While reading chapter nine of part two volume one, I came across a statement that may put into perspective just how much America has changed since de Tocqueville's time. Near the top of page 279, Alexis states "Of the world's countries, America is surely the one where the bond of marriage is most respected and where they have conceived the highest and most just idea of conjugal happiness ." This is vastly at odds with the data, which places the United States as having the highest divorce rate in the world.
This raises a question: how and why did America go from the conjugally pleased country de Tocqueville described to the divorce laden and adultery prone country we see today? What other observations of Alexis's, if any, are null and void?
Being in a successful marriage for the past 34 years, I feel I can be an authority on marriage and divorce and really shed some light on this topic.
Yeah...
Anyway, on to my thoughts of which I have no life experiences to back them up!
I wonder if American Exceptionalism has become so ingrained in our culture with people so sure they can attain the American Dream and the ideal family that as soon as a marriage appears slightly imperfect, divorce papers are produced.
On a somewhat related note, last week there was an article in The New York Times that discussed the connection between divorce and a nation's economy. The study authors said while the recession has brought “considerable stress” to many American couples, it has also forged stronger ties in some relationships and delayed divorce among some unhappy couples who can’t afford to separate.
So it would seem that some AMERICANS aren't feeling so EXCEPTIONAL when their checking accounts are teetering on the red, thereby humbling Americans who have been so quick to divorce when a marriage gets tricky.
The article author concludes with, "there have been some couples who have developed a new appreciation for their marriage because of this great recession."
Article URL (a more tech savvy person would know how to format this link): http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/for-some-a-recession-proof-marriage/?scp=1&sq=united%20states%20divorce%20rate&st=cse
I recently found an aricle claiming that a 2008 Gallup pole found that divorce was looked at as morally acceptable for 70 percent of Americans.
http://www.christianpost.com/news/survey-70-percent-of-americans-find-divorce-morally-acceptable-32435/
I think that this statistic is hard to explain fully because surveys have not been accurately taken and recorded since the time Toqueville was writing. However, I assume that one of the reasons that divorce may be looked at as more acceptable is a pretty defined seperation of church and state that probably wasn't as clear in Toquevilles time. I believe that this seperation of church and state allows people to feel that divorce may be morally acceptable because it is not illegal and is not contrary to national laws. In nations where the church is intimately involved in the political spehre, I feel like divorce would be looked at as a bigger moral issue than it is here. I also think religion may not be practiced as rigorously as it was back in Toquevilles time as well. Indeed, the Gallup poll showed that 91 percent of people who did not affiliate themselves with religion viewed divorce as morally justifiable. Another reason I could see this as being the case is in my Italian class, my teacher told me in Italy divorce was highly frowned upon but it was quite common for people to have affiars while still keeping their marriage in tact. The Gallup pole I talked about earlier showed that many Americans still viewed cheating as morally unacceptable. This could explain the high divorce rates in America as compared to other countries like Italy.
I think there are a few other things that Toqueville wrote about that don't apply to today. His insistence that republics with loose centralized powers would have a problem commiting to a prolonged war effort have seemed to been proven wrong. We are in two wars right now and have been for over 7 years. At the same time this is most likely caused by the massive industry that Toqueville sees inherent in democracies. Surprisingly, after over 150 years, I think alot of Toqueville's principles still apply.
I am an attorney that handles divorces and I think that Toqueville is still right. Times changed from Toqueville's time, but divorces are more socially acceptable now and easier to obtain and that is the only thing that has really changed. Americans are still the same.
www.ekglaw.com