In 1831, the French government sent Alexis de Tocqueville to the United States for a year to study its prison system. When Tocqueville returned home, he quickly submitted his report and turned his focus towards something far more ambitious — a study of why America’s democracy survived when other attempts failed. For Tocqueville, America was set apart by its foundational and aspirational devotion to equality. But he also recognized that the same trait could be its undoing. Paradoxically, as individuals found their conditions improving, they often expressed more frustration over their perceived inability to keep pace with others. Tocqueville worried that the same individualism that distinguished America might generate resentment that would tear it apart.
Democracy (Warriors 116, Mavericks 95)
