liberalism
...lists wanted social democracy. To achieve this goal, they developed a better way to distribute the society’s wealth. Nineteenth-century liberalism and socialism both produced important thinkers who analyzed the ills of their society and advanced not only plans for change but critiques of the opposing ideology. In source 1, Tocqueville expresses his surprise in seeing a society with equality in conditions, which has an impact on society visible to anyone. This democracy seemed to be advancing rapidly into Europe. Most of the events in the last seven hundred years of history have been towards equality. These events have brought the social scale closer together, as the noble falls, the commoner rises. When people have lived under a certain system for centuries, only long period of painful transformations can reach a democratic state of society. Equality and revolution depend on each other, one can’t occur without the other. “If you could establish a state of society in which each man had something to keep and a little to snatch, you would have done so much for the peace of the world.” The more widely personal property is distributed and increased and the greater the number of people enjoying it, the less a nation is inclined to revolution. Men are to greedy to want a revolution, they are more worried about their private business then the public wants. An individual has little power over a nation, but the power of the mass over each individual mind is great. It will always be difficult for someone to favor what the crowd rejects. In source 2, Tocqueville demonstrates the flaws in the democracy in America. He believes that it is wrong that the majority of the people have the right to do everything; men are weak when they challenge each other. Since masses are so strong, revolutions cannot occurs simply because no one will go against the matter. Justice forms the boundary to each people’s rights. Justice has more power then the society whose laws it applies. America has a shortage of guarantees against tyranny. You must always give in to the majority. A government free of tyranny should be a legislative body representing the majority without being the slave of its passion, an executive power having the strength of its own, and a judicial power independent of the other two authorities. The people of power want too much and try to satisfy it all at the same time, which does not work. Common people are not good enough to make decisions; the weight falls only on certain people. People have chosen to have others make the choices for them. Source 3, Tocqueville treats revolution. Revolutions are most destructive in democracies. People in democracies are the last people who should be rebelling, going to such dangerous measures. Tocqueville lived in a society in which the society grew in greatness and prosperity as it increased in liberty. One successful rebellion leads to less further success. In source 4, Tocqueville gives his ideals of a government. “What I want is a republic, not a hereditary monarchy”. He wants a government that obeys public opinion. He wishes that the general principles of government were liberal, that the actions were left to the individuals. To achieve this it takes time and accuracy, and laws need to be respected. People must understand and be part of life and government. “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”, said by Karl Marx in source 5. Disputes between classes have always existed an...