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Cover of 2003 Penguin Classics edition of Democracy in America
Cover of 2003 Penguin Classics edition of Democracy in America

De la démocratie en Amérique (published in two volumes, the first in 1835 and the second in 1840) is a classic French text by Alexis de Tocqueville on the United States in the 1830s and its strengths and weaknesses. The Western canon is a term used to denote a canon of books and more widely music and art, that has been the most influential in This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A literal translation of its title is On Democracy in America, but the usual translation of the title is simply Democracy in America. It is regarded as a classical account of the democratic system of the United States and has been used as an important reference ever since.

Contents

Tocqueville's visit to the Americas

In 1831, twenty-five year old Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont were sent by the French government to study the American prison system. M Gustave de Beaumont (b February 6 1802 in Beaumont-la-Chartre, France d This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. A prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned and usually deprived of a range of They arrived in New York City in May of that year and spent nine months traveling the United States, taking notes not only on prisons, but on all aspects of American society including the nation's economy and its political system. The City of New York The two also briefly visited Canada, spending a few days in the summer of 1831 in what was then Lower Canada (modern-day Quebec) and Upper Canada (modern-day Ontario). The Province of Lower Canada (French Province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Quebec (kwɨˈbɛk The Province of Upper Canada (French Province du Haut-Canada) was a British colony located in what is now the southern portion of the Province of Ontario Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec

After they returned to France in February 1832, Tocqueville and Beaumont submitted their report, entitled Du système pénitentiaire aux États-Unis et de son application en France, in 1833. Beaumont would soon write a novel about race relations in the United States. A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story

Summary

The primary focus of Democracy in America is an analysis of why republican representative democracy has succeeded in the United States while failing in so many other places. A republic is a State or Country that is not led by a hereditary Monarch, but in which the people (or at least a part of its people have impact on its Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principles of the people's representatives The United States of America —commonly referred to as the He seeks to apply the functional aspects of democracy in America to what he sees as the failings of democracy in his native France. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics.

Tocqueville speculates on the future of democracy in the United States, discussing possible threats to democracy and possible dangers of democracy. These include his belief that democracy has a tendency to degenerate into "soft despotism" as well as the risk of developing a tyranny of the majority. Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade The phrase tyranny of the majority, used in discussing systems of Democracy and Majority rule, is a criticism of the Scenario in which decisions made He observed that the strong role religion played in the United States was due to its separation from the government, a separation all parties found agreeable. The Separation of church and state is a legal and political principle derived from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reads "Congress He contrasts this to France where there was what he perceived to be an unhealthy antagonism between democrats and the religious, which he relates to the connection between church and state.

Importance

Democracy in America was published in numerous editions in the 19th century. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar It was immediately popular in both Europe and the United States. By the twentieth century, it had become a classic work of political science, social science, and history. Political science is a branch of Social sciences that deals with the theory and practice of Politics and the description and analysis of Political systems The social sciences comprise academic disciplines concerned with the study of the social life of human groups and individuals including Anthropology, Communication studies History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology It is commonly assigned reading for undergraduates majoring in the political or social sciences. In some Educational systems undergraduate education is Post-secondary education up to the level of a Bachelor's degree. An academic major, major concentration, concentration, or simply major is mainly a U

Tocqueville's work is often acclaimed for making a number of predictions which were eventually borne out. Tocqueville correctly anticipates the potential of the debate over the abolition of slavery to tear apart the United States (as it indeed did in the American Civil War). As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South On the other hand, he predicts that any part of the Union would be able to declare independence. He also predicts the rise of the United States and Russia as rival superpowers (which they did become after World War II with Russia as a part of the Soviet Union. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending A superpower is a State with a leading position in the international system and the ability to Influence events and project power on a worldwide scale World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 )

American democracy was seen to have its potential downside: the despotism of public opinion, the tyranny of majority, the absence of intellectual freedom which he saw to degrade administration and bring statesmanship, learning, and literature to the level of the lowest. Democracy in America predicted the violence of party spirit and the judgment of the wise subordinated to the prejudices of the ignorant.

See also

Bibliography

Translations:

External links

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