Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Differing View of Democracy
. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 5 page paper discusses democracy as it was described by Alexis de Tocqueville in “Democracy in America” and by Edgar Allen Poe in “Some Words with a Mummy” and “Mellonta Tauta.” Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HV2demos.rtf
Buy This Term Paper »
Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Discussion de Tocqueville and Poe make very strange bedfellows indeed. The former was a French philosopher and lawyer and the latter, of course, a noted American writer. de Tocqueville traveled
through America in the 1830s; his purpose was to observe democracy, since France was moving in that direction (Biography of Alexis de Tocqueville). Poe was writing at the same time
that de Tocqueville was in the country, so they can be said to be experiencing America at approximately the same time. But how very different their observations are. de Tocquevilles
book is clearly the work of someone who admires America, though he finds a great deal of fault with it as well. He is intrigued by the fact that everyone
has a voice in government, and it seems to work: "In America the principle of the sovereignty of the people is neither barren nor concealed, as it is with some
other nations; it is recognized by the customs and proclaimed by the laws; it spreads freely, and arrives without impediment at its most remote consequences" (de Tocqueville). He continues, saying
that if there is any country in the world where "the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people can be fairly appreciated ... that country is assuredly America" (de Tocqueville).
de Tocqueville discusses universal suffrage, which he says "had been adopted in all the states of the Union" but it has had a different effect in America than it has
in Europe; in fact, "its effects generally differ very much from those which are attributed to it" (de Tocqueville). For one thing, the ablest men "are rarely placed at the
head of affairs" (de Tocqueville). This surprised de Tocqueville, who found that in Europe, universal suffrage has the effect of leaving the direction of affairs "to men who are worthy
...