William Penn articulates that the church and the state should have a cordial, divine and collaborative relationship in order to help men pursue and live a Godly life. Using the Divine Law (jus natural), William postulates that the church is a facet of the society that is established by man as a God’s agent to help man control his passions and adhere to the divine laws, which are formulated and enacted by the state. In essence, the church and the state should support each and obey God’s provisions as envisioned in the divine laws. In other words, the State and the church have been accorded God’s divine law and duty to rule His creation because they form God’s agents in the universe. Consequently, William postulates the religion and politics should have mutual and cordial relationship, but this relationship should not be interpreted on the legal basis. Politics forms the government, but religion should create a favorable environment for people to participating in law making and implementation processes. In essence, this relationship should uphold and maintain the divine law.
Federalists argue that the representation would promote fairness, equality and good-governance in the country whereas anti-federalists refute this assertion on the premise that it would lead to inequality, unfairness, and poor-governance. Federalists are articulating that representation would ensure that the house of representative and the senate are proportionally and fairly represented thus promoting equality and good-governance. These provisions would eliminate the reasonable eliminations, which are imposed at the state level to bar an individual to contest for a political position in the government. Consequently, anti-federalisms question the issue of “representative and direct taxation”, as it would fuel inequality and unfairness between the states. Some of the antifederalists’ criticisms were justifiable and correct, especially the one that highlights the inconsistency in the appointed of the senate’s representative. Appointing the senate representative proportionally and equally is unfair because states differ in size, demographic aspects and other constructs; an idea that would promote unfairness and inequality.
Federalist writers view that the diversity along political lines and the interpretation of the branch of representatives is beneficial as it promotes democracy, equality, fairness; transparency and accountability as it enables politicians ventilate on the legislation and focus on key issues, which promote national prosperity. However, federalist writers argue that the diversity that is premised on the arithmetic principles and political calculations is fallacious and dangerous because it fuels conflict, rebellion and inequality. In essence, the variance in the number of representatives is not important in national development, but the ability of the representatives to meet the public interests, which form a key aspect in leadership.
Abigail Adams and John Adams articulate that equality is a fundamental aspect in promoting good-governance and democracy in the country. In a letter addressed to John Adams, Abigail argues that women should be accorded equal opportunity in leadership, the political arena, education and in other spheres of the society to promote equality and democracy (Francis 149). John and Abigail are articulating that democracy is attainable because it influence people to abide by the laws, which they participated in the formation and implementation process and represents the peoples’ interests, voices, views and objectives.
Madison proposed two strategies to address the issue of faction. They include: according each citizen the same interests, passions, views and opinions and eliminating the liberty that is important and essential for the existence of the faction. Madison articulates that liberty is essential in politics as it fuels faction, but eliminating it would not destroy relief associated with the faction, but rather its causes thus addressing this issue effectively. The second strategy would provide people with liberty to express views, opinions, interests and passion and promote division in all the social aspects hence addressing this issue effectively.
Alexis Tocqueville thinks that the concept of the “equality of conditions”, promotes democracy when the politicians and other local leaders restrain and balance it in the right manner. However, democracy does not prevail when the concept of equality of conditions exceeds a certain limit because it influences envy, hatred, conflict, pride and high level of exaggerated self-confidence among the leaders (Tocqueville 204). The concept of the exaggerated self-confidence coupled with independent equality affects the democracy in America because it has influenced and compelled the leaders to mistrust judgment of others, fuel political and ethnic divisions and compelled politicians to make decisions based on their own judgments thus violating the rights and interests of the majority (Tocqueville & Reeve 256). In essence, democracy as a concept should attain to provide freedom of expression, but at the same time it should restrain peoples’ thoughts to promote prosperity, cohesion and spur democratic practices.
Alexis Tocqueville articulates that several and valuable things are lost when states transit from Aristocracy to democracy. They include; equality, diminished national morale, selfishness, and despotism. These constructs are essential in creating a democratic state, but they are lost during the transition phase.
The Native Americans had a legal and legitimate claim to oppose the white settlers to use the land for farming because it could have displaced them, created environmental issues, promoted civilization and urbanization and fuelled slavery. In doing so, the Native Americans prevented the white settlers from oppressing, discriminating and violating their rights and considering them as their slaves.
In the book entitled, “Democracy in America,” Alexis articulates that slavery coupled with the slave trade had dominated in America. The white
Americans oppressed and subjected the slaves to harsh conditions and denied them their human rights. During this period, the whites believed that they were superior to the blacks; a notion that has affected and would continue to affect the relationship between these two parties in the future. Alexis elaborates that slavery was not practiced in all regions because of the northern states had formulated and implemented anti-slavery policies, which banned slavery and slave trade. In North America, slave-owners were prohibited by the law to buy or sale slaves, but they were allowed to set free the children who were born by their slaves. However, the southern states embraced slavery because they believed that the idea to abolish it was dangerous and posed a threat to the region development. First, the states in the southern part had favorable climate that encouraged and favored the growth of corn, sugarcane, maize and cotton, which demanded intensive human labor. The white farmers required the slaves to provide the cheap and reliable human labor in their plantations. Second, in case the states in the southern region had supported the idea to abolish slavery, they were required to either change their cultivation system (an idea that would have influenced them to compete with those states in the north, which had advanced and mechanized methods of farming) or support the competition that was offered by those states, which retained their slaves. Third, states in the south had the power and authority to abolish slavery, but they were barred by the anti-slavery laws and policies to abolish slavery and slave trade.
Alexis Tocqueville was justified to refer America as a democratic state, despite having the knowledge that Native Americans, women and Africa-Americans were excluded because America embraced a form of government-whose supreme power and authority was vested to the people and exercised by the people and their elected leaders under an independent electoral system. Although democracy envisions the concept of inclusivity, but it is more inclined to the ability of the established government institutions to promote singular power, equality and freedom of expression. I agree with Alexis Tocqueville claims in the sense that-although the minority groups were excluded, America practiced democracy because the supreme power and authority was vested in the people, who had an opportunity to express their thoughts, views, opinions and elect their leaders freely.
Works cited
Tocqueville, Alexis de, and Henry Reeve. Democracy in America. Waiheke Island: Floating Press, 2009. Print.
Tocqueville, Alexis . Democracy in America, Volume 2. the University of Michigan: Vitage Books, 2008. Print.
Francis Adams, Charles . "The Familiar letters of John Adams and His wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution." Founders library (1897): 149-152. Print.
