American Institutions and Their Influence, Alexis de Tocqueville [the gingerbread man read aloud .txt] 📗

Power of the State. The executive Power of the State. Political Effects of the System of local Administration in the United States. CHAPTER VI.

Judicial Power in the United States, and its Influence on Political Society.

Other Powers granted to the American Judges. CHAPTER VII.

Political Jurisdiction in the United States.

CHAPTER VIII.

The federal Constitution.

History of the federal Constitution. Summary of the federal Constitution. Prerogative of the federal Government. Federal Powers. Legislative Powers. A farther Difference between the Senate and the House of Representatives. The executive Power. Differences between the Position of the President of the United States and that of a constitutional King of France. Accidental Causes which may increase the Influence of the executive Government. Why the President of the United States does not require the Majority of the two Houses in Order to carry on the Government. Election of the President. Mode of Election. Crisis of the Election. Re-Election of the President. Federal Courts. Means of determining the Jurisdiction of the federal Courts. Different Cases of Jurisdiction. Procedure of the federal Courts. High Rank of the supreme Courts among the great Powers of the State. In what Respects the federal Constitution is superior to that of the States. Characteristics which distinguish the federal Constitution of the United States of America from all other federal Constitutions. Advantages of the federal System in General, and its special Utility in America. Why the federal System is not adapted to all Peoples, and how the Anglo-Americans were enabled to adopt it. CHAPTER IX.

Why the People may strictly be said to govern in the United States.

CHAPTER X.

Parties in the United States.

Remains of the aristocratic Party in the United States CHAPTER XI.

Liberty of the Press in the United States.

CHAPTER XII.

Political Associations in the United States.

CHAPTER XIII.

Government of the Democracy in America.

Universal Suffrage. Choice of the People, and instinctive Preferences of the American Democracy. Causes which may partly correct the Tendencies of the Democracy. Influence which the American Democracy has exercised on the Laws relating to Elections. Public Officers under the control of the Democracy in America. Arbitrary Power of Magistrates under the Rule of the American Democracy. Instability of the Administration in the United States. Charges levied by the State under the rule of the American Democracy. Tendencies of the American Democracy as regards the Salaries of public Officers. Difficulties of distinguishing the Causes which contribute to the Economy of the American Government. Whether the Expenditure of the United States can be compared to that of France. Corruption and vices of the Rulers in a Democracy, and consequent Effects upon public Morality. Efforts of which a Democracy is capable. Self-control of the American Democracy. Conduct of foreign Affairs, by the American Democracy. CHAPTER XIV.

What the real Advantages are which American Society derives from the Government of the Democracy.

General Tendency of the Laws under the Rule of the American Democracy, and Habits of those who apply them. Public Spirit in the United States. Notion of Rights in the United States. Respect for the Law in the United States. Activity which pervades all the Branches of the Body politic in the United States; Influence which it exercises upon Society. CHAPTER XV.

Unlimited Power of the Majority in the United States, and its Consequences.

How the unlimited Power of the Majority increases in America, the Instability of Legislation inherent in Democracy. Tyranny of the Majority. Effects of the unlimited Power of the Majority upon the arbitrary Authority of the American public Officers. Power exercised by the Majority in America upon public Opinion. Effects of the Tyranny of the Majority upon the national Character of the Americans. The greatest Dangers of the American Republics proceed from the unlimited Power of the Majority. CHAPTER XVI.

Causes which Mitigate the Tyranny of the Majority in the United States.

Absence of central Administration. The Profession of the Law in the United States serves to Counterpoise the Democracy. Trial by Jury in the United States considered as a political Institution. CHAPTER XVII.

Principal Causes which tend to maintain the democratic Republic in the United States.

Accidental or providential Causes which contribute to the Maintenance of the democratic Republic in the United States. Influence of the Laws upon the Maintenance of the democratic Republic in the United States. Influence of Manners upon the Maintenance of the democratic Republic in the United States. Religion considered as a political Institution, which powerfully Contributes to the Maintenance of the democratic Republic among the Americans. Indirect Influence of religious Opinions upon political Society in the United States. Principal Causes which render Religion powerful in America. How the Instruction, the Habits, and the practical Experience of the Americans, promote the Success of their democratic Institutions. The Laws contribute more to the Maintenance of the democratic Republic in the United States than the physical Circumstances of the Country, and the Manners more than the Laws. Whether Laws and Manners are sufficient to maintain democratic Institutions in other Countries beside America. Importance of what precedes with respect to the State of Europe. CHAPTER XVIII.

The present and probable future Condition of the three Races which Inhabit the Territory of the United States.

The present and probable future Condition of the Indian Tribes which Inhabit the Territory possessed by the Union. Situation of the black Population in the United States, and Dangers with which its Presence threatens the Whites. What are the Chances in favor of the Duration of the American Union, and what Dangers threaten it. Of the republican Institutions of the United States, and what their Chances of Duration are. Reflections on the Causes of the commercial Prosperity of the United States. Conclusion.

Appendix

* * * * * INTRODUCTION.

Among 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. I readily discovered the prodigious influence which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed.

I speedily perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, the ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce.

The more I advanced in