Essay 30: Government By Democracy In America (Vol. 1 Pt. 2 Ch. 5, Subch. 15) of Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville

Essay Read by Constituting America Founder, Actress Janine Turner

The essays in our study reference the following edition of Democracy In America: University of Chicago Press – 1st edition translated by Harvey Mansfield and Delba Winthrop. Today’s essay references pages 217 – 220 (to heading “What are the Real Advantages…”) of this edition of Democracy in America.

The Manner In Which American Democracy Conducts Foreign Affairs.

Governing the external affairs of a state involves a particular set of skills. Foreign policy requires the combined use of patience, prudence, secrecy, and long-term strategic thinking. It entails grave risks and difficult trade-offs. Decision-makers, who should be free of the passions that grip the people, must make cold-blooded calculations in the national interest. Such is the view of De Tocqueville. In contrast to the “good sense” of democracy guiding domestic affairs, De Tocqueville observes that foreign affairs demand these aristocratic attributes. Certain qualities of democracy stop at the water’s edge.

As De Tocqueville explains, American elites of the Early Republic possessed the leadership qualities necessary to ensure that democracy flourished at home while America advanced its interests abroad. Although seemingly a contradictory stance, De Tocqueville’s advocacy for their role in directing foreign affairs was not incompatible with his republican predilection. Rather, as he contends, aristocrats and commoners alike had a shared interest in the prosperity and security of the United States.

And it was none other than George Washington and Thomas Jefferson whom De Tocqueville saw as the Founding Fathers of American diplomacy. They charted the course for America’s engagement with the world.

Washington, the American Cincinnatus, impressed De Tocqueville above all with his “inflexible character.” De Tocqueville, who abhorred the French Revolution, admired how Washington’s adroit statecraft prevented a Franco-American alliance during the French Revolutionary Wars. In doing so, Washington had incurred the steep cost of bitter partisan politics over his stance of neutrality. Washington braved this domestic upheaval through the Genêt affair and especially during the implementation of the Jay Treaty with Great Britain. Despite these immediate repercussions, however, Washington’s approach to foreign affairs permitted the establishment of the nation in the long run. America eventually secured itself from the meddling of European powers, although it was hard-won through the Quasi-War and the War of 1812.

On September 19, 1796, George Washington’s Farewell Address appeared in Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser, an eloquent political testament that resonated with De Tocqueville nearly four decades later. First drafted by James Madison in 1792, and then shaped by Alexander Hamilton in 1796, Washington’s Farewell Address makes the classic case for unity, neutrality, and reciprocity, all of which were needed to transform America into a great power.
In Democracy in America, De Tocqueville elects to include an extract from Washington’s Farewell Address. It highlights the first president’s timeless principles for conducting foreign policy. In the passage, Washington prevails upon Americans to seek free trade, abide by treaties, and avoid permanent alliances to keep Americans from involving themselves in European wars.

Washington aimed for peace and union, not war and disunion. This wisdom transcended political divides. Avoiding messy entanglements with European powers proved to be a bipartisan effort among American statesmen. Despite Jefferson’s fierce disagreements with Hamilton, De Tocqueville identifies Jefferson as a kindred spirit of Washington. Once an ardent political foe, the Democratic-Republican shared the Federalist’s vision for American foreign policy when he ascended to the presidency.

To demonstrate the continuity, De Tocqueville cites a maxim from Jefferson. It reflects the third president’s general position on how America should manage its relationship with other countries. “That Americans ought never to demand privileges from foreign nations in order not to be obliged to accord them themselves,” De Tocqueville quotes from Jefferson. In a footnote, De Tocqueville acknowledges that he cannot provide a source for Jefferson’s words. Nevertheless, this sage line captures the sentiment of Jefferson’s precept from his first inaugural address, in which he famously declared “peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.”

“We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists,” Jefferson also proclaimed at his first inauguration. Indeed, De Tocqueville understood the conduct of American foreign affairs this way.

For De Tocqueville, as well as Washington and Jefferson, America was geopolitically exceptional. Given that the United States was located in the New World, the struggles of the Old World did not concern Americans. Without being mired in European power struggles, Americans could continue to grow their nation, develop their democracy, and thrive. One day, though, America would become powerful enough to pursue more ambitious external affairs.

Joseph A. Ledford is a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

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