Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

Taking the work as a whole, one finds that main problems of a democracy are the following: a disproportionately high portion of power in the legislative branch, an abuse of or lack of love for freedom, an excessive drive for equality, individualism, and materialism. Volume Two focuses much more on individuals and the effects of the democratic mentality on the thoughts and mores prevalent in society. Volume One, the more optimistic half of the book, focuses mostly on the structure of government and the institutions that help to maintain freedom in American society. Therefore, while Democracy in America may at times seem to be a rather disorganized collection of observations and thoughts on American democracy, it is possible to gain a coherent sense of the work as a whole by looking at all of Tocqueville's various and sundry remarks through the lens of one paramount theme: the preservation of liberty in the midst of a growing equality of conditions. Since this democratic trend was inevitable, Tocqueville wanted to analyze it in order to determine its strengths and dangers so that governments could be formed to reinforce democracy's strengths while counteracting its weaknesses. His studies had led him to conclude that the movement toward democracy and equality of conditionswhile it had progressed the farthest in Americawas a universal phenomenon and a permanent historical tendency that could not be stopped. Having seen the failed attempts at democratic government in his native France, he wanted to study a stable and prosperous democracy to gain insights into how it worked. The project Tocqueville undertook in writing Democracy in America was a highly ambitious one.

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville