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Democracy in America

Front Cover
15 Reviews
Library of America, 2004 - Political Science - 941 pages
Alexis de Tocqueville, a young aristocratic French lawyer, came to the United States in 1831 to study its penitentiary systems. His nine-month visit and subsequent reading and reflection resulted in Democracy in America(1835–40), a landmark masterpiece of political observation and analysis. Tocqueville vividly describes the unprecedented social equality he found in America and explores its implications for European society in the emerging modern era. His book provides enduring insight into the political consequences of widespread property ownership, the potential dangers to liberty inherent in majority rule, the importance of civil institutions in an individualistic culture dominated by the pursuit of material self-interest, and the vital role of religion in American life, while prophetically probing the deep differences between the free and slave states. The clear, fluid, and vigorous translation by Arthur Goldhammer is the first to fully capture Tocqueville’s achievements both as an accomplished literary stylist and as a profound political thinker.
  

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Review: Democracy in America (Library of America #147)

User Review  - John - Goodreads

I read Volume 1 in this edition, and Volume 2 in the edition translated & edited by Harvey C. Mansfield and Delba Winthrop published in 2000 by The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0226805328. I ... Read full review

Review: Democracy in America (Library of America #147)

User Review  - Michael Austin - Goodreads

The first volume of Alexis de Tocqueville's masterpiece Democracy in America, published in 1835, probably deserves the label "indispensable" that it is so frequently given. It is an astonishingly good ... Read full review

All 15 reviews »

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Selected pages

Contents

Introduction
3
The Outward Configuration of North America
21
On the Point of Departure and Its Importance
31
Social State of the AngloAmericans
52
On the Principle of Popular Sovereignty
62
On Judicial Power in the United States and
111
On Political Judgment in the United States
120
On the Federal Constitution
126
How the Taste for Material Gratifications
629
How Excessive Love of WellBeing
638
Why Nearly All Americans Are Inclined
644
How Mores Become Milder as Conditions
655
Why Americans Are So Slow to Take Offense
663
Consequences of the Three Previous Chapters
667
How Democracy Modifies Relations Between Servant and Master
669
How Democratic Institutions and Mores Tend to Raise Prices and Shorten the Terms of Leases
679

part ii
195
On Freedom of the Press in the United States
205
On Political Association in the United States
215
On the Government of Democracy in America
224
What Are the Real Advantages to American
264
On the Omnipotence of the Majority in
283
On That Which Tempers the Tyranny of
301
On the Principal Causes That Tend to Maintain
319
Some Considerations Concerning the Present
365
Preface
479
On the Principal Source of Beliefs Among
489
Why the Americans Have Never Been
499
On the Progress of Catholicism in
510
How the Example of the Americans Does
516
Why Americans Devote Themselves More to
522
In What Spirit Americans Cultivate the Arts
530
Why Americans Build Such Insignificant
536
On the Literary Industry
544
On Some Sources of Poetry in Democratic
554
Why American Writers and Orators
561
On Certain Tendencies Peculiar to Historians
569
Why Democratic Peoples Show a More Ardent
581
How Individualism Is More Pronounced
588
On the Use That Americans Make
595
Relations Between Civil Associations
604
How Americans Combat Individualism with
610
How Americans Apply the Doctrine
614
On the Particular Effects of the Love
620
Influence of Democracy on Wages
682
Influence of Democracy on the Family
685
Raising Girls in the United States
692
How the Traits of the Girl Can Be Divined in the Wife
695
How Equality of Conditions Helps to Maintain Good Morals in America
698
How the Americans Understand the Equality of Man and Woman
705
How Equality Naturally Divides the Americans into a Multitude of Small Private Societies
709
Some Reflections on American Manners
711
On the Gravity of Americans and Why It Does Not Prevent Them from Acting Rashly
715
Why the National Vanity of the Americans Is More Restless and Argumentative Than That of the English
719
How Society in the United States Seems Both Agitated and Monotonous
722
On Honor in the United States and in Democratic Societies
725
Why There Are So Many Ambitious Men and So Few Great Ambitions in the United States
738
On PlaceHunting in Certain Democratic Nations
745
Why Great Revolutions Will Become Rare
747
Why Democratic Peoples Naturally Desire Peace and Democratic Armies Naturally Desire War
761
Which Class in Democratic Armies Is the Most
768
On Discipline in Democratic Armies
777
part iv
785
How the Sentiments of Democratic Peoples
793
How Sovereign Power in Todays European
803
What Kind of Despotism Democratic Nations
816
Continuation of the Preceding Chapters
822
General View of the Subject
831
Translators Note
873
Note on the Texts
907
Index
925
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Democracy in America
Democracy in America
Alexis de Tocqueville,Arthur Goldhammer
Snippet view - 2004

Common terms and phrases

administrative American Anglo-Americans aristocracy army associations aVairs aVect become believe beneWt cause central central power citizens civil classes common confederation constantly Constitution Court of Sessions courts dangerous democracy democratic nations democratic social despotism diVerent diYcult elected England England town English enlightenment equality eral Europe European eVects eVort existence fear federal feel force France French habits Hence honor human ideas independence Indians individual industry instincts interest inXuence judge jury land large number laws legislative less liberty limits live Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte majority man’s matter mind monarchy moral natural Negroes never obliged opinion oYce oYcer oYcials passions people’s political popular sovereignty population principles prosperity race reason religion republic revolution sacriWce seems slavery slaves small number social society South sovereign sovereignty spirit suVer taste things tion Tocqueville town Union United wealth Wfty Wght Wnally Wrst Wxed Xaws

References to this book

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References from web pages

Modern History Sourcebook: de Tocqueville: Democracy in America
from Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, volume II, translated by Daniel Gilman (New York: Century Co., 1898), pages 37-39, 119-121, 124-128 ...
www.fordham.edu/ halsall/ mod/ tocqueville-democracy.html

Democracy in America, Then and Now, a Struggle Against Majority ...
Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" is both an appreciation of American democracy, and a cautionary tale about its fragility.
www.nytimes.com/ 2006/ 01/ 23/ opinion/ 23mon3.html

Tocqueville: Book II Chapter 6
WHEN men are no longer united among themselves by firm and lasting ties, it is impossible to obtain the co-operation of any great number of them unless you ...
xroads.virginia.edu/ ~Hyper/ detoc/ ch2_06.htm

In Search of Tocqueville's Democracy in America
An aristocratic Frenchman who came to the us in 1831 -- when he was only 25 years old -- and later wrote Democracy in America, a two-volume study of the ...
www.tocqueville.org/ chap1.htm

Motion in Tocqueville's Democracy in America
The theme of motion is prominent throughout Tocqueville's Democracy in America. In the chapter on the real advantages that American society derives from the ...
www.allacademic.com/ meta/ p82964_index.html

Democracy in America - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A literal translation of its title is On Democracy in America, but the translation of the title is Democracy in America. It is regarded as a classical ...
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Democracy_in_America

Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Why the Americans Show ...
An excerpt from Democracy in America. Also available on website: online catalogs, secure online ordering, excerpts from new books.
www.press.uchicago.edu/ Misc/ Chicago/ 805328chap13.html

Democracy in America
Democracy in America is a unique 15-part course for high school teachers that ... Democracy in America is designed to aid in the repair of American civic ...
www.learner.org/ channel/ courses/ democracyinamerica/ support/ dia_introduction.pdf

Democracy in America@Everything2.com
Democracy in America was a book published in two volumes by French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville in 1835 and 1840. The book is a summarization of de ...
everything2.com/ node/ 852764

Alexis de Tocqueville - Compare/Contrast Democracy in America, by ...
Compare/Contrast Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville, Alexis de Tocqueville.
killdevilhill.com/ deTocquevillechat/ read.php?f=95& i=38& t=38

About the author (2004)

Arthur Goldhammer is the award-winning translator of more than eighty French works in history, literature, art history, classical studies, philosophy, psychology, and social science. Olivier Zunz is Commonwealth Professor of History at the University of Virginia, and the author of numerous books including Why the American Century? He has also co-edited The Tocqueville Reader (Blackwell) and is president of the Tocqueville Society.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Democracy in America
TitleDemocracy in America
Volume 147 of The Library of America, NY Library of America New York
AuthorAlexis De Tocqueville
Translated byArthur Goldhammer
Editionillustrated
PublisherLibrary of America, 2004
ISBN1931082545, 9781931082549
Length941 pages
Subjects › 

Philosophy / Political
Political Science / History & Theory
  
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