Tocqueville’s Use of Race as a Political Symbol

In the book, “ Democracy in America,” Tocqueville provides a captivating perspective of the traditionally oppressed groups in America that include the Negroes, Indians, and women while evaluating their response to oppression under the U.S democracy (Tocqueville & Goldhammer, 2004,p. 397 ). According to Tocqueville, there are many ways of examining people’s lives in the contemporary world. Tocqueville’s account of the Negroes and the Indians gives America a unique identity since the groups were almost naturally distinct and hostile. Although the groups share common characteristics such as birth, appearance, or language, Tocqueville believes that the Black Americans and Indians suffer the effects of the tyranny of the majority (Tocqueville & Goldhammer, 2004,p. 408 ). While assessing the responses of the groups towards oppression, Tocqueville describes the role of the minority groups in the functioning of democracy and aristocracy in the United States. The paper describes the use of race as a political metaphor in the U.S with attention to the Black American population.

The history of American democracy and the black population share a common cultural similarity of lack of influence from previous regimes. Tocqueville believed that the U.S democracy is unique as compared to other countries since it has undergone a natural and peaceful process from the moment it was established (Tocqueville & Goldhammer, 2004,p. 167 ). Consequently, America does not have customs and laws that appear to oppose the foundations of contemporary nations. Tocqueville compares the old-fashioned norms to fragmented broken chains hanging in buildings that no longer support the structures and likens them to the impediments that prevent other nations from transiting to modernity. According to Tocqueville, the unique case of democracy in the U.S is different from other countries with reference to the equality of conditions (Tocqueville & Goldhammer, 2004,p. 264 ). Unlike other nations, American democracy the level of equality in the U.S has been implemented to an extent that there is no polluting sense of inequality from the past government regimes. Thus, Tocqueville believes that the U.S is like a clean slate that offers the principle of equality to thrive in all levels in society.

In his argument with reference to the Black American population, Tocqueville argues that the Negro exists in a free America that is unrestricted from the past political or cultural regimes. The Black Americans living in the U.S lost the memory of their homeland and they no longer speak the native languages of their ancestors (Tocqueville & Goldhammer, 2004, p. 415 ). Additionally, their traditional believes and religion has been forgotten. The fact that the Negro lives in America offers them an opportunity to live free from their ancestral social and political habits since it gives equality an opportunity to thrive and flourish, which is a plot to free from them from the bondage of political antiquity.

In the U.S, there is an increased focus on individual economic output and a diminishing role of the family. This has strained the perspective of the Black Americans towards democracy. American democracy is built on the foundations of a capitalist economy, which is based on a man's prevailing interest. Thus, society is structured around this locus since everyone works in order to live. In America, the concept of working is necessary, natural, and a prerequisite condition for humanity. From the perspective of working, the inequalities that previously existed under the various categories of occupational aristocracies disappeared (Tocqueville & Goldhammer, 2004, p. 677 ). This characteristic was more pronounced in the enslavement period where the blacks were honored because of their labor capabilities instead of contemporary economic productivity. According to Tocqueville, a mature democracy empowers citizens to work in order live, a characteristic that defines an advanced American industry that emphasizes on a uniform working system.

Tocqueville elaborates that the black population stands at the mercy of the tyranny and the influence of the majority in a democratic system. The position of the Negro in American society signifies democracy and further defines the system of governance in that democracy. Tocqueville believes that a force is vested upon a democratic majority in a society that has the power to determine the moral as well as things of material significance that define desirable actions. Tocqueville observes that the effect of the majority can be so powerful that it can restrain the freedom of the minority in politics which he refers to as the tyranny of the majority. People with a combined majority have the freedom to absolutely undertaking anything (Tocqueville & Goldhammer, 2004, p.283 ). According to Tocqueville’s account of the black enslavement, the majority actualized their actions by forcing the Negros to submit to their demands to an extent of physically imposing tyrannical power over them by the white majority. In a democratic establishment, the wishes of the majority happen within the confines of the law. However, Tocqueville observed that the extent of democracy towards the Negro was the violence meted on them.

Tocqueville’s literature on the psychological profiling of the black population in America reveals the power of the majority for absolute control. From Tocqueville's works, democracy nurtures the culture of despotism. Tocqueville notes that under the traditional leadership of the monarchs, the princes made violence a physical thing but contemporary democracies have intellectualized the practice as they attempt to coerce the practice to human populations (Tocqueville & Goldhammer, 2004, p. 294 ). The concept of force by the majority attempts to spiritualize democracy since it shapes actions and inhibit outcomes that are desired by them. According to Tocqueville, this is the power of the majority since they act in an absolute sense and erect formidable barriers in the thought process thus extending it to the subconscious. Thus, the blacks fall victim to the pervasive forces of the tyranny of the majority since they submit to their oppressors by acquiring opinions, aspirations, and lifestyles that make it difficult to distinguish them. As a result, the Negro unsuspectingly fall victim to the majority by embracing attitudes that confine them in the enslavement of the tyrannical majority.

Tocqueville’s explanation of democracy can be likened to the description of the Europeans in comparison with other races. The Europeans have subjected other races to serve their needs and if they do not comply, they destroy them. The concept of equality that democracy alludes to be championing destroys other regimes. The perspective of Tocqueville on the blacks and the Indians provides a vision for the future needs and generational regimes. While Tocqueville acknowledges that democracy as a new phenomenon order that is dynamic, the Indians and the blacks remain static figures. Whereas grieves are different, the Black American and Indian populations continue to suffer the effects of tyranny from European dominance. Tocqueville's demonstration of the fact that the Negros have forgotten their ancestral land and language while submitting to tyrannical majority’s aspirations, attitudes, and lifestyles is a consequence of the tyranny of the majority.

Reference

Tocqueville, A. ., & Goldhammer, A. (2004).  Democracy in America . New York: Library of America.