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 496 – 500 (stop at chapter 8 heading) of this edition of Democracy in America.

Imagine living in a community with the following problems: the senior living center needs $1 million for updates, Main Street needs to be revitalized, and debates need to be organized to elect a new mayor. Now imagine a community where these problems are solved, not by government, but by the voluntary association of citizens: the chamber of commerce organizes local business owners to invest in the senior living center, churches of various denominations hold a day of service to revitalize Main Street, and delegates from both political parties form a debate commission.

According to De Tocqueville, communities like this are not only good because they may be effective at addressing political and civic problems (in truth, one can imagine that such “free labor” comes in various degrees of quality). Far more important is that the citizens in such communities are, through association with their fellows, developing the skills and habits necessary for democracies to remain happy, prosperous, and free.

In considering chapter 7, it may be helpful to step back and recall one of the major questions De Tocqueville is asking and the thesis he proposes in response: Question 1: When all citizens are free and equal, how do they learn to self-govern in exercising liberty, putting aside their own good for the common good?

Thesis 1: Through governing and associating directing with their fellows, democratic citizens both a) see the effects of exercising their liberty on others and b) develop the skills and habits (or virtues) that free democratic societies require. Chapters 1-7 of the current section constituting the evidence for De Tocqueville’s thesis. In Chapters 1-4, De Tocqueville has warned his readers regarding the danger of individualism: self-absorbed citizens focus on their own good and are isolated and weak. If unchecked, individualism increases the relative strength and opportunities of would-be despots. In Chapters 4 and 5, De Tocqueville proposed voluntary associations as a remedy to the problem of individualism because associations draw citizens outside themselves and into community with others; in doing so, citizens are also empowered politically. 

Here in Chapter 7, De Tocqueville continues his evaluation of associations as an antidote to individualism and a bulwark against despotism by addressing the relationship between political associations on the one hand, and the civic associations on the other. In particular, De Tocqueville will argue that civic associations and political associations have an interdependent relationship: as citizens associate to solve local, common problems, they are (perhaps, unwittingly) developing the skills and habits for addressing great political problems in the future.

Conversely, the character of political associations is such that they are peculiarly situated to “develop” and “perfect” civic associations (496). While citizens may “fancy” themselves independent and self-sufficient in civil life, they must see that political associations are necessary for getting things done in politics. Individually, citizens are simply too weak; it takes political associations filled with many individuals to accomplish political aims. Thus, political associations both foster “[a] desire to unite” and teach “the art of doing it.” When practiced, they develop the “habit of association.”

Seen in this light, a principal good of political associations is that, because they are more immediately or obviously necessary in a democracy, they are the most natural first exposure of democratic citizens to the skills and habits of associational life: an association draws “a multitude of individuals outside themselves at the same time… [and] brings them together.” These relationships then serve as catalysts for future associations: “They meet each other once and learn to find each other always”.

Finally, underlying De Tocqueville’s discussion in Chapter 7 is an important second-order question about possibilities and limits of freedom of association: Question 2: Can the freedom to associate be permitted in some cases, such as economic endeavors, while being prohibited in others, such as political ones, without losing “all the goods” that associational life can offer?  

[Footnote: In applying this to our world in the first quarter of the 21 st Century, one cannot help but think of the People’s Republic of China, where the Communist Party has sought to do just this. Despite the Chinese Constitution guaranteeing that “Citizens… shall enjoy freedom of… association,” the Party has, in practice, encouraged some economic associations while prohibiting political ones that do not toe the party line.” According to De Tocqueville, civic associational life will not thrive in China until political associations are permitted.]

Thesis 2: Political associations and civic associations are interdependent, and limiting some associations, such as political ones, will have a detrimental chilling effect on associational life and the development of the civic habits they engender.

While the prospect of limiting the freedom of association may seem foreign, even reprehensible to us, we must recall that even in contemporary America we see association as a right with proper limits: associating for criminal purposes, such as a gang or terrorist organization, is clearly beyond the pale. In Germany today, neo-Nazi political parties are still banned. How much more may De Tocqueville, situated as he is in the aftermath of the French Revolutions of 1789 and 1830 and at the cusp of further political unrest in 1848, should consider the deleterious necessity of imposing some restrictions on freedom of association.

Yet despite his circumstances, De Tocqueville’s response is stark. While extreme circumstances may necessitate limiting some political associations, it comes at a cost: less political associations, less civic associations, and less virtues.

Robert J. Burton is the Tocqueville Assistant Professor of Civic Thought and Leadership within the Department of History and Political Science and director of the Civic Thought and Leadership Initiative (CTLI) within UVU’s Center for Constitutional Studies.

Click here to receive our Daily 90-Day Study Essay emailed directly to your inbox.

Click here for the essay schedule with today’s essay and previously published essays hyperlinked.