Democracy in America

Tocqueville’s first explanation for the endurance of American democracy is geography: The capital is remote from many states and local life is more important to Americans. The country has yet to engage in any major wars. Americans were bequeathed the positive aspects of a Puritan heritage, especially education. Tocqueville then argues that the Native inhabitants of the continent left it undeveloped, a “wilderness land” for European settlers to conquer and develop (268). Americans are in perpetual motion: They leave Europe for the new continent and then find themselves as part of the continued push westward as American territory expands.

In this section Tocqueville introduces a concept that influences his analysis throughout the rest of the work. Mores, or moeurs in French, is his term for “the different notions that men possess, to the various opinions that are current in their midst, and to the sum of ideas of which the habits of the mind are formed” (275). When Tocqueville invokes mores, he usually refers to cultural values, norms, and topics on which a general consensus influences behavior.

Tocqueville expands on his notion of mores when he considers the advantages Americans enjoy. Specifically, federalism “permits the Union to enjoy the power of a great republic and the security of a small one” (274), while township government combined with strong legal traditions allow democracy to flourish without the tyranny of the majority leading to despotism.