Democracy and the Threats to Liberty: Democracy in America (1840)

Abstract

The overwhelming impression people were left with after reading the first volume of Democracy in America (1835) was that America was a remarkable nation. Its inhabitants loved and cherished the ideas and institutions that underpinned their republic. Their manners were pure. They were blessed with a happy coincidence of circumstances, including climate and geography, that seemed to ensure that their democracy worked without interference or meddling, functioning as if it were a perfect ‘machine’.¹ At the time Tocqueville’s account of the young republic struck a cord with the French. The fascination with America, in part the result of France’s historic ties to her and in part due to French sympathies with, and attraction to, republican ideas, contributed significantly to the popularity of Democracy in America. But by the time the second volume appeared, that had all changed. Throughout the second half of the 1830s the French became increasingly disillusioned with republican and liberal ideals, and by the end of the decade their disillusionment was almost complete.² As a result, public opinion about America was much more critical. When Tocqueville cornpleted the second volume of Democracy in America (1840) he could not be confident of the same kind of public reception given to the first five years earlier.