How Is Tocqueville Relevant Today

Here Tocqueville describes the way the United States’ government tends to external affairs or foreign reaction issues. He refers to the two people that in his view had the greatest impact on foreign policy in the United States at the time, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. It is definitely interesting to see the comments that Tocqueville sees as being so virtuous, in the light of the United States today. For example where Tocqueville quotes Washington where Washington says that the United States’ relations with other countries, particularly in Europe, should be limited to commercial or economic avenues, keeping the political interactions and commitments to a minimum.

The affirmation of rights in the Declarations of 1776 and 1789 brought to the fore two major issues, which fuelled and animated public and legal debate in the subsequent years and in turn soon gave rise to two very important demands ones that were fundamental for the construction of the political communities and societies to come: the abolition of slavery and the end of women’s servitude. In both cases, the central focus obviously lay on the attribution (to slaves and women) of fundamental rights, starting from rights to freedom. There are numerous records attesting to the fact that such moral, political, ideological and theoretical battles were often conducted simultaneously by people who were engaged on both fronts: those who declared to

The inequity among the class structure that was implemented into the foundation of the ancient regime of France, is what prompted the severe formidable revolution in opposition to the government 's readiness to misemploy their sovereignty as well as their social position for the sole purpose of personal beneficial gain. The enlightenment was an intellectual movement emphasizing reasoning and understanding. It was a period of cognitive revolution, distinguished by extensive advances in science, philosophy, society and politics. These contemporary concepts heavily influenced philosophers such as John Locke, Voltaire, and Montesquieu, all masters of their craft. Although, the french revolution may have been influenced by the fundamentals of the

France started out with a terrible king that didn’t give the people many rights. In the end of the Revolution people gained some rights, but the people still had a king named Napoleon. There were many changes to France during the French Revolution, but the end result was similar to the beginning, regarding the leader of their country, this is why the French Revolution can not be truly called successful. In pre revolutionary France the people wanted a lot of things, but they mostly wanted the power, they also wanted more freedom in their lives, but the absolutist monarch didn’t give the people any rights.

Tocqueville was a French thinker whose own country had undergone a revolution which completely altered the set up of France. In his book "Democracy in America" Tocqueville arrives in America and examines the democratic system that was set up. He discusses the aristocracy in France which linked everybody from the King to a peasant. He argued that this concept was the "chain of being" and that democracy broke this chain, freeing everyone. He also discussed joining in associations.

DeToqueville’s Observations of American Culture Alexis DeTocqueville was a French-men who set out on a mission to observe and summarize his experiences within the new system of Democracy. Toqueville’s initial objective was to analyze and re-create the prisons of America. His visitations of penitentiaries all around the country during a nine month journey brought him experiences and findings that he had never expected. Toqueville’s journals and his book “Democracy in America” are essential in our analysis of the 19th century because they provide us with a detailed and unbiased foreign opinion on affairs within America. Upon his return to France, Toqueville started to work on an analysis of culture, politics, and economics in the young country.

The development of the French Revolution mirrors the development of egalitarian freedom over oppressive ideals, only emphasised through changed’ government systems; what began as a fight for equality, soon disfigured to radicalised egalitarianism and oppressive tyranny. Initially, a progressive society based on an obsolete government, the French Revolution epitomises the power of the people and the arbitrariness of revolution, echoed through the changes of governance systems. The impetus of the Revolution - socio-political and economic inequity against the bourgeoisie and proletariat, established the foundations of the revolution, its’ importance accentuated in the source below. The immensity of political unrest in France dominantly influenced

From 1775-1825, citizens of Haiti, British America, Spanish America, and France revolted against their absolutist governments. Inspired by Enlightenment ideas, including equality for all, the power of a ruler comes from the people, and that everyone has unalienable rights that cannot be denied, the citizens of aforementioned colonies and countries successfully replaced the absolutist rulers and were able to gain freedom. These revolutions influenced many other groups of people who had been petitioning for their own rights to act. The fact that these groups were successful gave abolitionists, women’s rights activists, workers’ rights activists, and people moving to end serfdom the confidence that they too could attain their rights.

Alexis de Tocqueville penned Democracy in America after he spent month America in the 1831, where he witnessed a new democratic system. He found it’s concepts to have unique strengths and weaknesses that he believed could be the inspiration for the new government of post-revolution France. The concepts of limiting individualism, encouraging positive associations, and moderating the tyranny of the majority that Tocqueville observed during his trip in America helped maintain the new democratic republic built after the revolution. As soon as America became free from British rule, their groundwork for their new government helped cement them as a true democracy since it contended with individualism. Tocqueville noticed that after a successful

In 1831 French sociologist and political theorist Alexis De Tocqueville and a lawyer he befriended named Gustave de Beaumont, spent nine months traveling around America studying its prisons and came back with a full report on the cultural, political and psychological life in America. While Beaumont wrote about the penitentiary system, Tocqueville focused more in the cultural and political life in America. He wrote two essays and published them in a book called Democracy in America. He discussed the possible threats to democracy and the possible dangers of democracy. He believed that religion and equality were the greatest ideas and they were the most advanced in the United States and that's why democracy worked so well in America.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. This statement by the Founding Fathers is the core disagreement between the 13 Colonies and Great Britain. Throughout this historical document, there are multiple arguments made to get the authors’ point across. The authors’ effectively use logos, ethos, and pathos to contribute to the formation of the concluding argument. Logos is used because the thesis is straight to the point and it is supported throughout the entire document.

Since the start of America, government has always been essential to the success of society. According to Thomas Jefferson, who is a founding father of America,” I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them”. In other words, Jefferson is saying the key to a bright future is if the government is able to carry out their responsibilities and take care of the people. Numerous novelists and philosophers make various arguments about the success of society based on the government and humanity. Through his language in “The Tyranny of the Majority” Alex de Tocqueville argues that the majority is too powerful and will silence those outside of

The actions taken against the oppression of the monarchy demonstrate that the French Revolution challenged the traditional value of social inequality to a near-full

He believed that aristocracy was gradually disappearing from the modern world and democracy was the inevitable future of the world. While in the United States, Tocqueville noted that people in democratic nations value equality over everything, even liberty. While the dangers of liberty are immediate, the dangers of equality are subtle and only visible in the long run. This equality can lead to an increase of individualism and restlessness. In times of equality, people tend to isolate themselves and limit their interests to their close peers.

Self-actualization or Societal Success Robert N. Bellah’s book Habits of the Heart tells a story about the societies in which we live and how we interact in such societies. This book analyzes the question that Alexis de Tocqueville raised 150 years ago. He wondered if Americans would be able to maintain their freedoms set out for them or if they would gradually allow their ideas of freedom to transfer over into democratic despotism. Tocqueville and many others feared for our nation because all of its expectations and standards would result directly form its people.