An Outsider Looking In:Alexis de Tocqueville

“In either case, great misfortunes are to be expected.”

(Political Science 565)

Democratic Habits• “I am convinced that, if ever tyranny succeeds in

getting a foothold in America, it will have even more difficulty in overcoming the habits formed by freedom than in conquering the love of freedom itself.– This constantly renewed agitation introduced by

democratic government into the political realm subsequently passes into civil society. Perhaps, all in all, that is the greatest advantage of democratic government which I praise much more for what it causes to be done than for what it actually does.” (284)

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Perils of Popular Sovereignty

• In America, the majority “possesses immense actual power and a power of opinion almost as great; and when it has made up its mind over a question, there are, so to speak, no obstacles which might, I will not say halt, but even retard its onward course long enough to allow it time to heed the complaints of those it crushes as it goes by.

The consequences of this state of affairs are dire and dangerous for the future.” (290)

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Legislative Power & Instability

• Frequent elections exacerbate the legislative instability inherent in democracies– “Since the only authority one wishes to please is

the majority, all its projects are supported with enthusiasm; but as soon as its attention is drawn elsewhere, all efforts come to an end” (291)

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Tyranny of the Majority• The majority thinks itself both the source of law

and above the law, a tyrant– In Maryland, black Americans had the legal right to

vote, but majority white prejudice against them, and majority sanction of violence, mean that on the whole, they choose not to.

• “So you mean that the majority, which has the privilege of enacting laws, also wishes to have the privilege of disobeying them?” (295, fn. 4)– Hate crimes more likely in affluent, homogenous

communities (Disha et al, 2011)

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Tyranny of the Majority• “There is [...] no earthly authority so worthy of respect or

so vested with so sacred a right that I would wish to allow it unlimited action and unrestricted dominance. – When, therefore, I see the right and capacity to enact

everything given to any authority whatsoever, whether it be called people or king, democracy or aristocracy, whether exercised in a monarchy or a republic, I say: the seed of tyranny lies there and I seek to live under different laws.

• My main complaint against a democratic government as organized in the United States in not in its weakness, [...] but in its inexorable strength.” (294)– Though the people rule as God, they have neither his wisdom

nor his justice

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Tyranny of the Majority• “In America, the majority has staked out a formidable

fence around thought. Inside those limits a writer is free but woe betide him if he dares to stray beyond them.”– “Formerly tyranny employed chains and executioners as

its crude weapons; but nowadays civilization has civilized despotism itself even though it appeared to have nothing else to learn.

• Princes had, so to speak, turned violence into a physical thing but our democratic republics have made it into something as intellectual as the human will it intends to constrict.” (298)

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Tyranny of the Majority• “No longer does the master say: ‘You will think as I do or you will

die’; he says: ‘You are free not to think like me, your life, property, everything will be untouched but from today you are a pariah among us. – You will retain your civic privileges but they will be useless to you, for

if you seek the votes of your fellow citizens, they will not grant you them, and if you simply seek their esteem, they will pretend to refuse you that too. You will retain your place amongst men but you will lose the rights of mankind.

• When you approach your fellows, they will shun you like an impure creature; and those who believe in your innocence will be the very people to abandon you lest they be shunned in return. Go in peace; I grant you your life but it is a life worse than death.” (298-99)– Muslims in post-9/11 America?– Marriage equality?

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Tyranny of the Majority• “If America has not yet found any great writers, we should not look

elsewhere for reasons; literary genius does not thrive without freedom of thought and there is not freedom of thought in America.”– Freedom of speech without freedom of thought

• “The Inquisition was never able to stop the circulation in Spain of books hostile to the religion of the majority. The power of the majority in the United States has had greater success than that by removing even the thought of publishing such books. You come across skeptics in America but skepticism cannot find an outlet for its views.” (299)– Tyranny in the marketplace– Still true?

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Tyranny Over Thought

• Louis XIV could tolerate and even enjoy satire of himself, but– “The slightest reproach [of the majority] offends

it, the smallest sharp truth stimulates its angry response and it must be praised from the style of its language to its more solid virtues. No writer, however famous, can escape from this obligation to praise his fellow citizens. The majority lives therefore in an everlasting self-adoration.” (299)

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The “Courtier Spirit”

• Courtiers shamelessly flatter the king, in a democracy, the people are sovereign. Thus, “Democratic republics place the spirit of teh court within the reach of a great number of citizens and allow it to spread through all social classes at once. This is one of the most serious criticisms that can be made against them.” (301)– Breeds hypocrisy, as individuals praise “the people” in

public, but criticize them in private (302)

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Tyranny of the Majority• “If ever freedom is lost in America, blame will have to be

laid at the door of the omnipotence of the majority, which will have driven minorities to despair and will have forced them to appeal to physical force. Then one will see the anarchy which will come as a consequence of despotism.” – Fed. 51 (304)

• “If a democratic republic, similar to that of the United States, ever came to be founded in a country where the power of one man had already established a central administration and made it accepted by habit and law, I have no hesitation in saying that, in such a republic, tyranny would be less tolerable than in any of the absolute monarchies of Europe.” (306)

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Barriers to Tyranny

• Lawyers & judges– Respect for precedent makes them inherently

conservative, respectful of the past– Orderly spirit– Aristocratic leaning (love of the past & tradition)– Judges, being having permanent office, grow to

love stability

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• “When the American people become intoxicated by their enthusiasms or carried away by them, lawyers supply an almost invisible brake to slow them down.” (313)

• Judges also– Constitutional review– Lifetime appointment

• Election of judges will have “disastrous results, and it will be seen that an attack has been directed against not only the power of judges but against the democratic republic itself.” (314)

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Juries• “One must make a distinction between the jury

as a judicial institution and as a political one.” (315)– Institutions have unintended social outcomes

• “I do not know whether juries are much use to litigants but I am sure that they are are of great use to those who judge the case. They are, in my view, one of the most effective means available to society for educating the people.” (321)– To exercise judgment in the application of law &

power

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Two Evils of Slavery

• The evils against human beings• The prejudice against those who have been in

subjugation– In classical times, slavery was between people

who resembled one another• Thus, once abolished, the prejudice quickly evaporated

– In America, however, it is between peoples of visibly different races, and thus the prejudice endures long after the abolition of slavery (400-401)

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Slavery & Racism• “This man, born in degrading circumstances, this

foreigner brought by slavery into our midst, is hardly recognized as possessing the common features of humanity. His face seems hideous to us, his intelligence limited, and his tastes debased. We are very close to regarding him as being half-way between beast and man.”– “To persuade whites to abandon the opinion that they

hold about the moral and intellectual inferiority of their former slaves, the Negroes must change but they cannot as long as this opinion persists.” (401, fn. 32)

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Slavery & Racism• “Man, in modern time, after the abolition of slavery, must,

therefore, eradicate three much more intangible and tenacious prejudices: the prejudice of the master, the prejudice of race, and, finally, the prejudice of whites.”– This is demonstrated by the fact the even in states without

slavery or legal subjugation of blacks, where they may vote and interracial marriage is legal, majority prejudice means that these things almost never happen

– Lacking a legal guarantee of white supremacy, Northerners are more likely to demand the absolute social exclusion of blacks than in the South, where whites are confident of their clear social supremacy (401-403)• Sex

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Slavery & Economy• But if the North is no more egalitarian than the South, why

has it largely abolished slavery?– “The answer is easy. Slavery in the United States is destroyed in

the interest, not of Negroes, but of the whites.”• Slavery

– Breeds contempt for work & industry, promotes a culture of aristocratic idleness

– Problems– Produces slower, less skilled work than wage labor– Perpetual need to support slaves more expensive than only

paying for labor when needed– Limits the number of people (owners) who produce wealth,

where wage labor spreads it across society (403-41)

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Abolition• Northern abolition meant that paid labor no longer

had to compete with slaves– This competition both lowered wages and caused the

value of the relatively unproductive slave to decline• But while abolition ended slavery in a state, it did not

free slaves– With the approach of abolition, & the knowledge that a

slave’s children could no longer be counted part of the slave’s wealth generating ability, slave owners either sold their slaves South or relocated their whole operation

– The same policy subtracts from the Northern population at the same time that it swells the Southern (410-412)

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Why does the South retain slavery?

• Slavery more productive way of growing tobacco, sugarcane & cotton than other crops– High labor, low skill

• High population of slaves in Southern states means that black majority possible– You can humiliate & deprive a slave, but once made citizens, would

they not demand equality?• Only two possibilities for a post-emancipation US are racial

comingling or separation– “The Southern American has two active passions which will always lead

him to remain in isolation [from blacks]: he will dread both resembling his former Negro slave and drifting below the level of his white neighbor.”

– “Southern Americans conceive the issue in this light and behave accordingly. Since they do not wish to mix with the Negroes, they do not wish to set them free.” (414-423)

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• “Whatever the efforts southern Americans make to preserve slavery, they will not succeed forever. – Slavery, which is limited to one area of the globe,

which is attacked by Christianity as unjust and by political economy as pernicious and which is placed next to the democratic freedom and enlightenment of our times, is not an institution which can last. It will end through the actions of the slave or of the master.

• In either case, great misfortunes are to be expected.” (426)

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Secession

• The South realizes that its hegemony over American politics is slipping– Thus, “If it happens to notice that a Union law is

not in its favor, it cries out against this abuse of power; it vigorously remonstrates and, if its voice is not heard, it becomes indignant and threatens to withdraw from an association whose burdens it bears without enjoying the profits.” (449)

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Will the Union last?• Americans are most loyal to their states than to the Union.• “Patriotism, frequently only the extension of private egoism, has,

therefore, remained attached to the state and has not yet, so to speak, passed on to the Union.”– “If the sovereignty of the Union were to come into conflict with that of the

states, one can readily see that it would be defeated; I doubt whether the fight would ever be undertaken in any serious fashion.”

– Nullification (459)• “If today, one of these [...] states wished to withdraw its name from the

contract, it would be difficult to prove that it could not do so. The federal government would not be able in any obvious way to rely upon either force or law to overcome it.”– The Union will last as long as it is in the interest of all parties, and no longer.– What if it is in the interest of some and not of other?

• “A principal contrary to its nature” (426-434)

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Will the Union last?

• “The increase of the members of the Union itself [via expansion] would already represent a powerful threat to the federal bond. – All men see the same things in different ways

even when coming from the same point of view but this is all the more so when the point of view is different too.

• Thus, as the number of republics increases, the less there will be the chance of reaching unanimity about the same laws.” (443)

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Will republican government endure?

• “What most strikes the visitor to the United States is the kind of tumultuous agitation at the heart of which we find political society.”

• While the small laws change constantly, the fundamental law is stable

• “What can be foreseen now is that, if Americans were to deviate from a republic, they would speedily arrive at despotism without pausing for very long at monarchy.”– If the ill-defined powers fearlessly allocated to the elected

official fall into the hands of a hereditary power, the people are use to extraordinary deployments of power, without any check against it (465-70)

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An American Future

• “Europe, divided among so many different peoples, suffering from an endless series of wars and the barbarities of the Middle Ages, has managed to reach a population of sixty-eight inhabitants to the square mile. What powerful cause it to stop the United States from having as many in the future?” (483)

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