Americas Unique Problem

According to the critiques that Alexis de Tocqueville offers in his book, Democracy in America, the future in race relations does not look bright for America. Tocqueville makes it clear that there is a darker side to the American democracy. Much like a tyrant rules his country, the majority that rules in America commits tyrannies, and these tyrannies jeopardize the very rights that give them power. A primary case of this tyranny is race discrimination and slavery; Oppression has with one blow taken from the descendants of the Africans almost all the privileges of humanity, (DA, 304) Tocqueville analyzes the effects of the equality of conditions on the aftermath of oppression. There are two very different effects of slavery, slavery itself and its consequences. (DA, 327) The consequences are still seen in effect today. The oppressed are stripped of the pride and equality that each member of the democracy is entitled to, not only in the minds of their oppressors, but in the minds of the oppressed as well. Even freedom becomes a frightening fact for slaves who are emancipated. (DA, 304) These issues threaten to destroy the order in America, but the evolving equality of conditions intends to brighten the future. The equality of conditions in America for Tocqueville means that the former aristocratic rule, where one man rules over another man, is abolished. A democracy is bred from an egalitarian idea which leads to the creation of the individual. (DA, 48-52) This equality plays a large part in the operation of the American democracy. He calls it gradually but constantly developing; all events, like all men, serve its development.(DA, 6) Therefore Tocqueville decrees that this progression and growth towards racial equality is overall good for the American democratic social state. The equality of conditions dictates the direction of progress,

but to rectify the wrongs of slavery takes time. This is because the problem lies in the people of society, not the laws of the state. For, the law can destroy servitude; but God alone can make the trace of it disappear. (DA, 32) In ancient times, the immediate effects of slavery were similar to those of the immediate effects in America. Tocqueville distinguishes that America and its equality of conditions is unique. There is no other country in the world that never had a monarchy, or an established church, or social classes. Thus slavery, too, poses very unique consequences. Tocqueville addresses one of these issues, the visual difference in the slaves and the masters. Slavery in Europe was not a perpetuating problem as it is in America because of one primary reason. Once a slave was freed, he could become a successful member society without anyone knowing his background of servitude. This was not an issue because the race of the slave was the same as the race of the master. In America, the opposite is true. The enslaved race was the Africans and, even after slavery is abolished, there is still a difference in skin color that preserves the memory of slavery. Tocqueville says, The remembrance of slavery dishonors the race, and race perpetuates the remembrance of slavery. (DA, 327) This is just one example of the consequences of slavery, but deeper than this material problem lays many more intangible struggle. The case of the slave and master relationship in America is that slavery debases the enslaved to believe that they are truly inferior to their master. However, when the slaves are emancipated the now free men still feel inferior and are still viewed as such. This prejudice makes the Africans lives difficult to live in the way they want to live. Unfortunately for the

black race in America, Tocqueville foresees a difficult future for them. Curtis Stokes writes in a journal, He *Tocqueville+ painted an optimistic future for the presence of equality in America while simultaneously painting a pessimistic picture for the future of race relations. (pg.8) Laws cannot disallow and govern all cases of discrimination. For example, an individuals thoughts cannot be governed even though they may be discriminatory; leaving one to notice that it seems that the race relations are at a bit of a stand-still. For instance when the slaves were freed the different reactions between the North and South epitomized the little progress towards racial equality that America has achieved. In the North the problem was, a commercial and manufacturing question where in the South, it is a question of life or death. (DA, 346) Now, it is no longer a problem of life or death, but it is a problem of opinion. There are African Americans who have assimilated themselves to society and are successful. Even so, there is still racial tension that prohibits many others from escaping these racial shackles that have cuffed American society. As Tocqueville looked at America in the 1930s, it has progressed almost a century past his observations. Unfortunately, his findings are still valid in modern America. Economically and socially African Americans still struggle in American society; simply because they are black. There are racial and social boundaries that to this day have not been broken down. People still commit crimes out of hate for a race. It is hard to accept the fact that the future turned out as dark as he predicted it, but each movement for civil rights has the right idea. In order to rectify this problem, one must look to a dramatic change in the opinion of society.

Works Cited
Stokes, Curtis. "Tocqueville and the Problem of Racial Inequality." The Journal of Negro History 75 (1990): 1-15. Print. Tocqueville, Alexis De, Harvey Claflin Mansfield, and Delba Winthrop. Democracy in America. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2000. Print.