Democracy in America

Tocqueville admits that the pessimistic limits of his vision apply more to Europe than to the United States because of their differing histories. He demonstrates:

Among the Americans, therefore, freedom is old; equality is comparatively new. The contrary obtains in Europe, where equality, introduced by absolute power and under the eye of the kings, had already penetrated the habits of peoples long before freedom had entered into their ideas (646)

This tendency will be exacerbated by revolutions, as the only source of authority that remains after these tumults will be the state apparatus. Americans set up their democracy without having to struggle with aristocratic traditions or the remnants of this elite class. Newly democratic states will face more pressure to centralize if they need to fight frequent wars to protect themselves.

Resistance to central authority will be weak, Tocqueville argues, “if it happens that this same power faithfully represents their interests and exactly reproduces their instincts” (650), but it will be stronger if the new government is associated with a former aristocracy. Claiming that government represents equality is the new “science of despotism” that threatens individual liberty (650). Tocqueville’s vision of democracy, especially outside the United States, becomes increasingly dystopian.