Tocqueville in America [Paperback]

George Wilson Pierson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 1996

Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (1835) has become a touchstone for almost any discussion of the American polity. Taking as its topic the promise and shortcomings of the democratic form of government, Tocqueville's great work is at or near the root of such political truths as the litigiousness of American society, the danger of the "tyranny of the majority," the American belief in a small government that intrudes only minimally into the daily lives of the citizenry, and Americans' love of political debate. Democracy in America is the work of a 29-year-old nobleman who, with his friend Gustave de Beaumont, traveled the breadth of Jacksonian America to inquire into the future of French society as revolutionary upheaval gave way to a representative government similar to America's. In his magisterial Tocqueville in America, George Wilson Pierson reconstructs from diaries, letters, and newspaper accounts the two Frenchmen's nine-month tour and their evolving analysis of American society. We see Tocqueville near Detroit, noting the scattered settlement patterns of the frontier and the affinity of Americans for solitude; in Boston, witnessing the jury system at work; in Philadelphia, observing the suffocating moral regimen at the new Eastern State Prison (which still stands); and in New Orleans, disturbed by the racial caste system and the lassitude of the French-speaking population.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In this impressively researched biographical study, first published in 1938, George Wilson Pierson assembles an extraordinary amount of material about Tocqueville's nine-month tour: letters, newspaper accounts, memoirs. The result is a monumental companion, as illuminating about a classic work of history and sociology as that work is about democracy in America.

(Washington Post )

In the opportunity which he offers for such a study of the evolution of one of the world's great books, Professor Pierson has made a historical contribution of altogether exceptional importance.

(New York Times Book Review )

Book Description

In his magisterial Tocqueville in America, George Wilson Pierson reconstructs from diaries, letters, and newspaper accounts the Frenchman's nine-month tour and his evolving analysis of American society.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 880 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (December 3, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801855063
• ISBN-13: 978-0801855061
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Indispensable Read., June 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Tocqueville in America (Paperback)

"Democracy In America" (Vol. I ) was published in 1835, the by-product of a nine month expedition commissioned by the king of France to study the American prison system. With its acclaim, the young author Alexis De Tocqueville would consecrate his place in history as perhaps the most shrewd and erudite observer of American political form, social habit and manner, and cultural disposition ever to commit mind to the task of examining the then expanding new world and her relatively newly arrived inhabitants.

What was revealed to Tocqueville and his companion, Gustave De Beaumont-indeed, what could only be perceived by the scrutinizing eye of a foreigner oriented with the prejudices and customs of European aristocracy-served as evidence of a new strata of social evolution for mankind, one that held both curious promise and the possibility of unraveling danger.

In "Tocqueville In America", the late Yale history professor, George Wilson Pierson, provides the reader with the genesis of experience that instructed the young magistrates and gave birth to "Democracy In America."

From the voluminous hand-written diaries of Tocqueville and Beaumont, as well as other parallel accounts, Pierson reconstructs the grand adventure undertaken by the two companions, and in the process he provides the moments of inspiration and instruction from whence the astonishing insights that comprise "Democracy In America" originate.

Just as an example, in "Democracy In America" Tocqueville commits to the analysis of the bicameral legislature in America. With the seeming sharpness of keen mind, he elucidates the cause for this orientation of government, as well as some of its features. Chiefly, he asserts that the functionality that this arrangement serves is to produce rigor in the debate of legislative issues through redundancy; and the lengths of the terms of those who serve in the respective houses of government intends proficiency: it services the provision whereby men of government acquire adequate skill at legislative affairs-as can only be facilitated over a protracted period of time. Also, this ensures that the service of competent and experienced men of government is always retained.

But it turns out that this analysis is not one that Tocqueville himself derived. "Tocqueville In America" reveals that the origin of these thoughts was not Tocqueville at all. In fact, a New Yorker of "no small distinction"-a J.C. Spencer-provided the explanation for the bicameral arrangement of government in America to Tocqueville. In fact, Tocqueville would repeat Mr. Spencer's explication almost verbatim in "Democracy In America."

But not all of Tocqueville's shrewd insights were, in reality, borrowed in this fashion. "Tocqueville In America" is evidence to the fact that most of Tocqueville's analyses were a function of the genuine genius of his insight. His diaries are astonishing evidence of the profundity of his observations.

With this book, Pierson gives the very moments that were the germs of the observations and thoughts that would eventually find their way into Tocqueville's "great work." Not only is the reader treated to the piercing nature of his discerning mind, but the spectacle of the adventure on which he and Beaumont embarked. In their diaries, Tocqueville and Beaumont divulge the dangers of the trip, the moments of humor, and the pleasurable excitements that came with the fulfillments of their curiosities.

"Tocqueville In America" is the story behind "Democracy In America", and as such, just as indispensable a read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tocqueville's trip makes interesting reading, July 19, 2005

By 

D. Sommers (Wenonah, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tocqueville in America (Paperback)

For those interested in a unique combination of story and history, Prof. Pierson's volume detailing the travels of Alexis de Tocqueville, and his companion Gustave de Beaumont are great reading. Imagining an America of the 1830's, lacking roads, and having unique social structures, is quite a fascinating contrast to today's fast-paced society.
Pierson's volume, written in the late 1930's, celebrates
and chronicles Tocqueville's legendary and historic trip of 100 years earlier, and its impact on American political thinking.
He saves his analysis for about the last 100 pages (of the 777 pages of primary text), but the details of the travels and encounters is fascinatingly detailed. An interesting must-read for the history buff.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The young American nation as seen through fresh eyes, May 14, 2011

By 

Ulfilas (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tocqueville in America (Paperback)

Alexis de Tocqueville visited America in the 1830's as a representative of the French government for the purpose of studying the penal system. His observations came to include so much more. He met with many prominent Americans--some by design and others by chance. He met with President Andrew Jackson at the White House, Sam Houston on a boat, and conversed in French with prominent Marylander Charles Carroll.

He came away somewhat impressed with American democracy, but distressed by their insular world view and the smug certainty that they deserved the admiration of the world. This bucolic arrogance was nothing, however, when compared to the evils of slavery in the eyes of young de Tocqueville. This became particularly apparent to the Frenchman when comparing Ohio and Kentucky--with the former appearing to be the personification of industry and latter of sloth. While Ohio bustled with commercial activity, Kentuckians seemed strangely obsessed with hunting while leaving as much useful toil as possible to indifferent slaves.

De Tocqueville was generally surprised by the small scale of American government, noting that President Jackson and the White House seemed more like the person and the abode of a relatively successful farmer than that of the chief executive of a great nation. He noted with particular interest the city of New Orleans, and could see that the local French population greatly benefited from a less intrusive government than the one he knew in France. He also visited Canada where he found the Catholic Church embraced with much more enthusiasm by the French speaking population than in France itself--a result the local priests ascribed to freedom of religion. He also commented on the American protestant clergy, noting that they were as much businessmen as they were clerics.