Alexis de Tocqueville and His View on the American Society - Essay Example

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”1 Never before has such a bold assumption been pushed forward as the reason for a peoples’ existence. If Thomas Jefferson had been alive today, and insisted in the arena of public ideas that all men are equal, he would have been heralded as a visionary, and man with the courage to guide and direct the course of a people toward a greater existence. But this is not the totality of Mr. Jefferson’s timeless assertion. Thomas Jefferson’s declaration, which has guided the path of this nation through two hundred years of unique existence is that we hold the truth to be self-evident, that all men, (and women) are created equal, and endowed by there Creator with certain undeniable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Would today’s culture, and in light of it’s determined bias against all things referencing the existence of God, would Mr. Jefferson be allowed to make such a revolutionary claim? In Jefferson’s day, the cost of his actions, and those who agreed with him, was high. Their final personal covenant is represented in the final words of the timeless document which guides this nation. “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”2 Their pledge of their lives was not an idle platitude, as the ensuing Revolutionary war was prosecuted at the expense of many of their lives. The British government pursued these men who had so brazenly declared their own personal freedom, and declared that peasants with pitchforks were equal to the monarch of the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. There fortunes were seized. Their property was destroyed, homes and plantations burned, because they made the audacious assertion that they were ‘equal.’ In today’s modern culture, would Mr. Jefferson, and those associated with him, have been treated any differently? To assert that our rights to freedom, and equal treatment under the law was based on the belief that these intrinsic properties were fashioned, and given to us by God, the Maker of heaven and earth, would place Mr. Jefferson outside the acceptance of modern public thought just as he ostracized himself from King George. The signers of this declaration were not just upset about taxation without representation, and that the British crown was housing troops in there homes. In their belief, the abuse of power went much further, to the level that denied men and women rights which were theirs by divine intent. On this assertion, Mr. Jefferson writes without hesitation, “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government. . .”3 So began the long history of what has become the greatest nation on earth, routed in a foundation that included a belief in God, a supreme deity that was involved in the affairs of men. At the same time, others were taking notice of this experiment in freedom and democracy. From the land that had held the title belt of freedom and individual liberty, France’s Alexis de Tocqueville came to America to tour the county in an attempt to understand what made the American experience unique. He did not have to look far before uncovering that the assertions which Jefferson and others planted in the constitution had taken root across the fruited plains, and were bearing fruit 30, 60, and a hundred fold. American life was not established in order to become a religious commune, which seems to be the opinion of some contemporary critics. Early American life did not insist on force feeding religion down the throats of its citizens, and making the walk lock step to some churches doctrine. No, early American life simply included the acknowledgement that God had given to all men the right to be free. All men should have equal access to those elements which make up the quality of life, which include economic progress and the ability to determine the course of their own lives. And since this right came from a universal creator, when one man or a group of men attempted to usurp this right, he was trampling underfoot his fellow man, and the will of a Supreme God. Tocqueville states the American understanding of the intertwining of God, faith and freedom this way. “There is hardly any human action, however particular it may be, that does not originate in some very general idea men have conceived of the Deity, of his relation to mankind, of the nature of their own souls, and of their duties to their fellow creatures. Nor can anything prevent these ideas from being the common spring from which all the rest emanates. Men are therefore immeasurably interested in acquiring fixed ideas of God, of the soul, and of their general duties to their Creator and their fellow men; for doubt on these first principles would abandon all their actions to chance and would condemn them in some way to disorder and impotence. Fixed ideas about God and human nature are indispensable to the daily practice of mens lives.” (vol. 2, chapt. 5) Tocqueville accurately identified that America was a political and economic society which understood that the blessings of freedom and individual rights came from a higher authority to which all men were accountable. Men did not necessarily believe that if they disobeyed, lightening would strike them dead. Rather those who formed the social consciousness of our country believed that because they had been selected to govern, they had the responsibility to create and manage the affairs of men in congruence with their faith, and the moral code which Christian faith is built upon. Writing from a Calvinist viewpoint, a religious sub-current which focuses on man’s calling from and responsibility to an omnipotent God, Weber comes to many of the came conclusions. Mankind is responsible to the God who created him, and as such mankind finds peace and prosperity when he fulfills that calling and destiny. From this viewpoint, Weber made some of the same observations as did de Tocqueville, but attributed the rise of a prosperous society to the religious discipline of the Protestant faith. He believed there was a direct relationship between Protestantism and capitalism because a central theme in Protestantism is the belief of calling, or one’s duty. It is "the fulfillment of (one’s) duty in worldly affairs as the highest form of moral activity (Weber, 80)." This uniquely Protestant ethic inspired those who are a part of this religious tradition to work hard and save money because God considers this to be ‘faithful stewardship’ of one’s resources. The economic reality of this habit was the creation of an economic surplus, which in turn created a division of labor, a strong middle class, and upward mobility in a free economic system. This calling according to Weber is the "most characteristic of the social ethic of capital culture, and in a sense the fundamental basis of it (Weber, 54)." Today, America is trying desperately, and in vain, to separate the ideas of morality and freedom. Those who want to rewrite the constitution to say all men have the right to freedom from religion rather than freedom of religion insist that religion is the remnant of a bygone era. Echoing the failed theories of Marx, they say that religion is an outdated tool to control the masses, fit only for the ignorant or foolish. Al the while these same individual are eating at a banquet table a bountiful harvest which the hard work and principles which religious individuals have planted, harvested, prepared and served for our well being. Religious thought and religious ethic cannot be exhumed from a free society, like a surgeon removing a cancerous tumor from a sick man. Religious thought and ethic is the lifeblood of the person, and a free society, without which the life disappears, and slow sure death ensues. This experiment in equality and freedom has been costly. We have been threatened throughout our history by men who would build their own stature at the expense of others’ rights. This course of American Freedom, equality, and opportunity for all it’s citizens is maintained only under constant vigilance, willing self sacrifice, and the belief that these qualities that we seek are indeed gifts from a Creator, to whom we are ultimately responsible for how we exercise the freedoms we have been given. One of the founders of our nation is quoted as saying “This system of government is entirely unsuited for an immoral people.” Alexis de Tocqueville thoughts on equality also find their moorings in the morality of the people. He insists that is not “Equality of conditions” that can ever find mankind. The pursuit of freedom by nature establishes that men of differing abilities and resources will make for themselves differing conditions. But all men have the freedom to pursue their destinies equally. This final idea is that which most accurately describes the American society, and is most clearly rooted in our relationship to the God who gives us this freedom. Works Cited Tocqueville, Alexis de Democracy in America. 2001. American studies at the university of Virginia. Retrieved from world wide web May 3, 2006. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/ch1_05.htm Weber, Max. The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. 2002. Routledge, London, UK. United States Declaration of Independence Read More