Alexis de Tocqueville, "Democracy in America"

Alexis de Tocqueville, a French diplomat, political scientist, and historian, visited the United States and wrote "Democracy in America," which examines why republican representative democracy works in the US but not elsewhere. Tocqueville applies American democracy's strengths to France's weaknesses. He believed that equality was the most transformative idea of his time, and that the United States was the most advanced country in this inevitable march of equality. General equality of conditions among Americans seemed to animate all aspects of their government and society.
Tocqueville examined the effects of democracy on American culture and government in his book. He saw that democracy was embedded in American society, and that this had led to a kind of government that was unlike anything he had seen in Europe [Online 1]. …