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 535 – 545 of this edition of Democracy in America.

One of the running themes throughout Democracy in America is De Tocqueville’s contention that the equality of conditions exerts a moderating influence on American culture. Compared to the various European powers with entrenched social hierarchies, vast wealth disparities, and undemocratic political systems, Americans appeared egalitarian in their social relations, material prosperity, and politics. 

In these chapters De Tocqueville asks a series of questions: Why do customs become milder as conditions become more equal? Why are Americans excited when they encounter their fellow citizens when travelling overseas? Why are Americans so difficult to offend at home yet easily insulted abroad? 

The first chapter builds upon his earlier arguments by proposing that as conditions become more equal, tastes and preferences become milder. Whereas a huge gulf existed between elite culture and peasant culture in nineteenth-century Europe (between ballet and boxing), Americans generally preferred simple and popular entertainment. 

De Tocqueville argues that this homogenization of tastes cultivates a greater capacity for empathy in democratic countries. When the ranks of society are almost equal, he argues, everyone can quickly judge the feelings of others by imagining themselves in another’s shoes, emphasizing that “he casts a rapid glance at himself; that is enough for him … imagination immediately puts him in their place”.

Empathy is more difficult to cultivate in aristocratic nations, De Tocqueville argues. Aristocracies are very good at connecting individuals through mutual obligations, but each class has difficulty sympathizing with one another. He reasons that genuine sympathy can only arise when individuals see themselves in others. In an aristocracy, then, sympathy can only materialize between members of the same class. 

At the close of the chapter De Tocqueville contrasts the compassion Americans feel toward their fellow man with the insensitivity exhibited by slave masters. Here the absence of equality prevents the slaveholder from forming any common bond that could engender empathy. 

The next chapter considers why Americans seek out their fellow countrymen abroad, while Europeans hold their compatriots at arm’s length. 

Englishmen abroad routinely avoid socializing with one another whenever it can be prevented. De Tocqueville emphasizes that “Not being able to judge at first glance what is the social situation of those whom he encounters, he prudently avoids entering into contact with them”. The Englishmen find the entire conversation to be unnerving. Each man worries that they will misjudge the other’s status, or that their own rank will be misperceived. 

When Americans meet one another outside the United States, by contrast, they become fast friends. The absence of a class system allows Americans to associate freely. They fear no social repercussions from a chance encounter.  

In the third chapter De Tocqueville explains how difficult it is to offend an American at home, but how easily they feel slighted when travelling in Europe. To illustrate his point, De Tocqueville describes his efforts to end an unwelcome conversation:

“I contradict an American at every turn in order to make him feel that his discourses fatigue me; and at each instant I see him make new efforts to convince me; I keep an obstinate silence, and he imagines that I am reflecting deeply on the truths that he presents to me; and when finally I suddenly escape his pursuit, he supposes that a pressing affair calls me elsewhere. This man will not comprehend that he exasperates me without my telling him, and I cannot save myself from him without becoming his mortal enemy”. 

In aristocratic countries, De Tocqueville notes, etiquette is elevated to a science. One must strike a delicate balance to avoid offending the sensibilities of others or acting in a manner unbecoming of one’s social station. Too little courtesy, or too much undeserved praise, can lead to embarrassment. 

In democratic nations, by contrast, social customs are more fluid. The rules of etiquette are not universally agreed upon, and Americans care more about the intentions behind an action than the action itself. Consequently, De Tocqueville argues that it is very difficult to offend Americans at home. 

Yet in Europe the same American who would normally brush off minor slights becomes suddenly obsessed with them. The ranks of European class systems are difficult for him to perceive and fully comprehend. The American wonders where exactly he fits in this hierarchy, and how exactly he should present himself. His lack of awareness causes him to advance with a certain clumsiness, highly attuned to perceived slights. De Tocqueville notes that “he proceeds always like a man surrounded by ambushes”. 

Through each of these observations, De Tocqueville illustrates how equality shapes not only the structure of society, but also the behaviors and attitudes of individuals within it. 

Frank W. Garmon Jr. is assistant professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University where he specializes in American political economy. His first book, A Wonderful Career in Crime: Charles Cowlam’s Masquerades in the Civil War Era and Gilded Age, was published by Louisiana State University Press in July.

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