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Democracy in America — Volume 2

Alexis de Tocqueville

  • Essays
  • Book language: English
  • 368 pages

The second volume of Tocqueville's study turns from politics to the influence of democracy on opinion, feeling, and manners in America. In essays on individualism, religion, literature, and ambition, he asks what equality does to the mind and heart of a society. It rewards listening as a thoughtful, still-debated reflection on democratic life.

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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.

Opening of the book

DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA
By Alexis De Tocqueville
Translated by Henry Reeve
Volume II.

Book Two: Influence Of Democracy On
Progress Of Opinion in The United
States
De Tocqueville's Preface To The Second
Part
The Americans live in a democratic state of society,
which has naturally suggested to them certain laws and a
certain political character. This same state of society
has, moreover, engendered amongst them a multitude of
feelings and opinions which were unknown amongst the elder
aristocratic communities of Europe: it has destroyed or
modified all the relations which before existed, and
established others of a novel kind. The—aspect of civil
society has been no less affected by these changes than
that of the political world. The former subject has been
treated of in the work on the Democracy of America, which
I published five years ago; to examine the latter is the
object of the present book; but these two parts complete
each other, and form one and the same work.
I must at once warn the reader against an error which
would be extremely prejudicial to me. When he finds that I
attribute so many different consequences to the principle
of equality, he may thence infer that I consider that
principle to be the sole cause of all that takes place in
the present age: but this would be to impute to me a very
narrow view. A multitude of opinions, feelings, and
propensities are now in existence, which owe their origin
to circumstances unconnected with or even contrary to the
principle of equality. Thus if I were to select the United

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Contents

  1. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA
  2. Translated by Henry Reeve
  3. Volume II.
  4. Book Two: Influence Of Democracy On Progress Of Opinion in The United States
  5. De Tocqueville's Preface To The Second Part
  6. Section I: Influence of Democracy on the Action of Intellect in The United States.
  7. Chapter I: Philosophical Method Among the Americans
  8. Chapter II: Of The Principal Source Of Belief Among Democratic Nations
  9. Chapter III: Why The Americans Display More Readiness And More Taste For General Ideas Than Their Forefathers, The Engli
  10. Chapter IV: Why The Americans Have Never Been So Eager As The French For General Ideas In Political Matters
  11. Chapter V: Of The Manner In Which Religion In The United States Avails Itself Of Democratic Tendencies
  12. Chapter VI: Of The Progress Of Roman Catholicism In The United States
  13. Chapter VII: Of The Cause Of A Leaning To Pantheism Amongst Democratic Nations
  14. Chapter VIII: The Principle Of Equality Suggests To The Americans The Idea Of The Indefinite Perfectibility Of Man
  15. Chapter IX: The Example Of The Americans Does Not Prove That A Democratic People Can Have No Aptitude And No Taste For S
  16. Chapter X: Why The Americans Are More Addicted To Practical Than To Theoretical Science
  17. Chapter XI: Of The Spirit In Which The Americans Cultivate The Arts
  18. Chapter XII: Why The Americans Raise Some Monuments So Insignificant, And Others So Important
  19. Chapter XIII: Literary Characteristics Of Democratic Ages
  20. Chapter XIV: The Trade Of Literature
  21. Chapter XV: The Study Of Greek And Latin Literature Peculiarly Useful In Democratic Communities
  22. Chapter XVI: The Effect Of Democracy On Language
  23. Chapter XVII: Of Some Of The Sources Of Poetry Amongst Democratic Nations
  24. Chapter XVIII: Of The Inflated Style Of American Writers And Orators
  25. Chapter XIX: Some Observations On The Drama Amongst Democratic Nations
  26. Chapter XX: Characteristics Of Historians In Democratic Ages
  27. Chapter XXI: Of Parliamentary Eloquence In The United States
  28. Section 2: Influence of Democracy on the Feelings of Americans
  29. Chapter I: Why Democratic Nations Show A More Ardent And Enduring Love Of Equality Than Of Liberty
  30. Chapter II: Of Individualism In Democratic Countries

and 113 more chapters

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