Alexis de Tocqueville on the Tyranny of the Majority

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville is universally regarded as one of the most influential Democracy as a rich source about the age of Andrew Jackson, Tocqueville was more of a political thinker than a historian. In the introduction to Democracy, he states: “In America, I saw more than America… I sought the image of democracy itself, with its inclinations, its character, its prejudices, and its passions.”  His subject is nothing less than what is to be hoped for, and what to be feared from, the democratic revolution sweeping the Western world in his time.
books ever written about America. While historians have viewed

The greatest danger Tocqueville saw was that public opinion would become an all-powerful force, and that the majority could tyrannize unpopular minorities and marginal individuals. In Volume 2, Part 2, Chapter 7, “Of the Omnipotence of the Majority in the United States and Its Effects,” he lays out his argument with a variety of well-chosen constitutional, historical, and sociological examples.

Following such an author and his argument can be a challenge to beginning students, yet the book is so important and illuminating that its exemplary status has been recognized by the Common Core State Standards. With that challenge in mind, this unit of three lessons has been developed to encourage both teachers and students to work through Tocqueville’s argument by breaking it down into its component parts.

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Alexis de Tocqueville on the Tyranny of the Majority | EDSITEment