Beyond the “Formidable Circle”: Race and the Limits of Democratic Inclusion in Tocqueville'sDemocracy in America*

Abstract

D ESPITE his assertion that the first volume of Democracy in America (1835) would concentrate upon institutions, Tocqueville found himself finishing the draft manuscript in 1834 and unable to conclude his study without discussing race relations in the United States. In the end, he quickly penned a final chapter. That chapter-by far the book's longest-offers "Some Considerations on the Present State and Probable Future of the Three Races That Inhabit the Territory of the United States." Tocqueville begins the chapter by acknowledging that its subject "is American without being democratic" (DA, p. 516), 1 and to the extent that it analyzes slavery in the South and the interactions of the Native Americans with the Anglo-European white Americans, 2 this is true. When read in the context of his broader analyses of the psychology of equality, of majoritarian power, and of the importance of mores over laws, however, Tocqueville's analysis of blackwhite race relations goes beyond its American context to offer an examination of the extra-legal barriers to inclusion and membership within a liberal democracy. As such, it offers a critical perspective on democratic theory, by suggesting that there are certain types of exclusions that cannot be resolved through formal institutions or by reformed processes of democratic deliberation.In spite of the length of the "Three Races" chapter, race has been an underinvestigated theme in Tocqueville scholarship, developing after the mid-1960s. Only recently has a small strand of scholarship begun to explore the "Three 1 All references to Democracy in America (DA) will be made parenthetically in the main text, with page numbers referring to Tocqueville [1835/1840] 1835.2 Tocqueville's discussion of Native Americans is not my focus here, but to move past that topic without drawing attention to the directness and forcefulness of the language in which Tocqueville condemns the injustice and criminality of US governmental policy toward the Native Americans would be remiss.

Revisiting Tocqueville’s American Woman

“…Eventually, the Pennsylvanian admits that "the law lacks force when the majority will not support it" and that "magistrates do not feel that they have the strength to guarantee to the latter the rights that the legislator has conferred" (414, note 4). Henderson (2022) offers an extended discussion of this, arguing that Tocqueville's analysis of racial prejudice raises questions about contemporary democratic theory's ability to address radical forms of exclusions through either institutional safeguards or improved deliberative processes.…”

“… 31. See previous section, “Other Exclusions, Other Removals.” Recent work connecting Tocqueville to current issues of race includes Tillery (2009), Henderson (2022), and Ikuta and Latimer (2021). …”