Democracy in America

Tocqueville’s main goal in this section is to describe federalism and the separation of powers in the United States and its implications for American society. Tocqueville begins by recounting a brief history of the United States; while the revolution saw the colonies act as a unifying force, the end of hostilities saw a push for division and a resurgence of state sovereignty above federal. He notes that military victory in the revolution was largely due to America’s geographic position and that it is fortunate that the post-revolutionary crisis happened while most of the movement’s leaders remained alive. This led to the unusual and fortunate decision to adopt a federal constitution that decided all powers not explicitly granted to the federal government belonged to the states: “Thus the state governments remained the common rule; the federal government was the exception” (107).

Tocqueville notes that, unsurprisingly, the federal government has most foreign policy powers. It also regulates money, collects taxes, and arbitrates disputes between states. The federal government has a single court system, so it is uniform in some ways, but it is also an “assemblage of confederated republics” (109), though the federal government retains the regulation of interstate commerce, unlike in Spain.