alexis de tocqueville democracy in america 1835

In America I encountered sorts of associations of which, I confess, I had no idea, and I often admired the infinite art with which the inhabitants of the United States managed to fix a common goal to the efforts of many men and to get them to advance to it freely. Everywhere that, at the head of a new undertaking, you see the government in France and a great lord in England, count on it that you will perceive an association in the United States. Finally, if it is a question of bringing to light a truth or developing a sentiment with the support of a great example, they associate. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small Americans use associations to give fêtes, to found seminaries, to build inns, to raise churches, to distribute books, to send missionaries to the antipodes in this manner they create hospitals, prisons, schools. The political associations that exist in the United States form only a detail in the midst of the immense picture that the sum of associations presents there.Īmericans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Here it is a question only of the associations that are formed in civil life and which have an object that is in no way political. It is clear that if each citizen, as he becomes individually weaker and consequently more incapable in isolation of preserving his freedom, does not learn the art of uniting with those like him to defend it, tyranny will necessarily grow with equality. I have already treated this subject elsewhere. I do not wish to speak of those political associations with the aid of which men seek to defend themselves against the despotic action of a majority or against the encroachments of royal power. Tocqueville, Democracy in America, On the Use That the Americans Make of Association in Civil LifeĮdited, translated and with an introductionīy Harvey C.

Alexis de tocqueville democracy in america 1835