Tocqueville: Who Is In Charge?
Who is in charge?
Tocqueville viewed democracy not only as a political institution but, above all, as a sophisticated system that shapes a society’s customs, thereby giving it a sociological and psychological dimension. Democratic regimes, Tocqueville argued, determines our thoughts, aspirations, and interests. In Tocqueville’s last chapter he explores the idea of the three distinct races inhabiting territory in the United States. Particularly the Negro race where Tocqueville draws a correlation between democracy and the Negro. Tocqueville suggests that the increased focus on individual economic output provides a parallel between the Negro and democracy. He writes, “Among democratic peoples… everyone works in order to live, or has worked,
or was born to people who worked.” Thus, “the idea of work” becomes the “necessary, natural, and respectable condition of humanity” (642). Under the arrangement of slavery, the Negro’s value directly relates to his labor capabilities. As in democracy, where “everyone works in order to live” (642), “the Negro enters servitude when he enters life” (367). As a result, the Negro exemplifies a radical form of the American industry; one adjusted for slaves as work for no pay (i.e. slavery) instead of the typical arrangement afforded to Anglo-Americans. This was the overwhelming issue that sparked the Civil War as Tocqueville correctly predicted. The pressures to abolish slavery ultimately lead to the succession of the South, which raises the question that was central to the founding of the country. Is America one nation, or is it just a conglomerate of states with mutual interests? Which has supreme authority, the state or the federal government?
Works Cited
Tocqueville, Alexis de. 2004. Democracy in America; translated by Arthur Goldhammer. NewYork: Literary Classic of the United States, Inc. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
Tocqueville viewed democracy not only as a political institution but, above all, as a sophisticated system that shapes a society’s customs, thereby giving it a sociological and psychological dimension. Democratic regimes, Tocqueville argued, determines our thoughts, aspirations, and interests. In Tocqueville’s last chapter he explores the idea of the three distinct races inhabiting territory in the United States. Particularly the Negro race where Tocqueville draws a correlation between democracy and the Negro. Tocqueville suggests that the increased focus on individual economic output provides a parallel between the Negro and democracy. He writes, “Among democratic peoples… everyone works in order to live, or has worked,
or was born to people who worked.” Thus, “the idea of work” becomes the “necessary, natural, and respectable condition of humanity” (642). Under the arrangement of slavery, the Negro’s value directly relates to his labor capabilities. As in democracy, where “everyone works in order to live” (642), “the Negro enters servitude when he enters life” (367). As a result, the Negro exemplifies a radical form of the American industry; one adjusted for slaves as work for no pay (i.e. slavery) instead of the typical arrangement afforded to Anglo-Americans. This was the overwhelming issue that sparked the Civil War as Tocqueville correctly predicted. The pressures to abolish slavery ultimately lead to the succession of the South, which raises the question that was central to the founding of the country. Is America one nation, or is it just a conglomerate of states with mutual interests? Which has supreme authority, the state or the federal government?
Works Cited
Tocqueville, Alexis de. 2004. Democracy in America; translated by Arthur Goldhammer. NewYork: Literary Classic of the United States, Inc. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.