Kristen Wong

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GOVT2112 Mid Term Essay

Alexis de Tocquevilles Democracy in America and Marx and Engels Manifesto of the
Communist Party share deeply thoughtful and critical insight into the political discussion
situated in the inception of modern democracy and capitalism. Tocquevilles observations and
account of the beginnings of American democracy is told through a thorough investigation of the
social, cultural and political life of the New Englanders in precise detail. This essay will analyse
Tocquevilles depiction of the early Americans and will evaluate how close of a comparison one
can make with Marxs archetype of the bourgeoisie. Notions of Materialism, Economic
Freedoms, Democratic freedoms and tyranny tie these two relatively different depictions of
social structures together.
Historical Precedent of the New Englanders
Tocqueville utilizes his initial portrait of the newly arrived New Englanders in his opening
chapter to underline his thesis: that social construction is intimately linked with the progress of
the political environment. The New Englanders are an exceptional group of immigrants. On page
15 Tocqueville mentions that the immigrants had received a fairly advanced education and
displayed wonderful elements of order and morality (Tocqueville DA, p. 15). This is further
reinforced by their Puritan ideology in which the middle class formed the nucleus and enacted
upon their convenant to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances,
acts, constitutions, and officers (Tocqueville DA, pg. 17). Tocqueville represents these
immigrants as an entirely new nation incubating the seeds of democracy, through their inherent
values for equality and individual self-interest.
It is possible here to draw comparisons between Marx and Tocqueville in relation to the cultural
inception of democracy and capitalism. The pilgrims are idealistic and enterprising- sharing the
values of Marxs own characterization of the bourgeoisie, in which the discovery and
colonization of America injected an impulse never known resulting in the revolutionary
machine of industry and development (Engels & Marx MCP, pg. 4)

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The Social State of the New Englanders

Tocquevilles thesis is further elaborated upon in his discussion of townships. He claims that the
townships are the embodiment of the democratic and self-interested values carried by these New
Englanders. The political empowerment of the everyday citizen is institutionalized by the
position of selectmen, in which these administrators put into practice principles already
approved by the majority (Tocqueville DA, pg. 30). This investment allows citizens to be
politically informed and involved, educating them in formalities without which freedom can
advanced only through revolutions taste for orderand clear, practical ideas about the
nature of his duties and the extent of his rights (Tocqueville DA, pg. 30). The concept of the
majority conducting the decisions of the political state through democratic processes is one that
conflicts with Marxs construction of the bourgeoisie and proletarian divide. This conflict is most
strongly observed in Tocquevilles concept of the Tyranny of the Majority.

The Tyranny of the Majority

The absolute sovereignty of the will of the majority is the essence of democratic
government, for in democracies there is nothing outside the majority capable of resisting
it (Tocqueville DA, pg. 128)
This quote highlights the revolutionary dynamic of which New England has created, a political
institution which functions according to the will of the majority. Tocquevilles assessment of the
individual in New England is now synonymous of that of the majority, in which on page 129, he
compares it to an individual with opinions, and usually with interests, contrary to those of
another individual, called the minority? (Tocqueville DA, pg. 130). This point was to highlight
the fallibility of this institution: When a man or a party suffers an injustice to the United States,
to whom can he turn? To public opinion? That is what forms the majority. To the legislative
body? It represents the majority and obeys it blindly So, however iniquitous or unreasonable
the measure which hurts you, you must submit. (Tocqueville DA, pg. 131). The majority has
established its own authority through democratic political processes and this law concentration of
power for Tocqueville is worrying. He claims that this arrangement of power is a tyranny upon
politics and morality.
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The minority is oppressed under this system- they are free to formulate and voice their own
opinion, but they will not find others to agree with them. An individual with views outside the
formidable fence that the majority has constructed around free thought, will face only
persecution as his fellow thinkers lack the courage to support him in fear of suffering the wrath
of the majority (Tocqueville DA, pg. 133.)
One would find it difficult to draw broad parallels between the New England Majority and
Marxs bourgeoisie. Where the New Englanders dominated their political institutions through
democratic values and political participation, the Bourgeoisie influences the state through their
dominance of markets and production (Engels & Marx MCP, pp. 4-5)1. The oppressed minority
of the New Englanders were stripped of an audience for their voices whereas Marxs bourgeoisie
are the oppressors, stripping away the proletarian majority from their relationship to capital and
each other (Engels & Marx MCP, pg. 5)2.
The Tyranny in question is worth discussing. Tocqueville describes tyranny as a necessity that
has become out of control:
I therefore think it always necessary to place somewhere one social power superior to
all others, but I believe that freedom is in danger when that power finds no obstacle that
can restrain its course and give it time to moderate itself (Tocqueville DA, pg. 131)
Marxs conception of freedom is similar to Tocquevilles. Bourgeoisie freedom allows them to
extract social relations and inputs from capital, depriving the proletariats of their humanity and
self worth. Its their accumulated wealth and capital that removes the barriers to power and
1 Afterward, in the period of manufacturing proper, serving either the semifeudal or the absolute monarchy as a counterpoise against the nobility, and, in fact,
cornerstone of the great monarchies in generalthe bourgeoise has at last, since
the establishment of Modern Industry and of the world market, conquered for itself,
in the modern representatitve state, exclusive political sway. The executive of the
modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole
bourgeoisie
2 It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his
natural superiors, and left no other nexus between man and man than naked selfinterest, than callous cash payment.
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translates into tyranny3. In both cases, the state is at the whim of either group, differentiating
only by the political commentators focus, being either relations of production or political and
democratic values.
Slavery and its impact upon the Enterprising Spirit
The American civil war highlighted the dynamics of the social and political relations between
the North and South states, the African American s and the American Indians. The relationship
between the New Englanders and the slaves is the most useful in discussing alongside Marxs
bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
Tocqueville insightfully observes that in the United States:
I plainly see that in some ports of the country the legal barrier between the two races
is tending to come down, but not that of mores: I see slavery in retreat, but not that of
mores: I see that slavery is in retreat, but the prejudice from which it arose is immovable
(Tocqueville DA, pg. 179)
The New Englanders abolished slavery, not as a moral stance, but as an economic and
entrepreneurial decision4. Tocqueville attributes this decision to a difference between the New
Englanders and the Southern colonies conception of labour- their values, as is his thesis,
underlay their political and economic structure. He writes on page 181 that work in the South is
inseparable from the action of a slave, whilst the New Englanders consider work as both
honorable and intelligent5.
This exertion of ones own personal labour translates into materialism.

3 Communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate the products of

society; all that it does is to deprive him of the power to subjugate the labor of
others by means of such appropriations. (Engels & Marx, MCP, pg. 16)
4 In the United States people abolish slavery for the sake not of the Negroes but of
the white menThe population of those provinces that had practically no slaves
increased in numbers, wealth and well-being more paidly than those that had
slaves (Tocqueville, DA, pg. 180)
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The white man on the right bank, forced to live by his own endeavours, has made
material well-being the main object of his existence; as he lives in a country offering
inexhaustibale resources to his industry and continual inducements to activity, his
eagerness to posses things goes beyond the ordinary limits of human cupidity
(Tocqueville DA, pg. 182)
The New Englanders then proceed to extract economic benefits from slavery by transferring their
labour capital to the South6. Tocqueville details how the abolishment of primogeniture reversed
the cultural aversion to work and the working class comes to empathize with the slave
condition resulting in the corresponding stigmatization of slavery (Tocqueville DA, 183).
The great divide between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletarians draws many parallels with the
New Englanders and the Slaves. Materialism is a cultural concept that suitably describes and
underlies the bourgeoisie directive to accumulate capital. The Bourgeoisie are similarly
entrepreneurial as the New Englanders are portrayed, having to revolutionize production, the
relations of production and the structure of society itself (Engels & Marx MCP, pg. 5).
The conditions of the African American slave and the Proletarian however are very different. The
slaves condition is a responsibility of the Master- basic needs such as food and clothing come
out of the Masters expenses. The proletariat, and similarly the New Englander, is paid a simple
wage- their produce is not theirs to share in or interact with.
Conclusion

5 On the left bank of the Ohio work is connected with the idea of slavery, but on
the right with well-being and progress; on the one side it is degrading, but on the
other honourable; on the left bank no white labourers are to be found, for they
would be afraid of being like the slaves; for work people must rely on the Negroes;
but one will never see a man of leisure on the right bank: the white mans intelligent
activity is used for work of every sort. (Tocqueville, DA, pg. 180)
6 Almost all those in the most southern states who have gone in for commercial
undertakings and try to make a profit out of slavery have come from the North;
northerners are daily spreading over that part of the country, where they ahve less
competition to fear (Tocqueville DA, pg. 182)
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Tocquevilles New Englander and Marxs Bourgeoisie are certainly not identical, but the cultural
values of entrepreneurship, materialism and freedom loosely tie them together. This derives
from each of the political commentators focus on different phenomena- Tocquevilles thesis
upon cultural values and Marxs focus upon relations of production. Both however, demonstrate
innovate and insightful observations of political and social life, and the alternative methods of
perceiving them.
Bibliography
Tocqueville, A.d 1993, Democracy in America, in Alder, M.J. (ed.), Great Books of the Western
World, Enclycopedia Britannica, U.S.A
Engels, F. & Marx, K., 1848, Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marxists Internet Archive,
viewed 7 May 2015, https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf