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we need to recognize the fundamental, if hidden, moral dimension of the doctrine of interest well understood. Most commentators treat the doctrine as essentially utilitarian and amoral; some even treat it negatively, as unworthy of the highest moral dimensions of humanity. But if covenant plays a defining role, we need to acknowledge the profound moral dimension of this innovative American social and philosophical theory.
This quick review of remedies emphasizes three fundamental features of Tocqueville’s intellectual journey. It demonstrates once again how Tocqueville’s ideas, as he envisioned and wrote Democracy between 1831 and 1840, were shaped by American lessons. The American experience was, in many ways, transformative; it significantly inspired, deflected, and renewed Tocqueville’s thinking. This summary also illustrates a fixed principle of Tocqueville’s thought. For him, remedies based on habits were more important than those based on art. Mores, as Tocqueville insisted so eloquently, are more crucial to the health and success of democracies than are laws, institutions, or circumstances. Finally, this survey reveals that hidden beneath Tocqueville’s remedies for democratic ills was the goal of a vigorous civic life. As Tocqueville wrote, the best cure for democracy was more democracy, understood as the broadest possible public participation.
The Democratic Character
Tocqueville believed that a new, emerging society would call forth a new man: the “democratic man,” who would exhibit characteristic habits, attitudes, beliefs, and ideas (mores). The story of Tocqueville’s developing understanding of the democratic character is complex; what follows is only a summary treatment of the topic. Once again, we must begin in America, where, as he traveled, he carefully observed those around him and gradually developed a full picture of the American character.
Throughout the writing of his book, Tocqueville’s concept of national character remained vague and elusive. But in an early version of the manuscript of Democracy, he offered a tentative definition.
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There is indeed in the bent of the ideas and tastes of a people a hidden force that struggles with advantage against revolutions and time. This intellectual physiognomy of nations, which is called their character, is found throughout all the centuries of their history and amid the innumerable changes that take place in the social state, beliefs and laws. A strange thing! What is least perceptible and most difficult to define among a people is at the same time what you find most enduring among them.39
For him, national character really meant the mores of a particular nation.
What was the bent of the ideas and tastes, or the intellectual physiognomy of the Americans? Among the features of the American character that Tocqueville noted and praised in his travel notes and in the working papers and text of Democracy were:
Religious faith and a high regard for religion;
Good morals and a positive attitude toward women;
Abundant energy, hard work, and relentless activity;
Practical political experience and general knowledge and intelligence;
Good sense and steadiness of habits or “habits of restraint”;
Fixity of certain fundamental principles;
Public spirit and a drive to participate in public life;
A sentiment or feeling of equality with fellow citizens;
Respect for law and for the rights of others;
Willingness to help others, or a benevolent attitude; and
An intelligent and refined egoism, or a remarkably different understanding of how private and public interest were linked.
Among American traits that Tocqueville observed and criticized were:
Love of money and passion for wealth and material well-being;
Commercial passions and habits of business;
Greediness to acquire material goods and to dominate the continent;
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Lack of general ideas and interest in practice rather than theory;
Restlessness and constant movement;
Tendency to follow momentary passions;
Passion for change and expectation of constant improvement;
Nearly universal ambition and drive to advance in society;
Exaggerated seriousness or coldness;
Inability to enjoy life;
Tendency to conform to the majority and to follow public opinion;
Discontent and frustration despite prosperity and success;
Envy;
Deep anxiety; insecurity about status and well-being;
National self-absorption and pride;
Racist attitudes toward blacks and Native Americans; and
Fanatical spiritualism (at times).
Even these two short lists underscore several significant features of Tocqueville’s portrait of the American character. Remarkably, Tocqueville’s portrayal began to emerge quickly during the first days of his American journey and can be found throughout the working papers and final text of the 1835 Democracy. Yet his depiction is complex and extraordinarily perceptive, containing both high praise and severe criticism. It particularly highlights certain fundamental American traits, such as religious faith, practical political experience, constant activity, and the ability to understand private and public interests in a new way.
But Tocqueville’s portrait is also limited in several respects. First, it focuses on the Anglo-American man; women and the other two races of North America are largely considered apart. Second, it is a description even more specifically of the Northerner (even of the New England Yankee); in the pages of Democracy, Tocqueville offers us a separate picture of the Southerner that differs in several important ways from the general image. Third, and finally, we should note that much of his portrayal, especially the features that he most disliked, is a description of middle-class habits and characteristics. To some extent, Tocqueville saw the Americans through the preexisting lens of his profoundly unfavorable conception of the middle class and of middle-class society.
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Among Tocqueville’s catalog of American characteristics, the psychological features offer arguably the most brilliant insights of his analysis. Again we need to remember that these psychological traits as well are already present in Tocqueville’s travel notes and in the drafts and manuscripts of the 1835 Democracy. His journey notebooks, for example, describe an American who has a profound sentiment or feeling of equality with his fellows.40 In the working papers of the 1835 portion of Democracy, Tocqueville observes that, in a society without the traditional markers of caste and class, the Anglo-American is constantly anxious about his status in society, and in a society where the primary distinction is wealth,
