Front cover image for Democracy in America

Democracy in America

An influential study of America's national government, egalitarian ideals, and character offers reflections on the effect of majority rule on the rights of individuals and provides insight into the rewards and responsibilities of a democratic government
Print Book, English, ©2004
Library of America : Distributed to the trade in the U.S. by Penguin Putnam, New York, ©2004
xvi, 941 pages : map ; 21 cm
9781931082549, 1931082545
52902451
Ch. 1. The Outward Configuration of North America
Ch. 2. On the Point of Departure and Its Importance for the Future of the Anglo-Americans
Ch. 3. Social State of the Anglo-Americans
Ch. 4. On the Principle of Popular Sovereignty in America
Ch. 5. Necessity of Studying What Happens in Particular States Before Speaking of the Government of the Union
Ch. 6. On Judicial Power in the United States and Its Effect on Political Society
Ch. 7. On Political Judgment in the United States
Ch. 8. On the Federal Constitution
Ch. 1. Why It Is Strictly Accurate to Say That in the United States It Is the People Who Govern
Ch. 2. Parties in the United States
Ch. 3. On Freedom of the Press in the United States
Ch. 4. On Political Association in the United States
Ch. 5. On the Government of Democracy in America
Ch. 6. What Are the Real Advantages to American Society of Democratic Government?
Ch. 7. On the Omnipotence of the Majority in the United States and Its Effects
Ch. 8. On That Which Tempers the Tyranny of the Majority in the United States
Ch. 9. On the Principal Causes That Tend to Maintain the Democratic Republic in the United States
Ch. 10. Some Considerations Concerning the Present State and Probable Future of the Three Races That Inhabit the Territory of the United States
pt. I. Influence of Democracy on the Evolution of the American Intellect
Ch. 1. On the Philosophical Method of the Americans
Ch. 2. On the Principal Source of Beliefs Among Democratic Peoples
Ch. 3. Why the Americans Show More Aptitude and Taste for General Ideas Than Their English Forefathers
Ch. 4. Why the Americans Have Never Been as Passionate as the French About General Ideas in Politics
Ch. 5. How Religion Uses Democratic Instincts in the United States
Ch. 6. On the Progress of Catholicism in the United States
Ch. 7. What Makes the Mind of Democratic Peoples Receptive to Pantheism
Ch. 8. How Democracy Suggests to the Americans the Idea of Man's Infinite Perfectibility
Ch. 9. How the Example of the Americans Does Not Prove That a Democratic People Can Have No Aptitude for Science, Literature, or the Arts
Ch. 10. Why Americans Devote Themselves More to the Practical Applications of Science Than to the Theory
Ch. 11. In What Spirit Americans Cultivate the Arts
Ch. 12. Why Americans Build Such Insignificant and Such Great Monuments at the Same Time
Ch. 13. The Literary Aspect of Democratic Centuries
Ch. 14. On the Literary Industry
Ch. 15. Why the Study of Greek and Latin Is Particularly Useful in Democratic Societies
Ch. 16. How American Democracy Has Changed the English Language
Ch. 17. On Some Sources of Poetry in Democratic Nations
Ch. 18. Why American Writers and Orators Are Often Bombastic
Ch. 19. Some Observations on the Theater of Democratic Peoples
Ch. 20. On Certain Tendencies Peculiar to Historians in Democratic Centuries
Ch. 21. On Parliamentary Eloquence in the United States
pt. II. Influence of Democracy on the Sentiments of the Americans
Ch. 1. Why Democratic Peoples Show a More Ardent and Enduring Love of Equality Than of Liberty
Ch. 2. On Individualism in Democratic Countries
Ch. 3. How Individualism Is More Pronounced at the End of a Democratic Revolution Than at Any Other Time
Ch. 4. How Americans Combat Individualism with Free Institutions
Ch. 5. On the Use That Americans Make of Association in Civil Life
Ch. 6. On the Relation Between Associations and Newspapers
Ch. 7. Relations Between Civil Associations and Political Associations
Ch. 8. How Americans Combat Individualism with the Doctrine of Self-Interest Properly Understood
Ch. 9. How Americans Apply the Doctrine of Self-Interest Properly Understood in the Matter of Religion
Ch. 10. On the Taste for Material Well-Being in America
Ch. 11. On the Particular Effects of the Love of Material Gratifications in Democratic Centuries
Ch. 12. Why Certain Americans Exhibit Such Impassioned Spiritualism
Ch. 13. Why Americans Seem So Restless in the Midst of Their Well-Being
Ch. 14. How the Taste for Material Gratifications Is Combined in America with Love of Liberty and Concern About Public Affairs
Ch. 15. How Religious Beliefs Sometimes Divert the American Soul Toward Immaterial Gratifications
Ch. 16. How Excessive Love of Well-Being Can Impair It
Ch. 17. How, in Times of Equality and Doubt, It Is Important to Set Distant Goals for Human Actions
Ch. 18. Why All Respectable Occupations Are Reputed Honorable Among Americans
Ch. 19. Why Nearly All Americans Are Inclined to Enter Industrial Occupations
Ch. 20. How Industry Could Give Rise to an Aristocracy
pt. III. Influence of Democracy on Mores Properly So-Called
Ch. 1. How Mores Become Milder as Conditions Become More Equal
Ch. 2. How Democracy Simplifies and Eases Habitual Relations Among Americans
Ch. 3. Why Americans Are So Slow to Take Offense in Their Country and So Quick to Take Offense in Ours
Ch. 4. Consequences of the Three Previous Chapters
Ch. 5. How Democracy Modifies Relations Between Servant and Master
Ch. 6. How Democratic Institutions and Mores Tend to Raise Prices and Shorten the Terms of Leases
Ch. 7. Influence of Democracy on Wages
Ch. 8. Influence of Democracy on the Family
Ch. 9. Raising Girls in the United States
Ch. 10. How the Traits of the Girl Can Be Divined in the Wife
Ch. 11. How Equality of Conditions Helps to Maintain Good Morals in America
Ch. 12. How the Americans Understand the Equality of Man and Woman
Ch. 13. How Equality Naturally Divides the Americans into a Multitude of Small Private Societies
Ch. 14. Some Reflections on American Manners
Ch. 15. On the Gravity of Americans and Why It Does Not Prevent Them from Acting Rashly
Ch. 16. Why the National Vanity of the Americans Is More Restless and Argumentative Than That of the English
Ch. 17. How Society in the United States Seems Both Agitated and Monotonous
Ch. 18. On Honor in the United States and in Democratic Societies
Ch. 19. Why There Are So Many Ambitious Men and So Few Great Ambitions in the United States
Ch. 20. On Place-Hunting in Certain Democratic Nations
Ch. 21. Why Great Revolutions Will Become Rare
Ch. 22. Why Democratic Peoples Naturally Desire Peace and Democratic Armies Naturally Desire War
Ch. 23. Which Class in Democratic Armies Is the Most Warlike and Revolutionary
Ch. 24. What Makes Democratic Armies Weaker Than Other Armies at the Start of a Campaign but More Formidable in Protracted Warfare
Ch. 25. On Discipline in Democratic Armies
Ch. 26. Some Remarks on War in Democratic Societies
pt. IV. On the Influence that Democratic Ideas and Sentiments Exert on Political Society
Ch. 1. Equality Naturally Gives Men a Taste for Free Institutions
Ch. 2. Why the Ideas of Democratic Peoples About Government Naturally Favor the Concentration of Power
Ch. 3. How the Sentiments of Democratic Peoples Accord with Their Ideas to Bring About a Concentration of Power
Ch. 4. Concerning Certain Particular and Accidental Causes That Either Lead a Democratic People to Centralize Power or Divert Them From It
Ch. 5. How Sovereign Power in Today's European Nations Is Increasing, Although Sovereigns Are Less Stable
Ch. 6. What Kind of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear
Ch. 7. Continuation of the Preceding Chapters
Ch. 8. General View of the Subject
Tocqueville's Notes