DeTocqueville.US

Democracy in America begins with an introductory chapter by de Tocqueville in which he discusses the progression of Western society toward democratic government.  The focus of this progression is, for de Tocqueville, the levelling of social gradients.  In the opening sentence, he states:

Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions. [emphasis mine]

Tracking this rise of “the general equality of conditions” is the theme of the introductory chapter.  De Tocqueville examines this trend primarily using the history of his native France, starting around AD 1100.  The most important part of this for us today is, I think, the causes of this transition.  One reason I think examining the causes of “the general equality” is important is that as our society changes (or as changes are forced upon it), losing site of the causes of liberty and equality may in fact cause us to forget why we have a degree of liberty and equality in this country unparalleled in world history.  If we then forget the “why” of our liberty and equality, others can substitute their own “why,” and thus shift people’s loyalty toward something else (e.g. the government, a political party, or leader).  We can see this in our own society as many people forget that the Declaration of Independence states that our rights come, not from government or a person, but from the Creator.  Thus, instead of looking toward the Creator for their “unalienable rights,” they look toward government.Let us, then, track the develop of equality as de Tocqueville does.  He begins:

Let us recollect the situation of France seven hundred years ago, when the territory was divided amongst a small number of families, who were the owners of the soil and the rulers of the inhabitants; the right of governing descended with the family inheritance from generation to generation; force was the only means by which man could act on man, and landed property was the sole source of power.

“The situation of France,” then, was one of supreme inequality, with the route to power (land) in the hands of a small group of people.  The influence of the Church, however, served to begin the progress toward equality.  This was, of course, nothing to do with the religious teachings of the Church (or even the Church’s intention), but rather with the fact that the Church, as the center of learning in early medieval Europe, allowed people of humble means to rise to positions of influence as advisers to kings and princes.  This combined with a settling of society throughout the Middle Ages to give rise to the law:

… the order of legal functionaries soon rose from the obscurity of the tribunals and their dusty chambers, to appear at the court of the monarch, by the side of the feudal barons in their ermine and their mail.

In addition to the rise of the law, commerce also contributed to the elevation of the lower classes, allowing for the expansion of private property rights.  The cities became enclaves of a type of democracy inside of aristocratic lands.  Finally, the struggle of power between kings and their nobles had a leveling effect, as the kings brought up the middle classes at the expense of the nobles, and the nobles fought themselves almost to extinction.  (This was especially true in the War of the Roses in England, as the noble class found itself decimated in the power struggle between York and Lancaster.)

The Renaissance saw two additional developments that contributed to the rise of democracy: the importance of money in politics, and influence of “men of letters.”  The first is interesting specifically because it is so odious to many people today, but during this period money was, in fact, a great leveler, reducing the importance of birth and raising the importance of work, investment, and enterprise.  The second is, of course, sometimes derided (especially when compared to practical experience), but the idea that one could through the power of knowledge and ideas was revolutionary.

De Tocqueville sums it all up thus:

The value attached to the privileges of birth decreased in the exact proportion in which new paths were struck out to advancement. In the eleventh century nobility was beyond all price; in the thirteenth it might be purchased; it was conferred for the first time in 1270; and equality was thus introduced into the Government by the aristocracy itself.

The first thing that is important to note about this development is that it is not the result of any particular leader or group, but instead developed as a natural product of history.  Of the kings of France, de Tocqueville says, “Some assisted the democracy by their talents, others by their vices.”  Because this development was not the direct result of any one person’s actions, or even their intention, the people do not owe anyone their gratitude for it.  He expands this idea by stating:

As soon as land was held on any other than a feudal tenure, and personal property began in its turn to confer influence and power, every improvement which was introduced in commerce or manufacture was a fresh element of the equality of conditions. Henceforward every new discovery, every new want which it engendered, and every new desire which craved satisfaction, was a step towards the universal level. The taste for luxury, the love of war, the sway of fashion, and the most superficial as well as the deepest passions of the human heart, co-operated to enrich the poor and to impoverish the rich.

In this general trend toward democracy de Tocqueville sees the hand of God working; if all men are equal in sight of God, then they should be equal in sight of the law.  While de Tocqueville acknowledges, thus, the importance of Christianity in the development of democracy, he is careful to point out that “religion is often entangled in those institutions which democracy assails,” and for this reason those who support liberty may attack religion (as some did during the French Revolution).  Despite this, however, he, much like John Adams, believes that democracy can only work in a moral society:”…liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”

(Part 2 of the Introductory Chapter will look more closely at the case of France and finish out de Tocqueville’s introduction.)

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