Volume I
Introductory Chapter… ………………………………………………………………………… 2
Chapter I: Exterior Form Of North America…………………………………………………… 16
Chapter II: Origin Of The Anglo-Americans… ……………………………………………… 24
Chapter III: Social Conditions Of The Anglo-Americans……………………………………… 41
Chapter IV: The Principle Of The Sovereignty Of The People In America… ………………… 50
Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States… ………………………… 54
Chapter VI: Judicial Power In The United States……………………………………………… 88
上 卷
前 言………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
第一章 北美的外貌……………………………………………………………………… 16
第二章 英裔美国人的起源……………………………………………………………… 24
第三章 英裔美国人的社会情况………………………………………………………… 41
第四章 美国人民主权的原则…………………………………………………………… 50
第五章 研究各州过去的必要性………………………………………………………… 54
第六章 美国的司法权…………………………………………………………………… 88
Volume I
Introductory Chapter… ………………………………………………………………………… 2
Chapter I: Exterior Form Of North America…………………………………………………… 16
Chapter II: Origin Of The Anglo-Americans… ……………………………………………… 24
Chapter III: Social Conditions Of The Anglo-Americans……………………………………… 41
Chapter IV: The Principle Of The Sovereignty Of The People In America… ………………… 50
Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States… ………………………… 54
Chapter VI: Judicial Power In The United States……………………………………………… 88
第七章 美国的政治审判………………………………………………………………… 96
第八章 联邦宪法………………………………………………………………………… 102
第九章 为什么严格地说美国是由人民进行统治的…………………………………… 160
第十章 美国的政党……………………………………………………………………… 162
第十一章 美国的出版自由……………………………………………………………… 170
第十二章 美国的政治社团……………………………………………………………… 180
第十三章 美国的民主政府……………………………………………………………… 189
第十四章 民主制带给美国社会的好处………………………………………………… 226
第十五章 多数的无限力量及其后果…………………………………………………… 244
第十六章 美国如何削弱多数的暴政…………………………………………………… 261
第十七章 民主共和制度得以维持的主要原因………………………………………… 277
第十八章 美国境内三个种族的未来…………………………………………………… 320
结论………………………………………………………………………………………… 408
Chapter VII: Political Jurisdiction In The United States… …………………………………… 96
Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution… …………………………………………………… 102
Chapter IX: Why The People May Strictly Be Said To Govern In The United States… ……… 160
Chapter X: Parties In The United States… …………………………………………………… 162
Chapter XI: Liberty Of The Press In The United States… …………………………………… 170
Chapter XII: Political Associations In The United States……………………………………… 180
Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democracy In America—Part I… ………………………… 189
Chapter XIV: Advantages American Society Derive From Democracy………………………… 226
Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences… ………………………… 244
Chapter XVI: Causes Mitigating Tyranny In The United States… …………………………… 261
Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic Republic… …………………… 277
Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races In The United States… …………………… 320
Conclusion… ………………………………………………………………………………… 408
下 卷
前 言……………………………………………………………………………………… 416
第一篇 民主对美国观念进步的影响…………………………………………………… 419
第二篇 民主对美国人情感的影响……………………………………………………… 499
第三篇 民主对所谓民情的影响………………………………………………………… 556
第四篇 民主观念对政治社会的影响…………………………………………………… 665
附录………………………………………………………………………………………… 706
Volume 2
De Tocquevilles Preface To The Second Part… ……………………………………………… 416
Section I: Influence of Democracy on the Action of Intellect in The United States.… ………… 419
Section 2: Influence of Democracy on the Feelings of Americans……………………………… 499
Book Three: Influence Of Democracy On Manners, Properly So Called… …………………… 556
Book Four: Influence Of Democratic Opinions On Political Society…………………………… 665
APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………………… 706
內容試閱:
在美国逗留的这段时间,有很多新鲜事物都引起了我的注意,其中最打动我的莫过于人与人的平等。我轻轻松松就发现这一基本事实对整个社会进程产生的重大影响:它为公众舆论指出特定的方向,为法律定下特定的方针,向执政当局传授新的箴言,让被统治者养成特定的习惯。
不久我便意识到,这一事实影响的远远不止这个国家的政治特征和法律,它对于政府的绝对权威一点也不亚于对公民社会的权威;它制造舆论,激发情感,倡议日常生活行为规范,并修正非它所产生的一切。对美国社会的研究越是深入,我就越意识到平等是根本大事,似乎所有的一切都源于此,而且往往是我所有观察最终归结的中心点。
接着,当我把思绪转向我们半球的时候,觉得我们这里的某些情形和新世界呈现在我眼前的景象类似。我注意到在我们这里平等尽管没有达到美国那种极端的程度,不过正日益朝着这个方向前进;而且在美国社会处于支配地位的民主,似乎在欧洲正在迅速崛起掌权。
从那时起,我便萌发了撰写读者面前这本书的念头。
显而易见,对所有人都一样,一场伟大的民主革命正在我们中间进行,但是人们对它的看法却各异。对有些人来说,它似乎新奇而偶然,而且想要加以遏制;而对另外一些人来说,它似乎根本不可抗拒,因为它是有史以来最一致、最古老也最持久的趋势。让我们重新追忆一下七百年前法国的情形。那时,法国被一小撮家族瓜分,他们拥有土地、统治居民,统治权世代相传;武力是人对付人的唯一手段;地产是权力的唯一来源。可是,不久教士的政治权力开始崛起,并不断壮大。教士阶层对所有的人都敞开大门:穷人和富人,属民和领主;通过教会平等开始向政府渗透;原先终身受奴役的农奴摇身一变成为神父,加入到贵族的行列,而且时不时地还会凌驾于国王之上。
随着社会逐渐变得稳定开化,人们之间的关系变得越来越复杂多样。因此,人们开始觉得需要民法,于是法律人士走出阴森的法庭,离开布满灰尘的办公室,出现在君主的宫廷,与穿貂皮披盔甲的封建贵族肩并肩。当国王因为野心勃勃而濒临破产,贵族因为私人战争而倾家荡产的时候,下层阶级靠着商业积累起财富。金钱对国家事务的影响力开始显现出来。商业成为通向权力大门的一条新路。金融家成为一股政治势力,既受到人们的奉迎,却又被鄙视。渐渐地随着知识的普及,人们对文学艺术的兴趣渐浓,人才有了成功的机会,科学成为为政的手段,智慧成为一种社会力量,文人开始参与国家政事。随着通往权力大门的新路不断出现,与生俱来的特权的价值降低了。11世纪贵族头衔是无价之宝,到13世纪用钱就可以买到,贵族头衔的出售始于1270年,结果平等也由贵族亲自带进政府。
在这七百年里,为了对抗国王的权威,削弱对手的权力,贵族将一部分特定的权利赋予人民。而更常见的情形是,为了达到抑制贵族的目的,国王允许下层阶级享有一定的权力。在法国,国王一直都是最积极、最彻底的平等主义者。当他们力量强大、野心勃勃的时候,不费吹灰之力便可以让平民与贵族平起平坐;而当他们平庸无能的时候,竟允许平民凌驾于自己之上。有些国王凭借他们的才能帮助了民主,而另一些国王则因为他们的昏庸而成就了民主。路易十一和路易十四让王位之下的全体臣民保持平等,而路易十五则将自己连同王室一同埋葬在灰烬之中。
Introductory Chapter
Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States,nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions. I readily discovered theprodigious influence which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed. I speedily perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments,suggests the ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that the equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.
I then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, where I imagined that I discerned something analogous to the spectacle which the New World presented to me. I observed that the equality of conditions is daily progressing towards those extreme limits which it seems to have reached in the
United States, and that the democracy which governs the American communities appears to be rapidly rising into power in Europe. I hence conceived the idea of the book which is now before the reader.
It is evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is going on amongst us; but there are two opinions as to its nature and consequences. To some it appears to be a novel accident, whichas such may still be checked; to others it seems irresistible, because it is the most uniform, the most ancient, and the most permanent tendency which is to be found in history. Let us recollect the situation of France seven hundred years ago, when the territory was divided amongst a small number of families, who were the owners of the soil and the rulers of the inhabitants; the right of governing
descended with the family inheritance from generation to generation; force was the only means by which man could act on man, and landed property was the sole source of power. Soon, however, the political power of the clergy was founded, and began to exert itself: the clergy opened its ranks toall classes, to the poor and the rich, the villein and the lord; equality penetrated into the Government through the Church, and the being who as a serf must have vegetated in perpetual bondage took his place as a priest in the midst of nobles, and not infrequently above the heads of kings.
The different relations of men became more complicated and more numerous as society gradually became more stable and more civilized. Thence the want of civil laws was felt; and the order of legal functionaries soon rose from the obscurity of the tribunals and their dusty chambers, to appear at
the court of the monarch, by the side of the feudal barons in their ermine and their mail. Whilst the kings were ruining themselves by their great enterprises, and the nobles exhausting their resources by private wars, the lower orders were enriching themselves by commerce. The influence of money
began to be perceptible in State affairs. The transactions of business opened a new road to power, and the financier rose to a station of political influence in which he was at once flattered and despised. Gradually the spread of mental acquirements, and the increasing taste for literature and art, opened chances of success to talent; science became a means of government, intelligence led to social power, and the man of letters took a part in the affairs of the State. The value attached to the privileges of birth decreased in the exact proportion in which new paths were struck out to advancement. In the eleventh century nobility was beyond all price; in the thirteenth it might be purchased; it was conferred for the first time in 1270; and equality was thus introduced into the Government by thearistocracy itself.
In the course of these seven hundred years it sometimes happened that in order to resist theauthority of the Crown, or to diminish the power of their rivals, the nobles granted a certain share of political rights to the people. Or, more frequently, the king permitted the lower orders to enjoy a
degree of power, with the intention of repressing the aristocracy. In France the kings have always been the most active and the most constant of levellers. When they were strong and ambitious they spared no pains to raise the people to the level of the nobles; when they were temperate or weak they allowed the people to rise above themselves. Some assisted the democracy by their talents, others by their vices. Louis XI and Louis XIV reduced every rank beneath the throne to the same subjection; Louis XV descended, himself and all his Court, into the dust.