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Catch-All/Student Discussion Questions

Comparison of Race by Tocqueville

When comparing the three races that clash in the North American Continent, Tocqueville first without question sets the Europeans as the ultimate form of human-based on intelligence, power and enjoyment then lists the native Americans and African Americans as the less capable and flawed lower tiers. This description while understandable at the time period is confusing since he goes on to list the reasons for this “ranking which all are societal and have nothing to do with biological or physical nature.

This makes me wonder if Tocqueville actually believed that these other two ethnicities were truly less than the Europeans or if they could be equal given the right opportunities and rights. It is easy to see that from his writing Tocqueville did not support the societal organization of slavery and the conditions that African Americans were subjected to however His depiction of the Native Americans is almost one that deems them “unsavable” or unchanging in there cultural ways.

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