Alexis de Tocqueville is best known for his praise of American democracy and society; less well known, however, are later criticisms he made of both. Apparently he grew disillusioned of America in ways that echo down through today.

The Winter 2005 Wilson Quarterly describes “The Third Democracy: Tocqueville’s Views of America after 1840” by Aurelian Craiutu and Jeremy Jennings, in American Political Science Review (Aug. 2004):

In his letters to various American friends, never published in English translation... [there are] misgivings about “an emerging American imperialism, the excesses of American democracy, the decline of mores and the rise of lawlessness, the revolutionary fervor of American politics, poor political leadership, and the reckless spirit of American capitalism.”

The United States’ continuing expansion westward, Tocqueville wrote in 1852, revealed a troubling “spirit of conquest” and was “not a sign of good health for a people which already has more territories than it can fill.” Instead of softening human nature, as he’d argued it would in Democracy in America, America’s abundance seemed to be increasing material desires and the buccaneer spirit. In 1856, he expressed concern about “this race of anxious gamblers . . . which combines the passions and instincts of the savage with the tastes, needs, vigor, and vices of civilized men.”

These critiques sound awfully familiar and make a lot of sense, even today. It’s uncanny how de Tocqueville’s praise and criticisms of America continue to have relevance. This is not a sign of de Tocqueville being psychic, however; instead, it’s a sign of just how consistent America’s character has been over the past couple of centuries. For good and for ill, some important aspects of America have remained remarkably the same.

De Tocqueville became disillusioned with America, but America persevered anyway despite the problems he saw (justifiably, I think). Hopefully, that will continue — but I suspect that it will be easier to continue if we learn to recognize these problems and learn how to overcome them.

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