In the Shadow of Democracy : Alexis de Tocqueville on Race and Slavery

Tocqueville's masterpiece, Democracy in America analyzes the institutions and moeurs of American democratic society. In America, Tocqueville saw not only white man’s democratic culture and politics, but also the shadows of democracy, such as racial conflict and slavery. Tocqueville said that slavery was the most serious evil that threatened the future of the United States. Nevertheless, as long as the white stubbornly refuse to abolish slavery, it is impossible to legally achieve emancipation in the South, where democratic self-government is established. Pessimistic about America's future, Tocqueville diagnoses that the abolition of slavery is more likely to be achieved in the French Caribbean than in the America. Tocqueville also shows a realistic and practical approach to the issue of slavery in the French colonies. He argues that the colonial industry should be maintained even after the emancipation, indemnities being paid to the slave owners. Tocqueville expands the issue of the emancipation of slaves to the level of national strategy and interests. He even argued that abolition was necessary to maintain the colony, and that some exceptional measures such as a provisional banning of the purchase of land by emancipated blacks, were necessary to maintain the colony's industry and economy. The the colonial economy and the white farmers’ interests took precedence over the freedom of black people. The liberal politician Tocqueville stands at a crossroads between the humanitarianism of Emancipation and the realism of the national interests.