Alexis De Tocqueville And The Tyranny Of The Majority

John Stuart Mill, Alexis De Tocqueville and the Tyranny of the Majority

The idea of tyranny is a fear that weighed heavily in the minds of the Founding Fathers. Having broken free from the tyranny of a British King; the Founding Fathers examined a way to protect the nation from being dominated yet again. They made sure that the power of the government was divided and for there to be a system of checks and balances on the government. The particular way that the government of the United States was set up fascinated people the world over. Before examining the effect that the way the government of the United States combatted tyranny had on thinkers around the world; we should first look at precisely how the United States government intended

Tocqueville was a French thinker whose own country had undergone a revolution which completely altered the set up of France. In his book "Democracy in America" Tocqueville arrives in America and examines the democratic system that was set up. He discusses the aristocracy in France which linked everybody from the King to a peasant. He argued that this concept was the "chain of being" and that democracy broke this chain, freeing everyone. He also discussed joining in associations. This is obvious as to how it can work socially but in his book Tocqueville examined how it works politically as well. The social is the basis for the political. Tocqueville saw democracy as the future. In "Democracy in America" he examined and analyzed the differences, the stability and the future possibilities of the democratic system that was implemented in the United States of

He didn't see the women and slaves that did not have suffrage. Tocqueville was in favor of democracy and saw it as a positive,great thing but he also noticed the dangers of it. In his book he discusses majority rule and the threat it has to democracy, much like John Stuart Mill and James Madison did. Democracy and majority rule seems great but one must be careful as majority rule is also dangerous. The system can be structured in a way that the threat of majority rule can turned into something that can be handled. The reasons as to why this should be handled and not allowed to run rampant is that majority rule silences the minority and also the majority rule is influential in society and has power over the thoughts of people. He argued that the majority can control people through intimidation. He compared the power of a king versus the power of the majority. A king controls physically but the majority in a democracy controls your thoughts and beliefs. In a sense, the King gives you more freedom. Tocqueville was a brilliant thinker but he was absolutely also a product of his time. He did not really see women, slaves or Native