Democracy in America

What It's About

Written after Tocqueville's nine-month tour of the United States in 1831 (ostensibly to study American prisons), this two-volume work is his sweeping analysis of American democracy — its political institutions, its social conditions, and the underlying idea of equality that Tocqueville believed was reshaping the Western world. He examines township government, the press, political associations, and the American character, weighing democracy's benefits against its risks.

Key Concepts

Central to the work is the "tyranny of the majority" — the danger that democratic equality can crush minority opinion and individual independence rather than protect it. Tocqueville also explores individualism (a term he helped popularize), the role of voluntary associations and civil society in sustaining liberty, and what he called "soft despotism" — a mild, centralizing tutelary power that could quietly erode freedom even within a democracy.

About the Author

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) was a French aristocrat, political thinker, and historian who also served as a magistrate, deputy in the French assembly, and briefly as foreign minister. Born into a Norman noble family that had suffered under the Revolution, he combined his own aristocratic background with a conviction that democratic equality was historically inevitable.

About This Edition

This is an 1838 translation by Henry Reeve.