The 1789 Discourse: Tocqueville on Democracy

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Born in 1805 to an artistocratic family in France, Alexis de Tocqueville was a man caught between two revolutions. His father narrowly avoided the guillotine—stumbling out of prison at the age of 22 with stark white hair—a chilling image from the period in France that would later go on to be known as the “Reign of Terror.” 

In his life he wore many hats—diplomat, politician, historian. But most of all, he is remembered for his book Democracy in America, which discussed the past, present and political future of American life. Divided into two parts, it is one part observation, one part prophesy. The former highlighted what he thought was the abnormal greatness of democracy in America—the latter, a guide to what could lead to the failure of the American state. 

Growing up in Normandy, Tolqueville would go on to study law and serve as a judge for several years in Versailles. He was then sent on an exploratory mission to America, with the purpose of studying its penitentiary system. Instead, the young Tolqueville recognized that there was a new kind of liberalism that was emerging from the fledgling United States, and in setting out to discover why, he became one of the great eyewitnesses and observers of political change in the early 19th century. 

Harvard Professor Harvey Mansfield describes Tolqueville’s 9 month American expedition as such; “He travelled around the whole country as it was then—including going to the frontier—which was Michigan at that time! [He] went to Quebec to see how the French were doing, went down the Mississippi, slept in a log cabin and rode in a steamboat. [He] went down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and then came up through the south—so he saw both the slave states and the free states.” Tocqueville’s future commentary on slavery and the strife it would eventually cause the American people would prove to be prescient.

In 1832, he came back home to France, and in 1835, the first half of Democracy in America was published. Tocqueville instantly became wildly famous, and his book was celebrated in intellectual circles at home and abroad.

Focusing on “The Equality of Conditions” that permeated every aspect of American society, Tocqueville takes an intellectual magnifiying glass to American government—and what it can teach him and his fellow Europeans about democracy as a way of life.

He said that since America was not bogged down by a cultural identity established over hundreds—if not thousands—of years,  democracy  was able to hit the ground running. Why? Because it was founded by Christian Puritans. Since they were all middle class and all educated, their equality was effectively baked into the founding from the very beginning—especially since they had no aristocrats to contend with. Also, the Puritans’ ardent religious devotion  led to Christian principle becoming inextricably linked with American law and American character.

For Tocqueville, the real driver of America’s success was the engagement of the public in township-style government, as well as the decentralization of power. The “checks and balances” and  “separation of powers” was deemed by Tocqueville a stroke of genius. “Strong legislatures” he said,  “swallow up the dregs of governmental power.” Also, by having clearly defined roles and limitations for state and federal government, Americans were able to “correct their laws” quickly.

This leads us to Tocqueville’s greatest fear: the “tyranny of the majority.” Coupled with the rise of a strong centralized government, this would destroy America and the  individual at large. For this to happen though, the government would have to encounter a docile and disengaged population—or at least one that seeks to be catered to.

He describes such a government as “absolute, detailed, regular, far-seeing, and mild. It would resemble paternal power if, like that, it had for its object to prepare men for manhood; but on the contrary, it seeks only to keep them fixed irrevocably in childhood; it likes citizens to enjoy themselves provided that they think only of enjoying themselves.” Such a description sounds eerily familiar, and conjures up images of the cradle-to-grave utopia that is promised by the Democratic Party today. 

In his travels he also noted the critical importance of free association, and how in America, it was one of the surest counterweights to state oppression. Association, he said “saves common freedoms” when it resists the state and defends the rights of its members. Another concern was the American people’s the America focus on materialism and wealth acquisition. He feared that it would give rise to a new kind of  aristocracy—one comprised of wealthy elites. When you look around today at companies like Amazon, or the many other multi-billion dollar companies and the power they wield today—you cannot help but come away with the notion that Tocqueville’s insight was extraordinary. Another issue he foresaw? A coming rivalry between Russia and the United States. 

Of course, not everything he thought about America would prove to be true. He didn’t think much of American writers, and it would only be a matter of time before Edgar Allan Poe, Hawthorne, and Herman Melville arrived on the scene. 

As far as the topics of the 21st century are concerned, when you look at Tocqueville’s writings, he was a fan of free trade. I believe he would vociferously oppose police misconduct, but would also believe strongly in law and order, especially since he understood what happened when there is a break down in civil society, one his own father knew too well. He would be wary of populism only if dissenting voices were unable to be represented, and in the event of a pandemic, would trust American citizens  to do their due diligence to stem the tide of disease, just as he and  his contemporaries were in the habit of doing themselves.

So why is this important? Why do most people consider modern history to begin in 1789, and not 1776?  Because the revolution of liberty in the United States is what  inspired the  revolution of liberty in France. Not all revolutions are the same—in fact, some may not even be revolutions at all.

The so-called American Revolution was in reality an Englishman's reclaimation of their ancient rights. It was more about bringing something back than birthing something new. This wasn't the case for the French Revolution. The Revolution in France was a true revolution. Like all true revolutions, it mirrored the human condition that fueled it; the yearning for change, and the violent destruction accompanying it.

The liberty sought in France was not the liberty desired in America. The differences of the two are what gave birth to the concepts of negative versus positive liberty; negative versus positive equality;negative versus positive rights—to the concept of the left and right. In short, it  gave birth to how we think and talk about modern politics today.