American Institutions and Their Influence

CHAPTER XIII.. Government of the Democracy in America

Government of the Democracy in America Universal Suffrage Choice of the People, and instinctive Preferences of the American Democracy Causes which may partly correct the Tendencies of the Democracy Influence which the American Democracy has exercised on the Laws relating to Elections Public Officers under the control of the Democracy in America Arbitrary Power of Magistrates under the Rule of the American Democracy Instability of the Administration in the United States Charges levied by the State under the rule of the American Democracy Tendencies of the American Democracy as regards the Salaries of public Officers Difficulties of distinguishing the Causes which contribute to the Economy of the American Government Whether the Expenditure of the United States can be compared to that of France Corruption and vices of the Rulers in a Democracy, and consequent Effects upon public Morality Efforts of which a Democracy is capable Self-control of the American Democracy Conduct of foreign Affairs, by the American Democracy

CHAPTER XIV.

What the real Advantages are which American Society derives from the Government of the Democracy General Tendency of the Laws under the Rule of the American Democracy, and Habits of those who apply them Public Spirit in the United States Notion of Rights in the United States Respect for the Law in the United States Activity which pervades all the Branches of the Body politic in the United States; Influence which it exercises upon Society

CHAPTER XV.. Unlimited Power of the Majority in the United States, and Its

Unlimited Power of the Majority in the United States, and its Consequences How the unlimited Power of the Majority increases in America, the Instability of Legislation inherent in Democracy Tyranny of the Majority Effects of the unlimited Power of the Majority upon the arbitrary Authority of the American public Officers Power exercised by the Majority in America upon public Opinion Effects of the Tyranny of the Majority upon the national Character of the Americans The greatest Dangers of the American Republics proceed from the unlimited Power of the Majority

CHAPTER XVI.

Causes which Mitigate the Tyranny of the Majority in the United States Absence of central Administration The Profession of the Law in the United States serves to Counterpoise the Democracy Trial by Jury in the United States considered as a political Institution

CHAPTER XVII.

Principal Causes which tend to maintain the democratic Republic in the United States Accidental or providential Causes which contribute to the Maintenance of the democratic Republic in the United States Influence of the Laws upon the Maintenance of the democratic Republic in the United States Influence of Manners upon the Maintenance of the democratic Republic in the United States Religion considered as a political Institution, which powerfully Contributes to the Maintenance of the democratic Republic among the Americans Indirect Influence of religious Opinions upon political Society in the United States Principal Causes which render Religion powerful in America How the Instruction, the Habits, and the practical Experience of the Americans, promote the Success of their democratic Institutions The Laws contribute more to the Maintenance of the democratic Republic in the United States than the physical Circumstances of the Country, and the Manners more than the Laws Whether Laws and Manners are sufficient to maintain democratic Institutions in other Countries beside America Importance of what precedes with respect to the State of Europe

CHAPTER XVIII.

The present and probable future Condition of the three Races which Inhabit the Territory of the United States The present and probable future Condition of the Indian Tribes which Inhabit the Territory possessed by the Union Situation of the black Population in the United States, and Dangers with which its Presence threatens the Whites What are the Chances in favor of the Duration of the American Union, and what Dangers threaten it Of the republican Institutions of the United States, and what their Chances of Duration are Reflections on the Causes of the commercial Prosperity of the United States

Conclusion

Appendix

INTRODUCTION.

Among the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions. I readily discovered the prodigious influence which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed.

I speedily perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, the ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce.

The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that the equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.

I then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, where I imagined that I discerned something analogous to the spectacle which the New World presented to me. I observed that the equality of conditions is daily advancing towards those extreme limits which it seems to have reached in the United States; and that the democracy which governs the American communities, appears to be rapidly rising into power in Europe.

I hence conceived the idea of the book which is now before the reader.

It is evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is going on among us; but there are two opinions as to its nature and consequences. To some it appears to be a novel accident, which as such may still be checked; to others it seems irresistible, because it is the most uniform, the most ancient, and the most permanent tendency which is to be found in history.

Let us recollect the situation of France seven hundred years ago, when the territory was divided among a small number of families, who were the owners of the soil and the rulers of the inhabitants; the right of governing descended with the family inheritance from generation to generation; force was the only means by which man could act on man; and landed property was the sole source of power.

Soon, however, the political power of the clergy was founded, and began to exert itself; the clergy opened its ranks to all classes, to the poor and the rich, the villain and the lord; equality penetrated into the government through the church, and the being who, as a serf, must have vegetated in perpetual bondage, took his place as a priest in the midst of nobles, and not unfrequently above the heads of kings.

The different relations of men became more complicated and more numerous, as society gradually became more stable and more civilized. Thence the want of civil laws was felt; and the order of legal functionaries soon rose from the obscurity of the tribunals and their dusty chambers, to appear at the court of the monarch, by the side of the feudal barons in their ermine and their mail.

While the kings were ruining themselves by their great enterprises, and the nobles exhausting their resources by private wars, the lower orders were enriching themselves by commerce. The influence of money began to be perceptible in state affairs. The transactions of business opened a new road to power, and the financier rose to a station of political influence in which he was at once flattered and despised.

Gradually the spread of mental acquirements, and the increasing taste for literature and art, opened chances of success to talent; science became the means of government, intelligence led to social power, and the man of letters took a part in the affairs of the state.

The value attached to the privileges of birth, decreased in the exact proportion in which new paths were struck out to advancement. In the eleventh century nobility was beyond all price; in the thirteenth it might be purchased; it was conferred for the first time in 1270; and equality was thus introduced into the government by the aristocracy itself.

In the course of these seven hundred years, it sometimes happened that, in order to resist the authority of the crown, or to diminish the power of their rivals, the nobles granted a certain share of political rights to the people. Or, more frequently the king permitted the lower orders to enjoy a degree of power, with the intention of repressing the aristocracy.

In France the kings have always been the most active and the most constant of levellers. When they were strong and ambitious, they spared no pains to raise the people to the level of the nobles; when they were temperate or weak, they allowed the people to rise above themselves. Some assisted the democracy by their talents, others by their vices. Louis XI. and Louis XIV. reduced every rank beneath the throne to the same subjection; Louis XV. descended, himself and all his court, into the dust.

As soon as land was held on any other than a feudal tenure, and personal property began in its turn to confer influence and power, every improvement which was introduced in commerce or manufacture, was a fresh element of the equality of conditions. Henceforward every new discovery, every new want which it engendered, and every new desire which craved satisfaction, was a step toward the universal level. The taste for luxury, the love of war, the sway of fashion, the most superficial, as well as the deepest passions of the human heart, co-operated to enrich the poor and to impoverish the rich.

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