Democracy in America

Tocqueville maintains his interest in legal frameworks as key structures to understanding politics. He sees primogeniture, the tradition of passing an estate to the oldest son, as key to the maintenance of aristocracies, since it preserves wealth and gives land a “family spirit” (48). When land is divided among descendants, it is sold more rapidly. In the case of the United States, the lack of primogeniture meant that descendants of landowners joined the professional classes and became “men of commerce, attorneys, doctors. Most have fallen into the most profound obscurity. The least trace of ranks and hereditary distinctions is destroyed; estate law has done its leveling everywhere” (50). For Tocqueville, class structures and aristocratic culture are shaped by law: they cannot endure without a legal system to support them. Tocqueville posits that the United States has still more social mobility as its inhabitants constantly expand westward, so that family histories and legacies do not matter, as the communities there are made up of virtual strangers. Americans all have access to the same basic education, which furthers social leveling, as very few have the means or inclination to pursue intellectual labor and instead seek work from a young age. This produces an exceptional effect, Tocqueville argues, declaring, “Men show themselves to be more equal in their fortunes and in their intelligence […] than they are in any country in the world” (52).

As he considers the political consequences of this phenomenon, Tocqueville turns to the problem of what humans typically desire in life and from government. He argues that all people seek equality, and while they love freedom, equality is so important that rather than lose it “they would sooner consent to perish” (52). Americans have been able to “maintain the sovereignty of the people” rather than submit to an authority figure (52).

Tocqueville argues that popular sovereignty exists in the background of other nations, or is appealed to as a political force. In this area the United States is exceptional: “In America, the principle of the sovereignty of the people is not hidden or sterile as in certain nations; it is recognized by mores, proclaimed by the laws” (53). In the past it was limited by British colonial authority, but after the American Revolution even former elites “no longer dreamed of anything except gaining its [the people’s] good will at any price” (54). Expansion of voting rights quickly followed. Tocqueville argues that the people drive all branches of government far more than elected officials or bureaucrats do: “The people participate in the drafting of laws by the choice of the legislators, in their application, by the election of the agents of the executive power; one can say that they govern themselves” (55). Tocqueville portrays popular sovereignty as a tangible engine, driving American society forward beyond its colonial origins and continuing to operate into the present.