July 29 is the birthdate of Alexis de Tocqueville, French political thinker and historian best known for Democracy in America (two volumes, 1835, 1840), which he wrote partly to help his countrymen understand their position between a fading aristocracy and an emerging democratic order. He toured the United States in the 1830s, when market forces, westward expansion and Jacksonian democracy were changing the nation. He focused on the balance between the liberty of the individual and equality within society, and he viewed equality as an unstoppable force in modern life.
No comments:
Post a Comment