to believe; nor +will he present virtues and vices in the mask of frigid +personification, which are better received under their own +features. All these resources fail him; but Man remains, and the +poet needs no more. The destinies of mankind - man himself, taken +aloof from his age and his country, and standing in the presence +of Nature and of God, with his passions, his doubts, his rare +prosperities, and inconceivable wretchedness - will become the +chief, if not the sole theme of poetry amongst these nations. +Experience may confirm this assertion, if we consider the +productions of the greatest poets who have appeared since the +world has been turned to democracy. The authors of our age who +have so admirably delineated the features of Faust, Childe +Harold, Rene, and Jocelyn, did not seek to record the actions of +an individual, but to enlarge and to throw light on some of the +obscurer recesses of the human heart. Such are the poems of +democracy. The principle of equality does not then destroy all +the subjects of poetry: it renders them less numerous, but more +vast. + +Chapter XVIII: Of The Inflated Style Of American Writers And +Orators + +I have frequently remarked that the Americans, who generally +treat of business in clear, plain language, devoid of all +ornament, and so extremely simple as to be often coarse, are apt +to become inflated as soon as they attempt a more poetical +diction. They then vent their pomposity from one end of a +harangue to the other; and to hear them lavish imagery on every +occasion, one might fancy that they never spoke of anything with +simplicity. The English are more rarely given to a similar +failing. The cause of this may be pointed out without much +difficulty. In democratic communities each citizen is habitually +engaged in the contemplation of a very puny object, namely +himself. If he ever raises his looks higher, he then perceives +nothing but the immense form of society at large, or the still +more imposing aspect of mankind. His ideas are all either +extremely minute and clear, or extremely general and vague: what +lies between is an open void. When he has been drawn out of his +own sphere, therefore, he always expects that some amazing object +will be offered to his attention; and it is on these terms alone +that he consents to tear himself for an instant from the petty +complicated cares which form the charm and the excitement of his +life. This appears to me sufficiently to explain why men in +democracies, whose concerns are in general so paltry, call upon +their poets for conceptions so vast and descriptions so +unlimited. + +The authors, on their part, do not fail to obey a propensity +of which they themselves partake; they perpetually inflate their +imaginations, and expanding them beyond all bounds, they not +unfrequently abandon the great in order to reach the gigantic. +By these means they hope to attract the observation of the +multitude, and to fix it easily upon themselves: nor are their +hopes +disappointed; for as the multitude seeks for nothing in poetry +but subjects of very vast dimensions, it has neither the time to +measure with accuracy the proportions of all the subjects set +before it, nor a taste sufficiently correct to perceive at once +in what respect they are out of proportion. The author and the +public at once vitiate one another. + +We have just seen that amongst democratic nations, the +sources of poetry are grand, but not abundant. They are soon +exhausted: and poets, not finding the elements of the ideal in +what is real and true, abandon them entirely and create monsters. +I do not fear that the poetry of democratic nations will prove +too insipid, or that it will fly too near the ground; I rather +apprehend that it will be forever losing itself in the clouds, +and that it will range at last to purely imaginary regions. I +fear that the productions of democratic poets may often be +surcharged with immense and incoherent imagery, with exaggerated +descriptions and strange creations; and that the fantastic beings +of their brain may sometimes make us regret the world of reality. + +Book One -Chapters XIX-XXI + + + +Chapter XIX: Some Observations On The Drama Amongst Democratic +Nations + +When the revolution which subverts the social and political +state of an aristocratic people begins to penetrate into +literature, it generally first manifests itself in the drama, and +it always remains conspicuous there. The spectator of a dramatic +piece is, to a certain extent, taken by surprise by the +impression it conveys. He has no time to refer to his memory, or +to consult those more able to judge than himself. It does not +occur to him to resist the new literary tendencies which begin to +be felt by him; he yields to them before he knows what they are. +Authors are very prompt in discovering which way the taste of the +public is thus secretly inclined. They shape their productions +accordingly; and the literature of the stage, after having served +to indicate the approaching literary revolution, speedily +completes its accomplishment. If you would judge beforehand of +the literature of a people which is lapsing into democracy, study +its dramatic productions. + +The literature of the stage, moreover, even amongst +aristocratic nations, constitutes the most democratic part of +their literature. No kind of literary gratification is so much +within the reach of the multitude as that which is derived from +theatrical representations. Neither preparation nor study is +required to enjoy them: they lay hold on you in the midst of your +prejudices and your ignorance. When the yet untutored love of +the pleasures of the mind begins to affect a class of the +community, it instantly draws them to the stage. The theatres of +aristocratic nations have always been filled with spectators not +belonging to the aristocracy. At the theatre alone the higher +ranks mix with the middle and the lower classes; there alone do +the former consent to listen to the opinion of the latter, or at +least to allow them to give an opinion at all. At the theatre, +men of cultivation and of literary attainments have always had +more difficulty than elsewhere in making their taste prevail over +that of the people, and in preventing themselves from being +carried away by the latter. The pit has frequently made laws for +the boxes. + +If it be difficult for an aristocracy to prevent the people +from getting the upper hand in the theatre, it will readily be +understood that the people will be supreme there when democratic +principles have crept into the laws and manners - when ranks are +intermixed - when minds, as well as fortunes, are brought more +nearly together - and when the upper class has lost, with its +hereditary wealth, its power, its precedents, and its leisure. +The tastes and propensities natural to democratic nations, in +respect to literature, will therefore first be discernible in the +drama, and it may be foreseen that they will break out there with +vehemence. In written productions, the literary canons of +aristocracy will be gently, gradually, and, so to speak, legally +modified; at the theatre they will be riotously overthrown. +The drama brings out most of the good qualities, and almost +all the defects, inherent in democratic literature. Democratic +peoples hold erudition very cheap, and care but little for what +occurred at Rome and Athens; they want to hear something which +concerns themselves, and the delineation of the present age is +what they demand. + +When the heroes and the manners of antiquity are frequently +brought upon the stage, and dramatic authors faithfully observe +the rules of antiquated precedent, that is enough to warrant a +conclusion that the democratic classes have not yet got the upper +hand of the theatres. Racine makes a very humble apology in the +preface to the "Britannicus" for having disposed of Junia amongst +the Vestals, who, according to Aulus Gellius, he says, "admitted +no one below six years of age nor above ten." We may be sure that +he would neither have accused himself of the offence, nor +defended himself from censure, if he had written for our +contemporaries. A fact of this kind not only illustrates the +state of literature at the time when it occurred, but also that +of society itself. A democratic stage does not prove that the +nation is in a state of democracy, for, as we have just seen, +even in aristocracies it may happen that democratic tastes affect +the drama; but when the spirit of aristocracy reigns exclusively +on the stage, the fact irrefragably demonstrates that the whole +of society is aristocratic; and it may be boldly inferred that +the same lettered and learned class which sways the dramatic +writers commands the people and governs the country. + +The refined tastes and the arrogant bearing of an +aristocracy will rarely fail to lead it, when it manages the +stage, to make a kind of selection in human nature. Some of the +conditions of society claim its chief interest; and the scenes +which delineate their manners are preferred upon the stage. +Certain virtues, and even certain vices, are thought more +particularly to deserve to figure there; and they are applauded +whilst all others are excluded. Upon the stage, as well as +elsewhere, an aristocratic audience will only meet personages of +quality, and share the emotions of kings. The same thing applies +to style: an aristocracy is apt to impose upon dramatic authors +certain modes of expression which give the key in which +everything is to be delivered. By these means the stage +frequently comes to delineate only one side of man, or sometimes +even to represent what is not to be met with in human nature at +all - to rise above nature and to go beyond it. + +In democratic communities the spectators have no such +partialities, and they rarely display any such antipathies: they +like to see upon the stage that medley of conditions, of +feelings, and of opinions, which occurs before their eyes. The +drama becomes more striking, more common, and more true. +Sometimes, however, those who write for the stage in democracies +also transgress the bounds of human nature - but it is on a +different side from their predecessors. By seeking to represent +in minute detail the little singularities of the moment and the +peculiar characteristics of certain personages, they forget to +portray the general features of the race. + +When the democratic classes rule the stage, they introduce +as much license in the manner of treating subjects as in the +choice of them. As the love of the drama is, of all literary +tastes, that which is most natural to democratic nations, the +number of authors and of spectators, as well as of theatrical +representations, is constantly increasing amongst these +communities. A multitude composed of elements so different, and +scattered in so many different places, cannot acknowledge the +same rules or submit to the same laws. No concurrence is +possible amongst judges so numerous, who know not when they may +meet again; and therefore each pronounces his own sentence on the +piece. If the effect of democracy is generally to question the +authority of all literary rules and conventions, on the stage it +abolishes them altogether, and puts in their place nothing but +the whim of each author and of each public. + +The drama also displays in an especial manner the truth of +what I have said before in speaking more generally of style and +art in democratic literature. In reading the criticisms which +were occasioned by the dramatic productions of the age of Louis +XIV, one is surprised to remark the great stress which the public +laid on the probability of the plot, and the importance which was +attached to the perfect consistency of the characters, and to +their doing nothing which could not be easily explained and +understood. The value which was set upon the forms of language at +that period, and the paltry strife about words with which +dramatic authors were assailed, are no less surprising. It would +seem that the men of the age of Louis XIV attached very +exaggerated importance to those details, which may be perceived +in the study, but which escape attention on the stage. For, +after all, the principal object of a dramatic piece is to be +performed, and its chief merit is to affect the audience. But +the audience and the readers in that age were the same: on +quitting the theatre they called up the author for judgment to +their own firesides. In democracies, dramatic pieces are +listened to, but not read. Most of those who frequent the +amusements of the stage do not go there to seek the pleasures of +the mind, but the keen emotions of the heart. They do not expect +to hear a fine literary work, but to see a play; and provided the +author writes the language of his country correctly enough to be +understood, and that his characters excite curiosity and awaken +sympathy, the audience are satisfied. They ask no more of +fiction, and immediately return to real life. Accuracy of style +is therefore less required, because the attentive observance of +its rules is less perceptible on the stage. As for the +probability of the plot, it is incompatible with perpetual +novelty, surprise, and rapidity of invention. It is therefore +neglected, and the public excuses the neglect. You may be sure +that if you succeed in bringing your audience into the presence +of something that affects them, they will not care by what road +you brought them there; and they will never reproach you for +having excited their emotions in spite of dramatic rules. + +The Americans very broadly display all the different +propensities which I have here described when they go to the +theatres; but it must be acknowledged that as yet a very small +number of them go to theatres at all. Although playgoers and +plays have prodigiously increased in the United States in the +last forty years, the population indulges in this kind of +amusement with the greatest reserve. This is attributable to +peculiar causes, which the reader is already acquainted with, and +of which a few words will suffice to remind him. The Puritans +who founded the American republics were not only enemies to +amusements, but they professed an especial abhorrence for the +stage. They considered it as an abominable pastime; and as long +as their principles prevailed with undivided sway, scenic +performances were wholly unknown amongst them. These opinions of +the first fathers of the colony have left very deep marks on the +minds of their descendants. The extreme regularity of habits and +the great strictness of manners which are observable in the +United States, have as yet opposed additional obstacles to the +growth of dramatic art. There are no dramatic subjects in a +country which has witnessed no great political catastrophes, and +in which love invariably leads by a straight and easy road to +matrimony. People who spend every day in the week in making +money, and the Sunday in going to church, have nothing to invite +the muse of Comedy. + +A single fact suffices to show that the stage is not very +popular in the United States. The Americans, whose laws allow of +the utmost freedom and even license of language in all other +respects, have nevertheless subjected their dramatic authors to a +sort of censorship. Theatrical performances can only take place +by permission of the municipal authorities. This may serve to +show how much communities are like individuals; they surrender +themselves unscrupulously to their ruling passions, and +afterwards take the greatest care not to yield too much to the +vehemence of tastes which they do not possess. + +No portion of literature is connected by closer or more +numerous ties with the present condition of society than the +drama. The drama of one period can never be suited to the +following age, if in the interval an important revolution has +changed the manners and the laws of the nation. The great +authors of a preceding age may be read; but pieces written for a +different public will not be followed. The dramatic authors of +the past live only in books. The traditional taste of certain +individuals, vanity, fashion, or the genius of an actor may +sustain or resuscitate for a time the aristocratic drama amongst +a democracy; but it will speedily fall away of itself - not +overthrown, but abandoned. + +Chapter XX: Characteristics Of Historians In Democratic Ages +Historians who write in aristocratic ages are wont to refer +all occurrences to the particular will or temper of certain +individuals; and they are apt to attribute the most important +revolutions to very slight accidents. They trace out the smallest +causes with sagacity, and frequently leave the greatest +unperceived. Historians who live in democratic ages exhibit +precisely opposite characteristics. Most of them attribute +hardly any influence to the individual over the destiny of the +race, nor to citizens over the fate of a people; but, on the +other hand, they assign great general causes to all petty +incidents. These contrary tendencies explain each other. + +When the historian of aristocratic ages surveys the theatre +of the world, he at once perceives a very small number of +prominent actors, who manage the whole piece. These great +personages, who occupy the front of the stage, arrest the +observation, and fix it on themselves; and whilst the historian +is bent on penetrating the secret motives which make them speak +and act, the rest escape his memory. The importance of the +things which some men are seen to do, gives him an exaggerated +estimate of the influence which one man may possess; and +naturally leads him to think, that in order to explain the +impulses of the multitude, it is necessary to refer them to the +particular influence of some one individual. + +When, on the contrary, all the citizens are independent of +one another, and each of them is individually weak, no one is +seen to exert a great, or still less a lasting power, over the +community. At first sight, individuals appear to be absolutely +devoid of any influence over it; and society would seem to +advance alone by the free and voluntary concurrence of all the +men who compose it. This naturally prompts the mind to search +for that general reason which operates upon so many men's +faculties at the same time, and turns them simultaneously in the +same direction. + +I am very well convinced that even amongst democratic +nations, the genius, the vices, or the virtues of certain +individuals retard or accelerate the natural current of a +people's history: but causes of this secondary and fortuitous +nature are infinitely more various, more concealed, more complex, +less powerful, and consequently less easy to trace in periods of +equality than in ages of aristocracy, when the task of the +historian is simply to detach from the mass of general events the +particular influences of one man or of a few men. In the former +case the historian is soon wearied by the toil; his mind loses +itself in this labyrinth; and, in his inability clearly to +discern or conspicuously to point out the influence of +individuals, he denies their existence. He prefers talking about +the characteristics of race, the physical conformation of the +country, or the genius of civilization, which abridges his own +labors, and satisfies his reader far better at less cost. + +M. de Lafayette says somewhere in his "Memoirs" that the +exaggerated system of general causes affords surprising +consolations to second-rate statesmen. I will add, that its +effects are not less consolatory to second-rate historians; it +can always furnish a few mighty reasons to extricate them from +the most difficult part of their work, and it indulges the +indolence or incapacity of their minds, whilst it confers upon +them the honors of deep thinking. + +For myself, I am of opinion that at all times one great +portion of the events of this world are attributable to general +facts, and another to special influences. These two kinds of +cause are always in operation: their proportion only varies. +General facts serve to explain more things in democratic than in +aristocratic ages, and fewer things are then assignable to +special influences. At periods of aristocracy the reverse takes +place: special influences are stronger, general causes weaker - +unless indeed we consider as a general cause the fact itself of +the inequality of conditions, which allows some individuals to +baffle the natural tendencies of all the rest. The historians +who seek to describe what occurs in democratic societies are +right, therefore, in assigning much to general causes, and in +devoting their chief attention to discover them; but they are +wrong in wholly denying the special influence of individuals, +because they cannot easily trace or follow it. + +The historians who live in democratic ages are not only +prone to assign a great cause to every incident, but they are +also given to connect incidents together, so as to deduce a +system from them. In aristocratic ages, as the attention of +historians is constantly drawn to individuals, the connection of +events escapes them; or rather, they do not believe in any such +connection. To them the clew of history seems every instant +crossed and broken by the step of man. In democratic ages, on +the contrary, as the historian sees much more of actions than of +actors, he may easily establish some kind of sequency and +methodical order amongst the former. Ancient literature, which +is so rich in fine historical compositions, does not contain a +single great historical system, whilst the poorest of modern +literatures abound with them. It would appear that the ancient +historians did not make sufficient use of those general theories +which our historical writers are ever ready to carry to excess. + +Those who write in democratic ages have another more +dangerous tendency. When the traces of individual action upon +nations are lost, it often happens that the world goes on to +move, though the moving agent is no longer discoverable. As it +becomes extremely difficult to discern and to analyze the reasons +which, acting separately on the volition of each member of the +community, concur in the end to produce movement in the old mass, +men are led to believe that this movement is involuntary, and +that societies unconsciously obey some superior force ruling over +them. But even when the general fact which governs the private +volition of all individuals is supposed to be discovered upon the +earth, the principle of human free-will is not secure. A cause +sufficiently extensive to affect millions of men at once, and +sufficiently strong to bend them all together in the same +direction, may well seem irresistible: having seen that mankind +do yield to it, the mind is close upon the inference that mankind +cannot resist it. + +Historians who live in democratic ages, then, not only deny +that the few have any power of acting upon the destiny of a +people, but they deprive the people themselves of the power of +modifying their own condition, and they subject them either to an +inflexible Providence, or to some blind necessity. According to +them, each nation is indissolubly bound by its position, its +origin, its precedents, and its character, to a certain lot which +no efforts can ever change. They involve generation in +generation, and thus, going back from age to age, and from +necessity to necessity, up to the origin of the world, they forge +a close and enormous chain, which girds and binds the human race. +To their minds it is not enough to show what events have +occurred: they would fain show that events could not have +occurred otherwise. They take a nation arrived at a certain +stage of its history, and they affirm that it could not but +follow the track which brought it thither. It is easier to make +such an assertion than to show by what means the nation might +have adopted a better course. + +In reading the historians of aristocratic ages, and +especially those of antiquity, it would seem that, to be master +of his lot, and to govern his fellow-creatures, man requires only +to be master of himself. In perusing the historical volumes +which our age has produced, it would seem that man is utterly +powerless over himself and over all around him. The historians +of antiquity taught how to command: those of our time teach only +how to obey; in their writings the author often appears great, +but humanity is always diminutive. If this doctrine of +necessity, which is so attractive to those who write history in +democratic ages, passes from authors to their readers, till it +infects the whole mass of the community and gets possession of +the public mind, it will soon paralyze the activity of modern +society, and reduce Christians to the level of the Turks. I +would moreover observe, that such principles are peculiarly +dangerous at the period at which we are arrived. Our +contemporaries are but too prone to doubt of the human free-will, +because each of them feels himself confined on every side by his +own weakness; but they are still willing to acknowledge the +strength and independence of men united in society. Let not this +principle be lost sight of; for the great object in our time is +to raise the faculties of men, not to complete their prostration. +Chapter XXI: Of Parliamentary Eloquence In The United States +Amongst aristocratic nations all the members of the +community are connected with and dependent upon each other; the +graduated scale of different ranks acts as a tie, which keeps +everyone in his proper place and the whole body in subordination. +Something of the same kind always occurs in the political +assemblies of these nations. Parties naturally range themselves +under certain leaders, whom they obey by a sort of instinct, +which is only the result of habits contracted elsewhere. They +carry the manners of general society into the lesser assemblage. + +In democratic countries it often happens that a great number +of citizens are tending to the same point; but each one only +moves thither, or at least flatters himself that he moves, of his +own accord. Accustomed to regulate his doings by personal +impulse alone, he does not willingly submit to dictation from +without. This taste and habit of independence accompany him into +the councils of the nation. If he consents to connect himself +with other men in the prosecution of the same purpose, at least +he chooses to remain free to contribute to the common success +after his own fashion. Hence it is that in democratic countries +parties are so impatient of control, and are never manageable +except in moments of great public danger. Even then, the +authority of leaders, which under such circumstances may be able +to make men act or speak, hardly ever reaches the extent of +making them keep silence. + +Amongst aristocratic nations the members of political +assemblies are at the same time members of the aristocracy. Each +of them enjoys high established rank in his own right, and the +position which he occupies in the assembly is often less +important in his eyes than that which he fills in the country. +This consoles him for playing no part in the discussion of public +affairs, and restrains him from too eagerly attempting to play an +insignificant one. + +In America, it generally happens that a Representative only +becomes somebody from his position in the Assembly. He is +therefore perpetually haunted by a craving to acquire importance +there, and he feels a petulant desire to be constantly obtruding +his opinions upon the House. His own vanity is not the only +stimulant which urges him on in this course, but that of his +constituents, and the continual necessity of propitiating them. +Amongst aristocratic nations a member of the legislature is +rarely in strict dependence upon his constituents: he is +frequently to them a sort of unavoidable representative; +sometimes they are themselves strictly dependent upon him; and if +at length they reject him, he may easily get elected elsewhere, +or, retiring from public life, he may still enjoy the pleasures +of splendid idleness. In a democratic country like the United +States a Representative has hardly ever a lasting hold on the +minds of his constituents. However small an electoral body may +be, the fluctuations of democracy are constantly changing its +aspect; it must, therefore, be courted unceasingly. He is never +sure of his supporters, and, if they forsake him, he is left +without a resource; for his natural position is not sufficiently +elevated for him to be easily known to those not close to him; +and, with the complete state of independence prevailing among the +people, he cannot hope that his friends or the government will +send him down to be returned by an electoral body unacquainted +with him. The seeds of his fortune are, therefore, sown in his +own neighborhood; from that nook of earth he must start, to raise +himself to the command of a people and to influence the destinies +of the world. Thus it is natural that in democratic countries +the members of political assemblies think more of their +constituents than of their party, whilst in aristocracies they +think more of their party than of their constituents. + +But what ought to be said to gratify constituents is not +always what ought to be said in order to serve the party to which +Representatives profess to belong. The general interest of a +party frequently demands that members belonging to it should not +speak on great questions which they understand imperfectly; that +they should speak but little on those minor questions which +impede the great ones; lastly, and for the most part, that they +should not speak at all. To keep silence is the most useful +service that an indifferent spokesman can render to the +commonwealth. Constituents, however, do not think so. The +population of a district sends a representative to take a part in +the government of a country, because they entertain a very lofty +notion of his merits. As men appear greater in proportion to the +littleness of the objects by which they are surrounded, it may be +assumed that the opinion entertained of the delegate will be so +much the higher as talents are more rare among his constituents. +It will therefore frequently happen that the less constituents +have to expect from their representative, the more they will +anticipate from him; and, however incompetent he may be, they +will not fail to call upon him for signal exertions, +corresponding to the rank they have conferred upon him. + +Independently of his position as a legislator of the State, +electors also regard their Representative as the natural patron +of the constituency in the Legislature; they almost consider him +as the proxy of each of his supporters, and they flatter +themselves that he will not be less zealous in defense of their +private interests than of those of the country. Thus electors +are well assured beforehand that the Representative of their +choice will be an orator; that he will speak often if he can, and +that in case he is forced to refrain, he will strive at any rate +to compress into his less frequent orations an inquiry into all +the great questions of state, combined with a statement of all +the petty grievances they have themselves to complain to; so +that, though he be not able to come forward frequently, he should +on each occasion prove what he is capable of doing; and that, +instead of perpetually lavishing his powers, he should +occasionally condense them in a small compass, so as to furnish a +sort of complete and brilliant epitome of his constituents and of +himself. On these terms they will vote for him at the next +election. These conditions drive worthy men of humble abilities +to despair, who, knowing their own powers, would never +voluntarily have come forward. But thus urged on, the +Representative begins to speak, to the great alarm of his +friends; and rushing imprudently into the midst of the most +celebrated orators, he perplexes the debate and wearies the +House. + +All laws which tend to make the Representative more +dependent on the elector, not only affect the conduct of the +legislators, as I have remarked elsewhere, but also their +language. They exercise a simultaneous influence on affairs +themselves, and on the manner in which affairs are discussed. + +There is hardly a member of Congress who can make up his +mind to go home without having despatched at least one speech to +his constituents; nor who will endure any interruption until he +has introduced into his harangue whatever useful suggestions may +be made touching the four-and-twenty States of which the Union is +composed, and especially the district which he represents. He +therefore presents to the mind of his auditors a succession of +great general truths (which he himself only comprehends, and +expresses, confusedly), and of petty minutia, which he is but too +able to discover and to point out. The consequence is that the +debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and +perplexed, and that they seem rather to drag their slow length +along than to advance towards a distinct object. Some such state +of things will, I believe, always arise in the public assemblies +of democracies. + +Propitious circumstances and good laws might succeed in +drawing to the legislature of a democratic people men very +superior to those who are returned by the Americans to Congress; +but nothing will ever prevent the men of slender abilities who +sit there from obtruding themselves with complacency, and in all +ways, upon the public. The evil does not appear to me to be +susceptible of entire cure, because it not only originates in the +tactics of that assembly, but in its constitution and in that of +the country. The inhabitants of the United States seem themselves +to consider the matter in this light; and they show their long +experience of parliamentary life not by abstaining from making +bad speeches, but by courageously submitting to hear them made. +They are resigned to it, as to an evil which they know to be +inevitable. + +We have shown the petty side of political debates in +democratic assemblies - let us now exhibit the more imposing one. +The proceedings within the Parliament of England for the last one +hundred and fifty years have never occasioned any great sensation +out of that country; the opinions and feelings expressed by the +speakers have never awakened much sympathy, even amongst the +nations placed nearest to the great arena of British liberty; +whereas Europe was excited by the very first debates which took +place in the small colonial assemblies of America at the time of +the Revolution. This was attributable not only to particular and +fortuitous circumstances, but to general and lasting causes. I +can conceive nothing more admirable or more powerful than a great +orator debating on great questions of state in a democratic +assembly. As no particular class is ever represented there by men +commissioned to defend its own interests, it is always to the +whole nation, and in the name of the whole nation, that the +orator speaks. This expands his thoughts, and heightens his +power of language. As precedents have there but little weight +-as there are no longer any privileges attached to certain +property, nor any rights inherent in certain bodies or in certain +individuals, the mind must have recourse to general truths +derived from human nature to resolve the particular question +under discussion. Hence the political debates of a democratic +people, however small it may be, have a degree of breadth which +frequently renders them attractive to mankind. All men are +interested by them, because they treat of man, who is everywhere +the same. Amongst the greatest aristocratic nations, on the +contrary, the most general questions are almost always argued on +some special grounds derived from the practice of a particular +time, or the rights of a particular class; which interest that +class alone, or at most the people amongst whom that class +happens to exist. It is owing to this, as much as to the +greatness of the French people, and the favorable disposition of +the nations who listen to them, that the great effect which the +French political debates sometimes produce in the world, must be +attributed. The orators of France frequently speak to mankind, +even when they are addressing their countrymen only. + +Book 2 + +Influence Of Democracy On The Feelings Of Americans + +Chapter I: Why Democratic Nations Show A More Ardent And Enduring +Love Of Equality Than Of Liberty + +The first and most intense passion which is engendered by +the equality of conditions is, I need hardly say, the love of +that same equality. My readers will therefore not be surprised +that I speak of its before all others. Everybody has remarked +that in our time, and especially in France, this passion for +equality is every day gaining ground in the human heart. It has +been said a hundred times that our contemporaries are far more +ardently and tenaciously attached to equality than to freedom; +but as I do not find that the causes of the fact have been +sufficiently analyzed, I shall endeavor to point them out. + +It is possible to imagine an extreme point at which freedom +and equality would meet and be confounded together. Let us +suppose that all the members of the community take a part in the +government, and that each of them has an equal right to take a +part in it. As none is different from his fellows, none can +exercise a tyrannical power: men will be perfectly free, because +they will all be entirely equal; and they will all be perfectly +equal, because they will be entirely free. To this ideal state +democratic nations tend. Such is the completest form that +equality can assume upon earth; but there are a thousand others +which, without being equally perfect, are not less cherished by +those nations. + +The principle of equality may be established in civil +society, without prevailing in the political world. Equal rights +may exist of indulging in the same pleasures, of entering the +same professions, of frequenting the same places - in a word, of +living in the same manner and seeking wealth by the same means, +although all men do not take an equal share in the government. A +kind of equality may even be established in the political world, +though there should be no political freedom there. A man may be +the equal of all his countrymen save one, who is the master of +all without distinction, and who selects equally from among them +all the agents of his power. Several other combinations might be +easily imagined, by which very great equality would be united to +institutions more or less free, or even to institutions wholly +without freedom. Although men cannot become absolutely equal +unless they be entirely free, and consequently equality, pushed +to its furthest extent, may be confounded with freedom, yet there +is good reason for distinguishing the one from the other. The +taste which men have for liberty, and that which they feel for +equality, are, in fact, two different things; and I am not afraid +to add that, amongst democratic nations, they are two unequal +things. + +Upon close inspection, it will be seen that there is in +every age some peculiar and preponderating fact with which all +others are connected; this fact almost always gives birth to some +pregnant idea or some ruling passion, which attracts to itself, +and bears away in its course, all the feelings and opinions of +the time: it is like a great stream, towards which each of the +surrounding rivulets seems to flow. Freedom has appeared in the +world at different times and under various forms; it has not been +exclusively bound to any social condition, and it is not confined +to democracies. Freedom cannot, therefore, form the +distinguishing characteristic of democratic ages. The peculiar +and preponderating fact which marks those ages as its own is the +equality of conditions; the ruling passion of men in those +periods is the love of this equality. Ask not what singular +charm the men of democratic ages find in being equal, or what +special reasons they may have for clinging so tenaciously to +equality rather than to the other advantages which society holds +out to them: equality is the distinguishing characteristic of the +age they live in; that, of itself, is enough to explain that they +prefer it to all the rest. + +But independently of this reason there are several others, +which will at all times habitually lead men to prefer equality to +freedom. If a people could ever succeed in destroying, or even +in diminishing, the equality which prevails in its own body, this +could only be accomplished by long and laborious efforts. Its +social condition must be modified, its laws abolished, its +opinions superseded, its habits changed, its manners corrupted. +But political liberty is more easily lost; to neglect to hold it +fast is to allow it to escape. Men therefore not only cling to +equality because it is dear to them; they also adhere to it +because they think it will last forever. + +That political freedom may compromise in its excesses the +tranquillity, the property, the lives of individuals, is obvious +to the narrowest and most unthinking minds. But, on the +contrary, none but attentive and clear-sighted men perceive the +perils with which equality threatens us, and they commonly avoid +pointing them out. They know that the calamities they apprehend +are remote, and flatter themselves that they will only fall upon +future generations, for which the present generation takes but +little thought. The evils which freedom sometimes brings with it +are immediate; they are apparent to all, and all are more or less +affected by them. The evils which extreme equality may produce +are slowly disclosed; they creep gradually into the social frame; +they are only seen at intervals, and at the moment at which they +become most violent habit already causes them to be no longer +felt. The advantages which freedom brings are only shown by +length of time; and it is always easy to mistake the cause in +which they originate. The advantages of equality are +instantaneous, and they may constantly be traced from their +source. Political liberty bestows exalted pleasures, from time +to time, upon a certain number of citizens. Equality every day +confers a number of small enjoyments on every man. The charms of +equality are every instant felt, and are within the reach of all; +the noblest hearts are not insensible to them, and the most +vulgar souls exult in them. The passion which equality engenders +must therefore be at once strong and general. Men cannot enjoy +political liberty unpurchased by some sacrifices, and they never +obtain it without great exertions. But the pleasures of equality +are self-proffered: each of the petty incidents of life seems to +occasion them, and in order to taste them nothing is required but +to live. + +Democratic nations are at all times fond of equality, but +there are certain epochs at which the passion they entertain for +it swells to the height of fury. This occurs at the moment when +the old social system, long menaced, completes its own +destruction after a last intestine struggle, and when the +barriers of rank are at length thrown down. At such times men +pounce upon equality as their booty, and they cling to it as to +some precious treasure which they fear to lose. The passion for +equality penetrates on every side into men's hearts, expands +there, and fills them entirely. Tell them not that by this blind +surrender of themselves to an exclusive passion they risk their +dearest interests: they are deaf. Show them not freedom escaping +from their grasp, whilst they are looking another way: they are +blind - or rather, they can discern but one sole object to be +desired in the universe. + +What I have said is applicable to all democratic nations: +what I am about to say concerns the French alone. Amongst most +modern nations, and especially amongst all those of the Continent +of Europe, the taste and the idea of freedom only began to exist +and to extend themselves at the time when social conditions were +tending to equality, and as a consequence of that very equality. +Absolute kings were the most efficient levellers of ranks amongst +their subjects. Amongst these nations equality preceded freedom: +equality was therefore a fact of some standing when freedom was +still a novelty: the one had already created customs, opinions, +and laws belonging to it, when the other, alone and for the first +time, came into actual existence. Thus the latter was still only +an affair of opinion and of taste, whilst the former had already +crept into the habits of the people, possessed itself of their +manners, and given a particular turn to the smallest actions of +their lives. Can it be wondered that the men of our own time +prefer the one to the other? + +I think that democratic communities have a natural taste for +freedom: left to themselves, they will seek it, cherish it, and +view any privation of it with regret. But for equality, their +passion is ardent, insatiable, incessant, invincible: they call +for equality in freedom; and if they cannot obtain that, they +still call for equality in slavery. They will endure poverty, +servitude, barbarism - but they will not endure aristocracy. +This is true at all times, and especially true in our own. All +men and all powers seeking to cope with this irresistible +passion, will be overthrown and destroyed by it. In our age, +freedom cannot be established without it, and despotism itself +cannot reign without its support. + +Chapter II: Of Individualism In Democratic Countries + +I have shown how it is that in ages of equality every man +seeks for his opinions within himself: I am now about to show how +it is that, in the same ages, all his feelings are turned towards +himselfalone. Individualism *a is a novel expression, to which a +novel idea has given birth. Our fathers were only acquainted +with egotism. Egotism is a passionate and exaggerated love of +self, which leads a man to connect everything with his own +person, and to prefer himself to everything in the world. +Individualism is a mature and calm feeling, which disposes each +member of the community to sever himself from the mass of his +fellow-creatures; and to draw apart with his family and his +friends; so that, after he has thus formed a little circle of his +own, he willingly leaves society at large to itself. Egotism +originates in blind instinct: individualism proceeds from +erroneous judgment more than from depraved feelings; it +originates as much in the deficiencies of the mind as in the +perversity of the heart. Egotism blights the germ of all virtue; +individualism, at first, only saps the virtues of public life; +but, in the long run, it attacks and destroys all others, and is +at length absorbed in downright egotism. Egotism is a vice as +old as the world, which does not belong to one form of society +more than to another: individualism is of democratic origin, and +it threatens to spread in the same ratio as the equality of +conditions. + +[Footnote a: [I adopt the expression of the original, however +strange it may seem to the English ear, partly because it +illustrates the remark on the introduction of general terms into +democratic language which was made in a preceding chapter, and +partly because I know of no English word exactly equivalent to +the expression. The chapter itself defines the meaning attached +to it by the author. - Translator's Note.]] + +Amongst aristocratic nations, as families remain for +centuries in the same condition, often on the same spot, all +generations become as it were contemporaneous. A man almost +always knows his forefathers, and respects them: he thinks he +already sees his remote descendants, and he loves them. He +willingly imposes duties on himself towards the former and the +latter; and he will frequently sacrifice his personal +gratifications to those who went before and to those who will +come after him. Aristocratic institutions have, moreover, the +effect of closely binding every man to several of his +fellow-citizens. As the classes of an aristocratic people are +strongly marked and permanent, each of them is regarded by its +own members as a sort of lesser country, more tangible and more +cherished than the country at large. As in aristocratic +communities all the citizens occupy fixed positions, one above +the other, the result is that each of them always sees a man +above himself whose patronage is necessary to him, and below +himself another man whose co-operation he may claim. Men living +in aristocratic ages are therefore almost always closely attached +to something placed out of their own sphere, and they are often +disposed to forget themselves. It is true that in those ages the +notion of human fellowship is faint, and that men seldom think of +sacrificing themselves for mankind; but they often sacrifice +themselves for other men. In democratic ages, on the contrary, +when the duties of each individual to the race are much more +clear, devoted service to any one man becomes more rare; the bond +of human affection is extended, but it is relaxed. + +Amongst democratic nations new families are constantly +springing up, others are constantly falling away, and all that +remain change their condition; the woof of time is every instant +broken, and the track of generations effaced. Those who went +before are soon forgotten; of those who will come after no one +has any idea: the interest of man is confined to those in close +propinquity to himself. As each class approximates to other +classes, and intermingles with them, its members become +indifferent and as strangers to one another. Aristocracy had +made a chain of all the members of the community, from the +peasant to the king: democracy breaks that chain, and severs +every link of it. As social conditions become more equal, the +number of persons increases who, although they are neither rich +enough nor powerful enough to exercise any great influence over +their fellow-creatures, have nevertheless acquired or retained +sufficient education and fortune to satisfy their own wants. +They owe nothing to any man, they expect nothing from any man; +they acquire the habit of always considering themselves as +standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole +destiny is in their own hands. Thus not only does democracy make +every man forget his ancestors, but it hides his descendants, and +separates his contemporaries from him; it throws him back forever +upon himself alone, and threatens in the end to confine him +entirely within the solitude of his own heart. +Chapter III: Individualism Stronger At The Close Of A Democratic +Revolution Than At Other Periods + +The period when the construction of democratic society upon +the ruins of an aristocracy has just been completed, is +especially that at which this separation of men from one another, +and the egotism resulting from it, most forcibly strike the +observation. Democratic communities not only contain a large +number of independent citizens, but they are constantly filled +with men who, having entered but yesterday upon their independent +condition, are intoxicated with their new power. They entertain +a presumptuous confidence in their strength, and as they do not +suppose that they can henceforward ever have occasion to claim +the assistance of their fellow-creatures, they do not scruple to +show that they care for nobody but themselves. + +An aristocracy seldom yields without a protracted struggle, +in the course of which implacable animosities are kindled between +the different classes of society. These passions survive the +victory, and traces of them may be observed in the midst of the +democratic confusion which ensues. Those members of the +community who were at the top of the late gradations of rank +cannot immediately forget their former greatness; they will long +regard themselves as aliens in the midst of the newly composed +society. They look upon all those whom this state of society has +made their equals as oppressors, whose destiny can excite no +sympathy; they have lost sight of their former equals, and feel +no longer bound by a common interest to their fate: each of them, +standing aloof, thinks that he is reduced to care for himself +alone. Those, on the contrary, who were formerly at the foot of +the social scale, and who have been brought up to the common +level by a sudden revolution, cannot enjoy their newly acquired +independence without secret uneasiness; and if they meet with +some of their former superiors on the same footing as themselves, +they stand aloof from them with an expression of triumph and of +fear. It is, then, commonly at the outset of democratic society +that citizens are most disposed to live apart. Democracy leads +men not to draw near to their fellow- creatures; but democratic +revolutions lead them to shun each other, and perpetuate in a +state of equality the animosities which the state of inequality +engendered. The great advantage of the Americans is that they +have arrived at a state of democracy without having to endure a +democratic revolution; and that they are born equal, instead of +becoming so. + +Chapter IV: That The Americans Combat The Effects Of +Individualism By Free Institutions + +Despotism, which is of a very timorous nature, is never more +secure of continuance than when it can keep men asunder; and all +is influence is commonly exerted for that purpose. No vice of +the human heart is so acceptable to it as egotism: a despot +easily forgives his subjects for not loving him, provided they do +not love each other. He does not ask them to assist him in +governing the State; it is enough that they do not aspire to +govern it themselves. He stigmatizes as turbulent and unruly +spirits those who would combine their exertions to promote the +prosperity of the community, and, perverting the natural meaning +of words, he applauds as good citizens those who have no sympathy +for any but themselves. Thus the vices which despotism engenders +are precisely those which equality fosters. These two things +mutually and perniciously complete and assist each other. +Equality places men side by side, unconnected by any common tie; +despotism raises barriers to keep them asunder; the former +predisposes them not to consider their fellow-creatures, the +latter makes general indifference a sort of public virtue. + +Despotism then, which is at all times dangerous, is more +particularly to be feared in democratic ages. It is easy to see +that in those same ages men stand most in need of freedom. When +the members of a community are forced to attend to public +affairs, they are necessarily drawn from the circle of their own +interests, and snatched at times from self-observation. As soon +as a man begins to treat of public affairs in public, he begins +to perceive that he is not so independent of his fellow-men as he +had at first imagined, and that, in order to obtain their +support, he must often lend them his co-operation. + +When the public is supreme, there is no man who does not +feel the value of public goodwill, or who does not endeavor to +court it by drawing to himself the esteem and affection of those +amongst whom he is to live. Many of the passions which congeal +and keep asunder human hearts, are then obliged to retire and +hide below the surface. Pride must be dissembled; disdain dares +not break out; egotism fears its own self. Under a free +government, as most public offices are elective, the men whose +elevated minds or aspiring hopes are too closely circumscribed in +private life, constantly feel that they cannot do without the +population which surrounds them. Men learn at such times to +think of their fellow- men from ambitious motives; and they +frequently find it, in a manner, their interest to forget +themselves. + +I may here be met by an objection derived from +electioneering intrigues, the meannesses of candidates, and the +calumnies of their opponents. These are opportunities for +animosity which occur the oftener the more frequent elections +become. Such evils are doubtless great, but they are transient; +whereas the benefits which attend them remain. The desire of +being elected may lead some men for a time to violent hostility; +but this same desire leads all men in the long run mutually to +support each other; and if it happens that an election +accidentally severs two friends, the electoral system brings a +multitude of citizens permanently together, who would always have +remained unknown to each other. Freedom engenders private +animosities, but despotism gives birth to general indifference. + +The Americans have combated by free institutions the +tendency of equality to keep men asunder, and they have subdued +it. The legislators of America did not suppose that a general +representation of the whole nation would suffice to ward off a +disorder at once so natural to the frame of democratic society, +and so fatal: they also thought that it would be well to infuse +political life into each portion of the territory, in order to +multiply to an infinite extent opportunities of acting in concert +for all the members of the community, and to make them constantly +feel their mutual dependence on each other. The plan was a wise +one. The general affairs of a country only engage the attention +of leading politicians, who assemble from time to time in the +same places; and as they often lose sight of each other +afterwards, no lasting ties are established between them. But if +the object be to have the local affairs of a district conducted +by the men who reside there, the same persons are always in +contact, and they are, in a manner, forced to be acquainted, and +to adapt themselves to one another. + +It is difficult to draw a man out of his own circle to +interest him in the destiny of the State, because he does not +clearly understand what influence the destiny of the State can +have upon his own lot. But if it be proposed to make a road +cross the end of his estate, he will see at a glance that there +is a connection between this small public affair and his greatest +private affairs; and he will discover, without its being shown to +him, the close tie which unites private to general interest. +Thus, far more may be done by intrusting to the citizens the +administration of minor affairs than by surrendering to them the +control of important ones, towards interesting them in the public +welfare, and convincing them that they constantly stand in need +one of the other in order to provide for it. A brilliant +achievement may win for you the favor of a people at one stroke; +but to earn the love and respect of the population which +surrounds you, a long succession of little services rendered and +of obscure good deeds -a constant habit of kindness, and an +established reputation for disinterestedness - will be required. +Local freedom, then, which leads a great number of citizens to +value the affection of their neighbors and of their kindred, +perpetually brings men together, and forces them to help one +another, in spite of the propensities which sever them. + +In the United States the more opulent citizens take great +care not to stand aloof from the people; on the contrary, they +constantly keep on easy terms with the lower classes: they listen +to them, they speak to them every day. They know that the rich +in democracies always stand in need of the poor; and that in +democratic ages you attach a poor man to you more by your manner +than by benefits conferred. The magnitude of such benefits, +which sets off the difference of conditions, causes a secret +irritation to those who reap advantage from them; but the charm +of simplicity of manners is almost irresistible: their affability +carries men away, and even their want of polish is not always +displeasing. This truth does not take root at once in the minds +of the rich. They generally resist it as long as the democratic +revolution lasts, and they do not acknowledge it immediately +after that revolution is accomplished. They are very ready to do +good to the people, but they still choose to keep them at arm's +length; they think that is sufficient, but they are mistaken. +They might spend fortunes thus without warming the hearts of the +population around them; - that population does not ask them for +the sacrifice of their money, but of their pride. + +It would seem as if every imagination in the United States +were upon the stretch to invent means of increasing the wealth +and satisfying the wants of the public. The best-informed +inhabitants of each district constantly use their information to +discover new truths which may augment the general prosperity; and +if they have made any such discoveries, they eagerly surrender +them to the mass of the people. + +When the vices and weaknesses, frequently exhibited by those +who govern in America, are closely examined, the prosperity of +the people occasions - but improperly occasions - surprise. +Elected magistrates do not make the American democracy flourish; +it flourishes because the magistrates are elective. + +It would be unjust to suppose that the patriotism and the +zeal which every American displays for the welfare of his fellow- +citizens are wholly insincere. Although private interest directs +the greater part of human actions in the United States as well as +elsewhere, it does not regulate them all. I must say that I have +often seen Americans make great and real sacrifices to the public +welfare; and I have remarked a hundred instances in which they +hardly ever failed to lend faithful support to each other. The +free institutions which the inhabitants of the United States +possess, and the political rights of which they make so much use, +remind every citizen, and in a thousand ways, that he lives in +society. They every instant impress upon his mind the notion +that it is the duty, as well as the interest of men, to make +themselves useful to their fellow-creatures; and as he sees no +particular ground of animosity to them, since he is never either +their master or their slave, his heart readily leans to the side +of kindness. Men attend to the interests of the public, first by +necessity, afterwards by choice: what was intentional becomes an +instinct; and by dint of working for the good of one's fellow +citizens, the habit and the taste for serving them is at length +acquired. + +Many people in France consider equality of conditions as one +evil, and political freedom as a second. When they are obliged +to yield to the former, they strive at least to escape from the +latter. But I contend that in order to combat the evils which +equality may produce, there is only one effectual remedy - +namely, political freedom. + + +Book Two - Chapters V-VII + +Chapter V: Of The Use Which The Americans Make Of Public +Associations In Civil Life + +I do not propose to speak of those political associations - +by the aid of which men endeavor to defend themselves against the +despotic influence of a majority - or against the aggressions of +regal power. That subject I have already treated. If each +citizen did not learn, in proportion as he individually becomes +more feeble, and consequently more incapable of preserving his +freedom single-handed, to combine with his fellow-citizens for +the purpose of defending it, it is clear that tyranny would +unavoidably increase together with equality. + +Those associations only which are formed in civil life, +without reference to political objects, are here adverted to. +The political associations which exist in the United States are +only a single feature in the midst of the immense assemblage of +associations in that country. Americans of all ages, all +conditions, and all dispositions, constantly form associations. +They have not only commercial and manufacturing companies, in +which all take part, but associations of a thousand other kinds - +religious, moral, serious, futile, extensive, or restricted, +enormous or diminutive. The Americans make associations to give +entertainments, to found establishments for education, to build +inns, to construct churches, to diffuse books, to send +missionaries to the antipodes; and in this manner they found +hospitals, prisons, and schools. If it be proposed to advance +some truth, or to foster some feeling by the encouragement of a +great example, they form a society. Wherever, at the head of +some new undertaking, you see the government in France, or a man +of rank in England, in the United States you will be sure to find +an association. I met with several kinds of associations in +America, of which I confess I had no previous notion; and I have +often admired the extreme skill with which the inhabitants of the +United States succeed in proposing a common object to the +exertions of a great many men, and in getting them voluntarily to +pursue it. I have since travelled over England, whence the +Americans have taken some of their laws and many of their +customs; and it seemed to me that the principle of +association was by no means so constantly or so adroitly used in +that country. The English often perform great things singly; +whereas the Americans form associations for the smallest +undertakings. It is evident that the former people consider +association as a powerful means of action, but the latter seem to +regard it as the only means they have of acting. + +Thus the most democratic country on the face of the earth is +that in which men have in our time carried to the highest +perfection the art of pursuing in common the object of their +common desires, and have applied this new science to the greatest +number of purposes. Is this the result of accident? or is there +in reality any necessary connection between the principle of +association and that of equality? Aristocratic communities +always contain, amongst a multitude of persons who by themselves +are powerless, a small number of powerful and wealthy citizens, +each of whom can achieve great undertakings single-handed. In +aristocratic societies men do not need to combine in order to +act, because they are strongly held together. Every wealthy and +powerful citizen constitutes the head of a permanent and +compulsory association, composed of all those who are dependent +upon him, or whom he makes subservient to the execution of his +designs. Amongst democratic nations, on the contrary, all the +citizens are independent and feeble; they can do hardly anything +by themselves, and none of them can oblige his fellow-men to lend +him their assistance. They all, therefore, fall into a state of +incapacity, if they do not learn voluntarily to help each other. +If men living in democratic countries had no right and no +inclination to associate for political purposes, their +independence would be in great jeopardy; but they might long +preserve their wealth and their cultivation: whereas if they +never acquired the habit of forming associations in ordinary +life, civilization itself would be endangered. A people amongst +which individuals should lose the power of achieving great things +single-handed, without acquiring the means of producing them by +united exertions, would soon relapse into barbarism. + +Unhappily, the same social condition which renders +associations so necessary to democratic nations, renders their +formation more difficult amongst those nations than amongst all +others. When several members of an aristocracy agree to combine, +they easily succeed in doing so; as each of them brings great +strength to the partnership, the number of its members may be +very limited; and when the members of an association are limited +in number, they may easily become mutually acquainted, understand +each other, and establish fixed regulations. The same +opportunities do not occur amongst democratic nations, where the +associated members must always be very numerous for their +association to have any power. + +I am aware that many of my countrymen are not in the least +embarrassed by this difficulty. They contend that the more +enfeebled and incompetent the citizens become, the more able and +active the government ought to be rendered, in order that society +at large may execute what individuals can no longer accomplish. +They believe this answers the whole difficulty, but I think they +are mistaken. A government might perform the part of some of the +largest American companies; and several States, members of the +Union, have already attempted it; but what political power could +ever carry on the vast multitude of lesser undertakings which the +American citizens perform every day, with the assistance of the +principle of association? It is easy to foresee that the time is +drawing near when man will be less and less able to produce, of +himself alone, the commonest necessaries of life. The task of +the governing power will therefore perpetually increase, and its +very efforts will extend it every day. The more it stands in the +place of associations, the more will individuals, losing the +notion of combining together, require its assistance: these are +causes and effects which unceasingly engender each other. Will +the administration of the country ultimately assume the +management of all the manufacturers, which no single citizen is +able to carry on? And if a time at length arrives, when, in +consequence of the extreme subdivision of landed property, the +soil is split into an infinite number of parcels, so that it can +only be cultivated by companies of husbandmen, will it be +necessary that the head of the government should leave the helm +of state to follow the plough? The morals and the intelligence of +a democratic people would be as much endangered as its business +and manufactures, if the government ever wholly usurped the place +of private companies. + +Feelings and opinions are recruited, the heart is enlarged, +and the human mind is developed by no other means than by the +reciprocal influence of men upon each other. I have shown that +these influences are almost null in democratic countries; they +must therefore be artificially created, and this can only be +accomplished by associations. + +When the members of an aristocratic community adopt a new +opinion, or conceive a new sentiment, they give it a station, as +it were, beside themselves, upon the lofty platform where they +stand; and opinions or sentiments so conspicuous to the eyes of +the multitude are easily introduced into the minds or hearts of +all around. In democratic countries the governing power alone is +naturally in a condition to act in this manner; but it is easy to +see that its action is always inadequate, and often dangerous. A +government can no more be competent to keep alive and to renew +the circulation of opinions and feelings amongst a great people, +than to manage all the speculations of productive industry. No +sooner does a government attempt to go beyond its political +sphere and to enter upon this new track, than it exercises, even +unintentionally, an insupportable tyranny; for a government can +only dictate strict rules, the opinions which it favors are +rigidly enforced, and it is never easy to discriminate between +its advice and its commands. Worse still will be the case if the +government really believes itself interested in preventing all +circulation of ideas; it will then stand motionless, and +oppressed by the heaviness of voluntary torpor. Governments +therefore should not be the only active powers: associations +ought, in democratic nations, to stand in lieu of those powerful +private individuals whom the equality of conditions has swept +away. + +As soon as several of the inhabitants of the United States +have taken up an opinion or a feeling which they wish to promote +in the world, they look out for mutual assistance; and as soon as +they have found each other out, they combine. From that moment +they are no longer isolated men, but a power seen from afar, +whose actions serve for an example, and whose language is +listened to. The first time I heard in the United States that +100,000 men had bound themselves publicly to abstain from +spirituous liquors, it appeared to me more like a joke than a +serious engagement; and I did not at once perceive why these +temperate citizens could not content themselves with drinking +water by their own firesides. I at last understood that 300,000 +Americans, alarmed by the progress of drunkenness around them, +had made up their minds to patronize temperance. They acted just +in the same way as a man of high rank who should dress very +plainly, in order to inspire the humbler orders with a contempt +of luxury. It is probable that if these 100,000 men had lived in +France, each of them would singly have memorialized the +government to watch the publichouses all over the kingdom. + +Nothing, in my opinion, is more deserving of our attention +than the intellectual and moral associations of America. The +political and industrial associations of that country strike us +forcibly; but the others elude our observation, or if we discover +them, we understand them imperfectly, because we have hardly ever +seen anything of the kind. It must, however, be acknowledged +that they are as necessary to the American people as the former, +and perhaps more so. In democratic countries the science of +association is the mother of science; the progress of all the +rest depends upon the progress it has made. Amongst the laws +which rule human societies there is one which seems to be more +precise and clear than all others. If men are to remain +civilized, or to become so, the art of associating together must +grow and improve in the same ratio in which the equality of +conditions is increased. + +Chapter VI: Of The Relation Between Public Associations And +Newspapers + +When men are no longer united amongst themselves by firm and +lasting ties, it is impossible to obtain the cooperation of any +great number of them, unless you can persuade every man whose +concurrence you require that this private interest obliges him +voluntarily to unite his exertions to the exertions of all the +rest. This can only be habitually and conveniently effected by +means of a newspaper; nothing but a newspaper can drop the same +thought into a thousand minds at the same moment. A newspaper is +an adviser who does not require to be sought, but who comes of +his own accord, and talks to you briefly every day of the common +weal, without distracting you from your private affairs. + +Newspapers therefore become more necessary in proportion as +men become more equal, and individualism more to be feared. To +suppose that they only serve to protect freedom would be to +diminish their importance: they maintain civilization. I shall +not deny that in democratic countries newspapers frequently lead +the citizens to launch together in very ill-digested schemes; but +if there were no newspapers there would be no common activity. +The evil which they produce is therefore much less than that +which they cure. + +The effect of a newspaper is not only to suggest the same +purpose to a great number of persons, but also to furnish means +for executing in common the designs which they may have singly +conceived. The principal citizens who inhabit an aristocratic +country discern each other from afar; and if they wish to unite +their forces, they move towards each other, drawing a multitude +of men after them. It frequently happens, on the contrary, in +democratic countries, that a great number of men who wish or who +want to combine cannot accomplish it, because as they are very +insignificant and lost amidst the crowd, they cannot see, and +know not where to find, one another. A newspaper then takes up +the notion or the feeling which had occurred simultaneously, but +singly, to each of them. All are then immediately guided towards +this beacon; and these wandering minds, which had long sought +each other in darkness, at length meet and unite. + +The newspaper brought them together, and the newspaper is +still necessary to keep them united. In order that an +association amongst a democratic people should have any power, it +must be a numerous body. The persons of whom it is composed are +therefore scattered over a wide extent, and each of them is +detained in the place of his domicile by the narrowness of his +income, or by the small unremitting exertions by which he earns +it. Means then must be found to converse every day without seeing +each other, and to take steps in common without having met. Thus +hardly any democratic association can do without newspapers. +There is consequently a necessary connection between public +associations and newspapers: newspapers make associations, and +associations make newspapers; and if it has been correctly +advanced that associations will increase in number as the +conditions of men become more equal, it is not less certain that +the number of newspapers increases in proportion to that of +associations. Thus it is in America that we find at the same +time the greatest number of associations and of newspapers. + +This connection between the number of newspapers and that of +associations leads us to the discovery of a further connection +between the state of the periodical press and the form of the +administration in a country; and shows that the number of +newspapers must diminish or increase amongst a democratic people, +in proportion as its administration is more or less centralized. +For amongst democratic nations the exercise of local powers +cannot be intrusted to the principal members of the community as +in aristocracies. Those powers must either be abolished, or +placed in the hands of very large numbers of men, who then in +fact constitute an association permanently established by law for +the purpose of administering the affairs of a certain extent of +territory; and they require a journal, to bring to them every +day, in the midst of their own minor concerns, some intelligence +of the state of their public weal. The more numerous local +powers are, the greater is the number of men in whom they are +vested by law; and as this want is hourly felt, the more +profusely do newspapers abound. + +The extraordinary subdivision of administrative power has +much more to do with the enormous number of American newspapers +than the great political freedom of the country and the absolute +liberty of the press. If all the inhabitants of the Union had +the suffrage - but a suffrage which should only extend to the +choice of their legislators in Congress - they would require but +few newspapers, because they would only have to act together on a +few very important but very rare occasions. But within the pale +of the great association of the nation, lesser associations have +been established by law in every country, every city, and indeed +in every village, for the purposes of local administration. The +laws of the country thus compel every American to co-operate +every day of his life with some of his fellow-citizens for a +common purpose, and each one of them requires a newspaper to +inform him what all the others are doing. + +I am of opinion that a democratic people, *a without any +national representative assemblies, but with a great number of +small local powers, would have in the end more newspapers than +another people governed by a centralized administration and an +elective legislation. What best explains to me the enormous +circulation of the daily press in the United States, is that +amongst the Americans I find the utmost national freedom combined +with local freedom of every kind. There is a prevailing opinion +in France and England that the circulation of newspapers would be +indefinitely increased by removing the taxes which have been laid +upon the press. This is a very exaggerated estimate of the +effects of such a reform. Newspapers increase in numbers, not +according to their cheapness, but according to the more or less +frequent want which a great number of men may feel for +intercommunication and combination. + +[Footnote a: I say a democratic people: the administration of an +aristocratic people may be the reverse of centralized, and yet +the want of newspapers be little felt, because local powers are +then vested in the hands of a very small number of men, who +either act apart, or who know each other and can easily meet and +come to an understanding.] + +In like manner I should attribute the increasing influence +of the daily press to causes more general than those by which it +is commonly explained. A newspaper can only subsist on the +condition of publishing sentiments or principles common to a +large number of men. A newspaper therefore always represents an +association which is composed of its habitual readers. This +association may be more or less defined, more or less restricted, +more or less numerous; but the fact that the newspaper keeps +alive, is a proof that at least the germ of such an association +exists in the minds of its readers. + +This leads me to a last reflection, with which I shall +conclude this chapter. The more equal the conditions of men +become, and the less strong men individually are, the more easily +do they give way to the current of the multitude, and the more +difficult is it for them to adhere by themselves to an opinion +which the multitude discard. A newspaper represents an +association; it may be said to address each of its readers in the +name of all the others, and to exert its influence over them in +proportion to their individual weakness. The power of the +newspaper press must therefore increase as the social conditions +of men become more equal. + +Chapter VII: Connection Of Civil And Political Associations +There is only one country on the face of the earth where the +citizens enjoy unlimited freedom of association for political +purposes. This same country is the only one in the world where +the continual exercise of the right of association has been +introduced into civil life, and where all the advantages which +civilization can confer are procured by means of it. In all the +countries where political associations are prohibited, civil +associations are rare. It is hardly probable that this is the +result of accident; but the inference should rather be, that +there is a natural, and perhaps a necessary, connection between +these two kinds of associations. Certain men happen to have a +common interest in some concern - either a commercial undertaking +is to be managed, or some speculation in manufactures to be +tried; they meet, they combine, and thus by degrees they become +familiar with the principle of association. The greater is the +multiplicity of small affairs, the more do men, even without +knowing it, acquire facility in prosecuting great undertakings in +common. Civil associations, therefore, facilitate political +association: but, on the other hand, political association +singularly strengthens and improves associations for civil +purposes. In civil life every man may, strictly speaking, fancy +that he can provide for his own wants; in politics, he can fancy +no such thing. When a people, then, have any knowledge of public +life, the notion of association, and the wish to coalesce, +present themselves every day to the minds of the whole community: +whatever natural repugnance may restrain men from acting in +concert, they will always be ready to combine for the sake of a +party. Thus political life makes the love and practice of +association more general; it imparts a desire of union, and +teaches the means of combination to numbers of men who would have +always lived apart. + +Politics not only give birth to numerous associations, but +to associations of great extent. In civil life it seldom happens +that any one interest draws a very large number of men to act in +concert; much skill is required to bring such an interest into +existence: but in politics opportunities present themselves every +day. Now it is solely in great associations that the general +value of the principle of association is displayed. Citizens who +are individually powerless, do not very clearly anticipate the +strength which they may acquire by uniting together; it must be +shown to them in order to be understood. Hence it is often +easier to collect a multitude for a public purpose than a few +persons; a thousand citizens do not see what interest they have +in combining together - ten thousand will be perfectly aware of +it. In politics men combine for great undertakings; and the use +they make of the principle of association in important affairs +practically teaches them that it is their interest to help each +other in those of less moment. A political association draws a +number of individuals at the same time out of their own circle: +however they may be naturally kept asunder by age, mind, and +fortune, it places them nearer together and brings them into +contact. Once met, they can always meet again. + +Men can embark in few civil partnerships without risking a +portion of their possessions; this is the case with all +manufacturing and trading companies. When men are as yet but +little versed in the art of association, and are unacquainted +with its principal rules, they are afraid, when first they +combine in this manner, of buying their experience dear. They +therefore prefer depriving themselves of a powerful instrument of +success to running the risks which attend the use of it. They +are, however, less reluctant to join political associations, +which appear to them to be without danger, because they adventure +no money in them. But they cannot belong to these associations +for any length of time without finding out how order is +maintained amongst a large number of men, and by what contrivance +they are made to advance, harmoniously and methodically, to the +same object. Thus they learn to surrender their own will to that +of all the rest, and to make their own exertions subordinate to +the common impulse - things which it is not less necessary to +know in civil than in political associations. Political +associations may therefore be considered as large free schools, +where all the members of the community go to learn the general +theory of association. + +But even if political association did not directly +contribute to the progress of civil association, to destroy the +former would be to impair the latter. When citizens can only +meet in public for certain purposes, they regard such meetings as +a strange proceeding of rare occurrence, and they rarely think at +all about it. When they are allowed to meet freely for all +purposes, they ultimately look upon public association as the +universal, or in a manner the sole means, which men can employ to +accomplish the different purposes they may have in view. Every +new want instantly revives the notion. The art of association +then becomes, as I have said before, the mother of action, +studied and applied by all. + +When some kinds of associations are prohibited and others +allowed, it is difficult to distinguish the former from the +latter, beforehand. In this state of doubt men abstain from them +altogether, and a sort of public opinion passes current which +tends to cause any association whatsoever to be regarded as a +bold and almost an illicit enterprise. *a + +[Footnote a: This is more especially true when the executive +government has a discretionary power of allowing or prohibiting +associations. When certain associations are simply prohibited by +law, and the courts of justice have to punish infringements of +that law, the evil is far less considerable. Then every citizen +knows beforehand pretty nearly what he has to expect. He judges +himself before he is judged by the law, and, abstaining from +prohibited associations, he embarks in those which are legally +sanctioned. It is by these restrictions that all free nations +have always admitted that the right of association might be +limited. But if the legislature should invest a man with a power +of ascertaining beforehand which associations are dangerous and +which are useful, and should authorize him to destroy all +associations in the bud or allow them to be formed, as nobody +would be able to foresee in what cases associations might be +established and in what cases they would be put down, the spirit +of association would be entirely paralyzed. The former of these +laws would only assail certain associations; the latter would +apply to society itself, and inflict an injury upon it. I can +conceive that a regular government may have recourse to the +former, but I do not concede that any government has the right of +enacting the latter.] + +It is therefore chimerical to suppose that the spirit of +association, when it is repressed on some one point, will +nevertheless display the same vigor on all others; and that if +men be allowed to prosecute certain undertakings in common, that +is quite enough for them eagerly to set about them. When the +members of a community are allowed and accustomed to combine for +all purposes, they will combine as readily for the lesser as for +the more important ones; but if they are only allowed to combine +for small affairs, they will be neither inclined nor able to +effect it. It is in vain that you will leave them entirely free +to prosecute their business on joint-stock account: they will +hardly care to avail themselves of the rights you have granted to +them; and, after having exhausted your strength in vain efforts +to put down prohibited associations, you will be surprised that +you cannot persuade men to form the associations you encourage. + +I do not say that there can be no civil associations in a +country where political association is prohibited; for men can +never live in society without embarking in some common +undertakings: but I maintain that in such a country civil +associations will always be few in number, feebly planned, +unskillfully managed, that they will never form any vast designs, +or that they will fail in the execution of them. + +This naturally leads me to think that freedom of association +in political matters is not so dangerous to public tranquillity +as is supposed; and that possibly, after having agitated society +for some time, it may strengthen the State in the end. In +democratic countries political associations are, so to speak, the +only powerful persons who aspire to rule the State. Accordingly, +the governments of our time look upon associations of this kind +just as sovereigns in the Middle Ages regarded the great vassals +of the Crown: they entertain a sort of instinctive abhorrence of +them, and they combat them on all occasions. They bear, on the +contrary, a natural goodwill to civil associations, because they +readily discover that, instead of directing the minds of the +community to public affairs, these institutions serve to divert +them from such reflections; and that, by engaging them more and +more in the pursuit of objects which cannot be attained without +public tranquillity, they deter them from revolutions. But these +governments do not attend to the fact that political associations +tend amazingly to multiply and facilitate those of a civil +character, and that in avoiding a dangerous evil they deprive +themselves of an efficacious remedy. + +When you see the Americans freely and constantly forming +associations for the purpose of promoting some political +principle, of raising one man to the head of affairs, or of +wresting power from another, you have some difficulty in +understanding that men so independent do not constantly fall into +the abuse of freedom. If, on the other hand, you survey the +infinite number of trading companies which are in operation in +the United States, and perceive that the Americans are on every +side unceasingly engaged in the execution of important and +difficult plans, which the slightest revolution would throw into +confusion, you will readily comprehend why people so well +employed are by no means tempted to perturb the State, nor to +destroy that public tranquillity by which they all profit. + +Is it enough to observe these things separately, or should +we not discover the hidden tie which connects them? In their +political associations, the Americans of all conditions, minds, +and ages, daily acquire a general taste for association, and grow +accustomed to the use of it. There they meet together in large +numbers, they converse, they listen to each other, and they are +mutually stimulated to all sorts of undertakings. They +afterwards transfer to civil life the notions they have thus +acquired, and make them subservient to a thousand purposes. Thus +it is by the enjoyment of a dangerous freedom that the Americans +learn the art of rendering the dangers of freedom less +formidable. + +If a certain moment in the existence of a nation be +selected, it is easy to prove that political associations perturb +the State, and paralyze productive industry; but take the whole +life of a people, and it may perhaps be easy to demonstrate that +freedom of association in political matters is favorable to the +prosperity and even to the tranquillity of the community. + +I said in the former part of this work, "The unrestrained +liberty of political association cannot be entirely assimilated +to the liberty of the press. The one is at the same time less +necessary and more dangerous than the other. A nation may +confine it within certain limits without ceasing to be mistress +of itself; and it may sometimes be obliged to do so in order to +maintain its own authority." And further on I added: "It cannot +be denied that the unrestrained liberty of association for +political purposes is the last degree of liberty which a people +is fit for. If it does not throw them into anarchy, it +perpetually brings them, as it were, to the verge of it." Thus I +do not think that a nation is always at liberty to invest its +citizens with an absolute right of association for political +purposes; and I doubt whether, in any country or in any age, it +be wise to set no limits to freedom of association. A certain +nation, it is said, could not maintain tranquillity in the +community, cause the laws to be respected, or establish a lasting +government, if the right of association were not confined within +narrow limits. These blessings are doubtless invaluable, and I +can imagine that, to acquire or to preserve them, a nation may +impose upon itself severe temporary restrictions: but still it is +well that the nation should know at what price these blessings +are purchased. I can understand that it may be advisable to cut +off a man's arm in order to save his life; but it would be +ridiculous to assert that he will be as dexterous as he was +before he lost it. + + +Book Two - Chapters VII-XIII + +Chapter VIII: The Americans Combat Individualism By The Principle +Of Interest Rightly Understood + +When the world was managed by a few rich and powerful +individuals, these persons loved to entertain a lofty idea of the +duties of man. They were fond of professing that it is +praiseworthy to forget one's self, and that good should be done +without hope of reward, as it is by the Deity himself. Such were +the standard opinions of that time in morals. I doubt whether +men were more virtuous in aristocratic ages than in others; but +they were incessantly talking of the beauties of virtue, and its +utility was only studied in secret. But since the imagination +takes less lofty flights and every man's thoughts are centred in +himself, moralists are alarmed by this idea of self-sacrifice, +and they no longer venture to present it to the human mind. They +therefore content themselves with inquiring whether the personal +advantage of each member of the community does not consist in +working for the good of all; and when they have hit upon some +point on which private interest and public interest meet and +amalgamate, they are eager to bring it into notice. Observations +of this kind are gradually multiplied: what was only a single +remark becomes a general principle; and it is held as a truth +that man serves himself in serving his fellow-creatures, and that +his private interest is to do good. + +I have already shown, in several parts of this work, by what +means the inhabitants of the United States almost always manage +to combine their own advantage with that of their +fellow-citizens: my present purpose is to point out the general +rule which enables them to do so. In the United States hardly +anybody talks of the beauty of virtue; but they maintain that +virtue is useful, and prove it every day. The American moralists +do not profess that men ought to sacrifice themselves for their +fellow-creatures because it is noble to make such sacrifices; but +they boldly aver that such sacrifices are as necessary to him who +imposes them upon himself as to him for whose sake they are made. +They have found out that in their country and their age man is +brought home to himself by an irresistible force; and losing all +hope of stopping that force, they turn all their thoughts to the +direction of it. They therefore do not deny that every man may +follow his own interest; but they endeavor to prove that it is +the interest of every man to be virtuous. I shall not here enter +into the reasons they allege, which would divert me from my +subject: suffice it to say that they have convinced their +fellow-countrymen. + +Montaigne said long ago: "Were I not to follow the straight +road for its straightness, I should follow it for having found by +experience that in the end it is commonly the happiest and most +useful track." The doctrine of interest rightly understood is +not, then, new, but amongst the Americans of our time it finds +universal acceptance: it has become popular there; you may trace +it at the bottom of all their actions, you will remark it in all +they say. It is as often to be met with on the lips of the poor +man as of the rich. In Europe the principle of interest is much +grosser than it is in America, but at the same time it is less +common, and especially it is less avowed; amongst us, men still +constantly feign great abnegation which they no longer feel. The +Americans, on the contrary, are fond of explaining almost all the +actions of their lives by the principle of interest rightly +understood; they show with complacency how an enlightened regard +for themselves constantly prompts them to assist each other, and +inclines them willingly to sacrifice a portion of their time and +property to the welfare of the State. In this respect I think +they frequently fail to do themselves justice; for in the United +States, as well as elsewhere, people are sometimes seen to give +way to those disinterested and spontaneous impulses which are +natural to man; but the Americans seldom allow that they yield to +emotions of this kind; they are more anxious to do honor to their +philosophy than to themselves. + +I might here pause, without attempting to pass a judgment on +what I have described. The extreme difficulty of the subject +would be my excuse, but I shall not avail myself of it; and I had +rather that my readers, clearly perceiving my object, should +refuse to follow me than that I should leave them in suspense. +The principle of interest rightly understood is not a lofty one, +but it is clear and sure. It does not aim at mighty objects, but +it attains without excessive exertion all those at which it aims. +As it lies within the reach of all capacities, everyone can +without difficulty apprehend and retain it. By its admirable +conformity to human weaknesses, it easily obtains great dominion; +nor is that dominion precarious, since the principle checks one +personal interest by another, and uses, to direct the passions, +the very same instrument which excites them. The principle of +interest rightly understood produces no great acts of +self-sacrifice, but it suggests daily small acts of self-denial. +By itself it cannot suffice to make a man virtuous, but it +disciplines a number of citizens in habits of regularity, +temperance, moderation, foresight, self-command; and, if it does +not lead men straight to virtue by the will, it gradually draws +them in that direction by their habits. If the principle of +interest rightly understood were to sway the whole moral world, +extraordinary virtues would doubtless be more rare; but I think +that gross depravity would then also be less common. The +principle of interest rightly understood perhaps prevents some +men from rising far above the level of mankind; but a great +number of other men, who were falling far below it, are caught +and restrained by it. Observe some few individuals, they are +lowered by it; survey mankind, it is raised. I am not afraid to +say that the principle of interest, rightly understood, appears +to me the best suited of all philosophical theories to the wants +of the men of our time, and that I regard it as their chief +remaining security against themselves. Towards it, therefore, +the minds of the moralists of our age should turn; even should +they judge it to be incomplete, it must nevertheless be adopted +as necessary. + +I do not think upon the whole that there is more egotism +amongst us than in America; the only difference is, that there it +is enlightened - here it is not. Every American will sacrifice a +portion of his private interests to preserve the rest; we would +fain preserve the whole, and oftentimes the whole is lost. +Everybody I see about me seems bent on teaching his +contemporaries, by precept and example, that what is useful is +never wrong. Will nobody undertake to make them understand how +what is right may be useful? No power upon earth can prevent the +increasing equality of conditions from inclining the human mind +to seek out what is useful, or from leading every member of the +community to be wrapped up in himself. It must therefore be +expected that personal interest will become more than ever the +principal, if not the sole, spring of men's actions; but it +remains to be seen how each man will understand his personal +interest. If the members of a community, as they become more +equal, become more ignorant and coarse, it is difficult to +foresee to what pitch of stupid excesses their egotism may lead +them; and no one can foretell into what disgrace and wretchedness +they would plunge themselves, lest they should have to sacrifice +something of their own well-being to the prosperity of their +fellow-creatures. I do not think that the system of interest, as +it is professed in America, is, in all its parts, self-evident; +but it contains a great number of truths so evident that men, if +they are but educated, cannot fail to see them. Educate, then, +at any rate; for the age of implicit self- sacrifice and +instinctive virtues is already flitting far away from us, and the +time is fast approaching when freedom, public peace, and social +order itself will not be able to exist without +education. + +Chapter IX: That The Americans Apply The Principle Of Interest +Rightly Understood To Religious Matters + +If the principle of interest rightly understood had nothing +but the present world in view, it would be very insufficient; for +there are many sacrifices which can only find their recompense in +another; and whatever ingenuity may be put forth to demonstrate +the utility of virtue, it will never be an easy task to make that +man live aright who has no thoughts of dying. It is therefore +necessary to ascertain whether the principle of interest rightly +understood is easily compatible with religious belief. The +philosophers who inculcate this system of morals tell men, that +to be happy in this life they must watch their own passions and +steadily control their excess; that lasting happiness can only be +secured by renouncing a thousand transient gratifications; and +that a man must perpetually triumph over himself, in order to +secure his own advantage. The founders of almost all religions +have held the same language. The track they point out to man is +the same, only that the goal is more remote; instead of placing +in this world the reward of the sacrifices they impose, they +transport it to another. Nevertheless I cannot believe that all +those who practise virtue from religious motives are only +actuated by the hope of a recompense. I have known zealous +Christians who constantly forgot themselves, to work with greater +ardor for the happiness of their fellow-men; and I have heard +them declare that all they did was only to earn the blessings of +a future state. I cannot but think that they deceive themselves; +I respect them too much to believe them. + +Christianity indeed teaches that a man must prefer his +neighbor to himself, in order to gain eternal life; but +Christianity also teaches that men ought to benefit their fellow- +creatures for the love of God. A sublime expression! Man, +searching by his intellect into the divine conception, and seeing +that order is the purpose of God, freely combines to prosecute +the great design; and whilst he sacrifices his personal interests +to this consummate order of all created things, expects no other +recompense than the pleasure of contemplating it. I do not +believe that interest is the sole motive of religious men: but I +believe that interest is the principal means which religions +themselves employ to govern men, and I do not question that this +way they strike into the multitude and become popular. It is not +easy clearly to perceive why the principle of interest rightly +understood should keep aloof from religious opinions; and it +seems to me more easy to show why it should draw men to them. +Let it be supposed that, in order to obtain happiness in this +world, a man combats his instinct on all occasions and +deliberately calculates every action of his life; that, instead +of yielding blindly to the impetuosity of first desires, he has +learned the art of resisting them, and that he has accustomed +himself to sacrifice without an effort the pleasure of a moment +to the lasting interest of his whole life. If such a man believes +in the religion which he professes, it will cost him but little +to submit to the restrictions it may impose. Reason herself +counsels him to obey, and habit has prepared him to endure them. +If he should have conceived any doubts as to the object of his +hopes, still he will not easily allow himself to be stopped by +them; and he will decide that it is wise to risk some of the +advantages of this world, in order to preserve his rights to the +great inheritance promised him in another. "To be mistaken in +believing that the Christian religion is true," says Pascal, "is +no great loss to anyone; but how dreadful to be mistaken in +believing it to be false!" + +The Americans do not affect a brutal indifference to a +future state; they affect no puerile pride in despising perils +which they hope to escape from. They therefore profess their +religion without shame and without weakness; but there generally +is, even in their zeal, something so indescribably tranquil, +methodical, and deliberate, that it would seem as if the head, +far more than the heart, brought them to the foot of the altar. +The Americans not only follow their religion from interest, but +they often place in this world the interest which makes them +follow it. In the Middle Ages the clergy spoke of nothing but a +future state; they hardly cared to prove that a sincere Christian +may be a happy man here below. But the American preachers are +constantly referring to the earth; and it is only with great +difficulty that they can divert their attention from it. To +touch their congregations, they always show them how favorable +religious opinions are to freedom and public tranquillity; and it +is often difficult to ascertain from their discourses whether the +principal object of religion is to procure eternal felicity in +the other world, or prosperity in this. + +Chapter X: Of The Taste For Physical Well-Being In America + +In America the passion for physical well-being is not always +exclusive, but it is general; and if all do not feel it in the +same manner, yet it is felt by all. Carefully to satisfy all, +even the least wants of the body, and to provide the little +conveniences of life, is uppermost in every mind. Something of an +analogous character is more and more apparent in Europe. Amongst +the causes which produce these similar consequences in both +hemispheres, several are so connected with my subject as to +deserve notice. + +When riches are hereditarily fixed in families, there are a +great number of men who enjoy the comforts of life without +feeling an exclusive taste for those comforts. The heart of man +is not so much caught by the undisturbed possession of anything +valuable as by the desire, as yet imperfectly satisfied, of +possessing it, and by the incessant dread of losing it. In +aristocratic communities, the wealthy, never having experienced a +condition different from their own, entertain no fear of changing +it; the existence of such conditions hardly occurs to them. The +comforts of life are not to them the end of life, but simply a +way of living; they regard them as existence itself - enjoyed, +but scarcely thought of. As the natural and instinctive taste +which all men feel for being well off is thus satisfied without +trouble and without apprehension, their faculties are turned +elsewhere, and cling to more arduous and more lofty undertakings, +which excite and engross their minds. Hence it is that, in the +midst of physical gratifications, the members of an aristocracy +often display a haughty contempt of these very enjoyments, and +exhibit singular powers of endurance under the privation of them. +All the revolutions which have ever shaken or destroyed +aristocracies, have shown how easily men accustomed to +superfluous luxuries can do without the necessaries of life; +whereas men who have toiled to acquire a competency can hardly +live after they have lost it. + +If I turn my observation from the upper to the lower +classes, I find analogous effects produced by opposite causes. +Amongst a nation where aristocracy predominates in society, and +keeps it stationary, the people in the end get as much accustomed +to poverty as the rich to their opulence. The latter bestow no +anxiety on their physical comforts, because they enjoy them +without an effort; the former do not think of things which they +despair of obtaining, and which they hardly know enough of to +desire them. In communities of this kind, the imagination of the +poor is driven to seek another world; the miseries of real life +inclose it around, but it escapes from their control, and flies +to seek its pleasures far beyond. When, on the contrary, the +distinctions of ranks are confounded together and privileges are +destroyed - when hereditary property is subdivided, and education +and freedom widely diffused, the desire of acquiring the comforts +of the world haunts the imagination of the poor, and the dread of +losing them that of the rich. Many scanty fortunes spring up; +those who possess them have a sufficient share of physical +gratifications to conceive a taste for these pleasures - not +enough to satisfy it. They never procure them without exertion, +and they never indulge in them without apprehension. They are +therefore always straining to pursue or to retain gratifications +so delightful, so imperfect, so fugitive. + +If I were to inquire what passion is most natural to men who +are stimulated and circumscribed by the obscurity of their birth +or the mediocrity of their fortune, I could discover none more +peculiarly appropriate to their condition than this love of +physical prosperity. The passion for physical comforts is +essentially a passion of the middle classes: with those classes +it grows and spreads, with them it preponderates. From them it +mounts into the higher orders of society, and descends into the +mass of the people. I never met in America with any citizen so +poor as not to cast a glance of hope and envy on the enjoyments +of the rich, or whose imagination did not possess itself by +anticipation of those good things which fate still obstinately +withheld from him. On the other hand, I never perceived amongst +the wealthier inhabitants of the United States that proud +contempt of physical gratifications which is sometimes to be met +with even in the most opulent and dissolute aristocracies. Most +of these wealthy persons were once poor; they have felt the sting +of want; they were long a prey to adverse fortunes; and now that +the victory is won, the passions which accompanied the contest +have survived it: their minds are, as it were, intoxicated by the +small enjoyments which they have pursued for forty years. Not but +that in the United States, as elsewhere, there are a certain +number of wealthy persons who, having come into their property by +inheritance, possess, without exertion, an opulence they have not +earned. But even these men are not less devotedly attached to +the pleasures of material life. The love of well-being is now +become the predominant taste of the nation; the great current of +man's passions runs in that channel, and sweeps everything along +in its course. + +Chapter XI: Peculiar Effects Of The Love Of Physical +Gratifications In Democratic Ages + +It may be supposed, from what has just been said, that the +love of physical gratifications must constantly urge the +Americans to irregularities in morals, disturb the peace of +families, and threaten the security of society at large. Such is +not the case: the passion for physical gratifications produces in +democracies effects very different from those which it occasions +in aristocratic nations. It sometimes happens that, wearied with +public affairs and sated with opulence, amidst the ruin of +religious belief and the decline of the State, the heart of an +aristocracy may by degrees be seduced to the pursuit of sensual +enjoyments only. At other times the power of the monarch or the +weakness of the people, without stripping the nobility of their +fortune, compels them to stand aloof from the administration of +affairs, and whilst the road to mighty enterprise is closed, +abandons them to the inquietude of their own desires; they then +fall back heavily upon themselves, and seek in the pleasures of +the body oblivion of their former greatness. When the members of +an aristocratic body are thus exclusively devoted to the pursuit +of physical gratifications, they commonly concentrate in that +direction all the energy which they derive from their long +experience of power. Such men are not satisfied with the pursuit +of comfort; they require sumptuous depravity and splendid +corruption. The worship they pay the senses is a gorgeous one; +and they seem to vie with each other in the art of degrading +their own natures. The stronger, the more famous, and the more +free an aristocracy has been, the more depraved will it then +become; and however brilliant may have been the lustre of its +virtues, I dare predict that they will always be surpassed by the +splendor of its vices. + +The taste for physical gratifications leads a democratic +people into no such excesses. The love of well-being is there +displayed as a tenacious, exclusive, universal passion; but its +range is confined. To build enormous palaces, to conquer or to +mimic nature, to ransack the world in order to gratify the +passions of a man, is not thought of: but to add a few roods of +land to your field, to plant an orchard, to enlarge a dwelling, +to be always making life more comfortable and convenient, to +avoid trouble, and to satisfy the smallest wants without effort +and almost without cost. These are small objects, but the soul +clings to them; it dwells upon them closely and day by day, till +they at last shut out the rest of the world, and sometimes +intervene between itself and heaven. + +This, it may be said, can only be applicable to those +members of the community who are in humble circumstances; +wealthier individuals will display tastes akin to those which +belonged to them in aristocratic ages. I contest the +proposition: in point of physical gratifications, the most +opulent members of a democracy will not display tastes very +different from those of the people; whether it be that, springing +from the people, they really share those tastes, or that they +esteem it a duty to submit to them. In democratic society the +sensuality of the public has taken a moderate and tranquil +course, to which all are bound to conform: it is as difficult to +depart from the common rule by one's vices as by one's virtues. +Rich men who live amidst democratic nations are therefore more +intent on providing for their smallest wants than for their +extraordinary enjoyments; they gratify a number of petty desires, +without indulging in any great irregularities of passion: thus +they are more apt to become enervated than debauched. +The especial taste which the men of democratic ages +entertain for physical enjoyments is not naturally opposed to the +principles of public order; nay, it often stands in need of order +that it may be gratified. Nor is it adverse to regularity of +morals, for good morals contribute to public tranquillity and are +favorable to industry. It may even be frequently combined with a +species of religious morality: men wish to be as well off as they +can in this world, without foregoing their chance of another. +Some physical gratifications cannot be indulged in without crime; +from such they strictly abstain. The enjoyment of others is +sanctioned by religion and morality; to these the heart, the +imagination, and life itself are unreservedly given up; till, in +snatching at these lesser gifts, men lose sight of those more +precious possessions which constitute the glory and the greatness +of mankind. The reproach I address to the principle of equality, +is not that it leads men away in the pursuit of forbidden +enjoyments, but that it absorbs them wholly in quest of those +which are allowed. By these means, a kind of virtuous +materialism may ultimately be established in the world, which +would not corrupt, but enervate the soul, and noiselessly unbend +its springs of action. + +Chapter XII: Causes Of Fanatical Enthusiasm In Some Americans + +Although the desire of acquiring the good things of this +world is the prevailing passion of the American people, certain +momentary outbreaks occur, when their souls seem suddenly to +burst the bonds of matter by which they are restrained, and to +soar impetuously towards heaven. In all the States of the Union, +but especially in the half-peopled country of the Far West, +wandering preachers may be met with who hawk about the word of +God from place to place. Whole families - old men, women, and +children - cross rough passes and untrodden wilds, coming from a +great distance, to join a camp- meeting, where they totally +forget for several days and nights, in listening to these +discourses, the cares of business and even the most urgent wants +of the body. Here and there, in the midst of American society, +you meet with men, full of a fanatical and almost wild +enthusiasm, which hardly exists in Europe. From time to time +strange sects arise, which endeavor to strike out extraordinary +paths to eternal happiness. Religious insanity is very common in +the United States. + +Nor ought these facts to surprise us. It was not man who +implanted in himself the taste for what is infinite and the love +of what is immortal: those lofty instincts are not the offspring +of his capricious will; their steadfast foundation is fixed in +human nature, and they exist in spite of his efforts. He may +cross and distort them - destroy them he cannot. The soul has +wants which must be satisfied; and whatever pains be taken to +divert it from itself, it soon grows weary, restless, and +disquieted amidst the enjoyments of sense. If ever the faculties +of the great majority of mankind were exclusively bent upon the +pursuit of material objects, it might be anticipated that an +amazing reaction would take place in the souls of some men. They +would drift at large in the world of spirits, for fear of +remaining shackled by the close bondage of the body. + +It is not then wonderful if, in the midst of a community +whose thoughts tend earthward, a small number of individuals are +to be found who turn their looks to heaven. I should be +surprised if mysticism did not soon make some advance amongst a +people solely engaged in promoting its own worldly welfare. It is +said that the deserts of the Thebaid were peopled by the +persecutions of the emperors and the massacres of the Circus; I +should rather say that it was by the luxuries of Rome and the +Epicurean philosophy of Greece. If their social condition, their +present circumstances, and their laws did not confine the minds +of the Americans so closely to the pursuit of worldly welfare, it +is probable that they would display more reserve and more +experience whenever their attention is turned to things +immaterial, and that they would check themselves without +difficulty. But they feel imprisoned within bounds which they +will apparently never be allowed to pass. As soon as they have +passed these bounds, their minds know not where to fix +themselves, and they often rush unrestrained beyond the range of +common-sense. + +Chapter XIII: Causes Of The Restless Spirit Of Americans In The +Midst Of Their Prosperity + +In certain remote corners of the Old World you may still +sometimes stumble upon a small district which seems to have been +forgotten amidst the general tumult, and to have remained +stationary whilst everything around it was in motion. The +inhabitants are for the most part extremely ignorant and poor; +they take no part in the business of the country, and they are +frequently oppressed by the government; yet their countenances +are generally placid, and their spirits light. In America I saw +the freest and most enlightened men, placed in the happiest +circumstances which the world affords: it seemed to me as if a +cloud habitually hung upon their brow, and I thought them serious +and almost sad even in their pleasures. The chief reason of this +contrast is that the former do not think of the ills they endure +- the latter are forever brooding over advantages they do not +possess. It is strange to see with what feverish ardor the +Americans pursue their own welfare; and to watch the vague dread +that constantly torments them lest they should not have chosen +the shortest path which may lead to it. A native of the United +States clings to this world's goods as if he were certain never +to die; and he is so hasty in grasping at all within his reach, +that one would suppose he was constantly afraid of not living +long enough to enjoy them. He clutches everything, he holds +nothing fast, but soon loosens his grasp to pursue fresh +gratifications. + +In the United States a man builds a house to spend his +latter years in it, and he sells it before the roof is on: he +plants a garden, and lets it just as the trees are coming into +bearing: he brings a field into tillage, and leaves other men to +gather the crops: he embraces a profession, and gives it up: he +settles in a place, which he soon afterwards leaves, to carry his +changeable longings elsewhere. If his private affairs leave him +any leisure, he instantly plunges into the vortex of politics; +and if at the end of a year of unremitting labor he finds he has +a few days' vacation, his eager curiosity whirls him over the +vast extent of the United States, and he will travel fifteen +hundred miles in a few days, to shake off his happiness. Death at +length overtakes him, but it is before he is weary of his +bootless chase of that complete felicity which is forever on the +wing. + +At first sight there is something surprising in this strange +unrest of so many happy men, restless in the midst of abundance. +The spectacle itself is however as old as the world; the novelty +is to see a whole people furnish an exemplification of it. Their +taste for physical gratifications must be regarded as the +original source of that secret inquietude which the actions of +the Americans betray, and of that inconstancy of which they +afford fresh examples every day. He who has set his heart +exclusively upon the pursuit of worldly welfare is always in a +hurry, for he has but a limited time at his disposal to reach it, +to grasp it, and to enjoy it. The recollection of the brevity of +life is a constant spur to him. Besides the good things which he +possesses, he every instant fancies a thousand others which death +will prevent him from trying if he does not try them soon. This +thought fills him with anxiety, fear, and regret, and keeps his +mind in ceaseless trepidation, which leads him perpetually to +change his plans and his abode. If in addition to the taste for +physical well-being a social condition be superadded, in which +the laws and customs make no condition permanent, here is a great +additional stimulant to this restlessness of temper. Men will +then be seen continually to change their track, for fear of +missing the shortest cut to happiness. It may readily be +conceived that if men, passionately bent upon physical +gratifications, desire eagerly, they are also easily discouraged: +as their ultimate object is to enjoy, the means to reach that +object must be prompt and easy, or the trouble of acquiring the +gratification would be greater than the gratification itself. +Their prevailing frame of mind then is at once ardent and +relaxed, violent and enervated. Death is often less dreaded than +perseverance in continuous efforts to one end. + +The equality of conditions leads by a still straighter road +to several of the effects which I have here described. When all +the privileges of birth and fortune are abolished, when all +professions are accessible to all, and a man's own energies may +place him at the top of any one of them, an easy and unbounded +career seems open to his ambition, and he will readily persuade +himself that he is born to no vulgar destinies. But this is an +erroneous notion, which is corrected by daily experience. The +same equality which allows every citizen to conceive these lofty +hopes, renders all the citizens less able to realize them: it +circumscribes their powers on every side, whilst it gives freer +scope to their desires. Not only are they themselves powerless, +but they are met at every step by immense obstacles, which they +did not at first perceive. They have swept away the privileges +of some of their fellow-creatures which stood in their way, but +they have opened the door to universal competition: the barrier +has changed its shape rather than its position. When men are +nearly alike, and all follow the same track, it is very difficult +for any one individual to walk quick and cleave a way through the +dense throng which surrounds and presses him. This constant +strife between the propensities springing from the equality of +conditions and the means it supplies to satisfy them, harasses +and wearies the mind. + +It is possible to conceive men arrived at a degree of +freedom which should completely content them; they would then +enjoy their independence without anxiety and without impatience. +But men will never establish any equality with which they can be +contented. Whatever efforts a people may make, they will never +succeed in reducing all the conditions of society to a perfect +level; and even if they unhappily attained that absolute and +complete depression, the inequality of minds would still remain, +which, coming directly from the hand of God, will forever escape +the laws of man. However democratic then the social state and the +political constitution of a people may be, it is certain that +every member of the community will always find out several points +about him which command his own position; and we may foresee that +his looks will be doggedly fixed in that direction. When +inequality of conditions is the common law of society, the most +marked inequalities do not strike the eye: when everything is +nearly on the same level, the slightest are marked enough to hurt +it. Hence the desire of equality always becomes more insatiable +in proportion as equality is more complete. + +Amongst democratic nations men easily attain a certain +equality of conditions: they can never attain the equality they +desire. It perpetually retires from before them, yet without +hiding itself from their sight, and in retiring draws them on. +At every moment they think they are about to grasp it; it escapes +at every moment from their hold. They are near enough to see its +charms, but too far off to enjoy them; and before they have fully +tasted its delights they die. To these causes must be attributed +that strange melancholy which oftentimes will haunt the +inhabitants of democratic countries in the midst of their +abundance, and that disgust at life which sometimes seizes upon +them in the midst of calm and easy circumstances. Complaints are +made in France that the number of suicides increases; in America +suicide is rare, but insanity is said to be more common than +anywhere else. These are all different symptoms of the same +disease. The Americans do not put an end to their lives, however +disquieted they may be, because their religion forbids it; and +amongst them materialism may be said hardly to exist, +notwithstanding the general passion for physical gratification. +The will resists - reason frequently gives way. In democratic +ages enjoyments are more intense than in the ages of aristocracy, +and especially the number of those who partake in them is larger: +but, on the other hand, it must be admitted that man's hopes and +his desires are oftener blasted, the soul is more stricken and +perturbed, and care itself more keen. + + +Book Two - Chapters XIV-XIII + +Chapter XIV: Taste For Physical Gratifications United In America +To Love Of Freedom And Attention To Public Affairs + +When a democratic state turns to absolute monarchy, the +activity which was before directed to public and to private +affairs is all at once centred upon the latter: the immediate +consequence is, for some time, great physical prosperity; but +this impulse soon slackens, and the amount of productive industry +is checked. I know not if a single trading or manufacturing +people can be cited, from the Tyrians down to the Florentines and +the English, who were not a free people also. There is therefore +a close bond and necessary relation between these two elements - +freedom and productive industry. This proposition is generally +true of all nations, but especially of democratic nations. I +have already shown that men who live in ages of equality +continually require to form associations in order to procure the +things they covet; and, on the other hand, I have shown how great +political freedom improves and diffuses the art of association. +Freedom, in these ages, is therefore especially favorable to the +production of wealth; nor is it difficult to perceive that +despotism is especially adverse to the same result. The nature of +despotic power in democratic ages is not to be fierce or cruel, +but minute and meddling. Despotism of this kind, though it does +not trample on humanity, is directly opposed to the genius of +commerce and the pursuits of industry. + +Thus the men of democratic ages require to be free in order +more readily to procure those physical enjoyments for which they +are always longing. It sometimes happens, however, that the +excessive taste they conceive for these same enjoyments abandons +them to the first master who appears. The passion for worldly +welfare then defeats itself, and, without perceiving it, throws +the object of their desires to a greater distance. + +There is, indeed, a most dangerous passage in the history of +a democratic people. When the taste for physical gratifications +amongst such a people has grown more rapidly than their education +and their experience of free institutions, the time will come +when men are carried away, and lose all self-restraint, at the +sight of the new possessions they are about to lay hold upon. In +their intense and exclusive anxiety to make a fortune, they lose +sight of the close connection which exists between the private +fortune of each of them and the prosperity of all. It is not +necessary to do violence to such a people in order to strip them +of the rights they enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen their +hold. The discharge of political duties appears to them to be a +troublesome annoyance, which diverts them from their occupations +and business. If they be required to elect representatives, to +support the Government by personal service, to meet on public +business, they have no time - they cannot waste their precious +time in useless engagements: such idle amusements are unsuited to +serious men who are engaged with the more important interests of +life. These people think they are following the principle of +self-interest, but the idea they entertain of that principle is a +very rude one; and the better to look after what they call their +business, they neglect their chief business, which is to remain +their own masters. + +As the citizens who work do not care to attend to public +business, and as the class which might devote its leisure to +these duties has ceased to exist, the place of the Government is, +as it were, unfilled. If at that critical moment some able and +ambitious man grasps the supreme power, he will find the road to +every kind of usurpation open before him. If he does but attend +for some time to the material prosperity of the country, no more +will be demanded of him. Above all he must insure public +tranquillity: men who are possessed by the passion of physical +gratification generally find out that the turmoil of freedom +disturbs their welfare, before they discover how freedom itself +serves to promote it. If the slightest rumor of public commotion +intrudes into the petty pleasures of private life, they are +aroused and alarmed by it. The fear of anarchy perpetually haunts +them, and they are always ready to fling away their freedom at +the first disturbance. + +I readily admit that public tranquillity is a great good; +but at the same time I cannot forget that all nations have been +enslaved by being kept in good order. Certainly it is not to be +inferred that nations ought to despise public tranquillity; but +that state ought not to content them. A nation which asks +nothing of its government but the maintenance of order is already +a slave at heart - the slave of its own well-being, awaiting but +the hand that will bind it. By such a nation the despotism of +faction is not less to be dreaded than the despotism of an +individual. When the bulk of the community is engrossed by +private concerns, the smallest parties need not despair of +getting the upper hand in public affairs. At such times it is +not rare to see upon the great stage of the world, as we see at +our theatres, a multitude represented by a few players, who alone +speak in the name of an absent or inattentive crowd: they alone +are in action whilst all are stationary; they regulate everything +by their own caprice; they change the laws, and tyrannize at will +over the manners of the country; and then men wonder to see into +how small a number of weak and worthless hands a great people may +fall. + +Hitherto the Americans have fortunately escaped all the +perils which I have just pointed out; and in this respect they +are really deserving of admiration. Perhaps there is no country +in the world where fewer idle men are to be met with than in +America, or where all who work are more eager to promote their +own welfare. But if the passion of the Americans for physical +gratifications is vehement, at least it is not indiscriminating; +and reason, though unable to restrain it, still directs its +course. An American attends to his private concerns as if he +were alone in the world, and the next minute he gives himself up +to the common weal as if he had forgotten them. At one time he +seems animated by the most selfish cupidity, at another by the +most lively patriotism. The human heart cannot be thus divided. +The inhabitants of the United States alternately display so +strong and so similar a passion for their own welfare and for +their freedom, that it may be supposed that these passions are +united and mingled in some part of their character. And indeed +the Americans believe their freedom to be the best instrument and +surest safeguard of their welfare: they are attached to the one +by the other. They by no means think that they are not called +upon to take a part in the public weal; they believe, on the +contrary, that their chief business is to secure for themselves a +government which will allow them to acquire the things they +covet, and which will not debar them from the peaceful enjoyment +of those possessions which they have acquired. + +Chapter XV: That Religious Belief Sometimes Turns The Thoughts Of +The Americans To Immaterial Pleasures + +In the United States, on the seventh day of every week, the +trading and working life of the nation seems suspended; all +noises cease; a deep tranquillity, say rather the solemn calm of +meditation, succeeds the turmoil of the week, and the soul +resumes possession and contemplation of itself. Upon this day the +marts of traffic are deserted; every member of the community, +accompanied by his children, goes to church, where he listens to +strange language which would seem unsuited to his ear. He is +told of the countless evils caused by pride and covetousness: he +is reminded of the necessity of checking his desires, of the +finer pleasures which belong to virtue alone, and of the true +happiness which attends it. On his return home, he does not turn +to the ledgers of his calling, but he opens the book of Holy +Scripture; there he meets with sublime or affecting descriptions +of the greatness and goodness of the Creator, of the infinite +magnificence of the handiwork of God, of the lofty destinies of +man, of his duties, and of his immortal privileges. Thus it is +that the American at times steals an hour from himself; and +laying aside for a while the petty passions which agitate his +life, and the ephemeral interests which engross it, he strays at +once into an ideal world, where all is great, eternal, and pure. + +I have endeavored to point out in another part of this work +the causes to which the maintenance of the political institutions +of the Americans is attributable; and religion appeared to be one +of the most prominent amongst them. I am now treating of the +Americans in an individual capacity, and I again observe that +religion is not less useful to each citizen than to the whole +State. The Americans show, by their practice, that they feel the +high necessity of imparting morality to democratic communities by +means of religion. What they think of themselves in this respect +is a truth of which every democratic nation ought to be +thoroughly persuaded. + +I do not doubt that the social and political constitution of +a people predisposes them to adopt a certain belief and certain +tastes, which afterwards flourish without difficulty amongst +them; whilst the same causes may divert a people from certain +opinions and propensities, without any voluntary effort, and, as +it were, without any distinct consciousness, on their part. The +whole art of the legislator is correctly to discern beforehand +these natural inclinations of communities of men, in order to +know whether they should be assisted, or whether it may not be +necessary to check them. For the duties incumbent on the +legislator differ at different times; the goal towards which the +human race ought ever to be tending is alone stationary; the +means of reaching it are perpetually to be varied. + +If I had been born in an aristocratic age, in the midst of a +nation where the hereditary wealth of some, and the irremediable +penury of others, should equally divert men from the idea of +bettering their condition, and hold the soul as it were in a +state of torpor fixed on the contemplation of another world, I +should then wish that it were possible for me to rouse that +people to a sense of their wants; I should seek to discover more +rapid and more easy means for satisfying the fresh desires which +I might have awakened; and, directing the most strenuous efforts +of the human mind to physical pursuits, I should endeavor to +stimulate it to promote the well-being of man. If it happened +that some men were immoderately incited to the pursuit of riches, +and displayed an excessive liking for physical gratifications, I +should not be alarmed; these peculiar symptoms would soon be +absorbed in the general aspect of the people. + +The attention of the legislators of democracies is called to +other cares. Give democratic nations education and freedom, and +leave them alone. They will soon learn to draw from this world +all the benefits which it can afford; they will improve each of +the useful arts, and will day by day render life more +comfortable, more convenient, and more easy. Their social +condition naturally urges them in this direction; I do not fear +that they will slacken their course. + +But whilst man takes delight in this honest and lawful +pursuit of his wellbeing, it is to be apprehended that he may in +the end lose the use of his sublimest faculties; and that whilst +he is busied in improving all around him, he may at length +degrade himself. Here, and here only, does the peril lie. It +should therefore be the unceasing object of the legislators of +democracies, and of all the virtuous and enlightened men who live +there, to raise the souls of their fellow-citizens, and keep them +lifted up towards heaven. It is necessary that all who feel an +interest in the future destinies of democratic society should +unite, and that all should make joint and continual efforts to +diffuse the love of the infinite, a sense of greatness, and a +love of pleasures not of earth. If amongst the opinions of a +democratic people any of those pernicious theories exist which +tend to inculcate that all perishes with the body, let men by +whom such theories are professed be marked as the natural foes of +such a people. + +The materialists are offensive to me in many respects; their +doctrines I hold to be pernicious, and I am disgusted at their +arrogance. If their system could be of any utility to man, it +would seem to be by giving him a modest opinion of himself. But +these reasoners show that it is not so; and when they think they +have said enough to establish that they are brutes, they show +themselves as proud as if they had demonstrated that they are +gods. Materialism is, amongst all nations, a dangerous disease of +the human mind; but it is more especially to be dreaded amongst a +democratic people, because it readily amalgamates with that vice +which is most familiar to the heart under such circumstances. +Democracy encourages a taste for physical gratification: this +taste, if it become excessive, soon disposes men to believe that +all is matter only; and materialism, in turn, hurries them back +with mad impatience to these same delights: such is the fatal +circle within which democratic nations are driven round. It were +well that they should see the danger and hold back. + +Most religions are only general, simple, and practical means +of teaching men the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. +That is the greatest benefit which a democratic people derives, +from its belief, and hence belief is more necessary to such a +people than to all others. When therefore any religion has +struck its roots deep into a democracy, beware lest you disturb +them; but rather watch it carefully, as the most precious bequest +of aristocratic ages. Seek not to supersede the old religious +opinions of men by new ones; lest in the passage from one faith +to another, the soul being left for a while stripped of all +belief, the love of physical gratifications should grow upon it +and fill it wholly. + +The doctrine of metempsychosis is assuredly not more +rational than that of materialism; nevertheless if it were +absolutely necessary that a democracy should choose one of the +two, I should not hesitate to decide that the community would run +less risk of being brutalized by believing that the soul of man +will pass into the carcass of a hog, than by believing that the +soul of man is nothing at all. The belief in a supersensual and +immortal principle, united for a time to matter, is so +indispensable to man's greatness, that its effects are striking +even when it is not united to the doctrine of future reward and +punishment; and when it holds no more than that after death the +divine principle contained in man is absorbed in the Deity, or +transferred to animate the frame of some other creature. Men +holding so imperfect a belief will still consider the body as the +secondary and inferior portion of their nature, and they will +despise it even whilst they yield to its influence; whereas they +have a natural esteem and secret admiration for the immaterial +part of man, even though they sometimes refuse to submit to its +dominion. That is enough to give a lofty cast to their opinions +and their tastes, and to bid them tend with no interested motive, +and as it were by impulse, to pure feelings and elevated +thoughts. + +It is not certain that Socrates and his followers had very +fixed opinions as to what would befall man hereafter; but the +sole point of belief on which they were determined - that the +soul has nothing in common with the body, and survives it - was +enough to give the Platonic philosophy that sublime aspiration by +which it is distinguished. It is clear from the works of Plato, +that many philosophical writers, his predecessors or +contemporaries, professed materialism. These writers have not +reached us, or have reached us in mere fragments. The same thing +has happened in almost all ages; the greater part of the most +famous minds in literature adhere to the doctrines of a +supersensual philosophy. The instinct and the taste of the human +race maintain those doctrines; they save them oftentimes in spite +of men themselves, and raise the names of their defenders above +the tide of time. It must not then be supposed that at any +period or under any political condition, the passion for physical +gratifications, and the opinions which are superinduced by that +passion, can ever content a whole people. The heart of man is of +a larger mould: it can at once comprise a taste for the +possessions of earth and the love of those of heaven: at times it +may seem to cling devotedly to the one, but it will never be long +without thinking of the other. + +If it be easy to see that it is more particularly important +in democratic ages that spiritual opinions should prevail, it is +not easy to say by what means those who govern democratic nations +may make them predominate. I am no believer in the prosperity, +any more than in the durability, of official philosophies; and as +to state religions, I have always held, that if they be sometimes +of momentary service to the interests of political power, they +always, sooner or later, become fatal to the Church. Nor do I +think with those who assert, that to raise religion in the eyes +of the people, and to make them do honor to her spiritual +doctrines, it is desirable indirectly to give her ministers a +political influence which the laws deny them. I am so much alive +to the almost inevitable dangers which beset religious belief +whenever the clergy take part in public affairs, and I am so +convinced that Christianity must be maintained at any cost in the +bosom of modern democracies, that I had rather shut up the +priesthood within the sanctuary than allow them to step beyond +it. + +What means then remain in the hands of constituted +authorities to bring men back to spiritual opinions, or to hold +them fast to the religion by which those opinions are suggested? +My answer will do me harm in the eyes of politicians. I believe +that the sole effectual means which governments can employ in +order to have the doctrine of the immortality of the soul duly +respected, is ever to act as if they believed in it themselves; +and I think that it is only by scrupulous conformity to religious +morality in great affairs that they can hope to teach the +community at large to know, to love, and to observe it in the +lesser concerns of life. + +Chapter XVI: That Excessive Care Of Worldly Welfare May Impair +That Welfare + +There is a closer tie than is commonly supposed between the +improvement of the soul and the amelioration of what belongs to +the body. Man may leave these two things apart, and consider +each of them alternately; but he cannot sever them entirely +without at last losing sight of one and of the other. The beasts +have the same senses as ourselves, and very nearly the same +appetites. We have no sensual passions which are not common to +our race and theirs, and which are not to be found, at least in +the germ, in a dog as well as in a man. Whence is it then that +the animals can only provide for their first and lowest wants, +whereas we can infinitely vary and endlessly increase our +enjoyments? + +We are superior to the beasts in this, that we use our souls +to find out those material benefits to which they are only led by +instinct. In man, the angel teaches the brute the art of +contenting its desires. It is because man is capable of rising +above the things of the body, and of contemning life itself, of +which the beasts have not the least notion, that he can multiply +these same things of the body to a degree which inferior races +are equally unable to conceive. Whatever elevates, enlarges, and +expands the soul, renders it more capable of succeeding in those +very undertakings which concern it not. Whatever, on the other +hand, enervates or lowers it, weakens it for all purposes, the +chiefest, as well as the least, and threatens to render it almost +equally impotent for the one and for the other. Hence the soul +must remain great and strong, though it were only to devote its +strength and greatness from time to time to the service of the +body. If men were ever to content themselves with material +objects, it is probable that they would lose by degrees the art +of producing them; and they would enjoy them in the end, like the +brutes, without discernment and without improvement. + +Chapter XVII: That In Times Marked By Equality Of Conditions And +Sceptical Opinions, It Is Important To Remove To A Distance The +Objects Of Human Actions + +In the ages of faith the final end of life is placed beyond +life. The men of those ages therefore naturally, and in a manner +involuntarily, accustom themselves to fix their gaze for a long +course of years on some immovable object, towards which they are +constantly tending; and they learn by insensible degrees to +repress a multitude of petty passing desires, in order to be the +better able to content that great and lasting desire which +possesses them. When these same men engage in the affairs of +this world, the same habits may be traced in their conduct. They +are apt to set up some general and certain aim and end to their +actions here below, towards which all their efforts are directed: +they do not turn from day to day to chase some novel object of +desire, but they have settled designs which they are never weary +of pursuing. This explains why religious nations have so often +achieved such lasting results: for whilst they were thinking only +of the other world, they had found out the great secret of +success in this. Religions give men a general habit of conducting +themselves with a view to futurity: in this respect they are not +less useful to happiness in this life than to felicity hereafter; +and this is one of their chief political characteristics. + +But in proportion as the light of faith grows dim, the range +of man's sight is circumscribed, as if the end and aim of human +actions appeared every day to be more within his reach. When men +have once allowed themselves to think no more of what is to +befall them after life, they readily lapse into that complete and +brutal indifference to futurity, which is but too conformable to +some propensities of mankind. As soon as they have lost the +habit of placing their chief hopes upon remote events, they +naturally seek to gratify without delay their smallest desires; +and no sooner do they despair of living forever, than they are +disposed to act as if they were to exist but for a single day. +In sceptical ages it is always therefore to be feared that men +may perpetually give way to their daily casual desires; and that, +wholly renouncing whatever cannot be acquired without protracted +effort, they may establish nothing great, permanent, and calm. + +If the social condition of a people, under these +circumstances, becomes democratic, the danger which I here point +out is thereby increased. When everyone is constantly striving +to change his position - when an immense field for competition is +thrown open to all - when wealth is amassed or dissipated in the +shortest possible space of time amidst the turmoil of democracy, +visions of sudden and easy fortunes - of great possessions easily +won and lost - of chance, under all its forms - haunt the mind. +The instability of society itself fosters the natural instability +of man's desires. In the midst of these perpetual fluctuations +of his lot, the present grows upon his mind, until it conceals +futurity from his sight, and his looks go no further than the +morrow. + +In those countries in which unhappily irreligion and +democracy coexist, the most important duty of philosophers and of +those in power is to be always striving to place the objects of +human actions far beyond man's immediate range. Circumscribed by +the character of his country and his age, the moralist must learn +to vindicate his principles in that position. He must constantly +endeavor to show his contemporaries, that, even in the midst of +the perpetual commotion around them, it is easier than they think +to conceive and to execute protracted undertakings. He must +teach them that, although the aspect of mankind may have changed, +the methods by which men may provide for their prosperity in this +world are still the same; and that amongst democratic nations, as +well as elsewhere, it is only by resisting a thousand petty +selfish passions of the hour that the general and unquenchable +passion for happiness can be satisfied. + +The task of those in power is not less clearly marked out. +At all times it is important that those who govern nations should +act with a view to the future: but this is even more necessary in +democratic and sceptical ages than in any others. By acting +thus, the leading men of democracies not only make public affairs +prosperous, but they also teach private individuals, by their +example, the art of managing private concerns. Above all they +must strive as much as possible to banish chance from the sphere +of politics. The sudden and undeserved promotion of a courtier +produces only a transient impression in an aristocratic country, +because the aggregate institutions and opinions of the nation +habitually compel men to advance slowly in tracks which they +cannot get out of. But nothing is more pernicious than similar +instances of favor exhibited to the eyes of a democratic people: +they give the last impulse to the public mind in a direction +where everything hurries it onwards. At times of scepticism and +equality more especially, the favor of the people or of the +prince, which chance may confer or chance withhold, ought never +to stand in lieu of attainments or services. It is desirable +that every advancement should there appear to be the result of +some effort; so that no greatness should be of too easy +acquirement, and that ambition should be obliged to fix its gaze +long upon an object before it is gratified. Governments must +apply themselves to restore to men that love of the future with +which religion and the state of society no longer inspire them; +and, without saying so, they must practically teach the community +day by day that wealth, fame, and power are the rewards of labor +- that great success stands at the utmost range of long desires, +and that nothing lasting is obtained but what is obtained by +toil. When men have accustomed themselves to foresee from afar +what is likely to befall in the world and to feed upon hopes, +they can hardly confine their minds within the precise +circumference of life, and they are ready to break the boundary +and cast their looks beyond. I do not doubt that, by training +the members of a community to think of their future condition in +this world, they would be gradually and unconsciously brought +nearer to religious convictions. Thus the means which allow men, +up to a certain point, to go without religion, are perhaps after +all the only means we still possess for bringing mankind back by +a long and roundabout path to a state of faith. + +Chapter XVIII: That Amongst The Americans All Honest Callings Are +Honorable + +Amongst a democratic people, where there is no hereditary +wealth, every man works to earn a living, or has worked, or is +born of parents who have worked. The notion of labor is +therefore presented to the mind on every side as the necessary, +natural, and honest condition of human existence. Not only is +labor not dishonorable amongst such a people, but it is held in +honor: the prejudice is not against it, but in its favor. In the +United States a wealthy man thinks that he owes it to public +opinion to devote his leisure to some kind of industrial or +commercial pursuit, or to public business. He would think +himself in bad repute if he employed his life solely in living. +It is for the purpose of escaping this obligation to work, that +so many rich Americans come to Europe, where they find some +scattered remains of aristocratic society, amongst which idleness +is still held in honor. + +Equality of conditions not only ennobles the notion of labor +in men's estimation, but it raises the notion of labor as a +source of profit. In aristocracies it is not exactly labor that +is despised, but labor with a view to profit. Labor is honorific +in itself, when it is undertaken at the sole bidding of ambition +or of virtue. Yet in aristocratic society it constantly happens +that he who works for honor is not insensible to the attractions +of profit. But these two desires only intermingle in the +innermost depths of his soul: he carefully hides from every eye +the point at which they join; he would fain conceal it from +himself. In aristocratic countries there are few public officers +who do not affect to serve their country without interested +motives. Their salary is an incident of which they think but +little, and of which they always affect not to think at all. +Thus the notion of profit is kept distinct from that of labor; +however they may be united in point of fact, they are not thought +of together. + +In democratic communities these two notions are, on the +contrary, always palpably united. As the desire of well-being is +universal - as fortunes are slender or fluctuating - as everyone +wants either to increase his own resources, or to provide fresh +ones for his progeny, men clearly see that it is profit which, if +not wholly, at least partially, leads them to work. Even those +who are principally actuated by the love of fame are necessarily +made familiar with the thought that they are not exclusively +actuated by that motive; and they discover that the desire of +getting a living is mingled in their minds with the desire of +making life +illustrious. + +As soon as, on the one hand, labor is held by the whole +community to be an honorable necessity of man's condition, and, +on the other, as soon as labor is always ostensibly performed, +wholly or in part, for the purpose of earning remuneration, the +immense interval which separated different callings in +aristocratic societies disappears. If all are not alike, all at +least have one feature in common. No profession exists in which +men do not work for money; and the remuneration which is common +to them all gives them all an air of resemblance. This serves to +explain the opinions which the Americans entertain with respect +to different callings. In America no one is degraded because he +works, for everyone about him works also; nor is anyone +humiliated by the notion of receiving pay, for the President of +the United States also works for pay. He is paid for commanding, +other men for obeying orders. In the United States professions +are more or less laborious, more or less profitable; but they are +never either high or low: every honest calling is honorable. + + +Book Two - Chapters XIX-XX + +Chapter XIX: That Almost All The Americans Follow Industrial +Callings + +Agriculture is, perhaps, of all the useful arts that which +improves most slowly amongst democratic nations. Frequently, +indeed, it would seem to be stationary, because other arts are +making rapid strides towards perfection. On the other hand, +almost all the tastes and habits which the equality of condition +engenders naturally lead men to commercial and industrial +occupations. + +Suppose an active, enlightened, and free man, enjoying a +competency, but full of desires: he is too poor to live in +idleness; he is rich enough to feel himself protected from the +immediate fear of want, and he thinks how he can better his +condition. This man has conceived a taste for physical +gratifications, which thousands of his fellow-men indulge in +around him; he has himself begun to enjoy these pleasures, and he +is eager to increase his means of satisfying these tastes more +completely. But life is slipping away, time is urgent - to what +is he to turn? The cultivation of the ground promises an almost +certain result to his exertions, but a slow one; men are not +enriched by it without patience and toil. Agriculture is +therefore only suited to those who have already large, +superfluous wealth, or to those whose penury bids them only seek +a bare subsistence. The choice of such a man as we have supposed +is soon made; he sells his plot of ground, leaves his dwelling, +and embarks in some hazardous but lucrative calling. Democratic +communities abound in men of this kind; and in proportion as the +equality of conditions becomes greater, their multitude +increases. Thus democracy not only swells the number of +workingmen, but it leads men to prefer one kind of labor to +another; and whilst it diverts them from agriculture, it +encourages their taste for commerce and manufactures. *a + +[Footnote a: It has often been remarked that manufacturers and +mercantile men are inordinately addicted to physical +gratifications, and this has been attributed to commerce and +manufactures; but that is, I apprehend, to take the effect for +the cause. The taste for physical gratifications is not imparted +to men by commerce or manufactures, but it is rather this taste +which leads men to embark in commerce and manufactures, as a +means by which they hope to satisfy themselves more promptly and +more completely. If commerce and manufactures increase the +desire of well-being, it is because every passion gathers +strength in proportion as it is cultivated, and is increased by +all the efforts made to satiate it. All the causes which make +the love of worldly welfare predominate in the heart of man are +favorable to the growth of commerce and manufactures. Equality +of conditions is one of those causes; it encourages trade, not +directly by giving men a taste for business, but indirectly by +strengthening and expanding in their minds a taste for +prosperity.] + +This spirit may be observed even amongst the richest members +of the community. In democratic countries, however opulent a man +is supposed to be, he is almost always discontented with his +fortune, because he finds that he is less rich than his father +was, and he fears that his sons will be less rich than himself. +Most rich men in democracies are therefore constantly haunted by +the desire of obtaining wealth, and they naturally turn their +attention to trade and manufactures, which appear to offer the +readiest and most powerful means of success. In this respect +they share the instincts of the poor, without feeling the same +necessities; say rather, they feel the most imperious of all +necessities, that of not sinking in the world. + +In aristocracies the rich are at the same time those who +govern. The attention which they unceasingly devote to important +public affairs diverts them from the lesser cares which trade and +manufactures demand. If the will of an individual happens, +nevertheless, to turn his attention to business, the will of the +body to which he belongs will immediately debar him from pursuing +it; for however men may declaim against the rule of numbers, they +cannot wholly escape their sway; and even amongst those +aristocratic bodies which most obstinately refuse to acknowledge +the rights of the majority of the nation, a private majority is +formed which governs the rest. *b + +[Footnote b: Some aristocracies, however, have devoted themselves +eagerly to commerce, and have cultivated manufactures with +success. The history of the world might furnish several +conspicuous examples. But, generally speaking, it may be +affirmed that the aristocratic principle is not favorable to the +growth of trade and manufactures. Moneyed aristocracies are the +only exception to the rule. Amongst such aristocracies there are +hardly any desires which do not require wealth to satisfy them; +the love of riches becomes, so to speak, the high road of human +passions, which is crossed by or connected with all lesser +tracks. The love of money and the thirst for that distinction +which attaches to power, are then so closely intermixed in the +same souls, that it becomes difficult to discover whether men +grow covetous from ambition, or whether they are ambitious from +covetousness. This is the case in England, where men seek to get +rich in order to arrive at distinction, and seek distinctions as +a manifestation of their wealth. The mind is then seized by both +ends, and hurried into trade and manufactures, which are the +shortest roads that lead to opulence. + +This, however, strikes me as an exceptional and transitory +circumstance. When wealth is become the only symbol of +aristocracy, it is very difficult for the wealthy to maintain +sole possession of political power, to the exclusion of all other +men. The aristocracy of birth and pure democracy are at the two +extremes of the social and political state of nations: between +them moneyed aristocracy finds its place. The latter +approximates to the aristocracy of birth by conferring great +privileges on a small number of persons; it so far belongs to the +democratic element, that these privileges may be successively +acquired by all. It frequently forms a natural transition +between these two conditions of society, and it is difficult to +say whether it closes the reign of aristocratic institutions, or +whether it already opens the new era of democracy.] + +In democratic countries, where money does not lead those who +possess it to political power, but often removes them from it, +the rich do not know how to spend their leisure. They are driven +into active life by the inquietude and the greatness of their +desires, by the extent of their resources, and by the taste for +what is extraordinary, which is almost always felt by those who +rise, by whatsoever means, above the crowd. Trade is the only +road open to them. In democracies nothing is more great or more +brilliant than commerce: it attracts the attention of the public, +and fills the imagination of the multitude; all energetic +passions are directed towards it. Neither their own prejudices, +nor those of anybody else, can prevent the rich from devoting +themselves to it. The wealthy members of democracies never form +a body which has manners and regulations of its own; the opinions +peculiar to their class do not restrain them, and the common +opinions of their country urge them on. Moreover, as all the +large fortunes which are to be met with in a democratic community +are of commercial growth, many generations must succeed each +other before their possessors can have entirely laid aside their +habits of business. + +Circumscribed within the narrow space which politics leave +them, rich men in democracies eagerly embark in commercial +enterprise: there they can extend and employ their natural +advantages; and indeed it is even by the boldness and the +magnitude of their industrial speculations that we may measure +the slight esteem in which productive industry would have been +held by them, if they had been born amidst an aristocracy. + +A similar observation is likewise applicable to all men +living in democracies, whether they be poor or rich. Those who +live in the midst of democratic fluctuations have always before +their eyes the phantom of chance; and they end by liking all +undertakings in which chance plays a part. They are therefore +all led to engage in commerce, not only for the sake of the +profit it holds out to them, but for the love of the constant +excitement occasioned by that pursuit. + +The United States of America have only been emancipated for +half a century [in 1840] from the state of colonial dependence in +which they stood to Great Britain; the number of large fortunes +there is small, and capital is still scarce. Yet no people in +the world has made such rapid progress in trade and manufactures +as the Americans: they constitute at the present day the second +maritime nation in the world; and although their manufactures +have to struggle with almost insurmountable natural impediments, +they are not prevented from making great and daily advances. In +the United States the greatest undertakings and speculations are +executed without difficulty, because the whole population is +engaged in productive industry, and because the poorest as well +as the most opulent members of the commonwealth are ready to +combine their efforts for these purposes. The consequence is, +that a stranger is constantly amazed by the immense public works +executed by a nation which contains, so to speak, no rich men. +The Americans arrived but as yesterday on the territory which +they inhabit, and they have already changed the whole order of +nature for their own advantage. They have joined the Hudson to +the Mississippi, and made the Atlantic Ocean communicate with the +Gulf of Mexico, across a continent of more than five hundred +leagues in extent which separates the two seas. The longest +railroads which have been constructed up to the present time are +in America. But what most astonishes me in the United States, is +not so much the marvellous grandeur of some undertakings, as the +innumerable multitude of small ones. Almost all the farmers of +the United States combine some trade with agriculture; most of +them make agriculture itself a trade. It seldom happens that an +American farmer settles for good upon the land which he occupies: +especially in the districts of the Far West he brings land into +tillage in order to sell it again, and not to farm it: he builds +a farmhouse on the speculation that, as the state of the country +will soon be changed by the increase of population, a good price +will be gotten for it. Every year a swarm of the inhabitants of +the North arrive in the Southern States, and settle in the parts +where the cotton plant and the sugar-cane grow. These men +cultivate the soil in order to make it produce in a few years +enough to enrich them; and they already look forward to the time +when they may return home to enjoy the competency thus acquired. +Thus the Americans carry their business- like qualities into +agriculture; and their trading passions are displayed in that as +in their other pursuits. + +The Americans make immense progress in productive industry, +because they all devote themselves to it at once; and for this +same reason they are exposed to very unexpected and formidable +embarrassments. As they are all engaged in commerce, their +commercial affairs are affected by such various and complex +causes that it is impossible to foresee what difficulties may +arise. As they are all more or less engaged in productive +industry, at the least shock given to business all private +fortunes are put in jeopardy at the same time, and the State is +shaken. I believe that the return of these commercial panics is +an endemic disease of the democratic nations of our age. It may +be rendered less dangerous, but it cannot be cured; because it +does not originate in accidental circumstances, but in the +temperament of these nations. + +Chapter XX: That Aristocracy May Be Engendered By Manufactures + +I have shown that democracy is favorable to the growth of +manufactures, and that it increases without limit the numbers of +the manufacturing classes: we shall now see by what side road +manufacturers may possibly in their turn bring men back to +aristocracy. It is acknowledged that when a workman is engaged +every day upon the same detail, the whole commodity is produced +with greater ease, promptitude, and economy. It is likewise +acknowledged that the cost of the production of manufactured +goods is diminished by the extent of the establishment in which +they are made, and by the amount of capital employed or of +credit. These truths had long been imperfectly discerned, but in +our time they have been demonstrated. They have been already +applied to many very important kinds of manufactures, and the +humblest will gradually be governed by them. I know of nothing +in politics which deserves to fix the attention of the legislator +more closely than these two new axioms of the science of +manufactures. + +When a workman is unceasingly and exclusively engaged in the +fabrication of one thing, he ultimately does his work with +singular dexterity; but at the same time he loses the general +faculty of applying his mind to the direction of the work. He +every day becomes more adroit and less industrious; so that it +may be said of him, that in proportion as the workman improves +the man is degraded. What can be expected of a man who has spent +twenty years of his life in making heads for pins? and to what +can that mighty human intelligence, which has so often stirred +the world, be applied in him, except it be to investigate the +best method of making pins' heads? When a workman has spent a +considerable portion of his existence in this manner, his +thoughts are forever set upon the object of his daily toil; his +body has contracted certain fixed habits, which it can never +shake off: in a word, he no longer belongs to himself, but to the +calling which he has chosen. It is in vain that laws and manners +have been at the pains to level all barriers round such a man, +and to open to him on every side a thousand different paths to +fortune; a theory of manufactures more powerful than manners and +laws binds him to a craft, and frequently to a spot, which he +cannot leave: it assigns to him a certain place in society, +beyond which he cannot go: in the midst of universal movement it +has rendered him stationary. + +In proportion as the principle of the division of labor is +more extensively applied, the workman becomes more weak, more +narrow-minded, and more dependent. The art advances, the artisan +recedes. On the other hand, in proportion as it becomes more +manifest that the productions of manufactures are by so much the +cheaper and better as the manufacture is larger and the amount of +capital employed more considerable, wealthy and educated men come +forward to embark in manufactures which were heretofore abandoned +to poor or ignorant handicraftsmen. The magnitude of the efforts +required, and the importance of the results to be obtained, +attract them. Thus at the very time at which the science of +manufactures lowers the class of workmen, it raises the class of +masters. + +Whereas the workman concentrates his faculties more and more +upon the study of a single detail, the master surveys a more +extensive whole, and the mind of the latter is enlarged in +proportion as that of the former is narrowed. In a short time +the one will require nothing but physical strength without +intelligence; the other stands in need of science, and almost of +genius, to insure success. This man resembles more and more the +administrator of a vast empire - that man, a brute. The master +and the workman have then here no similarity, and their +differences increase every day. They are only connected as the +two rings at the extremities of a long chain. Each of them fills +the station which is made for him, and out of which he does not +get: the one is continually, closely, and necessarily dependent +upon the other, and seems as much born to obey as that other is +to command. What is this but aristocracy? + +As the conditions of men constituting the nation become more +and more equal, the demand for manufactured commodities becomes +more general and more extensive; and the cheapness which places +these objects within the reach of slender fortunes becomes a +great element of success. Hence there are every day more men of +great opulence and education who devote their wealth and +knowledge to manufactures; and who seek, by opening large +establishments, and by a strict division of labor, to meet the +fresh demands which are made on all sides. Thus, in proportion +as the mass of the nation turns to democracy, that particular +class which is engaged in manufactures becomes more aristocratic. +Men grow more alike in the one - more different in the other; and +inequality increases in the less numerous class in the same ratio +in which it decreases in the community. Hence it would appear, +on searching to the bottom, that aristocracy should naturally +spring out of the bosom of democracy. + +But this kind of aristocracy by no means resembles those +kinds which preceded it. It will be observed at once, that as it +applies exclusively to manufactures and to some manufacturing +callings, it is a monstrous exception in the general aspect of +society. The small aristocratic societies which are formed by +some manufacturers in the midst of the immense democracy of our +age, contain, like the great aristocratic societies of former +ages, some men who are very opulent, and a multitude who are +wretchedly poor. The poor have few means of escaping from their +condition and becoming rich; but the rich are constantly becoming +poor, or they give up business when they have realized a fortune. +Thus the elements of which the class of the poor is composed are +fixed; but the elements of which the class of the rich is +composed are not so. To say the truth, though there are rich men, +the class of rich men does not exist; for these rich individuals +have no feelings or purposes in common, no mutual traditions or +mutual hopes; there are therefore members, but no body. + +Not only are the rich not compactly united amongst +themselves, but there is no real bond between them and the poor. +Their relative position is not a permanent one; they are +constantly drawn together or separated by their interests. The +workman is generally dependent on the master, but not on any +particular master; these two men meet in the factory, but know +not each other elsewhere; and whilst they come into contact on +one point, they stand very wide apart on all others. The +manufacturer asks nothing of the workman but his labor; the +workman expects nothing from him but his wages. The one +contracts no obligation to protect, nor the other to defend; and +they are not permanently connected either by habit or by duty. +The aristocracy created by business rarely settles in the midst +of the manufacturing population which it directs; the object is +not to govern that population, but to use it. An aristocracy +thus constituted can have no great hold upon those whom it +employs; and even if it succeed in retaining them at one moment, +they escape the next; it knows not how to will, and it cannot +act. The territorial aristocracy of former ages was either bound +by law, or thought itself bound by usage, to come to the relief +of its serving-men, and to succor their distresses. But the +manufacturing aristocracy of our age first impoverishes and +debases the men who serve it, and then abandons them to be +supported by the charity of the public. This is a natural +consequence of what has been said before. Between the workmen +and the master there are frequent relations, but no real +partnership. + +I am of opinion, upon the whole, that the manufacturing +aristocracy which is growing up under our eyes is one of the +harshest which ever existed in the world; but at the same time it +is one of the most confined and least dangerous. Nevertheless +the friends of democracy should keep their eyes anxiously fixed +in this direction; for if ever a permanent inequality of +conditions and aristocracy again penetrate into the world, it may +be predicted that this is the channel by which they will enter. + + +Book Three - Chapters I-IV + +Influence Of Democracy On Manners, Properly So Called + +Chapter I: That Manners Are Softened As Social Conditions Become +More Equal + +We perceive that for several ages social conditions have +tended to equality, and we discover that in the course of the +same period the manners of society have been softened. Are these +two things merely contemporaneous, or does any secret link exist +between them, so that the one cannot go on without making the +other advance? Several causes may concur to render the manners +of a people less rude; but, of all these causes, the most +powerful appears to me to be the equality of conditions. +Equality of conditions and growing civility in manners are, then, +in my eyes, not only contemporaneous occurrences, but correlative +facts. When the fabulists seek to interest us in the actions of +beasts, they invest them with human notions and passions; the +poets who sing of spirits and angels do the same; there is no +wretchedness so deep, nor any happiness so pure, as to fill the +human mind and touch the heart, unless we are ourselves held up +to our own eyes under other features. + +This is strictly applicable to the subject upon which we are +at present engaged. When all men are irrevocably marshalled in +an aristocratic community, according to their professions, their +property, and their birth, the members of each class, considering +themselves as children of the same family, cherish a constant and +lively sympathy towards each other, which can never be felt in an +equal degree by the citizens of a democracy. But the same +feeling does not exist between the several classes towards each +other. Amongst an aristocratic people each caste has its own +opinions, feelings, rights, manners, and modes of living. Thus +the men of whom each caste is composed do not resemble the mass +of their fellow-citizens; they do not think or feel in the same +manner, and they scarcely believe that they belong to the same +human race. They cannot, therefore, thoroughly understand what +others feel, nor judge of others by themselves. Yet they are +sometimes eager to lend each other mutual aid; but this is not +contrary to my previous observation. These aristocratic +institutions, which made the beings of one and the same race so +different, nevertheless bound them to each other by close +political ties. Although the serf had no natural interest in the +fate of nobles, he did not the less think himself obliged to +devote his person to the service of that noble who happened to be +his lord; and although the noble held himself to be of a +different nature from that of his serfs, he nevertheless held +that his duty and his honor constrained him to defend, at the +risk of his own life, those who dwelt upon his domains. + +It is evident that these mutual obligations did not +originate in the law of nature, but in the law of society; and +that the claim of social duty was more stringent than that of +mere humanity. These services were not supposed to be due from +man to man, but to the vassal or to the lord. Feudal +institutions awakened a lively sympathy for the sufferings of +certain men, but none at all for the miseries of mankind. They +infused generosity rather than mildness into the manners of the +time, and although they prompted men to great acts of +self-devotion, they engendered no real sympathies; for real +sympathies can only exist between those who are alike; and in +aristocratic ages men acknowledge none but the members of their +own caste to be like themselves. + +When the chroniclers of the Middle Ages, who all belonged to +the aristocracy by birth or education, relate the tragical end of +a noble, their grief flows apace; whereas they tell you at a +breath, and without wincing, of massacres and tortures inflicted +on the common sort of people. Not that these writers felt +habitual hatred or systematic disdain for the people; war between +the several classes of the community was not yet declared. They +were impelled by an instinct rather than by a passion; as they +had formed no clear notion of a poor man's sufferings, they cared +but little for his fate. The same feelings animated the lower +orders whenever the feudal tie was broken. The same ages which +witnessed so many heroic acts of self-devotion on the part of +vassals for their lords, were stained with atrocious barbarities, +exercised from time to time by the lower classes on the higher. +It must not be supposed that this mutual insensibility arose +solely from the absence of public order and education; for traces +of it are to be found in the following centuries, which became +tranquil and enlightened whilst they remained aristocratic. In +1675 the lower classes in Brittany revolted at the imposition of +a new tax. These disturbances were put down with unexampled +atrocity. Observe the language in which Madame de Sevigne, a +witness of these horrors, relates them to her daughter: - + +"Aux Rochers, 30 Octobre, 1675. + +"Mon Dieu, ma fille, que votre lettre d'Aix est plaisante! +Au moins relisez vos lettres avant que de les envoyer; +laissez-vous surpendre a leur agrement, et consolez-vous par ce +plaisir de la peine que vous avez d'en tant ecrire. Vous avez +donc baise toute la Provence? il n'y aurait pas satisfaction a +baiser toute la Bretagne, a moins qu'on n'aimat a sentir le vin. +. . . Voulez-vous savoir des nouvelles de Rennes? On a fait une +taxe de cent mille ecus sur le bourgeois; et si on ne trouve +point cette somme dans vingt-quatre heures, elle sera doublee et +exigible par les soldats. On a chasse et banni toute une grand +rue, et defendu de les recueillir sous peine de la vie; de sorte +qu'on voyait tous ces miserables, veillards, femmes accouchees, +enfans, errer en pleurs au sortir de cette ville sans savoir ou +aller. On roua avant-hier un violon, qui avait commence la danse +et la pillerie du papier timbre; il a ete ecartele apres sa mort, +et ses quatre quartiers exposes aux quatre coins de la ville. On +a pris soixante bourgeois, et on commence demain les punitions. +Cette province est un bel exemple pour les autres, et surtout de +respecter les gouverneurs et les gouvernantes, et de ne point +jeter de pierres dans leur jardin. *a + +[Footnote a: To feel the point of this joke the reader should +recollect that Madame de Grignan was Gouvernante de Provence.] +"Madame de Tarente etait hier dans ces bois par un temps +enchante: il n'est question ni de chambre ni de collation; elle +entre par la barriere et s'en retourne de meme. . . ." + +In another letter she adds: - + +"Vous me parlez bien plaisamment de nos miseres; nous ne +sommes plus si roues; un en huit jours, pour entretenir la +justice. Il est vrai que la penderie me parait maintenant un +refraichissement. J'ai une tout autre idee de la justice, depuis +que je suis en ce pays. Vos galeriens me paraissent une societe +d'honnetes gens qui se sont retires du monde pour mener une vie +douce." + +It would be a mistake to suppose that Madame de Sevigne, who +wrote these lines, was a selfish or cruel person; she was +passionately attached to her children, and very ready to +sympathize in the sorrows of her friends; nay, her letters show +that she treated her vassals and servants with kindness and +indulgence. But Madame de Sevigne had no clear notion of +suffering in anyone who was not a person of quality. + +In our time the harshest man writing to the most insensible +person of his acquaintance would not venture wantonly to indulge +in the cruel jocularity which I have quoted; and even if his own +manners allowed him to do so, the manners of society at large +would forbid it. Whence does this arise? Have we more +sensibility than our forefathers? I know not that we have; but I +am sure that our insensibility is extended to a far greater range +of objects. When all the ranks of a community are nearly equal, +as all men think and feel in nearly the same manner, each of them +may judge in a moment of the sensations of all the others; he +casts a rapid glance upon himself, and that is enough. There is +no wretchedness into which he cannot readily enter, and a secret +instinct reveals to him its extent. It signifies not that +strangers or foes be the sufferers; imagination puts him in their +place; something like a personal feeling is mingled with his +pity, and makes himself suffer whilst the body of his +fellow-creature is in torture. In democratic ages men rarely +sacrifice themselves for one another; but they display general +compassion for the members of the human race. They inflict no +useless ills; and they are happy to relieve the griefs of others, +when they can do so without much hurting themselves; they are not +disinterested, but they are humane. + +Although the Americans have, in a manner, reduced egotism to +a social and philosophical theory, they are nevertheless +extremely open to compassion. In no country is criminal justice +administered with more mildness than in the United States. +Whilst the English seem disposed carefully to retain the bloody +traces of the dark ages in their penal legislation, the Americans +have almost expunged capital punishment from their codes. North +America is, I think, the only one country upon earth in which the +life of no one citizen has been taken for a political offence in +the course of the last fifty years. The circumstance which +conclusively shows that this singular mildness of the Americans +arises chiefly from their social condition, is the manner in +which they treat their slaves. Perhaps there is not, upon the +whole, a single European colony in the New World in which the +physical condition of the blacks is less severe than in the +United States; yet the slaves still endure horrid sufferings +there, and are constantly exposed to barbarous punishments. It is +easy to perceive that the lot of these unhappy beings inspires +their masters with but little compassion, and that they look upon +slavery, not only as an institution which is profitable to them, +but as an evil which does not affect them. Thus the same man who +is full of humanity towards his fellow-creatures when they are at +the same time his equals, becomes insensible to their afflictions +as soon as that equality ceases. His mildness should therefore +be attributed to the equality of conditions, rather than to +civilization and education. + +What I have here remarked of individuals is, to a certain +extent, applicable to nations. When each nation has its distinct +opinions, belief, laws, and customs, it looks upon itself as the +whole of mankind, and is moved by no sorrows but its own. Should +war break out between two nations animated by this feeling, it is +sure to be waged with great cruelty. At the time of their +highest culture, the Romans slaughtered the generals of their +enemies, after having dragged them in triumph behind a car; and +they flung their prisoners to the beasts of the Circus for the +amusement of the people. Cicero, who declaimed so vehemently at +the notion of crucifying a Roman citizen, had not a word to say +against these horrible abuses of victory. It is evident that in +his eyes a barbarian did not belong to the same human race as a +Roman. On the contrary, in proportion as nations become more like +each other, they become reciprocally more compassionate, and the +law of nations is mitigated. + +Chapter II: That Democracy Renders The Habitual Intercourse Of +The Americans Simple And Easy + +Democracy does not attach men strongly to each other; but it +places their habitual intercourse upon an easier footing. If two +Englishmen chance to meet at the Antipodes, where they are +surrounded by strangers whose language and manners are almost +unknown to them, they will first stare at each other with much +curiosity and a kind of secret uneasiness; they will then turn +away, or, if one accosts the other, they will take care only to +converse with a constrained and absent air upon very unimportant +subjects. Yet there is no enmity between these men; they have +never seen each other before, and each believes the other to be a +respectable person. Why then should they stand so cautiously +apart? We must go back to England to learn the reason. + +When it is birth alone, independent of wealth, which classes +men in society, everyone knows exactly what his own position is +upon the social scale; he does not seek to rise, he does not fear +to sink. In a community thus organized, men of different castes +communicate very little with each other; but if accident brings +them together, they are ready to converse without hoping or +fearing to lose their own position. Their intercourse is not +upon a footing of equality, but it is not constrained. When +moneyed aristocracy succeeds to aristocracy of birth, the case is +altered. The privileges of some are still extremely great, but +the possibility of acquiring those privileges is open to all: +whence it follows that those who possess them are constantly +haunted by the apprehension of losing them, or of other men's +sharing them; those who do not yet enjoy them long to possess +them at any cost, or, if they fail to appear at least to possess +them - which is not impossible. As the social importance of men +is no longer ostensibly and permanently fixed by blood, and is +infinitely varied by wealth, ranks still exist, but it is not +easy clearly to distinguish at a glance those who respectively +belong to them. Secret hostilities then arise in the community; +one set of men endeavor by innumerable artifices to penetrate, or +to appear to penetrate, amongst those who are above them; another +set are constantly in arms against these usurpers of their +rights; or rather the same individual does both at once, and +whilst he seeks to raise himself into a higher circle, he is +always on the defensive against the intrusion of those below him. + +Such is the condition of England at the present time; and I +am of opinion that the peculiarity before adverted to is +principally to be attributed to this cause. As aristocratic +pride is still extremely great amongst the English, and as the +limits of aristocracy are ill-defined, everybody lives in +constant dread lest advantage should be taken of his familiarity. +Unable to judge at once of the social position of those he meets, +an Englishman prudently avoids all contact with them. Men are +afraid lest some slight service rendered should draw them into an +unsuitable acquaintance; they dread civilities, and they avoid +the obtrusive gratitude of a stranger quite as much as his +hatred. Many people attribute these singular anti-social +propensities, and the reserved and taciturn bearing of the +English, to purely physical causes. I may admit that there is +something of it in their race, but much more of it is +attributable to their social condition, as is proved by the +contrast of the Americans. + +In America, where the privileges of birth never existed, and +where riches confer no peculiar rights on their possessors, men +unacquainted with each other are very ready to frequent the same +places, and find neither peril nor advantage in the free +interchange of their thoughts. If they meet by accident, they +neither seek nor avoid intercourse; their manner is therefore +natural, frank, and open: it is easy to see that they hardly +expect or apprehend anything from each other, and that they do +not care to display, any more than to conceal, their position in +the world. If their demeanor is often cold and serious, it is +never haughty or constrained; and if they do not converse, it is +because they are not in a humor to talk, not because they think +it their interest to be silent. In a foreign country two +Americans are at once friends, simply because they are Americans. +They are repulsed by no prejudice; they are attracted by their +common country. For two Englishmen the same blood is not enough; +they must be brought together by the same rank. The Americans +remark this unsociable mood of the English as much as the French +do, and they are not less astonished by it. Yet the Americans +are connected with England by their origin, their religion, their +language, and partially by their manners; they only differ in +their social condition. It may therefore be inferred that the +reserve of the English proceeds from the constitution of their +country much more than from that of its inhabitants. + +Chapter III: Why The Americans Show So Little Sensitiveness In +Their Own Country, And Are So Sensitive In Europe + +The temper of the Americans is vindictive, like that of all +serious and reflecting nations. They hardly ever forget an +offence, but it is not easy to offend them; and their resentment +is as slow to kindle as it is to abate. In aristocratic +communities where a small number of persons manage everything, +the outward intercourse of men is subject to settled conventional +rules. Everyone then thinks he knows exactly what marks of +respect or of condescension he ought to display, and none are +presumed to be ignorant of the science of etiquette. These +usages of the first class in society afterwards serve as a model +to all the others; besides which each of the latter lays down a +code of its own, to which all its members are bound to conform. +Thus the rules of politeness form a complex system of +legislation, which it is difficult to be perfectly master of, but +from which it is dangerous for anyone to deviate; so that men are +constantly exposed involuntarily to inflict or to receive bitter +affronts. But as the distinctions of rank are obliterated, as +men differing in education and in birth meet and mingle in the +same places of resort, it is almost impossible to agree upon the +rules of good breeding. As its laws are uncertain, to disobey +them is not a crime, even in the eyes of those who know what they +are; men attach more importance to intentions than to forms, and +they grow less civil, but at the same time less quarrelsome. +There are many little attentions which an American does not care +about; he thinks they are not due to him, or he presumes that +they are not known to be due: he therefore either does not +perceive a rudeness or he forgives it; his manners become less +courteous, and his character more plain and masculine. + +The mutual indulgence which the Americans display, and the +manly confidence with which they treat each other, also result +from another deeper and more general cause, which I have already +adverted to in the preceding chapter. In the United States the +distinctions of rank in civil society are slight, in political +society they are null; an American, therefore, does not think +himself bound to pay particular attentions to any of his fellow- +citizens, nor does he require such attentions from them towards +himself. As he does not see that it is his interest eagerly to +seek the company of any of his countrymen, he is slow to fancy +that his own company is declined: despising no one on account of +his station, he does not imagine that anyone can despise him for +that cause; and until he has clearly perceived an insult, he does +not suppose that an affront was intended. The social condition +of the Americans naturally accustoms them not to take offence in +small matters; and, on the other hand, the democratic freedom +which they enjoy transfuses this same mildness of temper into the +character of the nation. The political institutions of the +United States constantly bring citizens of all ranks into +contact, and compel them to pursue great undertakings in concert. +People thus engaged have scarcely time to attend to the details +of etiquette, and they are besides too strongly interested in +living harmoniously for them to stick at such things. They +therefore soon acquire a habit of considering the feelings and +opinions of those whom they meet more than their manners, and +they do not allow themselves to be annoyed by trifles. + +I have often remarked in the United States that it is not +easy to make a man understand that his presence may be dispensed +with; hints will not always suffice to shake him off. I +contradict an American at every word he says, to show him that +his conversation bores me; he instantly labors with fresh +pertinacity to convince me; I preserve a dogged silence, and he +thinks I am meditating deeply on the truths which he is uttering; +at last I rush from his company, and he supposes that some urgent +business hurries me elsewhere. This man will never understand +that he wearies me to extinction unless I tell him so: and the +only way to get rid of him is to make him my enemy for life. + +It appears surprising at first sight that the same man +transported to Europe suddenly becomes so sensitive and captious, +that I often find it as difficult to avoid offending him here as +it was to put him out of countenance. These two opposite effects +proceed from the same cause. Democratic institutions generally +give men a lofty notion of their country and of themselves. An +American leaves his country with a heart swollen with pride; on +arriving in Europe he at once finds out that we are not so +engrossed by the United States and the great people which +inhabits them as he had supposed, and this begins to annoy him. +He has been informed that the conditions of society are not equal +in our part of the globe, and he observes that among the nations +of Europe the traces of rank are not wholly obliterated; that +wealth and birth still retain some indeterminate privileges, +which force themselves upon his notice whilst they elude +definition. He is therefore profoundly ignorant of the place +which he ought to occupy in this half-ruined scale of classes, +which are sufficiently distinct to hate and despise each other, +yet sufficiently alike for him to be always confounding them. He +is afraid of ranging himself too high - still more is he afraid +of being ranged too low; this twofold peril keeps his mind +constantly on the stretch, and embarrasses all he says and does. +He learns from tradition that in Europe ceremonial observances +were infinitely varied according to different ranks; this +recollection of former times completes his perplexity, and he is +the more afraid of not obtaining those marks of respect which are +due to him, as he does not exactly know in what they consist. He +is like a man surrounded by traps: society is not a recreation +for him, but a serious toil: he weighs your least actions, +interrogates your looks, and scrutinizes all you say, lest there +should be some hidden allusion to affront him. I doubt whether +there was ever a provincial man of quality so punctilious in +breeding as he is: he endeavors to attend to the slightest rules +of etiquette, and does not allow one of them to be waived towards +himself: he is full of scruples and at the same time of +pretensions; he wishes to do enough, but fears to do too much; +and as he does not very well know the limits of the one or of the +other, he keeps up a haughty and embarrassed air of reserve. + +But this is not all: here is yet another double of the human +heart. An American is forever talking of the admirable equality +which prevails in the United States; aloud he makes it the boast +of his country, but in secret he deplores it for himself; and he +aspires to show that, for his part, he is an exception to the +general state of things which he vaunts. There is hardly an +American to be met with who does not claim some remote kindred +with the first founders of the colonies; and as for the scions of +the noble families of England, America seemed to me to be covered +with them. When an opulent American arrives in Europe, his first +care is to surround himself with all the luxuries of wealth: he +is so afraid of being taken for the plain citizen of a democracy, +that he adopts a hundred distorted ways of bringing some new +instance of his wealth before you every day. His house will be +in the most fashionable part of the town: he will always be +surrounded by a host of servants. I have heard an American +complain, that in the best houses of Paris the society was rather +mixed; the taste which prevails there was not pure enough for +him; and he ventured to hint that, in his opinion, there was a +want of elegance of manner; he could not accustom himself to see +wit concealed under such unpretending forms. + +These contrasts ought not to surprise us. If the vestiges +of former aristocratic distinctions were not so completely +effaced in the United States, the Americans would be less simple +and less tolerant in their own country -they would require less, +and be less fond of borrowed manners in ours. + +Chapter IV: Consequences Of The Three Preceding Chapters + +When men feel a natural compassion for their mutual +sufferings - when they are brought together by easy and frequent +intercourse, and no sensitive feelings keep them asunder - it may +readily be supposed that they will lend assistance to one another +whenever it is needed. When an American asks for the +co-operation of his fellow-citizens it is seldom refused, and I +have often seen it afforded spontaneously and with great +goodwill. If an accident happens on the highway, everybody +hastens to help the sufferer; if some great and sudden calamity +befalls a family, the purses of a thousand strangers are at once +willingly opened, and small but numerous donations pour in to +relieve their distress. It often happens amongst the most +civilized nations of the globe, that a poor wretch is as +friendless in the midst of a crowd as the savage in his wilds: +this is hardly ever the case in the United States. The +Americans, who are always cold and often coarse in their manners, +seldom show insensibility; and if they do not proffer services +eagerly, yet they do not refuse to render them. + +All this is not in contradiction to what I have said before +on the subject of individualism. The two things are so far from +combating each other, that I can see how they agree. Equality of +conditions, whilst it makes men feel their independence, shows +them their own weakness: they are free, but exposed to a thousand +accidents; and experience soon teaches them that, although they +do not habitually require the assistance of others, a time almost +always comes when they cannot do without it. We constantly see +in Europe that men of the same profession are ever ready to +assist each other; they are all exposed to the same ills, and +that is enough to teach them to seek mutual preservatives, +however hard- hearted and selfish they may otherwise be. When +one of them falls into danger, from which the others may save him +by a slight transient sacrifice or a sudden effort, they do not +fail to make the attempt. Not that they are deeply interested in +his fate; for if, by chance, their exertions are unavailing, they +immediately forget the object of them, and return to their own +business; but a sort of tacit and almost involuntary agreement +has been passed between them, by which each one owes to the +others a temporary support which he may claim for himself in +turn. Extend to a people the remark here applied to a class, and +you will understand my meaning. A similar covenant exists in +fact between all the citizens of a democracy: they all feel +themselves subject to the same weakness and the same dangers; and +their interest, as well as their sympathy, makes it a rule with +them to lend each other mutual assistance when required. The more +equal social conditions become, the more do men display this +reciprocal disposition to oblige each other. In democracies no +great benefits are conferred, but good offices are constantly +rendered: a man seldom displays self- devotion, but all men are +ready to be of service to one another. + +Book Three - Chapters V-VII + +Chapter V: How Democracy Affects nhe Relation Of Masters And +Servants + +An American who had travelled for a long time in Europe once +said to me, "The English treat their servants with a stiffness +and imperiousness of manner which surprise us; but on the other +hand the French sometimes treat their attendants with a degree of +familiarity or of politeness which we cannot conceive. It looks +as if they were afraid to give orders: the posture of the +superior and the inferior is ill-maintained." The remark was a +just one, and I have often made it myself. I have always +considered England as the country in the world where, in our +time, the bond of domestic service is drawn most tightly, and +France as the country where it is most relaxed. Nowhere have I +seen masters stand so high or so low as in these two countries. +Between these two extremes the Americans are to be placed. Such +is the fact as it appears upon the surface of things: to discover +the causes of that fact, it is necessary to search the matter +thoroughly. + +No communities have ever yet existed in which social +conditions have been so equal that there were neither rich nor +poor, and consequently neither masters nor servants. Democracy +does not prevent the existence of these two classes, but it +changes their dispositions and modifies their mutual relations. +Amongst aristocratic nations servants form a distinct class, not +more variously composed than that of masters. A settled order is +soon established; in the former as well as in the latter class a +scale is formed, with numerous distinctions or marked gradations +of rank, and generations succeed each other thus without any +change of position. These two communities are superposed one +above the other, always distinct, but regulated by analogous +principles. This aristocratic constitution does not exert a less +powerful influence on the notions and manners of servants than on +those of masters; and, although the effects are different, the +same cause may easily be traced. Both classes constitute small +communities in the heart of the nation, and certain permanent +notions of right and wrong are ultimately engendered amongst +them. The different acts of human life are viewed by one +particular and unchanging light. In the society of servants, as +in that of masters, men exercise a great influence over each +other: they acknowledge settled rules, and in the absence of law +they are guided by a sort of public opinion: their habits are +settled, and their conduct is placed under a certain control. + +These men, whose destiny is to obey, certainly do not +understand fame, virtue, honesty, and honor in the same manner as +their masters; but they have a pride, a virtue, and an honesty +pertaining to their condition; and they have a notion, if I may +use the expression, of a sort of servile honor. *a Because a +class is mean, it must not be supposed that all who belong to it +are mean- hearted; to think so would be a great mistake. However +lowly it may be, he who is foremost there, and who has no notion +of quitting it, occupies an aristocratic position which inspires +him with lofty feelings, pride, and self-respect, that fit him +for the higher virtues and actions above the common. Amongst +aristocratic nations it was by no means rare to find men of noble +and vigorous minds in the service of the great, who felt not the +servitude they bore, and who submitted to the will of their +masters without any fear of their displeasure. But this was +hardly ever the case amongst the inferior ranks of domestic +servants. It may be imagined that he who occupies the lowest +stage of the order of menials stands very low indeed. The French +created a word on purpose to designate the servants of the +aristocracy - they called them lackeys. This word "lackey" +served as the strongest expression, when all others were +exhausted, to designate human meanness. Under the old French +monarchy, to denote by a single expression a low-spirited +contemptible fellow, it was usual to say that he had the "soul of +a lackey"; the term was enough to convey all that was intended. +[Footnote a: If the principal opinions by which men are guided +are examined closely and in detail, the analogy appears still +more striking, and one is surprised to find amongst them, just as +much as amongst the haughtiest scions of a feudal race, pride of +birth, respect for their ancestry and their descendants, disdain +of their inferiors, a dread of contact, a taste for etiquette, +precedents, and antiquity.] + +The permanent inequality of conditions not only gives +servants certain peculiar virtues and vices, but it places them +in a peculiar relation with respect to their masters. Amongst +aristocratic nations the poor man is familiarized from his +childhood with the notion of being commanded: to whichever side +he turns his eyes the graduated structure of society and the +aspect of obedience meet his view. Hence in those countries the +master readily obtains prompt, complete, respectful, and easy +obedience from his servants, because they revere in him not only +their master but the class of masters. He weighs down their will +by the whole weight of the aristocracy. He orders their actions - +to a certain extent he even directs their thoughts. In +aristocracies the master often exercises, even without being +aware of it, an amazing sway over the opinions, the habits, and +the manners of those who obey him, and his influence extends even +further than his authority. + +In aristocratic communities there are not only hereditary +families of servants as well as of masters, but the same families +of servants adhere for several generations to the same families +of masters (like two parallel lines which neither meet nor +separate); and this considerably modifies the mutual relations of +these two classes of persons. Thus, although in aristocratic +society the master and servant have no natural resemblance - +although, on the contrary, they are placed at an immense distance +on the scale of human beings by their fortune, education, and +opinions - yet time ultimately binds them together. They are +connected by a long series of common reminiscences, and however +different they may be, they grow alike; whilst in democracies, +where they are naturally almost alike, they always remain +strangers to each other. Amongst an aristocratic people the +master gets to look upon his servants as an inferior and +secondary part of himself, and he often takes an interest in +their lot by a last stretch of egotism. + +Servants, on their part, are not averse to regard themselves +in the same light; and they sometimes identify themselves with +the person of the master, so that they become an appendage to him +in their own eyes as well as in his. In aristocracies a servant +fills a subordinate position which he cannot get out of; above +him is another man, holding a superior rank which he cannot lose. +On one side are obscurity, poverty, obedience for life; on the +other, and also for life, fame, wealth, and command. The two +conditions are always distinct and always in propinquity; the tie +that connects them is as lasting as they are themselves. In this +predicament the servant ultimately detaches his notion of +interest from his own person; he deserts himself, as it were, or +rather he transports himself into the character of his master, +and thus assumes an imaginary personality. He complacently +invests himself with the wealth of those who command him; he +shares their fame, exalts himself by their rank, and feeds his +mind with borrowed greatness, to which he attaches more +importance than those who fully and really possess it. There is +something touching, and at the same time ridiculous, in this +strange confusion of two different states of being. These +passions of masters, when they pass into the souls of menials, +assume the natural dimensions of the place they occupy -they are +contracted and lowered. What was pride in the former becomes +puerile vanity and paltry ostentation in the latter. The +servants of a great man are commonly most punctilious as to the +marks of respect due to him, and they attach more importance to +his slightest privileges than he does himself. In France a few +of these old servants of the aristocracy are still to be met with +here and there; they have survived their race, which will soon +disappear with them altogether. In the United States I never saw +anyone at all like them. The Americans are not only unacquainted +with the kind of man, but it is hardly possible to make them +understand that such ever existed. It is scarcely less difficult +for them to conceive it, than for us to form a correct notion of +what a slave was amongst the Romans, or a serf in the Middle +Ages. All these men were in fact, though in different degrees, +results of the same cause: they are all retiring from our sight, +and disappearing in the obscurity of the past, together with the +social condition to which they owed their origin. + +Equality of conditions turns servants and masters into new +beings, and places them in new relative positions. When social +conditions are nearly equal, men are constantly changing their +situations in life: there is still a class of menials and a class +of masters, but these classes are not always composed of the same +individuals, still less of the same families; and those who +command are not more secure of perpetuity than those who obey. +As servants do not form a separate people, they have no habits, +prejudices, or manners peculiar to themselves; they are not +remarkable for any particular turn of mind or moods of feeling. +They know no vices or virtues of their condition, but they +partake of the education, the opinions, the feelings, the +virtues, and the vices of their contemporaries; and they are +honest men or scoundrels in the same way as their masters are. +The conditions of servants are not less equal than those of +masters. As no marked ranks or fixed subordination are to be +found amongst them, they will not display either the meanness or +the greatness which characterizes the aristocracy of menials as +well as all other aristocracies. I never saw a man in the United +States who reminded me of that class of confidential servants of +which we still retain a reminiscence in Europe, neither did I +ever meet with such a thing as a lackey: all traces of the one +and of the other have disappeared. + +In democracies servants are not only equal amongst +themselves, but it may be said that they are in some sort the +equals of their masters. This requires explanation in order to +be rightly understood. At any moment a servant may become a +master, and he aspires to rise to that condition: the servant is +therefore not a different man from the master. Why then has the +former a right to command, and what compels the latter to obey? - +the free and temporary consent of both their wills. Neither of +them is by nature inferior to the other; they only become so for +a time by covenant. Within the terms of this covenant, the one +is a servant, the other a master; beyond it they are two citizens +of the commonwealth - two men. I beg the reader particularly to +observe that this is not only the notion which servants +themselves entertain of their own condition; domestic service is +looked upon by masters in the same light; and the precise limits +of authority and obedience are as clearly settled in the mind of +the one as in that of the other. + +When the greater part of the community have long attained a +condition nearly alike, and when equality is an old and +acknowledged fact, the public mind, which is never affected by +exceptions, assigns certain general limits to the value of man, +above or below which no man can long remain placed. It is in +vain that wealth and poverty, authority and obedience, +accidentally interpose great distances between two men; public +opinion, founded upon the usual order of things, draws them to a +common level, and creates a species of imaginary equality between +them, in spite of the real inequality of their conditions. This +all-powerful opinion penetrates at length even into the hearts of +those whose interest might arm them to resist it; it affects +their judgment whilst it subdues their will. In their inmost +convictions the master and the servant no longer perceive any +deep-seated difference between them, and they neither hope nor +fear to meet with any such at any time. They are therefore +neither subject to disdain nor to anger, and they discern in each +other neither humility nor pride. The master holds the contract +of service to be the only source of his power, and the servant +regards it as the only cause of his obedience. They do not +quarrel about their reciprocal situations, but each knows his own +and keeps it. + +In the French army the common soldier is taken from nearly +the same classes as the officer, and may hold the same +commissions; out of the ranks he considers himself entirely equal +to his military superiors, and in point of fact he is so; but +when under arms he does not hesitate to obey, and his obedience +is not the less prompt, precise, and ready, for being voluntary +and defined. This example may give a notion of what takes place +between masters and servants in democratic communities. + +It would be preposterous to suppose that those warm and +deep- seated affections, which are sometimes kindled in the +domestic service of aristocracy, will ever spring up between +these two men, or that they will exhibit strong instances of +self-sacrifice. In aristocracies masters and servants live +apart, and frequently their only intercourse is through a third +person; yet they commonly stand firmly by one another. In +democratic countries the master and the servant are close +together; they are in daily personal contact, but their minds do +not intermingle; they have common occupations, hardly ever common +interests. Amongst such a people the servant always considers +himself as a sojourner in the dwelling of his masters. He knew +nothing of their forefathers - he will see nothing of their +descendants -he has nothing lasting to expect from their hand. +Why then should he confound his life with theirs, and whence +should so strange a surrender of himself proceed? The reciprocal +position of the two men is changed - their mutual relations must +be so too. + +I would fain illustrate all these reflections by the example +of the Americans; but for this purpose the distinctions of +persons and places must be accurately traced. In the South of +the Union, slavery exists; all that I have just said is +consequently inapplicable there. In the North, the majority of +servants are either freedmen or the children of freedmen; these +persons occupy a contested position in the public estimation; by +the laws they are brought up to the level of their masters - by +the manners of the country they are obstinately detruded from it. +They do not themselves clearly know their proper place, and they +are almost always either insolent or craven. But in the Northern +States, especially in New England, there are a certain number of +whites, who agree, for wages, to yield a temporary obedience to +the will of their fellow-citizens. I have heard that these +servants commonly perform the duties of their situation with +punctuality and intelligence; and that without thinking +themselves naturally inferior to the person who orders them, they +submit without reluctance to obey him. They appear to me to +carry into service some of those manly habits which independence +and equality engender. Having once selected a hard way of life, +they do not seek to escape from it by indirect means; and they +have sufficient respect for themselves, not to refuse to their +master that obedience which they have freely promised. On their +part, masters require nothing of their servants but the faithful +and rigorous performance of the covenant: they do not ask for +marks of respect, they do not claim their love or devoted +attachment; it is enough that, as servants, they are exact and +honest. It would not then be true to assert that, in democratic +society, the relation of servants and masters is disorganized: it +is organized on another footing; the rule is different, but there +is a rule. + +It is not my purpose to inquire whether the new state of +things which I have just described is inferior to that which +preceded it, or simply different. Enough for me that it is fixed +and determined: for what is most important to meet with among men +is not any given ordering, but order. But what shall I say of +those sad and troubled times at which equality is established in +the midst of the tumult of revolution - when democracy, after +having been introduced into the state of society, still struggles +with difficulty against the prejudices and manners of the +country? The laws, and partially public opinion, already declare +that no natural or permanent inferiority exists between the +servant and the master. But this new belief has not yet reached +the innermost convictions of the latter, or rather his heart +rejects it; in the secret persuasion of his mind the master +thinks that he belongs to a peculiar and superior race; he dares +not say so, but he shudders whilst he allows himself to be +dragged to the same level. His authority over his servants +becomes timid and at the same time harsh: he has already ceased +to entertain for them the feelings of patronizing kindness which +long uncontested power always engenders, and he is surprised +that, being changed himself, his servant changes also. He wants +his attendants to form regular and permanent habits, in a +condition of domestic service which is only temporary: he +requires that they should appear contented with and proud of a +servile condition, which they will one day shake off - that they +should sacrifice themselves to a man who can neither protect nor +ruin them - and in short that they should contract an +indissoluble engagement to a being like themselves, and one who +will last no longer than they will. + +Amongst aristocratic nations it often happens that the +condition of domestic service does not degrade the character of +those who enter upon it, because they neither know nor imagine +any other; and the amazing inequality which is manifest between +them and their master appears to be the necessary and unavoidable +consequence of some hidden law of Providence. In democracies the +condition of domestic service does not degrade the character of +those who enter upon it, because it is freely chosen, and adopted +for a time only; because it is not stigmatized by public opinion, +and creates no permanent inequality between the servant and the +master. But whilst the transition from one social condition to +another is going on, there is almost always a time when men's +minds fluctuate between the aristocratic notion of subjection and +the democratic notion of obedience. Obedience then loses its +moral importance in the eyes of him who obeys; he no longer +considers it as a species of divine obligation, and he does not +yet view it under its purely human aspect; it has to him no +character of sanctity or of justice, and he submits to it as to a +degrading but profitable condition. At that moment a confused +and imperfect phantom of equality haunts the minds of servants; +they do not at once perceive whether the equality to which they +are entitled is to be found within or without the pale of +domestic service; and they rebel in their hearts against a +subordination to which they have subjected themselves, and from +which they derive actual profit. They consent to serve, and they +blush to obey; they like the advantages of service, but not the +master; or rather, they are not sure that they ought not +themselves to be masters, and they are inclined to consider him +who orders them as an unjust usurper of their own rights. Then +it is that the dwelling of every citizen offers a spectacle +somewhat analogous to the gloomy aspect of political society. A +secret and intestine warfare is going on there between powers, +ever rivals and suspicious of one another: the master is +ill-natured and weak, the servant ill-natured and intractable; +the one constantly attempts to evade by unfair restrictions his +obligation to protect and to remunerate - the other his +obligation to obey. The reins of domestic government dangle +between them, to be snatched at by one or the other. The lines +which divide authority from oppression, liberty from license, and +right from might, are to their eyes so jumbled together and +confused, that no one knows exactly what he is, or what he may +be, or what he ought to be. Such a condition is not democracy, +but revolution. + +Chapter VI: That Democratic Institutions And Manners Tend To +Raise Rents And Shorten The Terms Of Leases + +What has been said of servants and masters is applicable, to +a certain extent, to landowners and farming tenants; but this +subject deserves to be considered by itself. In America there +are, properly speaking, no tenant farmers; every man owns the +ground he tills. It must be admitted that democratic laws tend +greatly to increase the number of landowners, and to diminish +that of farming tenants. Yet what takes place in the United +States is much less attributable to the institutions of the +country than to the country itself. In America land is cheap, +and anyone may easily become a landowner; its returns are small, +and its produce cannot well be divided between a landowner and a +farmer. America therefore stands alone in this as well as in +many other respects, and it would be a mistake to take it as an +example. + +I believe that in democratic as well as in aristocratic +countries there will be landowners and tenants, but the +connection existing between them will be of a different kind. In +aristocracies the hire of a farm is paid to the landlord, not +only in rent, but in respect, regard, and duty; in democracies +the whole is paid in cash. When estates are divided and passed +from hand to hand, and the permanent connection which existed +between families and the soil is dissolved, the landowner and the +tenant are only casually brought into contact. They meet for a +moment to settle the conditions of the agreement, and then lose +sight of each other; they are two strangers brought together by a +common interest, and who keenly talk over a matter of business, +the sole object of which is to make money. + +In proportion as property is subdivided and wealth +distributed over the country, the community is filled with people +whose former opulence is declining, and with others whose +fortunes are of recent growth and whose wants increase more +rapidly than their resources. For all such persons the smallest +pecuniary profit is a matter of importance, and none of them feel +disposed to waive any of their claims, or to lose any portion of +their income. As ranks are intermingled, and as very large as +well as very scanty fortunes become more rare, every day brings +the social condition of the landowner nearer to that of the +farmer; the one has not naturally any uncontested superiority +over the other; between two men who are equal, and not at ease in +their circumstances, the contract of hire is exclusively an +affair of money. A man whose estate extends over a whole +district, and who owns a hundred farms, is well aware of the +importance of gaining at the same time the affections of some +thousands of men; this object appears to call for his exertions, +and to attain it he will readily make considerable sacrifices. +But he who owns a hundred acres is insensible to similar +considerations, and he cares but little to win the private regard +of his tenant. + +An aristocracy does not expire like a man in a single day; +the aristocratic principle is slowly undermined in men's opinion, +before it is attacked in their laws. Long before open war is +declared against it, the tie which had hitherto united the higher +classes to the lower may be seen to be gradually relaxed. +Indifference and contempt are betrayed by one class, jealousy and +hatred by the others; the intercourse between rich and poor +becomes less frequent and less kind, and rents are raised. This +is not the consequence of a democratic revolution, but its +certain harbinger; for an aristocracy which has lost the +affections of the people, once and forever, is like a tree dead +at the root, which is the more easily torn up by the winds the +higher its branches have spread. + +In the course of the last fifty years the rents of farms +have amazingly increased, not only in France but throughout the +greater part of Europe. The remarkable improvements which have +taken place in agriculture and manufactures within the same +period do not suffice in my opinion to explain this fact; +recourse must be had to another cause more powerful and more +concealed. I believe that cause is to be found in the democratic +institutions which several European nations have adopted, and in +the democratic passions which more or less agitate all the rest. +I have frequently heard great English landowners congratulate +themselves that, at the present day, they derive a much larger +income from their estates than their fathers did. They have +perhaps good reasons to be glad; but most assuredly they know not +what they are glad of. They think they are making a clear gain, +when it is in reality only an exchange; their influence is what +they are parting with for cash; and what they gain in money will +ere long be lost in power. + +There is yet another sign by which it is easy to know that a +great democratic revolution is going on or approaching. In the +Middle Ages almost all lands were leased for lives, or for very +long terms; the domestic economy of that period shows that leases +for ninety-nine years were more frequent then than leases for +twelve years are now. Men then believed that families were +immortal; men's conditions seemed settled forever, and the whole +of society appeared to be so fixed, that it was not supposed that +anything would ever be stirred or shaken in its structure. In +ages of equality, the human mind takes a different bent; the +prevailing notion is that nothing abides, and man is haunted by +the thought of mutability. Under this impression the landowner +and the tenant himself are instinctively averse to protracted +terms of obligation; they are afraid of being tied up to-morrow +by the contract which benefits them today. They have vague +anticipations of some sudden and unforeseen change in their +conditions; they mistrust themselves; they fear lest their taste +should change, and lest they should lament that they cannot rid +themselves of what they coveted; nor are such fears unfounded, +for in democratic ages that which is most fluctuating amidst the +fluctuation of all around is the heart of man. + +Chapter VII: Influence Of Democracy On Wages + +Most of the remarks which I have already made in speaking of +servants and masters, may be applied to masters and workmen. As +the gradations of the social scale come to be less observed, +whilst the great sink the humble rise, and as poverty as well as +opulence ceases to be hereditary, the distance both in reality +and in opinion, which heretofore separated the workman from the +master, is lessened every day. The workman conceives a more +lofty opinion of his rights, of his future, of himself; he is +filled with new ambition and with new desires, he is harassed by +new wants. Every instant he views with longing eyes the profits +of his employer; and in order to share them, he strives to +dispose of his labor at a higher rate, and he generally succeeds +at length in the attempt. In democratic countries, as well as +elsewhere, most of the branches of productive industry are +carried on at a small cost, by men little removed by their wealth +or education above the level of those whom they employ. These +manufacturing speculators are extremely numerous; their interests +differ; they cannot therefore easily concert or combine their +exertions. On the other hand the workmen have almost always some +sure resources, which enable them to refuse to work when they +cannot get what they conceive to be the fair price of their +labor. In the constant struggle for wages which is going on +between these two classes, their strength is divided, and success +alternates from one to the other. It is even probable that in +the end the interest of the working class must prevail; for the +high wages which they have already obtained make them every day +less dependent on their masters; and as they grow more +independent, they have greater facilities for obtaining a further +increase of wages. + +I shall take for example that branch of productive industry +which is still at the present day the most generally followed in +France, and in almost all the countries of the world - I mean the +cultivation of the soil. In France most of those who labor for +hire in agriculture, are themselves owners of certain plots of +ground, which just enable them to subsist without working for +anyone else. When these laborers come to offer their services to +a neighboring landowner or farmer, if he refuses them a certain +rate of wages, they retire to their own small property and await +another opportunity. + +I think that, upon the whole, it may be asserted that a slow +and gradual rise of wages is one of the general laws of +democratic communities. In proportion as social conditions +become more equal, wages rise; and as wages are higher, social +conditions become more equal. But a great and gloomy exception +occurs in our own time. I have shown in a preceding chapter that +aristocracy, expelled from political society, has taken refuge in +certain departments of productive industry, and has established +its sway there under another form; this powerfully affects the +rate of wages. As a large capital is required to embark in the +great manufacturing speculations to which I allude, the number of +persons who enter upon them is exceedingly limited: as their +number is small, they can easily concert together, and fix the +rate of wages as they please. Their workmen on the contrary are +exceedingly numerous, and the number of them is always +increasing; for, from time to time, an extraordinary run of +business takes place, during which wages are inordinately high, +and they attract the surrounding population to the factories. +But, when once men have embraced that line of life, we have +already seen that they cannot quit it again, because they soon +contract habits of body and mind which unfit them for any other +sort of toil. These men have generally but little education and +industry, with but few resources; they stand therefore almost at +the mercy of the master. When competition, or other fortuitous +circumstances, lessen his profits, he can reduce the wages of his +workmen almost at pleasure, and make from them what he loses by +the chances of business. Should the workmen strike, the master, +who is a rich man, can very well wait without being ruined until +necessity brings them back to him; but they must work day by day +or they die, for their only property is in their hands. They +have long been impoverished by oppression, and the poorer they +become the more easily may they be oppressed: they can never +escape from this fatal circle of cause and consequence. It is +not then surprising that wages, after having sometimes suddenly +risen, are permanently lowered in this branch of industry; +whereas in other callings the price of labor, which generally +increases but little, is nevertheless constantly augmented. + +This state of dependence and wretchedness, in which a part +of the manufacturing population of our time lives, forms an +exception to the general rule, contrary to the state of all the +rest of the community; but, for this very reason, no circumstance +is more important or more deserving of the especial consideration +of the legislator; for when the whole of society is in motion, it +is difficult to keep any one class stationary; and when the +greater number of men are opening new paths to fortune, it is no +less difficult to make the few support in peace their wants and +their desires. + + +Book Three - Chapters VIII-X + +Chapter VIII: Influence Of Democracy On Kindred + +I have just examined the changes which the equality of +conditions produces in the mutual relations of the several +members of the community amongst democratic nations, and amongst +the Americans in particular. I would now go deeper, and inquire +into the closer ties of kindred: my object here is not to seek +for new truths, but to show in what manner facts already known +are connected with my subject. + +It has been universally remarked, that in our time the +several members of a family stand upon an entirely new footing +towards each other; that the distance which formerly separated a +father from his sons has been lessened; and that paternal +authority, if not destroyed, is at least impaired. Something +analogous to this, but even more striking, may be observed in the +United States. In America the family, in the Roman and +aristocratic signification of the word, does not exist. All that +remains of it are a few vestiges in the first years of childhood, +when the father exercises, without opposition, that absolute +domestic authority, which the feebleness of his children renders +necessary, and which their interest, as well as his own +incontestable superiority, warrants. But as soon as the young +American approaches manhood, the ties of filial obedience are +relaxed day by day: master of his thoughts, he is soon master of +his conduct. In America there is, strictly speaking, no +adolescence: at the close of boyhood the man appears, and begins +to trace out his own path. It would be an error to suppose that +this is preceded by a domestic struggle, in which the son has +obtained by a sort of moral violence the liberty that his father +refused him. The same habits, the same principles which impel the +one to assert his independence, predispose the other to consider +the use of that independence as an incontestable right. The +former does not exhibit any of those rancorous or irregular +passions which disturb men long after they have shaken off an +established authority; the latter feels none of that bitter and +angry regret which is apt to survive a bygone power. The father +foresees the limits of his authority long beforehand, and when +the time arrives he surrenders it without a struggle: the son +looks forward to the exact period at which he will be his own +master; and he enters upon his freedom without precipitation and +without effort, as a possession which is his own and which no one +seeks to wrest from him. *a + +[Footnote a: The Americans, however, have not yet thought fit to +strip the parent, as has been done in France, of one of the chief +elements of parental authority, by depriving him of the power of +disposing of his property at his death. In the United States +there are no restrictions on the powers of a testator. In this +respect, as in almost all others, it is easy to perceive, that if +the political legislation of the Americans is much more +democratic than that of the French, the civil legislation of the +latter is infinitely more democratic than that of the former. +This may easily be accounted for. The civil legislation of France +was the work of a man who saw that it was his interest to satisfy +the democratic passions of his contemporaries in all that was not +directly and immediately hostile to his own power. He was +willing to allow some popular principles to regulate the +distribution of property and the government of families, provided +they were not to be introduced into the administration of public +affairs. Whilst the torrent of democracy overwhelmed the civil +laws of the country, he hoped to find an easy shelter behind its +political institutions. This policy was at once both adroit and +selfish; but a compromise of this kind could not last; for in the +end political institutions never fail to become the image and +expression of civil society; and in this sense it may be said +that nothing is more political in a nation than its civil +legislation.] + +It may perhaps not be without utility to show how these +changes which take place in family relations, are closely +connected with the social and political revolution which is +approaching its consummation under our own observation. There +are certain great social principles, which a people either +introduces everywhere, or tolerates nowhere. In countries which +are aristocratically constituted with all the gradations of rank, +the government never makes a direct appeal to the mass of the +governed: as men are united together, it is enough to lead the +foremost, the rest will follow. This is equally applicable to +the family, as to all aristocracies which have a head. Amongst +aristocratic nations, social institutions recognize, in truth, no +one in the family but the father; children are received by +society at his hands; society governs him, he governs them. Thus +the parent has not only a natural right, but he acquires a +political right, to command them: he is the author and the +support of his family; but he is also its constituted ruler. In +democracies, where the government picks out every individual +singly from the mass, to make him subservient to the general laws +of the community, no such intermediate person is required: a +father is there, in the eye of the law, only a member of the +community, older and richer than his sons. + +When most of the conditions of life are extremely unequal, +and the inequality of these conditions is permanent, the notion +of a superior grows upon the imaginations of men: if the law +invested him with no privileges, custom and public opinion would +concede them. When, on the contrary, men differ but little from +each other, and do not always remain in dissimilar conditions of +life, the general notion of a superior becomes weaker and less +distinct: it is vain for legislation to strive to place him who +obeys very much beneath him who commands; the manners of the time +bring the two men nearer to one another, and draw them daily +towards the same level. Although the legislation of an +aristocratic people should grant no peculiar privileges to the +heads of families; I shall not be the less convinced that their +power is more respected and more extensive than in a democracy; +for I know that, whatsoever the laws may be, superiors always +appear higher and inferiors lower in aristocracies than amongst +democratic nations. + + +When men live more for the remembrance of what has been than +for the care of what is, and when they are more given to attend +to what their ancestors thought than to think themselves, the +father is the natural and necessary tie between the past and the +present - the link by which the ends of these two chains are +connected. In aristocracies, then, the father is not only the +civil head of the family, but the oracle of its traditions, the +expounder of its customs, the arbiter of its manners. He is +listened to with deference, he is addressed with respect, and the +love which is felt for him is always tempered with fear. When +the condition of society becomes democratic, and men adopt as +their general principle that it is good and lawful to judge of +all things for one's self, using former points of belief not as a +rule of faith but simply as a means of information, the power +which the opinions of a father exercise over those of his sons +diminishes as well as his legal power. + +Perhaps the subdivision of estates which democracy brings +with it contributes more than anything else to change the +relations existing between a father and his children. When the +property of the father of a family is scanty, his son and himself +constantly live in the same place, and share the same +occupations: habit and necessity bring them together, and force +them to hold constant communication: the inevitable consequence +is a sort of familiar intimacy, which renders authority less +absolute, and which can ill be reconciled with the external forms +of respect. Now in democratic countries the class of those who +are possessed of small fortunes is precisely that which gives +strength to the notions, and a particular direction to the +manners, of the community. That class makes its opinions +preponderate as universally as its will, and even those who are +most inclined to resist its commands are carried away in the end +by its example. I have known eager opponents of democracy who +allowed their children to address them with perfect colloquial +equality. + +Thus, at the same time that the power of aristocracy is +declining, the austere, the conventional, and the legal part of +parental authority vanishes, and a species of equality prevails +around the domestic hearth. I know not, upon the whole, whether +society loses by the change, but I am inclined to believe that +man individually is a gainer by it. I think that, in proportion +as manners and laws become more democratic, the relation of +father and son becomes more intimate and more affectionate; rules +and authority are less talked of; confidence and tenderness are +oftentimes increased, and it would seem that the natural bond is +drawn closer in proportion as the social bond is loosened. In a +democratic family the father exercises no other power than that +with which men love to invest the affection and the experience of +age; his orders would perhaps be disobeyed, but his advice is for +the most part authoritative. Though he be not hedged in with +ceremonial respect, his sons at least accost him with confidence; +no settled form of speech is appropriated to the mode of +addressing him, but they speak to him constantly, and are ready +to consult him day by day; the master and the constituted ruler +have vanished -the father remains. Nothing more is needed, in +order to judge of the difference between the two states of +society in this respect, than to peruse the family correspondence +of aristocratic ages. The style is always correct, ceremonious, +stiff, and so cold that the natural warmth of the heart can +hardly be felt in the language. The language, on the contrary, +addressed by a son to his father in democratic countries is +always marked by mingled freedom, familiarity and affection, +which at once show that new relations have sprung up in the bosom +of the family. + +A similar revolution takes place in the mutual relations of +children. In aristocratic families, as well as in aristocratic +society, every place is marked out beforehand. Not only does the +father occupy a separate rank, in which he enjoys extensive +privileges, but even the children are not equal amongst +themselves. The age and sex of each irrevocably determine his +rank, and secure to him certain privileges: most of these +distinctions are abolished or diminished by democracy. In +aristocratic families the eldest son, inheriting the greater part +of the property, and almost all the rights of the family, becomes +the chief, and, to a certain extent, the master, of his brothers. +Greatness and power are for him - for them, mediocrity and +dependence. Nevertheless it would be wrong to suppose that, +amongst aristocratic nations, the privileges of the eldest son +are advantageous to himself alone, or that they excite nothing +but envy and hatred in those around him. The eldest son commonly +endeavors to procure wealth and power for his brothers, because +the general splendor of the house is reflected back on him who +represents it; the younger sons seek to back the elder brother in +all his undertakings, because the greatness and power of the head +of the family better enable him to provide for all its branches. +The different members of an aristocratic family are therefore +very closely bound together; their interests are connected, their +minds agree, but their hearts are seldom in harmony. + +Democracy also binds brothers to each other, but by very +different means. Under democratic laws all the children are +perfectly equal, and consequently independent; nothing brings +them forcibly together, but nothing keeps them apart; and as they +have the same origin, as they are trained under the same roof, as +they are treated with the same care, and as no peculiar privilege +distinguishes or divides them, the affectionate and youthful +intimacy of early years easily springs up between them. Scarcely +any opportunities occur to break the tie thus formed at the +outset of life; for their brotherhood brings them daily together, +without embarrassing them. It is not, then, by interest, but by +common associations and by the free sympathy of opinion and of +taste, that democracy unites brothers to each other. It divides +their inheritance, but it allows their hearts and minds to mingle +together. Such is the charm of these democratic manners, that +even the partisans of aristocracy are caught by it; and after +having experienced it for some time, they are by no means tempted +to revert to the respectful and frigid observance of aristocratic +families. They would be glad to retain the domestic habits of +democracy, if they might throw off its social conditions and its +laws; but these elements are indissolubly united, and it is +impossible to enjoy the former without enduring the latter. +The remarks I have made on filial love and fraternal +affection are applicable to all the passions which emanate +spontaneously from human nature itself. If a certain mode of +thought or feeling is the result of some peculiar condition of +life, when that condition is altered nothing whatever remains of +the thought or feeling. Thus a law may bind two members of the +community very closely to one another; but that law being +abolished, they stand asunder. Nothing was more strict than the +tie which united the vassal to the lord under the feudal system; +at the present day the two men know not each other; the fear, the +gratitude, and the affection which formerly connected them have +vanished, and not a vestige of the tie remains. Such, however, +is not the case with those feelings which are natural to mankind. +Whenever a law attempts to tutor these feelings in any particular +manner, it seldom fails to weaken them; by attempting to add to +their intensity, it robs them of some of their elements, for they +are never stronger than when left to themselves. + +Democracy, which destroys or obscures almost all the old +conventional rules of society, and which prevents men from +readily assenting to new ones, entirely effaces most of the +feelings to which these conventional rules have given rise; but +it only modifies some others, and frequently imparts to them a +degree of energy and sweetness unknown before. Perhaps it is not +impossible to condense into a single proposition the whole +meaning of this chapter, and of several others that preceded it. +Democracy loosens social ties, but it draws the ties of nature +more tight; it brings kindred more closely together, whilst it +places the various members of the community more widely apart. + +Chapter IX: Education Of Young Women In The United States + +No free communities ever existed without morals; and, as I +observed in the former part of this work, morals are the work of +woman. Consequently, whatever affects the condition of women, +their habits and their opinions, has great political importance +in my eyes. Amongst almost all Protestant nations young women +are far more the mistresses of their own actions than they are in +Catholic countries. This independence is still greater in +Protestant countries, like England, which have retained or +acquired the right of self-government; the spirit of freedom is +then infused into the domestic circle by political habits and by +religious opinions. In the United States the doctrines of +Protestantism are combined with great political freedom and a +most democratic state of society; and nowhere are young women +surrendered so early or so completely to their own guidance. +Long before an American girl arrives at the age of marriage, her +emancipation from maternal control begins; she has scarcely +ceased to be a child when she already thinks for herself, speaks +with freedom, and acts on her own impulse. The great scene of +the world is constantly open to her view; far from seeking +concealment, it is every day disclosed to her more completely, +and she is taught to survey it with a firm and calm gaze. Thus +the vices and dangers of society are early revealed to her; as +she sees them clearly, she views them without illusions, and +braves them without fear; for she is full of reliance on her own +strength, and her reliance seems to be shared by all who are +about her. An American girl scarcely ever displays that virginal +bloom in the midst of young desires, or that innocent and +ingenuous grace which usually attends the European woman in the +transition from girlhood to youth. It is rarely that an American +woman at any age displays childish timidity or ignorance. Like +the young women of Europe, she seeks to please, but she knows +precisely the cost of pleasing. If she does not abandon herself +to evil, at least she knows that it exists; and she is remarkable +rather for purity of manners than for chastity of mind. I have +been frequently surprised, and almost frightened, at the singular +address and happy boldness with which young women in America +contrive to manage their thoughts and their language amidst all +the difficulties of stimulating conversation; a philosopher would +have stumbled at every step along the narrow path which they trod +without accidents and without effort. It is easy indeed to +perceive that, even amidst the independence of early youth, an +American woman is always mistress of herself; she indulges in all +permitted pleasures, without yielding herself up to any of them; +and her reason never allows the reins of self-guidance to drop, +though it often seems to hold them loosely. + +In France, where remnants of every age are still so +strangely mingled in the opinions and tastes of the people, women +commonly receive a reserved, retired, and almost cloistral +education, as they did in aristocratic times; and then they are +suddenly abandoned, without a guide and without assistance, in +the midst of all the irregularities inseparable from democratic +society. The Americans are more consistent. They have found out +that in a democracy the independence of individuals cannot fail +to be very great, youth premature, tastes ill-restrained, customs +fleeting, public opinion often unsettled and powerless, paternal +authority weak, and marital authority contested. Under these +circumstances, believing that they had little chance of +repressing in woman the most vehement passions of the human +heart, they held that the surer way was to teach her the art of +combating those passions for herself. As they could not prevent +her virtue from being exposed to frequent danger, they determined +that she should know how best to defend it; and more reliance was +placed on the free vigor of her will than on safeguards which +have been shaken or overthrown. Instead, then, of inculcating +mistrust of herself, they constantly seek to enhance their +confidence in her own strength of character. As it is neither +possible nor desirable to keep a young woman in perpetual or +complete ignorance, they hasten to give her a precocious +knowledge on all subjects. Far from hiding the corruptions of +the world from her, they prefer that she should see them at once +and train herself to shun them; and they hold it of more +importance to protect her conduct than to be over-scrupulous of +her innocence. + +Although the Americans are a very religious people, they do +not rely on religion alone to defend the virtue of woman; they +seek to arm her reason also. In this they have followed the same +method as in several other respects; they first make the most +vigorous efforts to bring individual independence to exercise a +proper control over itself, and they do not call in the aid of +religion until they have reached the utmost limits of human +strength. I am aware that an education of this kind is not +without danger; I am sensible that it tends to invigorate the +judgment at the expense of the imagination, and to make cold and +virtuous women instead of affectionate wives and agreeable +companions to man. Society may be more tranquil and better +regulated, but domestic life has often fewer charms. These, +however, are secondary evils, which may be braved for the sake of +higher interests. At the stage at which we are now arrived the +time for choosing is no longer within our control; a democratic +education is indispensable to protect women from the dangers with +which democratic institutions and manners surround them. + +Chapter X: The Young Woman In The Character Of A Wife + +In America the independence of woman is irrevocably lost in +the bonds of matrimony: if an unmarried woman is less constrained +there than elsewhere, a wife is subjected to stricter +obligations. The former makes her father's house an abode of +freedom and of pleasure; the latter lives in the home of her +husband as if it were a cloister. Yet these two different +conditions of life are perhaps not so contrary as may be +supposed, and it is natural that the American women should pass +through the one to arrive at the other. + +Religious peoples and trading nations entertain peculiarly +serious notions of marriage: the former consider the regularity +of woman's life as the best pledge and most certain sign of the +purity of her morals; the latter regard it as the highest +security for the order and prosperity of the household. The +Americans are at the same time a puritanical people and a +commercial nation: their religious opinions, as well as their +trading habits, consequently lead them to require much abnegation +on the part of woman, and a constant sacrifice of her pleasures +to her duties which is seldom demanded of her in Europe. Thus in +the United States the inexorable opinion of the public carefully +circumscribes woman within the narrow circle of domestic interest +and duties, and forbids her to step beyond it. + +Upon her entrance into the world a young American woman +finds these notions firmly established; she sees the rules which +are derived from them; she is not slow to perceive that she +cannot depart for an instant from the established usages of her +contemporaries, without putting in jeopardy her peace of mind, +her honor, nay even her social existence; and she finds the +energy required for such an act of submission in the firmness of +her understanding and in the virile habits which her education +has given her. It may be said that she has learned by the use of +her independence to surrender it without a struggle and without a +murmur when the time comes for making the sacrifice. But no +American woman falls into the toils of matrimony as into a snare +held out to her simplicity and ignorance. She has been taught +beforehand what is expected of her, and voluntarily and freely +does she enter upon this engagement. She supports her new +condition with courage, because she chose it. As in America +paternal discipline is very relaxed and the conjugal tie very +strict, a young woman does not contract the latter without +considerable circumspection and apprehension. Precocious +marriages are rare. Thus American women do not marry until their +understandings are exercised and ripened; whereas in other +countries most women generally only begin to exercise and to +ripen their understandings after marriage. + +I by no means suppose, however, that the great change which +takes place in all the habits of women in the United States, as +soon as they are married, ought solely to be attributed to the +constraint of public opinion: it is frequently imposed upon +themselves by the sole effort of their own will. When the time +for choosing a husband is arrived, that cold and stern reasoning +power which has been educated and invigorated by the free +observation of the world, teaches an American woman that a spirit +of levity and independence in the bonds of marriage is a constant +subject of annoyance, not of pleasure; it tells her that the +amusements of the girl cannot become the recreations of the wife, +and that the sources of a married woman's happiness are in the +home of her husband. As she clearly discerns beforehand the only +road which can lead to domestic happiness, she enters upon it at +once, and follows it to the end without seeking to turn back. + +The same strength of purpose which the young wives of +America display, in bending themselves at once and without +repining to the austere duties of their new condition, is no less +manifest in all the great trials of their lives. In no country +in the world are private fortunes more precarious than in the +United States. It is not uncommon for the same man, in the +course of his life, to rise and sink again through all the grades +which lead from opulence to poverty. American women support +these vicissitudes with calm and unquenchable energy: it would +seem that their desires contract, as easily as they expand, with +their fortunes. *a + +[Footnote a: See Appendix S.] + +The greater part of the adventurers who migrate every year +to people the western wilds, belong, as I observed in the former +part of this work, to the old Anglo-American race of the Northern +States. Many of these men, who rush so boldly onwards in pursuit +of wealth, were already in the enjoyment of a competency in their +own part of the country. They take their wives along with them, +and make them share the countless perils and privations which +always attend the commencement of these expeditions. I have +often met, even on the verge of the wilderness, with young women, +who after having been brought up amidst all the comforts of the +large towns of New England, had passed, almost without any +intermediate stage, from the wealthy abode of their parents to a +comfortless hovel in a forest. Fever, solitude, and a tedious +life had not broken the springs of their courage. Their features +were impaired and faded, but their looks were firm: they appeared +to be at once sad and resolute. I do not doubt that these young +American women had amassed, in the education of their early +years, that inward strength which they displayed under these +circumstances. The early culture of the girl may still therefore +be traced, in the United States, under the aspect of marriage: +her part is changed, her habits are different, but her character +is the same. + + +Book Three - Chapters XI-XIV + +Chapter XI: That The Equality Of Conditions Contributes To The +Maintenance Of Good Morals In America + +Some philosophers and historians have said, or have hinted, +that the strictness of female morality was increased or +diminished simply by the distance of a country from the equator. +This solution of the difficulty was an easy one; and nothing was +required but a globe and a pair of compasses to settle in an +instant one of the most difficult problems in the condition of +mankind. But I am not aware that this principle of the +materialists is supported by facts. The same nations have been +chaste or dissolute at different periods of their history; the +strictness or the laxity of their morals depended therefore on +some variable cause, not only on the natural qualities of their +country, which were invariable. I do not deny that in certain +climates the passions which are occasioned by the mutual +attraction of the sexes are peculiarly intense; but I am of +opinion that this natural intensity may always be excited or +restrained by the condition of society and by political +institutions. + +Although the travellers who have visited North America +differ on a great number of points, they all agree in remarking +that morals are far more strict there than elsewhere. It is +evident that on this point the Americans are very superior to +their progenitors the English. A superficial glance at the two +nations will establish the fact. In England, as in all other +countries of Europe, public malice is constantly attacking the +frailties of women. Philosophers and statesmen are heard to +deplore that morals are not sufficiently strict, and the literary +productions of the country constantly lead one to suppose so. In +America all books, novels not excepted, suppose women to be +chaste, and no one thinks of relating affairs of gallantry. No +doubt this great regularity of American morals originates partly +in the country, in the race of the people, and in their religion: +but all these causes, which operate elsewhere, do not suffice to +account for it; recourse must be had to some special reason. +This reason appears to me to be the principle of equality and the +institutions derived from it. Equality of conditions does not of +itself engender regularity of morals, but it unquestionably +facilitates and increases it. *a +[Footnote a: See Appendix T.] + +Amongst aristocratic nations birth and fortune frequently +make two such different beings of man and woman, that they can +never be united to each other. Their passions draw them +together, but the condition of society, and the notions suggested +by it, prevent them from contracting a permanent and ostensible +tie. The necessary consequence is a great number of transient +and clandestine connections. Nature secretly avenges herself for +the constraint imposed upon her by the laws of man. This is not +so much the case when the equality of conditions has swept away +all the imaginary, or the real, barriers which separated man from +woman. No girl then believes that she cannot become the wife of +the man who loves her; and this renders all breaches of morality +before marriage very uncommon: for, whatever be the credulity of +the passions, a woman will hardly be able to persuade herself +that she is beloved, when her lover is perfectly free to marry +her and does not. + +The same cause operates, though more indirectly, on married +life. Nothing better serves to justify an illicit passion, either +to the minds of those who have conceived it or to the world which +looks on, than compulsory or accidental marriages. *b In a +country in which a woman is always free to exercise her power of +choosing, and in which education has prepared her to choose +rightly, public opinion is inexorable to her faults. The rigor +of the Americans arises in part from this cause. They consider +marriages as a covenant which is often onerous, but every +condition of which the parties are strictly bound to fulfil, +because they knew all those conditions beforehand, and were +perfectly free not to have contracted them. + +[Footnote b: The literature of Europe sufficiently corroborates +this remark. When a European author wishes to depict in a work of +imagination any of these great catastrophes in matrimony which so +frequently occur amongst us, he takes care to bespeak the +compassion of the reader by bringing before him ill-assorted or +compulsory marriages. Although habitual tolerance has long since +relaxed our morals, an author could hardly succeed in interesting +us in the misfortunes of his characters, if he did not first +palliate their faults. This artifice seldom fails: the daily +scenes we witness prepare us long beforehand to be indulgent. +But American writers could never render these palliations +probable to their readers; their customs and laws are opposed to +it; and as they despair of rendering levity of conduct pleasing, +they cease to depict it. This is one of the causes to which must +be attributed the small number of novels published in the United +States.] + +The very circumstances which render matrimonial fidelity +more obligatory also render it more easy. In aristocratic +countries the object of marriage is rather to unite property than +persons; hence the husband is sometimes at school and the wife at +nurse when they are betrothed. It cannot be wondered at if the +conjugal tie which holds the fortunes of the pair united allows +their hearts to rove; this is the natural result of the nature of +the contract. When, on the contrary, a man always chooses a wife +for himself, without any external coercion or even guidance, it +is generally a conformity of tastes and opinions which brings a +man and a woman together, and this same conformity keeps and +fixes them in close habits of intimacy. + +Our forefathers had conceived a very strange notion on the +subject of marriage: as they had remarked that the small number +of love-matches which occurred in their time almost always turned +out ill, they resolutely inferred that it was exceedingly +dangerous to listen to the dictates of the heart on the subject. +Accident appeared to them to be a better guide than choice. Yet +it was not very difficult to perceive that the examples which +they witnessed did in fact prove nothing at all. For in the +first place, if democratic nations leave a woman at liberty to +choose her husband, they take care to give her mind sufficient +knowledge, and her will sufficient strength, to make so important +a choice: whereas the young women who, amongst aristocratic +nations, furtively elope from the authority of their parents to +throw themselves of their own accord into the arms of men whom +they have had neither time to know, nor ability to judge of, are +totally without those securities. It is not surprising that they +make a bad use of their freedom of action the first time they +avail themselves of it; nor that they fall into such cruel +mistakes, when, not having received a democratic education, they +choose to marry in conformity to democratic customs. But this is +not all. When a man and woman are bent upon marriage in spite of +the differences of an aristocratic state of society, the +difficulties to be overcome are enormous. Having broken or +relaxed the bonds of filial obedience, they have then to +emancipate themselves by a final effort from the sway of custom +and the tyranny of opinion; and when at length they have +succeeded in this arduous task, they stand estranged from their +natural friends and kinsmen: the prejudice they have crossed +separates them from all, and places them in a situation which +soon breaks their courage and sours their hearts. If, then, a +couple married in this manner are first unhappy and afterwards +criminal, it ought not to be attributed to the freedom of their +choice, but rather to their living in a community in which this +freedom of choice is not admitted. + +Moreover it should not be forgotten that the same effort +which makes a man violently shake off a prevailing error, +commonly impels him beyond the bounds of reason; that, to dare to +declare war, in however just a cause, against the opinion of +one's age and country, a violent and adventurous spirit is +required, and that men of this character seldom arrive at +happiness or virtue, whatever be the path they follow. And this, +it may be observed by the way, is the reason why in the most +necessary and righteous revolutions, it is so rare to meet with +virtuous or moderate revolutionary characters. There is then no +just ground for surprise if a man, who in an age of aristocracy +chooses to consult nothing but his own opinion and his own taste +in the choice of a wife, soon finds that infractions of morality +and domestic wretchedness invade his household: but when this +same line of action is in the natural and ordinary course of +things, when it is sanctioned by parental authority and backed by +public opinion, it cannot be doubted that the internal peace of +families will be increased by it, and conjugal fidelity more +rigidly observed. + +Almost all men in democracies are engaged in public or +professional life; and on the other hand the limited extent of +common incomes obliges a wife to confine herself to the house, in +order to watch in person and very closely over the details of +domestic economy. All these distinct and compulsory occupations +are so many natural barriers, which, by keeping the two sexes +asunder, render the solicitations of the one less frequent and +less ardent -the resistance of the other more easy. + +Not indeed that the equality of conditions can ever succeed +in making men chaste, but it may impart a less dangerous +character to their breaches of morality. As no one has then +either sufficient time or opportunity to assail a virtue armed in +self-defence, there will be at the same time a great number of +courtesans and a great number of virtuous women. This state of +things causes lamentable cases of individual hardship, but it +does not prevent the body of society from being strong and alert: +it does not destroy family ties, or enervate the morals of the +nation. Society is endangered not by the great profligacy of a +few, but by laxity of morals amongst all. In the eyes of a +legislator, prostitution is less to be dreaded than intrigue. + +The tumultuous and constantly harassed life which equality +makes men lead, not only distracts them from the passion of love, +by denying them time to indulge in it, but it diverts them from +it by another more secret but more certain road. All men who +live in democratic ages more or less contract the ways of +thinking of the manufacturing and trading classes; their minds +take a serious, deliberate, and positive turn; they are apt to +relinquish the ideal, in order to pursue some visible and +proximate object, which appears to be the natural and necessary +aim of their desires. Thus the principle of equality does not +destroy the imagination, but lowers its flight to the level of +the earth. No men are less addicted to reverie than the citizens +of a democracy; and few of them are ever known to give way to +those idle and solitary meditations which commonly precede and +produce the great emotions of the heart. It is true they attach +great importance to procuring for themselves that sort of deep, +regular, and quiet affection which constitutes the charm and +safeguard of life, but they are not apt to run after those +violent and capricious sources of excitement which disturb and +abridge it. + +I am aware that all this is only applicable in its full +extent to America, and cannot at present be extended to Europe. +In the course of the last half-century, whilst laws and customs +have impelled several European nations with unexampled force +towards democracy, we have not had occasion to observe that the +relations of man and woman have become more orderly or more +chaste. In some places the very reverse may be detected: some +classes are more strict - the general morality of the people +appears to be more lax. I do not hesitate to make the remark, +for I am as little disposed to flatter my contemporaries as to +malign them. This fact must distress, but it ought not to +surprise us. The propitious influence which a democratic state +of society may exercise upon orderly habits, is one of those +tendencies which can only be discovered after a time. If the +equality of conditions is favorable to purity of morals, the +social commotion by which conditions are rendered equal is +adverse to it. In the last fifty years, during which France has +been undergoing this transformation, that country has rarely had +freedom, always disturbance. Amidst this universal confusion of +notions and this general stir of opinions - amidst this +incoherent mixture of the just and unjust, of truth and +falsehood, of right and might - public virtue has become +doubtful, and private morality wavering. But all +revolutions, whatever may have been their object or their agents, +have at first produced similar consequences; even those which +have in the end drawn the bonds of morality more tightly began by +loosening them. The violations of morality which the French +frequently witness do not appear to me to have a permanent +character; and this is already betokened by some curious signs of +the times. + +Nothing is more wretchedly corrupt than an aristocracy which +retains its wealth when it has lost its power, and which still +enjoys a vast deal of leisure after it is reduced to mere vulgar +pastimes. The energetic passions and great conceptions which +animated it heretofore, leave it then; and nothing remains to it +but a host of petty consuming vices, which cling about it like +worms upon a carcass. No one denies that the French aristocracy +of the last century was extremely dissolute; whereas established +habits and ancient belief still preserved some respect for +morality amongst the other classes of society. Nor will it be +contested that at the present day the remnants of that same +aristocracy exhibit a certain severity of morals; whilst laxity +of morals appears to have spread amongst the middle and lower +ranks. So that the same families which were most profligate +fifty years ago are nowadays the most exemplary, and democracy +seems only to have strengthened the morality of the aristocratic +classes. The French Revolution, by dividing the fortunes of the +nobility, by forcing them to attend assiduously to their affairs +and to their families, by making them live under the same roof +with their children, and in short by giving a more rational and +serious turn to their minds, has imparted to them, almost without +their being aware of it, a reverence for religious belief, a love +of order, of tranquil pleasures, of domestic endearments, and of +comfort; whereas the rest of the nation, which had naturally +these same tastes, was carried away into excesses by the effort +which was required to overthrow the laws and political habits of +the country. The old French aristocracy has undergone the +consequences of the Revolution, but it neither felt the +revolutionary passions nor shared in the anarchical excitement +which produced that crisis; it may easily be conceived that this +aristocracy feels the salutary influence of the Revolution in its +manners, before those who achieve it. It may therefore be said, +though at first it seems paradoxical, that, at the present day, +the most anti-democratic classes of the nation principally +exhibit the kind of morality which may reasonably be anticipated +from democracy. I cannot but think that when we shall have +obtained all the effects of this democratic Revolution, after +having got rid of the tumult it has caused, the observations +which are now only applicable to the few will gradually become +true of the whole community. + +Chapter XII: How The Americans Understand The Equality Of The +Sexes + +I Have shown how democracy destroys or modifies the +different inequalities which originate in society; but is this +all? or does it not ultimately affect that great inequality of +man and woman which has seemed, up to the present day, to be +eternally based in human nature? I believe that the social +changes which bring nearer to the same level the father and son, +the master and servant, and superiors and inferiors generally +speaking, will raise woman and make her more and more the equal +of man. But here, more than ever, I feel the necessity of making +myself clearly understood; for there is no subject on which the +coarse and lawless fancies of our age have taken a freer range. + +There are people in Europe who, confounding together the +different characteristics of the sexes, would make of man and +woman beings not only equal but alike. They would give to both +the same functions, impose on both the same duties, and grant to +both the same rights; they would mix them in all things - their +occupations, their pleasures, their business. It may readily be +conceived, that by thus attempting to make one sex equal to the +other, both are degraded; and from so preposterous a medley of +the works of nature nothing could ever result but weak men and +disorderly women. It is not thus that the Americans understand +that species of democratic equality which may be established +between the sexes. They admit, that as nature has appointed such +wide differences between the physical and moral constitution of +man and woman, her manifest design was to give a distinct +employment to their various faculties; and they hold that +improvement does not consist in making beings so dissimilar do +pretty nearly the same things, but in getting each of them to +fulfil their respective tasks in the best possible manner. The +Americans have applied to the sexes the great principle of +political economy which governs the manufactures of our age, by +carefully dividing the duties of man from those of woman, in +order that the great work of society may be the better carried +on. + +In no country has such constant care been taken as in +America to trace two clearly distinct lines of action for the two +sexes, and to make them keep pace one with the other, but in two +pathways which are always different. American women never manage +the outward concerns of the family, or conduct a business, or +take a part in political life; nor are they, on the other hand, +ever compelled to perform the rough labor of the fields, or to +make any of those laborious exertions which demand the exertion +of physical strength. No families are so poor as to form an +exception to this rule. If on the one hand an American woman +cannot escape from the quiet circle of domestic employments, on +the other hand she is never forced to go beyond it. Hence it is +that the women of America, who often exhibit a masculine strength +of understanding and a manly energy, generally preserve great +delicacy of personal appearance and always retain the manners of +women, although they sometimes show that they have the hearts and +minds of men. + +Nor have the Americans ever supposed that one consequence of +democratic principles is the subversion of marital power, of the +confusion of the natural authorities in families. They hold that +every association must have a head in order to accomplish its +object, and that the natural head of the conjugal association is +man. They do not therefore deny him the right of directing his +partner; and they maintain, that in the smaller association of +husband and wife, as well as in the great social community, the +object of democracy is to regulate and legalize the powers which +are necessary, not to subvert all power. This opinion is not +peculiar to one sex, and contested by the other: I never observed +that the women of America consider conjugal authority as a +fortunate usurpation of their rights, nor that they thought +themselves degraded by submitting to it. It appeared to me, on +the contrary, that they attach a sort of pride to the voluntary +surrender of their own will, and make it their boast to bend +themselves to the yoke, not to shake it off. Such at least is +the feeling expressed by the most virtuous of their sex; the +others are silent; and in the United States it is not the +practice for a guilty wife to clamor for the rights of women, +whilst she is trampling on her holiest duties. + +It has often been remarked that in Europe a certain degree +of contempt lurks even in the flattery which men lavish upon +women: although a European frequently affects to be the slave of +woman, it may be seen that he never sincerely thinks her his +equal. In the United States men seldom compliment women, but +they daily show how much they esteem them. They constantly +display an entire confidence in the understanding of a wife, and +a profound respect for her freedom; they have decided that her +mind is just as fitted as that of a man to discover the plain +truth, and her heart as firm to embrace it; and they have never +sought to place her virtue, any more than his, under the shelter +of prejudice, ignorance, and fear. It would seem that in Europe, +where man so easily submits to the despotic sway of women, they +are nevertheless curtailed of some of the greatest qualities of +the human species, and considered as seductive but imperfect +beings; and (what may well provoke astonishment) women ultimately +look upon themselves in the same light, and almost consider it as +a privilege that they are entitled to show themselves futile, +feeble, and timid. The women of America claim no such +privileges. + +Again, it may be said that in our morals we have reserved +strange immunities to man; so that there is, as it were, one +virtue for his use, and another for the guidance of his partner; +and that, according to the opinion of the public, the very same +act may be punished alternately as a crime or only as a fault. +The Americans know not this iniquitous division of duties and +rights; amongst them the seducer is as much dishonored as his +victim. It is true that the Americans rarely lavish upon women +those eager attentions which are commonly paid them in Europe; +but their conduct to women always implies that they suppose them +to be virtuous and refined; and such is the respect entertained +for the moral freedom of the sex, that in the presence of a woman +the most guarded language is used, lest her ear should be +offended by an expression. In America a young unmarried woman +may, alone and without fear, undertake a long journey. + +The legislators of the United States, who have mitigated +almost all the penalties of criminal law, still make rape a +capital offence, and no crime is visited with more inexorable +severity by public opinion. This may be accounted for; as the +Americans can conceive nothing more precious than a woman's +honor, and nothing which ought so much to be respected as her +independence, they hold that no punishment is too severe for the +man who deprives her of them against her will. In France, where +the same offence is visited with far milder penalties, it is +frequently difficult to get a verdict from a jury against the +prisoner. Is this a consequence of contempt of decency or +contempt of women? I cannot but believe that it is a contempt of +one and of the other. + +Thus the Americans do not think that man and woman have +either the duty or the right to perform the same offices, but +they show an equal regard for both their respective parts; and +though their lot is different, they consider both of them as +beings of equal value. They do not give to the courage of woman +the same form or the same direction as to that of man; but they +never doubt her courage: and if they hold that man and his +partner ought not always to exercise their intellect and +understanding in the same manner, they at least believe the +understanding of the one to be as sound as that of the other, and +her intellect to be as clear. Thus, then, whilst they have +allowed the social inferiority of woman to subsist, they have +done all they could to raise her morally and intellectually to +the level of man; and in this respect they appear to me to have +excellently understood the true principle of democratic +improvement. As for myself, I do not hesitate to avow that, +although the women of the United States are confined within the +narrow circle of domestic life, and their situation is in some +respects one of extreme dependence, I have nowhere seen woman +occupying a loftier position; and if I were asked, now that I am +drawing to the close of this work, in which I have spoken of so +many important things done by the Americans, to what the singular +prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be +attributed, I should reply - to the superiority of their women. +Chapter XIII: That The Principle Of Equality Naturally Divides +The Americans Into A Number Of Small Private Circles + +It may probably be supposed that the final consequence and +necessary effect of democratic institutions is to confound +together all the members of the community in private as well as +in public life, and to compel them all to live in common; but +this would be to ascribe a very coarse and oppressive form to the +equality which originates in democracy. No state of society or +laws can render men so much alike, but that education, fortune, +and tastes will interpose some differences between them; and, +though different men may sometimes find it their interest to +combine for the same purposes, they will never make it their +pleasure. They will therefore always tend to evade the +provisions of legislation, whatever they may be; and departing in +some one respect from the circle within which they were to be +bounded, they will set up, close by the great political +community, small private circles, united together by the +similitude of their conditions, habits, and manners. + +In the United States the citizens have no sort of +pre-eminence over each other; they owe each other no mutual +obedience or respect; they all meet for the administration of +justice, for the government of the State, and in general to treat +of the affairs which concern their common welfare; but I never +heard that attempts have been made to bring them all to follow +the same diversions, or to amuse themselves promiscuously in the +same places of recreation. The Americans, who mingle so readily +in their political assemblies and courts of justice, are wont on +the contrary carefully to separate into small distinct circles, +in order to indulge by themselves in the enjoyments of private +life. Each of them is willing to acknowledge all his +fellow-citizens as his equals, but he will only receive a very +limited number of them amongst his friends or his guests. This +appears to me to be very natural. In proportion as the circle of +public society is extended, it may be anticipated that the sphere +of private intercourse will be contracted; far from supposing +that the members of modern society will ultimately live in +common, I am afraid that they may end by forming nothing but +small coteries. + +Amongst aristocratic nations the different classes are like +vast chambers, out of which it is impossible to get, into which +it is impossible to enter. These classes have no communication +with each other, but within their pale men necessarily live in +daily contact; even though they would not naturally suit, the +general conformity of a similar condition brings them nearer +together. But when neither law nor custom professes to establish +frequent and habitual relations between certain men, their +intercourse originates in the accidental analogy of opinions and +tastes; hence private society is infinitely varied. In +democracies, where the members of the community never differ much +from each other, and naturally stand in such propinquity that +they may all at any time be confounded in one general mass, +numerous artificial and arbitrary distinctions spring up, by +means of which every man hopes to keep himself aloof, lest he +should be carried away in the crowd against his will. This can +never fail to be the case; for human institutions may be changed, +but not man: whatever may be the general endeavor of a community +to render its members equal and alike, the personal pride of +individuals will always seek to rise above the line, and to form +somewhere an inequality to their own advantage. + +In aristocracies men are separated from each other by lofty +stationary barriers; in democracies they are divided by a number +of small and almost invisible threads, which are constantly +broken or moved from place to place. Thus, whatever may be the +progress of equality, in democratic nations a great number of +small private communities will always be formed within the +general pale of political society; but none of them will bear any +resemblance in its manners to the highest class in aristocracies. + +Chapter XIV: Some Reflections On American Manners + +Nothing seems at first sight less important than the outward +form of human actions, yet there is nothing upon which men set +more store: they grow used to everything except to living in a +society which has not their own manners. The influence of the +social and political state of a country upon manners is therefore +deserving of serious examination. Manners are, generally, the +product of the very basis of the character of a people, but they +are also sometimes the result of an arbitrary convention between +certain men; thus they are at once natural and acquired. When +certain men perceive that they are the foremost persons in +society, without contestation and without effort - when they are +constantly engaged on large objects, leaving the more minute +details to others - and when they live in the enjoyment of wealth +which they did not amass and which they do not fear to lose, it +may be supposed that they feel a kind of haughty disdain of the +petty interests and practical cares of life, and that their +thoughts assume a natural greatness, which their language and +their manners denote. In democratic countries manners are +generally devoid of dignity, because private life is there +extremely petty in its character; and they are frequently low, +because the mind has few opportunities of rising above the +engrossing cares of domestic interests. True dignity in manners +consists in always taking one's proper station, neither too high +nor too low; and this is as much within the reach of a peasant as +of a prince. In democracies all stations appear doubtful; hence +it is that the manners of democracies, though often full of +arrogance, are commonly wanting in dignity, and, moreover, they +are never either well disciplined or accomplished. + +The men who live in democracies are too fluctuating for a +certain number of them ever to succeed in laying down a code of +good breeding, and in forcing people to follow it. Every man +therefore behaves after his own fashion, and there is always a +certain incoherence in the manners of such times, because they +are moulded upon the feelings and notions of each individual, +rather than upon an ideal model proposed for general imitation. +This, however, is much more perceptible at the time when an +aristocracy has just been overthrown than after it has long been +destroyed. New political institutions and new social elements +then bring to the same places of resort, and frequently compel to +live in common, men whose education and habits are still +amazingly dissimilar, and this renders the motley composition of +society peculiarly visible. The existence of a former strict +code of good breeding is still remembered, but what it contained +or where it is to be found is already forgotten. Men have lost +the common law of manners, and they have not yet made up their +minds to do without it; but everyone endeavors to make to himself +some sort of arbitrary and variable rule, from the remnant of +former usages; so that manners have neither the regularity and +the dignity which they often display amongst aristocratic +nations, nor the simplicity and freedom which they sometimes +assume in democracies; they are at once constrained and without +constraint. + +This, however, is not the normal state of things. When the +equality of conditions is long established and complete, as all +men entertain nearly the same notions and do nearly the same +things, they do not require to agree or to copy from one another +in order to speak or act in the same manner: their manners are +constantly characterized by a number of lesser diversities, but +not by any great differences. They are never perfectly alike, +because they do not copy from the same pattern; they are never +very unlike, because their social condition is the same. At +first sight a traveller would observe that the manners of all the +Americans are exactly similar; it is only upon close examination +that the peculiarities in which they differ may be detected. + +The English make game of the manners of the Americans; but +it is singular that most of the writers who have drawn these +ludicrous delineations belonged themselves to the middle classes +in England, to whom the same delineations are exceedingly +applicable: so that these pitiless censors for the most part +furnish an example of the very thing they blame in the United +States; they do not perceive that they are deriding themselves, +to the great amusement of the aristocracy of their own country. + +Nothing is more prejudicial to democracy than its outward +forms of behavior: many men would willingly endure its vices, who +cannot support its manners. I cannot, however, admit that there +is nothing commendable in the manners of a democratic people. +Amongst aristocratic nations, all who live within reach of the +first class in society commonly strain to be like it, which gives +rise to ridiculous and insipid imitations. As a democratic +people does not possess any models of high breeding, at least it +escapes the daily necessity of seeing wretched copies of them. +In democracies manners are never so refined as amongst +aristocratic nations, but on the other hand they are never so +coarse. Neither the coarse oaths of the populace, nor the +elegant and choice expressions of the nobility are to be heard +there: the manners of such a people are often vulgar, but they +are neither brutal nor mean. I have already observed that in +democracies no such thing as a regular code of good breeding can +be laid down; this has some inconveniences and some advantages. +In aristocracies the rules of propriety impose the same demeanor +on everyone; they make all the members of the same class appear +alike, in spite of their private inclinations; they adorn and +they conceal the natural man. Amongst a democratic people +manners are neither so tutored nor so uniform, but they are +frequently more sincere. They form, as it were, a light and +loosely woven veil, through which the real feelings and private +opinions of each individual are easily discernible. The form and +the substance of human actions often, therefore, stand in closer +relation; and if the great picture of human life be less +embellished, it is more true. Thus it may be said, in one sense, +that the effect of democracy is not exactly to give men any +particular manners, but to prevent them from having manners at +all. + +The feelings, the passions, the virtues, and the vices of an +aristocracy may sometimes reappear in a democracy, but not its +manners; they are lost, and vanish forever, as soon as the +democratic revolution is completed. It would seem that nothing +is more lasting than the manners of an aristocratic class, for +they are preserved by that class for some time after it has lost +its wealth and its power - nor so fleeting, for no sooner have +they disappeared than not a trace of them is to be found; and it +is scarcely possible to say what they have been as soon as they +have ceased to be. A change in the state of society works this +miracle, and a few generations suffice to consummate it. The +principal characteristics of aristocracy are handed down by +history after an aristocracy is destroyed, but the light and +exquisite touches of manners are effaced from men's memories +almost immediately after its fall. Men can no longer conceive +what these manners were when they have ceased to witness them; +they are gone, and their departure was unseen, unfelt; for in +order to feel that refined enjoyment which is derived from choice +and distinguished manners, habit and education must have prepared +the heart, and the taste for them is lost almost as easily as the +practice of them. Thus not only a democratic people cannot have +aristocratic manners, but they neither comprehend nor desire +them; and as they never have thought of them, it is to their +minds as if such things had never been. Too much importance +should not be attached to this loss, but it may well be +regretted. + +I am aware that it has not unfrequently happened that the +same men have had very high-bred manners and very low-born +feelings: the interior of courts has sufficiently shown what +imposing externals may conceal the meanest hearts. But though the +manners of aristocracy did not constitute virtue, they sometimes +embellish virtue itself. It was no ordinary sight to see a +numerous and powerful class of men, whose every outward action +seemed constantly to be dictated by a natural elevation of +thought and feeling, by delicacy and regularity of taste, and by +urbanity of manners. Those manners threw a pleasing illusory +charm over human nature; and though the picture was often a false +one, it could not be viewed without a noble satisfaction. + + +Book Three - Chapters XV-XVII + +Chapter XV: Of The Gravity Of The Americans, And Why It Does Not +Prevent Them From Often Committing Inconsiderate Actions + +Men who live in democratic countries do not value the +simple, turbulent, or coarse diversions in which the people +indulge in aristocratic communities: such diversions are thought +by them to be puerile or insipid. Nor have they a greater +inclination for the intellectual and refined amusements of the +aristocratic classes. They want something productive and +substantial in their pleasures; they want to mix actual fruition +with their joy. In aristocratic communities the people readily +give themselves up to bursts of tumultuous and boisterous gayety, +which shake off at once the recollection of their privations: the +natives of democracies are not fond of being thus violently +broken in upon, and they never lose sight of their own selves +without regret. They prefer to these frivolous delights those +more serious and silent amusements which are like business, and +which do not drive business wholly from their minds. An +American, instead of going in a leisure hour to dance merrily at +some place of public resort, as the fellows of his calling +continue to do throughout the greater part of Europe, shuts +himself up at home to drink. He thus enjoys two pleasures; he +can go on thinking of his business, and he can get drunk decently +by his own fireside. + +I thought that the English constituted the most serious +nation on the face of the earth, but I have since seen the +Americans and have changed my opinion. I do not mean to say that +temperament has not a great deal to do with the character of the +inhabitants of the United States, but I think that their +political institutions are a still more influential cause. I +believe the seriousness of the Americans arises partly from their +pride. In democratic countries even poor men entertain a lofty +notion of their personal importance: they look upon themselves +with complacency, and are apt to suppose that others are looking +at them, too. With this disposition they watch their language +and their actions with care, and do not lay themselves open so as +to betray their deficiencies; to preserve their dignity they +think it necessary to retain their gravity. + +But I detect another more deep-seated and powerful cause +which instinctively produces amongst the Americans this +astonishing gravity. Under a despotism communities give way at +times to bursts of vehement joy; but they are generally gloomy +and moody, because they are afraid. Under absolute monarchies +tempered by the customs and manners of the country, their spirits +are often cheerful and even, because as they have some freedom +and a good deal of security, they are exempted from the most +important cares of life; but all free peoples are serious, +because their minds are habitually absorbed by the contemplation +of some dangerous or difficult purpose. This is more especially +the case amongst those free nations which form democratic +communities. Then there are in all classes a very large number +of men constantly occupied with the serious affairs of the +government; and those whose thoughts are not engaged in the +direction of the commonwealth are wholly engrossed by the +acquisition of a private fortune. Amongst such a people a +serious demeanor ceases to be peculiar to certain men, and +becomes a habit of the nation. + +We are told of small democracies in the days of antiquity, +in which the citizens met upon the public places with garlands of +roses, and spent almost all their time in dancing and theatrical +amusements. I do not believe in such republics any more than in +that of Plato; or, if the things we read of really happened, I do +not hesitate to affirm that these supposed democracies were +composed of very different elements from ours, and that they had +nothing in common with the latter except their name. But it must +not be supposed that, in the midst of all their toils, the people +who live in democracies think themselves to be pitied; the +contrary is remarked to be the case. No men are fonder of their +own condition. Life would have no relish for them if they were +delivered from the anxieties which harass them, and they show +more attachment to their cares than aristocratic nations to their +pleasures. + +I am next led to inquire how it is that these same +democratic nations, which are so serious, sometimes act in so +inconsiderate a manner. The Americans, who almost always +preserve a staid demeanor and a frigid air, nevertheless +frequently allow themselves to be borne away, far beyond the +bound of reason, by a sudden passion or a hasty opinion, and they +sometimes gravely commit strange absurdities. This contrast +ought not to surprise us. There is one sort of ignorance which +originates in extreme publicity. In despotic States men know not +how to act, because they are told nothing; in democratic nations +they often act at random, because nothing is to be left untold. +The former do not know - the latter forget; and the chief +features of each picture are lost to them in a bewilderment of +details. + +It is astonishing what imprudent language a public man may +sometimes use in free countries, and especially in democratic +States, without being compromised; whereas in absolute monarchies +a few words dropped by accident are enough to unmask him forever, +and ruin him without hope of redemption. This is explained by +what goes before. When a man speaks in the midst of a great +crowd, many of his words are not heard, or are forthwith +obliterated from the memories of those who hear them; but amidst +the silence of a mute and motionless throng the slightest whisper +strikes the ear. + +In democracies men are never stationary; a thousand chances +waft them to and fro, and their life is always the sport of +unforeseen or (so to speak) extemporaneous circumstances. Thus +they are often obliged to do things which they have imperfectly +learned, to say things they imperfectly understand, and to devote +themselves to work for which they are unprepared by long +apprenticeship. In aristocracies every man has one sole object +which he unceasingly pursues, but amongst democratic nations the +existence of man is more complex; the same mind will almost +always embrace several objects at the same time, and these +objects are frequently wholly foreign to each other: as it cannot +know them all well, the mind is readily satisfied with imperfect +notions of each. + +When the inhabitant of democracies is not urged by his +wants, he is so at least by his desires; for of all the +possessions which he sees around him, none are wholly beyond his +reach. He therefore does everything in a hurry, he is always +satisfied with "pretty well," and never pauses more than an +instant to consider what he has been doing. His curiosity is at +once insatiable and cheaply satisfied; for he cares more to know +a great deal quickly than to know anything well: he has no time +and but little taste to search things to the bottom. Thus then +democratic peoples are grave, because their social and political +condition constantly leads them to engage in serious occupations; +and they act inconsiderately, because they give but little time +and attention to each of these occupations. The habit of +inattention must be considered as the greatest bane of the +democratic character. + +Chapter XVI: Why The National Vanity Of The Americans Is More +Restless And Captious Than That Of The English + +All free nations are vainglorious, but national pride is not +displayed by all in the same manner. The Americans in their +intercourse with strangers appear impatient of the smallest +censure and insatiable of praise. The most slender eulogium is +acceptable to them; the most exalted seldom contents them; they +unceasingly harass you to extort praise, and if you resist their +entreaties they fall to praising themselves. It would seem as +if, doubting their own merit, they wished to have it constantly +exhibited before their eyes. Their vanity is not only greedy, +but restless and jealous; it will grant nothing, whilst it +demands everything, but is ready to beg and to quarrel at the +same time. If I say to an American that the country he lives in +is a fine one, "Ay," he replies, "there is not its fellow in the +world." If I applaud the freedom which its inhabitants enjoy, he +answers, "Freedom is a fine thing, but few nations are worthy to +enjoy it." If I remark the purity of morals which distinguishes +the United States, "I can imagine," says he, "that a stranger, +who has been struck by the corruption of all other nations, is +astonished at the difference." At length I leave him to the +contemplation of himself; but he returns to the charge, and does +not desist till he has got me to repeat all I had just been +saying. It is impossible to conceive a more troublesome or more +garrulous patriotism; it wearies even those who are disposed to +respect it. *a + +[Footnote a: See Appendix U.] + +Such is not the case with the English. An Englishman calmly +enjoys the real or imaginary advantages which in his opinion his +country possesses. If he grants nothing to other nations, +neither does he solicit anything for his own. The censure of +foreigners does not affect him, and their praise hardly flatters +him; his position with regard to the rest of the world is one of +disdainful and ignorant reserve: his pride requires no +sustenance, it nourishes itself. It is remarkable that two +nations, so recently sprung from the same stock, should be so +opposite to one another in their manner of feeling and +conversing. + +In aristocratic countries the great possess immense +privileges, upon which their pride rests, without seeking to rely +upon the lesser advantages which accrue to them. As these +privileges came to them by inheritance, they regard them in some +sort as a portion of themselves, or at least as a natural right +inherent in their own persons. They therefore entertain a calm +sense of their superiority; they do not dream of vaunting +privileges which everyone perceives and no one contests, and +these things are not sufficiently new to them to be made topics +of conversation. They stand unmoved in their solitary greatness, +well assured that they are seen of all the world without any +effort to show themselves off, and that no one will attempt to +drive them from that position. When an aristocracy carries on +the public affairs, its national pride naturally assumes this +reserved, indifferent, and haughty form, which is imitated by all +the other classes of the nation. + +When, on the contrary, social conditions differ but little, +the slightest privileges are of some importance; as every man +sees around himself a million of people enjoying precisely +similar or analogous advantages, his pride becomes craving and +jealous, he clings to mere trifles, and doggedly defends them. +In democracies, as the conditions of life are very fluctuating, +men have almost always recently acquired the advantages which +they possess; the consequence is that they feel extreme pleasure +in exhibiting them, to show others and convince themselves that +they really enjoy them. As at any instant these same advantages +may be lost, their possessors are constantly on the alert, and +make a point of showing that they still retain them. Men living +in democracies love their country just as they love themselves, +and they transfer the habits of their private vanity to their +vanity as a nation. The restless and insatiable vanity of a +democratic people originates so entirely in the equality and +precariousness of social conditions, that the members of the +haughtiest nobility display the very same passion in those lesser +portions of their existence in which there is anything +fluctuating or contested. An aristocratic class always differs +greatly from the other classes of the nation, by the extent and +perpetuity of its privileges; but it often happens that the only +differences between the members who belong to it consist in small +transient advantages, which may any day be lost or acquired. +The members of a powerful aristocracy, collected in a +capital or a court, have been known to contest with virulence +those frivolous privileges which depend on the caprice of fashion +or the will of their master. These persons then displayed +towards each other precisely the same puerile jealousies which +animate the men of democracies, the same eagerness to snatch the +smallest advantages which their equals contested, and the same +desire to parade ostentatiously those of which they were in +possession. If national pride ever entered into the minds of +courtiers, I do not question that they would display it in the +same manner as the members of a democratic community. + +Chapter XVII: That The Aspect Of Society In The United States Is +At Once Excited And Monotonous + +It would seem that nothing can be more adapted to stimulate +and to feed curiosity than the aspect of the United States. +Fortunes, opinions, and laws are there in ceaseless variation: it +is as if immutable nature herself were mutable, such are the +changes worked upon her by the hand of man. Yet in the end the +sight of this excited community becomes monotonous, and after +having watched the moving pageant for a time the spectator is +tired of it. Amongst aristocratic nations every man is pretty +nearly stationary in his own sphere; but men are astonishingly +unlike each other - their passions, their notions, their habits, +and their tastes are essentially different: nothing changey, but +everything differs. In democracies, on the contrary, all men are +alike and do things pretty nearly alike. It is true that they +are subject to great and frequent vicissitudes; but as the same +events of good or adverse fortune are continually recurring, the +name of the actors only is changed, the piece is always the same. +The aspect of American society is animated, because men and +things are always changing; but it is monotonous, because all +these changes are alike. + +Men living in democratic ages have many passions, but most +of their passions either end in the love of riches or proceed +from it. The cause of this is, not that their souls are +narrower, but that the importance of money is really greater at +such times. When all the members of a community are independent +of or indifferent to each other, the co-operation of each of them +can only be obtained by paying for it: this infinitely multiplies +the purposes to which wealth may be applied, and increases its +value. When the reverence which belonged to what is old has +vanished, birth, condition, and profession no longer distinguish +men, or scarcely distinguish them at all: hardly anything but +money remains to create strongly marked differences between them, +and to raise some of them above the common level. The +distinction originating in wealth is increased by the +disappearance and diminution of all other distinctions. Amongst +aristocratic nations money only reaches to a few points on the +vast circle of man's desires - in democracies it seems to lead to +all. The love of wealth is therefore to be traced, either as a +principal or an accessory motive, at the bottom of all that the +Americans do: this gives to all their passions a sort of family +likeness, and soon renders the survey of them exceedingly +wearisome. This perpetual recurrence of the same passion is +monotonous; the peculiar methods by which this passion seeks its +own gratification are no less so. + +In an orderly and constituted democracy like the United +States, where men cannot enrich themselves by war, by public +office, or by political confiscation, the love of wealth mainly +drives them into business and manufactures. Although these +pursuits often bring about great commotions and disasters, they +cannot prosper without strictly regular habits and a long routine +of petty uniform acts. The stronger the passion is, the more +regular are these habits, and the more uniform are these acts. +It may be said that it is the vehemence of their desires which +makes the Americans so methodical; it perturbs their minds, but +it disciplines their lives. + +The remark I here apply to America may indeed be addressed +to almost all our contemporaries. Variety is disappearing from +the human race; the same ways of acting, thinking, and feeling +are to be met with all over the world. This is not only because +nations work more upon each other, and are more faithful in their +mutual imitation; but as the men of each country relinquish more +and more the peculiar opinions and feelings of a caste, a +profession, or a family, they simultaneously arrive at something +nearer to the constitution of man, which is everywhere the same. +Thus they become more alike, even without having imitated each +other. Like travellers scattered about some large wood, which is +intersected by paths converging to one point, if all of them +keep, their eyes fixed upon that point and advance towards it, +they insensibly draw nearer together - though they seek not, +though they see not, though they know not each other; and they +will be surprised at length to find themselves all collected on +the same spot. All the nations which take, not any particular +man, but man himself, as the object of their researches and their +imitations, are tending in the end to a similar state of society, +like these travellers converging to the central plot of the +forest. + + +Book Three - Chapter XVIII + +Chapter XVIII: Of Honor In The United States And In Democratic +Communities + +It would seem that men employ two very distinct methods in +the public estimation *a of the actions of their fellowmen; at +one time they judge them by those simple notions of right and +wrong which are diffused all over the world; at another they +refer their decision to a few very special notions which belong +exclusively to some particular age and country. It often happens +that these two rules differ; they sometimes conflict: but they +are never either entirely identified or entirely annulled by one +another. Honor, at the periods of its greatest power, sways the +will more than the belief of men; and even whilst they yield +without hesitation and without a murmur to its dictates, they +feel notwithstanding, by a dim but mighty instinct, the existence +of a more general, more ancient, and more holy law, which they +sometimes disobey although they cease not to acknowledge it. +Some actions have been held to be at the same time virtuous and +dishonorable - a refusal to fight a duel is a case in point. + +[Footnote a: The word "honor" is not always used in the same +sense either in French or English. I. It first signifies the +dignity, glory, or reverence which a man receives from his kind; +and in this sense a man is said to acquire honor. 2. Honor +signifies the aggregate of those rules by the assistance of which +this dignity, glory, or reverence is obtained. Thus we say that +a man has always strictly obeyed the laws of honor; or a man has +violated his honor. In this chapter the word is always used in +the latter sense.] + +I think these peculiarities may be otherwise explained than +by the mere caprices of certain individuals and nations, as has +hitherto been the customary mode of reasoning on the subject. +Mankind is subject to general and lasting wants that have +engendered moral laws, to the neglect of which men have ever and +in all places attached the notion of censure and shame: to +infringe them was "to do ill" - "to do well" was to conform to +them. Within the bosom of this vast association of the human +race, lesser associations have been formed which are called +nations; and amidst these nations further subdivisions have +assumed the names of classes or castes. Each of these +associations forms, as it were, a separate species of the human +race; and though it has no essential difference from the mass of +mankind, to a certain extent it stands apart and has certain +wants peculiar to itself. To these special wants must be +attributed the modifications which affect in various degrees and +in different countries the mode of considering human actions, and +the estimate which ought to be formed of them. It is the general +and permanent interest of mankind that men should not kill each +other: but it may happen to be the peculiar and temporary +interest of a people or a class to justify, or even to honor, +homicide. + +Honor is simply that peculiar rule, founded upon a peculiar +state of society, by the application of which a people or a class +allot praise or blame. Nothing is more unproductive to the mind +than an abstract idea; I therefore hasten to call in the aid of +facts and examples to illustrate my meaning. + +I select the most extraordinary kind of honor which was ever +known in the world, and that which we are best acquainted with, +viz., aristocratic honor springing out of feudal society. I +shall explain it by means of the principle already laid down, and +I shall explain the principle by means of the illustration. I am +not here led to inquire when and how the aristocracy of the +Middle Ages came into existence, why it was so deeply severed +from the remainder of the nation, or what founded and +consolidated its power. I take its existence as an established +fact, and I am endeavoring to account for the peculiar view which +it took of the greater part of human actions. The first thing +that strikes me is, that in the feudal world actions were not +always praised or blamed with reference to their intrinsic worth, +but that they were sometimes appreciated exclusively with +reference to the person who was the actor or the object of them, +which is repugnant to the general conscience of mankind. Thus +some of the actions which were indifferent on the part of a man +in humble life, dishonored a noble; others changed their whole +character according as the person aggrieved by them belonged or +did not belong to the aristocracy. When these different notions +first arose, the nobility formed a distinct body amidst the +people, which it commanded from the inaccessible heights where it +was ensconced. To maintain this peculiar position, which +constituted its strength, it not only required political +privileges, but it required a standard of right and wrong for its +own especial use. That some particular virtue or vice belonged +to the nobility rather than to the humble classes - that certain +actions were guiltless when they affected the villain, which were +criminal when they touched the noble - these were often arbitrary +matters; but that honor or shame should be attached to a man's +actions according to his condition, was a result of the internal +constitution of an aristocratic community. This has been +actually the case in all the countries which have had an +aristocracy; as long as a trace of the principle remains, these +peculiarities will still exist; to debauch a woman of color +scarcely injures the reputation of an American - to marry her +dishonors him. + +In some cases feudal honor enjoined revenge, and stigmatized +the forgiveness of insults; in others it imperiously commanded +men to conquer their own passions, and imposed forgetfulness of +self. It did not make humanity or kindness its law, but it +extolled generosity; it set more store on liberality than on +benevolence; it allowed men to enrich themselves by gambling or +by war, but not by labor; it preferred great crimes to small +earnings; cupidity was less distasteful to it than avarice; +violence it often sanctioned, but cunning and treachery it +invariably reprobated as contemptible. These fantastical notions +did not proceed exclusively from the caprices of those who +entertained them. A class which has succeeded in placing itself +at the head of and above all others, and which makes perpetual +exertions to maintain this lofty position, must especially honor +those virtues which are conspicuous for their dignity and +splendor, and which may be easily combined with pride and the +love of power. Such men would not hesitate to invert the natural +order of the conscience in order to give those virtues precedence +before all others. It may even be conceived that some of the +more bold and brilliant vices would readily be set above the +quiet, unpretending virtues. The very existence of such a class +in society renders these things unavoidable. + +The nobles of the Middle Ages placed military courage +foremost amongst virtues, and in lieu of many of them. This was +again a peculiar opinion which arose necessarily from the +peculiarity of the state of society. Feudal aristocracy existed +by war and for war; its power had been founded by arms, and by +arms that power was maintained; it therefore required nothing +more than military courage, and that quality was naturally +exalted above all others; whatever denoted it, even at the +expense of reason and humanity, was therefore approved and +frequently enjoined by the manners of the time. Such was the +main principle; the caprice of man was only to be traced in +minuter details. That a man should regard a tap on the cheek as +an unbearable insult, and should be obliged to kill in single +combat the person who struck him thus lightly, is an arbitrary +rule; but that a noble could not tranquilly receive an insult, +and was dishonored if he allowed himself to take a blow without +fighting, were direct consequences of the fundamental principles +and the wants of military aristocracy. + +Thus it was true to a certain extent to assert that the laws +of honor were capricious; but these caprices of honor were always +confined within certain necessary limits. The peculiar rule, +which was called honor by our forefathers, is so far from being +an arbitrary law in my eyes, that I would readily engage to +ascribe its most incoherent and fantastical injunctions to a +small number of fixed and invariable wants inherent in feudal +society. + +If I were to trace the notion of feudal honor into the +domain of politics, I should not find it more difficult to +explain its dictates. The state of society and the political +institutions of the Middle Ages were such, that the supreme power +of the nation never governed the community directly. That power +did not exist in the eyes of the people: every man looked up to a +certain individual whom he was bound to obey; by that +intermediate personage he was connected with all the others. +Thus in feudal society the whole system of the commonwealth +rested upon the sentiment of fidelity to the person of the lord: +to destroy that sentiment was to open the sluices of anarchy. +Fidelity to a political superior was, moreover, a sentiment of +which all the members of the aristocracy had constant +opportunities of estimating the importance; for every one of them +was a vassal as well as a lord, and had to command as well as to +obey. To remain faithful to the lord, to sacrifice one's self +for him if called upon, to share his good or evil fortunes, to +stand by him in his undertakings whatever they might be - such +were the first injunctions of feudal honor in relation to the +political institutions of those times. The treachery of a vassal +was branded with extraordinary severity by public opinion, and a +name of peculiar infamy was invented for the offence which was +called "felony." + +On the contrary, few traces are to be found in the Middle +Ages of the passion which constituted the life of the nations of +antiquity - I mean patriotism; the word itself is not of very +ancient date in the language. *b Feudal institutions concealed +the country at large from men's sight, and rendered the love of +it less necessary. The nation was forgotten in the passions +which attached men to persons. Hence it was no part of the +strict law of feudal honor to remain faithful to one's country. +Not indeed that the love of their country did not exist in the +hearts of our forefathers; but it constituted a dim and feeble +instinct, which has grown more clear and strong in proportion as +aristocratic classes have been abolished, and the supreme power +of the nation centralized. This may be clearly seen from the +contrary judgments which European nations have passed upon the +various events of their histories, according to the generations +by which such judgments have been formed. The circumstance which +most dishonored the Constable de Bourbon in the eyes of his +contemporaries was that he bore arms against his king: that which +most dishonors him in our eyes, is that he made war against his +country; we brand him as deeply as our forefathers did, but for +different reasons. + +[Footnote b: Even the word "patrie" was not used by the French +writers until the sixteenth century.] + +I have chosen the honor of feudal times by way of +illustration of my meaning, because its characteristics are more +distinctly marked and more familiar to us than those of any other +period; but I might have taken an example elsewhere, and I should +have reached the same conclusion by a different road. Although +we are less perfectly acquainted with the Romans than with our +own ancestors, yet we know that certain peculiar notions of glory +and disgrace obtained amongst them, which were not solely derived +from the general principles of right and wrong. Many human +actions were judged differently, according as they affected a +Roman citizen or a stranger, a freeman or a slave; certain vices +were blazoned abroad, certain virtues were extolled above all +others. "In that age," says Plutarch in the life of Coriolanus, +"martial prowess was more honored and prized in Rome than all the +other virtues, insomuch that it was called virtus, the name of +virtue itself, by applying the name of the kind to this +particular species; so that virtue in Latin was as much as to say +valor." Can anyone fail to recognize the peculiar want of that +singular community which was formed for the conquest of the +world? + +Any nation would furnish us with similar grounds of +observation; for, as I have already remarked, whenever men +collect together as a distinct community, the notion of honor +instantly grows up amongst them; that is to say, a system of +opinions peculiar to themselves as to what is blamable or +commendable; and these peculiar rules always originate in the +special habits and special interests of the community. This is +applicable to a certain extent to democratic communities as well +as to others, as we shall now proceed to prove by the example of +the Americans. *c Some loose notions of the old aristocratic +honor of Europe are still to be found scattered amongst the +opinions of the Americans; but these traditional opinions are few +in number, they have but little root in the country, and but +little power. They are like a religion which has still some +temples left standing, though men have ceased to believe in it. +But amidst these half-obliterated notions of exotic honor, some +new opinions have sprung up, which constitute what may be termed +in our days American honor. I have shown how the Americans are +constantly driven to engage in commerce and industry. Their +origin, their social condition, their political institutions, and +even the spot they inhabit, urge them irresistibly in this +direction. Their present condition is then that of an almost +exclusively manufacturing and commercial association, placed in +the midst of a new and boundless country, which their principal +object is to explore for purposes of profit. This is the +characteristic which most peculiarly distinguishes the American +people from all others at the present time. All those quiet +virtues which tend to give a regular movement to the community, +and to encourage business, will therefore be held in peculiar +honor by that people, and to neglect those virtues will be to +incur public contempt. All the more turbulent virtues, which +often dazzle, but more frequently disturb society, will on the +contrary occupy a subordinate rank in the estimation of this same +people: they may be neglected without forfeiting the esteem of +the community - to acquire them would perhaps be to run a risk of +losing it. + +[Footnote c: I speak here of the Americans inhabiting those +States where slavery does not exist; they alone can be said to +present a complete picture of democratic society.] + +The Americans make a no less arbitrary classification of +men's vices. There are certain propensities which appear +censurable to the general reason and the universal conscience of +mankind, but which happen to agree with the peculiar and +temporary wants of the American community: these propensities are +lightly reproved, sometimes even encouraged; for instance, the +love of wealth and the secondary propensities connected with it +may be more particularly cited. To clear, to till, and to +transform the vast uninhabited continent which is his domain, the +American requires the daily support of an energetic passion; that +passion can only be the love of wealth; the passion for wealth is +therefore not reprobated in America, and provided it does not go +beyond the bounds assigned to it for public security, it is held +in honor. The American lauds as a noble and praiseworthy ambition +what our own forefathers in the Middle Ages stigmatized as +servile cupidity, just as he treats as a blind and barbarous +frenzy that ardor of conquest and martial temper which bore them +to battle. In the United States fortunes are lost and regained +without difficulty; the country is boundless, and its resources +inexhaustible. The people have all the wants and cravings of a +growing creature; and whatever be their efforts, they are always +surrounded by more than they can appropriate. It is not the ruin +of a few individuals which may be soon repaired, but the +inactivity and sloth of the community at large which would be +fatal to such a people. Boldness of enterprise is the foremost +cause of its rapid progress, its strength, and its greatness. +Commercial business is there like a vast lottery, by which a +small number of men continually lose, but the State is always a +gainer; such a people ought therefore to encourage and do honor +to boldness in commercial speculations. But any bold speculation +risks the fortune of the speculator and of all those who put +their trust in him. The Americans, who make a virtue of +commercial temerity, have no right in any case to brand with +disgrace those who practise it. Hence arises the strange +indulgence which is shown to bankrupts in the United States; +their honor does not suffer by such an accident. In this respect +the Americans differ, not only from the nations of Europe, but +from all the commercial nations of our time, and accordingly they +resemble none of them in their position or their wants. + +In America all those vices which tend to impair the purity +of morals, and to destroy the conjugal tie, are treated with a +degree of severity which is unknown in the rest of the world. At +first sight this seems strangely at variance with the tolerance +shown there on other subjects, and one is surprised to meet with +a morality so relaxed and so austere amongst the selfsame people. +But these things are less incoherent than they seem to be. Public +opinion in the United States very gently represses that love of +wealth which promotes the commercial greatness and the prosperity +of the nation, and it especially condemns that laxity of morals +which diverts the human mind from the pursuit of well-being, and +disturbs the internal order of domestic life which is so +necessary to success in business. To earn the esteem of their +countrymen, the Americans are therefore constrained to adapt +themselves to orderly habits - and it may be said in this sense +that they make it a matter of honor to live chastely. + +On one point American honor accords with the notions of +honor acknowledged in Europe; it places courage as the highest +virtue, and treats it as the greatest of the moral necessities of +man; but the notion of courage itself assumes a different aspect. +In the United States martial valor is but little prized; the +courage which is best known and most esteemed is that which +emboldens men to brave the dangers of the ocean, in order to +arrive earlier in port - to support the privations of the +wilderness without complaint, and solitude more cruel than +privations - the courage which renders them almost insensible to +the loss of a fortune laboriously acquired, and instantly prompts +to fresh exertions to make another. Courage of this kind is +peculiarly necessary to the maintenance and prosperity of the +American communities, and it is held by them in peculiar honor +and estimation; to betray a want of it is to incur certain +disgrace. + +I have yet another characteristic point which may serve to +place the idea of this chapter in stronger relief. In a +democratic society like that of the United States, where fortunes +are scanty and insecure, everybody works, and work opens a way to +everything: this has changed the point of honor quite round, and +has turned it against idleness. I have sometimes met in America +with young men of wealth, personally disinclined to all laborious +exertion, but who had been compelled to embrace a profession. +Their disposition and their fortune allowed them to remain +without employment; public opinion forbade it, too imperiously to +be disobeyed. In the European countries, on the contrary, where +aristocracy is still struggling with the flood which overwhelms +it, I have often seen men, constantly spurred on by their wants +and desires, remain in idleness, in order not to lose the esteem +of their equals; and I have known them submit to ennui and +privations rather than to work. No one can fail to perceive that +these opposite obligations are two different rules of conduct, +both nevertheless originating in the notion of honor. + +What our forefathers designated as honor absolutely was in +reality only one of its forms; they gave a generic name to what +was only a species. Honor therefore is to be found in democratic +as well as in aristocratic ages, but it will not be difficult to +show that it assumes a different aspect in the former. Not only +are its injunctions different, but we shall shortly see that they +are less numerous, less precise, and that its dictates are less +rigorously obeyed. The position of a caste is always much more +peculiar than that of a people. Nothing is so much out of the +way of the world as a small community invariably composed of the +same families (as was for instance the aristocracy of the Middle +Ages), whose object is to concentrate and to retain, exclusively +and hereditarily, education, wealth, and power amongst its own +members. But the more out of the way the position of a community +happens to be, the more numerous are its special wants, and the +more extensive are its notions of honor corresponding to those +wants. The rules of honor will therefore always be less numerous +amongst a people not divided into castes than amongst any other. +If ever any nations are constituted in which it may even be +difficult to find any peculiar classes of society, the notion of +honor will be confined to a small number of precepts, which will +be more and more in accordance with the moral laws adopted by the +mass of mankind. Thus the laws of honor will be less peculiar +and less multifarious amongst a democratic people than in an +aristocracy. They will also be more obscure; and this is a +necessary consequence of what goes before; for as the +distinguishing marks of honor are less numerous and less +peculiar, it must often be difficult to distinguish them. To +this, other reasons may be added. Amongst the aristocratic +nations of the Middle Ages, generation succeeded generation in +vain; each family was like a never-dying, ever-stationary man, +and the state of opinions was hardly more changeable than that of +conditions. Everyone then had always the same objects before his +eyes, which he contemplated from the same point; his eyes +gradually detected the smallest details, and his discernment +could not fail to become in the end clear and accurate. Thus not +only had the men of feudal times very extraordinary opinions in +matters of honor, but each of those opinions was present to their +minds under a clear and precise form. + +This can never be the case in America, where all men are in +constant motion; and where society, transformed daily by its own +operations, changes its opinions together with its wants. In +such a country men have glimpses of the rules of honor, but they +have seldom time to fix attention upon them. + +But even if society were motionless, it would still be +difficult to determine the meaning which ought to be attached to +the word "honor." In the Middle Ages, as each class had its own +honor, the same opinion was never received at the same time by a +large number of men; and this rendered it possible to give it a +determined and accurate form, which was the more easy, as all +those by whom it was received, having a perfectly identical and +most peculiar position, were naturally disposed to agree upon the +points of a law which was made for themselves alone. Thus the +code of honor became a complete and detailed system, in which +everything was anticipated and provided for beforehand, and a +fixed and always palpable standard was applied to human actions. +Amongst a democratic nation, like the Americans, in which ranks +are identified, and the whole of society forms one single mass, +composed of elements which are all analogous though not entirely +similar, it is impossible ever to agree beforehand on what shall +or shall not be allowed by the laws of honor. Amongst that +people, indeed, some national wants do exist which give rise to +opinions common to the whole nation on points of honor; but these +opinions never occur at the same time, in the same manner, or +with the same intensity to the minds of the whole community; the +law of honor exists, but it has no organs to promulgate it. + +The confusion is far greater still in a democratic country +like France, where the different classes of which the former +fabric of society was composed, being brought together but not +yet mingled, import day by day into each other's circles various +and sometimes conflicting notions of honor -where every man, at +his own will and pleasure, forsakes one portion of his +forefathers' creed, and retains another; so that, amidst so many +arbitrary measures, no common rule can ever be established, and +it is almost impossible to predict which actions will be held in +honor and which will be thought disgraceful. Such times are +wretched, but they are of short duration. + +As honor, amongst democratic nations, is imperfectly +defined, its influence is of course less powerful; for it is +difficult to apply with certainty and firmness a law which is not +distinctly known. Public opinion, the natural and supreme +interpreter of the laws of honor, not clearly discerning to which +side censure or approval ought to lean, can only pronounce a +hesitating judgment. Sometimes the opinion of the public may +contradict itself; more frequently it does not act, and lets +things pass. + +The weakness of the sense of honor in democracies also +arises from several other causes. In aristocratic countries, the +same notions of honor are always entertained by only a few +persons, always limited in number, often separated from the rest +of their fellow-citizens. Honor is easily mingled and identified +in their minds with the idea of all that distinguishes their own +position; it appears to them as the chief characteristic of their +own rank; they apply its different rules with all the warmth of +personal interest, and they feel (if I may use the expression) a +passion for complying with its dictates. This truth is extremely +obvious in the old black-letter lawbooks on the subject of "trial +by battel." The nobles, in their disputes, were bound to use the +lance and sword; whereas the villains used only sticks amongst +themselves, "inasmuch as," to use the words of the old books, +"villains have no honor." This did not mean, as it may be +imagined at the present day, that these people were contemptible; +but simply that their actions were not to be judged by the same +rules which were applied to the actions of the aristocracy. + +It is surprising, at first sight, that when the sense of +honor is most predominant, its injunctions are usually most +strange; so that the further it is removed from common reason the +better it is obeyed; whence it has sometimes been inferred that +the laws of honor were strengthened by their own extravagance. +The two things indeed originate from the same source, but the one +is not derived from the other. Honor becomes fantastical in +proportion to the peculiarity of the wants which it denotes, and +the paucity of the men by whom those wants are felt; and it is +because it denotes wants of this kind that its influence is +great. Thus the notion of honor is not the stronger for being +fantastical, but it is fantastical and strong from the selfsame +cause. + +Further, amongst aristocratic nations each rank is +different, but all ranks are fixed; every man occupies a place in +his own sphere which he cannot relinquish, and he lives there +amidst other men who are bound by the same ties. Amongst these +nations no man can either hope or fear to escape being seen; no +man is placed so low but that he has a stage of his own, and none +can avoid censure or applause by his obscurity. In democratic +States on the contrary, where all the members of the community +are mingled in the same crowd and in constant agitation, public +opinion has no hold on men; they disappear at every instant, and +elude its power. Consequently the dictates of honor will be +there less imperious and less stringent; for honor acts solely +for the public eye - differing in this respect from mere virtue, +which lives upon itself contented with its own approval. + +If the reader has distinctly apprehended all that goes +before, he will understand that there is a close and necessary +relation between the inequality of social conditions and what has +here been styled honor - a relation which, if I am not mistaken, +had not before been clearly pointed out. I shall therefore make +one more attempt to illustrate it satisfactorily. Suppose a +nation stands apart from the rest of mankind: independently of +certain general wants inherent in the human race, it will also +have wants and interests peculiar to itself: certain opinions of +censure or approbation forthwith arise in the community, which +are peculiar to itself, and which are styled honor by the members +of that community. Now suppose that in this same nation a caste +arises, which, in its turn, stands apart from all the other +classes, and contracts certain peculiar wants, which give rise in +their turn to special opinions. The honor of this caste, +composed of a medley of the peculiar notions of the nation, and +the still more peculiar notions of the caste, will be as remote +as it is possible to conceive from the simple and general +opinions of men. + +Having reached this extreme point of the argument, I now +return. When ranks are commingled and privileges abolished, the +men of whom a nation is composed being once more equal and alike, +their interests and wants become identical, and all the peculiar +notions which each caste styled honor successively disappear: the +notion of honor no longer proceeds from any other source than the +wants peculiar to the nation at large, and it denotes the +individual character of that nation to the world. Lastly, if it +be allowable to suppose that all the races of mankind should be +commingled, and that all the peoples of earth should ultimately +come to have the same interests, the same wants, undistinguished +from each other by any characteristic peculiarities, no +conventional value whatever would then be attached to men's +actions; they would all be regarded by all in the same light; the +general necessities of mankind, revealed by conscience to every +man, would become the common standard. The simple and general +notions of right and wrong only would then be recognized in the +world, to which, by a natural and necessary tie, the idea of +censure or approbation would be attached. Thus, to comprise all +my meaning in a single proposition, the dissimilarities and +inequalities of men gave rise to the notion of honor; that notion +is weakened in proportion as these differences are obliterated, +and with them it would disappear. + + +Book Three - Chapters XIX-XXI + +Chapter XIX: Why So Many Ambitious Men And So Little Lofty +Ambition Are To Be Found In The United States + +The first thing which strikes a traveller in the United +States is the innumerable multitude of those who seek to throw +off their original condition; and the second is the rarity of +lofty ambition to be observed in the midst of the universally +ambitious stir of society. No Americans are devoid of a yearning +desire to rise; but hardly any appear to entertain hopes of great +magnitude, or to drive at very lofty aims. All are constantly +seeking to acquire property, power, and reputation - few +contemplate these things upon a great scale; and this is the more +surprising, as nothing is to be discerned in the manners or laws +of America to limit desire, or to prevent it from spreading its +impulses in every direction. It seems difficult to attribute +this singular state of things to the equality of social +conditions; for at the instant when that same equality was +established in France, the flight of ambition became unbounded. +Nevertheless, I think that the principal cause which may be +assigned to this fact is to be found in the social condition and +democratic manners of the Americans. + +All revolutions enlarge the ambition of men: this +proposition is more peculiarly true of those revolutions which +overthrow an aristocracy. When the former barriers which kept +back the multitude from fame and power are suddenly thrown down, +a violent and universal rise takes place towards that eminence so +long coveted and at length to be enjoyed. In this first burst of +triumph nothing seems impossible to anyone: not only are desires +boundless, but the power of satisfying them seems almost +boundless, too. Amidst the general and sudden renewal of laws and +customs, in this vast confusion of all men and all ordinances, +the various members of the community rise and sink again with +excessive rapidity; and power passes so quickly from hand to hand +that none need despair of catching it in turn. It must be +recollected, moreover, that the people who destroy an aristocracy +have lived under its laws; they have witnessed its splendor, and +they have unconsciously imbibed the feelings and notions which it +entertained. Thus at the moment when an aristocracy is +dissolved, its spirit still pervades the mass of the community, +and its tendencies are retained long after it has been defeated. +Ambition is therefore always extremely great as long as a +democratic revolution lasts, and it will remain so for some time +after the revolution is consummated. The reminiscence of the +extraordinary events which men have witnessed is not obliterated +from their memory in a day. The passions which a revolution has +roused do not disappear at its close. A sense of instability +remains in the midst of re-established order: a notion of easy +success survives the strange vicissitudes which gave it birth; +desires still remain extremely enlarged, when the means of +satisfying them are diminished day by day. The taste for large +fortunes subsists, though large fortunes are rare: and on every +side we trace the ravages of inordinate and hapless ambition +kindled in hearts which they consume in secret and in vain. + +At length, however, the last vestiges of the struggle are +effaced; the remains of aristocracy completely disappear; the +great events by which its fall was attended are forgotten; peace +succeeds to war, and the sway of order is restored in the new +realm; desires are again adapted to the means by which they may +be fulfilled; the wants, the opinions, and the feelings of men +cohere once more; the level of the community is permanently +determined, and democratic society established. A democratic +nation, arrived at this permanent and regular state of things, +will present a very different spectacle from that which we have +just described; and we may readily conclude that, if ambition +becomes great whilst the conditions of society are growing equal, +it loses that quality when they have grown so. As wealth is +subdivided and knowledge diffused, no one is entirely destitute +of education or of property; the privileges and disqualifications +of caste being abolished, and men having shattered the bonds +which held them fixed, the notion of advancement suggests itself +to every mind, the desire to rise swells in every heart, and all +men want to mount above their station: ambition is the universal +feeling. + +But if the equality of conditions gives some resources to +all the members of the community, it also prevents any of them +from having resources of great extent, which necessarily +circumscribes their desires within somewhat narrow limits. Thus +amongst democratic nations ambition is ardent and continual, but +its aim is not habitually lofty; and life is generally spent in +eagerly coveting small objects which are within reach. What +chiefly diverts the men of democracies from lofty ambition is not +the scantiness of their fortunes, but the vehemence of the +exertions they daily make to improve them. They strain their +faculties to the utmost to achieve paltry results, and this +cannot fail speedily to limit their discernment and to +circumscribe their powers. They might be much poorer and still +be greater. The small number of opulent citizens who are to be +found amidst a democracy do not constitute an exception to this +rule. A man who raises himself by degrees to wealth and power, +contracts, in the course of this protracted labor, habits of +prudence and restraint which he cannot afterwards shake off. A +man cannot enlarge his mind as he would his house. The same +observation is applicable to the sons of such a man; they are +born, it is true, in a lofty position, but their parents were +humble; they have grown up amidst feelings and notions which they +cannot afterwards easily get rid of; and it may be presumed that +they will inherit the propensities of their father as well as his +wealth. It may happen, on the contrary, that the poorest scion +of a powerful aristocracy may display vast ambition, because the +traditional opinions of his race and the general spirit of his +order still buoy him up for some time above his fortune. +Another thing which prevents the men of democratic periods +from easily indulging in the pursuit of lofty objects, is the +lapse of time which they foresee must take place before they can +be ready to approach them. "It is a great advantage," says +Pascal, "to be a man of quality, since it brings one man as +forward at eighteen or twenty as another man would be at fifty, +which is a clear gain of thirty years." Those thirty years are +commonly wanting to the ambitious characters of democracies. The +principle of equality, which allows every man to arrive at +everything, prevents all men from rapid advancement. + +In a democratic society, as well as elsewhere, there are +only a certain number of great fortunes to be made; and as the +paths which lead to them are indiscriminately open to all, the +progress of all must necessarily be slackened. As the candidates +appear to be nearly alike, and as it is difficult to make a +selection without infringing the principle of equality, which is +the supreme law of democratic societies, the first idea which +suggests itself is to make them all advance at the same rate and +submit to the same probation. Thus in proportion as men become +more alike, and the principle of equality is more peaceably and +deeply infused into the institutions and manners of the country, +the rules of advancement become more inflexible, advancement +itself slower, the difficulty of arriving quickly at a certain +height far greater. From hatred of privilege and from the +embarrassment of choosing, all men are at last constrained, +whatever may be their standard, to pass the same ordeal; all are +indiscriminately subjected to a multitude of petty preliminary +exercises, in which their youth is wasted and their imagination +quenched, so that they despair of ever fully attaining what is +held out to them; and when at length they are in a condition to +perform any extraordinary acts, the taste for such things has +forsaken them. + +In China, where the equality of conditions is exceedingly +great and very ancient, no man passes from one public office to +another without undergoing a probationary trial. This probation +occurs afresh at every stage of his career; and the notion is now +so rooted in the manners of the people that I remember to have +read a Chinese novel, in which the hero, after numberless +crosses, succeeds at length in touching the heart of his mistress +by taking honors. A lofty ambition breathes with difficulty in +such an atmosphere. + +The remark I apply to politics extends to everything; +equality everywhere produces the same effects; where the laws of +a country do not regulate and retard the advancement of men by +positive enactment, competition attains the same end. In a +well-established democratic community great and rapid elevation +is therefore rare; it forms an exception to the common rule; and +it is the singularity of such occurrences that makes men forget +how rarely they happen. Men living in democracies ultimately +discover these things; they find out at last that the laws of +their country open a boundless field of action before them, but +that no one can hope to hasten across it. Between them and the +final object of their desires, they perceive a multitude of small +intermediate impediments, which must be slowly surmounted: this +prospect wearies and discourages their ambition at once. They +therefore give up hopes so doubtful and remote, to search nearer +to themselves for less lofty and more easy enjoyments. Their +horizon is not bounded by the laws but narrowed by themselves. + +I have remarked that lofty ambitions are more rare in the +ages of democracy than in times of aristocracy: I may add that +when, in spite of these natural obstacles, they do spring into +existence, their character is different. In aristocracies the +career of ambition is often wide, but its boundaries are +determined. In democracies ambition commonly ranges in a +narrower field, but if once it gets beyond that, hardly any +limits can be assigned to it. As men are individually weak - as +they live asunder, and in constant motion - as precedents are of +little authority and laws but of short duration, resistance to +novelty is languid, and the fabric of society never appears +perfectly erect or firmly consolidated. So that, when once an +ambitious man has the power in his grasp, there is nothing he may +noted are; and when it is gone from him, he meditates the +overthrow of the State to regain it. This gives to great +political ambition a character of revolutionary violence, which +it seldom exhibits to an equal degree in aristocratic +communities. The common aspect of democratic nations will +present a great number of small and very rational objects of +ambition, from amongst which a few ill-controlled desires of a +larger growth will at intervals break out: but no such a thing as +ambition conceived and contrived on a vast scale is to be met +with there. + +I have shown elsewhere by what secret influence the +principle of equality makes the passion for physical +gratifications and the exclusive love of the present predominate +in the human heart: these different propensities mingle with the +sentiment of ambition, and tinge it, as it were, with their hues. +I believe that ambitious men in democracies are less engrossed +than any others with the interests and the judgment of posterity; +the present moment alone engages and absorbs them. They are more +apt to complete a number of undertakings with rapidity than to +raise lasting monuments of their achievements; and they care much +more for success than for fame. What they most ask of men is +obedience - what they most covet is empire. Their manners have +in almost all cases remained below the height of their station; +the consequence is that they frequently carry very low tastes +into their extraordinary fortunes, and that they seem to have +acquired the supreme power only to minister to their coarse or +paltry pleasures. + +I think that in our time it is very necessary to cleanse, to +regulate, and to adapt the feeling of ambition, but that it would +be extremely dangerous to seek to impoverish and to repress it +over-much. We should attempt to lay down certain extreme limits, +which it should never be allowed to outstep; but its range within +those established limits should not be too much checked. I +confess that I apprehend much less for democratic society from +the boldness than from the mediocrity of desires. What appears +to me most to be dreaded is that, in the midst of the small +incessant occupations of private life, ambition should lose its +vigor and its greatness - that the passions of man should abate, +but at the same time be lowered, so that the march of society +should every day become more tranquil and less aspiring. I think +then that the leaders of modern society would be wrong to seek to +lull the community by a state of too uniform and too peaceful +happiness; and that it is well to expose it from time to time to +matters of difficulty and danger, in order to raise ambition and +to give it a field of action. Moralists are constantly +complaining that the ruling vice of the present time is pride. +This is true in one sense, for indeed no one thinks that he is +not better than his neighbor, or consents to obey his superior: +but it is extremely false in another; for the same man who cannot +endure subordination or equality, has so contemptible an opinion +of himself that he thinks he is only born to indulge in vulgar +pleasures. He willingly takes up with low desires, without +daring to embark in lofty enterprises, of which he scarcely +dreams. Thus, far from thinking that humility ought to be +preached to our contemporaries, I would have endeavors made to +give them a more enlarged idea of themselves and of their kind. +Humility is unwholesome to them; what they most want is, in my +opinion, pride. I would willingly exchange several of our small +virtues for this one vice. + +Chapter XX: The Trade Of Place-Hunting In Certain Democratic +Countries + +In the United States as soon as a man has acquired some +education and pecuniary resources, he either endeavors to get +rich by commerce or industry, or he buys land in the bush and +turns pioneer. All that he asks of the State is not to be +disturbed in his toil, and to be secure of his earnings. Amongst +the greater part of European nations, when a man begins to feel +his strength and to extend his desires, the first thing that +occurs to him is to get some public employment. These opposite +effects, originating in the same cause, deserve our passing +notice. + +When public employments are few in number, ill-paid and +precarious, whilst the different lines of business are numerous +and lucrative, it is to business, and not to official duties, +that the new and eager desires engendered by the principle of +equality turn from every side. But if, whilst the ranks of +society are becoming more equal, the education of the people +remains incomplete, or their spirit the reverse of bold - if +commerce and industry, checked in their growth, afford only slow +and arduous means of making a fortune - the various members of +the community, despairing of ameliorating their own condition, +rush to the head of the State and demand its assistance. To +relieve their own necessities at the cost of the public treasury, +appears to them to be the easiest and most open, if not the only, +way they have to rise above a condition which no longer contents +them; place-hunting becomes the most generally followed of all +trades. This must especially be the case, in those great +centralized monarchies in which the number of paid offices is +immense, and the tenure of them tolerably secure, so that no one +despairs of obtaining a place, and of enjoying it as +undisturbedly as a hereditary fortune. + +I shall not remark that the universal and inordinate desire +for place is a great social evil; that it destroys the spirit of +independence in the citizen, and diffuses a venal and servile +humor throughout the frame of society; that it stifles the +manlier virtues: nor shall I be at the pains to demonstrate that +this kind of traffic only creates an unproductive activity, which +agitates the country without adding to its resources: all these +things are obvious. But I would observe, that a government which +encourages this tendency risks its own tranquillity, and places +its very existence in great jeopardy. I am aware that at a time +like our own, when the love and respect which formerly clung to +authority are seen gradually to decline, it may appear necessary +to those in power to lay a closer hold on every man by his own +interest, and it may seem convenient to use his own passions to +keep him in order and in silence; but this cannot be so long, and +what may appear to be a source of strength for a certain time +will assuredly become in the end a great cause of embarrassment +and weakness. + +Amongst democratic nations, as well as elsewhere, the number +of official appointments has in the end some limits; but amongst +those nations, the number of aspirants is unlimited; it +perpetually increases, with a gradual and irresistible rise in +proportion as social conditions become more equal, and is only +checked by the limits of the population. Thus, when public +employments afford the only outlet for ambition, the government +necessarily meets with a permanent opposition at last; for it is +tasked to satisfy with limited means unlimited desires. It is +very certain that of all people in the world the most difficult +to restrain and to manage are a people of solicitants. Whatever +endeavors are made by rulers, such a people can never be +contented; and it is always to be apprehended that they will +ultimately overturn the constitution of the country, and change +the aspect of the State, for the sole purpose of making a +clearance of places. The sovereigns of the present age, who +strive to fix upon themselves alone all those novel desires which +are aroused by equality, and to satisfy them, will repent in the +end, if I am not mistaken, that they ever embarked in this +policy: they will one day discover that they have hazarded their +own power, by making it so necessary; and that the more safe and +honest course would have been to teach their subjects the art of +providing for themselves. *a + +[Footnote a: [As a matter of fact, more recent experience has +shown that place-hunting is quite as intense in the United States +as in any country in Europe. It is regarded by the Americans +themselves as one of the great evils of their social condition, +and it powerfully affects their political institutions. But the +American who seeks a place seeks not so much a means of +subsistence as the distinction which office and public employment +confer. In the absence of any true aristocracy, the public +service creates a spurious one, which is as much an object of +ambition as the distinctions of rank in aristocratic countries. - +Translator's Note.]] + + +Book Three - Chapters XXI-XXII + +Chapter XXI: Why Great Revolutions Will Become More Rare + +A people which has existed for centuries under a system of +castes and classes can only arrive at a democratic state of +society by passing through a long series of more or less critical +transformations, accomplished by violent efforts, and after +numerous vicissitudes; in the course of which, property, +opinions, and power are rapidly transferred from one hand to +another. Even after this great revolution is consummated, the +revolutionary habits engendered by it may long be traced, and it +will be followed by deep commotion. As all this takes place at +the very time at which social conditions are becoming more equal, +it is inferred that some concealed relation and secret tie exist +between the principle of equality itself and revolution, insomuch +that the one cannot exist without giving rise to the other. + +On this point reasoning may seem to lead to the same result +as experience. Amongst a people whose ranks are nearly equal, no +ostensible bond connects men together, or keeps them settled in +their station. None of them have either a permanent right or +power to command - none are forced by their condition to obey; +but every man, finding himself possessed of some education and +some resources, may choose his won path and proceed apart from +all his fellow-men. The same causes which make the members of +the community independent of each other, continually impel them +to new and restless desires, and constantly spur them onwards. +It therefore seems natural that, in a democratic community, men, +things, and opinions should be forever changing their form and +place, and that democratic ages should be times of rapid and +incessant transformation. + +But is this really the case? does the equality of social +conditions habitually and permanently lead men to revolution? +does that state of society contain some perturbing principle +which prevents the community from ever subsiding into calm, and +disposes the citizens to alter incessantly their laws, their +principles, and their manners? I do not believe it; and as the +subject is important, I beg for the reader's close attention. +Almost all the revolutions which have changed the aspect of +nations have been made to consolidate or to destroy social +inequality. Remove the secondary causes which have produced the +great convulsions of the world, and you will almost always find +the principle of inequality at the bottom. Either the poor have +attempted to plunder the rich, or the rich to enslave the poor. +If then a state of society can ever be founded in which every man +shall have something to keep, and little to take from others, +much will have been done for the peace of the world. I am aware +that amongst a great democratic people there will always be some +members of the community in great poverty, and others in great +opulence; but the poor, instead of forming the immense majority +of the nation, as is always the case in aristocratic communities, +are comparatively few in number, and the laws do not bind them +together by the ties of irremediable and hereditary penury. The +wealthy, on their side, are scarce and powerless; they have no +privileges which attract public observation; even their wealth, +as it is no longer incorporated and bound up with the soil, is +impalpable, and as it were invisible. As there is no longer a +race of poor men, so there is no longer a race of rich men; the +latter spring up daily from the multitude, and relapse into it +again. Hence they do not form a distinct class, which may be +easily marked out and plundered; and, moreover, as they are +connected with the mass of their fellow-citizens by a thousand +secret ties, the people cannot assail them without inflicting an +injury upon itself. Between these two extremes of democratic +communities stand an innumerable multitude of men almost alike, +who, without being exactly either rich or poor, are possessed of +sufficient property to desire the maintenance of order, yet not +enough to excite envy. Such men are the natural enemies of +violent commotions: their stillness keeps all beneath them and +above them still, and secures the balance of the fabric of +society. Not indeed that even these men are contented with what +they have gotten, or that they feel a natural abhorrence for a +revolution in which they might share the spoil without sharing +the calamity; on the contrary, they desire, with unexampled +ardor, to get rich, but the difficulty is to know from whom +riches can be taken. The same state of society which constantly +prompts desires, restrains these desires within necessary limits: +it gives men more liberty of changing and less interest in +change. + +Not only are the men of democracies not naturally desirous +of revolutions, but they are afraid of them. All revolutions +more or less threaten the tenure of property: but most of those +who live in democratic countries are possessed of property - not +only are they possessed of property, but they live in the +condition of men who set the greatest store upon their property. +If we attentively consider each of the classes of which society +is composed, it is easy to see that the passions engendered by +property are keenest and most tenacious amongst the middle +classes. The poor often care but little for what they possess, +because they suffer much more from the want of what they have +not, than they enjoy the little they have. The rich have many +other passions besides that of riches to satisfy; and, besides, +the long and arduous enjoyment of a great fortune sometimes makes +them in the end insensible to its charms. But the men who have a +competency, alike removed from opulence and from penury, attach +an enormous value to their possessions. As they are still almost +within the reach of poverty, they see its privations near at +hand, and dread them; between poverty and themselves there is +nothing but a scanty fortune, upon which they immediately fix +their apprehensions and their hopes. Every day increases the +interest they take in it, by the constant cares which it +occasions; and they are the more attached to it by their +continual exertions to increase the amount. The notion of +surrendering the smallest part of it is insupportable to them, +and they consider its total loss as the worst of misfortunes. +Now these eager and apprehensive men of small property constitute +the class which is constantly increased by the equality of +conditions. Hence, in democratic communities, the majority of +the people do not clearly see what they have to gain by a +revolution, but they continually and in a thousand ways feel that +they might lose by one. + +I have shown in another part of this work that the equality +of conditions naturally urges men to embark in commercial and +industrial pursuits, and that it tends to increase and to +distribute real property: I have also pointed out the means by +which it inspires every man with an eager and constant desire to +increase his welfare. Nothing is more opposed to revolutionary +passions than these things. It may happen that the final result +of a revolution is favorable to commerce and manufactures; but +its first consequence will almost always be the ruin of +manufactures and mercantile men, because it must always change at +once the general principles of consumption, and temporarily upset +the existing proportion between supply and demand. I know of +nothing more opposite to revolutionary manners than commercial +manners. Commerce is naturally adverse to all the violent +passions; it loves to temporize, takes delight in compromise, and +studiously avoids irritation. It is patient, insinuating, +flexible, and never has recourse to extreme measures until +obliged by the most absolute necessity. Commerce renders men +independent of each other, gives them a lofty notion of their +personal importance, leads them to seek to conduct their own +affairs, and teaches how to conduct them well; it therefore +prepares men for freedom, but preserves them from revolutions. +In a revolution the owners of personal property have more to fear +than all others; for on the one hand their property is often easy +to seize, and on the other it may totally disappear at any moment +- a subject of alarm to which the owners of real property are +less exposed, since, although they may lose the income of their +estates, they may hope to preserve the land itself through the +greatest vicissitudes. Hence the former are much more alarmed at +the symptoms of revolutionary commotion than the latter. Thus +nations are less disposed to make revolutions in proportion as +personal property is augmented and distributed amongst them, and +as the number of those possessing it increases. Moreover, +whatever profession men may embrace, and whatever species of +property they may possess, one characteristic is common to them +all. No one is fully contented with his present fortune - all +are perpetually striving in a thousand ways to improve it. +Consider any one of them at any period of his life, and he will +be found engaged with some new project for the purpose of +increasing what he has; talk not to him of the interests and the +rights of mankind: this small domestic concern absorbs for the +time all his thoughts, and inclines him to defer political +excitement to some other season. This not only prevents men from +making revolutions, but deters men from desiring them. Violent +political passions have but little hold on those who have devoted +all their faculties to the pursuit of their well-being. The +ardor which they display in small matters calms their zeal for +momentous undertakings. + +From time to time indeed, enterprising and ambitious men +will arise in democratic communities, whose unbounded aspirations +cannot be contented by following the beaten track. Such men like +revolutions and hail their approach; but they have great +difficulty in bringing them about, unless unwonted events come to +their assistance. No man can struggle with advantage against the +spirit of his age and country; and, however powerful he may be +supposed to be, he will find it difficult to make his +contemporaries share in feelings and opinions which are repugnant +to t all their feelings and desires. + +It is a mistake to believe that, when once the equality of +conditions has become the old and uncontested state of society, +and has imparted its characteristics to the manners of a nation, +men will easily allow themselves to be thrust into perilous risks +by an imprudent leader or a bold innovator. Not indeed that they +will resist him openly, by well-contrived schemes, or even by a +premeditated plan of resistance. They will not struggle +energetically against him, sometimes they will even applaud him - +but they do not follow him. To his vehemence they secretly +oppose their inertia; to his revolutionary tendencies their +conservative interests; their homely tastes to his adventurous +passions; their good sense to the flights of his genius; to his +poetry their prose. With immense exertion he raises them for an +instant, but they speedily escape from him, and fall back, as it +were, by their own weight. He strains himself to rouse the +indifferent and distracted multitude, and finds at last that he +is reduced to impotence, not because he is conquered, but because +he is alone. + +I do not assert that men living in democratic communities +are naturally stationary; I think, on the contrary, that a +perpetual stir prevails in the bosom of those societies, and that +rest is unknown there; but I think that men bestir themselves +within certain limits beyond which they hardly ever go. They are +forever varying, altering, and restoring secondary matters; but +they carefully abstain from touching what is fundamental. They +love change, but they dread revolutions. Although the Americans +are constantly modifying or abrogating some of their laws, they +by no means display revolutionary passions. It may be easily +seen, from the promptitude with which they check and calm +themselves when public excitement begins to grow alarming, and at +the very moment when passions seem most roused, that they dread a +revolution as the worst of misfortunes, and that every one of +them is inwardly resolved to make great sacrifices to avoid such +a catastrophe. In no country in the world is the love of +property more active and more anxious than in the United States; +nowhere does the majority display less inclination for those +principles which threaten to alter, in whatever manner, the laws +of property. I have often remarked that theories which are of a +revolutionary nature, since they cannot be put in practice +without a complete and sometimes a sudden change in the state of +property and persons, are much less favorably viewed in the +United States than in the great monarchical countries of Europe: +if some men profess them, the bulk of the people reject them with +instinctive abhorrence. I do not hesitate to say that most of +the maxims commonly called democratic in France would be +proscribed by the democracy of the United States. This may +easily be understood: in America men have the opinions and +passions of democracy, in Europe we have still the passions and +opinions of revolution. If ever America undergoes great +revolutions, they will be brought about by the presence of the +black race on the soil of the United States -that is to say, they +will owe their origin, not to the equality, but to the +inequality, of conditions. + +When social conditions are equal, every man is apt to live +apart, centred in himself and forgetful of the public. If the +rulers of democratic nations were either to neglect to correct +this fatal tendency, or to encourage it from a notion that it +weans men from political passions and thus wards off revolutions, +they might eventually produce the evil they seek to avoid, and a +time might come when the inordinate passions of a few men, aided +by the unintelligent selfishness or the pusillanimity of the +greater number, would ultimately compel society to pass through +strange vicissitudes. In democratic communities revolutions are +seldom desired except by a minority; but a minority may sometimes +effect them. I do not assert that democratic nations are secure +from revolutions; I merely say that the state of society in those +nations does not lead to revolutions, but rather wards them off. +A democratic people left to itself will not easily embark in +great hazards; it is only led to revolutions unawares; it may +sometimes undergo them, but it does not make them; and I will add +that, when such a people has been allowed to acquire sufficient +knowledge and experience, it will not suffer them to be made. I +am well aware that it this respect public institutions may +themselves do much; they may encourage or repress the tendencies +which originate in the state of society. I therefore do not +maintain, I repeat, that a people is secure from revolutions +simply because conditions are equal in the community; but I think +that, whatever the institutions of such a people may be, great +revolutions will always be far less violent and less frequent +than is supposed; and I can easily discern a state of polity, +which, when combined with the principle of equality, would render +society more stationary than it has ever been in our western +apart of the world. + +The observations I have here made on events may also be +applied in part to opinions. Two things are surprising in the +United States - the mutability of the greater part of human +actions, and the singular stability of certain principles. Men +are in constant motion; the mind of man appears almost unmoved. +When once an opinion has spread over the country and struck root +there, it would seem that no power on earth is strong enough to +eradicate it. In the United States, general principles in +religion, philosophy, morality, and even politics, do not vary, +or at least are only modified by a hidden and often an +imperceptible process: even the grossest prejudices are +obliterated with incredible slowness, amidst the continual +friction of men and things. I hear it said that it is in the +nature and the habits of democracies to be constantly changing +their opinions and feelings. This may be true of small +democratic nations, like those of the ancient world, in which the +whole community could be assembled in a public place and then +excited at will by an orator. But I saw nothing of the kind +amongst the great democratic people which dwells upon the +opposite shores of the Atlantic Ocean. What struck me in the +United States was the difficulty in shaking the majority in an +opinion once conceived, or of drawing it off from a leader once +adopted. Neither speaking nor writing can accomplish it; nothing +but experience will avail, and even experience must be repeated. +This is surprising at first sight, but a more attentive +investigation explains the fact. I do not think that it is as +easy as is supposed to uproot the prejudices of a democratic +people - to change its belief - to supersede principles once +established, by new principles in religion, politics, and morals +- in a word, to make great and frequent changes in men's minds. +Not that the human mind is there at rest -it is in constant +agitation; but it is engaged in infinitely varying the +consequences of known principles, and in seeking for new +consequences, rather than in seeking for new principles. Its +motion is one of rapid circumvolution, rather than of +straightforward impulse by rapid and direct effort; it extends +its orbit by small continual and hasty movements, but it does not +suddenly alter its position. + +Men who are equal in rights, in education, in fortune, or, +to comprise all in one word, in their social condition, have +necessarily wants, habits, and tastes which are hardly +dissimilar. As they look at objects under the same aspect, their +minds naturally tend to analogous conclusions; and, though each +of them may deviate from his contemporaries and from opinions of +his own, they will involuntarily and unconsciously concur in a +certain number of received opinions. The more attentively I +consider the effects of equality upon the mind, the more am I +persuaded that the intellectual anarchy which we witness about us +is not, as many men suppose, the natural state of democratic +nations. I think it is rather to be regarded as an accident +peculiar to their youth, and that it only breaks out at that +period of transition when men have already snapped the former +ties which bound them together, but are still amazingly different +in origin, education, and manners; so that, having retained +opinions, propensities and tastes of great diversity, nothing any +longer prevents men from avowing them openly. The leading +opinions of men become similar in proportion as their conditions +assimilate; such appears to me to be the general and permanent +law - the rest is casual and transient. + +I believe that it will rarely happen to any man amongst a +democratic community, suddenly to frame a system of notions very +remote from that which his contemporaries have adopted; and if +some such innovator appeared, I apprehend that he would have +great difficulty in finding listeners, still more in finding +believers. When the conditions of men are almost equal, they do +not easily allow themselves to be persuaded by each other. As +they all live in close intercourse, as they have learned the same +things together, and as they lead the same life, they are not +naturally disposed to take one of themselves for a guide, and to +follow him implicitly. Men seldom take the opinion of their +equal, or of a man like themselves, upon trust. Not only is +confidence in the superior attainments of certain individuals +weakened amongst democratic nations, as I have elsewhere +remarked, but the general notion of the intellectual superiority +which any man whatsoever may acquire in relation to the rest of +the community is soon overshadowed. As men grow more like each +other, the doctrine of the equality of the intellect gradually +infuses itself into their opinions; and it becomes more difficult +for any innovator to acquire or to exert much influence over the +minds of a people. In such communities sudden intellectual +revolutions will therefore be rare; for, if we read aright the +history of the world, we shall find that great and rapid changes +in human opinions have been produced far less by the force of +reasoning than by the authority of a name. Observe, too, that as +the men who live in democratic societies are not connected with +each other by any tie, each of them must be convinced +individually; whilst in aristocratic society it is enough to +convince a few - the rest follow. If Luther had lived in an age +of equality, and had not had princes and potentates for his +audience, he would perhaps have found it more difficult to change +the aspect of Europe. Not indeed that the men of democracies are +naturally strongly persuaded of the certainty of their opinions, +or are unwavering in belief; they frequently entertain doubts +which no one, in their eyes, can remove. It sometimes happens at +such times that the human mind would willingly change its +position; but as nothing urges or guides it forwards, it +oscillates to and fro without progressive motion. *a + +[Footnote a: If I inquire what state of society is most favorable +to the great revolutions of the mind, I find that it occurs +somewhere between the complete equality of the whole community +and the absolute separation of ranks. Under a system of castes +generations succeed each other without altering men's positions; +some have nothing more, others nothing better, to hope for. The +imagination slumbers amidst this universal silence and stillness, +and the very idea of change fades from the human mind. When +ranks have been abolished and social conditions are almost +equalized, all men are in ceaseless excitement, but each of them +stands alone, independent and weak. This latter state of things +is excessively different from the former one; yet it has one +point of analogy - great revolutions of the human mind seldom +occur in it. But between these two extremes of the history of +nations is an intermediate period - a period as glorious as it is +agitated - when the conditions of men are not sufficiently +settled for the mind to be lulled in torpor, when they are +sufficiently unequal for men to exercise a vast power on the +minds of one another, and when some few may modify the +convictions of all. It is at such times that great reformers +start up, and new opinions suddenly change the face of the +world.] + +Even when the reliance of a democratic people has been won, +it is still no easy matter to gain their attention. It is +extremely difficult to obtain a hearing from men living in +democracies, unless it be to speak to them of themselves. They +do not attend to the things said to them, because they are always +fully engrossed with the things they are doing. For indeed few +men are idle in democratic nations; life is passed in the midst +of noise and excitement, and men are so engaged in acting that +little remains to them for thinking. I would especially remark +that they are not only employed, but that they are passionately +devoted to their employments. They are always in action, and +each of their actions absorbs their faculties: the zeal which +they display in business puts out the enthusiasm they might +otherwise entertain for idea. I think that it is extremely +difficult to excite the enthusiasm of a democratic people for any +theory which has not a palpable, direct, and immediate connection +with the daily occupations of life: therefore they will not +easily forsake their old opinions; for it is enthusiasm which +flings the minds of men out of the beaten track, and effects the +great revolutions of the intellect as well as the great +revolutions of the political world. Thus democratic nations have +neither time nor taste to go in search of novel opinions. Even +when those they possess become doubtful, they still retain them, +because it would take too much time and inquiry to change them - +they retain them, not as certain, but as established. + +There are yet other and more cogent reasons which prevent +any great change from being easily effected in the principles of +a democratic people. I have already adverted to them at the +commencement of this part of my work. If the influence of +individuals is weak and hardly perceptible amongst such a people, +the power exercised by the mass upon the mind of each individual +is extremely great - I have already shown for what reasons. I +would now observe that it is wrong to suppose that this depends +solely upon the form of government, and that the majority would +lose its intellectual supremacy if it were to lose its political +power. In aristocracies men have often much greatness and +strength of their own: when they find themselves at variance with +the greater number of their fellow-countrymen, they withdraw to +their own circle, where they support and console themselves. +Such is not the case in a democratic country; there public favor +seems as necessary as the air we breathe, and to live at variance +with the multitude is, as it were, not to live. The multitude +requires no laws to coerce those who think not like itself: +public disapprobation is enough; a sense of their loneliness and +impotence overtakes them and drives them to despair. + +Whenever social conditions are equal, public opinion presses +with enormous weight upon the mind of each individual; it +surrounds, directs, and oppresses him; and this arises from the +very constitution of society, much more than from its political +laws. As men grow more alike, each man feels himself weaker in +regard to all the rest; as he discerns nothing by which he is +considerably raised above them, or distinguished from them, he +mistrusts himself as soon as they assail him. Not only does he +mistrust his strength, but he even doubts of his right; and he is +very near acknowledging that he is in the wrong, when the greater +number of his countrymen assert that he is so. The majority do +not need to constrain him - they convince him. In whatever way +then the powers of a democratic community may be organized and +balanced, it will always be extremely difficult to believe what +the bulk of the people reject, or to profess what they condemn. + +This circumstance is extraordinarily favorable to the +stability of opinions. When an opinion has taken root amongst a +democratic people, and established itself in the minds of the +bulk of the community, it afterwards subsists by itself and is +maintained without effort, because no one attacks it. Those who +at first rejected it as false, ultimately receive it as the +general impression; and those who still dispute it in their +hearts, conceal their dissent; they are careful not to engage in +a dangerous and useless conflict. It is true, that when the +majority of a democratic people change their opinions, they may +suddenly and arbitrarily effect strange revolutions in men's +minds; but their opinions do not change without much difficulty, +and it is almost as difficult to show that they are changed. + +Time, events, or the unaided individual action of the mind, +will sometimes undermine or destroy an opinion, without any +outward sign of the change. It has not been openly assailed, no +conspiracy has been formed to make war on it, but its followers +one by one noiselessly secede - day by day a few of them abandon +it, until last it is only professed by a minority. In this state +it will still continue to prevail. As its enemies remain mute, +or only interchange their thoughts by stealth, they are +themselves unaware for a long period that a great revolution has +actually been effected; and in this state of uncertainly they +take no steps -they observe each other and are silent. The +majority have ceased to believe what they believed before; but +they still affect to believe, and this empty phantom of public +opinion in strong enough to chill innovators, and to keep them +silent and at respectful distance. We live at a time which has +witnessed the most rapid changes of opinion in the minds of men; +nevertheless it may be that the leading opinions of society will +ere long be more settled than they have been for several +centuries in our history: that time is not yet come, but it may +perhaps be approaching. As I examine more closely the natural +wants and tendencies of democratic nations, I grow persuaded that +if ever social equality is generally and permanently established +in the world, great intellectual and political revolutions will +become more difficult and less frequent than is supposed. Because +the men of democracies appear always excited, uncertain, eager, +changeable in their wills and in their positions, it is imagined +that they are suddenly to abrogate their laws, to adopt new +opinions, and to assume new manners. But if the principle of +equality predisposes men to change, it also suggests to them +certain interests and tastes which cannot be satisfied without a +settled order of things; equality urges them on, but at the same +time it holds them back; it spurs them, but fastens them to +earth; - it kindles their desires, but limits their powers. This, +however, is not perceived at first; the passions which tend to +sever the citizens of a democracy are obvious enough; but the +hidden force which restrains and unites them is not discernible +at a glance. + +Amidst the ruins which surround me, shall I dare to say that +revolutions are not what I most fear coming generations? If men +continue to shut themselves more closely within the narrow circle +of domestic interests and to live upon that kind of excitement, +it is to be apprehended that they may ultimately become +inaccessible to those great and powerful public emotions which +perturb nations - but which enlarge them and recruit them. When +property becomes so fluctuating, and the love of property so +restless and so ardent, I cannot but fear that men may arrive at +such a state as to regard every new theory as a peril, every +innovation as an irksome toil, every social improvement as a +stepping-stone to revolution, and so refuse to move altogether +for fear of being moved too far. I dread, and I confess it, lest +they should at last so entirely give way to a cowardly love of +present enjoyment, as to lose sight of the interests of their +future selves and of those of their descendants; and to prefer to +glide along the easy current of life, rather than to make, when +it is necessary, a strong and sudden effort to a higher purpose. +It is believed by some that modern society will be ever changing +its aspect; for myself, I fear that it will ultimately be too +invariably fixed in the same institutions, the same prejudices, +the same manners, so that mankind will be stopped and +circumscribed; that the mind will swing backwards and forwards +forever, without begetting fresh ideas; that man will waste his +strength in bootless and solitary trifling; and, though in +continual motion, that humanity will cease to advance. + +Chapter XXII: Why Democratic Nations Are Naturally Desirous Of +Peace, And Democratic Armies Of War + +The same interests, the same fears, the same passions which +deter democratic nations from revolutions, deter them also from +war; the spirit of military glory and the spirit of revolution +are weakened at the same time and by the same causes. The ever- +increasing numbers of men of property - lovers of peace, the +growth of personal wealth which war so rapidly consumes, the +mildness of manners, the gentleness of heart, those tendencies to +pity which are engendered by the equality of conditions, that +coolness of understanding which renders men comparatively +insensible to the violent and poetical excitement of arms - all +these causes concur to quench the military spirit. I think it may +be admitted as a general and constant rule, that, amongst +civilized nations, the warlike passions will become more rare and +less intense in proportion as social conditions shall be more +equal. War is nevertheless an occurrence to which all nations +are subject, democratic nations as well as others. Whatever +taste they may have for peace, they must hold themselves in +readiness to repel aggression, or in other words they must have +an army. + +Fortune, which has conferred so many peculiar benefits upon +the inhabitants of the United States, has placed them in the +midst of a wilderness, where they have, so to speak, no +neighbors: a few thousand soldiers are sufficient for their +wants; but this is peculiar to America, not to democracy. The +equality of conditions, and the manners as well as the +institutions resulting from it, do not exempt a democratic people +from the necessity of standing armies, and their armies always +exercise a powerful influence over their fate. It is therefore +of singular importance to inquire what are the natural +propensities of the men of whom these armies are composed. + +Amongst aristocratic nations, especially amongst those in +which birth is the only source of rank, the same inequality +exists in the army as in the nation; the officer is noble, the +soldier is a serf; the one is naturally called upon to command, +the other to obey. In aristocratic armies, the private soldier's +ambition is therefore circumscribed within very narrow limits. +Nor has the ambition of the officer an unlimited range. An +aristocratic body not only forms a part of the scale of ranks in +the nation, but it contains a scale of ranks within itself: the +members of whom it is composed are placed one above another, in a +particular and unvarying manner. Thus one man is born to the +command of a regiment, another to that of a company; when once +they have reached the utmost object of their hopes, they stop of +their own accord, and remain contented with their lot. There is, +besides, a strong cause, which, in aristocracies, weakens the +officer's desire of promotion. Amongst aristocratic nations, an +officer, independently of his rank in the army, also occupies an +elevated rank in society; the former is almost always in his eyes +only an appendage to the latter. A nobleman who embraces the +profession of arms follows it less from motives of ambition than +from a sense of the duties imposed on him by his birth. He +enters the army in order to find an honorable employment for the +idle years of his youth, and to be able to bring back to his home +and his peers some honorable recollections of military life; but +his principal object is not to obtain by that profession either +property, distinction, or power, for he possesses these +advantages in his own right, and enjoys them without leaving his +home. + +In democratic armies all the soldiers may become officers, +which makes the desire of promotion general, and immeasurably +extends the bounds of military ambition. The officer, on his +part, sees nothing which naturally and necessarily stops him at +one grade more than at another; and each grade has immense +importance in his eyes, because his rank in society almost always +depends on his rank in the army. Amongst democratic nations it +often happens that an officer has no property but his pay, and no +distinction but that of military honors: consequently as often as +his duties change, his fortune changes, and he becomes, as it +were, a new man. What was only an appendage to his position in +aristocratic armies, has thus become the main point, the basis of +his whole condition. Under the old French monarchy officers were +always called by their titles of nobility; they are now always +called by the title of their military rank. This little change +in the forms of language suffices to show that a great revolution +has taken place in the constitution of society and in that of the +army. In democratic armies the desire of advancement is almost +universal: it is ardent, tenacious, perpetual; it is strengthened +by all other desires, and only extinguished with life itself. But +it is easy to see, that of all armies in the world, those in +which advancement must be slowest in time of peace are the armies +of democratic countries. As the number of commissions is +naturally limited, whilst the number of competitors is almost +unlimited, and as the strict law of equality is over all alike, +none can make rapid progress - many can make no progress at all. +Thus the desire of advancement is greater, and the opportunities +of advancement fewer, there than elsewhere. All the ambitious +spirits of a democratic army are consequently ardently desirous +of war, because war makes vacancies, and warrants the violation +of that law of seniority which is the sole privilege natural to +democracy. + +We thus arrive at this singular consequence, that of all +armies those most ardently desirous of war are democratic armies, +and of all nations those most fond of peace are democratic +nations: and, what makes these facts still more extraordinary, is +that these contrary effects are produced at the same time by the +principle of equality. + +All the members of the community, being alike, constantly +harbor the wish, and discover the possibility, of changing their +condition and improving their welfare: this makes them fond of +peace, which is favorable to industry, and allows every man to +pursue his own little undertakings to their completion. On the +other hand, this same equality makes soldiers dream of fields of +battle, by increasing the value of military honors in the eyes of +those who follow the profession of arms, and by rendering those +honors accessible to all. In either case the inquietude of the +heart is the same, the taste for enjoyment as insatiable, the +ambition of success as great - the means of gratifying it are +alone different. + +These opposite tendencies of the nation and the army expose +democratic communities to great dangers. When a military spirit +forsakes a people, the profession of arms immediately ceases to +be held in honor, and military men fall to the lowest rank of the +public servants: they are little esteemed, and no longer +understood. The reverse of what takes place in aristocratic ages +then occurs; the men who enter the army are no longer those of +the highest, but of the lowest rank. Military ambition is only +indulged in when no other is possible. Hence arises a circle of +cause and consequence from which it is difficult to escape: the +best part of the nation shuns the military profession because +that profession is not honored, and the profession is not honored +because the best part of the nation has ceased to follow it. It +is then no matter of surprise that democratic armies are often +restless, ill-tempered, and dissatisfied with their lot, although +their physical condition is commonly far better, and their +discipline less strict than in other countries. The soldier +feels that he occupies an inferior position, and his wounded +pride either stimulates his taste for hostilities which would +render his services necessary, or gives him a turn for +revolutions, during which he may hope to win by force of arms the +political influence and personal importance now denied him. The +composition of democratic armies makes this last-mentioned danger +much to be feared. In democratic communities almost every man +has some property to preserve; but democratic armies are +generally led by men without property, most of whom have little +to lose in civil broils. The bulk of the nation is naturally +much more afraid of revolutions than in the ages of aristocracy, +but the leaders of the army much less so. + +Moreover, as amongst democratic nations (to repeat what I +have just remarked) the wealthiest, the best educated, and the +most able men seldom adopt the military profession, the army, +taken collectively, eventually forms a small nation by itself, +where the mind is less enlarged, and habits are more rude than in +the nation at large. Now, this small uncivilized nation has arms +in its possession, and alone knows how to use them: for, indeed, +the pacific temper of the community increases the danger to which +a democratic people is exposed from the military and turbulent +spirit of the army. Nothing is so dangerous as an army amidst an +unwarlike nation; the excessive love of the whole community for +quiet continually puts its constitution at the mercy of the +soldiery. It may therefore be asserted, generally speaking, that +if democratic nations are naturally prone to peace from their +interests and their propensities, they are constantly drawn to +war and revolutions by their armies. Military revolutions, which +are scarcely ever to be apprehended in aristocracies, are always +to be dreaded amongst democratic nations. These perils must be +reckoned amongst the most formidable which beset their future +fate, and the attention of statesmen should be sedulously applied +to find a remedy for the evil. + +When a nation perceives that it is inwardly affected by the +restless ambition of its army, the first thought which occurs is +to give this inconvenient ambition an object by going to war. I +speak no ill of war: war almost always enlarges the mind of a +people, and raises their character. In some cases it is the only +check to the excessive growth of certain propensities which +naturally spring out of the equality of conditions, and it must +be considered as a necessary corrective to certain inveterate +diseases to which democratic communities are liable. War has +great advantages, but we must not flatter ourselves that it can +diminish the danger I have just pointed out. That peril is only +suspended by it, to return more fiercely when the war is over; +for armies are much more impatient of peace after having tasted +military exploits. War could only be a remedy for a people which +should always be athirst for military glory. I foresee that all +the military rulers who may rise up in great democratic nations, +will find it easier to conquer with their armies, than to make +their armies live at peace after conquest. There are two things +which a democratic people will always find very difficult - to +begin a war, and to end it. + +Again, if war has some peculiar advantages for democratic +nations, on the other hand it exposes them to certain dangers +which aristocracies have no cause to dread to an equal extent. I +shall only point out two of these. Although war gratifies the +army, it embarrasses and often exasperates that countless +multitude of men whose minor passions every day require peace in +order to be satisfied. Thus there is some risk of its causing, +under another form, the disturbance it is intended to prevent. +No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a +democratic country. Not indeed that after every victory it is to +be apprehended that the victorious generals will possess +themselves by force of the supreme power, after the manner of +Sylla and Caesar: the danger is of another kind. War does not +always give over democratic communities to military government, +but it must invariably and immeasurably increase the powers of +civil government; it must almost compulsorily concentrate the +direction of all men and the management of all things in the +hands of the administration. If it lead not to despotism by +sudden violence, it prepares men for it more gently by their +habits. All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a +democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and the +shortest means to accomplish it. This is the first axiom of the +science. + +One remedy, which appears to be obvious when the ambition of +soldiers and officers becomes the subject of alarm, is to augment +the number of commissions to be distributed by increasing the +army. This affords temporary relief, but it plunges the country +into deeper difficulties at some future period. To increase the +army may produce a lasting effect in an aristocratic community, +because military ambition is there confined to one class of men, +and the ambition of each individual stops, as it were, at a +certain limit; so that it may be possible to satisfy all who feel +its influence. But nothing is gained by increasing the army +amongst a democratic people, because the number of aspirants +always rises in exactly the same ratio as the army itself. Those +whose claims have been satisfied by the creation of new +commissions are instantly succeeded by a fresh multitude beyond +all power of satisfaction; and even those who were but now +satisfied soon begin to crave more advancement; for the same +excitement prevails in the ranks of the army as in the civil +classes of democratic society, and what men want is not to reach +a certain grade, but to have constant promotion. Though these +wants may not be very vast, they are perpetually recurring. Thus +a democratic nation, by augmenting its army, only allays for a +time the ambition of the military profession, which soon becomes +even more formidable, because the number of those who feel it is +increased. I am of opinion that a restless and turbulent spirit +is an evil inherent in the very constitution of democratic +armies, and beyond hope of cure. The legislators of democracies +must not expect to devise any military organization capable by +its influence of calming and restraining the military profession: +their efforts would exhaust their powers, before the object is +attained. + +The remedy for the vices of the army is not to be found in +the army itself, but in the country. Democratic nations are +naturally afraid of disturbance and of despotism; the object is +to turn these natural instincts into well-digested, deliberate, +and lasting tastes. When men have at last learned to make a +peaceful and profitable use of freedom, and have felt its +blessings - when they have conceived a manly love of order, and +have freely submitted themselves to discipline - these same men, +if they follow the profession of arms, bring into it, +unconsciously and almost against their will, these same habits +and manners. The general spirit of the nation being infused into +the spirit peculiar to the army, tempers the opinions and desires +engendered by military life, or represses them by the mighty +force of public opinion. Teach but the citizens to be educated, +orderly, firm, and free, the soldiers will be disciplined and +obedient. Any law which, in repressing the turbulent spirit of +the army, should tend to diminish the spirit of freedom in the +nation, and to overshadow the notion of law and right, would +defeat its object: it would do much more to favor, than to +defeat, the establishment of military tyranny. + +After all, and in spite of all precautions, a large army +amidst a democratic people will always be a source of great +danger; the most effectual means of diminishing that danger would +be to reduce the army, but this is a remedy which all nations +have it not in their power to use. + + +Book Three - Chapters XXIII-XVI + +Chapter XXIII: Which Is The Most Warlike And Most Revolutionary +Class In Democratic Armies? + +It is a part of the essence of a democratic army to be very +numerous in proportion to the people to which it belongs, as I +shall hereafter show. On the other hand, men living in +democratic times seldom choose a military life. Democratic +nations are therefore soon led to give up the system of voluntary +recruiting for that of compulsory enlistment. The necessity of +their social condition compels them to resort to the latter +means, and it may easily be foreseen that they will all +eventually adopt it. When military service is compulsory, the +burden is indiscriminately and equally borne by the whole +community. This is another necessary consequence of the social +condition of these nations, and of their notions. The government +may do almost whatever it pleases, provided it appeals to the +whole community at once: it is the unequal distribution of the +weight, not the weight itself, which commonly occasions +resistance. But as military service is common to all the +citizens, the evident consequence is that each of them remains +but for a few years on active duty. Thus it is in the nature of +things that the soldier in democracies only passes through the +army, whilst among most aristocratic nations the military +profession is one which the soldier adopts, or which is imposed +upon him, for life. + +This has important consequences. Amongst the soldiers of a +democratic army, some acquire a taste for military life, but the +majority, being enlisted against their will, and ever ready to go +back to their homes, do not consider themselves as seriously +engaged in the military profession, and are always thinking of +quitting it. Such men do not contract the wants, and only half +partake in the passions, which that mode of life engenders. They +adapt themselves to their military duties, but their minds are +still attached to the interests and the duties which engaged them +in civil life. They do not therefore imbibe the spirit of the +army - or rather, they infuse the spirit of the community at +large into the army, and retain it there. Amongst democratic +nations the private soldiers remain most like civilians: upon +them the habits of the nation have the firmest hold, and public +opinion most influence. It is by the instrumentality of the +private soldiers especially that it may be possible to infuse +into a democratic army the love of freedom and the respect of +rights, if these principles have once been successfully +inculcated on the people at large. The reverse happens amongst +aristocratic nations, where the soldiery have eventually nothing +in common with their fellow-citizens, and where they live amongst +them as strangers, and often as enemies. In aristocratic armies +the officers are the conservative element, because the officers +alone have retained a strict connection with civil society, and +never forego their purpose of resuming their place in it sooner +or later: in democratic armies the private soldiers stand in this +position, and from the same cause. + +It often happens, on the contrary, that in these same +democratic armies the officers contract tastes and wants wholly +distinct from those of the nation - a fact which may be thus +accounted for. Amongst democratic nations, the man who becomes +an officer severs all the ties which bound him to civil life; he +leaves it forever; he has no interest to resume it. His true +country is the army, since he owes all he has to the rank he has +attained in it; he therefore follows the fortunes of the army, +rises or sinks with it, and henceforward directs all his hopes to +that quarter only. As the wants of an officer are distinct from +those of the country, he may perhaps ardently desire war, or +labor to bring about a revolution at the very moment when the +nation is most desirous of stability and peace. There are, +nevertheless, some causes which allay this restless and warlike +spirit. Though ambition is universal and continual amongst +democratic nations, we have seen that it is seldom great. A man +who, being born in the lower classes of the community, has risen +from the ranks to be an officer, has already taken a prodigious +step. He has gained a footing in a sphere above that which he +filled in civil life, and he has acquired rights which most +democratic nations will ever consider as inalienable. *a He is +willing to pause after so great an effort, and to enjoy what he +has won. The fear of risking what he has already obtained damps +the desire of acquiring what he has not got. Having conquered the +first and greatest impediment which opposed his advancement, he +resigns himself with less impatience to the slowness of his +progress. His ambition will be more and more cooled in +proportion as the increasing distinction of his rank teaches him +that he has more to put in jeopardy. If I am not mistaken, the +least warlike, and also the least revolutionary part, of a +democratic army, will always be its chief commanders. +[Footnote a: The position of officers is indeed much more secure +amongst democratic nations than elsewhere; the lower the personal +standing of the man, the greater is the comparative importance of +his military grade, and the more just and necessary is it that +the enjoyment of that rank should be secured by the laws.] + +But the remarks I have just made on officers and soldiers +are not applicable to a numerous class which in all armies fills +the intermediate space between them - I mean the class of non- +commissioned officers. This class of non-commissioned officers +which have never acted a part in history until the present +century, is henceforward destined, I think, to play one of some +importance. Like the officers, non-commissioned officers have +broken, in their minds, all the ties which bound them to civil +life; like the former, they devote themselves permanently to the +service, and perhaps make it even more exclusively the object of +all their desires: but non-commissioned officers are men who have +not yet reached a firm and lofty post at which they may pause and +breathe more freely, ere they can attain further promotion. By +the very nature of his duties, which is invariable, a +non-commissioned officer is doomed to lead an obscure, confined, +comfortless, and precarious existence; as yet he sees nothing of +military life but its dangers; he knows nothing but its +privations and its discipline - more difficult to support than +dangers: he suffers the more from his present miseries, from +knowing that the constitution of society and of the army allow +him to rise above them; he may, indeed, at any time obtain his +commission, and enter at once upon command, honors, independence, +rights, and enjoyments. Not only does this object of his hopes +appear to him of immense importance, but he is never sure of +reaching it till it is actually his own; the grade he fills is by +no means irrevocable; he is always entirely abandoned to the +arbitrary pleasure of his commanding officer, for this is +imperiously required by the necessity of discipline: a slight +fault, a whim, may always deprive him in an instant of the fruits +of many years of toil and endeavor; until he has reached the +grade to which he aspires he has accomplished nothing; not till +he reaches that grade does his career seem to begin. A desperate +ambition cannot fail to be kindled in a man thus incessantly +goaded on by his youth, his wants, his passions, the spirit of +his age, his hopes, and his age, his hopes, and his fears. +Non-commissioned officers are therefore bent on war - on war +always, and at any cost; but if war be denied them, then they +desire revolutions to suspend the authority of established +regulations, and to enable them, aided by the general confusion +and the political passions of the time, to get rid of their +superior officers and to take their places. Nor is it impossible +for them to bring about such a crisis, because their common +origin and habits give them much influence over the soldiers, +however different may be their passions and their desires. + +It would be an error to suppose that these various +characteristics of officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, +belong to any particular time or country; they will always occur +at all times, and amongst all democratic nations. In every +democratic army the non-commissioned officers will be the worst +representatives of the pacific and orderly spirit of the country, +and the private soldiers will be the best. The latter will carry +with them into military life the strength or weakness of the +manners of the nation; they will display a faithful reflection of +the community: if that community is ignorant and weak, they will +allow themselves to be drawn by their leaders into disturbances, +either unconsciously or against their will; if it is enlightened +and energetic, the community will itself keep them within the +bounds of order. + +Chapter XXIV: Causes Which Render Democratic Armies Weaker Than +Other Armies At The Outset Of A Campaign, And More Formidable In +Protracted Warfare + +Any army is in danger of being conquered at the outset of a +campaign, after a long peace; any army which has long been +engaged in warfare has strong chances of victory: this truth is +peculiarly applicable to democratic armies. In aristocracies the +military profession, being a privileged career, is held in honor +even in time of peace. Men of great talents, great attainments, +and great ambition embrace it; the army is in all respects on a +level with the nation, and frequently above it. We have seen, on +the contrary, that amongst a democratic people the choicer minds +of the nation are gradually drawn away from the military +profession, to seek by other paths, distinction, power, and +especially wealth. After a long peace - and in democratic ages +the periods of peace are long - the army is always inferior to +the country itself. In this state it is called into active +service; and until war has altered it, there is danger for the +country as well as for the army. + +I have shown that in democratic armies, and in time of +peace, the rule of seniority is the supreme and inflexible law of +advancement. This is not only a consequence, as I have before +observed, of the constitution of these armies, but of the +constitution of the people, and it will always occur. Again, as +amongst these nations the officer derives his position in the +country solely from his position in the army, and as he draws all +the distinction and the competency he enjoys from the same +source, he does not retire from his profession, or is not +super-annuated, till towards the extreme close of life. The +consequence of these two causes is, that when a democratic people +goes to war after a long interval of peace all the leading +officers of the army are old men. I speak not only of the +generals, but of the non-commissioned officers, who have most of +them been stationary, or have only advanced step by step. It may +be remarked with surprise, that in a democratic army after a long +peace all the soldiers are mere boys, and all the superior +officers in declining years; so that the former are wanting in +experience, the latter in vigor. This is a strong element of +defeat, for the first condition of successful generalship is +youth: I should not have ventured to say so if the greatest +captain of modern times had not made the observation. +These two causes do not act in the same manner upon +aristocratic armies: as men are promoted in them by right of +birth much more than by right of seniority, there are in all +ranks a certain number of young men, who bring to their +profession all the early vigor of body and mind. Again, as the +men who seek for military honors amongst an aristocratic people, +enjoy a settled position in civil society, they seldom continue +in the army until old age overtakes them. After having devoted +the most vigorous years of youth to the career of arms, they +voluntarily retire, and spend at home the remainder of their +maturer years. + +A long peace not only fills democratic armies with elderly +officers, but it also gives to all the officers habits both of +body and mind which render them unfit for actual service. The +man who has long lived amidst the calm and lukewarm atmosphere of +democratic manners can at first ill adapt himself to the harder +toils and sterner duties of warfare; and if he has not absolutely +lost the taste for arms, at least he has assumed a mode of life +which unfits him for conquest. + +Amongst aristocratic nations, the ease of civil life +exercises less influence on the manners of the army, because +amongst those nations the aristocracy commands the army: and an +aristocracy, however plunged in luxurious pleasures, has always +many other passions besides that of its own well-being, and to +satisfy those passions more thoroughly its well-being will be +readily sacrificed. *a + +[Footnote a: See Appendix V.] + +I have shown that in democratic armies, in time of peace, +promotion is extremely slow. The officers at first support this +state of things with impatience, they grow excited, restless, +exasperated, but in the end most of them make up their minds to +it. Those who have the largest share of ambition and of +resources quit the army; others, adapting their tastes and their +desires to their scanty fortunes, ultimately look upon the +military profession in a civil point of view. The quality they +value most in it is the competency and security which attend it: +their whole notion of the future rests upon the certainty of this +little provision, and all they require is peaceably to enjoy it. +Thus not only does a long peace fill an army with old men, but it +is frequently imparts the views of old men to those who are still +in the prime of life. + +I have also shown that amongst democratic nations in time of +peace the military profession is held in little honor and +indifferently followed. This want of public favor is a heavy +discouragement to the army; it weighs down the minds of the +troops, and when war breaks out at last, they cannot immediately +resume their spring and vigor. No similar cause of moral +weakness occurs in aristocratic armies: there the officers are +never lowered either in their own eyes or in those of their +countrymen, because, independently of their military greatness, +they are personally great. But even if the influence of peace +operated on the two kinds of armies in the same manner, the +results would still be different. When the officers of an +aristocratic army have lost their warlike spirit and the desire +of raising themselves by service, they still retain a certain +respect for the honor of their class, and an old habit of being +foremost to set an example. But when the officers of a +democratic army have no longer the love of war and the ambition +of arms, nothing whatever remains to them. + +I am therefore of opinion that, when a democratic people +engages in a war after a long peace, it incurs much more risk of +defeat than any other nation; but it ought not easily to be cast +down by its reverses, for the chances of success for such an army +are increased by the duration of the war. When a war has at +length, by its long continuance, roused the whole community from +their peaceful occupations and ruined their minor undertakings, +the same passions which made them attach so much importance to +the maintenance of peace will be turned to arms. War, after it +has destroyed all modes of speculation, becomes itself the great +and sole speculation, to which all the ardent and ambitious +desires which equality engenders are exclusively directed. Hence +it is that the selfsame democratic nations which are so reluctant +to engage in hostilities, sometimes perform prodigious +achievements when once they have taken the field. As the war +attracts more and more of public attention, and is seen to create +high reputations and great fortunes in a short space of time, the +choicest spirits of the nation enter the military profession: all +the enterprising, proud, and martial minds, no longer of the +aristocracy solely, but of the whole country, are drawn in this +direction. As the number of competitors for military honors is +immense, and war drives every man to his proper level, great +generals are always sure to spring up. A long war produces upon +a democratic army the same effects that a revolution produces +upon a people; it breaks through regulations, and allows +extraordinary men to rise above the common level. Those officers +whose bodies and minds have grown old in peace, are removed, or +superannuated, or they die. In their stead a host of young men +are pressing on, whose frames are already hardened, whose desires +are extended and inflamed by active service. They are bent on +advancement at all hazards, and perpetual advancement; they are +followed by others with the same passions and desires, and after +these are others yet unlimited by aught but the size of the army. +The principle of equality opens the door of ambition to all, and +death provides chances for ambition. Death is constantly +thinning the ranks, making vacancies, closing and opening the +career of arms. + +There is moreover a secret connection between the military +character and the character of democracies, which war brings to +light. The men of democracies are naturally passionately eager +to acquire what they covet, and to enjoy it on easy conditions. +They for the most part worship chance, and are much less afraid +of death than of difficulty. This is the spirit which they bring +to commerce and manufactures; and this same spirit, carried with +them to the field of battle, induces them willingly to expose +their lives in order to secure in a moment the rewards of +victory. No kind of greatness is more pleasing to the +imagination of a democratic people than military greatness - a +greatness of vivid and sudden lustre, obtained without toil, by +nothing but the risk of life. Thus, whilst the interests and the +tastes of the members of a democratic community divert them from +war, their habits of mind fit them for carrying on war well; they +soon make good soldiers, when they are roused from their business +and their enjoyments. If peace is peculiarly hurtful to +democratic armies, war secures to them advantages which no other +armies ever possess; and these advantages, however little felt at +first, cannot fail in the end to give them the victory. An +aristocratic nation, which in a contest with a democratic people +does not succeed in ruining the latter at the outset of the war, +always runs a great risk of being conquered by it. + +Chapter XXV: Of Discipline In Democratic Armies + +It is a very general opinion, especially in aristocratic +countries, that the great social equality which prevails in +democracies ultimately renders the private soldier independent of +the officer, and thus destroys the bond of discipline. This is a +mistake, for there are two kinds of discipline, which it is +important not to confound. When the officer is noble and the +soldier a serf - one rich, the other poor - the former educated +and strong, the latter ignorant and weak - the strictest bond of +obedience may easily be established between the two men. The +soldier is broken in to military discipline, as it were, before +he enters the army; or rather, military discipline is nothing but +an enhancement of social servitude. In aristocratic armies the +soldier will soon become insensible to everything but the orders +of his superior officers; he acts without reflection, triumphs +without enthusiasm, and dies without complaint: in this state he +is no longer a man, but he is still a most formidable animal +trained for war. + +A democratic people must despair of ever obtaining from +soldiers that blind, minute, submissive, and invariable obedience +which an aristocratic people may impose on them without +difficulty. The state of society does not prepare them for it, +and the nation might be in danger of losing its natural +advantages if it sought artificially to acquire advantages of +this particular kind. Amongst democratic communities, military +discipline ought not to attempt to annihilate the free spring of +the faculties; all that can be done by discipline is to direct +it; the obedience thus inculcated is less exact, but it is more +eager and more intelligent. It has its root in the will of him +who obeys: it rests not only on his instinct, but on his reason; +and consequently it will often spontaneously become more strict +as danger requires it. The discipline of an aristocratic army is +apt to be relaxed in war, because that discipline is founded upon +habits, and war disturbs those habits. The discipline of a +democratic army on the contrary is strengthened in sight of the +enemy, because every soldier then clearly perceives that he must +be silent and obedient in order to conquer. + +The nations which have performed the greatest warlike +achievements knew no other discipline than that which I speak of. +Amongst the ancients none were admitted into the armies but +freemen and citizens, who differed but little from one another, +and were accustomed to treat each other as equals. In this +respect it may be said that the armies of antiquity were +democratic, although they came out of the bosom of aristocracy; +the consequence was that in those armies a sort of fraternal +familiarity prevailed between the officers and the men. +Plutarch's lives of great commanders furnish convincing instances +of the fact: the soldiers were in the constant habit of freely +addressing their general, and the general listened to and +answered whatever the soldiers had to say: they were kept in +order by language and by example, far more than by constraint or +punishment; the general was as much their companion as their +chief. I know not whether the soldiers of Greece and Rome ever +carried the minutiae of military discipline to the same degree of +perfection as the Russians have done; but this did not prevent +Alexander from conquering Asia - and Rome, the world. + +Chapter XXVI: Some Considerations On War In Democratic +Communities + +When the principle of equality is in growth, not only +amongst a single nation, but amongst several neighboring nations +at the same time, as is now the case in Europe, the inhabitants +of these different countries, notwithstanding the dissimilarity +of language, of customs, and of laws, nevertheless resemble each +other in their equal dread of war and their common love of peace. +*a It is in vain that ambition or anger puts arms in the hands of +princes; they are appeased in spite of themselves by a species of +general apathy and goodwill, which makes the sword drop from +their grasp, and wars become more rare. As the spread of +equality, taking place in several countries at once, +simultaneously impels their various inhabitants to follow +manufactures and commerce, not only do their tastes grow alike, +but their interests are so mixed and entangled with one another +that no nation can inflict evils on other nations without those +evils falling back upon itself; and all nations ultimately regard +war as a calamity, almost as severe to the conqueror as to the +conquered. Thus, on the one hand, it is extremely difficult in +democratic ages to draw nations into hostilities; but on the +other hand, it is almost impossible that any two of them should +go to war without embroiling the rest. The interests of all are +so interlaced, their opinions and their wants so much alike, that +none can remain quiet when the others stir. Wars therefore +become more rare, but when they break out they spread over a +larger field. Neighboring democratic nations not only become +alike in some respects, but they eventually grow to resemble each +other in almost all. *b This similitude of nations has +consequences of great importance in relation to war. + +[Footnote a: It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that the +dread of war displayed by the nations of Europe is not solely +attributable to the progress made by the principle of equality +amongst them; independently of this permanent cause several other +accidental causes of great weight might be pointed out, and I may +mention before all the rest the extreme lassitude which the wars +of the Revolution and the Empire have left behind them.] + +[Footnote b: This is not only because these nations have the same +social condition, but it arises from the very nature of that +social condition which leads men to imitate and identify +themselves with each other. When the members of a community are +divided into castes and classes, they not only differ from one +another, but they have no taste and no desire to be alike; on the +contrary, everyone endeavors, more and more, to keep his own +opinions undisturbed, to retain his own peculiar habits, and to +remain himself. The characteristics of individuals are very +strongly marked. When the state of society amongst a people is +democratic - that is to say, when there are no longer any castes +or classes in the community, and all its members are nearly equal +in education and in property - the human mind follows the +opposite direction. Men are much alike, and they are annoyed, as +it were, by any deviation from that likeness: far from seeking to +preserve their own distinguishing singularities, they endeavor to +shake them off, in order to identify themselves with the general +mass of the people, which is the sole representative of right and +of might to their eyes. The characteristics of individuals are +nearly obliterated. In the ages of aristocracy even those who +are naturally alike strive to create imaginary differences +between themselves: in the ages of democracy even those who are +not alike seek only to become so, and to copy each other - so +strongly is the mind of every man always carried away by the +general impulse of mankind. Something of the same kind may be +observed between nations: two nations having the same +aristocratic social condition, might remain thoroughly distinct +and extremely different, because the spirit of aristocracy is to +retain strong individual characteristics; but if two neighboring +nations have the same democratic social condition, they cannot +fail to adopt similar opinions and manners, because the spirit of +democracy tends to assimilate men to each other.] + +If I inquire why it is that the Helvetic Confederacy made +the greatest and most powerful nations of Europe tremble in the +fifteenth century, whilst at the present day the power of that +country is exactly proportioned to its population, I perceive +that the Swiss are become like all the surrounding communities, +and those surrounding communities like the Swiss: so that as +numerical strength now forms the only difference between them, +victory necessarily attends the largest army. Thus one of the +consequences of the democratic revolution which is going on in +Europe is to make numerical strength preponderate on all fields +of battle, and to constrain all small nations to incorporate +themselves with large States, or at least to adopt the policy of +the latter. As numbers are the determining cause of victory, +each people ought of course to strive by all the means in its +power to bring the greatest possible number of men into the +field. When it was possible to enlist a kind of troops superior +to all others, such as the Swiss infantry or the French horse of +the sixteenth century, it was not thought necessary to raise very +large armies; but the case is altered when one soldier is as +efficient as another. + +The same cause which begets this new want also supplies +means of satisfying it; for, as I have already observed, when men +are all alike, they are all weak, and the supreme power of the +State is naturally much stronger amongst democratic nations than +elsewhere. Hence, whilst these nations are desirous of enrolling +the whole male population in the ranks of the army, they have the +power of effecting this object: the consequence is, that in +democratic ages armies seem to grow larger in proportion as the +love of war declines. In the same ages, too, the manner of +carrying on war is likewise altered by the same causes. +Machiavelli observes in "The Prince," "that it is much more +difficult to subdue a people which has a prince and his barons +for its leaders, than a nation which is commanded by a prince and +his slaves." To avoid offence, let us read public functionaries +for slaves, and this important truth will be strictly applicable +to our own time. + +A great aristocratic people cannot either conquer its +neighbors, or be conquered by them, without great difficulty. It +cannot conquer them, because all its forces can never be +collected and held together for a considerable period: it cannot +be conquered, because an enemy meets at every step small centres +of resistance by which invasion is arrested. War against an +aristocracy may be compared to war in a mountainous country; the +defeated party has constant opportunities of rallying its forces +to make a stand in a new position. Exactly the reverse occurs +amongst democratic nations: they easily bring their whole +disposable force into the field, and when the nation is wealthy +and populous it soon becomes victorious; but if ever it is +conquered, and its territory invaded, it has few resources at +command; and if the enemy takes the capital, the nation is lost. +This may very well be explained: as each member of the community +is individually isolated and extremely powerless, no one of the +whole body can either defend himself or present a rallying point +to others. Nothing is strong in a democratic country except the +State; as the military strength of the State is destroyed by the +destruction of the army, and its civil power paralyzed by the +capture of the chief city, all that remains is only a multitude +without strength or government, unable to resist the organized +power by which it is assailed. I am aware that this danger may be +lessened by the creation of provincial liberties, and +consequently of provincial powers, but this remedy will always be +insufficient. For after such a catastrophe, not only is the +population unable to carry on hostilities, but it may be +apprehended that they will not be inclined to attempt it. +In accordance with the law of nations adopted in civilized +countries, the object of wars is not to seize the property of +private individuals, but simply to get possession of political +power. The destruction of private property is only occasionally +resorted to for the purpose of attaining the latter object. When +an aristocratic country is invaded after the defeat of its army, +the nobles, although they are at the same time the wealthiest +members of the community, will continue to defend themselves +individually rather than submit; for if the conqueror remained +master of the country, he would deprive them of their political +power, to which they cling even more closely than to their +property. They therefore prefer fighting to subjection, which is +to them the greatest of all misfortunes; and they readily carry +the people along with them because the people has long been used +to follow and obey them, and besides has but little to risk in +the war. Amongst a nation in which equality of conditions +prevails, each citizen, on the contrary, has but slender share of +political power, and often has no share at all; on the other +hand, all are independent, and all have something to lose; so +that they are much less afraid of being conquered, and much more +afraid of war, than an aristocratic people. It will always be +extremely difficult to decide a democratic population to take up +arms, when hostilities have reached its own territory. Hence the +necessity of giving to such a people the rights and the political +character which may impart to every citizen some of those +interests that cause the nobles to act for the public welfare in +aristocratic countries. + +It should never be forgotten by the princes and other +leaders of democratic nations, that nothing but the passion and +the habit of freedom can maintain an advantageous contest with +the passion and the habit of physical well-being. I can conceive +nothing better prepared for subjection, in case of defeat, than a +democratic people without free institutions. + +Formerly it was customary to take the field with a small +body of troops, to fight in small engagements, and to make long, +regular sieges: modern tactics consist in fighting decisive +battles, and, as soon as a line of march is open before the army, +in rushing upon the capital city, in order to terminate the war +at a single blow. Napoleon, it is said, was the inventor of this +new system; but the invention of such a system did not depend on +any individual man, whoever he might be. The mode in which +Napoleon carried on war was suggested to him by the state of +society in his time; that mode was successful, because it was +eminently adapted to that state of society, and because he was +the first to employ it. Napoleon was the first commander who +marched at the head of an army from capital to capital, but the +road was opened for him by the ruin of feudal society. It may +fairly be believed that, if that extraordinary man had been born +three hundred years ago, he would not have derived the same +results from his method of warfare, or, rather, that he would +have had a different method. + +I shall add but a few words on civil wars, for fear of +exhausting the patience of the reader. Most of the remarks which +I have made respecting foreign wars are applicable a fortiori to +civil wars. Men living in democracies are not naturally prone to +the military character; they sometimes assume it, when they have +been dragged by compulsion to the field; but to rise in a body +and voluntarily to expose themselves to the horrors of war, and +especially of civil war, is a course which the men of democracies +are not apt to adopt. None but the most adventurous members of +the community consent to run into such risks; the bulk of the +population remains motionless. But even if the population were +inclined to act, considerable obstacles would stand in their way; +for they can resort to no old and well-established influence +which they are willing to obey - no well-known leaders to rally +the discontented, as well as to discipline and to lead them - no +political powers subordinate to the supreme power of the nation, +which afford an effectual support to the resistance directed +against the government. In democratic countries the moral power +of the majority is immense, and the physical resources which it +has at its command are out of all proportion to the physical +resources which may be combined against it. Therefore the party +which occupies the seat of the majority, which speaks in its name +and wields its power, triumphs instantaneously and irresistibly +over all private resistance; it does not even give such +opposition time to exist, but nips it in the bud. Those who in +such nations seek to effect a revolution by force of arms have no +other resource than suddenly to seize upon the whole engine of +government as it stands, which can better be done by a single +blow than by a war; for as soon as there is a regular war, the +party which represents the State is always certain to conquer. +The only case in which a civil war could arise is, if the army +should divide itself into two factions, the one raising the +standard of rebellion, the other remaining true to its +allegiance. An army constitutes a small community, very closely +united together, endowed with great powers of vitality, and able +to supply its own wants for some time. Such a war might be +bloody, but it could not be long; for either the rebellious army +would gain over the government by the sole display of its +resources, or by its first victory, and then the war would be +over; or the struggle would take place, and then that portion of +the army which should not be supported by the organized powers of +the State would speedily either disband itself or be destroyed. +It may therefore be admitted as a general truth, that in ages of +equality civil wars will become much less frequent and less +protracted. *c + +[Footnote c: It should be borne in mind that I speak here of +sovereign and independent democratic nations, not of confederate +democracies; in confederacies, as the preponderating power always +resides, in spite of all political fictions, in the state +governments, and not in the federal government, civil wars are in +fact nothing but foreign wars in disguise.] + + +Book Four - Chapters I-IV + +Influence Of Democratic Opinions On Political Society + +Chapter I: That Equality Naturally Gives Men A Taste For Free +Institutions + +I should imperfectly fulfil the purpose of this book, if, +after having shown what opinions and sentiments are suggested by +the principle of equality, I did not point out, ere I conclude, +the general influence which these same opinions and sentiments +may exercise upon the government of human societies. To succeed +in this object I shall frequently have to retrace my steps; but I +trust the reader will not refuse to follow me through paths +already known to him, which may lead to some new truth. + +The principle of equality, which makes men independent of +each other, gives them a habit and a taste for following, in +their private actions, no other guide but their own will. This +complete independence, which they constantly enjoy towards their +equals and in the intercourse of private life, tends to make them +look upon all authority with a jealous eye, and speedily suggests +to them the notion and the love of political freedom. Men living +at such times have a natural bias to free institutions. Take any +one of them at a venture, and search if you can his most +deep-seated instincts; you will find that of all governments he +will soonest conceive and most highly value that government, +whose head he has himself elected, and whose administration he +may control. Of all the political effects produced by the +equality of conditions, this love of independence is the first to +strike the observing, and to alarm the timid; nor can it be said +that their alarm is wholly misplaced, for anarchy has a more +formidable aspect in democratic countries than elsewhere. As the +citizens have no direct influence on each other, as soon as the +supreme power of the nation fails, which kept them all in their +several stations, it would seem that disorder must instantly +reach its utmost pitch, and that, every man drawing aside in a +different direction, the fabric of society must at once crumble +away. + +I am, however, persuaded that anarchy is not the principal +evil which democratic ages have to fear, but the least. For the +principle of equality begets two tendencies; the one leads men +straight to independence, and may suddenly drive them into +anarchy; the other conducts them by a longer, more secret, but +more certain road, to servitude. Nations readily discern the +former tendency, and are prepared to resist it; they are led away +by the latter, without perceiving its drift; hence it is +peculiarly important to point it out. For myself, I am so far +from urging as a reproach to the principle of equality that it +renders men untractable, that this very circumstance principally +calls forth my approbation. I admire to see how it deposits in +the mind and heart of man the dim conception and instinctive love +of political independence, thus preparing the remedy for the evil +which it engenders; it is on this very account that I am attached +to it. + +Chapter II: That The Notions Of Democratic Nations On Government +Are Naturally Favorable To The Concentration Of Power + +The notion of secondary powers, placed between the sovereign +and his subjects, occurred naturally to the imagination of +aristocratic nations, because those communities contained +individuals or families raised above the common level, and +apparently destined to command by their birth, their education, +and their wealth. This same notion is naturally wanting in the +minds of men in democratic ages, for converse reasons: it can +only be introduced artificially, it can only be kept there with +difficulty; whereas they conceive, as it were, without thinking +upon the subject, the notion of a sole and central power which +governs the whole community by its direct influence. Moreover in +politics, as well as in philosophy and in religion, the intellect +of democratic nations is peculiarly open to simple and general +notions. Complicated systems are repugnant to it, and its +favorite conception is that of a great nation composed of +citizens all resembling the same pattern, and all governed by a +single power. + +The very next notion to that of a sole and central power, which +presents itself to the minds of men in the ages of +equality, is the notion of uniformity of legislation. As every +man sees that he differs but little from those about him, he +cannot understand why a rule which is applicable to one man +should not be equally applicable to all others. Hence the +slightest privileges are repugnant to his reason; the faintest +dissimilarities in the political institutions of the same people +offend him, and uniformity of legislation appears to him to be +the first condition of good government. I find, on the contrary, +that this same notion of a uniform rule, equally binding on all +the members of the community, was almost unknown to the human +mind in aristocratic ages; it was either never entertained, or it +was rejected. These contrary tendencies of opinion ultimately +turn on either side to such blind instincts and such ungovernable +habits that they still direct the actions of men, in spite of +particular exceptions. Notwithstanding the immense variety of +conditions in the Middle Ages, a certain number of persons +existed at that period in precisely similar circumstances; but +this did not prevent the laws then in force from assigning to +each of them distinct duties and different rights. On the +contrary, at the present time all the powers of government are +exerted to impose the same customs and the same laws on +populations which have as yet but few points of resemblance. As +the conditions of men become equal amongst a people, individuals +seem of less importance, and society of greater dimensions; or +rather, every citizen, being assimilated to all the rest, is lost +in the crowd, and nothing stands conspicuous but the great and +imposing image of the people at large. This naturally gives the +men of democratic periods a lofty opinion of the privileges of +society, and a very humble notion of the rights of individuals; +they are ready to admit that the interests of the former are +everything, and those of the latter nothing. They are willing to +acknowledge that the power which represents the community has far +more information and wisdom than any of the members of that +community; and that it is the duty, as well as the right, of that +power to guide as well as govern each private citizen. + +If we closely scrutinize our contemporaries, and penetrate +to the root of their political opinions, we shall detect some of +the notions which I have just pointed out, and we shall perhaps +be surprised to find so much accordance between men who are so +often at variance. The Americans hold, that in every State the +supreme power ought to emanate from the people; but when once +that power is constituted, they can conceive, as it were, no +limits to it, and they are ready to admit that it has the right +to do whatever it pleases. They have not the slightest notion of +peculiar privileges granted to cities, families, or persons: +their minds appear never to have foreseen that it might be +possible not to apply with strict uniformity the same laws to +every part, and to all the inhabitants. These same opinions are +more and more diffused in Europe; they even insinuate themselves +amongst those nations which most vehemently reject the principle +of the sovereignty of the people. Such nations assign a different +origin to the supreme power, but they ascribe to that power the +same characteristics. Amongst them all, the idea of intermediate +powers is weakened and obliterated: the idea of rights inherent +in certain individuals is rapidly disappearing from the minds of +men; the idea of the omnipotence and sole authority of society at +large rises to fill its place. These ideas take root and spread +in proportion as social conditions become more equal, and men +more alike; they are engendered by equality, and in turn they +hasten the progress of equality. + +In France, where the revolution of which I am speaking has +gone further than in any other European country, these opinions +have got complete hold of the public mind. If we listen +attentively to the language of the various parties in France, we +shall find that there is not one which has not adopted them. +Most of these parties censure the conduct of the government, but +they all hold that the government ought perpetually to act and +interfere in everything that is done. Even those which are most +at variance are nevertheless agreed upon this head. The unity, +the ubiquity, the omnipotence of the supreme power, and the +uniformity of its rules, constitute the principal characteristics +of all the political systems which have been put forward in our +age. They recur even in the wildest visions of political +regeneration: the human mind pursues them in its dreams. If +these notions spontaneously arise in the minds of private +individuals, they suggest themselves still more forcibly to the +minds of princes. Whilst the ancient fabric of European society +is altered and dissolved, sovereigns acquire new conceptions of +their opportunities and their duties; they learn for the first +time that the central power which they represent may and ought to +administer by its own agency, and on a uniform plan, all the +concerns of the whole community. This opinion, which, I will +venture to say, was never conceived before our time by the +monarchs of Europe, now sinks deeply into the minds of kings, and +abides there amidst all the agitation of more unsettled thoughts. + +Our contemporaries are therefore much less divided than is +commonly supposed; they are constantly disputing as to the hands +in which supremacy is to be vested, but they readily agree upon +the duties and the rights of that supremacy. The notion they all +form of government is that of a sole, simple, providential, and +creative power. All secondary opinions in politics are +unsettled; this one remains fixed, invariable, and consistent. +It is adopted by statesmen and political philosophers; it is +eagerly laid hold of by the multitude; those who govern and those +who are governed agree to pursue it with equal ardor: it is the +foremost notion of their minds, it seems inborn. It originates +therefore in no caprice of the human intellect, but it is a +necessary condition of the present state of mankind. + +Chapter III: That The Sentiments Of Democratic Nations Accord +With Their Opinions In Leading Them To Concentrate Political +Power +If it be true that, in ages of equality, men readily adopt +the notion of a great central power, it cannot be doubted on the +other hand that their habits and sentiments predispose them to +recognize such a power and to give it their support. This may be +demonstrated in a few words, as the greater part of the reasons, +to which the fact may be attributed, have been previously stated. +*a As the men who inhabit democratic countries have no superiors, +no inferiors, and no habitual or necessary partners in their +undertakings, they readily fall back upon themselves and consider +themselves as beings apart. I had occasion to point this out at +considerable length in treating of individualism. Hence such men +can never, without an effort, tear themselves from their private +affairs to engage in public business; their natural bias leads +them to abandon the latter to the sole visible and permanent +representative of the interests of the community, that is to say, +to the State. Not only are they naturally wanting in a taste for +public business, but they have frequently no time to attend to +it. Private life is so busy in democratic periods, so excited, +so full of wishes and of work, that hardly any energy or leisure +remains to each individual for public life. I am the last man to +contend that these propensities are unconquerable, since my chief +object in writing this book has been to combat them. I only +maintain that at the present day a secret power is fostering them +in the human heart, and that if they are not checked they will +wholly overgrow it. + +[Footnote a: See Appendix W.] + +I have also had occasion to show how the increasing love of +well-being, and the fluctuating character of property, cause +democratic nations to dread all violent disturbance. The love of +public tranquillity is frequently the only passion which these +nations retain, and it becomes more active and powerful amongst +them in proportion as all other passions droop and die. This +naturally disposes the members of the community constantly to +give or to surrender additional rights to the central power, +which alone seems to be interested in defending them by the same +means that it uses to defend itself. As in ages of equality no +man is compelled to lend his assistance to his fellow-men, and +none has any right to expect much support from them, everyone is +at once independent and powerless. These two conditions, which +must never be either separately considered or confounded +together, inspire the citizen of a democratic country with very +contrary propensities. His independence fills him with +self-reliance and pride amongst his equals; his debility makes +him feel from time to time the want of some outward assistance, +which he cannot expect from any of them, because they are all +impotent and unsympathizing. In this predicament he naturally +turns his eyes to that imposing power which alone rises above the +level of universal depression. Of that power his wants and +especially his desires continually remind him, until he +ultimately views it as the sole and necessary support of his own +weakness. *b This may more completely explain what frequently +takes place in democratic countries, where the very men who are +so impatient of superiors patiently submit to a master, +exhibiting at once their pride and their servility. + +[Footnote b: In democratic communities nothing but the central +power has any stability in its position or any permanence in its +undertakings. All the members of society are in ceaseless stir +and transformation. Now it is in the nature of all governments +to seek constantly to enlarge their sphere of action; hence it is +almost impossible that such a government should not ultimately +succeed, because it acts with a fixed principle and a constant +will, upon men, whose position, whose notions, and whose desires +are in continual vacillation. It frequently happens that the +members of the community promote the influence of the central +power without intending it. Democratic ages are periods of +experiment, innovation, and adventure. At such times there are +always a multitude of men engaged in difficult or novel +undertakings, which they follow alone, without caring for their +fellowmen. Such persons may be ready to admit, as a general +principle, that the public authority ought not to interfere in +private concerns; but, by an exception to that rule, each of them +craves for its assistance in the particular concern on which he +is engaged, and seeks to draw upon the influence of the +government for his own benefit, though he would restrict it on +all other occasions. If a large number of men apply this +particular exception to a great variety of different purposes, +the sphere of the central power extends insensibly in all +directions, although each of them wishes it to be circumscribed. +Thus a democratic government increases its power simply by the +fact of its permanence. Time is on its side; every incident +befriends it; the passions of individuals unconsciously promote +it; and it may be asserted, that the older a democratic community +is, the more centralized will its government become.] + +The hatred which men bear to privilege increases in +proportion as privileges become more scarce and less +considerable, so that democratic passions would seem to burn most +fiercely at the very time when they have least fuel. I have +already given the reason of this phenomenon. When all conditions +are unequal, no inequality is so great as to offend the eye; +whereas the slightest dissimilarity is odious in the midst of +general uniformity: the more complete is this uniformity, the +more insupportable does the sight of such a difference become. +Hence it is natural that the love of equality should constantly +increase together with equality itself, and that it should grow +by what it feeds upon. This never-dying, ever- kindling hatred, +which sets a democratic people against the smallest privileges, +is peculiarly favorable to the gradual concentration of all +political rights in the hands of the representative of the State +alone. The sovereign, being necessarily and incontestably above +all the citizens, excites not their envy, and each of them thinks +that he strips his equals of the prerogative which he concedes to +the crown. The man of a democratic age is extremely reluctant to +obey his neighbor who is his equal; he refuses to acknowledge in +such a person ability superior to his own; he mistrusts his +justice, and is jealous of his power; he fears and he contemns +him; and he loves continually to remind him of the common +dependence in which both of them stand to the same master. Every +central power which follows its natural tendencies courts and +encourages the principle of equality; for equality singularly +facilitates, extends, and secures the influence of a central +power. + +In like manner it may be said that every central government +worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an +infinite number of small details which must be attended to if +rules were to be adapted to men, instead of indiscriminately +subjecting men to rules: thus the government likes what the +citizens like, and naturally hates what they hate. These common +sentiments, which, in democratic nations, constantly unite the +sovereign and every member of the community in one and the same +conviction, establish a secret and lasting sympathy between them. +The faults of the government are pardoned for the sake of its +tastes; public confidence is only reluctantly withdrawn in the +midst even of its excesses and its errors, and it is restored at +the first call. Democratic nations often hate those in whose +hands the central power is vested; but they always love that +power itself. + +Thus, by two separate paths, I have reached the same +conclusion. I have shown that the principle of equality suggests +to men the notion of a sole, uniform, and strong government: I +have now shown that the principle of equality imparts to them a +taste for it. To governments of this kind the nations of our age +are therefore tending. They are drawn thither by the natural +inclination of mind and heart; and in order to reach that result, +it is enough that they do not check themselves in their course. +I am of opinion, that, in the democratic ages which are opening +upon us, individual independence and local liberties will ever be +the produce of artificial contrivance; that centralization will +be the natural form of government. *c + +[Footnote c: See Appendix X.] + +Chapter IV: Of Certain Peculiar And Accidental Causes Which +Either Lead A People To Complete Centralization Of Government, Or +Which Divert Them From It + +If all democratic nations are instinctively led to the +centralization of government, they tend to this result in an +unequal manner. This depends on the particular circumstances +which may promote or prevent the natural consequences of that +state of society - circumstances which are exceedingly numerous; +but I shall only advert to a few of them. Amongst men who have +lived free long before they became equal, the tendencies derived +from free institutions combat, to a certain extent, the +propensities superinduced by the principle of equality; and +although the central power may increase its privileges amongst +such a people, the private members of such a community will never +entirely forfeit their independence. But when the equality of +conditions grows up amongst a people which has never known, or +has long ceased to know, what freedom is (and such is the case +upon the Continent of Europe), as the former habits of the nation +are suddenly combined, by some sort of natural attraction, with +the novel habits and principles engendered by the state of +society, all powers seem spontaneously to rush to the centre. +These powers accumulate there with astonishing rapidity, and the +State instantly attains the utmost limits of its strength, whilst +private persons allow themselves to sink as suddenly to the +lowest degree of weakness. + +The English who emigrated three hundred years ago to found a +democratic commonwealth on the shores of the New World, had all +learned to take a part in public affairs in their mother-country; +they were conversant with trial by jury; they were accustomed to +liberty of speech and of the press - to personal freedom, to the +notion of rights and the practice of asserting them. They carried +with them to America these free institutions and manly customs, +and these institutions preserved them against the encroachments +of the State. Thus amongst the Americans it is freedom which is +old - equality is of comparatively modern date. The reverse is +occurring in Europe, where equality, introduced by absolute power +and under the rule of kings, was already infused into the habits +of nations long before freedom had entered into their +conceptions. + +I have said that amongst democratic nations the notion of +government naturally presents itself to the mind under the form +of a sole and central power, and that the notion of intermediate +powers is not familiar to them. This is peculiarly applicable to +the democratic nations which have witnessed the triumph of the +principle of equality by means of a violent revolution. As the +classes which managed local affairs have been suddenly swept away +by the storm, and as the confused mass which remains has as yet +neither the organization nor the habits which fit it to assume +the administration of these same affairs, the State alone seems +capable of taking upon itself all the details of government, and +centralization becomes, as it were, the unavoidable state of the +country. Napoleon deserves neither praise nor censure for having +centred in his own hands almost all the administrative power of +France; for, after the abrupt disappearance of the nobility and +the higher rank of the middle classes, these powers devolved on +him of course: it would have been almost as difficult for him to +reject as to assume them. But no necessity of this kind has ever +been felt by the Americans, who, having passed through no +revolution, and having governed themselves from the first, never +had to call upon the State to act for a time as their guardian. +Thus the progress of centralization amongst a democratic people +depends not only on the progress of equality, but on the manner +in which this equality has been established. + +At the commencement of a great democratic revolution, when +hostilities have but just broken out between the different +classes of society, the people endeavors to centralize the public +administration in the hands of the government, in order to wrest +the management of local affairs from the aristocracy. Towards +the close of such a revolution, on the contrary, it is usually +the conquered aristocracy that endeavors to make over the +management of all affairs to the State, because such an +aristocracy dreads the tyranny of a people which has become its +equal, and not unfrequently its master. Thus it is not always the +same class of the community which strives to increase the +prerogative of the government; but as long as the democratic +revolution lasts there is always one class in the nation, +powerful in numbers or in wealth, which is induced, by peculiar +passions or interests, to centralize the public administration, +independently of that hatred of being governed by one's neighbor, +which is a general and permanent feeling amongst democratic +nations. It may be remarked, that at the present day the lower +orders in England are striving with all their might to destroy +local independence, and to transfer the administration from all +points of the circumference to the centre; whereas the higher +classes are endeavoring to retain this administration within its +ancient boundaries. I venture to predict that a time will come +when the very reverse will happen. + +These observations explain why the supreme power is always +stronger, and private individuals weaker, amongst a democratic +people which has passed through a long and arduous struggle to +reach a state of equality than amongst a democratic community in +which the citizens have been equal from the first. The example of +the Americans completely demonstrates the fact. The inhabitants +of the United States were never divided by any privileges; they +have never known the mutual relation of master and inferior, and +as they neither dread nor hate each other, they have never known +the necessity of calling in the supreme power to manage their +affairs. The lot of the Americans is singular: they have derived +from the aristocracy of England the notion of private rights and +the taste for local freedom; and they have been able to retain +both the one and the other, because they have had no aristocracy +to combat. + +If at all times education enables men to defend their +independence, this is most especially true in democratic ages. +When all men are alike, it is easy to found a sole and +all-powerful government, by the aid of mere instinct. But men +require much intelligence, knowledge, and art to organize and to +maintain secondary powers under similar circumstances, and to +create amidst the independence and individual weakness of the +citizens such free associations as may be in a condition to +struggle against tyranny without destroying public order. + +Hence the concentration of power and the subjection of +individuals will increase amongst democratic nations, not only in +the same proportion as their equality, but in the same proportion +as their ignorance. It is true, that in ages of imperfect +civilization the government is frequently as wanting in the +knowledge required to impose a despotism upon the people as the +people are wanting in the knowledge required to shake it off; but +the effect is not the same on both sides. However rude a +democratic people may be, the central power which rules it is +never completely devoid of cultivation, because it readily draws +to its own uses what little cultivation is to be found in the +country, and, if necessary, may seek assistance elsewhere. +Hence, amongst a nation which is ignorant as well as democratic, +an amazing difference cannot fail speedily to arise between the +intellectual capacity of the ruler and that of each of his +subjects. This completes the easy concentration of all power in +his hands: the administrative function of the State is +perpetually extended, because the State alone is competent to +administer the affairs of the country. Aristocratic nations, +however unenlightened they may be, never afford the same +spectacle, because in them instruction is nearly equally diffused +between the monarch and the leading members of the community. + +The pacha who now rules in Egypt found the population of +that country composed of men exceedingly ignorant and equal, and +he has borrowed the science and ability of Europe to govern that +people. As the personal attainments of the sovereign are thus +combined with the ignorance and democratic weakness of his +subjects, the utmost centralization has been established without +impediment, and the pacha has made the country his manufactory, +and the inhabitants his workmen. + +I think that extreme centralization of government ultimately +enervates society, and thus after a length of time weakens the +government itself; but I do not deny that a centralized social +power may be able to execute great undertakings with facility in +a given time and on a particular point. This is more especially +true of war, in which success depends much more on the means of +transferring all the resources of a nation to one single point, +than on the extent of those resources. Hence it is chiefly in +war that nations desire and frequently require to increase the +powers of the central government. All men of military genius are +fond of centralization, which increases their strength; and all +men of centralizing genius are fond of war, which compels nations +to combine all their powers in the hands of the government. Thus +the democratic tendency which leads men unceasingly to multiply +the privileges of the State, and to circumscribe the rights of +private persons, is much more rapid and constant amongst those +democratic nations which are exposed by their position to great +and frequent wars, than amongst all others. + +I have shown how the dread of disturbance and the love of +well-being insensibly lead democratic nations to increase the +functions of central government, as the only power which appears +to be intrinsically sufficiently strong, enlightened, and secure, +to protect them from anarchy. I would now add, that all the +particular circumstances which tend to make the state of a +democratic community agitated and precarious, enhance this +general propensity, and lead private persons more and more to +sacrifice their rights to their tranquility. A people is +therefore never so disposed to increase the functions of central +government as at the close of a long and bloody revolution, +which, after having wrested property from the hands of its former +possessors, has shaken all belief, and filled the nation with +fierce hatreds, conflicting interests, and contending factions. +The love of public tranquillity becomes at such times an +indiscriminating passion, and the members of the community are +apt to conceive a most inordinate devotion to order. + +I have already examined several of the incidents which may +concur to promote the centralization of power, but the principal +cause still remains to be noticed. The foremost of the +incidental causes which may draw the management of all affairs +into the hands of the ruler in democratic countries, is the +origin of that ruler himself, and his own propensities. Men who +live in the ages of equality are naturally fond of central power, +and are willing to extend its privileges; but if it happens that +this same power faithfully represents their own interests, and +exactly copies their own inclinations, the confidence they place +in it knows no bounds, and they think that whatever they bestow +upon it is bestowed upon themselves. + +The attraction of administrative powers to the centre will +always be less easy and less rapid under the reign of kings who +are still in some way connected with the old aristocratic order, +than under new princes, the children of their own achievements, +whose birth, prejudices, propensities, and habits appear to bind +them indissolubly to the cause of equality. I do not mean that +princes of aristocratic origin who live in democratic ages do not +attempt to centralize; I believe they apply themselves to that +object as diligently as any others. For them, the sole +advantages of equality lie in that direction; but their +opportunities are less great, because the community, instead of +volunteering compliance with their desires, frequently obeys them +with reluctance. In democratic communities the rule is that +centralization must increase in proportion as the sovereign is +less aristocratic. When an ancient race of kings stands at the +head of an aristocracy, as the natural prejudices of the +sovereign perfectly accord with the natural prejudices of the +nobility, the vices inherent in aristocratic communities have a +free course, and meet with no corrective. The reverse is the +case when the scion of a feudal stock is placed at the head of a +democratic people. The sovereign is constantly led, by his +education, his habits, and his associations, to adopt sentiments +suggested by the inequality of conditions, and the people tend as +constantly, by their social condition, to those manners which are +engendered by equality. At such times it often happens that the +citizens seek to control the central power far less as a +tyrannical than as an aristocratical power, and that they persist +in the firm defence of their independence, not only because they +would remain free, but especially because they are determined to +remain equal. A revolution which overthrows an ancient regal +family, in order to place men of more recent growth at the head +of a democratic people, may temporarily weaken the central power; +but however anarchical such a revolution may appear at first, we +need not hesitate to predict that its final and certain +consequence will be to extend and to secure the prerogatives of +that power. The foremost or indeed the sole condition which is +required in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in +a democratic community, is to love equality, or to get men to +believe you love it. Thus the science of despotism, which was +once so complex, is simplified, and reduced as it were to a +single principle. + + +Book Four - Chapter V + +Chapter V: That Amongst The European Nations Of Our Time The +Power Of Governments Is Increasing, Although The Persons Who +Govern Are Less Stable + +On reflecting upon what has already been said, the reader +will be startled and alarmed to find that in Europe everything +seems to conduce to the indefinite extension of the prerogatives +of government, and to render all that enjoyed the rights of +private independence more weak, more subordinate, and more +precarious. The democratic nations of Europe have all the +general and permanent tendencies which urge the Americans to the +centralization of government, and they are moreover exposed to a +number of secondary and incidental causes with which the +Americans are unacquainted. It would seem as if every step they +make towards equality brings them nearer to despotism. And indeed +if we do but cast our looks around, we shall be convinced that +such is the fact. During the aristocratic ages which preceded +the present time, the sovereigns of Europe had been deprived of, +or had relinquished, many of the rights inherent in their power. +Not a hundred years ago, amongst the greater part of European +nations, numerous private persons and corporations were +sufficiently independent to administer justice, to raise and +maintain troops, to levy taxes, and frequently even to make or +interpret the law. The State has everywhere resumed to itself +alone these natural attributes of sovereign power; in all matters +of government the State tolerates no intermediate agent between +itself and the people, and in general business it directs the +people by its own immediate influence. I am far from blaming +this concentration of power, I simply point it out. + +At the same period a great number of secondary powers +existed in Europe, which represented local interests and +administered local affairs. Most of these local authorities have +already disappeared; all are speedily tending to disappear, or to +fall into the most complete dependence. From one end of Europe +to the other the privileges of the nobility, the liberties of +cities, and the powers of provincial bodies, are either destroyed +or upon the verge of destruction. Europe has endured, in the +course of the last half- century, many revolutions and +counter-revolutions which have agitated it in opposite +directions: but all these perturbations resemble each other in +one respect -they have all shaken or destroyed the secondary +powers of government. The local privileges which the French did +not abolish in the countries they conquered, have finally +succumbed to the policy of the princes who conquered the French. +Those princes rejected all the innovations of the French +Revolution except centralization: that is the only principle they +consented to receive from such a source. My object is to remark, +that all these various rights, which have been successively +wrested, in our time, from classes, corporations, and +individuals, have not served to raise new secondary powers on a +more democratic basis, but have uniformly been concentrated in +the hands of the sovereign. Everywhere the State acquires more +and more direct control over the humblest members of the +community, and a more exclusive power of governing each of them +in his smallest concerns. *a Almost all the charitable +establishments of Europe were formerly in the hands of private +persons or of corporations; they are now almost all dependent on +the supreme government, and in many countries are actually +administered by that power. The State almost exclusively +undertakes to supply bread to the hungry, assistance and shelter +to the sick, work to the idle, and to act as the sole reliever of +all kinds of misery. Education, as well as charity, is become in +most countries at the present day a national concern. The State +receives, and often takes, the child from the arms of the mother, +to hand it over to official agents: the State undertakes to train +the heart and to instruct the mind of each generation. +Uniformity prevails in the courses of public instruction as in +everything else; diversity, as well as freedom, is disappearing +day by day. Nor do I hesitate to affirm, that amongst almost all +the Christian nations of our days, Catholic as well as +Protestant, religion is in danger of falling into the hands of +the government. Not that rulers are over-jealous of the right of +settling points of doctrine, but they get more and more hold upon +the will of those by whom doctrines are expounded; they deprive +the clergy of their property, and pay them by salaries; they +divert to their own use the influence of the priesthood, they +make them their own ministers - often their own servants - and by +this alliance with religion they reach the inner depths of the +soul of man. *b + +[Footnote a: This gradual weakening of individuals in relation to +society at large may be traced in a thousand ways. I shall +select from amongst these examples one derived from the law of +wills. In aristocracies it is common to profess the greatest +reverence for the last testamentary dispositions of a man; this +feeling sometimes even became superstitious amongst the older +nations of Europe: the power of the State, far from interfering +with the caprices of a dying man, gave full force to the very +least of them, and insured to him a perpetual power. When all +living men are enfeebled, the will of the dead is less respected: +it is circumscribed within a narrow range, beyond which it is +annulled or checked by the supreme power of the laws. In the +Middle Ages, testamentary power had, so to speak, no limits: +amongst the French at the present day, a man cannot distribute +his fortune amongst his children without the interference of the +State; after having domineered over a whole life, the law insists +upon regulating the very last act of it.] + +[Footnote b: In proportion as the duties of the central power are +augmented, the number of public officers by whom that power is +represented must increase also. They form a nation in each +nation; and as they share the stability of the government, they +more and more fill up the place of an aristocracy. + +In almost every part of Europe the government rules in two +ways; it rules one portion of the community by the fear which +they entertain of its agents, and the other by the hope they have +of becoming its agents.] + +But this is as yet only one side of the picture. The +authority of government has not only spread, as we have just +seen, throughout the sphere of all existing powers, till that +sphere can no longer contain it, but it goes further, and invades +the domain heretofore reserved to private independence. A +multitude of actions, which were formerly entirely beyond the +control of the public administration, have been subjected to that +control in our time, and the number of them is constantly +increasing. Amongst aristocratic nations the supreme government +usually contented itself with managing and superintending the +community in whatever directly and ostensibly concerned the +national honor; but in all other respects the people were left to +work out their own free will. Amongst these nations the +government often seemed to forget that there is a point at which +the faults and the sufferings of private persons involve the +general prosperity, and that to prevent the ruin of a private +individual must sometimes be a matter of public importance. The +democratic nations of our time lean to the opposite extreme. It +is evident that most of our rulers will not content themselves +with governing the people collectively: it would seem as if they +thought themselves responsible for the actions and private +condition of their subjects - as if they had undertaken to guide +and to instruct each of them in the various incidents of life, +and to secure their happiness quite independently of their own +consent. On the other hand private individuals grow more and +more apt to look upon the supreme power in the same light; they +invoke its assistance in all their necessities, and they fix +their eyes upon the administration as their mentor or their +guide. + +I assert that there is no country in Europe in which the +public administration has not become, not only more centralized, +but more inquisitive and more minute it everywhere interferes in +private concerns more than it did; it regulates more +undertakings, and undertakings of a lesser kind; and it gains a +firmer footing every day about, above, and around all private +persons, to assist, to advise, and to coerce them. Formerly a +sovereign lived upon the income of his lands, or the revenue of +his taxes; this is no longer the case now that his wants have +increased as well as his power. Under the same circumstances +which formerly compelled a prince to put on a new tax, he now has +recourse to a loan. Thus the State gradually becomes the debtor +of most of the wealthier members of the community, and +centralizes the largest amounts of capital in its own hands. +Small capital is drawn into its keeping by another method. As +men are intermingled and conditions become more equal, the poor +have more resources, more education, and more desires; they +conceive the notion of bettering their condition, and this +teaches them to save. These savings are daily producing an +infinite number of small capitals, the slow and gradual produce +of labor, which are always increasing. But the greater part of +this money would be unproductive if it remained scattered in the +hands of its owners. This circumstance has given rise to a +philanthropic institution, which will soon become, if I am not +mistaken, one of our most important political institutions. Some +charitable persons conceived the notion of collecting the savings +of the poor and placing them out at interest. In some countries +these benevolent associations are still completely distinct from +the State; but in almost all they manifestly tend to identify +themselves with the government; and in some of them the +government has superseded them, taking upon itself the enormous +task of centralizing in one place, and putting out at interest on +its own responsibility, the daily savings of many millions of the +working classes. Thus the State draws to itself the wealth of the +rich by loans, and has the poor man's mite at its disposal in the +savings banks. The wealth of the country is perpetually flowing +around the government and passing through its hands; the +accumulation increases in the same proportion as the equality of +conditions; for in a democratic country the State alone inspires +private individuals with confidence, because the State alone +appears to be endowed with strength and durability. *c Thus the +sovereign does not confine himself to the management of the +public treasury; he interferes in private money matters; he is +the superior, and often the master, of all the members of the +community; and, in addition to this, he assumes the part of their +steward and paymaster. + +[Footnote c: On the one hand the taste for worldly welfare is +perpetually increasing, and on the other the government gets more +and more complete possession of the sources of that welfare. +Thus men are following two separate roads to servitude: the taste +for their own welfare withholds them from taking a part in the +government, and their love of that welfare places them in closer +dependence upon those who govern.] + +The central power not only fulfils of itself the whole of +the duties formerly discharged by various authorities - extending +those duties, and surpassing those authorities - but it performs +them with more alertness, strength, and independence than it +displayed before. All the governments of Europe have in our time +singularly improved the science of administration: they do more +things, and they do everything with more order, more celerity, +and at less expense; they seem to be constantly enriched by all +the experience of which they have stripped private persons. From +day to day the princes of Europe hold their subordinate officers +under stricter control, and they invent new methods for guiding +them more closely, and inspecting them with less trouble. Not +content with managing everything by their agents, they undertake +to manage the conduct of their agents in everything; so that the +public administration not only depends upon one and the same +power, but it is more and more confined to one spot and +concentrated in the same hands. The government centralizes its +agency whilst it increases its prerogative - hence a twofold +increase of strength. + +In examining the ancient constitution of the judicial power, +amongst most European nations, two things strike the mind - the +independence of that power, and the extent of its functions. Not +only did the courts of justice decide almost all differences +between private persons, but in very many cases they acted as +arbiters between private persons and the State. I do not here +allude to the political and administrative offices which courts +of judicature had in some countries usurped, but the judicial +office common to them all. In most of the countries of Europe, +there were, and there still are, many private rights, connected +for the most part with the general right of property, which stood +under the protection of the courts of justice, and which the +State could not violate without their sanction. It was this +semi-political power which mainly distinguished the European +courts of judicature from all others; for all nations have had +judges, but all have not invested their judges with the same +privileges. Upon examining what is now occurring amongst the +democratic nations of Europe which are called free, as well as +amongst the others, it will be observed that new and more +dependent courts are everywhere springing up by the side of the +old ones, for the express purpose of deciding, by an +extraordinary jurisdiction, such litigated matters as may arise +between the government and private persons. The elder judicial +power retains its independence, but its jurisdiction is narrowed; +and there is a growing tendency to reduce it to be exclusively +the arbiter between private interests. The number of these +special courts of justice is continually increasing, and their +functions increase likewise. Thus the government is more and +more absolved from the necessity of subjecting its policy and its +rights to the sanction of another power. As judges cannot be +dispensed with, at least the State is to select them, and always +to hold them under its control; so that, between the government +and private individuals, they place the effigy of justice rather +than justice itself. The State is not satisfied with drawing all +concerns to itself, but it acquires an ever-increasing power of +deciding on them all without restriction and without appeal. *d + +[Footnote d: A strange sophism has been made on this head in +France. When a suit arises between the government and a private +person, it is not to be tried before an ordinary judge - in +order, they say, not to mix the administrative and the judicial +powers; as if it were not to mix those powers, and to mix them in +the most dangerous and oppressive manner, to invest the +government with the office of judging and administering at the +same time.] + +There exists amongst the modern nations of Europe one great +cause, independent of all those which have already been pointed +out, which perpetually contributes to extend the agency or to +strengthen the prerogative of the supreme power, though it has +not been sufficiently attended to: I mean the growth of +manufactures, which is fostered by the progress of social +equality. Manufactures generally collect a multitude of men of +the same spot, amongst whom new and complex relations spring up. +These men are exposed by their calling to great and sudden +alternations of plenty and want, during which public tranquillity +is endangered. It may also happen that these employments +sacrifice the health, and even the life, of those who gain by +them, or of those who live by them. Thus the manufacturing +classes require more regulation, superintendence, and restraint +than the other classes of society, and it is natural that the +powers of government should increase in the same proportion as +those classes. + +This is a truth of general application; what follows more +especially concerns the nations of Europe. In the centuries +which preceded that in which we live, the aristocracy was in +possession of the soil, and was competent to defend it: landed +property was therefore surrounded by ample securities, and its +possessors enjoyed great independence. This gave rise to laws +and customs which have been perpetuated, notwithstanding the +subdivision of lands and the ruin of the nobility; and, at the +present time, landowners and agriculturists are still those +amongst the community who must easily escape from the control of +the supreme power. In these same aristocratic ages, in which all +the sources of our history are to be traced, personal property +was of small importance, and those who possessed it were despised +and weak: the manufacturing class formed an exception in the +midst of those aristocratic communities; as it had no certain +patronage, it was not outwardly protected, and was often unable +to protect itself. + +Hence a habit sprung up of considering manufacturing property as +something of a peculiar nature, not entitled to the same +deference, and not worthy of the same securities as property in +general; and manufacturers were looked upon as a small class in +the bulk of the people, whose independence was of small +importance, and who might with propriety be abandoned to the +disciplinary passions of princes. On glancing over the codes of +the middle ages, one is surprised to see, in those periods of +personal independence, with what incessant royal regulations +manufactures were hampered, even in their smallest details: on +this point centralization was as active and as minute as it can +ever be. Since that time a great revolution has taken place in +the world; manufacturing property, which was then only in the +germ, has spread till it covers Europe: the manufacturing class +has been multiplied and enriched by the remnants of all other +ranks; it has grown and is still perpetually growing in number, +in importance, in wealth. Almost all those who do not belong to +it are connected with it at least on some one point; after having +been an exception in society, it threatens to become the chief, +if not the only, class; nevertheless the notions and political +precedents engendered by it of old still cling about it. These +notions and these precedents remain unchanged, because they are +old, and also because they happen to be in perfect accordance +with the new notions and general habits of our contemporaries. +Manufacturing property then does not extend its rights in the +same ratio as its importance. The manufacturing classes do not +become less dependent, whilst they become more numerous; but, on +the contrary, it would seem as if despotism lurked within them, +and naturally grew with their growth. *e As a nation becomes more +engaged in manufactures, the want of roads, canals, harbors, and +other works of a semi-public nature, which facilitate the +acquisition of wealth, is more strongly felt; and as a nation +becomes more democratic, private individuals are less able, and +the State more able, to execute works of such magnitude. I do +not hesitate to assert that the manifest tendency of all +governments at the present time is to take upon themselves alone +the execution of these undertakings; by which means they daily +hold in closer dependence the population which they govern. + +[Footnote e: I shall quote a few facts in corroboration of this +remark. Mines are the natural sources of manufacturing wealth: as +manufactures have grown up in Europe, as the produce of mines has +become of more general importance, and good mining more difficult +from the subdivision of property which is a consequence of the +equality of conditions, most governments have asserted a right of +owning the soil in which the mines lie, and of inspecting the +works; which has never been the case with any other kind of +property. Thus mines, which were private property, liable to the +same obligations and sheltered by the same guarantees as all +other landed property, have fallen under the control of the +State. The State either works them or farms them; the owners of +them are mere tenants, deriving their rights from the State; and, +moreover, the State almost everywhere claims the power of +directing their operations: it lays down rules, enforces the +adoption of particular methods, subjects the mining adventurers +to constant superintendence, and, if refractory, they are ousted +by a government court of justice, and the government transfers +their contract to other hands; so that the government not only +possesses the mines, but has all the adventurers in its power. +Nevertheless, as manufactures increase, the working of old mines +increases also; new ones are opened, the mining population +extends and grows up; day by day governments augment their +subterranean dominions, and people them with their agents.] + +On the other hand, in proportion as the power of a State +increases, and its necessities are augmented, the State +consumption of manufactured produce is always growing larger, and +toese commodities are generally made in the arsenals or +establishments of the government. Thus, in every kingdom, the +ruler becomes the principal manufacturer; he collects and retains +in his service a vast number of engineers, architects, mechanics, +and handicraftsmen. Not only is he the principal manufacturer, +but he tends more and more to become the chief, or rather the +master of all other manufacturers. As private persons become +more powerless by becoming more equal, they can effect nothing in +manufactures without combination; but the government naturally +seeks to place these combinations under its own control. + +It must be admitted that these collective beings, which are +called combinations, are stronger and more formidable than a +private individual can ever be, and that they have less of the +responsibility of their own actions; whence it seems reasonable +that they should not be allowed to retain so great an +independence of the supreme government as might be conceded to a +private individual. + +Rulers are the more apt to follow this line of policy, as +their own inclinations invite them to it. Amongst democratic +nations it is only by association that the resistance of the +people to the government can ever display itself: hence the +latter always looks with ill-favor on those associations which +are not in its own power; and it is well worthy of remark, that +amongst democratic nations, the people themselves often entertain +a secret feeling of fear and jealousy against these very +associations, which prevents the citizens from defending the +institutions of which they stand so much in need. The power and +the duration of these small private bodies, in the midst of the +weakness and instability of the whole community, astonish and +alarm the people; and the free use which each association makes +of its natural powers is almost regarded as a dangerous +privilege. All the associations which spring up in our age are, +moreover, new corporate powers, whose rights have not been +sanctioned by time; they come into existence at a time when the +notion ofprivate rights is weak, and when the power of government +is unbounded; hence it is not surprising that they lose their +freedom at their birth. Amongst all European nations there are +some kinds of associations which cannot be formed until the State +has examined their by-laws, and authorized their existence. In +several others, attempts are made to extend this rule to all +associations; the consequences of such a policy, if it were +successful, may easily be foreseen. If once the sovereign had a +general right of authorizing associations of all kinds upon +certain conditions, he would not be long without claiming the +right of superintending and managing them, in order to prevent +them from departing from the rules laid down by himself. In this +manner, the State, after having reduced all who are desirous of +forming associations into dependence, would proceed to reduce +into the same condition all who belong to associations already +formed - that is to say, almost all the men who are now in +existence. Governments thus appropriate to themselves, and +convert to their own purposes, the greater part of this new power +which manufacturing interests have in our time brought into the +world. Manufacturers govern us - they govern manufactures. + +I attach so much importance to all that I have just been +saying, that I am tormented by the fear of having impaired my +meaning in seeking to render it more clear. If the reader thinks +that the examples I have adduced to support my observations are +insufficient or ill-chosen - if he imagines that I have anywhere +exaggerated the encroachments of the supreme power, and, on the +other hand, that I have underrated the extent of the sphere which +still remains open to the exertions of individual independence, I +entreat him to lay down the book for a moment, and to turn his +mind to reflect for himself upon the subjects I have attempted to +explain. Let him attentively examine what is taking place in +France and in other countries - let him inquire of those about +him - let him search himself, and I am much mistaken if he does +not arrive, without my guidance, and by other paths, at the point +to which I have sought to lead him. He will perceive that for +the last half-century, centralization has everywhere been growing +up in a thousand different ways. Wars, revolutions, conquests, +have served to promote it: all men have labored to increase it. +In the course of the same period, during which men have succeeded +each other with singular rapidity at the head of affairs, their +notions, interests, and passions have been infinitely +diversified; but all have by some means or other sought to +centralize. This instinctive centralization has been the only +settled point amidst the extreme mutability of their lives and of +their thoughts. + +If the reader, after having investigated these details of +human affairs, will seek to survey the wide prospect as a whole, +he will be struck by the result. On the one hand the most +settled dynasties shaken or overthrown - the people everywhere +escaping by violence from the sway of their laws -abolishing or +limiting the authority of their rulers or their princes - the +nations, which are not in open revolution, restless at least, and +excited -all of them animated by the same spirit of revolt: and +on the other hand, at this very period of anarchy, and amongst +these untractable nations, the incessant increase of the +prerogative of the supreme government, becoming more centralized, +more adventurous, more absolute, more extensive - the people +perpetually falling under the control of the public +administration - led insensibly to surrender to it some further +portion of their individual independence, till the very men, who +from time to time upset a throne and trample on a race of kings, +bend more and more obsequiously to the slightest dictate of a +clerk. Thus two contrary revolutions appear in our days to be +going on; the one continually weakening the supreme power, the +other as continually strengthening it: at no other period in our +history has it appeared so weak or so strong. But upon a more +attentive examination of the state of the world, it appears that +these two revolutions are intimately connected together, that +they originate in the same source, and that after having followed +a separate course, they lead men at last to the same result. I +may venture once more to repeat what I have already said or +implied in several parts of this book: great care must be taken +not to confound the principle of equality itself with the +revolution which finally establishes that principle in the social +condition and the laws of a nation: here lies the reason of +almost all the phenomena which occasion our astonishment. All +the old political powers of Europe, the greatest as well as the +least, were founded in ages of aristocracy, and they more or less +represented or defended the principles of inequality and of +privilege. To make the novel wants and interests, which the +growing principle of equality introduced, preponderate in +government, our contemporaries had to overturn or to coerce the +established powers. This led them to make revolutions, and +breathed into many of them, that fierce love of disturbance and +independence, which all revolutions, whatever be their object, +always engender. I do not believe that there is a single country +in Europe in which the progress of equality has not been preceded +or followed by some violent changes in the state of property and +persons; and almost all these changes have been attended with +much anarchy and license, because they have been made by the +least civilized portion of the nation against that which is most +civilized. Hence proceeded the two-fold contrary tendencies +which I have just pointed out. As long as the democratic +revolution was glowing with heat, the men who were bent upon the +destruction of old aristocratic powers hostile to that +revolution, displayed a strong spirit of independence; but as the +victory or the principle of equality became more complete, they +gradually surrendered themselves to the propensities natural to +that condition of equality, and they strengthened and centralized +their governments. They had sought to be free in order to make +themselves equal; but in proportion as equality was more +established by the aid of freedom, freedom itself was thereby +rendered of more difficult attainment. + +These two states of a nation have sometimes been +contemporaneous: the last generation in France showed how a +people might organize a stupendous tyranny in the community, at +the very time when they were baffling the authority of the +nobility and braving the power of all kings - at once teaching +the world the way to win freedom, and the way to lose it. In our +days men see that constituted powers are dilapidated on every +side - they see all ancient authority gasping away, all ancient +barriers tottering to their fall, and the judgment of the wisest +is troubled at the sight: they attend only to the amazing +revolution which is taking place before their eyes, and they +imagine that mankind is about to fall into perpetual anarchy: if +they looked to the final consequences of this revolution, their +fears would perhaps assume a different shape. For myself, I +confess that I put no trust in the spirit of freedom which +appears to animate my contemporaries. I see well enough that the +nations of this age are turbulent, but I do not clearly perceive +that they are liberal; and I fear lest, at the close of those +perturbations which rock the base of thrones, the domination of +sovereigns may prove more powerful than it ever was before. + + +Book Four - Chapters VI,VII + +Chapter VI: What Sort Of Despotism Democratic Nations Have To +Fear + +I had remarked during my stay in the United States, that a +democratic state of society, similar to that of the Americans, +might offer singular facilities for the establishment of +despotism; and I perceived, upon my return to Europe, how much +use had already been made by most of our rulers, of the notions, +the sentiments, and the wants engendered by this same social +condition, for the purpose of extending the circle of their +power. This led me to think that the nations of Christendom +would perhaps eventually undergo some sort of oppression like +that which hung over several of the nations of the ancient world. +A more accurate examination of the subject, and five years of +further meditations, have not diminished my apprehensions, but +they have changed the object of them. No sovereign ever lived in +former ages so absolute or so powerful as to undertake to +administer by his own agency, and without the assistance of +intermediate powers, all the parts of a great empire: none ever +attempted to subject all his subjects indiscriminately to strict +uniformity of regulation, and personally to tutor and direct +every member of the community. The notion of such an undertaking +never occurred to the human mind; and if any man had conceived +it, the want of information, the imperfection of the +administrative system, and above all, the natural obstacles +caused by the inequality of conditions, would speedily have +checked the execution of so vast a design. When the Roman +emperors were at the height of their power, the different nations +of the empire still preserved manners and customs of great +diversity; although they were subject to the same monarch, most +of the provinces were separately administered; they abounded in +powerful and active municipalities; and although the whole +government of the empire was centred in the hands of the emperor +alone, and he always remained, upon occasions, the supreme +arbiter in all matters, yet the details of social life and +private occupations lay for the most part beyond his control. +The emperors possessed, it is true, an immense and unchecked +power, which allowed them to gratify all their whimsical tastes, +and to employ for that purpose the whole strength of the State. +They frequently abused that power arbitrarily to deprive their +subjects of property or of life: their tyranny was extremely +onerous to the few, but it did not reach the greater number; it +was fixed to some few main objects, and neglected the rest; it +was violent, but its range was limited. + +But it would seem that if despotism were to be established +amongst the democratic nations of our days, it might assume a +different character; it would be more extensive and more mild; it +would degrade men without tormenting them. I do not question, +that in an age of instruction and equality like our own, +sovereigns might more easily succeed in collecting all political +power into their own hands, and might interfere more habitually +and decidedly within the circle of private interests, than any +sovereign of antiquity could ever do. But this same principle of +equality which facilitates despotism, tempers its rigor. We have +seen how the manners of society become more humane and gentle in +proportion as men become more equal and alike. When no member of +the community has much power or much wealth, tyranny is, as it +were, without opportunities and a field of action. As all +fortunes are scanty, the passions of men are naturally +circumscribed - their imagination limited, their pleasures +simple. This universal moderation moderates the sovereign +himself, and checks within certain limits the inordinate extent +of his desires. + +Independently of these reasons drawn from the nature of the +state of society itself, I might add many others arising from +causes beyond my subject; but I shall keep within the limits I +have laid down to myself. Democratic governments may become +violent and even cruel at certain periods of extreme +effervescence or of great danger: but these crises will be rare +and brief. When I consider the petty passions of our +contemporaries, the mildness of their manners, the extent of +their education, the purity of their religion, the gentleness of +their morality, their regular and industrious habits, and the +restraint which they almost all observe in their vices no less +than in their virtues, I have no fear that they will meet with +tyrants in their rulers, but rather guardians. *a I think then +that the species of oppression by which democratic nations are +menaced is unlike anything which ever before existed in the +world: our contemporaries will find no prototype of it in their +memories. I am trying myself to choose an expression which will +accurately convey the whole of the idea I have formed of it, but +in vain; the old words "despotism" and "tyranny" are +inappropriate: the thing itself is new; and since I cannot name +it, I must attempt to define it. + +[Footnote a: See Appendix Y.] + +I seek to trace the novel features under which despotism may +appear in the world. The first thing that strikes the +observation is an innumerable multitude of men all equal and +alike, incessantly endeavoring to procure the petty and paltry +pleasures with which they glut their lives. Each of them, living +apart, is as a stranger to the fate of all the rest - his +children and his private friends constitute to him the whole of +mankind; as for the rest of his fellow-citizens, he is close to +them, but he sees them not - he touches them, but he feels them +not; he exists but in himself and for himself alone; and if his +kindred still remain to him, he may be said at any rate to have +lost his country. Above this race of men stands an immense and +tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their +gratifications, and to watch over their fate. That power is +absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like +the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object +was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks on the contrary to +keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the +people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but +rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly +labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter +of that happiness: it provides for their security, foresees and +supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages +their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the +descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances - what +remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the +trouble of living? Thus it every day renders the exercise of the +free agency of man less useful and less frequent; it +circumscribes the will within a narrower range, and gradually +robs a man of all the uses of himself. The principle of equality +has prepared men for these things: it has predisposed men to +endure them, and oftentimes to look on them as benefits. + +After having thus successively taken each member of the +community in its powerful grasp, and fashioned them at will, the +supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It +covers the surface of society with a net-work of small +complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most +original minds and the most energetic characters cannot +penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not +shattered, but softened, bent, and guided: men are seldom forced +by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting: +such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does +not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and +stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to be nothing +better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which +the government is the shepherd. I have always thought that +servitude of the regular, quiet, and gentle kind which I have +just described, might be combined more easily than is commonly +believed with some of the outward forms of freedom; and that it +might even establish itself under the wing of the sovereignty of +the people. Our contemporaries are constantly excited by two +conflicting passions; they want to be led, and they wish to +remain free: as they cannot destroy either one or the other of +these contrary propensities, they strive to satisfy them both at +once. They devise a sole, tutelary, and all-powerful form of +government, but elected by the people. They combine the +principle of centralization and that of popular sovereignty; this +gives them a respite; they console themselves for being in +tutelage by the reflection that they have chosen their own +guardians. Every man allows himself to be put in leading-strings, +because he sees that it is not a person or a class of persons, +but the people at large that holds the end of his chain. By this +system the people shake off their state of dependence just long +enough to select their master, and then relapse into it again. A +great many persons at the present day are quite contented with +this sort of compromise between administrative despotism and the +sovereignty of the people; and they think they have done enough +for the protection of individual freedom when they have +surrendered it to the power of the nation at large. This does not +satisfy me: the nature of him I am to obey signifies less to me +than the fact of extorted obedience. + +I do not however deny that a constitution of this kind +appears to me to be infinitely preferable to one, which, after +having concentrated all the powers of government, should vest +them in the hands of an irresponsible person or body of persons. +Of all the forms which democratic despotism could assume, the +latter would assuredly be the worst. When the sovereign is +elective, or narrowly watched by a legislature which is really +elective and independent, the oppression which he exercises over +individuals is sometimes greater, but it is always less +degrading; because every man, when he is oppressed and disarmed, +may still imagine, that whilst he yields obedience it is to +himself he yields it, and that it is to one of his own +inclinations that all the rest give way. In like manner I can +understand that when the sovereign represents the nation, and is +dependent upon the people, the rights and the power of which +every citizen is deprived, not only serve the head of the State, +but the State itself; and that private persons derive some return +from the sacrifice of their independence which they have made to +the public. To create a representation of the people in every +centralized country, is therefore, to diminish the evil which +extreme centralization may produce, but not to get rid of it. I +admit that by this means room is left for the intervention of +individuals in the more important affairs; but it is not the less +suppressed in the smaller and more private ones. It must not be +forgotten that it is especially dangerous to enslave men in the +minor details of life. For my own part, I should be inclined to +think freedom less necessary in great things than in little ones, +if it were possible to be secure of the one without possessing +the other. Subjection in minor affairs breaks out every day, and +is felt by the whole community indiscriminately. It does not +drive men to resistance, but it crosses them at every turn, till +they are led to surrender the exercise of their will. Thus their +spirit is gradually broken and their character enervated; whereas +that obedience, which is exacted on a few important but rare +occasions, only exhibits servitude at certain intervals, and +throws the burden of it upon a small number of men. It is in vain +to summon a people, which has been rendered so dependent on the +central power, to choose from time to time the representatives of +that power; this rare and brief exercise of their free choice, +however important it may be, will not prevent them from gradually +losing the faculties of thinking, feeling, and acting for +themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of +humanity. *b I add that they will soon become incapable of +exercising the great and only privilege which remains to them. +The democratic nations which have introduced freedom into their +political constitution, at the very time when they were +augmenting the despotism of their administrative constitution, +have been led into strange paradoxes. To manage those minor +affairs in which good sense is all that is wanted - the people +are held to be unequal to the task, but when the government of +the country is at stake, the people are invested with immense +powers; they are alternately made the playthings of their ruler, +and his masters - more than kings, and less than men. After +having exhausted all the different modes of election, without +finding one to suit their purpose, they are still amazed, and +still bent on seeking further; as if the evil they remark did not +originate in the constitution of the country far more than in +that of the electoral body. It is, indeed, difficult to conceive +how men who have entirely given up the habit of self-government +should succeed in making a proper choice of those by whom they +are to be governed; and no one will ever believe that a liberal, +wise, and energetic government can spring from the suffrages of a +subservient people. A constitution, which should be republican +in its head and ultra- monarchical in all its other parts, has +ever appeared to me to be a short-lived monster. The vices of +rulers and the ineptitude of the people would speedily bring +about its ruin; and the nation, weary of its representatives and +of itself, would create freer institutions, or soon return to +stretch itself at the feet of a single master. + +[Footnote b: See Appendix Z.] + +Chapter VII: Continuation Of The Preceding Chapters + +I believe that it is easier to establish an absolute and +despotic government amongst a people in which the conditions of +society are equal, than amongst any other; and I think that if +such a government were once established amongst such a people, it +would not only oppress men, but would eventually strip each of +them of several of the highest qualities of humanity. Despotism +therefore appears to me peculiarly to be dreaded in democratic +ages. I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times, but +in the time in which we live I am ready to worship it. On the +other hand, I am persuaded that all who shall attempt, in the +ages upon which we are entering, to base freedom upon +aristocratic privilege, will fail - that all who shall attempt to +draw and to retain authority within a single class, will fail. +At the present day no ruler is skilful or strong enough to found +a despotism, by re-establishing permanent distinctions of rank +amongst his subjects: no legislator is wise or powerful enough to +preserve free institutions, if he does not take equality for his +first principle and his watchword. All those of our +contemporaries who would establish or secure the independence and +the dignity of their fellow-men, must show themselves the friends +of equality; and the only worthy means of showing themselves as +such, is to be so: upon this depends the success of their holy +enterprise. Thus the question is not how to reconstruct +aristocratic society, but how to make liberty proceed out of that +democratic state of society in which God has placed us. + +These two truths appear to me simple, clear, and fertile in +consequences; and they naturally lead me to consider what kind of +free government can be established amongst a people in which +social conditions are equal. It results from the very +constitution of democratic nations and from their necessities, +that the power of government amongst them must be more uniform, +more centralized, more extensive, more searching, and more +efficient than in other countries. Society at large is naturally +stronger and more active, individuals more subordinate and weak; +the former does more, the latter less; and this is inevitably the +case. It is not therefore to be expected that the range of +private independence will ever be as extensive in democratic as +in aristocratic countries - nor is this to be desired; for, +amongst aristocratic nations, the mass is often sacrificed to the +individual, and the prosperity of the greater number to the +greatness of the few. It is both necessary and desirable that +the government of a democratic people should be active and +powerful: and our object should not be to render it weak or +indolent, but solely to prevent it from abusing its aptitude and +its strength. + +The circumstance which most contributed to secure the +independence of private persons in aristocratic ages, was, that +the supreme power did not affect to take upon itself alone the +government and administration of the community; those functions +were necessarily partially left to the members of the +aristocracy: so that as the supreme power was always divided, it +never weighed with its whole weight and in the same manner on +each individual. Not only did the government not perform +everything by its immediate agency; but as most of the agents who +discharged its duties derived their power not from the State, but +from the circumstance of their birth, they were not perpetually +under its control. The government could not make or unmake them +in an instant, at pleasure, nor bend them in strict uniformity to +its slightest caprice - this was an additional guarantee of +private independence. I readily admit that recourse cannot be had +to the same means at the present time: but I discover certain +democratic expedients which may be substituted for them. Instead +of vesting in the government alone all the administrative powers +of which corporations and nobles have been deprived, a portion of +them may be entrusted to secondary public bodies, temporarily +composed of private citizens: thus the liberty of private persons +will be more secure, and their equality will not be diminished. + +The Americans, who care less for words than the French, +still designate by the name of "county" the largest of their +administrative districts: but the duties of the count or lord- +lieutenant are in part performed by a provincial assembly. At a +period of equality like our own it would be unjust and +unreasonable to institute hereditary officers; but there is +nothing to prevent us from substituting elective public officers +to a certain extent. Election is a democratic expedient which +insures the independence of the public officer in relation to the +government, as much and even more than hereditary rank can insure +it amongst aristocratic nations. Aristocratic countries abound +in wealthy and influential persons who are competent to provide +for themselves, and who cannot be easily or secretly oppressed: +such persons restrain a government within general habits of +moderation and reserve. I am very well aware that democratic +countries contain no such persons naturally; but something +analogous to them may be created by artificial means. I firmly +believe that an aristocracy cannot again be founded in the world; +but I think that private citizens, by combining together, may +constitute bodies of great wealth, influence, and strength, +corresponding to the persons of an aristocracy. By this means +many of the greatest political advantages of aristocracy would be +obtained without its injustice or its dangers. An association +for political, commercial, or manufacturing purposes, or even for +those of science and literature, is a powerful and enlightened +member of the community, which cannot be disposed of at pleasure, +or oppressed without remonstrance; and which, by defending its +own rights against the encroachments of the government, saves the +common liberties of the country. + +In periods of aristocracy every man is always bound so +closely to many of his fellow-citizens, that he cannot be +assailed without their coming to his assistance. In ages of +equality every man naturally stands alone; he has no hereditary +friends whose co- operation he may demand - no class upon whose +sympathy he may rely: he is easily got rid of, and he is trampled +on with impunity. At the present time, an oppressed member of +the community has therefore only one method of self-defence - he +may appeal to the whole nation; and if the whole nation is deaf +to his complaint, he may appeal to mankind: the only means he has +of making this appeal is by the press. Thus the liberty of the +press is infinitely more valuable amongst democratic nations than +amongst all others; it is the only cure for the evils which +equality may produce. Equality sets men apart and weakens them; +but the press places a powerful weapon within every man's reach, +which the weakest and loneliest of them all may use. Equality +deprives a man of the support of his connections; but the press +enables him to summon all his fellow- countrymen and all his +fellow-men to his assistance. Printing has accelerated the +progress of equality, and it is also one of its best correctives. + +I think that men living in aristocracies may, strictly +speaking, do without the liberty of the press: but such is not +the case with those who live in democratic countries. To protect +their personal independence I trust not to great political +assemblies, to parliamentary privilege, or to the assertion of +popular sovereignty. All these things may, to a certain extent, +be reconciled with personal servitude - but that servitude cannot +be complete if the press is free: the press is the chiefest +democratic instrument of freedom. + +Something analogous may be said of the judicial power. It +is a part of the essence of judicial power to attend to private +interests, and to fix itself with predilection on minute objects +submitted to its observation; another essential quality of +judicial power is never to volunteer its assistance to the +oppressed, but always to be at the disposal of the humblest of +those who solicit it; their complaint, however feeble they may +themselves be, will force itself upon the ear of justice and +claim redress, for this is inherent in the very constitution of +the courts of justice. A power of this kind is therefore +peculiarly adapted to the wants of freedom, at a time when the +eye and finger of the government are constantly intruding into +the minutest details of human actions, and when private persons +are at once too weak to protect themselves, and too much isolated +for them to reckon upon the assistance of their fellows. The +strength of the courts of law has ever been the greatest security +which can be offered to personal independence; but this is more +especially the case in democratic ages: private rights and +interests are in constant danger, if the judicial power does not +grow more extensive and more strong to keep pace with the growing +equality of conditions. + +Equality awakens in men several propensities extremely +dangerous to freedom, to which the attention of the legislator +ought constantly to be directed. I shall only remind the reader +of the most important amongst them. Men living in democratic ages +do not readily comprehend the utility of forms: they feel an +instinctive contempt for them - I have elsewhere shown for what +reasons. Forms excite their contempt and often their hatred; as +they commonly aspire to none but easy and present gratifications, +they rush onwards to the object of their desires, and the +slightest delay exasperates them. This same temper, carried with +them into political life, renders them hostile to forms, which +perpetually retard or arrest them in some of their projects. Yet +this objection which the men of democracies make to forms is the +very thing which renders forms so useful to freedom; for their +chief merit is to serve as a barrier between the strong and the +weak, the ruler and the people, to retard the one, and give the +other time to look about him. Forms become more necessary in +proportion as the government becomes more active and more +powerful, whilst private persons are becoming more indolent and +more feeble. Thus democratic nations naturally stand more in need +of forms than other nations, and they naturally respect them +less. This deserves most serious attention. Nothing is more +pitiful than the arrogant disdain of most of our contemporaries +for questions of form; for the smallest questions of form have +acquired in our time an importance which they never had before: +many of the greatest interests of mankind depend upon them. I +think that if the statesmen of aristocratic ages could sometimes +contemn forms with impunity, and frequently rise above them, the +statesmen to whom the government of nations is now confided ought +to treat the very least among them with respect, and not neglect +them without imperious necessity. In aristocracies the +observance of forms was superstitious; amongst us they ought to +be kept with a deliberate and enlightened deference. + +Another tendency, which is extremely natural to democratic +nations and extremely dangerous, is that which leads them ta +despise and undervalue the rights of private persons. The +attachment which men feel to a right, and the respect which they +display for it, is generally proportioned to its importance, or +to the length of time during which they have enjoyed it. The +rights of private persons amongst democratic nations are commonly +of small importance, of recent growth, and extremely precarious - +the consequence is that they are often sacrificed without regret, +and almost always violated without remorse. But it happens that +at the same period and amongst the same nations in which men +conceive a natural contempt for the rights of private persons, +the rights of society at large are naturally extended and +consolidated: in other words, men become less attached to private +rights at the very time at which it would be most necessary to +retain and to defend what little remains of them. It is +therefore most especially in the present democratic ages, that +the true friends of the liberty and the greatness of man ought +constantly to be on the alert to prevent the power of government +from lightly sacrificing the private rights of individuals to the +general execution of its designs. At such times no citizen is so +obscure that it is not very dangerous to allow him to be +oppressed - no private rights are so unimportant that they can be +surrendered with impunity to the caprices of a government. The +reason is plain: - if the private right of an individual is +violated at a time when the human mind is fully impressed with +the importance and the sanctity of such rights, the injury done +is confined to the individual whose right is infringed; but to +violate such a right, at the present day, is deeply to corrupt +the manners of the nation and to put the whole community in +jeopardy, because the very notion of this kind of right +constantly tends amongst us to be impaired and lost. + +There are certain habits, certain notions, and certain vices +which are peculiar to a state of revolution, and which a +protracted revolution cannot fail to engender and to propagate, +whatever be, in other respects, its character, its purpose, and +the scene on which it takes place. When any nation has, within a +short space of time, repeatedly varied its rulers, its opinions, +and its laws, the men of whom it is composed eventually contract +a taste for change, and grow accustomed to see all changes +effected by sudden violence. Thus they naturally conceive a +contempt for forms which daily prove ineffectual; and they do not +support without impatience the dominion of rules which they have +so often seen infringed. As the ordinary notions of equity and +morality no longer suffice to explain and justify all the +innovations daily begotten by a revolution, the principle of +public utility is called in, the doctrine of political necessity +is conjured up, and men accustom themselves to sacrifice private +interests without scruple, and to trample on the rights of +individuals in order more speedily to accomplish any public +purpose. + +These habits and notions, which I shall call revolutionary, +because all revolutions produce them, occur in aristocracies just +as much as amongst democratic nations; but amongst the former +they are often less powerful and always less lasting, because +there they meet with habits, notions, defects, and impediments, +which counteract them: they consequently disappear as soon as the +revolution is terminated, and the nation reverts to its former +political courses. This is not always the case in democratic +countries, in which it is ever to be feared that revolutionary +tendencies, becoming more gentle and more regular, without +entirely disappearing from society, will be gradually transformed +into habits of subjection to the administrative authority of the +government. I know of no countries in which revolutions re more +dangerous than in democratic countries; because, independently of +the accidental and transient evils which must always attend them, +they may always create some evils which are permanent and +unending. I believe that there are such things as justifiable +resistance and legitimate rebellion: I do not therefore assert, +as an absolute proposition, that the men of democratic ages ought +never to make revolutions; but I think that they have especial +reason to hesitate before they embark in them, and that it is far +better to endure many grievances in their present condition than +to have recourse to so perilous a remedy. + +I shall conclude by one general idea, which comprises not +only all the particular ideas which have been expressed in the +present chapter, but also most of those which it is the object of +this book to treat of. In the ages of aristocracy which preceded +our own, there were private persons of great power, and a social +authority of extreme weakness. The outline of society itself was +not easily discernible, and constantly confounded with the +different powers by which the community was ruled. The principal +efforts of the men of those times were required to strengthen, +aggrandize, and secure the supreme power; and on the other hand, +to circumscribe individual independence within narrower limits, +and to subject private interests to the interests of the public. +Other perils and other cares await the men of our age. Amongst +the greater part of modern nations, the government, whatever may +be its origin, its constitution, or its name, has become almost +omnipotent, and private persons are falling, more and more, into +the lowest stage of weakness and dependence. In olden society +everything was different; unity and uniformity were nowhere to be +met with. In modern society everything threatens to become so +much alike, that the peculiar characteristics of each individual +will soon be entirely lost in the general aspect of the world. +Our forefathers were ever prone to make an improper use of the +notion, that private rights ought to be respected; and we are +naturally prone on the other hand to exaggerate the idea that the +interest of a private individual ought always to bend to the +interest of the many. The political world is metamorphosed: new +remedies must henceforth be sought for new disorders. To lay +down extensive, but distinct and settled limits, to the action of +the government; to confer certain rights on private persons, and +to secure to them the undisputed enjoyment of those rights; to +enable individual man to maintain whatever independence, +strength, and original power he still possesses; to raise him by +the side of society at large, and uphold him in that position - +these appear to me the main objects of legislators in the ages +upon which we are now entering. It would seem as if the rulers +of our time sought only to use men in order to make things great; +I wish that they would try a little more to make great men; that +they would set less value on the work, and more upon the workman; +that they would never forget that a nation cannot long remain +strong when every man belonging to it is individually weak, and +that no form or combination of social polity has yet been +devised, to make an energetic people out of a community of +pusillanimous and enfeebled citizens. + +I trace amongst our contemporaries two contrary notions +which are equally injurious. One set of men can perceive nothing +in the principle of equality but the anarchical tendencies which +it engenders: they dread their own free agency - they fear +themselves. Other thinkers, less numerous but more enlightened, +take a different view: besides that track which starts from the +principle of equality to terminate in anarchy, they have at last +discovered the road which seems to lead men to inevitable +servitude. They shape their souls beforehand to this necessary +condition; and, despairing of remaining free, they already do +obeisance in their hearts to the master who is soon to appear. +The former abandon freedom, because they think it dangerous; the +latter, because they hold it to be impossible. If I had +entertained the latter conviction, I should not have written this +book, but I should have confined myself to deploring in secret +the destiny of mankind. I have sought to point out the dangers to +which the principle of equality exposes the independence of man, +because I firmly believe that these dangers are the most +formidable, as well as the least foreseen, of all those which +futurity holds in store: but I do not think that they are +insurmountable. The men who live in the democratic ages upon +which we are entering have naturally a taste for independence: +they are naturally impatient of regulation, and they are wearied +by the permanence even of the condition they themselves prefer. +They are fond of power; but they are prone to despise and hate +those who wield it, and they easily elude its grasp by their own +mobility and insignificance. These propensities will always +manifest themselves, because they originate in the groundwork of +society, which will undergo no change: for a long time they will +prevent the establishment of any despotism, and they will furnish +fresh weapons to each succeeding generation which shall struggle +in favor of the liberty of mankind. Let us then look forward to +the future with that salutary fear which makes men keep watch and +ward for freedom, not with that faint and idle terror which +depresses and enervates the heart. + + +Book Four - Chapter VIII + +Chapter VIII: General Survey Of The Subject + +Before I close forever the theme that has detained me so +long, I would fain take a parting survey of all the various +characteristics of modern society, and appreciate at last the +general influence to be exercised by the principle of equality +upon the fate of mankind; but I am stopped by the difficulty of +the task, and in presence of so great an object my sight is +troubled, and my reason fails. The society of the modern world +which I have sought to delineate, and which I seek to judge, has +but just come into existence. Time has not yet shaped it into +perfect form: the great revolution by which it has been created +is not yet over: and amidst the occurrences of our time, it is +almost impossible to discern what will pass away with the +revolution itself, and what will survive its close. The world +which is rising into existence is still half encumbered by the +remains of the world which is waning into decay; and amidst the +vast perplexity of human affairs, none can say how much of +ancient institutions and former manners will remain, or how much +will completely disappear. Although the revolution which is +taking place in the social condition, the laws, the opinions, and +the feelings of men, is still very far from being terminated, yet +its results already admit of no comparison with anything that the +world has ever before witnessed. I go back from age to age up to +the remotest antiquity; but I find no parallel to what is +occurring before my eyes: as the past has ceased to throw its +light upon the future, the mind of man wanders in obscurity. +Nevertheless, in the midst of a prospect so wide, so novel +and so confused, some of the more prominent characteristics may +already be discerned and pointed out. The good things and the +evils of life are more equally distributed in the world: great +wealth tends to disappear, the number of small fortunes to +increase; desires and gratifications are multiplied, but +extraordinary prosperity and irremediable penury are alike +unknown. The sentiment of ambition is universal, but the scope +of ambition is seldom vast. Each individual stands apart in +solitary weakness; but society at large is active, provident, and +powerful: the performances of private persons are insignificant, +those of the State immense. There is little energy of character; +but manners are mild, and laws humane. If there be few instances +of exalted heroism or of virtues of the highest, brightest, and +purest temper, men's habits are regular, violence is rare, and +cruelty almost unknown. Human existence becomes longer, and +property more secure: life is not adorned with brilliant +trophies, but it is extremely easy and tranquil. Few pleasures +are either very refined or very coarse; and highly polished +manners are as uncommon as great brutality of tastes. Neither +men of great learning, nor extremely ignorant communities, are to +be met with; genius becomes more rare, information more diffused. +The human mind is impelled by the small efforts of all mankind +combined together, not by the strenuous activity of certain men. +There is less perfection, but more abundance, in all the +productions of the arts. The ties of race, of rank, and of +country are relaxed; the great bond of humanity is strengthened. +If I endeavor to find out the most general and the most prominent +of all these different characteristics, I shall have occasion to +perceive, that what is taking place in men's fortunes manifests +itself under a thousand other forms. Almost all extremes are +softened or blunted: all that was most prominent is superseded by +some mean term, at once less lofty and less low, less brilliant +and less obscure, than what before existed in the world. + +When I survey this countless multitude of beings, shaped in +each other's likeness, amidst whom nothing rises and nothing +falls, the sight of such universal uniformity saddens and chills +me, and I am tempted to regret that state of society which has +ceased to be. When the world was full of men of great importance +and extreme insignificance, of great wealth and extreme poverty, +of great learning and extreme ignorance, I turned aside from the +latter to fix my observation on the former alone, who gratified +my sympathies. But I admit that this gratification arose from my +own weakness: it is because I am unable to see at once all that +is around me, that I am allowed thus to select and separate the +objects of my predilection from among so many others. Such is not +the case with that almighty and eternal Being whose gaze +necessarily includes the whole of created things, and who surveys +distinctly, though at once, mankind and man. We may naturally +believe that it is not the singular prosperity of the few, but +the greater well-being of all, which is most pleasing in the +sight of the Creator and Preserver of men. What appears to me to +be man's decline, is to His eye advancement; what afflicts me is +acceptable to Him. A state of equality is perhaps less elevated, +but it is more just; and its justice constitutes its greatness +and its beauty. I would strive then to raise myself to this +point of the divine contemplation, and thence to view and to +judge the concerns of men. + +No man, upon the earth, can as yet affirm absolutely and +generally, that the new state of the world is better than its +former one; but it is already easy to perceive that this state is +different. Some vices and some virtues were so inherent in the +constitution of an aristocratic nation, and are so opposite to +the character of a modern people, that they can never be infused +into it; some good tendencies and some bad propensities which +were unknown to the former, are natural to the latter; some ideas +suggest themselves spontaneously to the imagination of the one, +which are utterly repugnant to the mind of the other. They are +like two distinct orders of human beings, each of which has its +own merits and defects, its own advantages and its own evils. +Care must therefore be taken not to judge the state of society, +which is now coming into existence, by notions derived from a +state of society which no longer exists; for as these states of +society are exceedingly different in their structure, they cannot +be submitted to a just or fair comparison. It would be scarcely +more reasonable to require of our own contemporaries the peculiar +virtues which originated in the social condition of their +forefathers, since that social condition is itself fallen, and +has drawn into one promiscuous ruin the good and evil which +belonged to it. + +But as yet these things are imperfectly understood. I find +that a great number of my contemporaries undertake to make a +certain selection from amongst the institutions, the opinions, +and the ideas which originated in the aristocratic constitution +of society as it was: a portion of these elements they would +willingly relinquish, but they would keep the remainder and +transplant them into their new world. I apprehend that such men +are wasting their time and their strength in virtuous but +unprofitable efforts. The object is not to retain the peculiar +advantages which the inequality of conditions bestows upon +mankind, but to secure the new benefits which equality may +supply. We have not to seek to make ourselves like our +progenitors, but to strive to work out that species of greatness +and happiness which is our own. For myself, who now look back +from this extreme limit of my task, and discover from afar, but +at once, the various objects which have attracted my more +attentive investigation upon my way, I am full of apprehensions +and of hopes. I perceive mighty dangers which it is possible to +ward off - mighty evils which may be avoided or alleviated; and I +cling with a firmer hold to the belief, that for democratic +nations to be virtuous and prosperous they require but to will +it. I am aware that many of my contemporaries maintain that +nations are never their own masters here below, and that they +necessarily obey some insurmountable and unintelligent power, +arising from anterior events, from their race, or from the +soil and climate of their country. Such principles are false and +cowardly; such principles can never produce aught but feeble men +and pusillanimous nations. Providence has not created mankind +entirely independent or entirely free. It is true that around +every man a fatal circle is traced, beyond which he cannot pass; +but within the wide verge of that circle he is powerful and free: +as it is with man, so with communities. The nations of our time +cannot prevent the conditions of men from becoming equal; but it +depends upon themselves whether the principle of equality is to +lead them to servitude or freedom, to knowledge or barbarism, to +prosperity or to wretchedness. + + +Part I. + +Appendix A + +For information concerning all the countries of the West +which have not been visited by Europeans, consult the account of +two expeditions undertaken at the expense of Congress by Major +Long. This traveller particularly mentions, on the subject of +the great American desert, that a line may be drawn nearly +parallel to the 20th degree of longitude *a (meridian of +Washington), beginning from the Red River and ending at the River +Platte. From this imaginary line to the Rocky Mountains, which +bound the valley of the Mississippi on the west, lie immense +plains, which are almost entirely covered with sand, incapable of +cultivation, or scattered over with masses of granite. In summer, +these plains are quite destitute of water, and nothing is to be +seen on them but herds of buffaloes and wild horses. Some hordes +of Indians are also found there, but in no great numbers. Major +Long was told that in travelling northwards from the River Platte +you find the same desert lying constantly on the left; but he was +unable to ascertain the truth of this report. However worthy of +confidence may be the narrative of Major Long, it must be +remembered that he only passed through the country of which he +speaks, without deviating widely from the line which he had +traced out for his journey. + +[Footnote a: The 20th degree of longitude, according to the +meridian of Washington, agrees very nearly with the 97th degree +on the meridian of Greenwich.] + +Appendix B + +South America, in the region between the tropics, produces +an incredible profusion of climbing plants, of which the flora of +the Antilles alone presents us with forty different species. +Among the most graceful of these shrubs is the passion-flower, +which, according to Descourtiz, grows with such luxuriance in the +Antilles, as to climb trees by means of the tendrils with which +it is provided, and form moving bowers of rich and elegant +festoons, decorated with blue and purple flowers, and fragrant +with perfume. The Mimosa scandens (Acacia a grandes gousses) is +a creeper of enormous and rapid growth, which climbs from tree to +tree, and sometimes covers more than half a league. + +Appendix C + +The languages which are spoken by the Indians of America, +from the Pole to Cape Horn, are said to be all formed upon the +same model, and subject to the same grammatical rules; whence it +may fairly be concluded that all the Indian nations sprang from +the same stock. Each tribe of the American continent speaks a +different dialect; but the number of languages, properly so +called, is very small, a fact which tends to prove that the +nations of the New World had not a very remote origin. Moreover, +the languages of America have a great degree of regularity, from +which it seems probable that the tribes which employ them had not +undergone any great revolutions, or been incorporated voluntarily +or by constraint, with foreign nations. For it is generally the +union of several languages into one which produces grammatical +irregularities. It is not long since the American languages, +especially those of the North, first attracted the serious +attention of philologists, when the discovery was made that this +idiom of a barbarous people was the product of a complicated +system of ideas and very learned combinations. These languages +were found to be very rich, and great pains had been taken at +their formation to render them agreeable to the ear. The +grammatical system of the Americans differs from all others in +several points, but especially in the following: - +Some nations of Europe, amongst others the Germans, have the +power of combining at pleasure different expressions, and thus +giving a complex sense to certain words. The Indians have given +a most surprising extension to this power, so as to arrive at the +means of connecting a great number of ideas with a single term. +This will be easily understood with the help of an example quoted +by Mr. Duponceau, in the "Memoirs of the Philosophical Society of +America": A Delaware woman playing with a cat or a young dog, +says this writer, is heard to pronounce the word kuligatschis, +which is thus composed: k is the sign of the second person, and +signifies "thou" or "thy"; uli is a part of the word wulit, which +signifies "beautiful," "pretty"; gat is another fragment, of the +word wichgat, which means "paw"; and, lastly, schis is a +diminutive giving the idea of smallness. Thus in one word the +Indian woman has expressed "Thy pretty little paw." Take another +example of the felicity with which the savages of America have +composed their words. A young man of Delaware is called pilape. +This word is formed from pilsit, "chaste," "innocent"; and +lenape, "man"; viz., "man in his purity and innocence." This +facility of combining words is most remarkable in the strange +formation of their verbs. The most complex action is often +expressed by a single verb, which serves to convey all the shades +of an idea by the modification of its construction. Those who +may wish to examine more in detail this subject, which I have +only glanced at superficially, should read: - + +1. The correspondence of Mr. Duponceau and the Rev. Mr. +Hecwelder relative to the Indian languages, which is to be found +in the first volume of the "Memoirs of the Philosophical Society +of America," published at Philadelphia, 1819, by Abraham Small; +vol. i. p. 356-464. + +2. The "Grammar of the Delaware or the Lenape Language," by +Geiberger, and the preface of Mr. Duponceau. All these are in +the same collection, vol. iii. + +3. An excellent account of these works, which is at the end +of the sixth volume of the American Encyclopaedia. + +Appendix D + +See in Charlevoix, vol. i. p. 235, the history of the first +war which the French inhabitants of Canada carried on, in 1610, +against the Iroquois. The latter, armed with bows and arrows, +offered a desperate resistance to the French and their allies. +Charlevoix is not a great painter, yet he exhibits clearly +enough, in this narrative, the contrast between the European +manners and those of savages, as well as the different way in +which the two races of men understood the sense of honor. When +the French, says he, seized upon the beaver-skins which covered +the Indians who had fallen, the Hurons, their allies, were +greatly offended at this proceeding; but without hesitation they +set to work in their usual manner, inflicting horrid cruelties +upon the prisoners, and devouring one of those who had been +killed, which made the Frenchmen shudder. The barbarians prided +themselves upon a scrupulousness which they were surprised at not +finding in our nation, and could not understand that there was +less to reprehend in the stripping of dead bodies than in the +devouring of their flesh like wild beasts. Charlevoix, in +another place (vol. i. p. 230), thus describes the first torture +of which Champlain was an eyewitness, and the return of the +Hurons into their own village. Having proceeded about eight +leagues, says he, our allies halted; and having singled out one +of their captives, they reproached him with all the cruelties +which he had practised upon the warriors of their nation who had +fallen into his hands, and told him that he might expect to be +treated in like manner; adding, that if he had any spirit he +would prove it by singing. He immediately chanted forth his +death-song, and then his war-song, and all the songs he knew, +"but in a very mournful strain," says Champlain, who was not then +aware that all savage music has a melancholy character. The +tortures which succeeded, accompanied by all the horrors which we +shall mention hereafter, terrified the French, who made every +effort to put a stop to them, but in vain. The following night, +one of the Hurons having dreamt that they were pursued, the +retreat was changed to a real flight, and the savages never +stopped until they were out of the reach of danger. The moment +they perceived the cabins of their own village, they cut +themselves long sticks, to which they fastened the scalps which +had fallen to their share, and carried them in triumph. At this +sight, the women swam to the canoes, where they received the +bloody scalps from the hands of their husbands, and tied them +round their necks. The warriors offered one of these horrible +trophies to Champlain; they also presented him with some bows and +arrows - the only spoils of the Iroquois which they had ventured +to seize - entreating him to show them to the King of France. +Champlain lived a whole winter quite alone among these +barbarians, without being under any alarm for his person or +property. + +Appendix E + +Although the Puritanical strictness which presided over the +establishment of the English colonies in America is now much +relaxed, remarkable traces of it are still found in their habits +and their laws. In 1792, at the very time when the +anti-Christian republic of France began its ephemeral existence, +the legislative body of Massachusetts promulgated the following +law, to compel the citizens to observe the Sabbath. We give the +preamble and the principal articles of this law, which is worthy +of the reader's attention: "Whereas," says the legislator, "the +observation of the Sunday is an affair of public interest; +inasmuch as it produces a necessary suspension of labor, leads +men to reflect upon the duties of life, and the errors to which +human nature is liable, and provides for the public and private +worship of God, the creator and governor of the universe, and for +the performance of such acts of charity as are the ornament and +comfort of Christian societies: - Whereas irreligious or +light-minded persons, forgetting the duties which the Sabbath +imposes, and the benefits which these duties confer on society, +are known to profane its sanctity, by following their pleasures +or their affairs; this way of acting being contrary to their own +interest as Christians, and calculated to annoy those who do not +follow their example; being also of great injury to society at +large, by spreading a taste for dissipation and dissolute +manners; Be it enacted and ordained by the Governor, Council, and +Representatives convened in General Court of Assembly, that all +and every person and persons shall on that day carefully apply +themselves to the duties of religion and piety, that no tradesman +or labourer shall exercise his ordinary calling, and that no game +or recreation shall be used on the Lord's Day, upon pain of +forfeiting ten shillings. + +"That no one shall travel on that day, or any part thereof, +under pain of forfeiting twenty shillings; that no vessel shall +leave a harbour of the colony; that no persons shall keep outside +the meeting-house during the time of public worship, or profane +the time by playing or talking, on penalty of five shillings. + +"Public-houses shall not entertain any other than strangers +or lodgers, under penalty of five shillings for every person +found drinking and abiding therein. + +"Any person in health, who, without sufficient reason, shall +omit to worship God in public during three months, shall be +condemned to a fine of ten shillings. + +"Any person guilty of misbehaviour in a place of public +worship, shall be fined from five to forty shillings. + +"These laws are to be enforced by the tything-men of each +township, who have authority to visit public-houses on the +Sunday. The innkeeper who shall refuse them admittance, shall be +fined forty shillings for such offence. + +"The tything-men are to stop travellers, and require of them +their reason for being on the road on Sunday; anyone refusing to +answer, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding five +pounds sterling. If the reason given by the traveller be not +deemed by the tything-man sufficient, he may bring the traveller +before the justice of the peace of the district." (Law of March +8, 1792; General Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 410.) + +On March 11, 1797, a new law increased the amount of fines, +half of which was to be given to the informer. (Same collection, +vol. ii. p. 525.) On February 16, 1816, a new law confirmed these +same measures. (Same collection, vol. ii. p. 405.) Similar +enactments exist in the laws of the State of New York, revised in +1827 and 1828. (See Revised Statutes, Part I. chapter 20, p. +675.) In these it is declared that no one is allowed on the +Sabbath to sport, to fish, to play at games, or to frequent +houses where liquor is sold. No one can travel, except in case +of necessity. And this is not the only trace which the religious +strictness and austere manners of the first emigrants have left +behind them in the American laws. In the Revised Statutes of the +State of New York, vol. i. p. 662, is the following clause: - + +"Whoever shall win or lose in the space of twenty-four +hours, by gaming or betting, the sum of twenty-five dollars, +shall be found guilty of a misdemeanour, and upon conviction +shall be condemned to pay a fine equal to at least five times the +value of the sum lost or won; which shall be paid to the +inspector of the poor of the township. He that loses twenty-five +dollars or more may bring an action to recover them; and if he +neglects to do so the inspector of the poor may prosecute the +winner, and oblige him to pay into the poor's box both the sum he +has gained and three times as much besides." + +The laws we quote from are of recent date; but they are +unintelligible without going back to the very origin of the +colonies. I have no doubt that in our days the penal part of +these laws is very rarely applied. Laws preserve their +inflexibility, long after the manners of a nation have yielded to +the influence of time. It is still true, however, that nothing +strikes a foreigner on his arrival in America more forcibly than +the regard paid to the Sabbath. There is one, in particular, of +the large American cities, in which all social movements begin to +be suspended even on Saturday evening. You traverse its streets +at the hour at which you expect men in the middle of life to be +engaged in business, and young people in pleasure; and you meet +with solitude and silence. Not only have all ceased to work, but +they appear to have ceased to exist. Neither the movements of +industry are heard, nor the accents of joy, nor even the confused +murmur which arises from the midst of a great city. Chains are +hung across the streets in the neighborhood of the churches; the +half-closed shutters of the houses scarcely admit a ray of sun +into the dwellings of the citizens. Now and then you perceive a +solitary individual who glides silently along the deserted +streets and lanes. Next day, at early dawn, the rolling of +carriages, the noise of hammers, the cries of the population, +begin to make themselves heard again. The city is awake. An +eager crowd hastens towards the resort of commerce and industry; +everything around you bespeaks motion, bustle, hurry. A feverish +activity succeeds to the lethargic stupor of yesterday; you might +almost suppose that they had but one day to acquire wealth and to +enjoy it. + +Appendix F + +It is unnecessary for me to say, that in the chapter which +has just been read, I have not had the intention of giving a +history of America. My only object was to enable the reader to +appreciate the influence which the opinions and manners of the +first emigrants had exercised upon the fate of the different +colonies, and of the Union in general. I have therefore confined +myself to the quotation of a few detached fragments. I do not +know whether I am deceived, but it appears to me that, by +pursuing the path which I have merely pointed out, it would be +easy to present such pictures of the American republics as would +not be unworthy the attention of the public, and could not fail +to suggest to the statesman matter for reflection. Not being +able to devote myself to this labor, I am anxious to render it +easy to others; and, for this purpose, I subjoin a short +catalogue and analysis of the works which seem to me the most +important to consult. + +At the head of the general documents which it would be +advantageous to examine I place the work entitled "An Historical +Collection of State Papers, and other authentic Documents, +intended as Materials for a History of the United States of +America," by Ebenezer Hasard. The first volume of this +compilation, which was printed at Philadelphia in 1792, contains +a literal copy of all the charters granted by the Crown of +England to the emigrants, as well as the principal acts of the +colonial governments, during the commencement of their existence. +Amongst other authentic documents, we here find a great many +relating to the affairs of New England and Virginia during this +period. The second volume is almost entirely devoted to the acts +of the Confederation of 1643. This federal compact, which was +entered into by the colonies of New England with the view of +resisting the Indians, was the first instance of union afforded +by the Anglo-Americans. There were besides many other +confederations of the same nature, before the famous one of 1776, +which brought about the independence of the colonies. + +Each colony has, besides, its own historic monuments, some +of which are extremely curious; beginning with Virginia, the +State which was first peopled. The earliest historian of Virginia +was its founder, Captain John Smith. Captain Smith has left us an +octavo volume, entitled "The generall Historie of Virginia and +New England, by Captain John Smith, sometymes Governor in those +Countryes, and Admirall of New England"; printed at London in +1627. The work is adorned with curious maps and engravings of +the time when it appeared; the narrative extends from the year +1584 to 1626. Smith's work is highly and deservedly esteemed. +The author was one of the most celebrated adventurers of a period +of remarkable adventure; his book breathes that ardor for +discovery, that spirit of enterprise, which characterized the men +of his time, when the manners of chivalry were united to zeal for +commerce, and made subservient to the acquisition of wealth. But +Captain Smith is most remarkable for uniting to the virtues which +characterized his contemporaries several qualities to which they +were generally strangers; his style is simple and concise, his +narratives bear the stamp of truth, and his descriptions are free +from false ornament. This author throws most valuable light upon +the state and condition of the Indians at the time when North +America was first discovered. + +The second historian to consult is Beverley, who commences +his narrative with the year 1585, and ends it with 1700. The +first part of his book contains historical documents, properly so +called, relative to the infancy of the colony. The second +affords a most curious picture of the state of the Indians at +this remote period. The third conveys very clear ideas +concerning the manners, social conditions, laws, and political +customs of the Virginians in the author's lifetime. Beverley was +a native of Virginia, which occasions him to say at the beginning +of his book, that he entreats his readers not to exercise their +critical severity upon it, since, having been born in the Indies, +he does not aspire to purity of language. Notwithstanding this +colonial modesty, the author shows throughout his book the +impatience with which he endures the supremacy of the +mother-country. In this work of Beverley are also found numerous +traces of that spirit of civil liberty which animated the English +colonies of America at the time when he wrote. He also shows the +dissensions which existed among them, and retarded their +independence. Beverley detests his Catholic neighbors of +Maryland even more than he hates the English government: his +style is simple, his narrative interesting, and apparently +trustworthy. + +I saw in America another work which ought to be consulted, +entitled "The History of Virginia," by William Stith. This book +affords some curious details, but I thought it long and diffuse. +The most ancient as well as the best document to be +consulted on the history of Carolina, is a work in small quarto, +entitled "The History of Carolina," by John Lawson, printed at +London in 1718. This work contains, in the first part, a journey +of discovery in the west of Carolina; the account of which, given +in the form of a journal, is in general confused and superficial; +but it contains a very striking description of the mortality +caused among the savages of that time both by the smallpox and +the immoderate use of brandy; with a curious picture of the +corruption of manners prevalent amongst them, which was increased +by the presence of Europeans. The second part of Lawson's book +is taken up with a description of the physical condition of +Carolina, and its productions. In the third part, the author +gives an interesting account of the manners, customs, and +government of the Indians at that period. There is a good deal +of talent and originality in this part of the work. Lawson +concludes his history with a copy of the charter granted to the +Carolinas in the reign of Charles II. The general tone of this +work is light, and often licentious, forming a perfect contrast +to the solemn style of the works published at the same period in +New England. Lawson's history is extremely scarce in America, and +cannot be procured in Europe. There is, however, a copy of it in +the Royal Library at Paris. + +From the southern extremity of the United States, I pass at +once to the northern limit; as the intermediate space was not +peopled till a later period. I must first point out a very +curious compilation, entitled "Collection of the Massachusetts +Historical Society," printed for the first time at Boston in +1792, and reprinted in 1806. The collection of which I speak, +and which is continued to the present day, contains a great +number of very valuable documents relating to the history of the +different States in New England. Among them are letters which +have never been published, and authentic pieces which had been +buried in provincial archives. The whole work of Gookin, +concerning the Indians, is inserted there. + +I have mentioned several times in the chapter to which this +note relates, the work of Nathaniel Norton entitled "New +England's Memorial"; sufficiently, perhaps, to prove that it +deserves the attention of those who would be conversant with the +history of New England. This book is in octavo, and was +reprinted at Boston in 1826. + +The most valuable and important authority which exists upon +the history of New England, is the work of the Rev. Cotton +Mather, entitled "Magnalia Christi Americana, or the +Ecclesiastical History of New England, 1620-1698, 2 vols. 8vo, +reprinted at Hartford, United States, in 1820." *b The author +divided his work into seven books. The first presents the +history of the events which prepared and brought about the +establishment of New England. The second contains the lives of +the first governors and chief magistrates who presided over the +country. The third is devoted to the lives and labors of the +evangelical ministers who, during the same period, had the care +of souls. In the fourth the author relates the institution and +progress of the University of Cambridge (Massachusetts). In the +fifth he describes the principles and the discipline of the +Church of New England. The sixth is taken up in retracing +certain facts, which, in the opinion of Mather, prove the +merciful interposition of Providence in behalf of the inhabitants +of New England. Lastly, in the seventh, the author gives an +account of the heresies and the troubles to which the Church of +New England was exposed. Cotton Mather was an evangelical +minister who was born at Boston, and passed his life there. His +narratives are distinguished by the same ardor and religious zeal +which led to the foundation of the colonies of New England. +Traces of bad taste sometimes occur in his manner of writing; but +he interests, because he is full of enthusiasm. He is often +intolerant, still oftener credulous, but he never betrays an +intention to deceive. Sometimes his book contains fine passages, +and true and profound reflections, such as the following: - + +"Before the arrival of the Puritans," says he (vol. +i. chap. iv.), "there were more than a few attempts of the +English to people and improve the parts of New England which were +to the northward of New Plymouth; but the designs of those +attempts being aimed no higher than the advancement of some +worldly interests, a constant series of disasters has confounded +them, until there was a plantation erected upon the nobler +designs of Christianity: and that plantation though it has had +more adversaries than perhaps any one upon earth, yet, having +obtained help from God, it continues to this day." Mather +occasionally relieves the austerity of his descriptions with +images full of tender feeling: after having spoken of an English +lady whose religious ardor had brought her to America with her +husband, and who soon after sank under the fatigues and +privations of exile, he adds, "As for her virtuous husband, Isaac +Johnson, + + He tryed +To live without her, liked it not, and dyed." + +[Footnote b: A folio edition of this work was published in London +in 1702.] + +Mather's work gives an admirable picture of the time and +country which he describes. In his account of the motives which +led the Puritans to seek an asylum beyond seas, he says: - +"The God of Heaven served, as it were, a summons upon the +spirits of his people in the English nation, stirring up the +spirits of thousands which never saw the faces of each other, +with a most unanimous inclination to leave all the pleasant +accommodations of their native country, and go over a terrible +ocean, into a more terrible desert, for the pure enjoyment of all +his ordinances. It is now reasonable that, before we pass any +further, the reasons of his undertaking should be more exactly +made known unto posterity, especially unto the posterity of those +that were the undertakers, lest they come at length to forget and +neglect the true interest of New England. Wherefore I shall now +transcribe some of them from a manuscript, wherein they were then +tendered unto consideration: + +"General Considerations for the Plantation of New England +"First, It will be a service unto the Church of great +consequence, to carry the Gospel unto those parts of the world, +and raise a bulwark against the kingdom of Antichrist, which the +Jesuits labour to rear up in all parts of the world. + +"Secondly, All other Churches of Europe have been brought +under desolations; and it may be feared that the like judgments +are coming upon us; and who knows but God hath provided this +place to be a refuge for many whom he means to save out of the +general destruction? + +"Thirdly, The land grows weary of her inhabitants, insomuch +that man, which is the most precious of all creatures, is here +more vile and base than the earth he treads upon; children, +neighbours, and friends, especially the poor, are counted the +greatest burdens, which, if things were right, would be the +chiefest of earthly blessings. + +"Fourthly, We are grown to that intemperance in all excess +of riot, as no mean estate almost will suffice a man to keep sail +with his equals, and he that fails in it must live in scorn and +contempt: hence it comes to pass, that all arts and trades are +carried in that deceitful manner and unrighteous course, as it is +almost impossible for a good upright man to maintain his constant +charge and live comfortably in them. + +"Fifthly, The schools of learning and religion are so +corrupted, as (besides the unsupportable charge of education) +most children, even the best, wittiest, and of the fairest hopes, +are perverted, corrupted, and utterly overthrown by the multitude +of evil examples and licentious behaviours in these seminaries. +"Sixthly, The whole earth is the Lord's garden, and he hath +given it to the sons of Adam, to be tilled and improved by them: +why, then, should we stand starving here for places of +habitation, and in the meantime suffer whole countries, as +profitable for the use of man, to lie waste without any +improvement? + +"Seventhly, What can be a better or nobler work, and more +worthy of a Christian, than to erect and support a reformed +particular Church in its infancy, and unite our forces with such +a company of faithful people, as by timely assistance may grow +stronger and prosper; but for want of it, may be put to great +hazards, if not be wholly ruined? + +"Eighthly, If any such as are known to be godly, and live in +wealth and prosperity here, shall forsake all this to join with +this reformed Church, and with it run the hazard of an hard and +mean condition, it will be an example of great use, both for the +removing of scandal and to give more life unto the faith of God's +people in their prayers for the plantation, and also to encourage +others to join the more willingly in it." + +Further on, when he declares the principles of the Church of +New England with respect to morals, Mather inveighs with violence +against the custom of drinking healths at table, which he +denounces as a pagan and abominable practice. He proscribes with +the same rigor all ornaments for the hair used by the female sex, +as well as their custom of having the arms and neck uncovered. +In another part of his work he relates several instances of +witchcraft which had alarmed New England. It is plain that the +visible action of the devil in the affairs of this world appeared +to him an incontestable and evident fact. + +This work of Cotton Mather displays, in many places, the +spirit of civil liberty and political independence which +characterized the times in which he lived. Their principles +respecting government are discoverable at every page. Thus, for +instance, the inhabitants of Massachusetts, in the year 1630, ten +years after the foundation of Plymouth, are found to have devoted +Pound 400 sterling to the establishment of the University of +Cambridge. In passing from the general documents relative to the +history of New England to those which describe the several States +comprised within its limits, I ought first to notice "The History +of the Colony of Massachusetts," by Hutchinson, +Lieutenant-Governor of the Massachusetts Province, 2 vols. 8vo. +The history of Hutchinson, which I have several times quoted in +the chapter to which this note relates, commences in the year +1628, and ends in 1750. Throughout the work there is a striking +air of truth and the greatest simplicity of style: it is full of +minute details. The best history to consult concerning +Connecticut is that of Benjamin Trumbull, entitled "A Complete +History of Connecticut, Civil and Ecclesiastical," 1630-1764, 2 +vols. 8vo, printed in 1818 at New Haven. This history contains a +clear and calm account of all the events which happened in +Connecticut during the period given in the title. The author drew +from the best sources, and his narrative bears the stamp of +truth. All that he says of the early days of Connecticut is +extremely curious. See especially the Constitution of 1639, vol. +i. ch. vi. p. 100; and also the Penal Laws of Connecticut, vol. +i. ch. vii. p. 123. + +"The History of New Hampshire," by Jeremy Belknap, is a work +held in merited estimation. It was printed at Boston in 1792, in +2 vols. 8vo. The third chapter of the first volume is +particularly worthy of attention for the valuable details it +affords on the political and religious principles of the +Puritans, on the causes of their emigration, and on their laws. +The following curious quotation is given from a sermon delivered +in 1663: - "It concerneth New England always to remember that +they are a plantation religious, not a plantation of trade. The +profession of the purity of doctrine, worship, and discipline, is +written upon her forehead. Let merchants, and such as are +increasing cent. per cent., remember this, that worldly gain was +not the end and design of the people of New England, but +religion. And if any man among us make religion as twelve, and +the world as thirteen, such an one hath not the spirit of a true +New Englishman." The reader of Belknap will find in his work more +general ideas, and more strength of thought, than are to be met +with in the American historians even to the present day. + +Among the Central States which deserve our attention for +their remote origin, New York and Pennsylvania are the foremost. +The best history we have of the former is entitled "A History of +New York," by William Smith, printed at London in 1757. Smith +gives us important details of the wars between the French and +English in America. His is the best account of the famous +confederation of the Iroquois. + +With respect to Pennsylvania, I cannot do better than point +out the work of Proud, entitled "The History of Pennsylvania, +from the original Institution and Settlement of that Province, +under the first Proprietor and Governor, William Penn, in 1681, +till after the year 1742," by Robert Proud, 2 vols. 8vo, printed +at Philadelphia in 1797. This work is deserving of the especial +attention of the reader; it contains a mass of curious documents +concerning Penn, the doctrine of the Quakers, and the character, +manners, and customs of the first inhabitants of Pennsylvania. I +need not add that among the most important documents relating to +this State are the works of Penn himself, and those of Franklin. + +Part II. + +Appendix G + +We read in Jefferson's "Memoirs" as follows: - + +"At the time of the first settlement of the English in +Virginia, when land was to be had for little or nothing, some +provident persons having obtained large grants of it, and being +desirous of maintaining the splendor of their families, entailed +their property upon their descendants. The transmission of these +estates from generation to generation, to men who bore the same +name, had the effect of raising up a distinct class of families, +who, possessing by law the privilege of perpetuating their +wealth, formed by these means a sort of patrician order, +distinguished by the grandeur and luxury of their establishments. +From this order it was that the King usually chose his +councillors of state." *c + +[Footnote c: This passage is extracted and translated from M. +Conseil's work upon the life of Jefferson, entitled "Melanges +Politiques et Philosophiques de Jefferson."] + +In the United States, the principal clauses of the English +law respecting descent have been universally rejected. The first +rule that we follow, says Mr. Kent, touching inheritance, is the +following: - If a man dies intestate, his property goes to his +heirs in a direct line. If he has but one heir or heiress, he or +she succeeds to the whole. If there are several heirs of the +same degree, they divide the inheritance equally amongst them, +without distinction of sex. This rule was prescribed for the +first time in the State of New York by a statute of February 23, +1786. (See Revised Statutes, vol. iii. Appendix, p. 48.) It has +since then been adopted in the Revised Statutes of the same +State. At the present day this law holds good throughout the +whole of the United States, with the exception of the State of +Vermont, where the male heir inherits a double portion. (Kent's +"Commentaries," vol. iv. p. 370.) Mr. Kent, in the same work, +vol. iv. p. 1-22, gives a historical account of American +legislation on the subject of entail: by this we learn that, +previous to the Revolution, the colonies followed the English law +of entail. Estates tail were abolished in Virginia in 1776, on a +motion of Mr. Jefferson. They were suppressed in New York in +1786, and have since been abolished in North Carolina, Kentucky, +Tennessee, Georgia, and Missouri. In Vermont, Indiana, Illinois, +South Carolina, and Louisiana, entail was never introduced. Those +States which thought proper to preserve the English law of +entail, modified it in such a way as to deprive it of its most +aristocratic tendencies. "Our general principles on the subject +of government," says Mr. Kent, "tend to favor the free +circulation of property." + +It cannot fail to strike the French reader who studies the +law of inheritance, that on these questions the French +legislation is infinitely more democratic even than the American. +The American law makes an equal division of the father's +property, but only in the case of his will not being known; "for +every man," says the law, "in the State of New York (Revised +Statutes, vol. iii. Appendix, p. 51), has entire liberty, power, +and authority, to dispose of his property by will, to leave it +entire, or divided in favor of any persons he chooses as his +heirs, provided he do not leave it to a political body or any +corporation." The French law obliges the testator to divide his +property equally, or nearly so, among his heirs. Most of the +American republics still admit of entails, under certain +restrictions; but the French law prohibits entail in all cases. +If the social condition of the Americans is more democratic than +that of the French, the laws of the latter are the most +democratic of the two. This may be explained more easily than at +first appears to be the case. In France, democracy is still +occupied in the work of destruction; in America, it reigns +quietly over the ruins it has made. + +Appendix H + +Summary Of The Qualifications Of Voters In The United States As +They Existed In 1832 + +All the States agree in granting the right of voting at the +age of twenty-one. In all of them it is necessary to have +resided for a certain time in the district where the vote is +given. This period varies from three months to two years. + +As to the qualification: in the State of Massachusetts it is +necessary to have an income of Pound 3 or a capital of Pound 60. +In Rhode Island, a man must possess landed property to the +amount of $133. + +In Connecticut, he must have a property which gives an +income of $17. A year of service in the militia also gives the +elective privilege. + +In New Jersey, an elector must have a property of Pound 50 a +year. + +In South Carolina and Maryland, the elector must possess +fifty acres of land. + +In Tennessee, he must possess some property. + +In the States of Mississippi, Ohio, Georgia, Virginia, +Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, the only necessary +qualification for voting is that of paying the taxes; and in most +of the States, to serve in the militia is equivalent to the +payment of taxes. In Maine and New Hampshire any man can vote +who is not on the pauper list. + +Lastly, in the States of Missouri, Alabama, Illinois, +Louisiana, Indiana, Kentucky, and Vermont, the conditions of +voting have no reference to the property of the elector. + +I believe there is no other State besides that of North +Carolina in which different conditions are applied to the voting +for the Senate and the electing the House of Representatives. +The electors of the former, in this case, should possess in +property fifty acres of land; to vote for the latter, nothing +more is required than to pay taxes. + +Appendix I + +The small number of custom-house officers employed in the +United States, compared with the extent of the coast, renders +smuggling very easy; notwithstanding which, it is less practised +than elsewhere, because everybody endeavors to repress it. In +America there is no police for the prevention of fires, and such +accidents are more frequent than in Europe; but in general they +are more speedily extinguished, because the surrounding +population is prompt in lending assistance. + +Appendix K + +It is incorrect to assert that centralization was produced +by the French Revolution; the revolution brought it to +perfection, but did not create it. The mania for centralization +and government regulations dates from the time when jurists began +to take a share in the government, in the time of Philippele-Bel; +ever since which period they have been on the increase. In the +year 1775, M. de Malesherbes, speaking in the name of the Cour +des Aides, said to Louis XIV: - *d + +[Footnote d: See "Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire du Droit +Public de la France en matiere d'impots," p. 654, printed at +Brussels in 1779.] + +". . . Every corporation and every community of citizens +retained the right of administering its own affairs; a right +which not only forms part of the primitive constitution of the +kingdom, but has a still higher origin; for it is the right of +nature, and of reason. Nevertheless, your subjects, Sire, have +been deprived of it; and we cannot refrain from saying that in +this respect your government has fallen into puerile extremes. +From the time when powerful ministers made it a political +principle to prevent the convocation of a national assembly, one +consequence has succeeded another, until the deliberations of the +inhabitants of a village are declared null when they have not +been authorized by the Intendant. Of course, if the community +has an expensive undertaking to carry through, it must remain +under the control of the sub-delegate of the Intendant, and, +consequently, follow the plan he proposes, employ his favorite +workmen, pay them according to his pleasure; and if an action at +law is deemed necessary, the Intendant's permission must be +obtained. The cause must be pleaded before this first tribunal, +previous to its being carried into a public court; and if the +opinion of the Intendant is opposed to that of the inhabitants, +or if their adversary enjoys his favor, the community is deprived +of the power of defending its rights. Such are the means, Sire, +which have been exerted to extinguish the municipal spirit in +France; and to stifle, if possible, the opinions of the citizens. +The nation may be said to lie under an interdict, and to be in +wardship under guardians." What could be said more to the purpose +at the present day, when the Revolution has achieved what are +called its victories in centralization? + +In 1789, Jefferson wrote from Paris to one of his friends: - +"There is no country where the mania for over-governing has taken +deeper root than in France, or been the source of greater +mischief." (Letter to Madison, August 28, 1789.) The fact is, +that for several centuries past the central power of France has +done everything it could to extend central administration; it has +acknowledged no other limits than its own strength. The central +power to which the Revolution gave birth made more rapid advances +than any of its predecessors, because it was stronger and wiser +than they had been; Louis XIV committed the welfare of such +communities to the caprice of an intendant; Napoleon left them to +that of the Minister. The same principle governed both, though +its consequences were more or less remote. + +Appendix L + +The immutability of the constitution of France is a +necessary consequence of the laws of that country. To begin with +the most important of all the laws, that which decides the order +of succession to the throne; what can be more immutable in its +principle than a political order founded upon the natural +succession of father to son? In 1814, Louis XVIII had +established the perpetual law of hereditary succession in favor +of his own family. The individuals who regulated the +consequences of the Revolution of 1830 followed his example; they +merely established the perpetuity of the law in favor of another +family. In this respect they imitated the Chancellor Meaupou, +who, when he erected the new Parliament upon the ruins of the +old, took care to declare in the same ordinance that the rights +of the new magistrates should be as inalienable as those of their +predecessors had been. The laws of 1830, like those of 1814, +point out no way of changing the constitution: and it is evident +that the ordinary means of legislation are insufficient for this +purpose. As the King, the Peers, and the Deputies, all derive +their authority from the constitution, these three powers united +cannot alter a law by virtue of which alone they govern. Out of +the pale of the constitution they are nothing: where, when, could +they take their stand to effect a change in its provisions? The +alternative is clear: either their efforts are powerless against +the charter, which continues to exist in spite of them, in which +case they only reign in the name of the charter; or they succeed +in changing the charter, and then, the law by which they existed +being annulled, they themselves cease to exist. By destroying +the charter, they destroy themselves. This is much more evident +in the laws of 1830 than in those of 1814. In 1814, the royal +prerogative took its stand above and beyond the constitution; but +in 1830, it was avowedly created by, and dependent on, the +constitution. A part, therefore, of the French constitution is +immutable, because it is united to the destiny of a family; and +the body of the constitution is equally immutable, because there +appear to be no legal means of changing it. These remarks are +not applicable to England. That country having no written +constitution, who can assert when its constitution is changed? + +Appendix M + +The most esteemed authors who have written upon the English +Constitution agree with each other in establishing the +omnipotence of the Parliament. Delolme says: "It is a fundamental +principle with the English lawyers, that Parliament can do +everything except making a woman a man, or a man a woman." +Blackstone expresses himself more in detail, if not more +energetically, than Delolme, in the following terms: - "The power +and jurisdiction of Parliament, says Sir Edward Coke (4 Inst. +36), is so transcendent and absolute that it cannot be confined, +either for causes or persons, within any bounds." And of this +High Court, he adds, may be truly said, "Si antiquitatem spectes, +est vetustissima; si dignitatem, est honoratissima; si +jurisdictionem, est capacissima." It hath sovereign and +uncontrollable authority in the making, confirming, enlarging, +restraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and expounding of +laws, concerning matters of all possible denominations; +ecclesiastical or temporal; civil, military, maritime, or +criminal; this being the place where that absolute despotic power +which must, in all governments, reside somewhere, is intrusted by +the constitution of these kingdoms. All mischiefs and +grievances, operations and remedies, that transcend the ordinary +course of the laws, are within the reach of this extraordinary +tribunal. It can regulate or new-model the succession to the +Crown; as was done in the reign of Henry VIII and William III. +It can alter the established religion of the land; as was done in +a variety of instances in the reigns of King Henry VIII and his +three children. It can change and create afresh even the +constitution of the kingdom, and of parliaments themselves; as +was done by the Act of Union and the several statutes for +triennial and septennial elections. It can, in short, do +everything that is not naturally impossible to be done; +and, therefore some have not scrupled to call its power, by a +figure rather too bold, the omnipotence of Parliament." + +Appendix N + +There is no question upon which the American constitutions +agree more fully than upon that of political jurisdiction. All +the constitutions which take cognizance of this matter, give to +the House of Delegates the exclusive right of impeachment; +excepting only the constitution of North Carolina, which grants +the same privilege to grand juries. (Article 23.) Almost all the +constitutions give the exclusive right of pronouncing sentence to +the Senate, or to the Assembly which occupies its place. + +The only punishments which the political tribunals can +inflict are removal, or the interdiction of public functions for +the future. There is no other constitution but that of Virginia +(p. 152), which enables them to inflict every kind of punishment. +The crimes which are subject to political jurisdiction are, in +the federal constitution (Section 4, Art. 1); in that of Indiana +(Art. 3, paragraphs 23 and 24); of New York (Art. 5); of Delaware +(Art. 5), high treason, bribery, and other high crimes or +offences. In the Constitution of Massachusetts (Chap. I, Section +2); that of North Carolina (Art. 23); of Virginia (p. 252), +misconduct and maladministration. In the constitution of New +Hampshire (p. 105), corruption, intrigue, and maladministration. +In Vermont (Chap. 2, Art. 24), maladministration. In South +Carolina (Art. 5); Kentucky (Art. 5); Tennessee (Art. 4); Ohio +(Art. 1, 23, 24); Louisiana (Art. 5); Mississippi (Art. 5); +Alabama (Art. 6); Pennsylvania (Art. 4), crimes committed in the +non-performance of official duties. In the States of Illinois, +Georgia, Maine, and Connecticut, no particular offences are +specified. + +Appendix O + +It is true that the powers of Europe may carry on maritime +wars with the Union; but there is always greater facility and +less danger in supporting a maritime than a continental war. +Maritime warfare only requires one species of effort. A +commercial people which consents to furnish its government with +the necessary funds, is sure to possess a fleet. And it is far +easier to induce a nation to part with its money, almost +unconsciously, than to reconcile it to sacrifices of men and +personal efforts. Moreover, defeat by sea rarely compromises the +existence or independence of the people which endures it. As for +continental wars, it is evident that the nations of Europe cannot +be formidable in this way to the American Union. It would be +very difficult to transport and maintain in America more than +25,000 soldiers; an army which may be considered to represent a +nation of about 2,000,000 of men. The most populous nation of +Europe contending in this way against the Union, is in the +position of a nation of 2,000,000 of inhabitants at war with one +of 12,000,000. Add to this, that America has all its resources +within reach, whilst the European is at 4,000 miles distance from +his; and that the immensity of the American continent would of +itself present an insurmountable obstacle to its conquest. + +Appendix P + +The first American journal appeared in April, 1704, and was +published at Boston. See "Collection of the Historical Society +of Massachusetts," vol. vi. p. 66. It would be a mistake to +suppose that the periodical press has always been entirely free +in the American colonies: an attempt was made to establish +something analogous to a censorship and preliminary security. +Consult the Legislative Documents of Massachusetts of January 14, +1722. The Committee appointed by the General Assembly (the +legislative body of the province) for the purpose of examining +into circumstances connected with a paper entitled "The New +England Courier," expresses its opinion that "the tendency of the +said journal is to turn religion into derision and bring it into +contempt; that it mentions the sacred writers in a profane and +irreligious manner; that it puts malicious interpretations upon +the conduct of the ministers of the Gospel; and that the +Government of his Majesty is insulted, and the peace and +tranquillity of the province disturbed by the said journal. The +Committee is consequently of opinion that the printer and +publisher, James Franklin, should be forbidden to print and +publish the said journal or any other work in future, without +having previously submitted it to the Secretary of the province; +and that the justices of the peace for the county of Suffolk +should be commissioned to require bail of the said James Franklin +for his good conduct during the ensuing year." The suggestion of +the Committee was adopted and passed into a law, but the effect +of it was null, for the journal eluded the prohibition by putting +the name of Benjamin Franklin instead of James Franklin at the +bottom of its columns, and this manoeuvre was supported by public +opinion. + +Appendix Q + +The Federal Constitution has introduced the jury into the +tribunals of the Union in the same way as the States had +introduced it into their own several courts; but as it has not +established any fixed rules for the choice of jurors, the federal +courts select them from the ordinary jury list which each State +makes for itself. The laws of the States must therefore be +examined for the theory of the formation of juries. See Story's +"Commentaries on the Constitution," B. iii. chap. 38, p. 654-659; +Sergeant's "Constitutional Law," p. 165. See also the Federal +Laws of the years 1789, 1800, and 1802, upon the subject. For +the purpose of thoroughly understanding the American principles +with respect to the formation of juries, I examined the laws of +States at a distance from one another, and the following +observations were the result of my inquiries. In America, all +the citizens who exercise the elective franchise have the right +of serving upon a jury. The great State of New York, however, +has made a slight difference between the two privileges, but in a +spirit quite contrary to that of the laws of France; for in the +State of New York there are fewer persons eligible as jurymen +than there are electors. It may be said in general that the +right of forming part of a jury, like the right of electing +representatives, is open to all the citizens: the exercise of +this right, however, is not put indiscriminately into any hands. +Every year a body of municipal or county magistrates - called +"selectmen" in New England, "supervisors" in New York, "trustees" +in Ohio, and "sheriffs of the parish" in Louisiana - choose for +each county a certain number of citizens who have the right of +serving as jurymen, and who are supposed to be capable of +exercising their functions. These magistrates, being themselves +elective, excite no distrust; their powers, like those of most +republican magistrates, are very extensive and very arbitrary, +and they frequently make use of them to remove unworthy or +incompetent jurymen. The names of the jurymen thus chosen are +transmitted to the County Court; and the jury who have to decide +any affair are drawn by lot from the whole list of names. The +Americans have contrived in every way to make the common people +eligible to the jury, and to render the service as little onerous +as possible. The sessions are held in the chief town of every +county, and the jury are indemnified for their attendance either +by the State or the parties concerned. They receive in general a +dollar per day, besides their travelling expenses. In America, +the being placed upon the jury is looked upon as a burden, but it +is a burden which is very supportable. See Brevard's "Digest of +the Public Statute Law of South Carolina," vol. i. pp. 446 and +454, vol. ii. pp. 218 and 338; "The General Laws of +Massachusetts, revised and published by authority of the +Legislature," vol. ii. pp. 187 and 331; "The Revised Statutes of +the State of New York," vol. ii. pp. 411, 643, 717, 720; "The +Statute Law of the State of Tennessee," vol. i. p. 209; "Acts of +the State of Ohio," pp. 95 and 210; and "Digeste general des +Actes de la Legislature de la Louisiane." + +Appendix R + +If we attentively examine the constitution of the jury as +introduced into civil proceedings in England, we shall readily +perceive that the jurors are under the immediate control of the +judge. It is true that the verdict of the jury, in civil as well +as in criminal cases, comprises the question of fact and the +question of right in the same reply; thus - a house is claimed by +Peter as having been purchased by him: this is the fact to be +decided. The defendant puts in a plea of incompetency on the +part of the vendor: this is the legal question to be resolved. +But the jury do not enjoy the same character of infallibility in +civil cases, according to the practice of the English courts, as +they do in criminal cases. The judge may refuse to receive the +verdict; and even after the first trial has taken place, a second +or new trial may be awarded by the Court. See Blackstone's +"Commentaries," book iii. ch. 24. + +Appendix S + +I find in my travelling journal a passage which may serve to +convey a more complete notion of the trials to which the women of +America, who consent to follow their husbands into the wilds, are +often subjected. This description has nothing to recommend it to +the reader but its strict accuracy: + +". . . From time to time we come to fresh clearings; all +these places are alike; I shall describe the one at which we have +halted to-night, for it will serve to remind me of all the +others. + +"The bell which the pioneers hang round the necks of their +cattle, in order to find them again in the woods, announced our +approach to a clearing, when we were yet a long way off; and we +soon afterwards heard the stroke of the hatchet, hewing down the +trees of the forest. As we came nearer, traces of destruction +marked the presence of civilized man; the road was strewn with +shattered boughs; trunks of trees, half consumed by fire, or +cleft by the wedge, were still standing in the track we were +following. We continued to proceed till we reached a wood in +which all the trees seemed to have been suddenly struck dead; in +the height of summer their boughs were as leafless as in winter; +and upon closer examination we found that a deep circle had been +cut round the bark, which, by stopping the circulation of the +sap, soon kills the tree. We were informed that this is commonly +the first thing a pioneer does; as he cannot in the first year +cut down all the trees which cover his new parcel of land, he +sows Indian corn under their branches, and puts the trees to +death in order to prevent them from injuring his crop. Beyond +this field, at present imperfectly traced out, we suddenly came +upon the cabin of its owner, situated in the centre of a plot of +ground more carefully cultivated than the rest, but where man was +still waging unequal warfare with the forest; there the trees +were cut down, but their roots were not removed, and the trunks +still encumbered the ground which they so recently shaded. Around +these dry blocks, wheat, suckers of trees, and plants of every +kind, grow and intertwine in all the luxuriance of wild, +untutored nature. Amidst this vigorous and various vegetation +stands the house of the pioneer, or, as they call it, the log +house. Like the ground about it, this rustic dwelling bore marks +of recent and hasty labor; its length seemed not to exceed thirty +feet, its height fifteen; the walls as well as the roof were +formed of rough trunks of trees, between which a little moss and +clay had been inserted to keep out the cold and rain. + +"As night was coming on, we determined to ask the master of +the log house for a lodging. At the sound of our footsteps, the +children who were playing amongst the scattered branches sprang +up and ran towards the house, as if they were frightened at the +sight of man; whilst two large dogs, almost wild, with ears erect +and outstretched nose, came growling out of their hut, to cover +the retreat of their young masters. The pioneer himself made his +appearance at the door of his dwelling; he looked at us with a +rapid and inquisitive glance, made a sign to the dogs to go into +the house, and set them the example, without betraying either +curiosity or apprehension at our arrival. + +"We entered the log house: the inside is quite unlike that +of the cottages of the peasantry of Europe: it contains more than +is superfluous, less than is necessary. A single window with a +muslin blind; on a hearth of trodden clay an immense fire, which +lights the whole structure; above the hearth a good rifle, a +deer's skin, and plumes of eagles' feathers; on the right hand of +the chimney a map of the United States, raised and shaken by the +wind through the crannies in the wall; near the map, upon a shelf +formed of a roughly hewn plank, a few volumes of books - a Bible, +the six first books of Milton, and two of Shakespeare's plays; +along the wall, trunks instead of closets; in the centre of the +room a rude table, with legs of green wood, and with the bark +still upon them, looking as if they grew out of the ground on +which they stood; but on this table a tea-pot of British ware, +silver spoons, cracked tea-cups, and some newspapers. + +"The master of this dwelling has the strong angular features +and lank limbs peculiar to the native of New England. It is +evident that this man was not born in the solitude in which we +have met with him: his physical constitution suffices to show +that his earlier years were spent in the midst of civilized +society, and that he belongs to that restless, calculating, and +adventurous race of men, who do with the utmost coolness things +only to be accounted for by the ardor of the passions, and who +endure the life of savages for a time, in order to conquer and +civilize the backwoods. + +"When the pioneer perceived that we were crossing his +threshold, he came to meet us and shake hands, as is their +custom; but his face was quite unmoved; he opened the +conversation by inquiring what was going on in the world; and +when his curiosity was satisfied, he held his peace, as if he +were tired by the noise and importunity of mankind. When we +questioned him in our turn, he gave us all the information we +required; he then attended sedulously, but without eagerness, to +our personal wants. Whilst he was engaged in providing thus +kindly for us, how came it that in spit of ourselves we felt our +gratitude die upon our lips? It is that our host whilst he +performs the duties of hospitality, seems to be obeying an +irksome necessity of his condition: he treats it as a duty +imposed upon him by his situation, not as a pleasure. By the +side of the hearth sits a woman with a baby on her lap: she nods +to us without disturbing herself. Like the pioneer, this woman +is in the prime of life; her appearance would seem superior to +her condition, and her apparel even betrays a lingering taste for +dress; but her delicate limbs appear shrunken, her features are +drawn in, her eye is mild and melancholy; her whole physiognomy +bears marks of a degree of religious resignation, a deep quiet of +all passions, and some sort of natural and tranquil firmness, +ready to meet all the ills of life, without fearing and without +braving them. Her children cluster about her, full of health, +turbulence, and energy: they are true children of the wilderness; +their mother watches them from time to time with mingled +melancholy and joy: to look at their strength and her languor, +one might imagine that the life she has given them has exhausted +her own, and still she regrets not what they have cost her. The +house inhabited by these emigrants has no internal partition or +loft. In the one chamber of which it consists, the whole family +is gathered for the night. The dwelling is itself a little world +- an ark of civilization amidst an ocean of foliage: a hundred +steps beyond it the primeval forest spreads its shades, and +solitude resumes its sway." + +Appendix T + +It is not the equality of conditions which makes men immoral +and irreligious; but when men, being equal, are at the same time +immoral and irreligious, the effects of immorality and irreligion +easily manifest themselves outwardly, because men have but little +influence upon each other, and no class exists which can +undertake to keep society in order. Equality of conditions never +engenders profligacy of morals, but it sometimes allows that +profligacy to show itself. + +Appendix U + +Setting aside all those who do not think at all, and those +who dare not say what they think, the immense majority of the +Americans will still be found to appear satisfied with the +political institutions by which they are governed; and, I +believe, really to be so. I look upon this state of public +opinion as an indication, but not as a demonstration, of the +absolute excellence of American laws. The pride of a nation, the +gratification of certain ruling passions by the law, a concourse +of circumstances, defects which escape notice, and more than all +the rest, the influence of a majority which shuts the mouth of +all cavillers, may long perpetuate the delusions of a people as +well as those of a man. Look at England throughout the +eighteenth century. No nation was ever more prodigal of +self-applause, no people was ever more self- satisfied; then +every part of its constitution was right - everything, even to +its most obvious defects, was irreproachable: at the present day +a vast number of Englishmen seem to have nothing better to do +than to prove that this constitution was faulty in many respects. +Which was right? - the English people of the last century, or the +English people of the present day? + +The same thing has occurred in France. It is certain that +during the reign of Louis XIV the great bulk of the nation was +devotedly attached to the form of government which, at that time, +governed the community. But it is a vast error to suppose that +there was anything degraded in the character of the French of +that age. There might be some sort of servitude in France at +that time, but assuredly there was no servile spirit among the +people. The writers of that age felt a species of genuine +enthusiasm in extolling the power of their king; and there was no +peasant so obscure in his hovel as not to take a pride in the +glory of his sovereign, and to die cheerfully with the cry "Vive +le Roi!" upon his lips. These very same forms of loyalty are now +odious to the French people. Which are wrong? - the French of +the age of Louis XIV, or their descendants of the present day? + +Our judgment of the laws of a people must not then be founded +Future Condition Of Three Races In The United States exclusively +upon its inclinations, since those inclinations change from age +to age; but upon more elevated principles and a more general +experience. The love which a people may show for its law proves +only this: - that we should not be in too great a hurry to change +them. + +Appendix V + +In the chapter to which this note relates I have pointed out +one source of danger: I am now about to point out another kind of +peril, more rare indeed, but far more formidable if it were ever +to make its appearance. If the love of physical gratification +and the taste for well-being, which are naturally suggested to +men by a state of equality, were to get entire possession of the +mind of a democratic people, and to fill it completely, the +manners of the nation would become so totally opposed to military +tastes, that perhaps even the army would eventually acquire a +love of peace, in spite of the peculiar interest which leads it +to desire war. Living in the midst of a state of general +relaxation, the troops would ultimately think it better to rise +without efforts, by the slow but commodious advancement of a +peace establishment, than to purchase more rapid promotion at the +cost of all the toils and privations of the field. With these +feelings, they would take up arms without enthusiasm, and use +them without energy; they would allow themselves to be led to +meet the foe, instead of marching to attack him. It must not be +supposed that this pacific state of the army would render it +adverse to revolutions; for revolutions, and especially military +revolutions, which are generally very rapid, are attended indeed +with great dangers, but not with protracted toil; they gratify +ambition at less cost than war; life only is at stake, and the +men of democracies care less for their lives than for their +comforts. Nothing is more dangerous for the freedom and the +tranquillity of a people than an army afraid of war, because, as +such an army no longer seeks to maintain its importance and its +influence on the field of battle, it seeks to assert them +elsewhere. Thus it might happen that the men of whom a +democratic army consists should lose the interests of citizens +without acquiring the virtues of soldiers; and that the army +should cease to be fit for war without ceasing to be turbulent. +I shall here repeat what I have said in the text: the remedy for +these dangers is not to be found in the army, but in the country: +a democratic people which has preserved the manliness of its +character will never be at a loss for military prowess in its +soldiers. + +Appendix W + +Men connect the greatness of their idea of unity with means, +God with ends: hence this idea of greatness, as men conceive it, +leads us into infinite littleness. To compel all men to follow +the same course towards the same object is a human notion; - to +introduce infinite variety of action, but so combined that all +these acts lead by a multitude of different courses to the +accomplishment of one great design, is a conception of the Deity. +The human idea of unity is almost always barren; the divine idea +pregnant with abundant results. Men think they manifest their +greatness by simplifying the means they use; but it is the +purpose of God which is simple - his means are infinitely varied. + +Appendix X + +A democratic people is not only led by its own tastes to +centralize its government, but the passions of all the men by +whom it is governed constantly urge it in the same direction. It +may easily be foreseen that almost all the able and ambitious +members of a democratic community will labor without 2 ceasing to +extend the powers of government, because they all hope at some +time or other to wield those powers. It is a waste of time to +attempt to prove to them that extreme centralization may be +injurious to the State, since they are centralizing for their own +benefit. Amongst the public men of democracies there are hardly +any but men of great disinterestedness or extreme mediocrity who +seek to oppose the centralization of government: the former are +scarce, the latter powerless. + +Appendix Y + +I have often asked myself what would happen if, amidst the +relaxation of democratic manners, and as a consequence of the +restless spirit of the army, a military government were ever to +be founded amongst any of the nations of the present age. I +think that even such a government would not differ very much from +the outline I have drawn in the chapter to which this note +belongs, and that it would retain none of the fierce +characteristics of a military oligarchy. I am persuaded that, in +such a case, a sort of fusion would take place between the habits +of official men and those of the military service. The +administration would assume something of a military character, +and the army some of the usages of the civil administration. The +result would be a regular, clear, exact, and absolute system of +government; the people would become the reflection of the army, +and the community be drilled like a garrison. + +Appendix Z + +It cannot be absolutely or generally affirmed that the +greatest danger of the present age is license or tyranny, anarchy +or despotism. Both are equally to be feared; and the one may as +easily proceed as the other from the selfsame cause, namely, that +"general apathy," which is the consequence of what I have termed +"individualism": it is because this apathy exists, that the +executive government, having mustered a few troops, is able to +commit acts of oppression one day, and the next day a party, +which has mustered some thirty men in its ranks, can also commit +acts of oppression. Neither one nor the other can found anything +to last; and the causes which enable them to succeed easily, +prevent them from succeeding long: they rise because nothing +opposes them, and they sink because nothing supports them. The +proper object therefore of our most strenuous resistance, is far +less either anarchy or despotism than the apathy which may almost +indifferently beget either the one or the other. + + +Constitution Of The United States Of America + +We The People of the United States, in Order to form a more +perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, +provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and +secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, +do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States +of America: + +Article I + +Section 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be +vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of +a Senate and House of Representatives. + +Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of +Members of chosen every second Year by the People of the several +States, and the Electors in each States shall have the +Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch +of the State Legislature. + +No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have +attained to the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a +Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be +an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. + +Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among +the several States which may be included within this Union, +according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined +by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those +bound to service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not +taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration +shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the +Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term +of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The +Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty +Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; +and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New +Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts, +eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut +five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware +one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South +Carolina five, and Georgia three. + +When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, +the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to +fill such Vacancies. + +The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and +other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. +Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed +of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature +thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. + +Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of +the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be +into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class +shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the +second Class at the expiration of the fourth Year, and of the +third Class at the expiration of the sixth Year, so that +one-third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies +happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the +Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make +temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, +which shall then fill such Vacancies. + +No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to +the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the +United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant +of that State for which he shall be chosen. + +The Vice-President of the United States shall be President +of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally +divided. The Senate shall choose their other Officers, and also +a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice-President, or +when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United +States. + +The Senate shall have the sole power to try all +Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on +Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is +tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be +convicted without the Concurrence of two-thirds of the Members +present. Judgment in cases of Impeachment shall not extend +further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold +and enjoy any Office of Honor, Trust, or Profit under the United +States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and +subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment, and Punishment according +to Law. + +Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections +for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each +State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any +time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the +Places of choosing Senators. + +The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and +such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless +they shall by Law appoint a different Day. + +Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, +Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of +each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller +Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to +compel the Attendance of Absent Members, in such Manner, and +under such Penalties as each House may provide. + +Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, +punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with a +Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member. + +Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from +time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in +their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the +Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of +one-fifth of those present, be entered on the Journal. + +Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, +without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three +days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses +shall be sitting. + +Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a +Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and +paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all +Cases, except Treason, Felony, and Breach of the Peace, be +privileged from Arrest during their attendance at the Session of +their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the +same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall +not be questioned in any other Place. + +No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for +which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the +Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or +the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such +time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, +shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in +Office. + +Section 7. All Bills for Raising Revenue shall originate in +the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or +concur with Amendments as on other Bills. + +Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives +and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to +the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign +it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections, to that +House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the +Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider +it. If after such Reconsideration two-thirds of that House shall +agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the +Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be +reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it +shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both +Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the +Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the +Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be +returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) +after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a +Law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress +by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall +not be a Law. + +Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of +the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except +on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President +of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, +shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be +repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and House of +Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations +prescribed in the case of a Bill. + +Section 8. The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect +Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide +for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; +but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout +the United States; + +To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; + +To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the +several States, and with the Indian Tribes; + +To establish an Uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform +Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; +To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign +Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; + +To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the +Securities and current Coin of the United States; + +To establish Post Offices and Post Roads; + +To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by +securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive +Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries; + +To constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; +To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the +high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations; + +To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and +make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; + +To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money +to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two years; + +To provide and maintain a Navy; + +To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land +and naval Forces. + +To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws +of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions. + +To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the +Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed +in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States +respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority +of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by +Congress; + +To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, +over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by +Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress +become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to +exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent +of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for +the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, Dock-Yards, and other +needful Buildings; - And To make all Laws which shall be +necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing +Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the +Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer +thereof. + +Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as +any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall +not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand +eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such +Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person. + +The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be +suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the +public Safety may require it. + +No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. +No Capitation, or other direct Tax shall be laid, unless in +Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to +be taken. + +No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any +State. + +No preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce +or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor +shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, +clear, or pay Duties in another. + +No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in +consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular +Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all +public Money shall be published from time to time. + +No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: +And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, +shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any +present, Emolument, Office, or Title of any kind whatever, from +any King, Prince, or foreign State. + +Section 10. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, +or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque or Reprisal; coin +Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver +Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex +post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or +grant any Title of Nobility. + +No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any +Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be +absolutely necessary for executing its inspection Laws: and the +net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on +Imports or Exports shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the +United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the Revision +and Control of the Congress. + +No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any +Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, +enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a +foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in +such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay. + +Article II + +Section 1. The Executive Power shall be vested in a +President of the United States of America. He shall hold his +Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the +Vice-President, chosen for the same Term, be elected as follows: + +Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature +thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole +Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be +entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or +Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United +States, shall be appointed an Elector. + +[The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and +vote by Ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be +an inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall +make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of +Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and +transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United +States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President +of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of +Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall +then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes +shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole +Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who +have such Majority, and have an equal number of Votes, then the +House of Representatives shall immediately choose by Ballot one +of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then +from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like +Manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the +Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each +State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of +a Member or Members from two-thirds of the States, and a Majority +of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, +after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest +number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice-President. But +if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the +Senate shall choose from them by Ballot the Vice-President.]*d + +[Footnote *d : This clause is superseded by Article XII, +Amendments. See page 396.] + +The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the +Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which +Day shall be the same throughout the United States. + +No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the +United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, +shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any +person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to +the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident +within the United States. + +In case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of +his Death, Resignation or Inability to discharge the Powers and +Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the +Vice-president, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case +of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the +President and Vice-President, declaring what Officer shall then +act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until +the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. + +The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his +Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor +diminished during the Period for which he shall have been +elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other +Emolument from the United States, or any of them. + +Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall +take the following Oath or Affirmation: - "I do solemnly swear +(or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of +President of the United States, and will to the best of my +Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the +United States." + +Section 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the +Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the +several States, when called into the actual Service of the United +States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal +Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject +relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall +have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against +the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. + +He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of +the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators +present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice +and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other +public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and +all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are +not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established +by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such +inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, +in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. + +The President shall have Power to fill up all vacancies that +may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting +Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session. + +Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress +Information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their +Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and +expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both +Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between +them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn +them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive +Ambassadors and other Public Ministers; he shall take Care that +the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the +Officers of the United States. + +Section 4. The President, Vice-President and all civil +Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on +Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other +High Crimes and Misdemeanors. + +Article III + +Section 1. The judicial Power of the United States shall be +vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the +Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, +both of the Supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices +during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for +their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished +during their Continuance in Office. + +Section 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all cases, in +Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the +United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under +their Authority; - to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other +public Ministers and Consuls; - to all cases of Admiralty and +maritime Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United +States shall be a Party; - to Controversies between two or more +States; -between a State and Citizens of another State; between +Citizens of different States, - between Citizens of the same +State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and +between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, +Citizens or Subjects. + +In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers +and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the +Supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other +Cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate +Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions and +under such Regulations as the Congress shall make. + +The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, +shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where +the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed +within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as +the Congress may by Law have directed. + +Section 3. Treason against the United States shall consist +only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their +Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No person shall be +convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to +the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. + +The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of +Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of +Blood or Forfeiture except during the life of the person +attainted. + +Article IV + +Section 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each +State to the Public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of +every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws +prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings +shall be proved, and the Effect thereof. + +Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to +all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. +A person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other +Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another +State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State +from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State +having Jurisdiction of the Crime. + +No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the +Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any +Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or +Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom +such Service or Labour may be due. + +Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into +this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within +the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by +the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without +the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well +as of the Congress. + +The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all +needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other +Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this +Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of +the United States, or of any particular State. + +Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State +in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect +each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the +Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be +convened against domestic Violence. + +Article V + +The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem +it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, +on the Application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the +several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, +which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and +Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the +Legislatures of three- fourths of the several States, or by +Conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other +Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided +that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One +thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the +first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first +Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be +deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. + +Article VI + +All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before +the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the +United States under this Constitution, as under the +Confederation. + +This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which +shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or +which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, +shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every +State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or +Laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. + +The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the +Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and +judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several +States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation to support this +Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a +Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United +States. + +Article VII + +The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be +sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the +States so ratifying the Same. + +Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States +present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of Our +Lord One thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven and of the +Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth. +In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names, + + Go: Washington + Presidt. and deputy from Virginia. + +New Hampshire + John Langdon + Nicholas Gilman + +Massachusetts + Nathaniel Gorham + Rufus King + +Connecticut + Wm. Saml. Johnson + Roger Sherman + +New York + Alexander Hamilton + +New Jersey + Wil: Livingston. + David Brearley. + Wm. Paterson. + Jona. Dayton + +Pennsylvania + B Franklin + Thomas Mifflin + Robt. Morris. + Geo. Clymer + Thos. Fitzsimons + Jared Ingersoll + James Wilson + Gouv Morris + +Delaware + Geo: Read + Gunning Bedford Jun + John Dickinson + Richard Bassett + Jaco: Broom + +Maryland + James McHenry + Dan of St Thos. Jenifer + Danl. Carroll + +Virginia + John Blair - + James Madison Jr. + +North Carolina + Wm. Blount + Richd. Dobbs Spaight + Hu Williamson + +South Carolina + J. Rutledge + Charles Cotesworth Pinckney + Charles Pinckney + Peirce Butler. + +Georgia + William Few + Abr Baldwin + +Attest William Jackson, Secretary + +The Word 'the,' being interlined between the seventh and +eighth Lines of the first Page, The word 'Thirty' being partly +written on an Erasure in the fifteenth Line of the first Page, +The Words 'is tried' being interlined between the thirty-second +and thirty-third Lines of the first Page, and the Word 'the' +being interlined between the forty-third and forty-fourth Lines +of the second page. + +[Note by the Department of State. - The foregoing +explanation in the original instrument is placed on the left of +the paragraph beginning with the words, 'Done in Convention,' and +therefore precedes the signatures. The interlined and rewritten +words, mentioned in it, are in this edition printed in their +proper places in the text.] + + +Bill Of Rights + +In addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution of the +United States of America, proposed by Congress and ratified by +the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the Fifth +Article of the original Constitution + +Article I + +Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of +religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging +the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the pe +ple peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a +redress of grievances. + +Article II + +A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of +a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall +not be infringed. + +Article III + +No Soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house +without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a +manner to be prescribed by law. + +Article IV + +The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, +papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, +shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon +probable cause, supported by Oath or Affirmation, and +particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons +or things to be seized. + +Article V + +No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or +otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment +of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval +forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War +or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same +offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be +compelled in any Criminal Case to be a witness against himself, +nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due +process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public +use, without just compensation. + +Article VI + +In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the +right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the +State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, +which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and +to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be +confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory +process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to have the +Assistance of Counsel for his defence. + +Article VII + +In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall +exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be +preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re- +examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the +rules of the common law. + +Article VIII + +Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines +imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. + +Article IX + +The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, +shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by +the people. + +Article X + +The powers not delegated to the United States by the +Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to +the States respectively, or to the people. + +Article XI + +The Judicial power of the United States shall not be +construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or +prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of +another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State. + +Article XII + +The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote +by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at +least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with +themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for +as President; and in distinct ballots the person voted for as +Vice-President; and they shall make distinct lists of all persons +voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice +President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they +shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the +government of the United States, directed to the President of the +Senate; - The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of +the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the +certificates and the votes shall then be counted; - The person +having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the +President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of +Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then +from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three +on the list ofhose voted for as President, the House of +Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the +President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be +taken by States, the representation from each State having one +vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or +members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the +States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of +Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right +of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March +next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, +as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of +the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as +Vice- President, shall be the Vice-President, if such a number be +a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no +person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the +list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for +the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of +Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary +to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the +office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President +of the United States. + +Article XIII + +Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except +as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly +convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place +subject to their jurisdiction. + +Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article +by appropriate legislation. + +Article XIV + +Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United +States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of +the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State +shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges +or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any +State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without +due process of law; nor deny to any person within its +jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. + +Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the +several States according to their respective numbers, counting +the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not +taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice +of electors for President and Vice-President of the United +States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial +officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, +is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being +twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in +any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other +crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in +the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear +to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in +such State. + +Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in +Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any +office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any +State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of +Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member +of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer +of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, +shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, +or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may +by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. + +Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United +States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment +of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection +or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United +States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation +incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United +States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; +but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal +and void. + +Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by +appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. + +Article XV + +Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to +vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by +any State on account of race, colour, or previous condition of +servitude. + +Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this +article by appropriate legislation. + + + + + +*The Project Gutenberg Etext of Democracy In America, Volume 2* + diff --git a/old/2dina10.zip b/old/2dina10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..577d728 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2dina10.zip |