Abstract
Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (1835, 1840) strongly influenced Western understandings of democracy. The dissemination and reception of Tocqueville’s ideas had been studied in various countries, but not in Britain. While some scholars did notice the British influence on Tocqueville, few have asked the reverse question: how did he shape the British political lexicon, especially when it came to the issue of ‘democracy’? Drawing on conceptual history and reception studies, this article examines the British uses and interpretations of Democracy in America in periodical reviews and parliamentary debates, with a few incursions into newspapers and monographs, from 1835 to 1885. I underline the dual nature of the British response to Tocqueville’s work. Whereas in France and the USA, Tocqueville was identified as a liberal and read as such, in the British Isles, both conservatives and progressives tried to claim him as one of their own. The former argued that his book demonstrated the dangers of ‘democracy’, while for the latter it analysed both the challenges and benefits of the democratic age. Through this study of this double claiming of Tocqueville, I illustrate larger trends in the uses of ‘democracy’ and plea for an historical and reflexive understanding of current debates.
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Notes
While previous historiography focussed specifically on England, this article tries to encompass sources from all four nations, with a focus on Britain. Nonetheless, much of the literature cited was produced in London and is often Anglo-centric. More work remains to be done to analyse the specificities of the Gaelic, Irish and Scottish reception of Tocqueville.
Annual Register, Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, British and Foreign Review, Dublin University Magazine, Eclectic Review, Edinburgh Review, Fraser’s Magazine, Gentleman's Magazine, London Review, Macmillan's Magazine, Monthly Magazine, Monthly Review, New Monthly Magazine, North British Review, Quarterly Review, Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine, Westminster Review.
Considering the difficulties inherent in defining liberalism and identifying specific individuals as Liberal, this article adopts Duncan Bell’s contextualist and comprehensive position according to which ‘the liberal tradition is constituted by the sum of the arguments that have been classified as liberal, and recognised as such by other self-proclaimed liberals, across time and space’ (2014, pp. 689–690).
This distinction between conservatives and progressives is first and foremost conceptual. I recognise that individuals changed positions across time while often crossing ideological borders on various issues. Nonetheless, it has a certain hermeneutic value.
Since there are no Saunders & Otley surviving archives, I have not been able to recover the exact sale figures for the various editions of volumes I and II of Democracy in America. However, the successive re-editions indicate a certain commercial success. In terms of advertisement for the books in the press, the British Newspaper Archives records 73 hits from 1835 to 1839, 51 from 1840 to 1849, none from 1850 to 1859, 27 from 1860 to 1869, 12 from 1870 to 1879 and 1 from 1880 to 1889.
Whereas Tocqueville’s name was mentioned several times in the Northern Star, it was mainly in his capacity as deputy and minister, not for his interpretation of American democracy (Brake et al. 2020).
On the ballot, see Henry George Grey, HC Deb 07 March 1837 vol. 37 cc53 and Benjamin Disraeli, HC Deb 30 June 1857 vol. 146 cc657. On the Australian Colonies Bill, see Charles Adderley, HC Deb 18 February 1850 vol. 108 cc1017; William Gladstone, HC Deb 22 March 1850 vol. 109 cc1258 and William Molesworth, HC Deb 06 May 1850 vol. 110 cc1180–1181. On the Legislative Council of Canada, see John Pakington, HC Deb 04 August 1854 vol. 135 cc1332.
Charles Du Cane, HC Deb 31 March 1859 vol. 153 cc1168. See also HC Deb 30 April 1860 vol. 158 cc407; Gathorne Hardy, HC Deb 19 April 1866 vol. 182 cc1746.
John Pakington, HC Deb 22 March 1860 vol. 157 col 1038–1039; William Gregory, HC Deb 03 May 1860 vol. 158 col 578–594, see also HC Deb 20 April 1866 vol. 182 cc1792.
William Digby Seymour, HC Deb 03 May 1860 vol. 158 col 601; Ralph Bernal Osborne, HC Deb 12 July 1867 vol. 188 cc1445.
During the Civil War, Democracy in America was also often quoted in debates regarding the sustainability of American federalism (Cairnes 1862; Rawlins 1862). In a similar vein, Timb’s Predictions Realised in Modern Times argued that the first volume had predicted some aspects of the Civil War (1862, pp. 174–177).
Ralph Bernal Osborne, HC Deb 16 March 1870 vol. 200 cc40; Henry Campbell-Bannerman, HC Deb 10 June 1870 vol. 201 cc1860; Henry Fawcett, HC Deb 15 June 1870 vol. 202 cc172.
Charles Newdegate, HC Deb 06 July 1871 vol. 207 cc1237 and HC Deb 10 July 1871 vol. 207 cc1391.
John George MacCarthy, HC Deb 02 July 1874 vol. 220 cc883; Michael Hicks-Beach, HC Deb 02 July 1874 vol. 220 cc894.
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