Town Spirit Autonomy: Tocqueville On American Democracy A Major Discovery

Alexis de Tocqueville was a prominent French political thinker in the19th century. Many of his accounts and comments were of important reference significance to the development of democracy today. His discovery of the spirit of the township autonomy not only opened the door for people to understand American democracy, but also made future generations deepen their understanding of democracy itself and make reflection on it. The current thesis mainly studies the features of the spirit of the township autonomy, as well its important position and role in a democratic society by sorting out a series of detailed descriptions and insightful theories about the spirit of the township autonomy, combined with the background and the particular life experience of Tocqueville. Ultimately it comes to the conclusion that the spirit of autonomy should become the spiritual foundation of a democracy society, the development of self-government at the grass-root level should be valued in the democratic and political construction, and the cultivation and practice of the spirit of autonomy should be given enough consideration.The first part of the paper describes the social background and basic process of the investigation into American democracy conducted by Tocqueville. The main reason of the investigation lies in the sharp contrast between the United States and France under the same democratic notion, and the noble and strong yearning for democracy influenced by his own special growing-up experiences. During the process of investigation in the United States, Tocqueville made the New England region the object of examination. Through the meticulous character interviews and in-depth literature review analysis, he drew the conclusion that democratic era would eventually come. He also discovered the advantages and disadvantages of American democracy, upon which the relationship among democracy, sentiments and the spirit of township autonomy was discussed.The second part describes some important discoveries and ideas about American democracy made by Tocqueville. By summarizing the specific role of the spirit of self-government in American politics, economics and culture, the autonomy theory of Tocqueville is raised to a new level, namely self-government is the important spiritual foundation of a democratic society, whose formation process is inseparable from the training of citizenship education.The third part discusses the historical influence of the township autonomy theory and its contemporary revelation. The theory about autonomous spirit has an important practical significance to the development of democratic society, which is mainly reflected in its contribution to interpret the spirit genes of democratic politics and excavate the spiritual core of citizenship education, as well as its benefit for exploring the construction path in the democratic system. His idea not only plays an important part in the reformation of France, but also has a subtle influence on the education reform in the United States. For China, the discovery of Tocqueville about the spirit of the township autonomy not only prompts us to reflect on the difficult journey of the development of the autonomy spirit in China, but also reminds us that great importance should be attached to the democratic construction at the grass-root level and the citizenship education with autonomous spirit as its core.