Tocqueville in America

Rating:
Summary: An Indispensable Read.
Review: "Democracy In America" (Vol. I ) was published in 1835, the by-product of a nine month expedition commissioned by the king of France to study the American prison system. With its acclaim, the young author Alexis De Tocqueville would consecrate his place in history as perhaps the most shrewd and erudite observer of American political form, social habit and manner, and cultural disposition ever to commit mind to the task of examining the then expanding new world and her relatively newly arrived inhabitants.

What was revealed to Tocqueville and his companion, Gustave De Beaumont-indeed, what could only be perceived by the scrutinizing eye of a foreigner oriented with the prejudices and customs of European aristocracy-served as evidence of a new strata of social evolution for mankind, one that held both curious promise and the possibility of unraveling danger.

In "Tocqueville In America", the late Yale history professor, George Wilson Pierson, provides the reader with the genesis of experience that instructed the young magistrates and gave birth to "Democracy In America."

From the voluminous hand-written diaries of Tocqueville and Beaumont, as well as other parallel accounts, Pierson reconstructs the grand adventure undertaken by the two companions, and in the process he provides the moments of inspiration and instruction from whence the astonishing insights that comprise "Democracy In America" originate.

Just as an example, in "Democracy In America" Tocqueville commits to the analysis of the bicameral legislature in America. With the seeming sharpness of keen mind, he elucidates the cause for this orientation of government, as well as some of its features. Chiefly, he asserts that the functionality that this arrangement serves is to produce rigor in the debate of legislative issues through redundancy; and the lengths of the terms of those who serve in the respective houses of government intends proficiency: it services the provision whereby men of government acquire adequate skill at legislative affairs-as can only be facilitated over a protracted period of time. Also, this ensures that the service of competent and experienced men of government is always retained.

But it turns out that this analysis is not one that Tocqueville himself derived. "Tocqueville In America" reveals that the origin of these thoughts was not Tocqueville at all. In fact, a New Yorker of "no small distinction"-a J.C. Spencer-provided the explanation for the bicameral arrangement of government in America to Tocqueville. In fact, Tocqueville would repeat Mr. Spencer's explication almost verbatim in "Democracy In America."

But not all of Tocqueville's shrewd insights were, in reality, borrowed in this fashion. "Tocqueville In America" is evidence to the fact that most of Tocqueville's analyses were a function of the genuine genius of his insight. His diaries are astonishing evidence of the profundity of his observations.

With this book, Pierson gives the very moments that were the germs of the observations and thoughts that would eventually find their way into Tocqueville's "great work." Not only is the reader treated to the piercing nature of his discerning mind, but the spectacle of the adventure on which he and Beaumont embarked. In their diaries, Tocqueville and Beaumont divulge the dangers of the trip, the moments of humor, and the pleasurable excitements that came with the fulfillments of their curiosities.

"Tocqueville In America" is the story behind "Democracy In America", and as such, just as indispensable a read.