Democracy In America, vol 1 | Page 5

of anxious concern, his treatment of the questions is found to
have been masterly and his preconceptions almost prophetic.
We are frequently indebted to him for able expositions and true
doctrines relating to subjects that have slumbered in the minds of the
people until they were suddenly forced on our attention by unexpected
events.
In his introductory chapter, M. De Tocqueville says: "Amongst the
novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United
States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of
conditions." He referred, doubtless, to social and political conditions
among the people of the white race, who are described as "We, the
people," in the opening sentence of the Constitution. The last three
amendments of the Constitution have so changed this, that those who
were then negro slaves are clothed with the rights of citizenship,
including the right of suffrage. This was a political party movement,
intended to be radical and revolutionary, but it will, ultimately, react
because it has not the sanction of public opinion.
If M. De Tocqueville could now search for a law that would negative
this provision in its effect upon social equality, he would fail to find it.
But he would find it in the unwritten law of the natural aversion of the
races. He would find it in public opinion, which is the vital force in
every law in a free government. This is a subject that our Constitution
failed to regulate, because it was not contemplated by its authors. It is a
question that will settle itself, without serious difficulty. The equality in
the suffrage, thus guaranteed to the negro race, alone - for it was not
intended to include other colored races - creates a new phase of
political conditions that M. De Tocqueville could not foresee. Yet, in
his commendation of the local town and county governments, he
applauds and sustains that elementary feature of our political
organization which, in the end, will render harmless this wide departure
from the original plan and purpose of American Democracy. "Local
Self-Government," independent of general control, except for general
purposes, is the root and origin of all free republican government, and
is the antagonist of all great political combinations that threaten the
rights of minorities. It is the public opinion formed in the independent

expressions of towns and other small civil districts that is the real
conservatism of free government. It is equally the enemy of that
dangerous evil, the corruption of the ballot-box, from which it is now
apprehended that one of our greatest troubles is to arise.
The voter is selected, under our laws, because he has certain physical
qualifications - age and sex. His disqualifications, when any are
imposed, relate to his education or property, and to the fact that he has
not been convicted of crime. Of all men he should be most directly
amenable to public opinion.
The test of moral character and devotion to the duties of good
citizenship are ignored in the laws, because the courts can seldom deal
with such questions in a uniform and satisfactory way, under rules that
apply alike to all. Thus the voter, selected by law to represent himself
and four other non-voting citizens, is often a person who is unfit for
any public duty or trust. In a town government, having a small area of
jurisdiction, where the voice of the majority of qualified voters is
conclusive, the fitness of the person who is to exercise that high
representative privilege can be determined by his neighbors and
acquaintances, and, in the great majority of cases, it will be decided
honestly and for the good of the country. In such meetings, there is
always a spirit of loyalty to the State, because that is loyalty to the
people, and a reverence for God that gives weight to the duties and
responsibilities of citizenship.
M. De Tocqueville found in these minor local jurisdictions the
theoretical conservatism which, in the aggregate, is the safest reliance
of the State. So we have found them, in practice, the true protectors of
the purity of the ballot, without which all free government will
degenerate into absolutism.
In the future of the Republic, we must encounter many difficult and
dangerous situations, but the principles established in the Constitution
and the check upon hasty or inconsiderate legislation, and upon
executive action, and the supreme arbitrament of the courts, will be
found sufficient for the safety of personal rights, and for the safety of
the government, and the prophetic outlook of M. De Tocqueville will
be fully realized through the influence of Democracy in America. Each
succeeding generation of Americans will find in the pure and impartial
reflections of De Tocqueville a new source of pride in our institutions

of government, and sound reasons for