Democracy: The American Experiment

The Europeans that first landed on the virgin shores of North America didn't intend to to start a country and even a whole new way of life, but over time this is what they did in the famous, American Experiment.

 For centuries American Democracy has changed the world, through example and its continuance through many national and international issues.

Alexis de Tocqueville, was a French political thinker who traveled through America in the early 1800s or 19th century, who published his observations on the American experiment in his book, Democracy in America, which looks not only at the government itself but of the affects that this form of government, and the ways of thinking that parallel it, have on the lifestyle of the people that live under it.

I would like to highlight three chapters, 8 - 10 of Volume 2, that I found particularly interesting and that relate to the class topics of American Democracy and the changes in the family in the 19th century discussed last week.

Chapter 8
 "Influence of Democracy on the Family"

In this chapter de Tocqueville makes several intersting observations about the changes that have come about in the relationships of family members as a result of democratic ways of thinking.
1) Father to Son
De Tocqueville claims that in an aristocratic family,

"the father has not only his natural right. He is given a political right to command. He is the author and support of the family; he is also its magistrate."

he then asserts that the relationship is different in a democratic family because of the ideals of democratic thinking.

"I think that as the mores and laws become more democratic the relations between fathers and sons become more intimate and gentle; there is less of rule and authority, often more of confidence and affection, and it would seem that the natural bond grows tighter"

I, Erin, think that in the time since de Tocqueville saw America we have perhaps lessened the rule and authority of the father more, but whether this also results in the "natural bond" growing tighter I don't see as much. Rather in our age of individualism it would seem as though we want to break from familial ties, and that there is very little if any respect accorded to parents and their opinions, at least among the non-lds students I've witnessed.

De Tocqueville then continues to the changes witnessed among children in democratic families.

"So the various members of the aristocratic family are closely linked together; their interests are connected and their minds are in accord, but their hearts are seldom in harmony...Not interest then, but common memories and the unhampered sympathy of thoughts and tastes draw brothers, in a democracy, to one another. Their inheritance is divided, but their hearts are free to unite."

After addressing these relationships de Tocqueville looks at females and in particular their education and role as a wife. (Comprising chapters 9 and 10 respectively)

On the topic of the education of young women de tocqueville notes,

"They [the Americans] realize that there must be a great deal of individual freedom in a democracy; youth will be impatient, tastes ill-restrained, customs fleeting, public opinion often unsettled or feeble, paternal authority weak, and a husband's power contested. In such circumstances they have calculated that there was little chance of repressing in women the most tyrannical passions of the human heart and that it is a safer policy to teach her to control them herself."

De Tocqueville also notes that this self-control, that is established early, also gives a young women a type of courage that she then carries with her into the calculated decision of marriage.

"When she is born into the world the young American girl finds these ideas [of domestic interests and duties] firmly established; she sees the rules that spring therefrom; she is soon convinced that she cannot for a moment depart from the usages accepted by her contemporaries without immediately putting in danger her peace of mind, her reputation, and her very social existence, and she finds the strength required for such an act of submission in the firmness of her understanding and the manly habits inculcated by her education."

Thus we see in Alexis de Tocqueville's eyes that the American Democratic character has invaded every aspect of life for the Americans. The rest of his book continues in a similar vein. After carefully analyzing the system of government in America as opposed to the rest of Europe, he explores democracy in America through religion, slavery, and even manners of the Americans. On the whole it is a well written book, carefully explained, and an interesting view of 19th century, and to some extent our own, America.