Laurie M. Johnson: Honor in America? Tocqueville on American Enlightenment. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2017. Pp. xxxii, 154.)

Abstract

One of the central themes of Democracy in America is the critical importance of religion to the health of American democracy. Beginning with Tocqueville's praise of the Puritans early in volume 1 and continuing through his account of the perils of materialism in volume 2, Tocqueville presents Christianity as the moral anchor of the American polity. But Tocqueville also indicates that American religion was weakening over time, and he foresaw even greater decline in the future. He never suggests that religion will wither away entirely; on the contrary, he maintains that religion has permanent roots in the human soul. But he argues that certain circumstances-political, social, and economic-promote religious belief more than others. And the modern democratic era, he makes clear, is inhospitable to belief, such that whatever longings or impulses might lead the human soul to religion in other eras may, in our era, lead to nothing more than restless dissatisfaction with materialism. And so, while Tocqueville's treatment of American religion initially seems to indicate that Christianity is America's saving grace, that treatment turns out, in the end, to be the expression of a problem. If Tocqueville is correct in his assessment-both of the role of religion in democratic America and of the inevitable decline of religion in modernityhow should we respond to that problem? Should we try to shore up religious belief, doing what we can to postpone the inevitable? Or should we simply accept a slide into moral decline? In Honor in America? Tocqueville on American Enlightenment, Laurie M. Johnson offers another alternative. Contemporary Americans could embrace an "honor code," an informal set of principles on the basis of which we praise and blame ourselves and each other. She makes her case by way of an analysis of Tocqueville's arguments on topics connected with honor. She does not look to Tocqueville for all the answers; she differs with him on some key points relating to women and the moral value of war (43, 58-59, 65-67). But she does attend carefully to his arguments, taking up his discussions of religion, family, women, the military, slavery, and the treatment of Native Americans. On some topics, Tocqueville's arguments highlight a principle or ideal that contemporary