Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Alexis de Tocqueville" - New World
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| − | + | '''Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville''' (July 29, 1805 – April 16, 1859) was a [[France|French]] [[politics|political thinker]], [[historian]] and [[writer]]. He was a champion of the nineteenth century ideals of [[liberty]] and [[democracy]], and observed that it is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth. An eminent representative of the post-revolutionary political tradition known as [[liberalism]], Tocqueville's advocacy of private [[charity]] rather than [[welfare|government aid]] to assist the poor has often been cited admiringly during the late 20th and early 21st century by political [[conservative]]s and [[classical liberal]]s. His most famous work, Democracy in America (1835), is continually regarded as the premier commentary on American government written by a foreigner. | |
| − | '''Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville''' (July 29, 1805 – April 16, 1859) was a [[France|French]] [[politics|political thinker]], [[historian]] and [[writer]]. He was a champion of the nineteenth century ideals of [[liberty]] and [[democracy]], and observed that it is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth. An eminent representative of the post-revolutionary political tradition known as [[liberalism]], Tocqueville's advocacy of private [[charity]] rather than [[welfare|government aid]] to assist the poor has often been cited admiringly during the late 20th and early 21st century by political [[conservative]]s and [[classical liberal]]s. | ||
==Life== | ==Life== | ||
[[Image:Alexis de tocqueville.jpg|right|thumb|200 px|Alexis de Tocqueville]] | [[Image:Alexis de tocqueville.jpg|right|thumb|200 px|Alexis de Tocqueville]] | ||
| − | + | Alexis de Tocqueville was born on July 29th, 1805 in [[Verneuil-sur-Seine]], France to an aristocratic family of [[Norman]] descent. Born shortly after the [[French Revolution]], most of Tocqueville’s family had been executed during the [[Reign of Terror]]. Though his parents were spared from the guillotine, they were imprisoned for several months. The French Revolution made a great impression on Tocqueville and his family; throughout his childhood he was fascinated by the idea of imprisonment or exile. Tocqueville wrote of his youth, “I remember thinking of the chances of prison…I had succeeded in imagining for myself an almost agreeable idea of that fearful place” <ref>Siedentop, Larry. ''Tocqueville: Past Matters''. Oxford University Press. 1994. ISBN 0192876902.</ref> | |
| − | |||
| − | In 1820 Tocqueville left Lesueur to live with his | + | At the age of sixteen, Tocqueville would enter the [[Royal College of Metz]] for his first formal schooling. While at Metz, Tocqueville was instructed by the wise French priest [[Abbe Lesueur]]. Lesueur and Tocqueville became extremely close; Leseur encouraged Tocqueville’s education while nurturing his strong religious faith. In 1820 Tocqueville left Lesueur to live with his father, an elected official, in Paris. |
| − | + | Often left by himself, Tocqueville began reading philosophy in his father’s library, which caused him to question his religious faith. From 1823 to 1826 Tocqueville studied French law, identifying with the post-revolutionary liberal movement which opposed the restoration of the French aristocracy. Tocqueville became an advocate for the cause of liberalism and joined the [[Society for Christian Morality]], a liberal social group that espoused moral equality and civil liberty. In 1835 Tocqueville published his most famous work, ''Democracy in America'', later followed by his second most famous work, ''The Old Regime and the French Revolution'' in 1856. Tocqueville would die in Cannes on April 16, 1859 at the age of 54. | |
| − | Tocqueville | + | ==Work== |
| + | In 1827 Tocqueville was appointed an assistant magistrate at the Palace of Versailles. However in 1830, the restored [[Bourbon King Charles X]] made significant attempts to re-establish the aristocracy in France. The thought of civil war haunted Tocqueville, and convinced him that aristocratic restoration was not the answer to France’s political difficulties. During this time Tocqueville contemplated going to the [[United States]] to study [[American democracy]] and its lessons for French society. In July of 1830, King Charles X called for prison reform. Tocqueville and his colleague [[Gustave de Beaumont]] obtained permission to travel to the [[United States]] to inspect a new prison system instituted in the cities of [[Philadelphia]] and [[New York]]. | ||
| − | + | The pair arrived in [[New York City]] in May of 1831 and were immediately impressed by the absence of social classes in America. They also noticed the frantic pace of [[commercial]] activity in the United States. Tocqueville attributed the entrepreneurial spirit he witnessed to the practice of limited government in the United States, based on the ideals of [[Locke]], [[Montesquieu]], and other [[Enlightenment]] philosophers. In contrast to French society, Americans seemed to manage their individual affairs with little government control. This convinced Tocqueville that America society should act as the model of reform for [[France]]. | |
| − | + | Tocqueville and Beaumont continued to travel throughout the United States. In [[New England]] they found the model for the autonomous township, a self-governing local community based on self-reliance and mutual cooperation. By contrast, they observed the “peculiar institution” of slavery during their travels in the South, and noted that slavery was the closest institution in the United States to the traditional rule of the aristocracy. Completing their studies, Tocqueville and Beaumont returned to France in 1832. | |
| − | Tocqueville | ||
| − | + | In 1835 Tocqueville wrote ''Democracy in America'', his most famous work based on the observations he made during his travels throughout the [[United States]]. Later the same year, Tocqueville made an observational tour of [[England]], which led to his ''Memoir on Pauperism''. In 1841 and again in 1846, Tocqueville traveled twice to [[French rule in Algeria|Algeria]]. His first visit inspired his ''Work on Algeria'', in which he criticized the French model of [[colonization]], which was based on an [[assimilationist]] view. Tocqueville preferred the British colonial model of [[indirect rule]], which avoided the mixing of native and colonial populations. He went as far as to openly advocate [[racial segregation]] between the [[colonialism|European settlers]] and the [[Algerians]] through the creation of two different legislative systems. Tocqueville’s ideas appeared more than half a century before their effective implementation in the 1881 ''Indigenous Code''. | |
| − | |||
| − | + | In 1939 Tocqueville left government service and entered politics. He was eventually elected to King Louis Philippe’s Chamber of Deputies. After [[Louis-Napoleon]]’s coup d’etat during the [[Revolution of 1848]], an opposed Tocqueville left the King’s chamber to serve as deputy for [[Valogne]] of Normandy. In 1849 he served as foreign minister, but retired from public affairs in 1851 | |
| − | + | ===Democracy in America=== | |
| + | [[Image:DeTocque.jpg|frame|Alexis de Tocqueville]] | ||
| + | In 1835 Tocqueville wrote his acclaimed ''Democracy in America'' in which he praised the [[New World]] of America and the [[democratic]] ideals it exemplified. Tocqueville also warned against the dangers of [[individualism]], which could only be averted through the formation of civic associations. He saw [[democracy]] as an equation that balanced [[liberty]] and [[equality]], concerned for both the individual as well as the community. He warned that radical social [[egalitarianism]] would eventually lead to social isolation, greater government intervention and less individual liberty. A critic of individualism, Tocqueville believed that [[Voluntary association|association]], the coming together of people for common purposes, would bind Americans to an idea of common nationhood which would be greater than the sum of its individuals acting in self-interest. . | ||
| − | + | As a supporter of [[colonialism]], Tocqueville also endorsed the common [[racist]] views of his epoch, and identified the white or European man as superior, and the “Negro” and “Indian” as inherently inferior. He thus limited the practice of democracy to the Europeans settlers, stating that the [[Native Americans]] would become extinct because they were too proud to [[assimilate]]. Tocqueville also believed Americans of African descent to be inferior to Europeans when it came to their facial and physical features, intelligence, marriages, and families, particularly in their marital and parental relationships. According to Tocqueville, removal of this population from America was thereby the best solution to the problems of race relations for both Americans of African and European descent. | |
| − | |||
| − | + | ===The French Conquest of Algeria=== | |
| + | Tocqueville also made the apology of the brutal techniques employed during the 1830’s [[French rule in Algeria|conquest of Algeria]]. Tocqueville stated, "In France I have often heard people deplore [the army] burning harvests, emptying granaries and seizing unarmed men, women and children. As I see it, these are unfortunate necessities that any people wishing to make war on the Arabs must accept... I believe the laws of war entitle us to ravage the country and that we must do this, either by destroying crops at harvest time, or all the time by making rapid incursions, known as raids, the aim of which is to carry off men and flocks."<ref name=Grandmaison>Grandmaison, Oliver LeCour. [http://mondediplo.com/2001/06/11torture2 "Torture in Algeria."] Le Monde Diplomatique. June 2001.</ref> | ||
| − | + | Tocqueville believed that war and colonization would restore national pride, threatened, he believed, by "the gradual softening of social mores" in the middle classes. Their taste for "material pleasures" was spreading to the whole of society, giving it "an example of weakness and egotism"." Applauding the methods of [[Thomas Robert Bugeaud de la Piconnerie|General Bugeaud]], Tocqueville went as far as saying that "war in Africa" had became a "science", and that "everyone is familiar with its rules and everyone can apply those rules with almost complete certainty of success. One of the greatest services that Field Marshal Bugeaud has rendered his country is to have spread, perfected and made everyone aware of this new science."<ref name=Grandmaison>Grandmaison</ref> Years before the [[Adolphe Crémieux|Crémieux decrees]] and the 1881 Indigenous Code that would separate European Jews colons, given French citizenship, and Muslims, Tocqueville advocated [[racial segregation]] in Algeria: "There should therefore be two quite distinct legislations in Africa, for there are two very separate communities. There is absolutely nothing to prevent us treating Europeans as if they were on their own, as the rules established for them will only ever apply to them."<ref name=Grandmaison>Grandmaison</ref> | |
| − | + | ==Legacy== | |
| + | Much of the writings of Tocqueville have received criticism for blatant biases, errors, omissions and [[racism]]. However his significant contributions to both 19th century American and French society revolved around the spread of democracy to ensure the equality of various social conditions. Tocqueville believed that equal property distribution and [[conservatism]] would lead to political stability. He also foresaw the [[emancipation]] of [[women]], an ultimate change in family structure and the promotion of social morality through the introduction of democracy. He warned against the deteriorating social conditions of 19th century France, believing these conditions, along with the disenfranchisement of the French people, to be conducive to social revolution. | ||
| − | = | + | Tocqueville maintained a central concern for [[liberty]], which he defined as the absence of restraint and the availability of choices. He believed the democratic process to be necessary for the fostering of social morality, and an ideal toward which society should aspire. His value of both social and political equity as a measure of [[civilized progression]] highlighted his long withstanding commitment to human freedom. |
| + | |||
| + | Known as a prophet of modern society, and an astute observer of American democracy, Tocqueville’s perceptive insights are continually quoted. His academic contributions to both French and American literature helped secure his reputation as a writer and his subsequent election into the [[Academie Francaise]], or the [[French Academy]], the leading body of official authorities on the French language.<ref name=Oxford>Oxford Companion. [http://www.answers.com/topic/alexis-de-tocqueville Alexis de Tocqueville]. New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. 1995. Retrieved 4 June 2007. </ref> | ||
==Publications== | ==Publications== | ||
Revision as of 19:58, 4 June 2007
Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville (July 29, 1805 – April 16, 1859) was a French political thinker, historian and writer. He was a champion of the nineteenth century ideals of liberty and democracy, and observed that it is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth. An eminent representative of the post-revolutionary political tradition known as liberalism, Tocqueville's advocacy of private charity rather than government aid to assist the poor has often been cited admiringly during the late 20th and early 21st century by political conservatives and classical liberals. His most famous work, Democracy in America (1835), is continually regarded as the premier commentary on American government written by a foreigner.
Life
Alexis de Tocqueville was born on July 29th, 1805 in Verneuil-sur-Seine, France to an aristocratic family of Norman descent. Born shortly after the French Revolution, most of Tocqueville’s family had been executed during the Reign of Terror. Though his parents were spared from the guillotine, they were imprisoned for several months. The French Revolution made a great impression on Tocqueville and his family; throughout his childhood he was fascinated by the idea of imprisonment or exile. Tocqueville wrote of his youth, “I remember thinking of the chances of prison…I had succeeded in imagining for myself an almost agreeable idea of that fearful place” [1]
At the age of sixteen, Tocqueville would enter the Royal College of Metz for his first formal schooling. While at Metz, Tocqueville was instructed by the wise French priest Abbe Lesueur. Lesueur and Tocqueville became extremely close; Leseur encouraged Tocqueville’s education while nurturing his strong religious faith. In 1820 Tocqueville left Lesueur to live with his father, an elected official, in Paris.
Often left by himself, Tocqueville began reading philosophy in his father’s library, which caused him to question his religious faith. From 1823 to 1826 Tocqueville studied French law, identifying with the post-revolutionary liberal movement which opposed the restoration of the French aristocracy. Tocqueville became an advocate for the cause of liberalism and joined the Society for Christian Morality, a liberal social group that espoused moral equality and civil liberty. In 1835 Tocqueville published his most famous work, Democracy in America, later followed by his second most famous work, The Old Regime and the French Revolution in 1856. Tocqueville would die in Cannes on April 16, 1859 at the age of 54.
Work
In 1827 Tocqueville was appointed an assistant magistrate at the Palace of Versailles. However in 1830, the restored Bourbon King Charles X made significant attempts to re-establish the aristocracy in France. The thought of civil war haunted Tocqueville, and convinced him that aristocratic restoration was not the answer to France’s political difficulties. During this time Tocqueville contemplated going to the United States to study American democracy and its lessons for French society. In July of 1830, King Charles X called for prison reform. Tocqueville and his colleague Gustave de Beaumont obtained permission to travel to the United States to inspect a new prison system instituted in the cities of Philadelphia and New York.
The pair arrived in New York City in May of 1831 and were immediately impressed by the absence of social classes in America. They also noticed the frantic pace of commercial activity in the United States. Tocqueville attributed the entrepreneurial spirit he witnessed to the practice of limited government in the United States, based on the ideals of Locke, Montesquieu, and other Enlightenment philosophers. In contrast to French society, Americans seemed to manage their individual affairs with little government control. This convinced Tocqueville that America society should act as the model of reform for France.
Tocqueville and Beaumont continued to travel throughout the United States. In New England they found the model for the autonomous township, a self-governing local community based on self-reliance and mutual cooperation. By contrast, they observed the “peculiar institution” of slavery during their travels in the South, and noted that slavery was the closest institution in the United States to the traditional rule of the aristocracy. Completing their studies, Tocqueville and Beaumont returned to France in 1832.
In 1835 Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America, his most famous work based on the observations he made during his travels throughout the United States. Later the same year, Tocqueville made an observational tour of England, which led to his Memoir on Pauperism. In 1841 and again in 1846, Tocqueville traveled twice to Algeria. His first visit inspired his Work on Algeria, in which he criticized the French model of colonization, which was based on an assimilationist view. Tocqueville preferred the British colonial model of indirect rule, which avoided the mixing of native and colonial populations. He went as far as to openly advocate racial segregation between the European settlers and the Algerians through the creation of two different legislative systems. Tocqueville’s ideas appeared more than half a century before their effective implementation in the 1881 Indigenous Code.
In 1939 Tocqueville left government service and entered politics. He was eventually elected to King Louis Philippe’s Chamber of Deputies. After Louis-Napoleon’s coup d’etat during the Revolution of 1848, an opposed Tocqueville left the King’s chamber to serve as deputy for Valogne of Normandy. In 1849 he served as foreign minister, but retired from public affairs in 1851
Democracy in America
In 1835 Tocqueville wrote his acclaimed Democracy in America in which he praised the New World of America and the democratic ideals it exemplified. Tocqueville also warned against the dangers of individualism, which could only be averted through the formation of civic associations. He saw democracy as an equation that balanced liberty and equality, concerned for both the individual as well as the community. He warned that radical social egalitarianism would eventually lead to social isolation, greater government intervention and less individual liberty. A critic of individualism, Tocqueville believed that association, the coming together of people for common purposes, would bind Americans to an idea of common nationhood which would be greater than the sum of its individuals acting in self-interest. .
As a supporter of colonialism, Tocqueville also endorsed the common racist views of his epoch, and identified the white or European man as superior, and the “Negro” and “Indian” as inherently inferior. He thus limited the practice of democracy to the Europeans settlers, stating that the Native Americans would become extinct because they were too proud to assimilate. Tocqueville also believed Americans of African descent to be inferior to Europeans when it came to their facial and physical features, intelligence, marriages, and families, particularly in their marital and parental relationships. According to Tocqueville, removal of this population from America was thereby the best solution to the problems of race relations for both Americans of African and European descent.
The French Conquest of Algeria
Tocqueville also made the apology of the brutal techniques employed during the 1830’s conquest of Algeria. Tocqueville stated, "In France I have often heard people deplore [the army] burning harvests, emptying granaries and seizing unarmed men, women and children. As I see it, these are unfortunate necessities that any people wishing to make war on the Arabs must accept... I believe the laws of war entitle us to ravage the country and that we must do this, either by destroying crops at harvest time, or all the time by making rapid incursions, known as raids, the aim of which is to carry off men and flocks."[2]
Tocqueville believed that war and colonization would restore national pride, threatened, he believed, by "the gradual softening of social mores" in the middle classes. Their taste for "material pleasures" was spreading to the whole of society, giving it "an example of weakness and egotism"." Applauding the methods of General Bugeaud, Tocqueville went as far as saying that "war in Africa" had became a "science", and that "everyone is familiar with its rules and everyone can apply those rules with almost complete certainty of success. One of the greatest services that Field Marshal Bugeaud has rendered his country is to have spread, perfected and made everyone aware of this new science."[2] Years before the Crémieux decrees and the 1881 Indigenous Code that would separate European Jews colons, given French citizenship, and Muslims, Tocqueville advocated racial segregation in Algeria: "There should therefore be two quite distinct legislations in Africa, for there are two very separate communities. There is absolutely nothing to prevent us treating Europeans as if they were on their own, as the rules established for them will only ever apply to them."[2]
Legacy
Much of the writings of Tocqueville have received criticism for blatant biases, errors, omissions and racism. However his significant contributions to both 19th century American and French society revolved around the spread of democracy to ensure the equality of various social conditions. Tocqueville believed that equal property distribution and conservatism would lead to political stability. He also foresaw the emancipation of women, an ultimate change in family structure and the promotion of social morality through the introduction of democracy. He warned against the deteriorating social conditions of 19th century France, believing these conditions, along with the disenfranchisement of the French people, to be conducive to social revolution.
Tocqueville maintained a central concern for liberty, which he defined as the absence of restraint and the availability of choices. He believed the democratic process to be necessary for the fostering of social morality, and an ideal toward which society should aspire. His value of both social and political equity as a measure of civilized progression highlighted his long withstanding commitment to human freedom.
Known as a prophet of modern society, and an astute observer of American democracy, Tocqueville’s perceptive insights are continually quoted. His academic contributions to both French and American literature helped secure his reputation as a writer and his subsequent election into the Academie Francaise, or the French Academy, the leading body of official authorities on the French language.[3]
Publications
- De Tocqueville, Alexis. (1831). Journey to America. Greenwood Press Publishers. 1981. ISBN 0313227128.
- De Tocqueville, Alexis. (1833). On the Penitentiary System in the United States. Southern Illinois University Press. 1979. ISBN 0809309130.
- De Tocqueville, Alexis. (1835). Democracy in America. Penguin Classics. 2003. ISBN 0140447601.
- De Tocqueville, Alexis. (1835). Memoir on Pauperism. Cosmino Classics. 2006. ISBN 1596053631.
- De Tocqueville, Alexis. (1841). Work On Algeria. Editions Complexe. 1997. ISBN 2870272626.
- De Tocqueville, Alexis. (1845). Alexis de Tocqueville’s Journey to Ireland. Catholic University Press. 1990. ISBN 0813207193.
- De Tocqueville, Alexis. (1856). Old Regime and the French Revolution. Peter Smith Publisher. 1979. ISBN 0844619736.
- De Tocqueville, Alexis. (1893). The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville. Kessigner Publishing. 2007. ISBN 1430452366.
Notes
- ↑ Siedentop, Larry. Tocqueville: Past Matters. Oxford University Press. 1994. ISBN 0192876902.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Grandmaison, Oliver LeCour. "Torture in Algeria." Le Monde Diplomatique. June 2001. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "Grandmaison" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "Grandmaison" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Oxford Companion. Alexis de Tocqueville. New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. 1995. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- C-SPAN. The Alexis de Tocqueville Tour. C-SPAN.org. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
- French Ministry of Culture. Alexis de Tocqueville. General Council for La Manche. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
- Frederiksen, Robert. Alexis de Tocqueville. Florida State University. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
External Links
- Democracy in America Alexis de Tocqueville. University of Virginia. 4 June 2007.
- Alexis de Tocqueville Great Books Index. 4 June 2007.
- Works by Alexis de Tocqueville. Project Gutenberg. 4 June 2007.
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