Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America
Copyright © 2008, Henry J. Sage

Alexis de Tocqueville was the scion of a French noble family that had suffered significantly during the French Revolution. Tocqueville was born in 1805 and studied philosophy and law before becoming a member of the French Court of Law at Versailles. As he learned more about law and the impact of the French Revolution on French society, he developed a liberal political philosophy and became curious about democracy. He saw America, in effect, as an ongoing experiment in democracy and decided to visit America and observe democracy in action.

Tocqueville received permission from the French government to travel to the United States in 1831 to study American prisons, but his real purpose was to analyze American democracy. Tocqueville, who was only 25 at the time, arrived in America along with his friend Gustave de Beaumont in May, 1831, and for the next nine months they toured America. They started in New England, and spent considerable time in Boston, New York and Philadelphia where they met and conversed with many of the most prominent and influential thinkers in America, many of whom went out of their way to assist the two travelers, even going so far as to provide them with essays and written descriptions of American life.

The two Frenchmen traveled west as far as Green Bay, Wisconsin, down the Mississippi to New Orleans, back to Washington, where they met President Andrew Jackson, and eventually back to France. Along with other famous Americans, they met Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Maryland, the sole surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Back in France Tocqueville consulted his voluminous notes and set about writing down his observations in his “Democracy in America,” perhaps the most famous book ever written about America by a foreigner, or by anyone else for that matter. Tocqueville was most impressed by the condition of equality he found in America. He certainly recognized the iniquity of slavery, and discussed racism in America, but as he was considered an honored guest wherever he went, he met and spent far less time with working-class or poor people than he did with those who were well off. Nevertheless, his observations about America have rung true ever since the book was written.

“Democracy in America” is one of the most widely quoted books on America cited by historians and others who have written about American democracy. It is widely used as a college text. Although Tocqueville admired much that he saw in America, his work is by no means uncritical. Furthermore, it contains insights that can only be considered remarkable in terms of his predictions about where America might be heading. For example, he predicted that the world would eventually become polarized between two nations which were only emerging at that time: the United States and Russia.

By merely perusing the table of contents of Tocqueville's two volumes, one can see the detail with which he examined and described American life. He discussed education, morals, religion, the roles of women, the Constitution, the government, the judicial system, political parties, the press, public opinion, what he called the “tyranny of democracy,” and virtually all other aspects of American public life. Tocqueville’s book was well received not only in United States but throughout Europe. If remains one of the great books of all time.

Tocqueville's Introduction to “Democracy in America” | Full Text of Democracy in America

Jefferson-Jackson Home | Updated August 11, 2008