Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America. Translated by Henry Reeve. New York: George Dearborn & Co.; Alard and Saunders, 1838.

DE TOCQUEVILLE (1805-1859)
Democracy in America

The French liberal politician and writer came to the United States in 1831 at the request of his government to report on the penitentiary system. His general observations of American society during this period resulted in Democracy in America, which deals mainly with the social conditions in the United States and its governmental and administrative systems. The study has taken its place as the earliest important analysis of the subject, justifying democracy and predicting its ultimate triumph. Tocqueville wrote, “The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that this equality of condition is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.”