Democracy in America: In Two Volumes

Foreword

690 foreword s4s4s4s4s4 Foreword b The Americans have a democratic social state that has naturally suggested to them certain laws and certain political mores.c In civil society as in political society, these two points of departure explain nearly everything. And I must come back to that in a general way, either at the beginning or at the end of the third volume (YTC, CVk, 1, pp. 39–41). b. SeveralnotesandfragmentsindicatethatTocquevillehadconsideredwritingalong preface that contained a good number of ideas present in the fourth and last part of the book (it constituted a single chapter in the first drafts). Did the sheer size of the last chapter lead him to sacrifice the preface? This preface was reduced to a foreword, and certain ideas of the introduction (including the admission of his error concerning the weakening of the federal bond) did not finally find their place in the first pages of this volume. Some notes of rough drafts that present a version of the foreword very similar to the final version bear the date 5February1838.Inthefollowingmonths,however,Tocqueville did not stop coming back to the idea of writing a long introductiontothesecondvolume and hesitated about whether to place certain fragments at the beginning or at the end of the book. “One of the principal ideas of the preface must be, it seems to me, to show in brief all the dissimilarities that exist between the American democracy and ours. Democracy pushing men further in certain directions in America than it does among us (sciences, arts), in certain others pushing them not as far (religion, good morals)” (YTC, CVk, 1, p. 48). Note relative to the preface of my great work. It must be shown how recent events justify most of the things that I said. Indians. Texas. Negroes. The necessity of having troops in the cities. Ultra-democratic tendencies. Admit my error. The weakening of the federal bond (YTC, CVk, 1, p. 39). c. First paragraphs of the book in a rough draft: The work which appears at this moment (illegible word) the public is not an entirely new work. It is the second and last part of a book that I published five years ago on democracy in the United States. foreword 691 This same social state has, moreover, given birth among them to a multitude of sentimentsandopinionsthatwereunknownintheoldaristocratic societies of Europe. It hasdestroyed ormodifiedrelationshipsthatformerly existed and established new ones. The appearance of civil society has been no less changed than the physiognomy of the political world. I dealt with the first subject in the work that I published five years ago on American democracy. The second is the subject of the present book. These two parts complement one another and form only a single work.d I must immediately warn the reader against an error that would be very prejudicial to me. Seeingmeattributesomanydiverseeffectstoequality,hecouldconclude When there are no more castes, distinct features, particular and exclusive rights, permanent riches, entailed estates, citizens differ little from each other by their conditions , and they constantly change conditions; they naturallyadoptcertainlaws,and contract certain habits of government that are appropriate to them. This same equality and these same causes influence not only their political ideas and habits, but also all their habits and all their ideas. The men who live in this democratic social state conceive new opinions; they adopt new mores; they establish relationships among themselves that did not exist or modify those that already existed. The appearance of civil society is not less changed than the physiognomy of the political world. [To the side, with a bracket that includes the two previousparagraphs:Louiswould say that only about the Americans.] ⫽The object of the book that I published five years ago was to show the first effects of equality; this one wants to depict the second. The two parts united form a single whole.⫽ It is this second portion of the subject that I wanted to treat in the present book. I am assuredly very far from claiming to have seen everything on so vast a ground. I am even certain that I have discovered only a small part of what it includes. The Revolution that reduced to dust the aristocratic society in which our fathers lived is the great event of the time. It has changed everything, modified everything, altered everything. [v: hit everything]. [In the margin,withabracket that includesthetwopreviousparagraphs]Todelete, I think (YTC, CVk, 1, pp. 35–36). d. “The first book more American than democratic. This one more democratic than American” (YTC, CVk...