Democracy in America: In Two Volumes

Chapter 15.a Of the Gravity of Americans and Why It Does Not Prevent Them from Often Doing Thoughtless Thingsa

1080 s4s4s4s4s4 c h a p t e r 1 5a Of the Gravity of Americans and Why It Does Not Prevent Them from Often Doing Thoughtless Things b The men who live in democratic countries do not value those sorts of unsophisticated , turbulent and crude diversions to which the people devote themselves in aristocracies; they find them childish or insipid. They show scarcely more taste for the intellectual and refined amusements of the aristocratic classes; they must have something productive and substantial in their pleasures, and they want to mix material enjoyments with their joy. In aristocratic societies, the people readily abandon themselves to the impulses of a tumultuous and noisy gaiety that abruptly tears them away from the contemplation of their miseries; the inhabitants of democracies do not like to feel drawn violently out of themselves in this way, and they always lose sight of themselves with regret. To these frivolous transports, they prefer the grave and silent relaxations that resemble business affairs and do not cause them to forget them entirely. [In this sense you can say that gambling is an entirely democratic pastime.] There is an American who, instead of going during his moments of leisure to dance joyously in the public square, as the men of his profession a. “The Americans are grave because they are constantly occupied by serious things, and they are thoughtless because they have only an instant of attention to give to each one of those things” (YTC, CVf, p. 46). b. The rubish indicates that in the beginning the chapter was divided into three distinct chapters: 1. Gravity of the Americans. 2. Amusements in democracies. 3. Why democratic peoples despite their gravity act thoughtlessly (Rubish, 2). gravity of americans 1081 continue to do in a great part of Europe, withdraws alone deep within his house to drink. This man enjoys two pleasures at once: he thinks about his trade, and he gets drunk decently at home.c [⫽I have visited peoples very ignorant, very miserable and completely strangers to their own affairs; to me, they appeared, in general, joyous. I have traveled across a country whose inhabitants, enlightened and rich, directed themselves in everything; I always found them grave and often sad [v: worried and taciturn].⫽] I believed that the English formed the most serious nation that existed on earth, but I saw the Americans, and I changed my opinion.d [⫽The inhabitant of the United States has an austere appearance,something anxious and preoccupied reigns in his look; his manner isconstrained and you easily see that he never opens to external impressions anything except the smallest part of his soul. He is sometimes somber and always grave.⫽] I do not want to say that temperament does not count for much in the character of the inhabitants of the United States. I think, nonetheless,that the political institutions contribute to it still more. I believe that the gravity of the Americans arises in part from theirpride. In democratic countries, the poor man himself has a high idea of his personal value. He views himself with satisfaction and readily believes that others are looking at him. In this frame of mind, he carefully watches his words and his actions and does not let himself go, for fear of disclosing what he lacks. He imagines that, in order to appear dignified, he must remain grave. But I notice another more intimate and more powerful cause that instinctively produces among the Americans this gravity that astonishes me. Under despotism, peoples give themselves from time to time to outbursts of a wild joy; but, in general, they are cheerless and reserved,because they are afraid. In absolute monarchies, which custom and mores temper, peoples often c. Originally, the first chapter ended here. d. “There is also something Puritan and English in this gravity of the Americans./ “Gravity that is often due to an absence of serenity in the soul” (Rubish, 2). 1082 gravity of americans display an even-tempered and livelymood,becausehavingsomelibertyand great enough security, they are excluded from the most important cares of life; but all free peoples are grave, because their minds are habitually absorbed by the sight of some dangerous or difficult project. It is so above all among free peoples who are constituted as democracies. Then, in all classes, an infinite number of men is found who are constantly preoccupied by the serious matters of government, and those...