Alexis de Tocqueville was a Frenchman who traveled extensively in America in the 1800s. While volume I focused more on describing the form and workings of the American government, volume II switches gears to explain the philosophy, arts, values, and morals of the American people.

The second volume was easier to read than the first because the chapters were shorter and more manageable. Even so, I had to take this book in small doses interspersed with other, lighter reading. It was interesting to see that much of what de Tocqueville said and predicted is still true today, although he was wrong about quite a few things as well.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, for example: ”… Washington had lost the majority in the House of Representatives. The violence of the language used against him in public was extreme, and in a political meeting they did not scruple to compare him indirectly to the treacherous Arnold.”

I would love to leave this on my boss’s desk: “The man of action is frequently obliged to content himself with the best he can get, because he would never accomplish his purpose if he chose to carry every detail to perfection.”

This one is interesting considering recent world events: “It is a fallacy to flatter ourselves with the reflection that the barbarians are still far from us; for if there be some nations which allow civilization to be torn from their grasp, there are others who trample it themselves under their feet.”

I’m not touching this one: “Religious insanity is very common in the United States.” ( )

De Tocqueville said the first volume of Democracy in America was more about America, the second more about democracy. The introduction by Mansfield and Winthrop, the translators and editors of the edition I read, called it both the best book on America and the best on democracy. The first volume was a popular bestseller in its day, the second a more modest success, and I can understand that. I rated the first volume five stars, this volume is getting quite a bit lower. It's still well worth reading--there are startling insights in this book, they're just to me less striking and come less often.

As De Tocqueville noted, the first book is more on America, and is grounded in a lot of telling observations. Not that it's absent in this second book, but this one is a lot more theoretical, and I think a lot of its points are better made in the first book. I also admit I'm not inclined to accept one of his major themes in this second volume, that religion is essential to democracy. And he seems very much off the mark in his contention that American democracy doesn't produce great literature or advances in the sciences. Admittedly, in 1835 when this second volume was published, about the only well-known American writers of fiction were James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving. I can't say I much agree with his criticisms of individualism either. That's not to say reading this wasn't worthwhile, but less essential I feel than the amazing first volume. ( )

1826 Democracy in America Volume II, by Alexis de Tocqueville (read 14 Feb 1984) Well, I really had to struggle to read Volume II. It was published in 1840, five years after Volume I. It is filled with abstractions, unsupported by data. Much of what he says does not seem true, and I confess I just read to get through, and my attention often wandered. I am glad I am done with the work. ( )

Written over 150 years ago, Democracy In America is even more important and compelling today than it was then. This past fall, I had the opportunity to teach a Government class for my college. My class studied the second volume of this invaluable classic. It was such a pleasure to study it through a mentor's eyes. It truly came alive for me in a way that it never had before as I prepared to teach it.

Despite his young age, Tocqueville was a master at understanding human nature. Volume II is filled with both compliments for American culture and cautionary advice for us as citizens. It's amazing how accurate his predictions and warnings were. We are falling into the very snares and excesses about which he cautioned. I wish that all Americans would take the time to read this insightful volume. If we would simply heed Tocqueville's admonitions, we would be well on our way to rebuilding our great American culture and securing our liberty.

“When the taste for physical gratifications among them has grown more rapidly than their education . . . the time will come when men are carried away and lose all self-restraint . . . . It is not necessary to do violence to such a people in order to strip them of the rights they enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen their hold. . . . they neglect their chief business which is to remain their own masters.” ~Alexis de Tocqueville ( )

Sociologie chrétienne. ( )

What Tocqueville has to say about the American character is still mostly true, but his observations of our political institutions have been supplanted by the welfare state and our role in world empire. Our loss I think. He is almost silent on state institutions, but has some valid, if now sadly historical, observations on local government. ( )