Religion Traditions and Democracy in America In Democracy in
America, Tocqueville is worried about the disappearance of old
aristocratic ranks and privileges, and the emergence of
democracy. Tocqueville states that the "key to almost the whole
work" can be found in his chapter on the "point of departure"
for the Anglo-Americans (Tocqueville, p. 17). How can this
chapter on the early history of Puritan New England shed light
on what European governments can do to adapt to democratization?
It seems odd that Puritans would have much to teach Europeans
(or Americans today) about democracy. Tocqueville in fact
outlines how vastly different the New England towns were from
what we would call democratic. The leaders who made these laws
were intent on enforcing good morals by using the most extreme
enforcement. There is virtually no conception of a right to
personal privacy. Their laws were based on a literal reading of
the Old Testament and were extremely harsh. For example, in
Connecticut, blasphemy, witchcraft, adu