Research Paper on:
Social Life and Intellect in Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

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of Tocqueville in regards to the relatively new land that was America. In the following paper we examine a couple of his sections as they relate to how he perceived  the influence democracy had upon the social and intellectual lives of Americans. Social Lives in a Democratic America For this topic we look at two different chapters from  Section 3 of Tocquevilles work. The chapters are Chapter II titled "How Democracy Renders the Habitual Intercourse of the Americans Simple and Easy" and Chapter XIV titled "Some Reflections on  American Manners." In the beginning of this chapter we note that Tocqueville illustrates the social manners of the English. These individuals have been raised in a culture where when they  come upon someone who is obviously not like them they are somewhat uncomfortable and silent. This is due to the fact that the English can tell, through clothing and stature,  where a man or woman ranks in social class. It is something that is clearly defined and thus rules how people interact socially. In relationship to the Americans, however,  "where the privileges of birth never existed and where riches confer no peculiar rights on their possessors, men unacquainted with one another are very ready to frequent the same places  and find neither peril nor advantage in the free interchange of their thoughts. If they meet by accident, they neither seek nor avoid intercourse; their manner is therefore natural, frank,  and open; it is easy to see that they hardly expect or learn anything from one another, and that they do not care to display any more than to conceal  their position in the world" (Tocqueville Section 3 Chapter II). He indicates that even when an American is cold or serious it is never "haughty or constrained; and if