Reed Fagan’s Reviews > Democracy in America > Status Update

Political Jurisdiction in the US.
American "political jurisdiction...[may be]...the most formidable weapon [ever] placed in the grasp of a majority. When the American republics begin to degenerate, [we can test if this is true by] whether the number of political impeachments is increased." -p111
T lauds that impchmnt means poltcns face only pol. consqncs. In France it's also always crimnl, thus less likely to be used

"But the American judge is brought into the political arena independently of his own will. He judges the law only because he is obliged to judge a case."-p.103
John Oliver this wk pointed out the danger of SCOTUS' discretionary power over which cases they ignore & esp which cases they elevate & expedite rulings on, i.e. "the shadow docket".

Townships & Municipal Bodies.
T claims it is politics at the town level that is the secret sauce of America. The buy-in/ownership/initiative there is genuine and enlivened in ways not true in much of Europe in his opinion, where generations of top-down governance makes ppl "subjects" rather than "citizens". NB, T extrapolates to all America from seeing mainly Mass. towns.

"It is to be remembered, too, that the affections of men generally turn towards power." -p. 66, Alexis de Tolkien 🤭

Townships and Municipal Bodies.
"No idea was ever entertained of attacking the principal or contesting the rights of society; but the exercise of its authority was divided, in order that the office might be powerful and the officer insignificant, and that the community should be at once regulated and free. In no [other] country in the world... is the right of applying [the law] vested in so many hands." -p.71

Sovereignty of the People.

"When a nation begins to modify the elective qualification, it may easily be foreseen that, sooner or later, that qualification will be entirely abolished...no stop can be made short of universal suffrage." -p. 57
Suffrage ended up going further than T might have been able to conceive.

"The people reign in the American political world as the Deity does in the universe." -p. 58

Social Condition of the Anglo-Americans.
T marvels how Americans don't face the classism of aristocracy (frequent sale of inherited land & assumption of new professions keeps ppl from amassing inordinate wealth over others) yet also don't succumb to despotic governance & illiberty w/o aristocratic powers to oppose such.
"Their circumstances, origin, intelligence & morals establish & maintain their freedom."-54, parap

Origin of the Anglo-Americans.
Tocqueville sees the founding colonies of the US as independent political regions that benefitted from notions of democracy coming from England, notions of independence and laws coming from novel ("Enlightment" in modern parlance) ideas, and shared Christian belief & practice (while admitting some sects were hostile to others).
"Liberty regards religion as its companion..." -p. 44

Exterior Form of N.A.
"The famous republics of antiquity never gave examples of more unshaken courage, more haughty spirit, or more intractable love of independence than were hidden in former times among the wild forests of the New World. The Europeans produced no great impression when they landed upon the shores of North America... What influence could they possess over such men as I have described?" - p. 23