By Fred Woodward

“America is the most democratic country in the world, and at the same time, according to reliable reports, it is the country in which the Roman Catholic religion is making the most progress…our grandchildren…will tend more and more to be divided clearly between those who have completely abandoned Christianity and those who have returned to the Church of Rome.”

Thus wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in his celebrated work Democracy in America. His words provide an important framework for considering the philosophical underpinnings of the American founding and the role of faith and freedom in America. 

Tocqueville’s words were controversial when he first penned them, and are perhaps more so when read today. Many from Tocqueville’s time felt strongly that Americans could bring a new, liberal approach to religion and transcend the homogeneity of religious expression traditionally understood to be key to successful governance and a cohesive society. In our day, however, a growing school of thinkers, many of whom call themselves “post-liberal,” seek to argue the opposite. 

Because America remains central to both sides of this discussion, it seems appropriate to examine, based on Tocqueville’s assertion, the relationship that Catholicism has had with America. To do this, let us explore the three key elements through which religion has had the most influence: philosophical tradition, past successful governance, and public worship, all of which are essential for producing, to paraphrase Sir Roger Scruton, some unified experience of national identity.

Beginning with philosophical tradition, we see in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Scholastics as a whole, substantive contributions to some of America’s most fundamental premises. These include systemic formulations of the natural rights to life, liberty and property, as well as the explication of the “parachute right” to revolution, invoked when the other rights are significantly infringed upon. Professor Timothy Gordon, in his work Catholic Republic, asserts that these formulations were integral to the understanding of America’s founding fathers, albeit through the mediating influence of less-nuanced expositors, such as Algernon Sidney, Samuel von Pufendorf, and the Baron de Montesquieu.

When we turn from philosophy to governance, we see Catholicism’s least-considered and yet perhaps most pivotal contribution to the American Founding: the past governance of Medieval Europe. In his work The Theme is Freedom, the late Dr. M. Stanton Evans argues that “Christendom…was the era of the Middle Ages that nourished the institutions of free government.” At the time, the Church was the dominant institution in both government and education. As Alessandro D’Entreves, Professor of Italian Studies at Oxford University, writes in his introduction to Aquinas’ Political Writings, early medieval universities brought the study of topics such as Roman law to prominence. Dr. D’Entreves goes on to argue that this resurgence in Roman jurisprudence, coinciding with new interest in the philosophy of Aristotle and his contemporaries, led to major contributions to practical governance, the rule of law, and the common-law tradition. The School of Salamanca in Spain carried this momentum into the economic sphere. As Professor Harry Veryser documents in his book It Didn’t Have to Be This Way, the School of Salamanca’s application of the thought of Aquinas and the Scholastics was key to shifting from a mercantilist economic structure to a freer system based on justice.

Catholicism’s third pathway of influence, public worship, provokes the most controversy. Yet here is where the arc of religion proposed by Tocqueville comes to its fullest fruition. Modern culture prompts us to ask whether a society can ultimately survive without some semblance of a unified religious expression. For Tocqueville, however, there was little doubt in the matter. Citing Democracy in America, M. Stanton Evans asserts that “freedom is coterminous with faith.” Dr. Evans further writes, “Western freedom is the product of our faith, and the precepts of that faith are essential to survival.” This notion is shared by not only notable conservative intellectuals such as G.K. Chesterton, Evelyn Waugh, and St. John Henry Newman, but also great minds of statecraft, such as Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon, while clashing with the Church on issues of hierarchical governance and personal practice, nonetheless respected Catholicism. In his book Saints and Sinners, Cambridge University Professor Eamon Duffy cites Napoleon’s view of Catholicism as “the only religion that can make a stable community happy, and establish the foundations of good government.”

Yet here is where the arc of religion proposed by Tocqueville comes to its fullest fruition. Modern culture prompts us to ask whether a society can ultimately survive without some semblance of a unified religious expression.

The American founders differed in the degree of their adherence to the three elements of governance proposed above. Their positions ranged from a somewhat commonplace acceptance of the common philosophical principles to a nearly unilateral rejection of the necessity for Catholic belief and practice. Therefore, Catholicism exerted a primarily indirect influence in the founding era. Perhaps, in the modern day, a more direct role for the Chuch is worth considering. Maybe if our founders had charted a course closer to Rome and farther away from Padova, which Dr. D’Entreves argues was the birthplace of the Enlightenment, the cultural decay in modern America could have been at least partially prevented. 

Hypotheticals aside, though, none can dispute the assertion that the West is in need of a revival that is uniquely tailored to the current situation. As historian and author Charles A. Coulombe argued in his address to the Thomas More Society of America last year, any solution to the evils modern-day America faces must begin with a spiritual correction, which will go on to inform political and cultural corrections. Coulombe is not alone here. M. Stanton Evans concurs by writing that a return to “general principles” should be accompanied by a renewed interest in and devotion to the Church that gave us the West—the Church that he cites Cardinal Manning as stating is “Mother to us all.” 

Any solution to the evils modern-day America faces must begin with a spiritual correction, which will go on to inform political and cultural corrections.

While it is beyond the scope of this short work to look too far into the crystal ball of America’s future, let us in closing consider again Tocqueville’s argument in Democracy in America: as America progresses, the divide will only become clearer between “those who have completely abandoned Christianity and those who have returned to the Church of Rome.” 

These words ought to be invigorating for all who read them. For the Catholic, here is a salutary impetus to proclaim and defend the teachings of the Church which, to paraphrase Dr. Robert Royal, has been a source of moral and spiritual sanity that changes for the good the course of Western history and social life. For the non-Catholic, here is a call to examination and disputation. Consider the claims of the Church that Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed to be “the enemy of Relativism” and learn of her mission and ideals from sources far more qualified than this humble article. For the Agonistic, here is an opportunity to consider the role that the Church has played and continues to play in every sphere of human activity. 

From advocating the dignity of work to upholding the sanctity of marriage, the voice of the Church has been consistent across time and continents… the Church exists for good or for ill–the choice is binary–her divine claims leave no room for a third interpretation.

The testimony of the ages proves the approach of the Church to be a coherent formula for addressing the problems that arise in governance and society. From advocating the dignity of work to upholding the sanctity of marriage, the voice of the Church is consistent across time and continents. To paraphrase the famous exclamation of St. John Henry Newman, the Church exists for good or for ill. The choice is binary: her divine claims leave no room for a third interpretation. Therefore, as we conclude, let us turn to M. Stanton Evans’ work once more and affirm as he does that “recovery of our religious faith and its teachings should be our first and main concern. Without it, nothing much by way of practical improvement can be accomplished. With it, all the rest might readily be added.”

Frederick Woodward is a sophomore studying Political Economy.